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So I’ve got a group of epic level adventurers based in Faerun. Since I’m not a big fan of some of the upcoming FR changes, I’ve been steering them towards changing it into a planar campaign. I thought it’d be great if they created their own demiplane and used that as their new base of ops, so I mentioned it to them.
They loved the idea.
I’m going the whole nine yards by making a Manual of the Planes type entry, making maps with Dunjinni, they’re using an epic spell variant of the genesis spell to make the demiplane, they’re creating a mythal, portals, etc.
There is only one thing stopping me.
They want to make a forest with a lot of rare (magical) plants, like the wierwood trees from the FR setting book, as a nature preserve. The problem is I’ve only found descriptions on rare plants/trees in the FR setting, the Silver Marches, and the 2E Volo’s Guide to All Things Magical and not all of those would fit in the intended climate of the demiplane.
Yeah, I’m trying to get realism for a fantasy game, forgive me.
I’d like some more options. This weekend I’m going through my Dragon magazines, so I’m not asking for help because I’m lazy (though I won’t ignore any articles people point out for me). But if anyone knows of a collection of magic plants/trees/”natural” features, including descriptions, I’d appreciate it if you drop me a line.
Thanks.
FP
One of the recent Dragons (can't remember the number but I know it was the same one with Demogorgon)had an article on magical flora.
Hmm. Try Magic of Faerun, there's a bit in the back. You might find a little in Bastion Press's Alchemy and Herbalists (don't remember, book's buried just now).
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Hmm. Try Magic of Faerun, there's a bit in the back. You might find a little in Bastion Press's Alchemy and Herbalists (don't remember, book's buried just now).
Looked at the MoF, IIRC, its more about the effects of the magical plants (which is good) but I'm primarily looking for descriptions of the plants themselves.
I'll look into the BP product, thanks!
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Here's an idea, instead of magical flora, how about magic-sensitive flora?
Basicly, plants that look and normally act as an average plant, but when in the presence of magic(spells being cast nearby), they produce a number of effects, such as random metamagic boosts(surprise Jim when his Fireball is suddenly Maximized!).
Similarly, there could be plants which may spontaneously grow/wither when spells are cast around them, change colors, suck the energy from spells(feeding on the magic), plants that are attracted to magic-users(bending/twisting towards such characters as they passs by), and so forth.
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I’d like some more options.Do you just want Realms stuff? How about Kingsfoil from Middle Earth?
In fact, there's a whole List of Middle Earth Plants as well as a List of Fictional Plants on Wikipedia.
HTH,
Rez
Thanks! I'm going to print some of those off and see what I can use, just wish they had more in the way of descriptions.
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You might also want to track down either Rob Kuntz's original Garden of the Plantmaster ("systemless") or the Kuntz/Plemmons re-write for d20 Kingdoms of Kalamar setting (same name) - it has a LOT of magical flora-type stuff and tables for creating even more.
I'm going by my FLGS to see if they carry a copy, if not I'll order one from Paizo.
Thanks!
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Here's an idea, instead of magical flora, how about magic-sensitive flora?
Basicly, plants that look and normally act as an average plant, but when in the presence of magic(spells being cast nearby), they produce a number of effects, such as random metamagic boosts(surprise Jim when his Fireball is suddenly Maximized!).
Similarly, there could be plants which may spontaneously grow/wither when spells are cast around them, change colors, suck the energy from spells(feeding on the magic), plants that are attracted to magic-users(bending/twisting towards such characters as they passs by), and so forth.
This sounds like a fun idea, but I'll need to be careful. I like the idea of a fireball sensitive dandelion (seeds exploding to the four winds afterwards) but I just know where the wizard will be spending his skill points next (Knowledge [nature] or Profession [gardner]).
BTW KC,
Thanks for pointing me to the Dragon article, they already love some of the ideas in there!
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Here's an idea, instead of magical flora, how about magic-sensitive flora?
I believe there was a magical 'kudzu' in Spelljammer that grew in reaction to magic in the area. Every spell level in the immediate area was nullified, eaten by the plant to generate another 5 ft. square of vine. A careless mage could become entangled quickly, and the vine, once wrapped around a spellcaster, would continue feeding, draining spells directly from his mind (and killing him in the process as it grew through his body, seeking out more tasty magic).
Magic items left in the vines would also be drained of power, and contribute to the growth of the vines.
Other magical plants;
Soarwood, the wood of this tree is strong, but weightless, only it's roots hold it down in the earth.
Flameberry bushes. These bushes leaves dance with different colors of continual flame (that fades within 24 hours of the leaf being plucked), and it's branches are gnarled and twisted around each other like a crazy plume of flame. It's berries are hard to reach past the venomous thorns (which cause an itchy rash (sickened 1 minute), and then blazing pain (nauseated one minute, save +1 each minute thereafter to shake it), but little damage), and when plucked, the soft white berries begin to heat up. Within three rounds of being plucked, they explode as a Fire Seed (holly berry), although some alchemists know of a salve that can preserve them as soon as it is applied, causing them to not burst until 1 round after they are plucked from the vial of salve and (presumably) thrown.
Razor grass. This tall stalks of grass whip around in sudden winds, flaying small creatures mercilessly. For every round that the wind is strong or better, all in the area suffer 1d3 Slashing damage (armor protects as against whip damage, although the razor grass inflicts lethal damage).
Sunleaf. These tall trees absorb sunlight through a magical process that is far more efficient than photosynthesis. Their bark has traces of iron and the ground around the tree is stained rust-red, the soil tainted and inhospitable to most other plant life. The leaves are silver edged, with a dark black center, and shaped much like oak leaves. They absorb both heat and light, and store it for their own defensive use, concealing silvery flowers folded up within their canopy that can aim towards any threat the tree perceives (it has low-light vision, as well as tremorsense), firing Searing Rays of light as a 5th level Cleric. A typical tree can fire 1 Searing Ray per HD, and has 8 HD. It takes a full hour of sunlight to recharge one Searing Ray, after they are all spent.
Fiendish Acacia. This tree has fern like leaves and sickly sweet flowers, as well as foot-long thorns that are improbably thick. These thorns are hollow, and serve as nests to swarms of fiendish flying ants, that swarm forth to attack any living creature that comes near, stripping the flesh and carting it back to both provide food for their young, and fertilizer for the tree. Unlike a mundane acacia, both the tree and the swarms are fiendish and have an intelligence of 3, and a hive mind with each other. Hideous rumor suggests that some fiends, and perhaps even some unhinged non-fiendish naturalists, have learned a method by which they can distill the sweet red nectar of the Fiendish Acacia, and so join the hive mind, and direct the swarms at their bidding!
Death Pollen. Large yellow-green flowers appear in the late autumn as this tree begins to dry out, and a sickly coating of dust covers everything downwind, suffocating all breathing life, and settling in the warm, nutrient-rich bodies of those that have succumbed to the death pollen, new trees sprouting up from their flesh and tearing apart their ribcage as the tree expands.
Vampire Rose. Only blooming at night, the pale white flowers of the vampire rose have a subtle scent, and unlike most rosebushes, the plant also produces dark red berries, almost black in color. Vampire roses are not mobile, but feed on the blood of small creatures, bat, bird or insect, that are attracted by their scent, and use this blood to produce their plump succulent berries, which can be consumed to provide 1 hp of healing, and nourishment as a full meal, similar to a Goodberry. The berries of a Vampire Rose cannot survive exposure to sunlight, and so the plant must be 'watered' (in blood) and then the berries harvested before the next sunrise. (The plant cannot be raised in conditions of total darkness. It still requires sunlight to thrive, although it's berries wither in sunlight and it's flowers curl themselves away.)
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Here's an idea, instead of magical flora, how about magic-sensitive flora?
Basicly, plants that look and normally act as an average plant, but when in the presence of magic(spells being cast nearby), they produce a number of effects, such as random metamagic boosts(surprise Jim when his Fireball is suddenly Maximized!).
Similarly, there could be plants which may spontaneously grow/wither when spells are cast around them, change colors, suck the energy from spells(feeding on the magic), plants that are attracted to magic-users(bending/twisting towards such characters as they passs by), and so forth.
This sounds like a fun idea, but I'll need to be careful. I like the idea of a fireball sensitive dandelion (seeds exploding to the four winds afterwards) but I just know where the wizard will be spending his skill points next (Knowledge [nature] or Profession [gardner]).
BTW KC,
Thanks for pointing me to the Dragon article, they already love some of the ideas in there!
Well, the idea is that the plant that applied metamagic feats would do so randomly, so that dandelion wouldn't just Maximize, but could also Empower, Enlarge, Extend, Heighten, or Widen(I can't figure out how randomly Still, Quicken, or Silent a spell). So when that player casts near these plants, you as DM could roll 1d8 and do the following:
1: Nothing2: Empower
3: Enlarge
4: Extend
5: Heighten
6: Maximize
7: Widen
8: Two(roll d8 twice more and ignore any 8s)
That way, the player can't go "I'd like to see where the nearest patch of sunflowers is so I can keep a Storm of Vengeance going longer", or say "Is there a Fern? I want my magic missile to do 50% more damage!". This makes it so that they can still look for this plant, but they have no idea what it will do. Plus if you make it only work every 1d4 rounds, and don't count any round you roll a 1 on the d8, then you allow that player the chance to improve their spells, but with little predictability as to how(such as the Wizard who casts near the crabgrass and ends up Extending his Disintegrate).
Set, those are some cool plants, especially the razor grass.
EPIC GAME EH?
Try and advanced orcwort tree. Template it up, fiendish or pseudonatural, then awaken it. I LOVE this critter, played an entire story arc. Just advance the wortlings (CR3 as is) the tree is CR20 or so.
my favorite plant product ever ( from a homebrew ): grass seed.
Prepped/bred by druids as an add on to entangle- so you could cast anyw
here you spread the seed. so when you plan plants - don't forget the byproducts for use in spells as extra components or to make items.
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While not magical, one of the early Dragons (somewhere in the 50s - had a levitating golden sword on the cover) had an article detailing various herbs that could be found in the wild and what they could be used for might get some ideas from it at least, even if they are stats for the wrong edition.
Thanks for the tip, I'll be hitting my Dragon Compilation CD's later today to look this one up. As for "wrong edition stats" we're playing 3.xE, so older editions don't bother me in the slightest!
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Well, the idea is that the plant that applied metamagic feats would do so randomly, so that dandelion wouldn't just Maximize, but could also Empower, Enlarge, Extend, Heighten, or Widen(I can't figure out how randomly Still, Quicken, or Silent a spell). So when that player casts near these plants, you as DM could roll 1d8 and do the following:
1: Nothing
2: Empower
3: Enlarge
4: Extend
5: Heighten
6: Maximize
7: Widen
8: Two(roll d8 twice more and ignore any 8s)
Okay... now that's just awesome. Since I bought a lot of the 3.5 splatbooks, I've got a ton of metamagic feats to use for such a list. If you place a restriction on growing such plants near each other it might make for an interesting encounter in above mentioned planar garden.
I'm thinking a "sorceror's rose" bush with random roses of different colors. You determine the number of buds and which metamagics they apply ahead of time. Then, when a spell is cast you roll to see which bud (if any) will apply. The first time a bud causes an effect, it blooms, the second time it withers and drops a seed. You can even include one that negates the magic affected (say a black rose) to make its use danagerous.
What do you think CN?
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Some old "classic plants"
Grab Grass (D&D Basic, or maybe Expert IIRC) - did nothing much but impede movement
Archer Bush (Palace of the Silver Princess) - fires tiny needles at its prey
One of the Villains & Vigilantes modules (Devil's Domain) had glass grass - it cut into anything walking over it.
HMm - there also were some "fun" plants in S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks too...
These I'm going to have to hunt down, I never even saw the physical product for all of them, though I've heard of #2 and 4.
Thanks!
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EPIC GAME EH?
Try and advanced orcwort tree. Template it up, fiendish or pseudonatural, then awaken it. I LOVE this critter, played an entire story arc. Just advance the wortlings (CR3 as is) the tree is CR20 or so.
EPIC as in 35th currently, so I'd need to advance it further than that since I'm planning for a future adventure.
I might have just found a "gardener" and his "servants" for the planar gardne, thank you DV!
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IIRC, Dark Sun used to have some kind of bushes that basically produced potion-like effects in their berries. There was also a bush that charmed those that ate its berries into protecting it, eventually turning them into fertilizer then they starved to death or dehydrated or whatever while endlessly guarding the bush. I'll see if I can't look up some interesting Dark Sun, Spell Jammer or other odd stuff that might be fun for an Epic game.
Rez
If I had access to my Dark Sun stuff I might have found that, but that's currently two states away (limited space in condo, can't wait for new house) so anything you can give me to start with is appreciated.
I'm getting a lot of good plants to make challenges for the PC's, thanks folks!
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my favorite plant product ever ( from a homebrew ): grass seed.
Prepped/bred by druids as an add on to entangle- so you could cast anyw
here you spread the seed. so when you plan plants - don't forget the byproducts for use in spells as extra components or to make items.
Now thats a nifty little low-level effect, I bet that was useful too!
We're planning a forest, so I think we'll have animate trees down but what else do you think we could use in this manner? I'm not as familiar with the druid/ranger spells as I am with the sorc/wiz, are there other spell incorporating plants/trees into them like entangle?
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The land of Xanth, a realm brought to us from Peirs Anthony. There were plants that put you in an eternal sleep, plants that cast illusions, and plants that ate you. I'm sure there are some Xanth readers who can expound. I have to go to work.
Thanks for the direction, I'll go check wikipedia and mine it for ideas.
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The land of Xanth, a realm brought to us from Peirs Anthony. There were plants that put you in an eternal sleep, plants that cast illusions, and plants that ate you. I'm sure there are some Xanth readers who can expound. I have to go to work.Thanks for the direction, I'll go check wikipedia and mine it for ideas.
Ahh yes, Xanth, a land where one could grow such things as Humble Pies and Cherry Bomb Trees. I love puns.
Well, the idea is that the plant that applied metamagic feats would do so randomly, so that dandelion wouldn't just Maximize, but could also Empower, Enlarge, Extend, Heighten, or Widen(I can't figure out how randomly Still, Quicken, or Silent a spell). So when that player casts near these plants, you as DM could roll 1d8 and do the following:
1: Nothing
2: Empower
3: Enlarge
4: Extend
5: Heighten
6: Maximize
7: Widen
8: Two(roll d8 twice more and ignore any 8s)
Okay... now that's just awesome. Since I bought a lot of the 3.5 splatbooks, I've got a ton of metamagic feats to use for such a list. If you place a restriction on growing such plants near each other it might make for an interesting encounter in above mentioned planar garden.
I'm thinking a "sorceror's rose" bush with random roses of different colors. You determine the number of buds and which metamagics they apply ahead of time. Then, when a spell is cast you roll to see which bud (if any) will apply. The first time a bud causes an effect, it blooms, the second time it withers and drops a seed. You can even include one that negates the magic affected (say a black rose) to make its use danagerous.
What do you think CN?
I find the Sorcerer's Rose quite interesting. So the bush itself could have several different colors of rose blossom from it? Anything effected by a purple rose would be maximized, and every bud that would produce purple petals would then bloom if they effect the spell, but its always random as to which effect takes place, excepting of course, those buds which have already been spent, correct?
If that's true, I'd suggest one color for each metamagic feat(personally, I'd just stick with those from the PHB, but to each his own), then two more: one that feeds upon magic, causing new buds to sprout and the bush to increase in size; and one that suppresses magic, possibly causing portions of the bush to lash out at the spell caster as a whip, but with slashing and piercing damage(due to thorns), and reach based on the size of the bush.
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The land of Xanth, a realm brought to us from Peirs Anthony. There were plants that put you in an eternal sleep, plants that cast illusions, and plants that ate you. I'm sure there are some Xanth readers who can expound. I have to go to work.Thanks for the direction, I'll go check wikipedia and mine it for ideas.
Xanth is full of various puns (basically go to any site that lists puns and look for ones ending in tree - it was there... there were shoe tree, whiz trees ect. Also there were the gourds which if you looked into the eyehole of, your consiencness was transported into the world of sleep and nightmare, while your body stayed in the real world able to be hit, starve to death, ect.
edit as to the socorer's rose - I would have it that a full flower crushed into the spell componants while casting will grant the bonus, but it needs to have been picked from the tree in less than a day. while casting near a tree will do a random power. I would also give a 1/10 or 1/12 chance of a bad effect happening.