Healing Herbs

[Grogg of the North]

In the 3.5 game I'm playing in, magic has recently been cursed and healing items (potions, wands, etc) are in short supply. To help the party recover from repeated axe blows to the head, the DM has offered up the idea that the more nature-y characters might be able to find herbs to create healing salves. The idea is that this will be a way for us to supplement our limited magical healing. The following is what the DM is proposing and she would like some feedback on it.

****************

Healing Herbs can be made with one of the following skill checks:
Knowledge Nature
Survival
Heal
Craft Natural Remedy
Profession Herbalist


5 or more ranks in any of the other skills provides a +2 synergy bonus.


If you fail by 5 or more, you make poisonous herbs instead of healing herbs and don't notice. For every 4 points you beat the DC you make one extra dose.


DC 20 Herbs heal 1d4 points of damage.
DC 25 Herbs heal 1d6 points of damage.
DC 30 Herbs heal 1d2 points of ability damage.
DC 35 Herbs heal 1d2 points of ability drain.


This process takes a full day in the wilderness, though some areas may be short of herbs. Increasing the DC by 5 will allow you to make herbs while traveling.


Applying herbs is a full round action that provokes.


Poisonous Herbs Possible Effects:
1-50: Effect is damage instead of healing
51-75: Effect is double damage instead of healing.
76-80: 1d4 points of ability damage*
81-85: 2d4 points of ability damage*
86-90: Fort save vs coma for 1d4 days
91-95: Will save vs spend the next 2d4 hours staring at pretty colors.
96-98: Will save vs spend the next 2d4 hours believing snakes and spiders are crawling through your skin. You deal 1 point of damage to yourself every round trying to remove the snakes/spiders unless restrained.
99: Fort vs Death
100: Roll twice (re-roll subsequent roll twice).


Save DCs are the craft DC for the herb that you tried to make.
*Roll die six to determine which ability is damaged:
1 = Str, 2 = Dex, 3 = Con, 4 = Int, 5 = Wis, 6 =Cha


Take 10: Yes
Take 20: No
Aid Another: Yes

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Neat mechanic; the "fail by 5 equals poison" is a little severe, though. Those results should be a "fail by 10" IMO. Fail by 5 to 9 should result in some sort of minor illness (e.g. -1 to attacks or checks for 24 hours).

 

[N'raac]

Neat mechanic; the "fail by 5 equals poison" is a little severe, though. Those results should be a "fail by 10" IMO. Fail by 5 to 9 should result in some sort of minor illness (e.g. -1 to attacks or checks for 24 hours).

So no chance for an error that is neither beneficial nor harmful? This reminds me of all those enormous critical hits and fumbles charts that were so common in years gone by. I'd keep it simple - fail by 1- 5 and you create nothing of value, but not harmful. Fail by more than 5, and it's mildly harmful (say, imbiber is nauseous for 1-6 hours, reduced to 1-6 minutes with a FORT save of 10 + the amount by which the roll failed).

Practically, will they take the risk on remedies they cant have some confidence will be successful (ie which they cannot take 10 on)?

 

[Grogg of the North]

[MENTION=6681948]N'raac[/MENTION] the DM said we can take 10. It's at the bottom of the first post.

The consequences for screwing up are there mostly to stop us from trying to fish for 20's to make remedies.

The party does have two people that can reliably hit DC 20.

 

[Nagol]

Sort-of useful for the first couple of levels where you can't actually make the herbal poultices unless you are a specialist.

After that, the healing benefit is quickly overshadowed by daily healing especially if under the care of a trained healer.

*edit*

I'd suggest instead of applying a small amount of hp recovery, adjust the overnight healing multiplier by +1 at DC 20 and a further +1 for every additional 10 points.

 

[N'raac]

@N'raac the DM said we can take 10. It's at the bottom of the first post.

Which makes sense. So how often would one expect to see a character make these if he can't succeed on a Take 10? If you can reliably hit 20, make d4 cures. If you can reliably hit 25...make 2 doses - 2d4 is better than 1d6 anyway.

Ability damage? If it's a 50/50 chance of that chart, I'd rather just rest, thanks. Those high rolls will come up often enough that it's simply not worth the risk.

So what kinds of bonuses can we expect? 5 ranks in four synergestic skills is +8, I should have +3 at least as an ability modifier, so +5 in the main skill is +16. Tack on the possibilities of higher attributes, a higher base skill, Aid Another and even Feats to enhance my potential success, and +25 (Take 10 to cure ability drain) isn't all that tough to attain, actually, if someone wants to focus on this. Seems much cheaper than potions, scrolls and wands.

One issue I don't see addressed is how long they can be kept. If they must be used immediately ("Drink this tea before it cools"), then it's a minor boost at best. If they can be preserved more or less indefinitely, like a potion, then we will have a walking herbal pharmacy.

Will Detect Poison detect a tainted cure so you can avoid using it? If not, why not? If so, the ill effects chart will see even less use. hmmm...what if a failed roll provided an ill effect but also the primary effect (eg. it still cures 1d6 damage, but it will also leave the imbiber drowsy, or nauseous, or what have you, for an extended period, whether with or without a save)? So these herbs will cure that Ability Drain, but the drinker will also sleep for 16 hours afterwards, or he will be delusional, or what have you?

Just thinking off the cuff, rather than "fail by x and roll d%", why not a chart that goes to, say, 30 and you roll d20 (or even d10) and add the amount you failed by.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I would recommend a greater variety of herbs. For instance, kingsfoil (or whatever herb) could specifically be used to treat diseases.

I would also recommend a herb to rapidly heal out of combat. Without a Wand of Cure Light Wound available, you'll have PCs constantly low on hit points, perhaps hiding out for days until they can heal. Perhaps something that works like d20 Modern's surgery ability, or a feat that does something similar.

 

[N'raac]

If this subsystem is just going to make rapid healing available again, what was the point of restricting it in the first place?

 

[Grogg of the North]

Because magic makes you go crazy and all the spell casters in the world are going stark raving mad.

It isn't so much as saying magical healing doesn't exist. It does. But it's in short supply and becoming rapidly scarcer.