[Basic] Skill of the week: Herb Lore

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by dripton

So maybe there's a way to make it fun. Like, detail 20 different herbs and flowers, and make most of them dirt common and just drop them into scene descriptions regularly, but make a few of them very rare and valuable. ("Oh yeah, you need buggerwort to cast Steal Youth. That's why it's illegal in 3 kingdoms. Even though it's also useful for Instant Regeneration.")

i still use the old Dragon article I saved from a million years ago that has something like 100 herbs and their uses on a d100 chart.


I really need to retype it up as it's threatening to disintegrate.

[Anders]

There's also a WotC supplement from ages ago called "the compleat alchemist" or something like that. Contains a lot of useful stuff.

[Phantasm]

I've seen Herb Lore used more by NPCs than PCs, because even though the ingredients are free the brewing of the elixirs tend to be very time-consuming. This relegated the use of Herb Lore to NPCs that sell cheap healing/fertility/contraceptive potions for the average person who can't afford to go to an alchemist.

The real question becomes: How do Gadgeteer and Quick Gadgeteer interact with Herb Lore, so that PCs don't complain about spending weeks to months brewing?

[simply Nathan]

Originally Posted by tbrock1031

The real question becomes: How do Gadgeteer and Quick Gadgeteer interact with Herb Lore, so that PCs don't complain about spending weeks to months brewing?

Use the DF rules for Alchemy with Gadgeteer/Quick Gadgeteer, but halve the $ value of the ingredients required.

[RogerBW]

Rolemaster also had a huge herb list.

The only character with this skill in my archives is Virtue Smith, the "ship's conjure" in my Seas of Dread demo game, based on the setting in GURPS Horror. (The other PCs are straight out of Supporting Cast - Age of Sail Pirate Crew.)

Virtue has the Paths of Elements, Health, Knowledge and Protection at 17, Bad Temper, Impulsiveness, and an Addiction to Tobacco. (Also the quirk Cannot Float.)

[The Colonel]

There's also a Harnmaster fan-made version available here if it helps...