Herbalism mechanics

[csjames75]

I'm working on drafting an expanded version of herbalism for my campaign. Certain special herbs that an herbalist can potentially find in the woods.

So far these are the mechanics, and I'd love to hear any suggestions.

Thanks.

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Herbalism in Ancient Ice

Searching for herbs takes four hours, but the herbalist can double the number of hours he searches in order to add another die (+1 die). If you are searching for a specific herb from either the rare or very rare table, you can add one to the Ob to get it.

Herb uses (d6)

1 - 3: One use
4 - 5: Two uses
6 : Three uses

Rare Herbs (ob 3)

1 -- Breadfruit (can sustain food needs of a human for one day)

2 -- Agate mushrooms (can be used to create a poison that will make a single blow shift up one level of damage)

3 -- Iron wood (a quasi-magical wood that can be treated with a special resin to make it as hard as metal. Useful in a metal poor campaign.)

4 --

5 --

6 --

Very Rare Herbs (Ob4)
1d6 table

1 -- Bright Root (+1 die to Will and Perception for four hours)

2 -- Heal-All (+1 die to Recovery Time)

3 -- Walking Weed (ignore exhaustion for a day or one light wound for four hours. ADDICTIVE Drug. Must make an obstacle check versus Will per times consumed in a month or lose a die from withdraw. Another dose can be taken immediately to avoid the effect, but another failed check will cause you to lose another die. Ex: Character with a b5 Will takes Walking Weed once and then must test at an Ob 1. If he takes it again within a month, he must test the second time at a Ob2, then Ob3. If the test is failed, then the he can either take another dose or take a -1 on all die rolls in addition to the returning effects of the original light wound.)

4 --

5 --

6 --

[Mickeroo]

I'm just wondering, maybe I missed your explanation, but what happens on a 4-6 on the tables? Also, what skill is used, herbalism or foraging? I would say foraging to look for them. And finally, should you be able to add to the herb use die, like, if you exceed obstacle add 1 to the DoF, double obstacle adds 2, et cetera as ranged weapons?

I do like the idea though, with your permission, I would like to use it for my game too.

[csjames75]

*laugh* 4-6 are still open. I haven't thought of any herbs yet that I'm excited about except the one's I've listed.

I like the idea you mentioned about using extra success to add to the Die of Fate of number of uses. So if you got two success over your obstacle and rolled the DoF you could get a +2 to the result. That's very in-keeping with the idea and makes it more appealing to spend Artha for open-ended rolls or dropping that Deed artha (double dice) when the situation is desperate.

I think it's possible that foraging might be useful but all of the obstacles are based on an herbalism skill. Only herbalists would know exactly where to search for the rare ones, but I would certainly allow foraging as a FoRK.

You are more than welcome to use any part of this very incomplete table. I'm a big fan of copylefting.

[Mickeroo]

Oh one more thing, for the healing root, I tihnk it should be +1d to health tests for a certain amount of time or sometihng like that. It will have the effect of reducing recovery times but also heloing vs poisions and the like.

Also, definatley post when you think of the other roots.

[csjames75]

That makes sense. I want Heal-All to be pretty special and very rare and allowing it to have that effect is certainly in-keeping with that idea.

EDIT: If someone wants to move this over to the It Only Takes a Spark forum, I would certainly understand.

[Mickeroo]

Ok, one more thing (I know I said that last time). I don't think they should have to roll to see what herb they're getting. I mean, they could just be looking for random herbs, but chances are they know which ones they want, right? Maybe it would reduce time to just look randomly or sometihng though.

[csjames75]

Oh, I must have cut out that part of the mechanic. As I meant it to be written, I was thinking it would be random unless the herbalist added an additional Obstacle to the search. With the additional Obstacle, they could find any herb that they had found before.

[Mickeroo]

"With the additional Obstacle, they could find any herb that they had found before."

What if they studied what the herb looked like and whatnot? Would they be able to get one they hadn't found before?

Also, you alluded to herbs not on these tables. Did you just mean ones that you need for herbalism in general?

[Drozdal]

3 -- Iron wood (a quasi-magical wood that can be treated with a special resin to make it as hard as metal. Useful in a metal poor campaign.)
Come on csjames75 when was the last time you've played druid in DnD? Seriously, AFAIR Iron Wood is taken straight from Player's Manual for the third edition, I'm not saying it's wrong to get ideas from DnD, but at least change the name to something more appropiate for your campaign (because i'm assuming you're developing those "herbs" for your Ancient Ice thing).
Now "Iron Wood" is a rare find, what about the resin that is essential for compleating the thickening process? How hard is to find this beauty?
3 -- Walking Weed (ignore exhaustion for a day or one light wound for four hours. ADDICTIVE Drug. Must make an obstacle check versus Will per times consumed in a month or lose a die from withdraw. Another dose can be taken immediately to avoid the effect, but another failed check will cause you to lose another die. Ex: Character with a b5 Will takes Walking Weed once and then must test at an Ob 1. If he takes it again within a month, he must test the second time at a Ob2, then Ob3. If the test is failed, then the he can either take another dose or take a -1 on all die rolls in addition to the returning effects of the original light wound.)
Have you checked meds section of Under the Serpent Sun (http://www.burningwheel.org/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=Downloads&file=index&req=getit&lid=39)? On pages 33-34 you'll find how we dealt with drugs that affect your physical stats, and what happens when you overdose.

Let's look on Herbs categories now - You're saying that we have Rare and Very Rare herbs, but why not go with much simpler distinction - Common (OB1-2), Uncommon (OB3), Rare (OB4+, yes and now you can squeeze your one of the kind sapling of the white tree in this category with OB of let's say 8 ;)).

[csjames75]

I guess the issue there Droz for me was that I really only wanted a small system, that covered things above the standard herbs people use in an herb kit. I felt like start small and add as needed. So I think only 12 specific herbs ( the rare and very rare tables) that deviate from the norm is a good start I think. It leaves room for more. And, as you stated, I could always put an Ob 8 on that One-of-a-kind Albino mudroot that is the component of something incredibly powerful

As to the last time I played a druid or really played Dungeons and dragons except maybe two one-shots was in the mid to late 80s. So, if it's plagerism, it's unconscious ... but the point well taken. Still, I like the name, so I'm keeping it.

I suppose I should put resin on the table as well. Put Wehrresin on the Vary Rare table.

I'll take a look at the Under the Serpent Sun setting for potential inspiration on addiction and additional "herb-like" buffs.

Thanks

[Kublai]

The 4 hour time block seems arbitrary to me, but I guess you have to start somewhere. But, if Samwise and Aragorn had to search for four hours before he found King's Foil to heal Frodo with, do you think Frodo would've lived back there outside Weathertop?

Perhaps you ought to allow extra successes to reduce time since you basically have allowed the the Carefully action already?

[csjames75]

I can see that. Extra successes could be spent either on raising the roll on the DoF for the number of uses for the herb found or on lowering the amount of time required to find these special herbs.

Thanks for the suggestion.