Herbalism & Alchemy

Herbalism is used to identify magical reagants, particularly plants and fungi with latent magical properties. A herbalist also knows how to correctly prepare reagants - for example, by making into a tea or grinding into a poultice - allowing them to make herbal remedies. Herbs and herbal remedies can be just as potent as potions, but they sometimes come with undesirable side effects. They tend to lose their potency after a week or so, unless carefully preserved.

Alchemy is used to create potions and other magical concoctions. Alchemists use complex and delicate instruments to refine and distil reagants into stable substances with reliable effects. Alchemists can recognise reagants and know how to use them to make potions, but being skilled at alchemy doesn’t necessarily mean you know how to find and harvest them in the wild, or how to cultivate them. In the field, alchemists can use a portable laboratory to make simple and straightforward potions.

The GM is encouraged to use a resource like the Herbalist’s Primer or Fungi of the Far Realms for a stock of strange reagants and their properties.