Herbs, teas, and magic potions play a key role in the everyday life of the people. They are used in just about every aspect of life, from enhancing the taste of food to curing disease. Some potions are rumored to keep one forever young, while others ward off evil spirits. The more powerful magic potions are comparatively rare and/or expensive and must be created by somebody adept in such mystic arts. Identifying the proper plants is very important. To a novice, one plant may look very similar to another, and yet while one brings health and long life, the other may cause sickness or death. Most people prefer to obtain their herbs from an herbalist or dryad druid, both experts in herbal medicine and magic. These individuals collect and usually store an ample supply of properly identified herbs and plants for medicinal purposes. A high-level herbalist may have several assistants and students who gather and test the herbs prior to their use and sale. The more dangerous, magical, and legendary herbs are inaccessible to most ordinary people because of the plants' precarious locations, rarity, powerful guardians, or cost. An herbalist is an individual indigenous to certain regions, although they may travel to or live in various other parts. The practitioner of this herbal magic can be male or female, human, elf, or another being. The O.C.C. is unique, making the mage even more attuned to and in harmony with plant life than most druids.

The herbalist has innate mystical abilities that enable them to identify rare species, grow a tree from sapling to adult in a matter of minutes, perform metamorphosis, and instill ordinary herbs with magic powers. Their most sought-after abilities are creating powerful teas and potions from these magic plants. An herbalist must have been born and raised in their homeland for at least the first ten years of their life. This is important because of the special diet of mutant mushrooms that must have been eaten weekly to instill the character's unique powers over vegetation. These mushrooms are permeated with microbes that, after years of consumption, cause a physical change in the person eating them. It is this transformation or mutation that so keenly attunes the practitioner of magic to plants and gives them their special mystic powers. Once the mutation is complete, the herbalist becomes as much a part of the land as the plants they love and understand. One of these powers is the ability to channel ley line energy into plants and transform them into things of magic.

THE CODE

Any self-respecting herbalist follows a kind of code:

• Always collect the herbs yourself, during dry weather and after the dew has evaporated.
• Cut herbs with neutral tools (wood, stone, silver, gold) and not with metal tools which can alter the properties of the plants.
• Never pick more than necessary, and always leave at least as many plants as you collect.

• Mushrooms. Harvest throughout the year, except in winter.
• Barks. Harvested in autumn.
• Plants. Leaves, flowers and berries are harvested in summer.
• Roots. Harvest in spring or autumn. Then, to be able to identify a herb by its appearance, its smell or its taste, you must succeed on a identify plants skill. The plants with the most powerful effects are also the rarest!

  Herbalist Abilities:

  1. Mystic Herbology: Holistic medicine gives a character a limited knowledge of herbs specifically in regard to their applications in healing and medicine. It does not include knowledge of rare or legendary plants or magic. This knowledge of plants and medicine will allow a character to assist a druid or herbalist but does not enable the character to instill magic in plants nor to make magic potions. The mystic herbology skill is far more expansive and complete. It includes where to find these herbs, when to pick them, how to prepare and dry/preserve them, a complete knowledge of poisons, plant lore and legends, magical properties, protection against the supernatural, instilling an herb with magic, and the creation of ordinary and magic teas, tonics, elixirs, potions, salves, and balms. Base Skill: 20% + 5% per level of experience. A failed roll means the treatment is flawed and will not work. The art of mystic herbology is a closely guarded secret known only to the herbalist O.C.C. While the fruits of the magic may be shared, its secrets are not.
  2. Sense Weather Conditions: The herbalist's sensitivity to plant life enables them to feel/sense rises and falls in temperature and barometric pressure, humidity, frost, wind speed, and direction. This allows the character to make reasonably accurate weather predictions for the next 24-hour period. They can also tell if plants and the ground are dry and approximately how long it has been since the last rain. Base Skill: 40% + 4% per level of experience.
  3. Increase the Potency of Teas: The herbalist can double the intensity of effects and the duration of teas, including how long they stay warm and flavor strength. Once the tea cools down, its enhanced benefits are lost. Not applicable to magic potions. Base Skill: 40% + 4% per level of experience.
  4. Detect Poison by Smell and Taste: Most plant toxins have a telltale aroma which the herbalist recognizes instantly. Similarly, the character can recognize poison by tasting only a tiny grain or when mixed in food or drink before they have tasted enough to suffer its effects. Base Skill: 46% + 4% per level of experience.
  5. P.P.E. (Potential Psychic Energy): The herbalist is a living P.P.E. battery. They can draw on their own store of mystic energy or draw it from ley lines, nexus points, and other living creatures. Permanent base P.P.E.: 2D4 x 10 plus the P.E. attribute number. Add 1D6 P.P.E. for each additional level of experience. The herbalist can regain four P.P.E. per hour at levels 1-5, six P.P.E. per hour at levels 6-10, and eight P.P.E. per hour at levels 11-15.
  6. Bonuses: +2 to save vs. mind control (whether it be psionic or chemical), +2 to save vs. poison, +2 to save vs. horror factor.
  7. Mystic Herbology: The secret knowledge of using plants for magic. This skill includes knowledge of where to find herbs, when to pick them, how to prepare and preserve them, plant lore and legends, magical properties, protection against the supernatural, instilling an herb with magic, and the creation of ordinary and magic teas, tonics, elixirs, potions, salves, and balms.
• Special Magic Powers

  Note: Each of the following special powers requires P.P.E. energy to perform, like magic spells.

  1. Identify Unknown Plant Life: The herbalist can sense and identify the basic properties of an unknown plant, such as its growth cycle, whether it is edible or poisonous, or if it has any healing properties. P.P.E. Cost: 10 per each individual plant.
  2. Sense Location of a Particular Plant, Tree, or Herb: After taking a hallucinogenic herb known for its powers of divination, the herbalist can see the location of the plant/tree/herb in their mind and follow a mental picture of the path to it. Range is limited to five miles (8 km) per level of experience and only one type of plant/herb can be focused on at a time. P.P.E. Cost: 5 points; locating underground water costs 20 P.P.E. points.
  3. Heal Plant Life: The herbalist can link with a tree or plant to sense its pain or disorder and diagnose the exact cause of its sickness. The sorcerer can then channel their own P.P.E. energy into the plant to cure it and/or give it more strength. P.P.E. Cost: 2 to heal a small plant or flower, 5 for shrubs and bushes, 10 to heal a sapling, 20 for a young adult tree, 40 to heal an old tree (100+ years), 70 to heal an ancient tree (500+ years).
  4. Accelerate the Growth of Common Trees & Plants: By expending P.P.E. and concentration, the herbalist can cause a single common tree or plant/herb to grow to full maturity within 1D6 minutes. They can control and manipulate the growing plant, molding its general shape and size. P.P.E. Cost: 30.
  5. Temporarily Shrink Plants: The sorcerer can cause full-grown plants to fold up and seemingly shrink to half their true size, handy when traveling through dense woodlands. A 50-foot (15.2 m) radius can be affected per level of experience. P.P.E. Cost: 30, lasting up to 10 minutes per level of experience.
  6. Shape/Sculpt Trees and Plants: This power enables the herbalist to alter the positions of branches, leaves, and burls or twist the trunk to create strange and sometimes frightening shapes out of trees and plants. P.P.E. Cost: 35 per tree. The new shape is permanent unless changed by its sculptor or another herbalist.
  7. Shape Wood: The herbalist can shape dead/processed wood with their hands, making it like modeling clay. They can create almost anything from a pointed spear or bow to a canoe or statue. P.P.E. Cost: 40 points. The ability to sculpt and shape wood lasts for 20 minutes per level of experience.
  8. Animate Plants and Trees: The herbalist can make the branches of a tree or bush come to life with seemingly human characteristics. The branches can hit, grab, and entangle, although they inflict only S.D.C. damage. Combat: Attacks per melee are equal to the level of the herbalist. P.P.E. Cost: 40 points. Duration is two minutes per level of experience.
  9. One with the Forest: This power is similar to the chameleon spell, enabling the herbalist to disappear completely among the foliage. While in this state, the character cannot move, attack, or perform any magic or psionics and must be in sufficient plant life and vegetation to blend in. P.P.E. Cost: 10, lasting up to five minutes per level of experience.
  10. Metamorphosis into a Tree: The herbalist can become a tree, indistinguishable from other trees. As a tree, they cannot move, attack, or use magic but can rustle their leaves. The mage retains all senses and can hear, see, smell, feel, and even speak (words sound like whispers on the wind). This is an ideal way to hide from or spy on people. The transformation gives an additional 200 S.D.C. The magic can be canceled at any time or lasts 10 minutes per level of experience. P.P.E. Cost: 150.
  

  Concocting a preparation: A character can use the following rules to create preparations. Note that none of these preparations are magic in terms of the rules. Moreover, whatever the preparation (infusion, decoction or maceration), it is not a simple operation. To extract the full essence of an herb and achieve its optimum effect, the picked plant must be in perfect condition, heated but not too much, enough, not too long, etc. Sometimes, the plant must also be mixed with other common components (fat, water, oil, nuts, acorn), but essential to obtain the desired effect.

  With regard to concocting, preparations can be classified into four categories:

  1. Direct Absorption. These plants or berries are eaten uncooked, just after picking, and therefore do not actually require any preparation. Once picked, they must be eaten quickly because, otherwise, they lose enough of their properties so that the desired effect does not occur. The effects of these plants without preparation are very limited, but their cost is zero.
  2. Infusion. To prepare these plants, they must be immersed in hot or cold water for a few minutes. The resulting infusion, which can then be stored in a vial, retains its properties for several days. Beyond that, the infusion is no longer strong enough to produce real effects. The effects of herbal teas are generally a little stronger than those of herbs that are eaten directly.
  3. Decoction. The decoction is usually applied to barks and roots. The plant must remain submerged in boiling water for about an hour. The resulting decoction, which can then be stored in a vial, retains its properties for several weeks. The effects of decoctions are generally stronger than those of simple infusions.
  4. Maceration. A maceration is a mixture of oils and herbs that must rest for a long time and from which only the oil is kept in the end. This can keep its properties for more than a year. The cost is equal to the selling price divided by 10 (for the additional ingredients needed) and there is generally only enough in a place to end up with a single dose. Concocting a maceration is painstaking work and requires a successful DC 10 Wisdom (Nature) check. On a failure, the plants are lost.
  5. Also be aware that when we talk about poultices, ointments or balms, we are simply referring to how we apply the preparation, and not how we prepare the herbs, which is what interests us here.

     Herbcraft

     Herbal Items

     Herbal items include non-magical medicines, salves, poultices, and concoctions made from plants, roots, berries, and other naturally occurring ingredients using special instruments and processes. Herbal items come in three qualities: Minor, Moderate, and Masterwork. Generally, the higher the quality, the more potent the herbal item. Herbal items also tend to lose their potency if not used within a certain period of being made. Herbal items may be purchased from herbalists during play who will quickly concoct the desired item. However, because herbal items lose their potency, they cannot be purchased between game sessions. Characters who have the skill "Herbal Lore" can craft herbal items if they know the appropriate recipe by gathering the ingredients during their adventures.

     Herbalism Kit

     This kit contains a variety of instruments such as clippers, mortar and pestle, and pouches and vials used by herbalists to create remedies and potions. The herbalism kit also generally contains a small book in which the herbalist can take notes and record recipes.

     Crafting Herbal Items

     To craft an herbal item, you must have the "Herbal Lore" skill and you must know the recipe for the item you wish to craft. After choosing the item you wish to craft, you must gather the required ingredients and then craft the item.

     Herbal Recipes

     If you know the recipe for a particular item, you know which ingredients are required to craft an herbal item, where those ingredients are likely to be found, and how to prepare them. You even know enough to substitute ingredients based on what’s available in the local area. Every herbal recipe specifies the skill check required to craft Minor, Moderate, and Masterwork quality versions of that item. It also specifies the terrain or terrains in which the ingredients – or substitute ingredients – can be gathered. Some recipes specify rare or special ingredients that cannot be gathered through normal means. Those ingredients must be acquired through special means, either through purchase or during the course of an adventure.

     Gathering Ingredients

     After you select the item you wish to craft, you must gather the ingredients for that item. You may only gather the ingredients for one item at a time. And you must be in the appropriate type of terrain specified by the recipe. To gather the ingredients, you must spend one hour wandering the local area, searching for appropriate ingredients. During this time, you cannot perform any other tasks, nor can you travel too far in any specific direction and this period does not grant you the benefits for a short rest.

     Alternatively, you can gather ingredients as a travel activity. This is similar to foraging except, instead of gathering food and water during a day of travel, you gather the ingredients required to craft an herbal item.

     At the end of the gathering period, day of travel, or other period as specified by the GM, make a skill check using your "Herbal Lore" skill. Compare the result to the skill check required to craft the item you were trying to make. If your check result does not meet or exceed the skill check required to craft the lowest quality version of the item, you failed to turn up enough useful ingredients. Otherwise, you turned up enough ingredients to produce the desired item at the highest quality whose skill check you met or exceeded. A ranger with the "Wilderness Survival" skill may gather enough ingredients to produce two items of the same quality at the same time if they are in their favored terrain.

     Crafting the Item

     Once you have gathered the appropriate materials, it generally takes only a few minutes of work to craft the item. No further check is needed to construct the item. You may simply add the item to your inventory and use it normally.

     • Minor Work: The character makes a successful skill roll.
     • Moderate Work: The character makes a successful skill roll by at least half (for example, with a skill of 60%, the character must roll 30% or lower).
     • Masterwork: The character makes a successful skill roll with a roll of 01% to 05%.

     Learning New Recipes

     If you are proficient with "Herbal Lore," there are a number of ways you can learn new recipes. Herbalists can easily teach each other recipes in just a few minutes. If you discover an herbalist’s notes, you can also learn any recipes they had recorded. And most herbalists keep their notes with their herbalism kits. Learning recipes from another herbalist or from their notes does not require any check.

     In addition, if you acquire an herbal item, you can use your herbalism kit to analyze the item and figure out the recipe. It takes one hour of quiet, careful work to analyze an herbal item and the item is destroyed in the process. At the end of the work period, make a skill check using your "Herbal Lore" skill. If you meet or exceed the skill check required to craft the item at Masterwork quality, you learn the recipe. Otherwise, you have learned nothing and destroyed the item.

     Herbal Items

     Item	Expire	Cost Minor/Moderate/Masterwork	Weight
     Burn Soothe Ointment	24 hr.	20/40/60 gp	0.5 lb.
     Venom Cleanse Tea	24 hr.	15/30/45 gp	—
     Wound Bind Poultice	24 hr.	20/40/60 gp	0.5 lb.

     Burn Soothe Ointment

     This paste, composed primarily of roots and plant oils, reduces pain and speeds the recovery of burns. If applied to a creature’s wounds within 10 minutes of their taking fire damage from any source or if applied within 10 minutes of the end of an encounter during which they took fire damage from any source, the creature heals 1d6, 2d6, or 3d6 hit points depending on the quality.

     • Cost: Minor 20 gp; Moderate 40 gp; Masterwork 60 gp
     • Expires: 24 hours
     • Gather Ingredients: Forest, Swamp

     Venom Cleanse Tea

     This herbal tea helps cleanse the body of normal toxins. It is normally imbibed but can also be used to clean a poisoned wound. When a creature suffering from the poisoned condition is treated with this remedy, they may roll a new saving throw to end the poisoned condition immediately with a -10%, normally, or with a +10% depending on the quality of the tea.

     • Cost: Minor 15 gp; Moderate 30 gp; Masterwork 45 gp
     • Expires: 24 hours
     • Gather Ingredients: Forest, Grasslands

     Wound Bind Poultice

     This is a spongy mass of absorbent moss treated with a number of herbs designed to staunch bleeding, cleanse wounds, and dull pain. If bound over a wound, it promotes quick healing. When applied to a wound, the recipient heals 1d4, 2d4, or 3d4 hit points depending on the quality.

     • Cost: Minor 20 gp; Moderate 40 gp; Masterwork 60 gp
     • Expires: 24 hours
     • Gather Ingredients: Forest, Grasslands

     The Herbalist O.C.C.

     
     Attribute Requirements: I.Q. and M.E. must be 11 or higher.
     Alignment: Any, but often anarchist or unprincipled.
     O.C.C. Skills:
     • Mystic Herbology (new) (+15%)
     • Holistic Medicine (+25%)
     • Identify Plants & Fruits (+25%)
     • Preserve Food (+25%)
     • Wilderness Survival (+25%)
     • Land Navigation (+20%)
     • Botany (+20%)
     • Biology (+15%)
     • Chemistry (+15%)
     • Math: Basic (+20%)
     • Language: Native and two of choice (+20%)
     • Literacy in Native Language (+20%)
     • Weapon Proficiencies: Select two
     • Hand to Hand: Basic (can be changed to expert at the cost of one "other" skill selection)
     
     O.C.C. Related Skills: Select six other skills of choice at level one, plus 1 per level starting at level 2. All new skills start at Lvl. one proficiency.
     Communications: None
     Domestic: Any (+10%)
     Espionage: Detect Ambush, Detect Concealment and Intelligence only.
     Horsemanship: General or Exotic only.
     Labour: any
     Medical: Any (+15%)
     Military: Camouflage and Falconry only (both at + 10%)
     Naval: None
     Performing Arts: Any
     Physical: Any.
     Rogue: Recognize and Use Poison only (+10%).
     Science: Any (+15%)
     Scholar/Technical: Any (+ 1 0%)
     Weapon Proficiencies: Any, except Siege, Targeting, Large Axes, Pole Arms and Lance.
     Wilderness: Any (+10%)
     
     Secondary Skills: Choose 4 at level 1, plus 1 per level starting at level 2. All new skills start at Lvl. one proficiency. These are additional areas of knowledge that don't get the O.C.C. bonus.
     
     Standard Equipment: Magic herbs and items: In addition to 1D4 x 10 + 5 non-magical herbs, the character starts with 15 magic herb items of the player's choice. These can be magic food, dried fruit, bark or leaves, potions, or ointments. Additional magic herbs, weapons, wands, and items must be acquired later. Clothes and shoes suitable for wilderness travel, a complete medical kit, small shovel and hand pick for digging up plant roots and bulbs, rope and/or lightweight cord (50 feet), one grappling hook, four wooden stakes (1D6 S.D.C.), several types and sizes of knives, scissors, plant snippers, and a scalpel. Other items include a tent or sleeping bag, utility belt, backpack, one large sack, a dozen small sacks, a dozen small specimen jars, a box of 50 small bags. Traditional garb is brown and/or green clothing. Many wear magical bark or leaf armor from the Tree of Life.
     Money: 3D6 x 100 Silver, 1D4 x 1000 in gems and precious metals. Payment for healing and magic can range from a few coins to several thousand, or a trade of goods or services. Depending on the circumstances, a fair trade may be a bowl of soup or a place to sleep for a magic herb or potions that normally command high value. Kind-hearted herbalists will often bestow their healing teas, potions, and magic for free. Even under the best conditions, the character is not likely to get more than 20% of the fair market price when selling to a merchant, fellow healer, or institution.

     Note: See Herbal Magic for information about specific plants , medicinal uses and magic herbs.

     Level Experiance 1 0-2,200 2 2,201-4,400 3 4,401-8,800 4 8,801-16,500 5 16,501-25,000 6 25,001-35,000 7 35,001-50,000 8 50,001-71,000 9 71,001-96,500 10 96,501-135,500 11 135,501-180,500 12 180,501-230,500 13 230,5001-280,500 14 280,501-335,500 15 335,501-400,500

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