Esoterica from Thedas Volume 3: Apothecaria

[Estoirtoh]

The next volume of Esoterica that I am working on will have appendices that will include Maps of Thedas with climatic zones, and the distribution of animals from the Bestiary (and other volumes including some new creatures) and plants from Apothecaria.

This sounds totally awesome. Looking forward to it.

[HalWhitewyrm]

The new Esoterica links are up on the Dragon Age Oracle and getting lots of hits!

[Tiger's Heart]

@ HalWhitewyrm Thanks again for sharing them and the promotion through Dragon Age Oracle.

Now back to work on the next two volumes.

[shonuff]

What's in the next two volumes? I like the work you and Hellebore did on the first three... keep it up!

[Hellebore]

What's in the next two volumes? I like the work you and Hellebore did on the first three... keep it up!

Just some things about the countries of Thedas and the groups within...

Hellebore

[Giorgio]

As it requires completion of new maps, amongst other things, it is taking a while to finish.

This information would be very useful to me, any way I can help?

[Giorgio]

Common____________Location
Andraste’s Grace_____Near running water, plains, forest
Deathroot__________ blooms once a year, plains, forest, hills, mountains
Deep Mushroom_____ underground
Elfroot_____________gardens, plains, forest, hills, mountains
Foxite & Heatherum_ plains, forest, hills, mountains
Hellebore__________shady damp areas of forest and swamps
Mint_______________plains, forest, hills, mountains
Rashvine Nettle_____plains, forest, hills, mountains
Spindleweed________areas where sickness is present

Uncommon
Embrium___________ orchards, plains
Felandaris__________ wherever the Veil is thin
Foxglove___________plains, forest, hills, mountains
Frostback Felicities__Frostback mountains
Madcap Bulb________plains, forest, hills, mountains
Northern Prickleweed_northern slops of forests
Wolfsbane__________plains, forest, hills, mountains

Rare
Ambrosia___________Silent Plains
Dragonthorn________near dragons lairs
Lakrima____________near battlefields


Cunning (Natural Lore) or Cunning (Herbalism) check:
Rarity________TN_____Units
Common____13/11___1d6+1
Uncommon__15/13___1d6-1
Rare________17/15___1d6-3

What do you think of this first draft? Once I have a better idea of what terrain each plan it found it, I can make a random table for each terrain type.

[Tiger's Heart]

Although it isn't finished yet, here is part of the current volume I am working on.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/48504991/Plant% ... nished.pdf

Maps are not included as they are still in progress, although it should be pretty clear where Biomes should be.

Hope this helps.

[Zapp]

Where is the equivalent discussion thread for Volume 1?

My search only turned up discussion threads for Vols II and, of course, III (this thread). For Vol I I only found "Esoterica from Thedas Volume 1: Vault - Revised" but it only discussed hosting options, not the content itself. Is there another thread I have missed or can there really have been no feedback on this material...?

(Not talking about download links; those I have found. Talking about discussion threads)

[Hellebore]

It wasn't called vault when I first wrote it, it was just Esoterica from Thedas Volume 1 and it wasn't as large. After working on the bestiary I went back, added more to it and then rereleased it (which is the thread above).

It currently has some things I've changed - the optional rule to perform multiples of the same stunt at the cost of fatigue. At the time only set 1 was out and stunts like Lethal blow were unknown.

If there's something you want to discuss you can do it here.

Hellebore

[Giorgio]

Maps are not included as they are still in progress, although it should be pretty clear where Biomes should be. Hope this helps.

Questions:
1- On page 66 you have the Terrestrial Biomes, where do mountains fit in on the table in page 67 (like the Southron Hills)?

2-On page 67 you have a table “Key to Relative Abundance” for actively searching for those materials. Do you also have a table for a passive search in narrative time?

Example: “Your group has being traveling for hours threw the Brecilian Forest, Arian (the mage), roll a TN X Cunning (Herbalism) test to see if you picked up anything useful along the way.”

3- Once you have found something valuable (be it from an active or passive test), do you have a table to determine how many units of each material you find? This is important because foe the EoT V3 recipes it is very specific about how many units you need of each item in order to make a recipe.

I enjoy this maps section, can wait till you post the full version!

[Tiger's Heart]

Questions:
1- On page 66 you have the Terrestrial Biomes, where do mountains fit in on the table in page 67 (like the Southron Hills)?

Mountains will either be Alpine or Taiga depending upon the Altitude (Alpine is above the Tree-line). The Southron hills however are presumably not mountains and thus would most likely be Chaparal (scrub), Forest or Grassland.

2-On page 67 you have a table “Key to Relative Abundance” for actively searching for those materials. Do you also have a table for a passive search in narrative time?

Example: “Your group has being traveling for hours threw the Brecilian Forest, Arian (the mage), roll a TN X Cunning (Herbalism) test to see if you picked up anything useful along the way.”

I would be reluctant to use a passive test my self, you can be standing in a field of lavender, but unless you are looking for things, you are unlikely to collect enough for any useful purpose; even less likely to store it in a way that it will be useful later.
If the PC knows that X, Y and Z are likely to be found in the area they are, then the GM could make a test vs the abundance of those items to see if they are likely to be "encountered" and then the player to see if they notice any as they pass. {I've been with groups of people on bush-walks and commented on this or that piece of flora or fauna to the dumbfounded reply of what? where?}

3- Once you have found something valuable (be it from an active or passive test), do you have a table to determine how many units of each material you find? This is important because foe the EoT V3 recipes it is very specific about how many units you need of each item in order to make a recipe.

Thanks for asking about this, I hadn't planned how this might work in relation to the amount required for a recipe. Factors to consider are sustainability (are they going to take it all or leave some to continue growing?), abundance and GM fiat (do you want them to find it all now or have to keep looking?). Perhaps the Dragon Die can have an effect on the number found (even with a straight roll) with a modifier for abundance.
Elfroot is very common, hardy and widespread across Thedas. Upon finding some, the player rolls and the result of the Dragon Die is 4 (for example). The GM is happy for them to have discovered quite a bit so they can find 3 x 4 units which are harvested successfully (2 x for common and 1 x for uncommon and perhaps negatives for rare and only singles for very rare). However you could make the test have a TN and if the roll is successful they can harvest and the plants will regrow; unsuccessful rolls could mean that if they harvest the full amount, the resource will be depleted and they must choose how much to take.

Hope that makes sense - I will try to refine this and add it to the book.

Tiger's Heart