Master Herbalist

From a young age, the master herbalist finds a certain fascination in the plant kingdom, and at some point, in life makes the connection that the vital essences contained within all plant life are a vast cornucopia of knowledge, another universe of potential just waiting to be exploited.

Occult Lore

Author Keith Baker, Adam Bank, Chris Jones, Scott Reeves, and Elton Robb

Series Lore

Publisher Atlas

Publish date 2002

She is, as she is named, a master of the herbalism skill, dedicating herself to unlocking every profound secret hidden away in nature. Always collecting, documenting, and seeking out new, unusual plants, she makes the world her living, breathing laboratory. If there is magic to be found lying about on the forest floor, up in the highest canopies, or deep at the bottoms of oceans, then she will be the one to discover it. Nature is, by and large, a puzzle waiting to be solved.

Master herbalists are inquisitive and dedicated, usually learning their trade through observation and research, coupled with frequently dangerous trial and error methodology. In some cities, would-be herbalists apprentice themselves to masters, learning the trade in a rigid, formalized setting. In other places, the learning is left up to the individual. As a rule, however, individuals with more of a logical bent, as opposed to an intuitive one, adopt the career of master herbalist. The formulation of herbal recipes is an arduous process, requiring a meticulous attention to detail and the stamina to spend an endless number of hours in the workshop carrying out experiments.

The majority of master herbalists come from the ranks of wizards – their predilection for logic, order, and structure quickly proves itself to be a boon when working in the
vast, chaotic world of herbs, as does their understanding of magic. clerics also make for excellent master herbalists, driven more by their desire to heal using any tool at their disposal rather than being preoccupied, and satisfied, with just the knowledge herbalism imparts.

Already versed in nature’s way, the more empirically minded members of the druid class tend to become master herbalists to focus their specialization in nature on plants rather than animals. sorcerers, despite the curiosity and drive for self-improvement that most master herbalists admire, don’t always do well in this class, as their strong intuition instead lends itself more toward the wylderwitch class.

Rangers, like druid, have an affinity for all things natural, making this class an ideal choice for them. bards living out in the remote wilderness might join the class as a means of
harnessing a new source of power or simply for the sake of knowledge, but they are the exception and not the rule.

Hit Die: d4

REQUIREMENTS

To qualify to become a master herbalist, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria.
Spellcasting: The ability to cast 4th-level spells
Skills: 8 ranks in Herbalism, 8 ranks in Wilderness Lore
Feats: Brew Potion, Plantbind

CLASS SKILLS

The master herbalist’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Alchemy (Intelligence), Concentration (Constitution), Craft (Intelligence), Decipher Script (Intelligence),
Gather Information (Charisma), Knowledge (Arcana) (Intelligence), Knowledge (nature) (Intelligence), Herbalism (Intelligence or Wisdom), Scry (Intelligence), Spellcraft (Intelligence), and Search (Intelligence).
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Intelligence Modifier.

The Master Herbalist
Level	BAB	FS	RS	WS	Special	Spells per Day
1	+0	+0	+0	+2	Improved Herbalism +1, Poison Resistance	+1 level of existing class
2	+1	+0	+0	+3	Herbal Potency	+1 +1 level of existing class
3	+1	+1	+1	+3	Improved Herbalism +2, Alternate Concoction	+1 level of existing class
4	+2	+1	+1	+4	Herbal Potency +2	+1 level of existing class
5	+2	+2	+2	+4	Improved Herbalism +3, Inverse Concoction	+1 level of existing class
6	+3	+2	+2	+5	Herbal Potency +3	+1 level of existing class
7	+3	+2	+2	+5	Improved Herbalism +4, Maximize Concoction	+1 level of existing class
8	+4	+3	+3	+6	Herbal Potency +4	+1 level of existing class
9	+4	+3	+3	+6	Improved Herbalism + 5, Improved Plantbind	+1 level of existing class
10	+5	+3	+3	+7	Herbal Potency +5	+1 level of existing class

CLASS FEATURES

All of the following are class features of the master herbalist prestige class.

Weapon Proficiencies: The master herbalist gains no new armor or weapon proficiencies.

Spells per Day: You gain new spells per day as if you had gained a level in a previous spellcasting class. But, you gain no other benefits of that class (metamagic, feats, etc.) If you have more than one spellcasting class, then you must decide to which one you add each level of master herbalist for purposes of determining spells per day when you acquire the new level.

In addition to the spells allowed by your original spellcasting class(es), you may also learn the following:

• 0 Level – Purify Food and Drink
• 1st Level – detect animals or plants (plants only)
• 2nd Level – warp wood
• 3rd Level – speak with plants
• 4th Level – antiplant shell

Improved Herbalism: This number is added to your Herbalism skill modifier as a bonus when making Herbalism skill checks, representing your mastery of the herbal arts. It is not cumulative.

Herbal Potency: When creating a verdex or concoction using either the Plantbind feat or the Herbalism skill, add this number to the DC of all saves and attempts to dispel
the effect generated by it, as well as to caster level checks for overcoming the target’s Spell Resistance. Your Herbal Potency bonus is dependent upon your level in master herbalist.

Poison Resistance (Ex): As you experiment with plants, you build up a tolerance to toxins, whether they are natural or mystical in nature. When making saving throws against poisons, your Poison Resistance gives you a +2 bonus, and it allows you to take only half the damage, loss, or drain the poison would normally inflict. It also halves the time you would normally be paralyzed or unconscious.

Alternate Concoction: You can create concoctions that require a specific plant from other plants that possess the same trait. Doing this increases your Herbalism skill check DC by a number equal to the difference between the two plants’ traits divided by 2 and rounded up. For example, the poison deadly nightshade requires parts from the nightshade plant that have the poison trait, but with the Alternate Concoction ability you could use any plant with the same trait, such as dragon flower or mandrake. If the herbalist were to use dragon flower, the difference between their poison traits is 6, thus increasing the skill check DC by +3. Otherwise, the costs and time required to make the concoction are unchanged.

Inverse Concoction: This allows you to create a concoction from the inverse of a plant’s trait when that inverse trait doesn’t exist naturally within the plant. The rating for the inverse trait is equal to the original trait. For example, if you wanted to make an antimagic concoction using faerie grass’s enchanted trait, then the effective rating for the artificially created antimagic trait is 7, the same as it is for the enchanted trait’s rating. Using this ability to make a concoction increases the Herbalism skill DC by +5.

Maximize Concoction: You can create concoctions that are maximized, as per the Maximize Spell feat, without altering the level of the spell being used. Add a +5 penalty to the DC of the Herbalism skill check required when making a new concoction using this ability.

Improved Plantbind: You may draw on your force of will to bind additional spells to a single verdex, as long as the plant’s binding list allows them. You may bind a maximum number of spell levels equal to the highest binding rating the plant possesses. For example, the dragon flower’s highest binding rating is 9, allowing you to bind up to 9 spell levels total; three 3rd-level spells plus one 1st-level spell, or nine 1st-level spells, or four 2nd-level spells plus one 1st-level spell, and so on. Additionally, you may only bind a maximum number of spells (regardless of spell levels) equal to your Will modifier.

The Improved Plantbind ability also increases a verdex’s viability by an additional number of days equal to your Intelligence modifier multiplied by 2, with a minimum of 1 day if you have a zero or negative rating.