Survival Order of Importance:

The survival order of importance is: well, let’s be clear that context matters. The exact situation will shuffle the order. So, let’s look at general principles and remember that you must adjust for the situation that occurs in the game.

Order: The most common order of importance is: immediate threats (first aid and defense), planning, fire, shelter, signal, water, food, motivation.

Conditions: In extreme cold, your first priority is fire, then shelter. In extreme heat, your first priorities are shelter, water, and then fire. In rain your first priority is shelter, followed by fire and water. Under “normal” conditions, your priorities are shelter, fire, water, then food.

Immediate Threats:

Immediate Threats: Any pressing threats that must be dealt with immediately come first. One obvious situation is combat or imminent combat. Fight and survive. Combat may not be other humanoids. A hungry lion, tiger, or bear can seriously ruin your day. The other obvious situation is injury. Stabilize the injury. The rule of threes claims that you can die in about three minutes from severe bleeding, icy water, lack of breathing, or cardiac arrest.

Calm Down

Calm: Your first step is to calm down so that you respond to your situation in an intelligent manenr rather than based on adrenaline.

Assess:

Assess: Observe your environment and assess you available resources and choices.

Plan:

Plan: Plan how you will respond to your situation.

STOP:

S.T.O.P.: Once any possible immediate threats are handled, apply the S.T.O.P. principle.

Stop and calm down.

Think. if you have taken care of immediate threats, there is no rush. Hurrying can put your life at risk.

Observe your surroundings. Assess your situation. Do you see any obvious shelter, water, fire building materials, or other resources?

Plan. Now come up with a plan that will keep your character alive.

First Aid:

First Aid: Stabalize any serious medical issues.

Defense:

Defense: Defend yourself from any immediate threats.

Fire:

Fire: Get a fire going. You should know how to get a fire going under extreme adverse conditions, such as during rain or freezing winter weather.

Most of the process of creating a successful fire is in the preparation. You need to gather, prepare, and arrange your fire building materials, including tinder, so that you will succeed on the first attempt.

Shelter:

Shelter: Create or find a shelter and then as quickly as possible move to or create a better shelter. Exposure to the elements can kill in a hurry. Under some conditions shelter will move up the list past fire. The rule of threes claims that in extreme conditions (especially exposure to extreme heat or extreme cold)s you can live for about three hours without shelter.

Your shelter should protect you from wind and percipitation, insulate you from the ground, and avoid natural threats (such as flash floods, insect mounds, and cliffs). You want the shelter to be in a location that provides easy access to water, building materials, fire wood, and other basic survival supplies.

Signal:

Signal: If you are expecting rescue, the next priority is to make sure that your rescuers can find you. Your rescuers may be other members of an adventuring party. Some signal methods are signal fires, signal smoke, signal mirrors, signal whistles, modern flares (or magic that acts like a flare), or modern electronics (such as cell phone or personal locator beacon).

Water:

Water: Depending on the conditions, a healthy adult human can die from lack of water as soon as a few hours and typically at most about three days. The rule of threes claims that you can live for about three days without water.

When your urine starts to darken, your need for water is becoming desperate. Also, don’t drink your own urine. It contains toxins and salts your body spent a lot of energy removing and it can cause you to hallunicate.

Food:

Food: You can go surprisingly long without needing food. People fast, sometimes for days. The rules of threes claims that you can live for about three weeks without food.

If you have food, ration it to make it last much longer than normal.

After water, your biggest immediate nutritional need is sugar. Lack of sugar makes you drowsy and can lead to passing out. After a day or two without carbohydrates, your brain will be adversely effected and your decision making ability drops to the point of being dangerous.

Motivation:

Motivation: Stay motivated. Do things that will improve your morale. There are cases where a survivor did almost everything wrong and still lived just on sheer willpower and desire to stay alive.

Self-Rescue:

Self-Rescue: Once you have your situation under control, you must determine if it is best to stay at your current location or self-rescue. This is best with a plane crash or other evet that is likely to initiate a rescue attempt. If you reasonably expect rescuers, you want to make it as easy as possible to find you and a crash site is much more visible than a person.

Staying put is best with a plane crash or other event that is likely to initiate a rescue attempt. If you reasonably expect rescuers, you want to make it as easy as possible to find you and a crash site is much more visible than a person.

In some situations it may not be safe to remain at your original location. After three days to a week, searches will often come to an end. You may eventually have to make your way to safety on your own. You must make a determination of when self-rescue is the appropriate choice. Before leaving your original site, clearly mark it and leave an indication of which way you went.

Weapon System:

Prior to firearms, the most efficient weapon system has been spear, shield, helmet, and body armor.

Spear:

The combo character has access to a spear. A spear is effective in the hands of an amateur. A spear is deadly in the hands of a skilled warrior.

Shield:

The combo character has access to a shield. The shileld is great is the starting point of defense in both one-on-one and mass combat.

Helmet:

The combo character has access to a helmet. Protecting the head keeps you alive.

Paladin:

If you want the full Paladin feel, you can go with a lance, sword, shield, and full plate armor. The game will make you work through lesser armor first.

Backpack:

You need a backpack to carry your stuff.

Shelter:

You need shelter. The order of needs in the wild are immediate health dangers, shelter, water, and eventually food. Tents are the traditional answer. You need rope and usually tent pegs and a tens pole. Your tent pole can double as your walking stick. Maybe even use a quarterstaff as your tent pole/walking stick.

Tarps can be effective even as rain shelter and weight much less. You need rope or guylines and either trees of stakes and pole.

Ultralight hammocks are even lighter. You can get bug nets and rainflies for your hammock. Again the walking stick/tent pole/quarterstaff idea. Maybe use your spear as a walking stick/tent pole. You need the guylines and probably pegs as well.

Sleeping:

You need protection while sleeping. A down filled quilt is light weight and compresses to small space and super good at maintaining body heat over the night.

A sleeping pad is a great luxury. Yes you can make leaf or moss beds or other alternatvies using whatever you naturally find, dpending on the kind of terrain.

Water:

You have to have water. A method to carry the water (such as waterskins). And a method for purifying found water, such as pot where you can boil the water.

You need an easy method to start fires. Relying on two sticks is time cosuming, heavy physical exertion, and requires access to sticks. Flint and steel plus a little bit of stored tinder (for when you can’t easily find tinder in the wild.

Food:

You want some carried food, even if you plan on foraging in the wild. Or military foraging, which is known to the victims as looting and stealing.

Footwear:

You want high quality outdoor footwear. Probably the best boots you can find.

Hat:

You want a hat. Proteciton against sunburn and rain.

Bad Weather Gear:

You want foul weather gear. For whatever kind of foul weather is typical where you will be adventuring. Protection from rain, snow, storm, dust, blizzard, etc.

Light:

You want some method of creating light.

Personal Hygeine:

You want personal hygeine items. Toothbrush, toothpaste, soap.

Tools:

You want the minimal set of tools needed to handle everyday situations.