Herbology

To cultivate a magic plant, you need a place to plant it. This usually requires a 30-foot-radius area of nutrient-rich soil and a constant supply of water and light for larger magic plants, and it requires a 10-foot-radius area and similar soil, water, and light requirements for smaller plants. Most magic plants bear fruit, seeds, or sprouts that, once mature, replicate the effects of a spell when eaten, thrown, or used in some other way. A magic plant’s price depends on the spell effect it replicates. The cultivation cost of a magic plant is half the plant’s price.

Yielding

The yield per day is the number of fruits, seeds, or effects the plant generates per day during its growing season. For instance, a Goodberry bush yields six berries per day. The growing season multiplier is equal to the number of growing seasons the plant has in a single year. Growing seasons are continuous 13-week-long periods confined to one of the four seasons (spring, summer, fall, and winter). Magic plants cannot be in a growing season for longer than 52 weeks, and a plant that has four consecutive growing seasons produces fruit, seeds, or effects year-round. A magic plant generates its effects only during a growing season. Outside of a growing season, some plants will still grow but remain barren (such as a fruit tree), while others may wither and regrow in the following year (such as vines).

Typically, a creature must consume fruit produced by a magic plant to gain its effect. In these cases, the fruit’s eater is both the caster and the target of its spell effect. Other fruits must be thrown to generate their effects, or they might have some other activity involved in their use.

Planting

The initial planting and care of a magic plant requires 1 week per 1,000 gp of the plant’s cultivation cost. At the end of this period, the plant reaches maturity and its benefits are fully realized, assuming that the maturity culminates within the growing season. Once picked, the product of a magical plant stays potent for 24 hours. If not picked within 1 week, fruit or any other product of the plant rots into a useless (and often smelly) sludge—though rare fruits may have longer periods of potency. Harvested fruit can’t be kept magically potent for longer than 1 day, even by effects that preserve foodstuffs.

Magic plants can be destroyed like other magic items. A tree has an AC of 15 and 120 hit points, while bushes and vines have an AC of 10 and 50 hit points. When a magical plant is destroyed, any fruit (or similar consumables) it has produced remain active for 1 week before rotting.

A magic plant can be uprooted and moved, but it dies within a day unless it is magically treated with an effect such as gentle repose or temporal stasis. Uprooting a magic plant requires Strength sufficient to move it, 4 hours of work, and a successful DC 20 Knowledge (nature) check. An average magic tree weighs 500 pounds, while smaller plants, such as bushes or vines, average 50 pounds.

Magical Plants

Acidic Lemon Tree

Price 12,000 gp; Weight 500 lbs; Aura faint conjuration

Description

This tree grows oblong, yellow fruit that feel overripe to the touch. Each fruit is about the size of cantaloupe and can be thrown with a range increment of 20 feet. A target hit takes 2d6 points of acid damage, plus an additional 2d6 points of acid damage on the following round.

Yielding

An acidic lemon tree produces one fruit each day of its growing season, which is 13 weeks each spring. The tree has no more than seven fruit available at a time.

Altitude Fern

Price 12,000 gp; Weight 50 lbs.; Aura moderate abjuration

Description

This evergreen has soft green leaves and sprouts fronds laden with unusual sky-blue berries. When ingested, these waxy berries grant the imbiber immunity to all effects caused by high altitude. They do not grant immunity to damage from extreme temperatures, nor do they grant the ability to survive without air. The effects of a berry last for 1 day.

Yielding

An altitude fern produces up to six berries a day, and it bears no more than 50 berries at a time. The bush has one 13-week growing season per year, producing berries in the fall.

Ambrosial Lotus

Price 25,000 gp; Weight 50 lbs.; Aura strong enchantment

Description

This translucent, amber colored flower grows on remote calm lakes, typically found atop mountains. A creature who consumes an ambrosial lotus must succeed at a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or be overtaken by such a state of total bliss so as to be almost oblivious to the world around him.

The creature’s Intelligence and Charisma scores drop to 1, and the creature can no longer cast spells, understand language, or communicate. These effects are permanent unless removed with a Heal, or Wish spell.

Yielding

An ambrosial lotus stalk grows one flower per day during its 13-week growing period in spring.

Breezeblown Dandelion

Price 10,000 gp; Weight 5 lbs.; Aura weak transmutation

Description

This broad-stalked shrub branches into dozens of oversized dandelion flowers. A Small or smaller creature weighing less than 50 pounds can use a flower as a bonus action to slow her fall to a rate of 10 feet per round. While she is slowed, the flower also carries her in the direction of the wind. Light winds carry her 10 feet, moderate winds carry her 20 feet, strong winds carry her 50 feet, and severe winds carry her 100 feet. If a flower is exposed to winds of windstorm strength or greater, all of its seeds immediately blow away and the dandelion provides no further benefit. The benefits also end after 4 minutes or once the bearer hits the ground, whichever comes first.

Yielding

The plant produces one dandelion every day during its 13-week growing period during the spring, to a maximum of 20 dandelions at any one time. Unlike many magical plants, the fluffy blooms of the Breezeblown dandelion remain potent until used.

Cleanthistle

Price 7,200 gp; Weight 50 lbs.; Aura moderate conjuration

Description

The needles of this bitter, black herb are used to alleviate the effects of radiation poisoning. A creature that drinks tea made from the needles of Cleanthistle is affected by a Protection from Poison effect except that the effect lasts for 8 hours.

Yielding

A cleanthistle stalk has a single 26-week growing period, through spring and summer. During this period, enough needles for a single dose of tea regrow 4 days after being harvested.

The needles remain potent enough to brew for 1 week after being harvested.

Fireapple Tree

Price 5,000 gp; Weight 500 lbs.; Aura faint evocation

Description

This large deciduous tree has reddish-brown bark and bright yellow leaves. It grows misshapen red apples that are warm to the touch. Once harvested, an apple can be thrown to a range of 20 feet, bursting in a spray of scalding liquid and dealing 4d6 fire damage to the target directly hit and half that amount to creatures within 10 feet (Dexterity saving throw DC 14 to negate).

Yielding

A Fireapple tree produces one apple each week of its growing season, which is 13 weeks each summer. A tree has no more than three viable fruit at a time.

Gillyweed

Price 30,000 gp; Weight 50 lbs.; Aura faint transmutation

Description

This green, leafy plant grows in areas of shallow water, such as small lakes or coastal waters. The leaves can be chewed to grant cold resistance 5 and allow the user to survive without air. One leaf provides these benefits for up to 1 hour.

Yielding

Gillyweed yields up to four leaves per day. A patch of Gillyweed has no more than 28 leaves at a time. Its growing season lasts 13 weeks during the summer.

Ghostblossom

Price 10,500 gp; Weight 50 lbs.; Aura moderate enchantment

Description

The eyes of those who chew these pale white flowers widen and turn a milky white. The flowers send the user into a furious rage similar to that of a barbarian, granting advantage on Strength checks and saving throws, a +2 bonus to melee weapon damage rolls using Strength, and granting resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. You can’t cast or concentrate on spells while under these effects. The bonuses remain active for as long as the user chews the flower, up to 1 minute. A creature must use a Bonus Action on its turn to keep chewing on the Ghostblossom.

Consuming more than one Ghostblossom per day can cause extreme fatigue. For each Ghostblossom chewed after the first one, the user must roll a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or suffer a level of Exhaustion once the effects wear off. The DC augments by 2 for subsequent consumptions the same day.

Yielding

A Ghostblossom vine flowers once daily through a single 13-week growing period every summer.

Goodberry Bush

Price 8,000 gp; Weight 50 lbs.; Aura faint transmutation

Description

This vibrant red bush grows luscious, deep-red berries. These berries provide nourishment and healing as if the creature had consumed a berry affected by Goodberry.

Yielding

A goodberry bush produces up to six berries per day, and it grows year-round. A bush has no more than 50 berries at a time. It is resilient enough to grow in most environments, even occasionally found clinging to otherwise lifeless cliff faces.

Grabbing Vines

Price 2,000 gp; Weight 50 lbs.; Aura faint transmutation

Description

These thick green vines grow leaves sparingly. When fully mature, they fill an area 20 feet square to a height of 5 feet. Any creature moving through the area must attempt a DC 15 Strength check in the first square they try to leave within the area. Failure means that the creature cannot move any farther that round. Success allows a creature to move as if in difficult terrain, while success by 5 or more allows a creature to move normally.

Yielding

Grabbing vines have a 13-week growing season, though the season depends on when the vines were first cultivated; the grabbing vines return for 13 weeks during the same season each year.

Gravebane Petals

Price 16,000 gp; Weight 50 lbs.; Aura faint necromancy

Description

When packed tightly within the mouth of a corpse or undead creature, the deep red petals of the Gravebane flower prevent any decay, as if the corpse were under the effects of Gentle Repose, and they completely mask any stench with a sickly-sweet fragrance. These effects persist for 1 month.

Yielding

A single bush grows one new flower each day, and it takes 1 month to accumulate enough Gravebane petals to preserve a single corpse. The plant has a 52-week growing period.

Helping Hands Vine

Price 12,000 gp; Weight 50 lbs.; Aura faint transmutation

Description

These fleshy, yellow vines bear thick leaves that resemble hands. The vines always grow on vertical surfaces when available, creeping up as they mature. A fully mature helping hands vine covers an area 10 feet wide and up to 60 feet tall. A leaf can be glued to one’s feet, giving them the effects of the Spider Climb spell for 10 minutes. This property only functions up to 1 week after the leaf was separated from its vine, after which it dries up.

Yielding

A helping hands vine has two 13-week growing seasons in the summer and fall, withering away to nothing once winter hits only to regrow in the summer of the following year.

Palm of Decadent Feasts

Price 9,600 gp; Weight 500 lbs.; Aura strong conjuration

Description

This tall tree has no branches but sprouts expansive leaves at the top. Its large, spiny fruit can be split to provide a meal for four that emulates Heroes’ Feast. If a single creature consumes the entire fruit, it gains the benefits of Heroes’ Feast for a full 24 hours and heals twice as many hit points of damage.

Yielding

A palm of decadent feasts provides only a single fruit per year, which ripens on the summer solstice.

Poison Siphon Tree

Price 56,000 gp; Weight 500 lbs.; Aura moderate conjuration

Description

This large tree has flat, spongy leaves, each about the size of a human’s hand. When a leaf is placed on the chest of a creature suffering from a poison effect, it slowly draws the poison out over the course of the next minute. While the leaf is pressed to a victim, the creature does not need to attempt ongoing saves against the poison currently affecting it. After 1 minute, the creature is affected by the Protection from Poison spell.

Cultivation

A poison siphon tree yields one leaf per day of its two growing seasons, which run for 13 weeks each in the spring and fall. It has no more than six leaves at a time.

Portal Oak

Price 45,000 gp; Weight 500 lbs.; Aura moderate conjuration

Description

These large oak trees are always grown in a pair. With a command word, a creature can enter one portal oak and exit from the other. A character can determine the command word with a successful DC 20 Intelligence (Nature) check. The two trees must be grown within 1 mile of each other.

Yielding

Portal oaks produce no fruit or other products tied to their effect and are constantly active.

Restful Birch

Price 4,000 gp; Weight 500 lbs.; Aura faint conjuration

Description

This tree’s papery bark flakes off in strips. When a creature consumes a piece of the bark, it reduces the amount of sleep it needs that night by half. If the creature consumes additional pieces of bark, it is sickened for 8 hours and gains no additional benefit.

The bark’s potency is increased if it’s brewed into a tea. A piece of bark brewed into a tea allows its drinker not to have to sleep its next night, but still has to take 8 hours of light activities. The tea of the Restful Birch is considerably safer than consuming the bark raw—multiple doses grant no additional benefit but also cause no penalties.

Yielding

A restful birch can have enough bark safely removed each day for up to four creatures to eat or drink. For each additional piece of bark removed after the fourth, there is a cumulative 5% chance that the tree dies, falling and rotting away within the next 24 hours. Restful birches grow year-round.

Salvation Cactus

Price 8,000 gp; Weight 50 lbs.; Aura faint conjuration

Description

This green cactus grows in even the most arid environments, and it has a number of medicinal qualities. Its flowers can be mashed into a paste and spread over a creature’s skin to grant fire resistance for 1 hour. This paste can also be spread on the skin of a creature that has taken lethal fire damage within the last minute to restore 1d8+1 hit points.

The fluids of the cactus can be consumed to remove negative effects caused by extreme heat, including exhaustion, fatigue, and nonlethal damage. This does not heal any lethal damage a creature has taken from extreme heat.

Yielding

A salvation cactus generates one flower per week of its growing period and replenishes 1 dose of its fluid per day. It holds 4 doses of fluid and up to four flowers at a time. If all 4 doses of fluid are consumed without allowing the cactus to replenish any, the cactus dies. A salvation cactus has a growing season of 13 weeks in the summer.

Sheltershrub

Price 12,000 gp; Weight 50 lbs.; Aura faint abjuration

Description

This leafy red or blue shrub grows to a height of 6 feet. It grows small, blue, overly sweet berries. The berries provide an effect identical to Absorb Elements when consumed. If a berry is consumed before the effect of a previously consumed berry has worn off, it has no effect.

Yielding

A Sheltershrub produces six berries per day during its two growing seasons, which are 13 weeks each in the summer and winter. A shrub has no more than 50 berries at a time.

Tree of Knowledge

Price 3,000 gp; Weight 500 lbs.; Aura faint divination

Description

This large tree bears both vibrant red and dull yellow apples. The imbiber of a red apple gains a +5 bonus on her next Intelligence check. Consuming a yellow apple grants a single use of Augury. The effects of an apple wear off after 24 hours, whether or not its abilities have been used.

Yielding

A tree of knowledge produces one red apple per day and one yellow apple per week during its growing season, which lasts for 13 weeks in the spring. The tree has no more than seven red apples and one yellow apple at any given time.

Tree of Woe

Price 20,000 gp; Weight 500 lbs.; Aura strong enchantment

Description

This massive tree bears no leaves, and its branches are twisted and vile. A creature tied to the tree becomes more susceptible to influence, having disadvantage on Wisdom saves, Insight checks, and opposed Charisma checks. In addition, once per day, a character can attempt a DC 20 Intelligence (Nature) check to force a creature tied to the tree to tell the truth, as if the target had failed a save within a Zone of Truth.

Yielding

A tree of woe is potent year-round, but it can have a new creature lashed to it only once per month.

Waterwalk Reeds

Price 30,000 gp; Weight 50 lbs.; Aura faint transmutation

Description

These thin reeds are topped with fluffy, edible seedpods that grant a creature a puffy appearance and the ability to walk on water. This effect lasts for 1 hour. The reeds occupy a 20-square-foot area, maturing seemingly at random.

Yielding

Waterwalk reeds produce one pod every day during its two 13-week growing seasons in the summer and fall; there are usually 12 pods available at a time. The pods remain potent for 2 weeks.