Crafting System for gritty/slow natural healing settings

[GlassJaw]

Wanted to start a "companion" thread to this one.

As I brainstorm on tweaks/house rules for my own low-magic/grim & gritty campaign, I've been debating dialing back on magical healing, possibly even removing healing spells. I'm still undecided on that but either way, I would like to have some additional non-magical healing options for players, especially ones that require spending resources other than spell slots.

What I'm really looking for is a decent crafting system, especially one that involves resource gathering. Unfortunately, the 5E crafting system is fairly minimal. I am certainly ok with an abstraction -I don't need a hyper-realistic system - but I do want something that the players can sink their teeth into, and perhaps even set goals based on things they may need to find while they journey.

I know systems like this get dangerously close to systems found in video games, where even "simple" systems are cumbersome and time-consuming for tabletop RPGs (and typically not all that fun).

I have the Adventures in Middle-Earth books and I really like the Journeys mechanic. One idea I had was to add another task called Forager that looks for herbs and plants for crafting.

I'm also open to grabbing something on DMs Guild to check out. Thanks!

 

[Tony Vargas]

As I brainstorm on tweaks/house rules for my own low-magic/grim & gritty campaign, I've been debating dialing back on magical healing, possibly even removing healing spells. I'm still undecided on that but either way, I would like to have some additional non-magical healing options for players, especially ones that require spending resources other than spell slots.

Obviously, there's already HD.

You could have non-magical 'potions' - they don't heal your wounds, but they let you fight on without feeling them. That could be restored hps, but worsened long-term-injuries (assuming you add something like that, which IMHO, obviously, you should). Or it could be just plain temp hps (which feels less gritty to me, unless they go away /last/, instead of first...). There could also be consequences to using them habitually....

What I'm really looking for is a decent crafting system, especially one that involves resource gathering. One idea I had was to add another task called Forager that looks for herbs and plants for crafting.

"...hey guys, I found some coca leaves!"

 

[Satyrn]

I know systems like this get dangerously close to systems found in video games, where even "simple" systems are cumbersome and time-consuming for tabletop RPGs (and typically not all that fun).

I have the Adventures in Middle-Earth books and I really like the Journeys mechanic. One idea I had was to add another task called Forager that looks for herbs and plants for crafting.!

That videogamey danger comes from tracking the resources themselves right?

I think I have a way around that. When someone Forages, have them declare what item they're trying to find ingredients for. If they're successful, then they can just mark down "Ingredients for Desired Potion" on their sheet.

Even better, if they're successful and there's time to craft the item after foraging, they can just add the potion to their inventory and never mark down ingredients of any sort.

You could complicate this by having areas only provide ingredients for some items (and list them in your DM notes), so a player foraging for something unavailable in the area is gonna fail automatically. To avoid that, the player's gonna have to learn what's available before trying, perhaps by asking the locals, making an Intelligence (Nature) check to determine what grows in the area, or whatever other method the player can contrive to get at the info.

 

[Oofta]

In a previous campaign healing potions were limited in availability. People could quest to get the specific ingredients (I made up some plant names) but the ingredients could only be found certain places. In addition, some rare plants were jealously guarded either by cartels trying to corner the market or druids trying to preserve the habitat.

There were counterfeit potions as well that granted temp HP instead of healing. In other cases the brewers substituted some ingredients with the result that there were adverse side effects like addiction and slowly turning people into trolls.

So it was multiple. They had to find where, contend with entities that didn't want them to gather, and deal with cheap knock-offs. The actual gathering and brewing came down to appropriate nature and medicine checks.

 

[GlassJaw]

That videogamey danger comes from tracking the resources themselves right?

I think I have a way around that. When someone Forages, have them declare what item they're trying to find ingredients for. If they're successful, then they can just mark down "Ingredients for Desired Potion" on their sheet.

Even better, if they're successful and there's time to craft the item after foraging, they can just add the potion to their inventory and never mark down ingredients of any sort.

You could complicate this by having areas only provide ingredients for some items (and list them in your DM notes), so a player foraging for something unavailable in the area is gonna fail automatically. To avoid that, the player's gonna have to learn what's available before trying, perhaps by asking the locals, making an Intelligence (Nature) check to determine what grows in the area, or whatever other method the player can contrive to get at the info.

Great stuff. I like this a lot and I've been thinking along similar lines. Some of the supplements I've seen list specific ingredients for recipes. Ain't nobody got time for that.

I would tie the difficulty to the recipe itself, as well as possible location/environment required to look for the necessary "ingredients".

This also opens up the possibility for players to research recipes themselves, learn them from NPCs, or acquire them as "treasure". All of which are great for a low-magic campaign.

 

[Nevvur]

Some links to a series of crafting articles by Angry GM. I'm not suggesting you use the system he proposes, but his examples and his analysis of crafting systems in general might provide some ideas. Or you might love his proposed system and implement it wholesale.

http://theangrygm.com/herbcraft-in-dd-5e/
http://theangrygm.com/crafting-herbcraft-part-1/
http://theangrygm.com/crafting-herbcraft-part-2/

Personally, though, I wouldn't implement a custom crafting system of any sort, at least for what you're aiming for. It somehow feels contradictory to grit (whatever that means).