Wolf’s Bane #

The curse of lycanthropy doesn’t take over immediately; a full moon is needed to cement its hold over a person. Until then, a potion made of Wolf’s Bane can be used to cure the person – but the cure comes with risks of its own.

The potion that can cure early stage lycanthropy is volatile and must be made from the highly toxic Wolf’s Bane flower, must be administered before the afflicted’s first full moon, and the potion is only good for one to two weeks (and therefore cannot be made ahead of time and stockpiled indefinitely).

Go ahead, ask me how I know all this.

Obtaining Wolf’s Bane Flowers #

Obtaining the key ingredient is, itself, a bit of a tricky process. It grows along forest edges, as an herbaceous, mounding plant under larger bushes. Each plant bears only a handful of flowers at any given time, though sometimes one can get lucky and find more than usual, or even a second plant in the same location. The ideal flowers are deep purple, but the plant can bear colors ranging from pale to medium yellow and any shade of purple. Any of the lighter colors are more toxic than the deep purple, without any additional potency against the curse, and while a potion can still be made with them, they should be avoided by all but the most durable of party members, and even still, used only if absolutely necessary.

Additionally, between the highly toxic nature of the plants, and the time it takes to find, identify, and harvest the flowers, no more than three rounds of gathering can happen per long rest, and if the group must move to a new search area, that uses the time for a round of gathering, leaving the group with just two rounds. Each successful round nets 1d4 flowers.

Locating, Identifying, and Harvesting #

A successful gathering round consists of three steps, each with their own skill check. The checks are done consecutively, and a failed Perception or Investigation check fails the entire round. Nature checks can optionally have a “soft fail” and “hard fail.”

1. Find a candidate bush to look under (Perception)
2. Find the plant and its flowers (Investigation)
3. Identify and harvest the flowers (Nature)

The DC for the skill checks start at 10 + the searcher’s skill bonus. Different characters can be used for each task, and if the characters are given a reference drawing of the flower, or other identification information, the initial Nature check DC can be reduced by 2.

Optional Rule: Critical Successes #

The GM may choose to reward critical successes on any or all of the checks. When doing so, the following modifications can be made:

• Perception check grants two Investigation/Nature check cycles in the same round.
• Investigation check grants two Nature checks in the same round.
• Nature check yields an additional 1d4 flowers.

Improved Identification And Resource Depletion #

In addition to the base DC level, successes on rounds can make finding flowers easier or more difficult.

• For every 2 successful rounds, Nature DC reduces by 1
• For every 3 successes in the same area, Investigation DC increases by 1. This DC resets when the group moves to a new search area.
• For every 4 successful rounds, Perception DC reduces by 1
• For every 4 successful rounds overall, starting Investigation DC for a new area decreases by 1

Making The Potion #

Ten flowers are needed to make each potion, and each potion takes 1d4 hours to make. The least toxic potion is made with all purple flowers (DC 10), while the most lethal is made with all yellow flowers (DC 20). The GM can determine if and how many yellow flowers can be used in a potion. The save DC increases by 1 for each yellow flower used in potion. When making multiple potions, they must be made individually, allowing for each potion to be a unique blend of flowers.

Surviving The Potion #

Each character that drinks the potion must make up to 3 Constitution saving throws. On two successful saves, the character survives. On two failed saves, the character dies.

Quick Reference #

• Three rounds per long rest
• Movement to a new area requires one round
• Each round consists of a Perception, Investigation, and Nature check (DC 10 + searcher’s skill bonus)
  • For every 2 successful rounds, Nature DC reduces by 1
  • For every 3 successes in the same area, Investigation DC increases by 1. This DC resets to starting value when the group moves to a new search area.
  • For every 4 successful rounds, Perception DC reduces by 1
  • For every 4 successful rounds overall, starting Investigation DC for a new area decreases by 1
• Successful rounds yield 1d4 flowers
• Each potion requires 10 flowers
• Imbiber must succeed on 2 Constitution saving throws (DC 10 + number of yellow flowers) to survive