Namaste Mother Nuggets!
Back in 2018 I wrote my very first published adventure, Saraahd’s Secret Shrine. Tucked away in it is the journal of Saraahd the White, a witch on the run who spent years hiding in the dark places of the world, and whose botanical notes are frankly more organised than mine will ever be. Her journal has a whole section on herbs: what they do, where they grow, and which ones will kill you.
Grab Saraahd’s Secret Shrine for free and see where these herbs came from, witch and all.
It seemed a shame to leave all that locked inside one adventure, so here it is, cleaned up and system-agnostic, ready to drop into whatever game you’re running.
How to Use This List
Every herb below has a short, plain-English effect. That’s deliberate. Rather than tie them to one rulebook, I’ve written them the way a character would understand them: “this stops bleeding”, “this makes you sleepy”. Your game decides the numbers. There are some suggestions for a few systems further down.
A few rules of thumb that work at any table:
- Fresh is best. A herb picked today works. A herb that’s been rattling around in a backpack for a month is probably tea.
- Knowing beats guessing. Picking the right plant takes a skill roll. Picking the wrong plant is where the fun starts. Mandrake and monkshood both look harmless enough.
- One herb, one job. A single herb gives a small, focused benefit. The big effects come from combining them into potions, which is a whole other post (it’s coming next).
Prices and Rarity
Every herb now has a rarity and a price per dose, so you can drop them straight into a market, a herbalist’s shop or a treasure pile.
The baseline: these prices assume 0.1 gold is one day’s work for a farmer or labourer. So a dose of garlic costs about a tenth of a day’s wages, and a single kali spore costs most of a year’s. If your game’s economy runs hotter or colder, scale everything by the same amount and the relationships still hold.
| Rarity | Typical price per dose | Roughly… | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Common | 0.01–0.1 gp | Up to a day’s wages | Any market, hedgerow or kitchen garden |
| Uncommon | 0.2–1 gp | A few days to a week and a half | A proper herbalist, or a good day’s foraging |
| Rare | 2–5 gp | One to two months | Big cities, travelling traders, or an expedition |
| Very rare | 20–30 gp | Most of a year | Only from the deep, by special order, or off a dead witch |
Herbalists buy at about half these prices. They have to make a living too.
Herbs for Wounds and Burns
| Herb | Rarity | Price | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adder’s tongue | Common | 0.05 gp | Heals open wounds. |
| Bamboo | Uncommon | 0.3 gp | Cures acidic burns, settles the stomach, removes cramps and paralysis. |
| Cashews | Uncommon | 0.2 gp | Heals open wounds and speeds up healing. |
| Chillies | Common | 0.03 gp | Crushed, they make an alkaline paste that cures acid burns. Also creates a heat sensation. |
| Clovers | Common | 0.02 gp | Cleanses wounds (antiseptic) and cures paralysis. |
| Lotus | Uncommon | 0.5 gp | Stops bleeding. |
| Marigold | Common | 0.05 gp | Heals surface wounds, reduces inflammation and treats burns. |
Herbs for Breath, Fever and Disease
| Herb | Rarity | Price | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bay leaves | Common | 0.02 gp | Prevents and soothes the symptoms of disease, and helps breathing. |
| Garlic | Common | 0.01 gp | Antifungal and blood thinning. |
| Holly | Common | 0.03 gp | Reduces fever and helps breathing. Also a mild stimulant that gives a bit of energy. |
| Ivy | Common | 0.02 gp | Helps breathing, prevents intoxication and reduces swelling. |
| Maple | Common | 0.05 gp | Treats blindness, helps breathing and removes poison. |
| Osha root | Uncommon | 0.4 gp | Helps breathing and cures diseases. |
Herbs for the Gut and for Pain
| Herb | Rarity | Price | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ginger | Common | 0.05 gp | Prevents nausea, reduces pain and raises body temperature. |
| Peppermint | Common | 0.03 gp | Settles the stomach, kills pain and removes psychic pain. |
| Willow | Common | 0.02 gp | Kills pain, removes cramps and reduces paralysis. |
| Wormwood | Uncommon | 0.3 gp | Calms the stomach, kills parasites and cures poison. |
Herbs for the Mind, Calm and Sleep
| Herb | Rarity | Price | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frankincense | Rare | 3 gp | A calmative. Relieves inflammation and pain, and helps against stress, fear and anxiety. |
| Lily | Common | 0.05 gp | Calms the heart rate, treats burns and skin growths, and induces contractions. |
| Mandrake | Uncommon | 1 gp | Cures acid burns and helps breathing, but causes sleep. |
| Poppy seed | Uncommon | 0.5 gp | Kills pain and induces sleep. |
| Rose | Common | 0.05 gp | Induces sleep and kills pain. |
| Sage | Common | 0.03 gp | Eases digestive problems and purifies negative energy. |
| Skullcap | Uncommon | 0.4 gp | Calms anxiety and removes paralysis. |
| Valerian | Common | 0.08 gp | Induces sleep, removes anxiety, and cancels out haste. |
Herbs for Speed and Energy
| Herb | Rarity | Price | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ginseng | Rare | 2 gp | Gives energy and speeds up the metabolism. A minor haste effect. |
| Snapdragon | Uncommon | 0.6 gp | A stimulant that grants haste. Also cures mutations. |
Strange and Dangerous Herbs
| Herb | Rarity | Price | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bird of paradise | Rare | 4 gp | Prevents and cures mutations and growths. |
| Heather | Uncommon | 0.5 gp | Boosts the effectiveness of other herbs. |
| Mistletoe | Uncommon | 0.3 gp | Helps cure mutations and helps with freedom of movement. |
| Monkshood | Uncommon | 0.8 gp | Stabilises a dying person and lowers body temperature. A mild poison. |
| Wolfsbane | Uncommon | 0.8 gp | Stabilises a dying person and lowers body temperature. A mild poison. |
Heather deserves a special mention. On its own it does nothing much, but add it to almost any mix and everything else works better. It’s the hype-man of the herb world. If your players work that out, they’ll start buying it by the cartload, and a clever herbalist will put the price up.
And yes, monkshood and wolfsbane are poisons that also save lives. Getting the dose right is the whole game.
Rare Herbs from the Deep
Saraahd collected these in Svartheim (that’s the Underdark, if you’re not playing in Mystic Times). They’re worth a small fortune.
| Herb | Rarity | Price | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abyzou root | Very rare | 25 gp | Cures psychic possession and prevents teleportation. |
| Cactus | Uncommon | 0.5 gp | Heals burns and open wounds. At higher doses it causes hallucinations. |
| Coral | Rare | 5 gp | Protects against poisons, prevents heart disease and cures viruses. |
| Kali spore | Very rare | 30 gp | Improves arcane powers and regenerates forgotten memories. |
| Oni-scale | Very rare | 25 gp | Cures poison and prevents psychic and arcane damage. |
| Onyx fungus | Very rare | 20 gp | A strong poison. Hallucinogenic, and causes out-of-body experiences. |
| Venus flytrap | Rare | 3 gp | Prevents and cures growths and mutations. |
Four of these, abyzou root, kali spore, oni-scale and onyx fungus, only grow in the dark. They can’t survive outside it, and they rot quickly in sunlight or warmth. If someone on the surface has fresh ones, they’ve been down there recently. That’s not just loot, that’s a clue. In the original adventure it’s exactly how the players work out where Saraahd has been hiding.
Those very rare prices aren’t plucked from thin air. In the adventure, these herbs are each worth as much as a gemstone, and the cheapest gemstones in the Mystic Times Campaign Guide run about 20 gold. A whole barrel of mixed herbs and components from Saraahd’s shrine was worth over 2,000 gold, which is what happens when a few hundred doses include a handful of these.
At the Table
Here’s how I’d run these in a few different systems. These are my quick conversions, so tweak them to taste.
At the Table
OpenD6
- Identifying a herb: a Survival or knowledge-type roll. Easy (6–10) for common herbs, Moderate (11–15) for uncommon, Difficult (16–20) for rare, Very Difficult (21–25) for very rare.
- Using a herb: a fresh, correctly applied herb gives +1D to the roll it obviously helps with: a healing roll for adder’s tongue or marigold, resisting poison with wormwood, keeping your nerve with valerian.
- Heather: add it to any herb for a further +1D.
- Deep herbs: after a day in sunlight or warmth, they’re worthless.
At the Table
4 Against Darkness
When your party searches a room full of plants, or you find an underground garden, roll a d6:
| d6 | Herb | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Onyx fungus | Don’t eat it. Sell it for 2d6 gold back in town. |
| 2 | Adder’s tongue | One character regains 1 Life between rooms. |
| 3 | Valerian | One character gets +1 on their next Defence roll. |
| 4 | Ginseng | One character gets +1 on their next Attack roll. |
| 5 | Wormwood | Cures poison on one character. |
| 6 | Kali spore | A spellcaster regains one spent spell. |
At the Table
Warrior Heroes: Adventures in Talomir
Herbs slot neatly into Two Hour Wargames’ fantasy rules, because Healers already work from their knowledge of nature.
- Foraging: a Healer who takes the Making Potions roll and passes 2d6 has found herbs rather than a finished potion. Pick a herb of the right rarity for the location (Wilderness +1, City −1, Underground −2, exactly as normal). Pass 1d6 and re-roll as usual, but count it as a common herb only.
- Healing herbs (adder’s tongue, cashews, lotus, marigold, clovers): count as a Healing Potion, so +1d6 on the Healing Test.
- Heather: used with any other herb, the Healer may also roll one extra Healing Power d6 without spending one.
- Valerian or frankincense: +1d6 on one Will to Fight Test.
- Ginseng or snapdragon: counts as a Speed potion for one Encounter.
- Abyzou root or oni-scale: counts as Magic Resistant for one Encounter.
- Kali spore: a Caster recovers 1 + 1/2d6 Magic Power, like a Mana potion.
- Onyx fungus: Poison. Whoever eats it is Out of the Fight.
- Value: common and uncommon herbs aren’t worth Increasing Rep d6 when bartering. Rare herbs are worth (1), and very rare herbs (2).
At the Table
D&D 5e
- Identifying a herb: Intelligence (Nature) check. DC 10 for common herbs, DC 15 for uncommon and rare ones, DC 20 for very rare herbs. Proficiency with an herbalism kit gives advantage.
- Using a herb: an action and a Wisdom (Medicine) check, DC 10. On a success, the herb gives advantage on one roll it obviously helps with (valerian before a fear save, ginseng on initiative), or ends one mundane condition it obviously treats (clovers or skullcap for non-magical paralysis, wormwood or maple for the poisoned condition).
- Heather: add it, and the user also adds their proficiency bonus to the roll.
- Deep herbs: after a day in sunlight or warmth, they’re useless.
What’s Next
Next time we’ll take these herbs and turn them into actual potions, with Saraahd’s own recipes for healing balms, haste tonics, antidotes and one very nasty witch poison.
In the meantime, if you want to see where these came from, Saraahd’s Secret Shrine is a free low-level adventure with a witch, a demon in a cauldron, and snails with skulls for shells.
What’s the one herb your party always hoards? And which system should I convert for next time? Let me know in the comments.
Ciao for now.
Use it at your table: The game rules and mechanics in this post are shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 licence. Use them, tweak them and share them for your own games.
Product Identity: The names of characters, places, factions and deities (everything that makes it Mystic Times) are Product Identity of Arjade Productions and aren’t covered by that licence. They’re yours to use at your table, but not to publish.
(Note: This post was created adapting my published books using tools which may include elements of artificial intelligence.)