Best d20 treatment of herbalism?

[CCamfield]

Hi all,

I hope this is the right place to post this question. I'm in the midst of putting together a campaign and have become attracted to the idea of replacing clerics as the world-standard source of healing with something a bit more mundane, to make deities a bit more remote and mysterious.

At the moment I know of two books for d20 which have stuff for herbalism - Bastion's Alchemy & Herbalists, and Atlas's Occult Lore. Are there any others? Judging from the reviews, right now I'm leaning in favour of Occult Lore.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Bastion's book is great. It's exhaustive and imaginative. It was one of the products that really surprised me with how good it was when we received it as an entry for the ENnies. Occult Lore is a great book overall, but doesn't come close to covering this particular subject as completely as Bastion's book. Alchemy & Herbalists goes into meticulous detail on various substances and their effects and uses, and covers a niche rarely covered in D&D/d20.

 

[Mistwell]

Your are forgetting the Kingdoms of Kalamar Player's Guide, which has a relatively short, but very solid, section on herbs and herbalism (and an equally excellent section on alchemy).

 

[Teflon Billy]

I'm with the Colonel here. Bastion's Alchemy and Herbalists is my favorite resource on this subject.

It's overpriced though.

 

[Crothian]

I'm with the Colonel here. Bastion's Alchemy and Herbalists is my favorite resource on this subject.

It's overpriced though.

I'll agree on both counts. A friend has it and from looking at his and looking at it at the store it looks pretty good. However, it's the price that keeps me from getting it. Always something better priced to get instead.

Occult Lore is a great book, but spends much less on this particuliar dubject. However, if you also see yourself using the other things in the book it is a great buy.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

The price of most of Bastion's books are too high, but this one is the one of the bunch that's worth it. But it's almost too expensive for me, and I love it.

 

[nopantsyet]

Another plug for Alchemy and Herbalism. One of my players is using it as a reference for his non-magical druid. Which basically amounts to flavor since his abilities are all the same as the standard druid class. But it's a very different feel when you don't have the insta-healing, but some guy applies a poultice and bandanges your wounds. It's a pretty gritty campaign, so it fits really well. (What I really like is his animal calls, but that has nothing to do with the book.) But this book is a fantastic reference. The first session he was handing out herbs.

 

[Le Freeke]

Alchemy & Herbalists goes into meticulous detail on various substances and their effects and uses, and covers a niche rarely covered in D&D/d20.

Occult Lore has an appendix of 20 magic and mundane herbs, with concoctions derived from each specific herbal trait represented in them (most have 3 or more traits) - that's like 70 some odd magical concoctions. And, you can use the traits as is, in their raw forms, for stuff like mundane healing, disease resistance, poisoning and antidotes.

LF

 

[Pramas]

At the moment I know of two books for d20 which have stuff for herbalism - Bastion's Alchemy & Herbalists, and Atlas's Occult Lore. Are there any others? Judging from the reviews, right now I'm leaning in favour of Occult Lore.

You might want to consider the Witch's Handbook, the third in our Master Class series.
http://www.greenronin.com/cgi-bin/product.cgi?prodid=1302

It's got a nice section on herbalism, and you might consider using the witch class as well. It represents a tradition of folk magic with a very different feel than the cleric.

The Witch's Handbook is at the printer and should be out this month.

 

[CCamfield]

Re: Re: Best d20 treatment of herbalism?

You might want to consider the Witch's Handbook, the third in our Master Class series.

Thanks, Chris - I don't think witches would have quite the right feel I'm looking for (a somewhat grim desert & city environment), although I enjoyed the Assassins' Handbook immensely, and might use that for my game.

I hadn't compared prices till now but wow... those colour pages in Bastion's book must be awfully expensive. Are they glossy too?

Chris