Herbs and Healing
Herbal remedies for various ailments and injuries are a staple of fantasy literature, but the D&D core rules scarcely mention them. The ability to brew a natural remedy in the wilderness leans into this colourful trope and provides an alternative to healing magic. The system below suggests that various herbs provide unique healing abilities when harvested fresh from the wild. But these herbs lose potency quickly, and if not used within a day of harvesting, they become ineffective. You must also be proficient with the herbalism kit to prepare the plants.
Characters can forage for these valuable herbs in forests, meadows, grasslands, and similar areas. Your character must spend an hour attempting to locate one of the specific herbs named below and make a DC 10 Wisdom (Survival) check. If the location is conducive to the herb, the DM may grant advantage on the Survival roll. On a success, you find enough of the herb to prepare a single application for one person. On a failure, the herb is unavailable nearby, and subsequent foraging for that herb will also fail. However, there is always some sort of useful plant available in a fertile area, so you can roll a d12 on the below table and see what you find instead.
| d12 | Herb | d12 | Herb |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adder’s-Tongue | 7 | Juniper |
| 2 | Birthwort | 8 | King's Candle |
| 3 | Calendula | 9 | Moorroot |
| 4 | Comfrey | 10 | Stinking Nightshade |
| 5 | Garlic | 11 | Witch Hazel |
| 6 | Heartberry | 12 | Woundwort |
Adder’s-Tongue
Adder's-Tongue is a single-leafed plant with a long, thin stalk that sprouts small, yellow-green flowers. It thrives in moist meadows and shady clearings, particularly in late spring. Often overlooked for its simple appearance, this herb can promote recovery when its leaves are crushed and boiled into tea.
Effect. When you take a short rest immediately after drinking Adder's-Tongue tea, you add +2 to the total of each Hit Die you spend to regain hit points.
Birthwort
Birthwort is a climbing vine with heart-shaped leaves and thin, tubular yellow flowers that grow along hedges and shrubs in sunlit areas. It flowers in mid-summer and is renowned for its ability to neutralise toxins.
Effect. Drinking the juice of the crushed leaves removes the poisoned condition.
Calendula
Calendula features vibrant orange and yellow flowers with lush green leaves, blooming from early summer through fall. It thrives in sunny and well-drained soil. The petals of Calendula possess anti-inflammatory and purifying properties, making them effective in treating necrotic wounds and promoting tissue regeneration.
Effect. When applied to a creature suffering from necrotic damage, a poultice made from the crushed petals restores 1d8 hit points.
Comfrey
Comfrey features large, hairy leaves and hollow stalks that grow up to three feet high, with violet or white bell-shaped flowers. It grows in damp fields, ditches, and near water sources, blooming mid-summer. Its roots, when crushed, are especially effective for open wounds.
Effect. When applied to a creature suffering slashing or piercing damage, the crushed root immediately restores 1d6 hit points.
Garlic
Garlic is easily recognisable by its tall green stalks with pungent, white flower clusters. Found in meadows, gardens, and forests, its strong odour makes it easy to identify. While well-known for its use as a culinary herb, garlic is also a potent antiseptic. The crushed cloves are especially useful for preventing infection in wounds.
Effect. If you have received a disease from a wound, applying a garlic poultice to the would enables you to repeat the saving throw you made against contracting the disease.
Heartberry
Heartberry is a small, four-leaved plant that grows in woods and along field edges, bearing either a single white flower or a dark berry. Herbalists prize it greatly. When ingested, the berries can neutralise poisons, and when used to wash open wounds, they prevent infection.
Effect. When you consume the berries, the poisoned condition is removed from you. If you wash a slashing or piercing wound with the berry juice, you regain 1d6 hit points.
Juniper
Juniper is a fragrant bush with rough bark and short, needle-like leaves. Its dark purple berries ripen after a year and grow in sparse forests and heathlands. Juniper berries are a stimulant; when consumed, they can revive those near death.
Effect. If you are at 0 hit points and consume several juniper berries, you regain 1 hit point. Assume that someone can assist you in consuming the berries, even when you are unconscious.
King's Candle
King's Candle is a tall, striking plant with soft, silvery-green leaves surrounding a thick stalk rising to five feet. Its bright yellow flowers glow faintly like a candle and bloom in rocky soils or sunny slopes like those found near cliffs and quarries. These flowers are known for their potent pain-relieving properties. When crushed and mixed with water or wine, they can be applied directly to wounds to numb pain and speed healing.
Effect. When applied to an injury, the mixture grants 1d6 temporary hit points. These hit points disappear at the end of your next short or long rest.
Moorroot
Moorroot is a tall plant with soft, white stalks and broad, hairy leaves that grow in salt marshes and damp meadows by the sea. Its long, pliant roots, when smashed and made into a poultice, sooth fresh burns.
Effect. When applied to a creature suffering fire, lightning, or acid damage, the poultice restores 1d8 hit points.
Stinking Nightshade
Henbane is a low-growing plant with thick, deeply cut leaves and hollow yellow flowers veined with purple. It has a strong, offensive smell and thrives in clearings and along paths, flowering throughout the summer. Though its odour is repellent, the plant's boiled leaves form a powerful painkiller, deadening discomfort from severe wounds. However, it can also cause intoxication.
Effect. When ingested, the mixture grants 2d6 temporary hit points, which disappear at the end of your next short or long rest. But you must also make a successful DC 10 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for one hour.
Witch Hazel
Witch Hazel has glossy, dark green leaves and striking, spidery yellow flowers that bloom in late autumn and early winter. It typically grows along riverbanks, wetlands, and shaded woodlands, thriving in moist, fertile soils. Witch Hazel leaves have astringent and anti-inflammatory properties that promote the healing of bruises and contusions.
Effect. When applied to a creature suffering bludgeoning or thunder damage, a poultice from the crushed leaves immediately restores 1d6 hit points.
Woundwort
Woundwort is a slender, green-stalked plant with long, jagged leaves and large purplish-red flowers. Found growing in fields, ditches, and marshes, it thrives in mid-summer. When mashed into a poultice, its acrid-smelling leaves are a potent remedy for deep cuts.
Effect. When, at the start of a short rest, you apply the poultice to a creature suffering slashing or piercing damage, any Hit Dice they spend restore the maximum number of hit points possible.
This article was influenced by Kevin Thompson's "Wounds and Weeds" in Dragon #82.