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feel free to move if in the wrong section...
Ok, been thinking on this for a few hours and it hit me, has anyone ever thought of doing a write-up or book on basically Fantasy Herbology? Things that natural herbs, plants, roots and fungi can do in this fantasy world.
This question came about due to my pondering a random table in the "Curse of the Kobold King" starter adventure, where one of the items you can find is a natural growing moss that will bio-luminesce, and if cut and bottled will last for up to 3 days. a simple vial's worth will shed light equal to a torch. was this ever listed or displayed elsewhere?
So what other plants show possible utility like these? Does anyone else think there might be a book or booklet in on this subject?
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It may not be purely what you're looking for, but 3.5's Alchemy and Herbalists is a pretty formidable grimoire - one thing I appreciate about it is the significant presence displayed in it of the less violent aspects of the D&D world.
Thanks for the suggestion, that helps. I'll have to consider buying it.
So, any thoughts on the glowing moss?
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It sounds like something, or a derivative of something, that's pretty much always been part of the game. Bioluminescent moss is a bit like the Babelfish of the Underdark - it's just too useful to adventurers and underground civilizations for it not to exist. My personal reckoning doesn't go all that far back, so the earliest example of such a thing I can personally cite is that the Oozemaster from 3.0's Masters of the Wild could, in addition to being able to generate many deadlier slime strains, smear things with harmless fungus that radiated violet light.
Convenient glowing moss comes from original D&D, before AD&D. I suspect it's one of the things PF assumes rather than writes about specifically.
Other herbs & similar - Rolemaster uses them extensively. Find an old RM book and look towards the back for a few pages on herbs.
Occult Lore by Atlas Games has a rule subsystem for herbalism (among other interesting things). It is very detailed, containing a list of herbs and the concoctions you can brew out of them.