Welcome to the fifth edition of “The Guide to Herbs for RPGs”,
the third edition of this guide to be distributed by e-mail 
and across the Internet. Herbs have been a staple of fantasy 
literature for many years. Striders use of Athelas in “The 
Lord of the Rings” to cure Frodo, and Polgara’s herb lore in 
“The Belgariad” and “The Mallorean”, and Raistlin’s use of 
herbal teas to calm his cough in “Dragonlance” are two 
examples that come to mind. The first edition of this guide 
was written in response to a request by one of my players for 
more detailed use of the Herbalism proficiency than that 
supplied in the core AD&D rules, and also to provide a general
system which can be converted to other rules systems fairly 
easily. This was in 1990 or 1991 and that edition was nothing 
more than an adaptation of the herbs contained in Alexander 
Scott’s Maelstrom RPG adapted to AD&D rules, a description of 
each herb, the chance of finding it, its preparation time, 
and its cost. This guide was quite useful, though several 
problems were found with it. The guide was used for a few 
years and my printed copy (done on a Commodore 64 and a 9 pin 
printer) became covered in pen and pencil additions and 
clarifications. In early 1995 I began GMing a new campaign and
I decided to rewrite my herbal on my new 486. This second 
edition contained the same herbs as the first edition but with
the addition of clearer descriptions, the addition of the 
Locale in which each herb could be found, and an Ability Check
roll required to use each herb successfully. This herbal was 
much more useful than the previous one. In mid 1995, I gained 
net access for the first time, and discovered the phenomena of
NetBooks, and unofficial supplements to various role playing 
games. I downloaded these and began to use them in my games. 
As a student I can not afford to buy all the commercially 
produced supplements for use in my games, and so these 
unofficial (and free!) supplements were a gift from the Gods. 
In December 1995 and January 1996, I revised my Herbal once 
again, incorporating herbs from the RPG Middle-Earth Role 
Playing (MERP), and on returning to University at the start 
of March, subscribed to the ADND-L e-mail list, and offered 
the Herbal to the inhabitants of that list. I received over 
300 requests for the Herbal, and was informed that there was
interest in Herbalism on the REALMS mailing list. I subscribed
to this list as well, and offered the Herbal once again. I 
received more requests from this list. At the start of July, 
I released a fourth edition of the guide which for the first 
time included herbs submitted by other people, as well as 
herbs that I had designed through research outside gaming 
materials. In particular, special mention must go to Druann 
Pagliasotti whose assistance in compiling the fourth edition 
was considerable. Druann contributed new herbs, as well as 
sending me a list of suggested clarifications, and amendments 
to over forty of the herbs that I had designed. Since that 
time I have received more e-mail (both praise and criticism) 
from many of the people who are using my herbal, and this has
once again encouraged me to put together a new revised 
edition. This edition includes even more herbs that other
people have added to my rules, and some new herbs that I have
developed, in total over 50 new herbs. It also includes more
detailed physical descriptions of some of the herbs from
previous editions where I have been able to find them. Most
notably, it includes a revised Herbalism proficiency, which
was largely developed by Maya Deva Kniese, whose contribution
to this fifth edition was considerable. I welcome the
contributions I have received to this guide, but as always all
responsibility for any errors and discrepancies is mine and
mine alone, although other contributors deserve full credit
for whatever you like. The fifth edition also divides the
‘Locale’ field of the descriptions into two separate fields,
‘Climate’ and ‘Locale’. This was a commonly requested change,
and I saw no reason why it could not be made. I welcome
contributions, criticisms and comment on my guide, and will
try to incorporate these in any future editions of the guide.
Some people may have noticed that the title of the guide has
changed from “The AD&D Guide to Herbs” (the title of the 1st-
3rd Editions) to “The Guide to Herbs for RPGs” (4th and 5th
Editions). This occurred because of advice that the original
title was not compatible with the guides status as unofficial.
Also the guide is no longer AD&D specific but designed to be
used in other RPG rule systems. Please feel free to distribute
this guide in unedited form in any format that you desire. I
only ask that my contribution and that of other people is
acknowledged and that the guide is distributed free of charge.