Stabilizing with "Goodberries" -- can anyone do it?

[dogoftheunderworld]

I'll be playing a mid-level druid in an upcoming campaign. He will have a supply of Goodberries (from the 1st level spell) that he will replentish each day.

Question: If a fellow party member goes down (i.e. negative hit points), I should be able to stabilize him (or even bring him back above zero) by giving him a goodberry (or 2 or 3,...).

Would this count the same as a "feeding" a potion to a down PC-- full round action with AoO; a Standard Action with AoO; or other?

Thanks,

Brian
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[Pielorinho]

I'd count it the same as feeding a potion to a PC, personally, but check with your DM on this strategy. Depending on what your DM says and how your skill points are allocated, it may be faster and safer to make a heal check.

Daniel

 

[dogoftheunderworld]

...it may be faster and safer to make a heal check.

Thanks. I should have thought of that for stabilizing.

Probably forcing 8 goodberries down someones throat (to bring them back above zero) is about the same as pouring down a potion... so never-mind. I was never here. This never happened. Move along, nothing to see ...

 

[Sejs]

Feeding a character who is at negative hp and not stable even one goodberry will automatically stabilize them. I'd say it's the same action as feeding them a potion.

Berries won't get someone back into the fight very quickly, but they are handy for keeping a fallen comrade alive until the fight is over. Then they can be tended to properly.

 

[dogoftheunderworld]

As a side note...

Something else... Can a druid give goodberries to other party members, who can later eat them or feed them to someone else (like creation of a potion)?

(Yeah!! Free mini-creation feat!!!)

 

[Pielorinho]

Absolutely, dog, on the giving berries away.

Given that the spell produces 2d4 berries a day and the berries last 1 day/level (at least under 3.0; I've not looked it up recently), bookkeeping can get complicated around levels 3-6, when the berries hit the prime of their usefulness. I found myself casting about 2 goodberry spells every day and passing the berries around until every PC had 8 berries (the maximum you can benefit from per day). On days of rest, I'd prepare as many goodberry spells as necessary to get everyone up to their max with fresh berries.

In order to make bookkeeping easier, I persuaded my DM to let each spell produce the average -- 5 berries instead of 2d4. I then just kept an index card listing who had what batch of berries, and how old they were; we'd redistribute whenever someone's berries were growing especially old or got eaten.

It's one of the few spells that you can cast on days off to benefit yourself on adventuring days, and is very nice for that reason. What's more, if you're the primary healer in the party, it makes the game more fun for you by freeing you up in the middle of battle: now, instead of using most rounds to heal your wounded companions, you can give them the berries ahead of time and get them to heal themselves.

Two things to check on with your DM:
1) The spell doesn't specify that the berries need to be a variety that is normally edible; this is significant for determining whether you can cast goodberries in the middle of winter, on holly berries, mistletoe berries, etc. If your DM balks at allowing goodberries to be made from nastyberries, suggest a compromise: maybe the spell can be cast on any small edible wild plant, including berries, nuts, or mushrooms (yeah, I know mushrooms aren't plants, shut up).
2) The spell doesn't say what sort of action eating a goodberry is, and in a super-duper-rules-heavy-game like D&D, this is an important question. In keeping with other types of actions, we've always ruled it as a standard action that provokes AoOs to eat any quantity of goodberries, and a MEA, no AoO, to grab any quantity of them from a pouch. So in the middle of battle, you can move back 5', pull out 5 goodberries, and chow down on them in a single round.

Get DM answers to both these questions, and enjoy the spell!
Daniel

 

[Scion]

Such a great spell, it would be even nicer if it wasnt for the 'freshly picked berries' part. I am in the process of getting my dm to just allow it to be cast in any outdoors setting, that will make it much better, especially since he is already leery about letting me cast it in the plains we are wandering around in currently.

Storing them up for days would be great! too bad we are only level 2 right now hard to store any up usefully right now I wonder if it will be worth it to pick up empower spell to use with this..hmm.. and/or extend.


As for the topic, it hasnt come up yet in the game, but it is sure to at some point.. thanks for the idea, I will ask my dm as soon as possible. It seems that spending a full round action to apply it, just like a potion, should work out very well for those in the party who are rather..well.. lacking in the heal skill department Plus, the party might like that more than getting stuck in the occasional entangle that I cast.

Happy gaming all

 

[dogoftheunderworld]

Absolutely...

That's about where I was headed. My druid will be 9th level, and hopefully just the back-up healer. With a shelf life of 9 days, it shouldn't be hard for everyone in the group to have some on hand for emergencies

Thanks again,

Brian
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