# ⚗ # Tucker's Guide to Herbalism & Alchemy

##### An adventurer's guide to herbalism, alchemy, and potion creation.

\page # ⚗ Tucker's Guide to Herbalism & Alchemy An adventurer's guide to herbalism, alchemy, and potion creation. This manual will enable Dungeon Masters and players use an Herbalism Kit to search for and gather exotic plants and herbs, then use an Alchemist's Supplies to combine these ingredients to brew powerful potions, oils, elixers, and poisons. Making potions and the like is a two step process. First an adventurer must use an Herbalism Kit to gather ingredients, and then an adventurer can use Alchemist's Supplies to brew various things with the ingredients. ## 🍄 Herbalism & Harvesting Ingredients Before an adventure can concoct anything, they must first gather the necessary ingredients. This is done with an Herbalism Kit. > ##### Herbalism Kit > > *Player's Handbook 5e pg 154* > > 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. Proficiency with this kit lets you add your proficiency bonus to any ability checks you make to identify or apply herbs. Also, proficiency with this kit is required to create antitoxin and any potion of healing. > > ###### Type: **Tool**, Cost: **5 gp**, Weight: **3lbs** ### Harvesting Components During a short or long rest, an adventurer can search for useful herbs nearby. Choose a plant from the Herbs & Ingredients table. Make a Survival Check, using an Herbalism Kit, vs the DC of the herb. If the adventurer makes the check, roll the Herb's Harvest Amount dice to determine how many are harvested. On a Survival Check roll of 20+, roll the Harvest Amount dice twice. Herbs tend to grow in specific environments, and finding herbs in their non-native environment is extremely difficult. Non-native herbs can only be found on a Survival Check roll of 30+, and they always roll Amount dice twice. Alternatively, herbs can be bought and sold at harbalist shops. ##### Herbs & Ingredients | Name | Rarity | Value | Weight | |:------------------------|:-------:|:------:|:------:| | 🌱 Prairie Tongue | Common | 1 gp | 1/10 lbs | | 🌸 Japetal Flower | Common | 3 gp | 1/10 lbs | | 🌿 Leopard's Bane | Common | 4 gp | 1/8 lbs | | 🌻 Shimberry | Uncommon | 6 gp | 1/4 lbs | | 🎋 Quip Reed | Uncommon | 7 gp | 1/6 lbs | | 🌲 Frostfern | Uncommon | 9 gp | 1/8 lbs | | 🍄 Russula Cap | Rare | 10 gp | 1/6 lbs | | 🌰 Gran Nut | Rare | 12 gp | 1/4 lbs | | 🍁 Cinderleaf | Rare | 15 gp | 1/10 lbs |

##### Harvesting Herbs | Herb | DC | Harvest Amount | Environments | |:------------------------|:---:|:-------------:|:-------------| | 🌱 Prairie Tongue | 10 | 1d4 | Coastal, Desert, Forest, Grassland, Hill, Swamp, Underdark, Urban | | 🌸 Japetal Flower | 12 | 1d4 | Arctic, Coastal, Forest, Grassland, Hill, Urban | | 🌿 Leopard's Bane | 13 | 1d4 | Arctic, Desert, Hill, Mountain, Swamp, Underdark | | 🌻 Shimberry | 13 | 1d4+1 | Arctic, Coastal, Desert, Forest, Hill, Mountain, Swamp, Underdark | | 🎋 Quip Reed | 14 | 1d4+1 | Arctic, Coastal, Forest, Hill, Swamp, Underdark, Underwater, Urban | | 🌲 Frostfern | 15 | 1d4+1 | Arctic, Coastal, Mountains, Underdark | | 🍄 Russula Cap | 16 | 1d4+2 | Forest, Swamp, Underdark, Urban | | 🌰 Gran Nut | 17 | 1d4+2 | Desert, Forest, Grassland, Hill, Mountain, Underdark | | 🍁 Cinderleaf | 18 | 1d4+2 | Desert, Grassland, Hill, Mountain |

PART 1 🍄 Herbalism

\page ### Herb Descriptions **🌱 Prairie Tongue.** A long, thin, green plant that resembles tall grass except for a drooping, pink tip that resembles a tongue. Grows commonly anywhere that there's grass. Not usually useful on its own, but used as an intermediary ingredient in many potions and oils. **🌸 Japetal Flower.** A small, pink flower that always grows with exactly 20 petals. A damaged Japetal Flower will always grow back within a week, unless the roots are completely destroyed. Commonly found in most climates. Useful as an ingredient in many healing potions and oils. **🌿 Leopard's Bane.** A black-leaved shrub with green spikes on the stem. Deadly to eat raw, but delicious if cooked properly. Grows commonly in mountains and underground. Useful as an ingredient in many poisons and antidotes. **🌻 Shimberry.** A yellow berry that grows in circular shapes around a brown center, often mistaken for short flowers. Shimmers faintly with divine light. Uncommonly grows in areas without sunlight, or wherever lighting has struck. Useful as an ingredient in a variety of potions that involve healing or lightning. **🎋 Quip Reed.** A thick reed with red leaves. Often chewed on by fish. Quippers often lay their eggs in patches of Quip Reed. Grows uncommonly at the edge of swamps and rivers. Useful as an ingredient in water-related potions, and delicious in stews. **🌲 Frostfern.** A short, wide fern with dark green leaves. Light blue berries grow on the underside of its branches that can grow even when frozen solid. Grows uncommonly in cold or elevated climates. The berries are difficult to eat by anyone but frost creatures, but the leaves are a useful ingredient in many frost potions and oils. **🍄 Russula Cap.** A flat, red mushroom with a white stalk. In damp areas, salt crystals form on its stalk, giving it a sparkly appearance. Grows rarely in damp caves or lush forests. Dangerous to eat, due to its psychadelic properties. Useful as an ingredient in many healing or mind-altering potions and oils. **🌰 Gran Nut.** A hearty bush with tough, brown nuts. Often eaten by animals in caves and mountains. Grows rarely in harsh, rocky areas. Not very tasty, but quite nutritious. Useful as an ingredient in many animal-related or strength-altering potions and oils. **🍁Cinderleaf.** A pointy, ref leaf that's warm to the tough and highly flammable. Grows rarely in warm and volcanic environments. Dangerous to mess with, but very useful as an ingredient in many fire and lighting potions and oils.

### Using D&D Beyond If your players use D&D Beyond for digital character sheets, you'll want to integrate the herbs as items they can add to their inventories. Here are some hyperlinks to pre-made items for each of the herb ingredients. ##### D&D Beyond Items | Herb | Homebrew Item URL | |:----------|:----| | 🌱 Prairie Tongue | https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/5419158-prairie-tongue | | 🌸 Japetal Flower | https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/5419168-japetal-flower | | 🌿 Leopard's Bane | https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/5419207-leopards-bane | | 🌻 Shimberry | https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/5419232-shimberry | | 🎋 Quip Reed | https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/5419247-quip-reed | | 🌲 Frostfern | https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/5419272-frostfern | | 🍄 Russula Cap | https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/5419282-russula-cap | | 🌰 Gran Nut | https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/5419307-gran-nut | | 🍁 Cinderleaf | https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/5419313-cinderleaf |

PART 1 🍄 Herbalism

\page ## ⚗️ Alchemy & Brewing Once an adventurer has harvested some ingredients, they can begin crafting potions, oils, elixers, and poisons. This is done with Alchemist's Supplies. > ##### Alchemist's Supplies > > *Player's Handbook 5e pg 154* > > These special tools include the items needed to pursue a craft or trade. Proficiency with a set of artisan's tools lets you add your proficiency bonus to any ability checks you make using the tools in your craft. Each type of artisan's tools requires a separate proficiency. > > ###### Type: **Tool**, Cost: **50 gp**, Weight: **8lbs** During a short or long rest (see the Brewing Times table for time requirements), an adventurer with Alchemist's Supplies can brew one item. Pick an item from the Alchemy Item Crafting table, where you meet the item's Ingredient Requirements, to craft. Each recipe also requires 1 pint of water. ### Brewing Crafting can take anywhere from 1 to 8 hours, depending on the item, so this should be done in a short or long rest. Crafting an item takes 10 minutes to mix the recipe, and then a number of hours to brew. Brewing does not require 24/7 action, but the adventurer must be able to tend to the concoction at least once every few minutes. To brew more than one potion at a time, other party members can use the Help action and more ingredients to brew one additional potion of the same type. Multiple adventurers with Alchemist's Supplies can still each brew different potions. Adventurers that posess Alchemist's Supplies but are not profficient in them require an extra 10 minutes to mix the recipe and an additional hour to brew. ##### Brewing Times | Item Rarity | Brew Time | |:------------|:----------| | Common | 1 hour | | Uncommon | 1 hour | | Rare | 2 hours | | Very Rare | 4 hours | | Legendary | 8 hours |

##### Alchemy Item Crafting | Item | Rarity | Ingredient Requirements | |:-----|:------:|:------------------------| | Potion of Comprehension | Common | 10 Prairie Tongue | | Potion of Watchful Rest | Common | 10 Quip Reed | | Potion of Climbing | Common | 15 Gran Nut | | Potion of Healing | Common | 15 Japetal Flower | | Potion of Fire Resistance | Uncommon | 10 Cinderleaf, 5 Prairie Tongue | | Potion of Lightning Resistance | Uncommon | 10 Cinderleaf, 5 Shimberry | | Potion of Greater Healing | Uncommon | 10 Japetal Flower, 10 Russula Cap | | Potion of Poison Resistance | Uncommon | 10 Japetal Flower, 5 Leopard's Bane | | Philter of Love | Uncommon | 10 Japetal Flower, 5 Shimberry | | Potion of Poison | Uncommon | 10 Leopard's Bane | | Mummy Rot Antidote | Uncommon | 10 Leopard's Bane, 5 Japetal Flower | | Potion of Acid Resistance | Uncommon | 10 Leopard's Bane, 5 Prairie Tongue | | Potion of Animal Friendship | Uncommon | 10 Prairie Tongue, 5 Gran Nut | | Potion of Water Breathing | Uncommon | 10 Quip Reed, 10 Frostfern | | Potion of Growth | Uncommon | 10 Quip Reed, 5 Japetal Flower | | Bottled Breath | Uncommon | 10 Quip Reed, 5 Prairie Tongue | | Potion of Thunder Resistance | Uncommon | 10 Shimberry, 5 Cinderleaf | | Blood of Lycanthrope Antidote | Uncommon | 10 Shimberry, 5 Japetal Flower | | Potion of Fire Breath | Uncommon | 15 Cinderleaf | | Potion of Cold Resistance | Uncommon | 15 Frostfern | | Potion of Hill Giant Strength | Uncommon | 15 Gran Nut, 5 Prairie Tongue |

PART 2 ⚗️ Alchemy

\page

| Item | Rarity | Ingredient Requirements | |:-----|:------:|:------------------------| | Thesseltoxin Antidote | Uncommon | 15 Leopard's Bane, 10 Russula Cap | | Oil of Slipperiness | Uncommon | 15 Quip Reed | | Potion of Radiant Resistance | Uncommon | 15 Shimberry | | Potion of Necrotic Resistance | Uncommon | 5 Leopard's Bane, 5 Japetal Flower, 5 Shimberry | | Potion of Force Resistance | Uncommon | 5 Prairie Tongue, 5 Gran Nut, 5 Japetal Flower | | Potion of Psychic Resistance | Uncommon | 5 Russula Cap, 5 Japetal Flower, 5 Gran Nut | | Potion of Invulnerability | Rare | 10 Gran Nut, 10 Prairie Tongue | | Elixer of Health | Rare | 10 Japetal Flower, 5 Shimberry, 5 Russula Cap | | Potion of Superior Healing | Rare | 10 Japetal Flower, 5 Shimberry, 5 Russula Cap | | Potion of Mind Reading | Rare | 10 Leopard's Bane, 10 Russula Cap | | Potion of Heroism | Rare | 10 Prairie Tongue, 10 Gran Nut | | Potion of Gaseous Form | Rare | 10 Prairie Tongue, 10 Shimberry | | Potion of Aqueous Form | Rare | 10 Quip Reed, 10 Shimberry | | Potion of Mind Control (Humanoid) | Rare | 10 Russula Cap, 10 Gran Nut | | Potion of Mind Control (Beast) | Rare | 10 Russula Cap, 10 Prairie Tongue | | Oil of Etherealness | Rare | 10 Shimberry, 10 Frostfern | | Potion of Diminution | Rare | 10 Shimberry, 10 Russula Cap | | Potion of Maximum Power | Rare | 10 Shimberry, 5 Gran Nut, 5 Cinderleaf | | Potion of Fire Giant Strength | Rare | 15 Cinderleaf, 10 Quip Reed | | Potion of Frost Giant Strength | Rare | 15 Frost Fern, 10 Quip Reed | | Potion of Stone Giant Strength | Rare | 15 Gran Nut, 10 Quip Reed | | Potion of Clairvoyance | Rare | 20 Russula Cap | | Potion of Cloud Giant Strength | Very Rare | 10 Frostfern, 10 Gran Nut, 20 Russula Cap | | Potion of Vitality | Very Rare | 10 Japetal Flower, 10 Quip Reed, 10 Prairie Tongue | | Potion of Supreme Healing | Very Rare | 10 Japetal Flower, 10 Shimberry, 5 Prairie Tongue, 5 Russula Cap | | Potion of Mind Control (Monster) | Very Rare | 10 Russula Cap, 10 Leopard's Bane, 5 Prairie Tongue | | Potion of Longevity | Very Rare | 15 Japetal Flower, 10 Quip Reed | | Potion of Speed | Very Rare | 15 Leopard's Bane, 10 Prairie Tongue | | Oil of Sharpness | Very Rare | 15 Quip Reed, 5 Gran Nut, 5 Leopard's Bane | | Potion of FLying | Very Rare | 15 Shimberry, 10 Frostfern | | Potion of Invisibility | Very Rare | 15 Shimberry, 10 Russula Cap | | Potion of Possibility | Very Rare | 25 Shimberry | | Potion of Giant Size | Legendary | 10 Gran Nut, 10 Japetal Flower, 5 Quip Reed, 5 Prairie Tongue | | Potion of Storm Giant Strength | Legendary | 15 Shimberry, 15 Quip Reed, 5 Cinderleaf |

PART 2 ⚗️ Alchemy

\page ## ⚗ Dungeon Master Tips If all you want is a plug-and-play ruleset, then the above content should add a alternative way to to obtain potions and oils. However, if you'd like to make the experience more real, expand the rules to have more herbs and items, or if you want to tie this content into the lore of your world, then read on. ### Emerse Your Players If you'd like your players to explore your world, this guide can be a great way to facilitate that and emerse them into your world. Here are some tips to address this: **Keep this document a secret.** Do not share this document with your players. Force them to learn which herbs grow in which environments, and have to learn recipes. **Let them discover herbs themselves.** Do not tell your players which herbs are available in an environment. Let them discover what they can find through trial and error. **Let them test recipes themselves.** Do not let your players choose from the list of recipes. Instead, let them test combinations and have them write down which ingredient combinations worked. You might want to tell them that ingredients are in multiples of 5, though. Otherwise, they might try combinations of individual ingredients and fail every time. **Hide what herbs exist.** Do not tell your players how many herb types exist. Never tell them when they've discovered the last one. Let them believe there might be more to find. Their curiousity will encourage them to search for herbs more, just in case they haven't discovered everything.

### Brewing Mishaps If your players try brewing a recipe that doesn't exist, it just fails. If brewing gets interrupted by a surprise encounter, the brew fails. And if players fail their Survival Check when harvesting these magical herbs by just 1 or 2, it just fails. But that can be boring, and we're working with dangerous magic here! Here are some times a mishap might happen: **Failed harvests should end badly.**. If an adventurer fails a Survival Check by 1 when harvesting the oh-so flammable Cinderleaf, maybe it could explode. If an adventurer fails to harvest Quip Reeds, maybe they could get attacked by a school of Quippers that laid eggs in them. Use your imagination. **Failed brewing might produce unexpected results.** If a brew gets interrupted, maybe the brewer could get a random status effect applied to them. If an adventurer brews an invalid recipe, maybe the potion could succeed but have a random effect. If an adventurer mixes the wrong ingredients together, maybe it could cover them in an explosion of slime. Use your imagination. **Extra ingredients add side effects.** If a valid recipe is mixed, but with an extra ingredient, maybe the resulting potion could have the side effect of another potion or a poison. If an adventurer mixes two valid recipes together, maybe it could result in a single potion that has both potion effects at half the effectiveness. Use your imagination. ### Personalized Environments The environments listed in the Herb Harvesting table are the standard D&D environments that the Monster Manual categorizes monsters with. However, you might have different environments in your campaign, or even different dimensions. You might want to change the environments list to include locations specific to your campaign. Here are a few examples:

##### Custom Environment Suggestions | Herb | Environment Suggestions | |:-----|:------------------------| | 🌱 Prairie Tongue | Anywhere grass grows | | 🌸 Japetal Flower | The Feywild, Elven forests, healing springs, places of life and happiness, etc. | | 🌿 Leopard's Bane | Necrotic areas, ancient battlefields, dens of poisonous creatures, planes of death or darkness, the Shadowfell, harsh environments, etc. | | 🌻 Shimberry | Elven forests, the Feywild, planes of air or light, divine or holy locations, good afterlife planes, the Ethereal Plane, anywhere lightning has struck, dim forests that need light, environments with glowing plants, etc. | | 🎋 Quip Reed | Wet or damp locations, planes of water, jungles, anywhere with water, etc. | | 🌲 Frostfern | Tundras, anywhere that's cold or snowy or frozen, etc. | | 🍄 Russula Cap | Mushroom forests, dank caves, places of magic or psychic energy, mind flayer or mad scientist dungeons, etc. | | 🌰 Gran Nut | Rocky areas, planes of rock or earth or beasts, harsh climates, areas with beasts, etc. | | 🍁 Cinderleaf | Avernus, Hell, planes of fire and ash, volcanic or firy areas, hot climates, etc. |

PART 3 ⚗ DM Tips

\page ### More Herbs & Items Nine herbs should be enough for most situations, but if your setting has specific needs or if you'd like to add non-plant ingredients, you might want to add or create your own herbs and ingredients. Here are some tips for creating your own ingredients: **Try to be general.** Each herb in this guide has a general use and vibe to it. The Japetal Flower is about healing and life, the Prairie Tongue is generic and common, and the Russula Cap has psychadelic properties. Try to give each ingredient a general mood and environment so that it can be re-used in many recipes. Try not to make ingredients specific to very few recipes or locations. This will also avoid the issue of ingredients only being available in specific locations and becoming unobtainable unless the party diverges from their main goal. This sould be an add-on to your game, not the game itself. **Less is more.** Try to avoid tons of recipes with specific ingredients that aren't used in many recipes. Try to keep the list of ingredients small, and reuse them in many recipes. This will help by keeping this game mechanic minimal and easy to remember, and it'll avoid the problem of ingredients being useless if their only use isn't needed or useless escept for one specific recipe combination. Additionally, less ingredients will make the game run smoother as the inventory won't become cluttered and making recipe combinations won't be too difficult. **Think of the recipes.** Each recipe is based on three things: the rarity of the ingredients, the rarity of the item, and the relevence of the ingredient to the recipe. Common items use less total ingredients and less kinds of ingredients, while legendary items require multiple ingredient types or lots of a few ingredients. Ingredients also reflect the items they make. Japetal Flowers are about healing and life, so they're used in healing potions, antitodes, etc. Meanwhile Cinderleaf is about fire so they're used in fire potions. Try to reflect the item in its recipe. This will give the players great joy when they start predicting which ingredients will be used for certain items, since there is some logic to it. Additionally, try to avoid multiple items having the same recipe, as it can make each recipe and herb less unique.

### Other Uses for Herbs If these herb items aren't used as much as you'd like, consider giving them other uses besides potion crafting. Consider making your own table similar to the Alchemy Item Crafting table, but for other uses. Here are a few suggestions for other uses for herbs: **Spell components.** Some of these herbs might make great substitutions to many spell components. Feel free to allow your players to use some of these herbs instead, as long as they seem like they'd be a good fit. Alternatively, consider using these herbs as components for your own custom spells. **Scrolls.** Since these herbs might be useful substitutions for spell components, consider using them for scroll crafting as well. Maybe creating a Scroll of Fireball now also requires 10 Cinderleaf. **Food recipes.** Keeping track of food in D&D is kind of a chore, and while campfire dinner or tavern meals might make for good roleplaying, many players ignore it because there's no concrete game mechanics for it. Consider using these herbs as another food incregient. Maybe adding these magical herbs to mundane food items will give them extra bonus effects. Maybe eating a steak covered in Shimberry juice will make the adventurer glow in the dark for an hour, providing light to the party in a dark dungeon. **Arrows with effects.** Arrows with magical effects are common in fantasy video games, but in D&D they're nonexistant apart from a few magic items. Consider creating a crafting table where adding herb ingredients to an arrow tip will imbue it with special effects. Maybe the party's ranger can create incendiary arrows that explode on impact, just by adding a Cinderleaf to the tip. **Enchantments.** Arrows aren't the only thing that can have effects. D&D is full of enchanted weapons, armor, and wonderous items. Consider letting your party enchant their gear using these magical herbs. What if an adventurer can add Shimberries to their armor to create Armor of Gleaming.

PART 3 ⚗ DM Tips

Options