The Herbalist
Welcome to Herb Week! We recently released a new book, A Necromancer’s Grimoire: Herbs of the Jungle, a sequel to one of our most popular books of all time: A Necromancer’s Grimoire: Secrets of the Herb. For those who aren’t familiar, these books challenge the status quo of alchemy by introducing 10 herbs: special, fantastic plants, each of which can be used (with Craft [alchemy]) to create a wide variety of different alchemical items, and can be combined with one another to create even more strange and exotic concoctions. The books also have detailed information and rules for finding and harvesting such herbs (not to mention growing them yourself), making the book a pretty all-encompassing package. Herbs of the Jungle focuses on jungle herbs, and contains all the rules from Secrets of the Herb necessary to make use of herbs.
While anyone with a rank or two in Craft (alchemy) can get some pretty good mileage out of herbs, the following archetype is for those who want to get the absolute most out of them, and maximize their green thumb potential.
New Alchemist Archetype
The Herbalist
While other alchemists play with beakers full of chemicals or struggle to transmute lead into gold, herbalists know that great power is hidden in inconspicuous places, such as the numerous fruits, vines, and tubers that so many others take for granted. An herbalist knows how to get the most from these plants, and use their power for himself.
Alchemical Knack (Ex): An herbalist gains a bonus equal to 1/2 his alchemist level on all Craft (alchemy) checks made to create items. Further, when using Craft (alchemy) to create a preparation of an herb or a compound made from several herbs, the herbalist treats the result of his Craft (alchemy) check as being 5 higher than it actually is for the purposes of any aspects of that preparation or compound that depend on the amount by which the Craft check made to create it exceeds the DC. This +5 bonus does not apply to other results of the Craft check (such as whether or not the check is successful, or the amount of time that it takes to create the item). For more information on herbs, preparations, and compounds, see A Necromancer’s Grimoire: Herbs of the Jungle.
This ability replaces the brew potion class feature.
Exceptional Forager (Ex): An herbalist is particularly skilled at foraging for herbs and similar objects. Whenever he successfully forages for one or more herbs, he finds one additional herb of the same type. At 5th level, and again at 8th level and 11th level, the number of additional herbs he finds increases by 1 (two additional herbs at 5th level, 3 at 8th level, and 4 at 11th level). For more information on harvesting herbs, see A Necromancer’s Grimoire: Herbs of the Jungle.
This ability replaces the poison resistance class feature.
Potent Poisoning (Ex): Whenever an herbalist creates a poison with the Craft (alchemy) skill, the saving throw DC of that poison is equal to 10 + 1/2 the herbalist’s alchemist level + the herbalist’s Intelligence modifier, instead of the normal amount. In the case of poisons whose saving throw DC increases based on the amount by which the Craft check made to create them exceeds the Craft DC, the saving throw DC still increases by this amount.
This ability replaces the swift poisoning class feature. When the herbalist gains the instant alchemy class feature at 18th level, it allows him to apply poison as a swift action, rather than an immediate action.