Subsist Rules
You try to provide food and shelter for yourself, and possibly others as well, with a standard of living. This typically uses {Society} if you're in a settlement or {Survival} if you're in the wild. The GM determines the DC based on the nature of the place where you're trying to Subsist. You might need a minimum proficiency rank to Subsist in particularly strange environments. Unlike most downtime activities, you can Subsist after 8 hours or less of exploration, but if you do, you take a -5 penalty.
Sample Subsist Tasks
- Untrained a lush forest with calm weather or a large city with plentiful resources
- Trained typical hillside or village
- Expert typical mountains or insular hamlet
- Master typical desert or city under siege
- Legendary barren wasteland or city of undead
Critical Success You either provide a subsistence living for yourself and one additional creature, or you improve your own food and shelter, granting yourself a comfortable living.
Success You find enough food and shelter with basic protection from the elements to provide you a subsistence living.
Failure You're exposed to the elements and don't get enough food, becoming until you attain sufficient food and shelter.
Critical Failure You attract trouble, eat something you shouldn't, or otherwise worsen your situation. You take a -2 circumstance penalty to checks to Subsist for 1 week. You don't find any food at all; if you don't have any stored up, you're in danger of starving or dying of thirst if you continue failing.
Source, license, and attribution
Source: Pathfinder Player Core (remaster-core-2026-08-10)
This product is licensed under the ORC License located at the Library of Congress at TX 9-307-067 and available online at various locations. All warranties are disclaimed as set forth therein. Attribution: Pathfinder Player Core (c) 2023, Paizo Inc.; Designers: Logan Bonner, Jason Bulmahn, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, and Mark Seifter. Authors: Alexander Augunas, Kate Baker, Logan Bonner, Jason Bulmahn, Carlos Cabrera, Calder CaDavid, James Case, Eleanor Ferron, Steven Hammond, Joan Hong, Vanessa Hoskins, James Jacobs, Jenny Jarzabski, Erik Keith, Dustin Knight, Lyz Liddell, Luis Loza, Patchen Mortimer, Dennis Muldoon, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, Mikhail Rekun, David N. Ross, Michael Sayre, Mark Seifter, Kendra Leigh Speedling, Mark Thompson, Clark Valentine, Andrew White, Landon Winkler, and Linda Zayas-Palmer. Adaptation: Myth Meister PF2e Remaster Compendium, 2026. If you use this Adapted Licensed Material, please credit Myth Meister. The normalized rules records and rules-reference text in the Myth Meister PF2e Remaster Compendium are Adapted Licensed Material offered under the ORC License. Reserved Material in this product includes the Myth Meister name and logos, application source code, visual design and trade dress, and original campaign content. Pathfinder, Paizo, product logos, artwork, maps, trade dress, setting lore, characters, deities, locations, organizations, events, plots, and other Paizo Reserved Material are not included. Myth Meister is not affiliated with or endorsed by Paizo Inc. Expressly Designated Licensed Material: None.