Prices, Availability and Effect.
Note that most herbs must be prepared first before they can be used. Most often this requires a potion.
This is the common name of herbs used in many countries. Some races and countries have variations on these names. The names are largely Elven in origin, or a 'humanization' of elven terms.
What time of year you can expect to find harvestable quantities of this herb.
The Herb given will rarely be found in more than one type of clime or environment. The list shows the primary area the herb can be found. This does not mean that a given herb cannot ever be found in any other clime or place, simply that this is the primary, most likely place the herb can be discovered. For example, Mountainous Herbs can be found in high plains and forests on occasion, or in Timberline areas sometimes, depending on the type of herb. Each separate herb has it's own ecology and areas it can and will grow or be discovered in.
The usual price range for a given herb. In Western Shores pennies.
The usual price range for a given herb. In Fantasy Hero gold pieces.
The general use to which people put this herb. This column is what the list is sorted by.
Many herbs are addictive, with a chance each usage of addicting the user. The addictive factor is listed under “ADD?”.
The affects of addition are very devastating, first of all causing the Herb in question to cease having any beneficial effects whatsoever. The hooked character will suffer various other effects based on the herb (such as loss of DEX, INT, or a Physical Limitation added to the character). In addition, not using the herb can cause severe withdrawal effects. These will include loss of physical characteristics (with figured characteristics), pain, unconsciousness, nausea, and even death. Should the herb's hold be broken, it will once again take full effect should it ever be taken again.
Most of the useful, simple healing herbs and similar types have no addictive factor, whereas most the very useful, powerful ones are addictive.
The effect of the drug in terms of the rules.
This gives a simple description for how the herb is used.
A handy way for the GM to decide if a given Herb can be purchased at a store is to look down the list for ones that would grow nearby and roll for each one that he is willing the players able to get. Treat a given shop owner as having an 11- herbalism roll, modified by the rarity (see below). For each 2 the roll is made by, there is a dose of the herb available. More skillful merchants, those with better contacts, or those in an area with more herb growth may have a higher roll.
Finding these herbs is not always an easy task. The chance for someone without herbalist skill, assuming they know where to look, is 8 . The chance of finding an herb is modified by the Rarity factor ( 3, +0, +2), which indicates how rare and unusual this herb is. Each person assisting in the search of an herb adds one to this chance, until +3 is achieved, when the number doubles (+1 per six people). This continues to double each +3 achieved (100 people gives a +14 chance).
Each three under the required roll discovers an additional dose of the herb desired. A natural roll of three would probably also find another herb (roll luck/unluck for fortune). It takes a turn of looking to find an herb a base of one minute, and each step up the time chart taken looking gives a +1 to the roll as well. If the roll is failed, there quite simply is not the herb there at all; in addition, the GM may rule that the herb cannot be found under any circumstances.
The is the form the herb will be found in.
Like most food, herbs will not last indefinitely. The storage code gives how long the given herb will last in it's base form, before preparation, assuming reasonable storage and normal conditions. Hot, wet conditions will greatly cut this storage time, as cold dry conditions will lengthen it. The storage code is a simple roll for the given herb, in hours, days, weeks, months, or (rarely) years. There are spells and items that can keep things safe and pure for much longer than this storage time, and often in prepared form the herb can last much longer, or often much shorter.