Shermans fantasy world

NEW HERBS & BOTANICAL INGREDIENTS

For use with Thornale’s abilities:

Shiverstem

  • Description: This pale, translucent stalk grows high among frozen cliffs. Its stem glows faintly blue when the wind howls.
  • Color: Icy blue-white
  • Harvest Time: Early morning, just after frost forms
  • Effect: When smoked or brewed, DC 15 Fort save or -2 Constitution for 1 hour. If saved, grants cold resistance 5 for 10 minutes.
  • Note: Brewing it into tea reduces toxicity. Smoking it gives faster onset but harsher penalty.

Lampsoul Moss

  • Description: Found clinging to rocks near arcane anomalies. Gently luminescent and sticky.
  • Color: Pale green with silver veins
  • Harvest Time: During the full moon
  • Effect: Used as a potion additive. Adds +10% to potion potency but has a 10% chance to trigger wild magic surge when consumed.
  • Extraction: Must be cut with a silver blade and stored in lead-lined containers.

Moontears

  • Description: Fragile night-blooming flowers found only on seaside cliffs.
  • Color: Translucent white, glows faintly under moonlight
  • Harvest Time: Midnight during waning moon
  • Effect: Grants low-light vision for 1 hour. If the user already has it, upgrades to darkvision 30 ft.

Thornmilk

  • Description: Milky sap from a gnarled desert shrub, oozes when thorns are snapped.
  • Color: Pale ivory
  • Harvest Time: Dusk, while the sap is still cool
  • Effect: Contact poison. DC 14 Fort save or suffer itching rash and -2 Dex for 1d4 rounds.

Wyrdwort

  • Description: Twisted root with multicolored tendrils, known to grow only in haunted or cursed soil.
  • Color: Purple-black exterior, glowing green inner flesh
  • Harvest Time: During thunderstorms
  • Effect: Causes hallucinations. DC 17 Will or see ethereal spirits for 1d4 hours (may accidentally detect invisibility).
  • Use: Used as catalyst in dream potions and spirit-channeling brews.

II. NEW VENOMS & TOXIC SUBSTANCES

Scaleblight Venin

  • Source: Glands of deep sea serpents
  • Color: Sickly green with silver streaks
  • Effect: Injury poison. DC 20. 1d6 Constitution on first and secondary damage. If both saves fail, the victim becomes nauseated for 1 minute.

Mireleech Slime

  • Source: Collected from swamp-dwelling parasites
  • Color: Grey-brown mucus
  • Effect: Contact or ingested poison. DC 16 Fort save or suffer 1d3 Con damage and fatigue for 1 hour.
  • Harvest Tip: Best collected at dusk when leeches surface.

Fleshrot Bile

  • Source: Boiled down bile from undead
  • Color: Thick black fluid that smells of copper and rot
  • Effect: Disease poison. DC 22. 1 Cha damage and 1d3 Con damage per day until cured.

Glassfang Dust

  • Source: Ground crystal spider fangs
  • Color: Sparkling, razor-fine powder
  • Effect: Inhaled. DC 18 Fort save or 1d4 Dex damage and bleeding lungs (1 hp/round until healed).

Ashspit

  • Source: Glandular fluid from volcanic lizards
  • Color: Viscous dark red liquid
  • Effect: Weapon venom. Causes dazzling and 1d6 fire damage per round for 2 rounds (DC 16 Fort).

III. CUSTOM ALCHEMICAL ITEMS

Blightfire Canister

  • Type: Thrown Bomb (10 ft. radius)
  • Craft DC: 28
  • Cost: 350 gp
  • Effect: Explodes in green flame. 3d6 fire + 1d4 acid damage. Creatures in radius catch fire unless Reflex save (DC 17).
  • Ingredients: Ashblood Resin, Blightmoss Spores, alchemical oil base
  • Procedure: Must be cooled with frostleaf solution before sealing to avoid premature detonation.

Witchsmoke Grenade

  • Type: Alchemical Smoke Bomb
  • Craft DC: 22
  • Cost: 100 gp
  • Effect: Creates purple fog cloud for 1d4 rounds. All inside must Will save (DC 14) or be shaken.
  • Ingredients: Graycap Spores, powdered ironroot, Hag’s Breath

Revenant’s Elixir

  • Type: Combat Drug
  • Craft DC: 30
  • Cost: 500 gp
  • Effect: Cannot drop below -1 HP for 5 rounds. After, suffer 1d4 Con damage and unconsciousness.
  • Ingredients: Hollowdream Resin, Frostleaf, vampire ichor, Wyrdwort

Widow’s Kiss Tincture

  • Type: Injury Poison
  • Craft DC: 24
  • Cost: 250 gp
  • Effect: DC 18 Fort. On fail: 1d6 Dex damage + 1 round paralysis. Secondary: blindness for 1 minute.
  • Ingredients: Thornmilk, Scaleblight Venin, Moondust Rose

Alchemist’s Caldera

  • Type: Stationary Trap
  • Craft DC: 26
  • Cost: 300 gp
  • Effect: Sprays 10 ft. cone of caustic vapor. 2d6 acid + 1d6 fire (Reflex DC 16 halves).
  • Ingredients: Acid flasks, Dragon Saliva, copper tubing
  • Setup: Requires a pressure valve and timed sparkstone fuse.

IV. RARE & INFERNAL INGREDIENTS

Blackthorn Heart

  • Origin: Cursed battlefield trees
  • Use: Necrotic potion additive
  • Effect: Grants negative energy damage to potion or poison. Can be used in undead-binding rituals.

Hellfume Oil

  • Origin: Distilled from infernal plane vapors
  • Effect: Alchemical accelerant. Doubles explosive radius or adds +1d6 fire damage.

Siren’s Gel

  • Origin: Extracted from drowned sirens
  • Effect: Grants +4 Bluff or Diplomacy for 1 hour, but -2 Wis
  • Note: Highly addictive. Save each day used or become obsessed.

Soulglass Shard

  • Origin: Crystallized spirit residue
  • Effect: Add to potion or poison. Affects incorporeal creatures for 1 round per dose.
  • Note: Dangerous to handle without gloves—can cause nightmares.

“There’s more power in a fistful of thornmilk and a flask of wyrdwort than in most wizard’s tomes. The trick is surviving your own brilliance.”
– Squib, Alchemist

Additional: HERBS, ROOTS, AND BOTANICAL INGREDIENTS

The earth’s breath carries secrets. From mist-choked valleys to sunless mountain peaks, the plants of the world whisper their power to those who dare to pluck them.

Ashroot

  • Terrain: Charred highlands or recent wildfire zones
  • Color: Pale gray with coal-black veins
  • Harvest Time: Three days after a fire passes
  • Lore: Believed to be the scorched memory of the land. Handling the root requires gloves—its touch stains fingers with soot that won’t wash away for days.
  • Use: Ground into a powder and mixed with alcohol for fire-related alchemy.
  • Effect: +2 Craft (Alchemy) when used in any fire-based concoction. Can also be smoked to enter a rage-like state for 1 round (then fatigued).

Mireblossom

  • Terrain: Rotting marshes, especially near still pools
  • Color: Purple and black petals with luminous edges
  • Harvest Time: At high tide during overcast weather
  • Lore: Its petals seem to drink in light, and the blossoms open only when no direct sun touches them.
  • Use: Catalyst in potent poisons
  • Effect: Mixed into toxins, it increases their DC by +1. When burned, creates a haze that causes nausea.

Firemoss

  • Terrain: Crevices of dormant volcanoes or hot springs
  • Color: Crimson with faint golden specks; glows faintly when dry
  • Harvest Time: Noon of a cloudless day
  • Lore: Said to be lichen that grew from dragon blood spilt in ancient wars.
  • Use: Combustion agent in alchemical bombs, flamethrower traps
  • Effect: Adds +1d4 fire damage when included in explosive alchemy.

Crowthorn

  • Terrain: Wind-whipped coastal cliffs
  • Color: Jet black leaves with ruby-red sap
  • Harvest Time: Dusk, during a waning moon
  • Lore: Used in blood rites by pirate cults. Thorns used to prick the skin during seafaring oaths.
  • Use: Ritual brew or war paint
  • Effect: +2 bonus to saves vs necromancy for 1 hour. Causes mild paranoia (-1 to Spot/Listen).

Seasinger Bulb

  • Terrain: Underwater cliffs and coral shelves
  • Color: Soft pearlescent whites with shimmering veins
  • Harvest Time: Low tide during equinoxes
  • Lore: Said to bloom in tune with siren songs, attracting sea creatures and lonely sailors alike.
  • Use: Water breathing potions or deep-sea antidotes
  • Effect: Grants water breathing for 10 minutes. Can be eaten raw (Fort DC 15 to avoid nausea).

New Additions:

Frostvein

  • Terrain: Glacial caves and frozen tundra
  • Color: Pale blue with veins of white
  • Harvest Time: Pre-dawn of the coldest week of winter
  • Use: Cold resistance potions
  • Effect: Grants cold resistance 10 for 1 hour when brewed properly.

Bloodmint

  • Terrain: Shaded forest floors near predator dens
  • Color: Green with crimson speckles
  • Harvest Time: High noon
  • Use: Stimulant or healing infusion
  • Effect: Restores 1d4 HP when chewed. Too much causes hallucinations.

Duskgold Root

  • Terrain: Abandoned graveyards or cursed fields
  • Color: Dark golden with rust-like spots
  • Harvest Time: Twilight
  • Use: Spirit-sight elixirs or necromantic infusions
  • Effect: Allows detection of undead for 10 minutes (as detect undead). Unsettling side effects.

Serpent’s Beard

  • Terrain: Jungle riversides
  • Color: Long green vines with yellowish fuzz
  • Harvest Time: During heavy rain
  • Use: Used in antidotes and resistance brews
  • Effect: +2 bonus to saves vs poisons for 1 hour.

VENOMS, TOXINS, & DEATHROOTS

A drop of pain, a breath of finality. These are the unspoken weapons of the shadowed and the damned.

Drycoil Oil

  • Source: Desert vipers, extracted by boiling glands
  • Color: Amber
  • Use: Blade or contact poison
  • Effect: DC 17 Fort save or take 1d3 Dex and become clumsy (-2 to Acrobatics, Climb).

Necroweaver Venom

  • Source: Undead spider breeds found in crypts
  • Color: Black ichor
  • Use: Inhaled or blade venom
  • Effect: DC 21 Fort save or paralyzed for 1 round, then fatigued.

New Additions:

Rimebane Extract

  • Source: Frostwasps
  • Color: Pale blue fluid
  • Use: Injury poison
  • Effect: DC 18 Fort save or suffer 1d4 Dex and 50% movement speed for 1 hour.

Spitepetal Oil

  • Source: Distilled from thorny jungle flower
  • Color: Violet with swirling black center
  • Use: Injury or inhaled poison
  • Effect: DC 19 Will save or -2 to all Charisma-based checks and fear effects for 1 hour.

Phantom Venin

  • Source: Spirit eels (ghostly creatures)
  • Color: Transparent
  • Use: Inhaled, rare
  • Effect: DC 22 Will save or see visions of the dead, treated as confused for 1d4 rounds.
  • Garook Ichor
  • • Source: Garooks — aggressive, carnivorous hornet-mantid hybrids the size of a forearm
    • Color: Thick, opalescent green with streaks of iridescent gold
    • Use: Injury poison (stingers, blades, or alchemically stabilized darts)
    • Effect: DC 20 Fortitude save or suffer 1d6 Constitution damage and begin convulsing violently. On a failed save, the victim also suffers -2 to all attack rolls and Dexterity-based checks for 1 minute as their muscles seize and spasm.
    • Harvesting Note: Extraction is dangerous—Garooks defend hives with near suicidal fury. Venom sacs must be removed while the corpse is still twitching for full potency (Craft [Poisonmaking] DC 20).
    • Special Trait: If used within 1 hour of harvest without stabilization, the venom causes intense buzzing to echo in the victim’s ears, imposing a 20% spell failure chance for spells with verbal components for 1 minute.

Expanded additional information of these wonderous and dangerous insects.

THE GAROOK: Hive of Weapons, Wonders, and Warnings

“They don’t just sting you—they unmake you.”
—Kraglann, Siege-Warlock of the Hag

1. Garook Ichor (already defined above)

  • Source: Venom glands
  • Use: Injury poison
  • Effect: DC 20 Fort, 1d6 Con + muscle convulsions, 20% verbal spell failure if fresh

2. Royal Garook Jelly

  • Source: Only from the Queen’s swollen nutrient sac
  • Color: Iridescent violet-gold paste with a sharp acidic aroma
  • Use: Alchemical enhancement, warlock brews, transformation rituals
  • Effect:
    • When distilled (Craft Alchemy DC 25): Creates a draught that temporarily grants +2 Intelligence and +2 to all Knowledge checks for 1 hour.
    • Raw ingestion: Fort DC 20 or become nauseated for 1d4 hours; on success, gain low-light vision for 24 hours and minor hallucinations.
  • Rarity: Extremely rare (1 dose per queen, max)

3. Garook Chitin Plates

  • Source: Carapace and leg exoskeleton
  • Appearance: Oil-black with jade ridges; unnaturally hard yet flexible
  • Use:
    • Armorcraft: Can be used to craft Chitin Mail (as studded leather +1, but immune to acid corrosion).
    • Trap Material: Shard-blades deal +1 bleeding on hit (Craft Trapmaking DC 18).
  • Properties: Resistant to acid, extremely light (1/2 weight of steel)

4. Wing Membrane (Tarsil Film)

  • Source: Translucent wings of mature drones
  • Use: Optical cloaking, illusion reagents
  • Effect:
    • Ground into a powder, it serves as a vital component for invisibility potions or glamers (Craft DC 22).
    • When affixed to a cloak or clothing (Craft Leatherworking DC 20), grants +2 to Hide in low-light conditions.
  • Optional Use: When scorched and inhaled, gives visions of ultraviolet light for 1 minute, allowing the reading of magical glyphs invisible to normal sight.

5. Comb Resin (Warwax)

  • Source: Secretions used to line the inner hive
  • Appearance: Sticky golden-black wax, semi-flammable
  • Use:
    • Component in slow-burn incendiary bombs or adhesive traps (Craft Explosives DC 21)
    • Can be applied to a blade—on a successful hit, DC 15 Reflex save or weapon sticks to wound (-2 to opponent’s next attack)
  • Special: If mixed with Firemoss, creates a compound that ignites with air exposure after 1d4 rounds.

6. Garook Brood Slime (Larval Bile)

  • Source: Harvested from brood chambers
  • Use: Alchemical fermentation or necrotic enhancement
  • Effect:
    • Used to breed homunculi or necrotic familiars that are partially insectoid
    • Added to healing salves, it inverts effect: instead of healing, causes 1d4 damage per round for 3 rounds on a failed Fort save (DC 17). Excellent for cursed healing traps.

7. Scent Gland Musk

  • Source: Located behind thorax; normally used to signal hive mates
  • Use: Stealth toxin, decoy concoctions
  • Effect:
    • Rubbed onto clothing or traps, it causes insectoids (and similar monsters) to ignore the wearer for 1 hour
    • Can be used in poisons to induce disorientation (target must succeed Will save DC 15 or cannot distinguish allies from enemies for 1 round)

The Hive Itself:

A Garook Hive is less “beehive” and more “living cathedral of calcified hunger.”

  • Appearance: Towering structures of wax, resin, and bone-like material, often in cliffside hollows or the ribcages of immense long-dead beasts.
  • Disturbing Facts:
    • Living Hive: Garooks keep prey alive inside the hive, cocooned in wax-honey, paralyzed but aware.
    • Queen’s Throne: Nestled in a central chamber, pulsing with bioluminescent fungus and vibrating with the thrum of her madness.
    • Echochambers: Acoustically tuned to amplify pheromone signals and queen-chatter; magic may be warped here.

RARE INGREDIENTS & INFERNAL ELEMENTS

Not all reagents grow under the sun. Some must be bought with blood, ash, or the whispered names of old gods.

Echo Amber

  • Source: Crystallized sap from haunted trees
  • Use: Holds the last words of the dying
  • Effect: Can be used in potions to replay final moments of death.

New Additions:

Bloodcoal

  • Source: Infernal forges, lava fused with hellhound blood
  • Effect: Used as fuel or in forging demonic weapons. Burns unnaturally cold—perfect for cursed metal.

Bonevine

  • Source: Grows through old battlefields
  • Use: Animated undead binding
  • Effect: When brewed into an ink, used to tattoo undead; grants +1 HP/HD.

REMEDIES, HEALING BALMS & TONICS

Every poison has its antidote. Every wound, a salve—if the hand is steady and the heart true.

Witchhazel Draught

  • Appearance: Light amber liquid, sweet smell
  • Use: Applied to wounds or drank
  • Effect: Heals 1d8 HP. +2 vs disease for 1 hour. DC 20 Craft (Alchemy).

Ghostmilk Tonic

  • Appearance: Pale, bluish-white fluid with a metallic tang
  • Use: Ingested
  • Effect: Removes fatigue and 1 point of Wis damage. 1/day.

Bloodroot Salve

  • Appearance: Deep red paste with woody scent
  • Use: Applied topically
  • Effect: Heals 2d6 HP over 1 minute. Leaves an ugly scar. DC 15 Heal or Craft.

New Additions:

Amberglass Elixir

  • Use: Anti-venom and fever medicine
  • Effect: Grants a new save vs ongoing poison at +4 bonus. DC 18 Craft.

Moonleaf Compress

  • Use: Eye remedy
  • Effect: Restores 1d4 Wis damage from mental effects or illusions.

Ironbark Bandage

  • Use: Binding wound wrap made from thin bark strips
  • Effect: Heals 1d4 HP per hour. Used in field hospitals for rapid triage.

Stoneshade Poultice

  • Use: Breaks magical paralysis or stiffness
  • Effect: Removes hold person and similar effects. Smells strongly of sulfur.