We're about to hit Ubersreik and I know my apothecary player is going to start asking about apothecary shops, healing drafts, special herbs etc. Any helpful suggestions about how to keep him happy (but not too powerful!) We're playing tonight!

UniversalHead said:

One thing I would do is to let him make the disease potions. Disease is awful for the players and having those potions will make them happy. Healing potions would also be ok, since they aren't very powerful and have limited use.

Well, that would certainly be handy, since currently he and another player have the Green Pox! Though Faxtoryll only helps against disease contracted by wounds...

I guess I'm trying to imagine the kind of place he'd visit in Ubersreik. A herb shop were he can get the raw ingredients? An apothecary shop where he can get already made potions? (though that does tend to make his skills obsolete)...

In a big city is certanly right to found an herbalist who sell raw ingredients, and an apothecary to found ready made potions...since the latter should be far more expensive, your apothecary could be usefull to save some party's money.

If u want to make something special for this player, i would let him experiment some craft: maybe in combining together differents plants, he can actually create new ailments: for example he can create a faxtoryll potion, but now he can chose to change a trait in the effect's wording!

too powerfull? a skill check difficult enough is always involved, but u can make a list of actually working combinations (or deadly ones!) and let him found the correct combinations after whole buying ingredients...

I think it depends on what your goal is, and what the apothecary PC's goal is.

He could find an herbalist who:

- Provides raw materials

- Has a limited selection of pre-made balms

He could find an apothecary who could:

- Craft specific potions for specific party needs

Beyond the pure direct purchase of materials or pre-made potions, does the PC want to craft the stuff himself? There is the potential that either an herbalist or apothecary might teach a recipe or two, for a fee, for example. This might allow a roleplaying moment for the PC to convince them, likely easier if the PC assures the NPC that they are not staying in the area. Or, they might rent out workspace / take the PC as an assistant for a short time, to allow the PC to do some of their own work and/or potentially make a small amount of money (assuming assisting).

Alternately, the PC might be able to try to reverse-engineer a pre-made potion (a lengthy and expensive process) to learn the recipe.

A city will typically have several herbalists and apothecaries, some of which are better than others. You probably have a couple that are well educated, several that are charlatans, and the rest that have middling skill and mostly cater to common afflictions.

UniversalHead said:

I don't get the "too powerful" problem you are worried about. Anything great that they can get can become a burden as well.