44 replies to this topic

[Caedwyr]

In the Beta Balancing thread, Rathwellin the Bard commented as to how Druids ran out of HLAs to choose from much earlier. He suggested a Herbalism ability as an option to help fill this void. Of course this would be implemented in version 2, but since I was already thinking about it, I thought I might as well post it here. This ability would work in a similar manner to the mage Scribe Scrolls HLA. This should be allowed to be chosen unlimited times. Here is a suggested list of herbal brews that can be created by the ability.



Crawlbane

Effects: This ointment strongly repels insects. Anyone covered head to foot in it remains unaffected by normal insects, even those summoned by spells such as creeping doom and insect plague. Giant insects still may attack the character, but do so at a -3 penalty, due to their revulsion.
Save: None


Darkweed

Effects: A character who smears this ointment over both eyes becomes blind within two rounds. However, the character can see invisible, astral, ethereal, or illusory objects as if they were real and fully visible.
Save: Neg. if save vs. spell


Ghostroot

Effects: This mixture?s luminous vapors repel undead. Any undead attempting to draw near must save vs. spell. Failure prevents them from approaching within 10 feet of the steaming brew. Success allows them to ignore its effects; once they save, they remain immune to the brew for the rest of the day. The vapors last for one turn.
Save: Neg. if save vs. spell


Anitdote

Effects: If applied to a living snake-bite victim, this poultice neutralizes the poison.
Save: None


Wintersalve

Effects: This ointment, when smeared over exposed body parts, provides the same protection against cold that a heavy fur coat would, but without the encumbrance. Combined with winter clothing, it allows for survival below zero and gives a +1 bonus to saving throws against cold-based attacks.
Save: None



Other 'druidish' potions could be included on this list.

[Hendryk]

Cool names & some basically good ideas but kind of weak, overall, for a HLA isn't it? Why would Darkweed, for instance, permit a save? And whose save, the person using the ointment or the ones being detected? What's negated?

Wintersalve would be nice in an ongoing, cold-weather PnP campaign but there's not much it would help with in ToB. +1 save and 10% resistance at least, maybe. Corresponding salves vs. other elemental attacks might also be considered.

Ghostroot either shouldn't be there at all (because druids have no power over Undead) or it should be more useful; a -2 to Undead saves and a +2 to recipient's saves when allowed.

Few things on the PMP are more unnatural or unbalancing than demons, devas and other outer planar types. Maybe an oil that when placed on a weapon gives it bonuses like the Equalizer for a couple of rounds vs. other-worldly creatures.

[Caedwyr]

The examples I posted are just out there for ideas. Better potions need to be brainstormed. The important thing, is for the potions to have a 'druidic' feel to them. Their names should be more herbalistic, and they should have effects that reflect the natural world.


Ghostroot, or something like it actually makes sense for druids. Druids are quite anti-undead in beliefs, but do not get any powers to fight the undead like clerics. A herbilistic solution would make sense.

Something acts against outer planar creatures sounds appropriate.



Keep the brainstorm coming. Feel free to criticise the examples I put out there and suggest revisions/replacements.

[Hendryk]

The random feature of scrolls and alchemy makes it much less useful. It's also highly illogical. A powerful mage (or thief) can't control what they produce? Or set out to make one scroll or potion and - entirely by accident - produce something else?

So let the druid choose which potion to make with the ability. If you did that, you could increase the total number of potions offered and include potions that enhance stats, for instance.

[Schatten]

great idea but there should be some more powerfull potions, too.

darkweed with no save is better, so you dispel any illusions and ghostroot with a better save.

[Rathwellin the Bard]

Those are some cool ideas Caedwyr!

As for the random nature of Scribe Scrolls, etc. Don't forget that the character might be at the mercy of outside factors.

"What do you mean that you don't have silver ink! Damn! I can't script Timestop without it! Grumble, grumble. OK, I'll try to substitute mercury, but I don't think it will work ... but that would make for a nice Improved Haste scroll...."

Something like Herbalism could be even more dependant on what the character could find that day....

Even the guys who settle down can't always find everything they need in their own tower or grove or whatever.

[Hendryk]

True, but when you know what you do have, you don't roll a D8 to see what you get. By all means assign a % chance that the components won't be available for a particular potion on a given attempt, so that line would be greyed out for that use of the ability. If you like, assign a chance that any given potion will not work at all or will have a reversed effect but would still stack with the others so the player can't tell the difference. Just don't tell me that what I wanted to make was a poison antidote and what I made was a jar of petunia fertilizer.

[Caedwyr]

The scribe scrolls ability for Refinements allows the player to choose which scroll to create, with higher chances of success for the lower level scrolls. I was refering to this version when I said how the Herballism should be modeled after.

[Caedwyr]

The examples I posted were shamelessly stolen and slightly edited from the second edition Complete Book of Druids, and are intended to be makeable at lower levels as well. They were just put up there to spark ideas, and to hopefully get people to use 'druidic' names for the potions. Incidently, salves, poultices, and other methods of application are all acceptable.


Hmm, summoning mists might work. The strong druidic elemental affinity is also an area to be considered.

@Domi: I've seen you post AD&D herbal info before. Would you mind telling me your source so I can see if I can dig up anything else that might work and is fully kosher?

[jester]

Wouldn't you also have to introduce new ingedients into the game or is this handled ingame by greying out unavailable choices because of surrounding, i.e. stuff not found in the Underdark? I love the idea though.

The ingedients idea begs the question, if anything is available in most game areas.

[Caedwyr]

Since this is a HLA and not a lower level ability, I'd just suggest making the ingredients unnecssary. You could just say that the HLA process involves the magical collection of the herbs. Otherwise, this ability doesn't really deserve to be a HLA.


The examples I posted actually had a list of ingredients and the environments in which they could be found. For a HLA, needing to get the ingredients seems rather pointless, especially since the number of regions you are restricted to in ToB would make certain ingredients impossible to collect.

[Baltrek]

Or, seeing how a druid can summon one of the Elemental Princes themselves, we could pretend they could conjure up a leaf or two at will, or would be so in tune with nature, finding components ceases to be a problem.

Or rather, imagine this:

New potions become available as level increases, using the innate skill set. This allows you to start with the weak ones, and bring in the big cheese for later in SoA and through ToB.

[Caedwyr]

The HLA range is around the same time that the druids gain the power to planeshift to the elemental planes. Since they can do this, it is not inconcievable that they could get a servant in one of those planes to do some gathering for them. Aerial servants or another similar creature could be tasked to obtain the needed ingredients. Whatever, the excuse, lets just assume that the druids have all the necessary ingrediants and brainstorm some salves/potions .

[Caedwyr]

I believe that druids can actually get holy symbols since in Aber-Toril they are actually a type of specialty priest. We'll have to wait for the cleric remix over at the Gibberling Three for this component.

[Baltrek]

Any potions or salves should stay away from affecting enemies directly, "Here stand still while I rub this on you", but rather should enhance the druid in some way.