Home, Rules, Message Boards, The Parthenon (AIM), The Parthenon (AOL)
Back to World, Herbs and Flowers
Folkloric Herbs
Some herbs, while not inherently magical, can be used in charms and rituals that have supernatural effects. Those plants are listed here. Unless otherwise noted, a character must have both Herbalism and Knowledge: Witching to identify a plant and use the properties described here. An Herbalism check is required to refine all herbs into usable form, and the raw materials are lost on a failed skill check.
The pale, sickly-looking creeping herb known as ghost lantern grows only on graveyards, old battlefields, and other sites where the earth is permeated with death. Its bell-shaped white flowers have a faint, carrion-sweet fragrance and feel sticky to the touch. When braided, dried, and treated with ceremonial oils, ghost lantern can be burned to give off a pallid white light. The illumination provided by burning ghost lantern is often described as "eerie": white objects seem impossibly bright, while shadows are thicker and more threatening. Human faces have cyanotic undertones, as if they were the drowned dead.
If undead are within 200' of burning ghost lantern, the light changes from white to spectral blue. This effect does not vary by numbers, strength, or direction. Ghost lantern does not react to fiends or inanimate corpses, only to undead. Each braid burns for one hour. A braid of treated ghost lantern can be sold on the open market for 25 ss.
Haleheart
Identifiable by its scarlet-veined leaves and smooth cherry-red stems, haleheart is a shade-loving vine most often found on fallen logs and deadwood in the deep forest. Its sap can be distilled into a peppery-smelling salve that protects against the magical diseases inflicted by some undead. One dose protects a human-sized creature for three hours.
Haleheart is sovereign against diseases carried by Level 15 and lower undead. It grants a +15 bonus to saves vs. diseases carried by more powerful undead. It has no effect on other necromantic diseases or those inflicted by fiends. On the open market it is worth 100 ss.
Silverweed
Silverweed is a low-growing perennial herb with jade-green, fernlike leaves covered by small silver hairs. It grows best on sandy soil, and is most often found along riverbanks and in sunny meadows. The crushed leaves have a pungent medicinal smell reminiscent of bitter mint.
Silverweed is said to repel evil fae. In order to be effective for this purpose, however, it must be planted in rings, and the rings can have no break. Within a ring of silverweed, the innate powers of malevolent faeries are neutralized, and for this reason such creatures avoid areas protected by the herb. However, silverweed provides no protection during the winter months while the plant is dormant, and huldrefolk often take this opportunity to wrench the plant out by its roots. The Herbalism skill is not required to plant or maintain silverweed rings.
Sunblossom
The brilliant yellow flowers of sunblossom appear only at midsummer, when they spread across sunny meadows and hilltops throughout Calantyr and the Twelve Kingdoms. When dried, powdered, and mixed with pine resin and other materials, the flowers produce an ointment that can be applied to ordinary weapons, permitting them to bypass the resistance that some undead and huldrefolk have to such weapons. While sunblossom ointment is not universally effective, it has made the difference in many instances where villages were beset by undead they did not have the weapons to fight. Sunblossom ointment can be sold on the open market for BC4x50 ss.
There are no comments on this page. [Add comment]