Alternative to the Scavenging Charts. They are organized primarily by Rarity. For instance, a medical clinic might have a full range of Chems available, but might not have a wide variety of Ammunition (Rarity 2 and below). So for random Chems, you could use the full Chems Scavenging list which includes all Rarity levels. But scavenging Ammo at the medical clinic, you’d use the Rarity 2 list, which limits Ammo to Rarity 2 and below.
Since reducing the Rarity will reduce the number of possible options, many of the lower Rarity tables end up being 1d20 instead of 2d20. Some tables are nearly negated – e.g. there is only one Beverage that is 0 Rarity, but I’ve included those in the chart anyway just for fun.
IN ADDITION:
I like how the game offers you a luck chance to determine the level of Rarity found at a trader or merchant.
Essentially, you have the character make a CD roll equal to their Luck, add up the damage from the roll, make that your maximum Rarity available.
So I thought why not do that but for Scavenging? When you find a location, roll your Luck CD to determine the max Rarity of anything found.
I feel this is an un needed complication of the scavenging rules.
Luck is used with vendors because otherwise there is little randomness in what they have to sell.
Scavenging requires a search roll to find anything. Then you may have to spend extra successes to get a roll on the table you want. Finally you have to roll on the table. After all that you may end up with railroad spikes.
To be clear, I’m suggesting using Luck only if it’s a random location. If it’s a specific location, the GM predetermines the range of Rarity for that location.
Re: un needed complication: My issue with the current Scavenging tables are Believability and Level Balancing.
If I’m scavenging the suburbs, I can count on there being a few guns around, this is America after all. But with the current set up for Scavenging tables, there’s a real chance that I might find a Fat Man.
Believability - How is it that I’m finding one of the most powerful, experimental military weapons in someone’s closet?
Level Balancing - What implications will it have on my campaign when a level 1 character stumbles across one of the most powerful weapons in the game?
Using these tables, I can side step those issues. So you would never find a Fat Man while scavenging the Residential Apartments (max Rarity 2), but you might find one inside the Military Base (max Rarity 5).
It’s been 200 years. There is a non zero possibility that somebody acquired a Fat man and stayed in that apartment then was killed elsewhere.
Location level is also a factor in the standard scavenging tables. The apartment would be low level so much less likely to adjust the roll to get a Fat Man than at a high level military complex.
As GM you could always say that roll is not a valid result. But in return I would give an item of equal value or 2+ that total the value.