Harvesting Monster Parts for Arcane Reagents

[brunswick]

Hiys folks,

One of my players asked me the other day if we/I could come up with some 'house rule' to enable the party (especially him, I suspect, as the wizard) to harvest monster parts (from 'exotic' monsters not just, for example, an orc or a goblin) that he could convert into arcane reagents since the components listed in the PHB specifically refer to 'monster parts' (I know that the regular rule is just an abstract and the players are supposed to spend gold rather than getting involved in gathering monster parts but still..)

I was mulling various ideas in my head, conscious that I dont want to break the system by allowing the players to go on 'shopping expeditions' attempting to bypass the regular gp cost of arcane reagents by using whatever Monster Harvesting rule I happen to come up with. I strongly suspect that the real reason the wizard is looking for this type of rule is so that he can then cut down on gp costs especially when it comes to the 'Enchant Magic Item' rule.

I do like the idea of the wizard harvesting creature parts for components though (perhaps if the 'house rule' is proving to be too profitable for the party, I could just remove one or two monetary treasure parcels from their regular treasures to compensate or just reduce the value of the monster parts).

Anyway, here are the draft rules that I have come up with this morning. I more or less scribbled down what came into my head but I'm sure I have missed loopholes. Since I can't really tell whether I have made it too useful or useless to the player characters, I'd like to know what others think:

Draft House Rule for Obtaining Alchemical Reagents from Monster Parts​

Monetary Value of Monster Parts

Heroic Tier ‘Exotic’ Creatures 10gp
Paragon Tier ‘Exotic’ Creatures 20gp
Epic Tier ‘Exotic’ Creatures 30gp

Arcana Check to ‘harvest’ monster parts Medium DC
In the case of groups of creatures together, an Arcana Check is required for each separate creature (if groups of the same type of creature are harvested, the parts of each creature harvested beyond the first is valued at half the original amount).

If the Arcana Check fails, the character destroyed the part in the act of cutting it from the creature or he simply chose an unsuitable body part.

Arcana Check to ‘convert’ monster parts HardDC
to alchemical reagents
The character must make a separate Arcana Check for each separate monster part collected and must also have access, at the very least, to a mortar and pestle. If the Arcana check fails, the conversion didn’t work and the monster part is destroyed.

For each tier of difference between the characters level and the level of the monster being harvested and/or converted to alchemical reagents, either add +2 or subtract -2 from the characters Arcana check. Thus, a heroic tier character harvesting an epic level monster receives -4 to the Arcana check whereas if an epic level character harvests a heroic tier creature, he gets +4 to his arcana check.

Characters can ask their allies to help with this process but only those trained in Arcana have sufficient knowledge to be of use.



Cheers,


Bruns.

 

[Rune]

I would thrown in another skill to the mix. In addition to Arcana, one would need to pass a difficult Survival check to actually do the harvesting. Furthermore, I would have the type of creature matter when determining what rituals it would power (especially magic item creation).

 

[S'mon]

I'd be a lot more generous on the monetary values, but probably restrict what items could be made with what monster bits.

 

[MortalPlague]

Also, it would be neat to have different reagents that could be used to empower certain spells. For instance, salamander scales might give a fire spell +2 damage. Or a roc feather could increase the range of a spell by 2. Little things like that could make for a neat bonus for the PCs.

 

[brunswick]

Thanks everyone, as always, for your help.

 

[jbear]

I'd just control which monsters can and can't be harvested. Let him use arcana when PCs are looting to gain that knowlege. Perhaps a nature check to harvest at full value or whatever, and the amount he harvests, just scratch it from the gold that you have to distribute each level to the party. It seems like a cool way to hand out treasure to your wizard. No real house rule required. You can have some fun with this. Mortal Plagues suggestion would be cool. You could just work out the power level of the consumable monster bit's effect looking at Alchemical Reagents, and again scratch it off the gold/level.

 

[Pentius]

I do this happily whenever players ask. I just make them do an Arcana and/or survival check to harvest the parts, then tell them something like, "These parts could be used to cover 1/2 the cost of a Travel-type ritual" or something along those lines. For non-item creating rituals, I don't even count it against their treasure parcels. Enchant magic Item is where it gets most fun, imo. Instead of, "You kill the fire beetle. In its lair, you discover loot of its past victims, among this is a Flaming Longsword +1" I'd say, "You kill the fire beetle. The Wizard realizes that if you can harvest its fire glands, he could enchant your sword with the power of Fire."

 

[aco175]

I recall a lot of adventures like this. It was harder to catch the pixies than it was to make them sweat. You can always allow the player to come up with what part and how it is used. You can modify of course.

There is a few old Dungeon articles for parts in making potions and maybe other items if I recall, 25 years around.

I'm partial to epic items that allowed bonuses to size, duration, damage, etc.. Mostly they were used in 3E with spell feats, haven't used them in 4e yet. Maybe something along the lines of- Bones of Saint High and Mighty grant +2 to the burst of Turn Undead 1x day, or grind them down and make 1d4 potions of some kind of healing. Something like salamander scales might grant +1d6 damage to fire spell, one time use, or 50gp worth of components.

 

[S'mon]

For item creation reagants, do you think it's better to link max item level to monster level, the 'balanced' approach, or to link item gp value to monster XP value? The latter would make monster harvesting lucrative at low level, so you could run monster-hunt adventures, but XPV double per 4 levels, item cost is X5 per 5 levels, so eventually harvesting would get less and less worthwhile, only useful for creating items well below PC level.

Edit: For the balanced approach, I'm guessing that something like 20% of the item value for an item of monster's level might work, eg a 1st level monster might be harvestable for 360/5= 72gp of arcane reagants that could be used to make a 1st level item. This would need to be restricted to certain monsters, of course.

 

[Pentius]

For item creation reagants, do you think it's better to link max item level to monster level, the 'balanced' approach, or to link item gp value to monster XP value? The latter would make monster harvesting lucrative at low level, so you could run monster-hunt adventures, but XPV double per 4 levels, item cost is X5 per 5 levels, so eventually harvesting would get less and less worthwhile, only useful for creating items well below PC level.

Edit: For the balanced approach, I'm guessing that something like 20% of the item value for an item of monster's level might work, eg a 1st level monster might be harvestable for 360/5= 72gp of arcane reagants that could be used to make a 1st level item. This would need to be restricted to certain monsters, of course.

I think it depends on what part you want monster hunting to play in the campaign. If you wanted low level monster hunts, but leaving off at high level, link it to XP. But if you want the occasional high level monster hunt to still be worth it to the PCs, go with level.

I'd probably go with level myself, just because it seems cooler to hunt more awesome and legendary beasts.