False Trail

You create a false trail to throw off pursuers, enabling you to increase your lead on those following you or make them lose your trail entirely.

Prerequisite: Survival 3 ranks.

Benefit: You can create a false trail in the wilderness via a combination of misleading footprints, discarded items, torn scraps of clothing, and other signs. When you create a false trail, you determine the direction it leads. A creature tracking you must succeed at a Perception or Survival check (DC = 10 + half your character level + your Wisdom modifier) to determine the trail is fake when first encountering it. On a success, the creature can continue to track you as normal. The effect of a failure to identify the trail as false depends on the time and effort spent making it.

Quick: A quick false trail takes 10 minutes to complete. A creature that fails to identify the trail as false follows it for 1d4×1,000 feet.

Normal: A normal false trail takes 1 hour to complete. A creature that fails to identify the trail as false follows it for 1d4 miles.

Elaborate: An elaborate false trail takes 4 hours to complete. A creature that fails to identify the trail as false follows it for 2d6 miles.

After a creature that fails to identify a false trail follows it for the determined distance, it can attempt another Perception or Survival check with a +5 bonus. On a success, the creature realizes it’s following a false trail and can continue to track you as normal after backtracking to the start of the false trail (or wherever you diverged from the false trail). On a failure, the creature continues to move in the direction of the false trail for an additional mile. After each mile, it can attempt a new check with a cumulative +5 bonus.