Any magical plant (and even some plant adjacent organisms like mushrooms and lichen) are considered herbs. Herbs can be found in virtually every environment, even using their magical nature to survive in places that would be inhospitable to more mundane plants. Their effects vary widely and some are much rarer and more useful than others, but all have their own value in their own ways.
The following section details the basic rules for finding herbs and how to use them.
Gathering Herbs
Collecting a herb is known as gathering, which is further broken down into two different methods: foraging and picking.
Foraging
Foraging refers to wandering through one’s environment and simply gathering whatever they may come across. It may be done as a downtime activity, or while the party is travelling at a normal or slower pace.
For every 8 hours that a character spends foraging, they may make a Wisdom (Survival) check, with the results determined by the table below. Results are cumulative: each row’s results also earn the foraging character the results of the rows above it.
Foraging Herb Table
| d20 | Result |
|---|---|
| 10–15 | Character finds enough food to feed a Medium-sized creature for one day. |
| 16–20 | As above, plus a common herb. Roll on the appropriate environment’s common herb table to determine the result. |
| 21+ | As above, plus a rare herb. Roll on the appropriate environment’s rare herb table to determine the result. |
Picking
Picking refers to actively searching out a specific herb by tracking through the environment and looking for signs of where the herb may be. This may only be done as a downtime job.
In order to go picking for a herb, a player must declare which herb they are looking for and spend Ud4 downtime attempting to find it, at the end of which they may make a DC 25 Wisdom (Survival) check. A player may only attempt to pick a herb that is in the same environment table as the environment the player is currently in.
On a success they find the herb they were looking for. On a failure, it is deemed that the herb cannot be found in the local area and they must travel for a full day before they, or anyone in their party, may attempt to pick the same herb again.
Using Herbs
Herbs may be used much like any other item, with their description detailing how to use them, how long it takes to use them, and the effects they bestow.
A creature may only be under the effect of one herb at a time. If a creature attempts to use a new herb on themselves while still under the effect of another, the first herb’s effects end immediately.
Preparing Herbs
Many herbs are quick and simple to apply, usually just using an action to eat them or spending a bit of time rubbing their juices on one’s equipment. However, other herbs require a much longer and more involved process — needing to be smoked, boiled, peeled, burned, etc. before they become usable. Herbs that require a process such as this are said to require preparation.
To prepare a herb, a character must have a herbalism kit in their possession and spend an hour during a short or long rest processing the herb appropriately. This is considered a light and non-strenuous activity for the purpose of calculating rest requirements. If done during a short rest, that character may still recover hit points by expending hit die as usual.
Once the rest has been finished, the herb must be used immediately. The character preparing the herb and the character using the herb do not need to be the same — one character can prepare the herb, while another uses it at the end of the rest.
Tags
References
- 5e - Supplemental - Hamunds Herbalism Handbook.pdf