Equipment: Arcane Botanica

Equipment: Arcane Botanica

Dragon Magazine #357 has a very interesting article called Arcane Botanica that describes various exotic plants. Let's convert them to GURPS to give characters with Herb Lore some fun things to play with.

Aelfengrape

Unlike the normal grape vines, this modified plant produces flowers and grapes in all seasons. The leaf veins, flowers, and fruits of aelfengrape provide a gently illumination equivalent to a candle. Aelfengrape is very nutritious (a handful provides the quivalent nourishment of one meal) and makes a wine of extraordinary potency (if not of a particulary refined taste). The flowers are edible and make a sweet aromatic tea. A single healthy mature plant sells for $80.

Coldwood

Many creatures are vulnerable to cold iron. The fey alchemists and gardeners have developed the coldwood to replace metal. Coldwood grows very much like hickory, reaching its mature size in roughly two decades. The coldwood timber can be used for the crafting of any item normally made from steel, and the resulting item will have all its normal qualities. Working with coldwood is difficult, imposing -2 on Smith rolls. Harvesting coldwood requires a Herb Lore roll. A successful roll provides 1 pound of material per five years of growth (to a maximum of 100 pounds). A single healthy coldwood sapling sells for $400.

Djinn Blossom

The mature plant resembles a large fern with branches like those of a quince emerging from between the fernlike fronds. On the Elemental Plane of Air these plants grow to enormous sizes, forming foundations for the floating islands. On the Material Plane, the djinn blossoms rarely grow bigger than 5 feet in diameter. Thanks to the innate link to their home plane, the djinn blossoms are always surrounded by a perpetual light breeze. While one of the main uses of the djinn blossom is perfume, a plucked flower provides a +1 bonus to resist respiratory agents, such as toxic gases, when worn openly. A plucked flower provides these benefits for 24 hours after being plucked.

    A healthy mature djinn blossom sells for $300 (a djinn fern for $200). A djinn blossom bulb sells for at least $800 and can produce 1d plants. A dose of djinn blossom perfume costs $5.

Fey Cherry

Valued for their great beauty as well as their utility, fey cherry closely resemble the common cheery trees save only for their enormous size. Properly tended, they can grow larger than a giant sequoia, rising more than 500 feet in height with a trunk diameter of 50 feet at the base. Their supernaturally strong branches serve as perfect platforms for constructions. Their leaves mitigate the effects of weather, decreasing any imposed penalties by 2. Within the canopies, the temperature never drops below 50 degrees not rises above 80 degrees. When cut from the tree, branches and leaves lose their special properties. Fey cherry blossoms every year, but produces cherries once a decade. A fey cherry eaten within one day of being picked provides Fearlessness 1 for one day. A single healthy cherry sapling sells for $800.

Flame Clove

This is a garliclike herb imbued with energy from the Elemental Plane of Fire. Eaten raw, it is poisonous, dealing 1d-2 toxic and 1d-3 burning damage on a failed HT-2 roll. When boiled in salt water and crushed, it can be blended into food, keeping it hot for 1d days without drying out. A sprig of flame clove can be added to alchemist's fire, making it burn twice longer. A single healthy mature bulb sells for $5.

Glowvine

The root plant for glowvine is the morning glory it so closely resembles, save the nocturnal blossoms. Opening in the early evening and then closing again with the coming of dawn, the blossoms on each foot-long stretch of glowvine give off the same amount of light as a torch. Glowvine clings to walls and trelisses in a manner identical to morning glory plants, and it grows at the rate of 1 foot every two weeks. A single healthy seedling sells for $100.

Lakeleaf

This parsleylike herb is related to plants growing along the banks of the River Oceanus. When crushed and rubbed onto meat, the lakeleaf ensures the meat never dries out, regardless of how overcooked it is. A single healthy mature sprig sells for $2.

Lichbriar

Similar in appearance to bougainvillea, lichriar can reach a length of up to 50 feet under ideal conditions. Its pale green leaves are vaguely hand-shaped. The blossoms of the lichbriar resemble roses with petals of a faintly iridescent white.

    In order for a lichbriar to grow, it must sink its myriad hooks into a living creature, and as the vine grows an increasing number of hooks embrace its helpless victim. A victim who is not immobilized can attempt to struggle free on the first day by winning in a Quick Contest of ST against the lichbriar's ST 5. The lichbriar's ST increases by 1 every day until it reaches 18. Every attempt to break free deals 1d-1 piercing damage from the thorns and 1d toxic damage from poison on a failed HT-3 roll. After two days, the lichbriar forces the host to make a daily Will roll or have their Will decreased by 1 permanently. A single healthy seedling sells for $400.

Nahre Lotus

The roots of a Nahre lotus reach into the Elemental Plane of Water and draw fluid across the planes to flow out of their blossoms. A healthy, mature Nahre lotus draws water through to the Material Plane at rates of up to 50 gallons per day. The broad leaves of the Nahre lotus stretch approximately 3 feet long and 2 feet across at their widest point, and its blossoms frequently reach the size of a man's head. The leaves are emerald green and refract light. The petals on the Nahre blossom are a brillian pink and gold.

    Cultivation of the Nahre lotus requires abundant light and large pools of water (at least 100 gallons per plant). A dead lotus left in the water emits toxic chemicals that dead 1d toxic damage to all plants within 8 yards.

    Because of its ability to produce limitless pure water, a healthy and successfully installed mature Nahre lotus plant sells for $4,000. Even an untested seedling or ailing mature plant sells for $1,000. A dead lotus sealed in a water flask can be thrown as a weapon that deals 1d toxic damage to the splashed plant creature. Such flasks weight 0.5 lb and cost $100.

Orevine

All the current strains of the orevine are related to their progenitor from the Elemental Plane of Earth. Orevine plants send incredibly fine roots through stone and earth to find specific metals. A vine draws on the metal to which it is keyed, in much the same manner that non-magical plants feed on nutrients in the soil around then, concentrating the metal in the fibers of the plant.

    Orevine cultivation is extremely difficult. If the target mineral does not exist in even trace quantities within 100 feet of the plant, it withers and dies within a week. Orevines still require water and sunlight.

    Extracting the metal from an orevine plant without killing it, be it concentrated in the vine, fruit, or sap, requires a Herb Lore roll. A cultivator can extract the metal once per month and then burn away the harvested portions of the plant to expose the pure metal (worth 20% of the plant's value). An orevine plant extracts all available metal within reach in 3d months.

    An orevine plant keyed to a base metal (copper or iron) sells for $1,000. An orevine plant keyed to a precious metal (silver or gold) sells for $2,000. An orevine keyed to an ultra-rare metal (platinum, mithral, adamantine, etc.) sells for $6,000.

Salamander Orchid

Similar in form to many types of cattleyas orchids, the stalks and leaves of a salamander orchid are composed of red-hot brass, which support blossoms of gold and crimson flame. The completely smokeless flame of the salamander orchid draws all of its energy from the Elemental Plane of Fire and so does not require fuel. A single orchid emits light equivalent to a torch. The orchid can be used as a component for fire spells and enchantments.

    To survive on the Material Plane, a salamander orchid requires a vial's worth of highly refined oil costing $5 per month. Handling the orchid without fireproof tools deals 1d-2 burning damage per second. A single healthy mature plant sells for $100.

Tahtoalethi (Wishfern)

Tahtoalethi closely resembles ferns from the temperate rainforests save for its larger size and darker shade of green. A tahtaolethi plant only blooms once every 20d years, and always on the night of the winter solstice. For that one night, the wishfern wears a fist-sized blossom of luminous white. It can be harvested with an Herb Lore roll at -5. If properly harvested, it grants the character one wish - they can dictate the result of one single die roll made in their presence within 24 hours or gain 5 character points. With the coming of the sun the blossom withers and disintegrates, leaving behind a single seed. Wishfern can only grow in isolation, because even a slightest touch may kill it. It can only grow where there are no other wishferns within 100 miles. Any attempts to coax the wishfern to produce the flower more often (with the Blossom spell, for example) kill the plant instead. A single healthy seed sells for $10,000.