Bloodbrush Extract — Hallucinatory Arcane Stimulant

Bloodbrush extract is refined from the thorns of a blood-red brush. It numbs the senses and provokes vivid hallucinations while sharpening certain forms of occult and magical thought. The result is a drug that can make a scholar seem brilliantly insightful while becoming less aware of what is happening around them.

At a Glance

Category: Fictional botanical drug
Delivery: Ingested
Campaign role: Occult scholarship, recreational hallucination, dangerous research aid
Rules provenance: The mechanics below are Pathfinder 1e material.

Edition Mechanics

Pathfinder 1e

Addiction: mild; Fortitude: DC 14; Price: 25 gp; Duration: 2 hours. The user gains +2 on Knowledge (arcana, planes or religion) and Spellcraft checks but counts as distracted for Perception checks. Damage: 1d2 Wisdom.

5.5e / 2024, 5e / 2014 and 3.5e

No mechanics are presented here as official rules for these editions. A conversion should preserve the contrast between heightened specialised insight and reduced awareness of the immediate physical world.

What Happens in Play?

Bloodbrush extract rewards characters who are trying to understand a magical object, planar phenomenon or occult text, but makes them poor sentries while doing so. That makes the substance naturally useful in investigations where research itself creates vulnerability.

Addiction & After-effects

The PF1e rules describe mild addiction and Wisdom damage. Repeated use may therefore tempt scholars who begin to attribute every successful deduction to the extract rather than their own expertise.

Encounters & Adventure Use

A scholar understands the inscription on an alien device but fails to notice something entering the room.
A dealer caters almost exclusively to occultists and magical researchers.
A field expedition carries bloodbrush extract for analysing supernatural ruins.
A witness’s vivid account is difficult to separate from drug-induced hallucination.
A rare bloodbrush plant becomes more valuable than the treasure growing around it.

Sources & Licensing

Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Numeria, Land of Fallen Stars, © 2014 Paizo Inc.; authors Jim Groves and Russ Taylor. PF1e mechanics and the core substance concept derive from the cited source; campaign-use material and edition guidance are original site material.