DM Q&A: Herbal searching ....

[SandalwoodDream]

I was wondering what the exact criteria is for searching of herbs/ plants/ fungis et. al.?
Is it worth putting points into search? Would increasing certain skills/ feats increase the chance of finding a more rare plant? As a druid it would be assumed I get advantage.... Anyway If I could be pointed to something indicating the mechanics involved it would be very helpful for me and my character

Thanks

BG

[Savoie Faire]

This is normally the kind of thing best learned through exploration in game. I would suggest discussing background and actual results with other characters in game as a starting point.

You specifically mentioned Search, for example. Well, do those who have invested training time, (skill points,) in Searching find more/better herbs than you do? Do you observe that druids demonstrate any particular advantage over other characters' performance?

[lokasenna]

Sorry for the necropost, but I think this is a legit question. I've had druids and rangers, high search, high spot, and everything in between and despite all that I can't tell you a darn thing about herbalism other than to say druids have better success rates than others. I cannot figure out what skills help finding herbs, and that's a real problem for me since I've several characters who I rp on having a fair knowledge of herbalism (referenced with high heal skills)

[Manshin]

I must have searched a hundred times for herbs and vegetables with my healers, Abby and Hypatia, and I've never found one. I can find berries though. I used to be able to find a few herbs years ago. I have good spot and a tiny bit of search, so I figured I could at least get lucky sometimes, but nope. They are invisible to me. You don't need certain class-levels to find them do you? I'd like to think a high "healing" skill would help you find medicinal herbs.... since it represents your skill as a mundane healer.

[Hoary Hunter]

sergeil this is a DM Q&A and titled as such, unless you have a question players do not post in these places.

I stick by DM Savoie Faire earlier post, some players have learned a lot regarding the mechanics of such over the years, while others know it simply works for certain classes or for certain characters better then others by trial and error. This is something best worked out IC, a little bit of a mystery to solve for the players that isn't well understood OOCly by everyone, perhaps investing in a variety of ability or skill increasing items or spells might help you determine more then again perhaps it won't.

It may also prove useful to read the flavor text associated with such for a hint.