Healing, Herbal Remedies, and DRUGS!

You know something that bugs me about 5e? All healing is either magical or hit dice. Even the alternate ranger that Mike Mearls presented us a while ago in an Unearthed Arcana article (Which I previously reviewed), which ostensibly creates “poultices” to heal, doesn’t actually use poultices in any narratively-consistent way. They’re healing potions. All they did was change the word without actually changing how they function.

How a poultice is ACTUALLY applied.

See, I like running games where magic is rare, and healing magic is particularly rare. Therefore, there needs to be additional ways to heal wounds. And not just for PCs. PCs are adventurers. They have money to afford magical healing. They travel with clerics that can cast “cure wounds” on them.

But regular-ass people? What do they do?

They use the 7 secret herbs and spices, man! They have town healers and miracle men that gather flowers and grass and stuff, process it into something useable, and then administer it as best they can. Even alchemical substances are a rare find. Instead, they focus on herbal remedies. Actual poultices and pills that might take a while to work, but get the job done.

And you know what else 5e doesn’t have? DRUGS, MAN! DRUGS! I love drugs in D&D! It’s why the alchemist in Pathfinder was my favorite class. Again, this spawns from the same sort of problem I have with healing. The only way to gain these kinds of temporary benefits—bonuses to damage, advantage on skill checks, improved senses and awareness—is through magic. And that bones games without magical support (or without that particular type of magical support, like games that don’t have a cleric or only have a blaster wizard/warlock/sorcerer).

Therefore, I decided to amend that. Say hello to Herbal Remedies.

Herbal Remedies

Herbal remedies are special herbal poultices, potions, and other curatives that can be used to heal wounds and increase one’s strength and senses. Creating herbal remedies requires an Herbalist’s Kit.

Herbal remedy	Cost
Healing Poultice	10 gp
Miracle Pill	20 gp
Potion of Vigor	25 gp
Owlbear’s Claw	50 gp
Eagle Tears	50 gp
Cat’s Eye Dust	50 gp
Snake Juice	100 gp

Healing Poultice. A healing poultice is a special mixture of herbs compacted into a bandage and then laid across a wound. It hardens and assists in the healing process, but requires time and rest. Once a healing poultice is applied (an action), you heal 2d4+2 hit points at the end of your next short rest. You may apply this healing before you spend hit dice to heal wounds. Only a single healing poultice can be applied at a time.

Improved and Superior healing poultices can be crafted, as well, and are more effective, if more expensive. An improved healing poultice (50 gp) heals 4d4+4 hit points, and a superior healing poultice (150 gp) heals 6d4+6 hit points. At DM’s discretion, there may be even greater versions that require special herbs and other ingredients to function.

Miracle Pill. This pill, filled with herbs and often covered in a chocolate coating, immediately stabilizes a character brought to 0 hit points if ingested. Administering the pill is an action. In addition, one hour later, you immediately awaken with 1 hit point.

The chocolate coating helps it go down easier.

Potion of Vigor. This potion of boiled water and herbs gives increased energy and dulls pain. Drinking this potion (an action) grants you 2d4+2 temporary hit points. Outside of combat or other strenuous activity, you retain these hit points for 1 hour or until you take sufficient damage. While in combat or similar situations which would keep your blood pumping and metabolism high, this time is reduced to 1 minute. After the duration of the potion expires (not when you lose the hit points), you must make a DC 15 Constitution save. Failure causes you to suffer 1 level of exhaustion.

Improved and superior potions of vigor can be brewed, and are more effective, if more expensive. Improved potions of vigor (100 gp, DC 17) grant 4d4+4 temporary hit points, and superior potions of vigor (375 gp, DC 19) grant 6d4+6 temporary hit points.

Owlbear’s Claw. This needle is coated in a deep-red compound and usually wrapped in thin cloth to keep clean. As an action, you can stab yourself in a vein, taking 1 point of damage and allowing the compound on the needle to dissolve and flow through your bloodstream. The needle then becomes useless and can be discarded. Immediately, you feel a rush of strength. You gain advantage on all strength ability checks, double your carrying capacity, and deal 1d6 damage with all unarmed attacks. This effect lasts for 10 minutes outside of combat, but is reduced to 1 minute in combat or similar situations which would keep your blood pumping and metabolism high. After the duration expires, you must make a DC 15 Constitution save. Failure causes you to suffer 1 level of exhaustion.

Eagle Tears. This strange, sky-blue liquid can be dropped into your eyes as an action to improve your sight to inhuman levels. For 10 minutes after using this, you gain advantage on all perception checks in bright light. In addition, you can see fine details up to 1 mile away, as if it were no more than 100 feet distant. A single dose has enough for two eyes.

Cat’s Eye Dust. This powder is created from dried cattails and other swamp herbs. When inhaled as an action, it allows you to see in dim lighting more effectively. You do not suffer disadvantage on perception checks while in dim light for 8 hours.

NOTE: I, personally, have a deep and abiding hatred for darkvision, which is why this remedy only grants low-light vision. Because that’s all anyone gets in my games. If you, like most sane people, allow darkvision in your game, then consider letting Cat’s Eye Dust grant darkvision for an hour, instead of low-light for 8.

Snake Juice. None know why this sickly-sweet concoction was named “snake juice,” but for whatever reason, the name stuck. Once imbibed as an action, you become hyper-aware of your surroundings, and gain advantage on your next Initiative check for up to 1 hour. If you enter combat during this time, you must immediately make a DC 15 Constitution save 10 minutes after rolling Initiative. Failure results in you falling unconscious for 1 hour as the snake juice takes its toll on your body. If you succeed, you still suffer 1 level of exhaustion.

Herbal Remedies and Addiction

Some of the herbal remedies presented here are very specifically designed to resemble various types of high-energy drugs. DMs might consider making them addictive. Alternately, they might make “safe” and “unsafe” versions of the herbs, wherein the “safe” versions are more expensive.

As there are no official rules for addiction in the Dungeon Master’s Guide, consider the following system for your game:

Addiction and Tolerance. Whenever the effects of an addictive substance end, a character must roll 1d6 (the “addiction roll”). On a result of 1, they become addicted to that substance. Reduce this roll by 1 for every addictive substance of the same type previously used that day. They then gain the flaw “I require <<addictive substance>> to function normally” until the addiction is cured. Every day that you go without the substance, roll 1d4 (the “symptom roll”), reducing the roll by 1 for every prior day gone without the substance. On a result of 1, you become poisoned until you use the substance again.

Once you are addicted and have been using the substance regularly for approximately 6 months, your tolerance to it increases, and you must use twice as many doses of it as before to achieve the same effect (and relieve the penalties of addiction). This tolerance increases again after a full year of regular use, requiring a third dose, and then again (to 4 doses) after another year.

Curing Addiction. Addiction is a disease, and can be cured via magic as any other disease. Alternatively, it can be cured through an immediate cessation of use, or through weaning oneself off the drug until they no longer need it.

Immediately cutting yourself off from the substance, or going “cold turkey”, can work, but can be violent and has a chance to leave you with permanent mental and emotional scarring. After approximately 2 weeks without the substance, you emerge without the addiction. However, you must make a DC 20 Wisdom saving throw. Failure results in the addiction flaw changing to “I constantly desire <<addictive substance>>.” Success removes the addiction flaw entirely. The time spent without the substance can be horrifying and violent, as the more time spent without it leads to a greater and greater desire to acquire it, as well as more violent physical symptoms. Every day after the first week, you must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw. Failure results in gaining a level of exhaustion. Using the addictive substance in question relieves this, and removes the exhaustion after a long rest.

Weaning yourself off of the addictive substance is less dangerous, but takes more time. It takes approximately 2 months, and requires about half as much of the substance as you would normally use. In the process of an actual game, use the substance only when it inflicts the poisoned condition. After about a week of only using it under this circumstance, add +1 to your symptom roll. Every week thereafter, while following the same regimen, add +1 more to your symptom roll. Once you have a total of +7 on your symptom roll, and you roll a 4 on the die, you are cured of the addiction. Remove the addiction flaw. Using the substance at any time outside of this regimen (when you do not have the poisoned condition) resets the process, removing any bonuses to your symptom roll.

Special Remedies

There are some herbal remedies that border on the magical, and have incredible benefits. In terms of pricing and rarity, consider them magic items, though they do not require magic to create. By default, all of the special remedies presented are illegal in most campaign settings. Whether it’s due to the danger they present, or due to the immoral methods of obtaining them, they are generally only sold on the black market.

Dragon’s Blood. Rare Herbal Remedy. Dragon’s blood is literally the bottled blood of a dragon, unmodified in any way. It remains hot in its vial for eternity, and some vials will even boil on their own. It grants great vigor and strength to those who consume it, but at a potentially-great cost. Drinking a bottle of dragon’s blood (an action) grants you 10d4+10 temporary hit points and grants you advantage on all Strength and Dexterity checks. These hit points do not fade over time, and the advantage lasts until you have lost your final temporary hit point. When you drink dragon’s blood, you must make a DC 15 constitution saving throw with disadvantage, as it is poisonous to normal, mortal races. Failure results in you falling unconscious for an indeterminate amount of time. Roll 1d10 at the beginning of every day. On a result of 10, you immediately awaken, still gaining all the benefits of drinking the dragon’s blood.

Certain cults and organizations drink dragon’s blood regularly as a test of strength, viewing it as a form of mana from heaven. Once it finally passes through your system, you must urinate it out in a painfully-hot, red stream.

Manticore Tooth Powder. Uncommon Herbal Remedy. By grinding up the teeth of a manticore, mixing it with a few herbs, and inhaling the mixture as an action, you increase your sensory awareness to incredible levels. You gain advantage on all Wisdom (perception) checks, and also gain blindsense out to 30 feet, as you combine your various senses to create a three-dimensional picture of the world around you in your mind. This effect lasts for 1 hour.

Pixie Wings. Rare Herbal Remedy. These are literally the wings of pixies, plucked from their corpses or, occasionally, still-living bodies. When placed on the tongue, they dissolve and the creature that consumed them immediately becomes susceptible to suggestion. For 1 hour, they are incredibly agreeable and view nearly any creature they come across as a friend, unless the creature is openly hostile to them. They will obey basic (generally one-sentence) commands without question, and suffer disadvantage on all Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma ability checks and saving throws.

Crystallized Treant Sap. Very Rare Herbal Remedy. These small amber crystals are actually sap harvested directly from the still-living bodies of Treants (and occasionally dryads), as it becomes hard and inert upon their death. The sap must then be kept at below 0 degree temperatures for a full year before it crystalizes. Once crystallized, it can then be administered orally to a corpse that died no more than 10 minutes prior. So long as the death didn’t leave them horrifically maimed (missing MOST of their body parts), the crystallized sap reactivates their organs and shocks their system back to life, restoring 1 hit point.

The bugs are just flavor boosters.

Ingesting the crystals while alive can have the opposite effect. As it tries to reactivate already-functioning organs, they have a chance of rupturing and killing you outright. Roll a DC 20 constitution saving throw. Failure results in immediate, painful death.

Note that while crystallized treant sap is highly illegal due to the barbaric method of obtaining it, it is still highly valued by infirmaries and temples everywhere due to the fact that it can literally bring back the dead. However, it is often stored in secret, and only revealed in times of dire need. In addition, some assassins value it highly for its ability to kill a target instantly.