D&D General Which herbs must be in your fantasy game?

[J.Quondam]

I actually own a book about this called the Herbalist’s Primer. I got it from kickstarter a year or two ago. It covers tons of plants, giving them descriptions, medicinal properties, magical properties, how to get them, and more.

I'll second this. It's a fantastic resource largely based on real-world folklore, iirc. Plus it's just a beautiful book, as well.
The author has done/is doing a couple others in the same vein other different topics, for example one about minerals.

 

[aco175]

I like to keep my herbs medieval.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

The link breaks down the meanings and part of the plant used.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

I can't run my game without my "sacred herb" and you better believe it grows abundantly in my magical realm

Also in all seriousness; I gotta have ma asafoetida

 

[Dragonhelm]

Herb Tarlek, from WKRP in Cincinnati!

 

[Kichwas]

I can't run my game without my "sacred herb" and you better believe it grows abundantly in my magical realm

I've started playing an Alchemist in a Pathfinder 2E Tian Xia game and yeah; gotta blaze up with the herb.

I love describing her alchemical concoctions as if they were herbal Chinese medicine remedies. Used to hang out with a bunch of Suwon University students of Chinese medicine back when I lived in Korea so I've been pulling from some of the things 'the guys' came up with back then for inspiration. A little special soil here, some metal powder, this and that herb, wings of a butterfly, and a bit of chakra alignment before splashing it on my 'healing victim'.

Creative herbal ideas can be fun there.

Gotta have your ginseng, ginger, assorted roots, shrooms, and so on.

 

[Lanefan]

I like herbs.
They add a lot to the world to know which herbs have unique properties.

Whether medicinal or magical, which herbs would you consider the ones you would want to refer to in your game.

There was an article in an old Dragon magazine (issue 80-85 or thereabouts?) that introduced some magical herbs to 1e D&D. We thought it was brilliant, and expanded on it considerably over the years.

Most of the herbs in our system don't exist in the real world - they're made up for the game - but some do.

Here's a write-up, if you're interested. Lots of charts and tables, admittedly, but also a list of herbs and what they do that might be useful.

Herbs

 

[Shades of Eternity]

okay that was a certain level of awesome Lanefan.

View attachment 397293

Herb Tarlek, from WKRP in Cincinnati!

Well, after Herb, Baby, do you remember whatever became of me?

<wrong answers only>

 

[payn]

Having a little herb sesh as we speak...

 

[Bupp]

 

[cbwjm]

I'm a lot more basic with my herbalism in dnd. I have common, uncommon, and rare herbs for most things and then maybe a few uniques (things like black lotus, which probably doesn't count as a herb but is used in a similar way). Been a while, but I think that 10 common hebs were able to make the basic healing potion in a campaign I ran.