[Thaumatology] Herb Lore as a more Regional Skill

[Prince Charon]

One thing that occasionally bothers me about Herb Lore is that it isn't distinguished more from Alchemy, from what I've seen. It's described as being like Alchemy but cheaper and more rural, but I'd like to take that to what seems to me a logical conclusion: Alchemy is cosmopolitan, because being in the city, you have potential access to ingredients from all over, even if you have to tell a merchant or some adventurers that you want some and wait months for them to get back. Herb Lore would be dependent on the things that your local cunning folk could gather themselves, or get from regular travelers, so it would be cheaper, but it would also require specialization by region. The greater the region you're in differs from the region you trained for (not just in distance, but in the physical and magical environment, and of course in the available plants and such), the greater the penalty to your Herb Lore skill. Likewise, specific preparations are more readily available in some regions (lower penalty, brewing time, and/or cost) than in others, and some that are common in the herbal styles of one place may be totally unknown in another. Compensating for that required specialization, I suggest that each specialization should be a Hard skill, rather than Very Hard, despite this being a required rather than optional specialization. Alchemy might thus be the skill that evolved from many herb-lorists meeting and exchanging knowledge as towns and cities (and trade networks) grew.


Thoughts?