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phiwum · 09-27-2020, 07:37 AM

I like the changes. Much simpler and a good list of "potions".

I wonder a bit about balance. Something like Mammal Repellent sure makes camping outdoors a lot easier.

The ancestral smudge description is a little oddly worded. A critical success against IQ is, what, 3, 4 or 5? A critical success is a critical success, regardless of the attribute you're rolling. A higher IQ guy is no better than a moron, unless I'm mistaken in what you mean by "critical success". An alternative for this one would to give a boost to seance rolls if you played with such rules, which can be found in Shadekeep's Apocrypha, but I don't know how easy these would be to amend.

I do like the inclusion of something for BOU.

Medicinal dressing is good. How long does each application take? I'm guessing five minutes. If so, that's a serious cost in time in most situations, which is appropriate. I'm reckoning the person can't engage in strenuous activity for the entire hour (combat, climbing, etc.) but can do other things. The use of adjST is good too.

I'm not too sure about Increase Initiative. A party wide benefit from an herbal concoction is a bit odd.

Lastly, I haven't thought about costs. These are much cheaper than chemical potions, but of more limited use. Anticipating abuse is the hard part. The repellents in particular look like they could be abused, but outside the labyrinth, a GM could declare that the wind diffuses them earlier than twelve hours.

Anyway, the simplification is an improvement. Rules for finding the herbs are lacking, but the same is true for other hunting and gathering. How do you deal with someone who wants to find a poisonous snake? Random searches until he rolls an encounter is lame if he's out snake hunting. Instead, there has to be a daily (say) roll in locating a snake that is independent of encounter tables. It should be modified by setting and talents like Naturalist, Woodsman and Tracking. Ain't no rules for that, so I make some ad hoc rules on the fly and on success play out the combat. (The combat against most herbs is admittedly one-sided.)

09-27-2020, 07:37 AM	#8
phiwum Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Boston area	Re: Herbalist Talent I like the changes. Much simpler and a good list of "potions". I wonder a bit about balance. Something like Mammal Repellent sure makes camping outdoors a lot easier. The ancestral smudge description is a little oddly worded. A critical success against IQ is, what, 3, 4 or 5? A critical success is a critical success, regardless of the attribute you're rolling. A higher IQ guy is no better than a moron, unless I'm mistaken in what you mean by "critical success". An alternative for this one would to give a boost to seance rolls if you played with such rules, which can be found in Shadekeep's Apocrypha, but I don't know how easy these would be to amend. I do like the inclusion of something for BOU. Medicinal dressing is good. How long does each application take? I'm guessing five minutes. If so, that's a serious cost in time in most situations, which is appropriate. I'm reckoning the person can't engage in strenuous activity for the entire hour (combat, climbing, etc.) but can do other things. The use of adjST is good too. I'm not too sure about Increase Initiative. A party wide benefit from an herbal concoction is a bit odd. Lastly, I haven't thought about costs. These are much cheaper than chemical potions, but of more limited use. Anticipating abuse is the hard part. The repellents in particular look like they could be abused, but outside the labyrinth, a GM could declare that the wind diffuses them earlier than twelve hours. Anyway, the simplification is an improvement. Rules for finding the herbs are lacking, but the same is true for other hunting and gathering. How do you deal with someone who wants to find a poisonous snake? Random searches until he rolls an encounter is lame if he's out snake hunting. Instead, there has to be a daily (say) roll in locating a snake that is independent of encounter tables. It should be modified by setting and talents like Naturalist, Woodsman and Tracking. Ain't no rules for that, so I make some ad hoc rules on the fly and on success play out the combat. (The combat against most herbs is admittedly one-sided.)