Herbalism

While players are out traveling amongst the world, they might want to gather some local flora. This is known as Herbalism. Herbalism is mainly used to gather things like seeds, coral, mushrooms, or bark. It can also be used to gather very potent magical ingredients like ghostly stalks or water infused with the elements.

This action can occur during downtime if the party is out in the wilderness, or it can occur in the middle of the game as the party travels around.

The Herblore(Wis) skill is open to all classes and races, and proficiency in a Herbalism kit grants advantage on all rolls.

Gathering during gameplay
In between the dungeon delving, the sword slashing and the spell casting, the players usually have a period of rest. Many occasions call for a short or long rest during these times. Gathering plants or herbs is not considered a strenuous activity, and does not interrupt the resting periods that allow movement.

For these occasions, a player would announce to their DM that they would like to gather some plant life around the area. The player would then roll a DC Herbalism check. Remember, if a player is not proficient in they skill, the player can use a Herbalism Kit to increase their total modifier by their proficiency bonus if they are proficient with the kit as well.

Spell-assisted foraging
While there are no restrictions on who can gather ingredients for Alchemical purposes, some classes or races might have additional advantages. When a player casts a spell similar to locate animals or plants, they gain immediate knowledge on what type of plants are around, and the direction they are in. Additionally, they gain advantage on Herbalism rolls for those specific plants.

Gathering during downtime
Players may use there downtime activity to attempt to gather ingredients. Due to the dangerous nature of the West Marches, players may only look for ingredients in the hexes immediately adjacent to Pieni Pronnsi or any hexes where roads have been built.

Identifying Ingredients
After the player has gathered some ingredients, the DM can determine whether or not the character has past experience with it. This can be done either through a quick decision by the DM, or by rolling for the knowledge. If the second option is chosen, the player would perform an Herbalism check at a DC of 10 + DC Difficulty of the ingredient (see below for rare ingredients).

If the player fails the roll, the character does not recognize the ingredient enough to understand its purpose. Another attempt can be made after the player has researched more about the ingredient, or has another party member identify it for them. A player cannot roll again for the same ingredient if they do not already know what it is, or have gained insight on it.

If the player succeeded the roll, the character recognizes the ingredient and has a general idea of what it can do in a concoction. Additionally, if the player surpassed the DC by 5 or more, the character knows exact details about the ingredient and what it can be used for

Rare Findings
The world is a bountiful place amongst all of the terrains it has within itself. While there are some plants that only grow in certain regions, and others that grow almost everywhere, you might come across a rare ingredient or two. These ingredients are marked as such for the DM to easily recognize them.

Rare ingredients such as the Primordial Balm offer major boons to both potions and poisons. Therefor they are much harder to identify the exact details of. The player would perform a regular Herbalism check as described above, but would add an additional +3 to the DC.

Just as the DC gets increased, the detailed knowledge gap does as well. If the player surpasses the roll by 10 instead of the normal 5, the character knows detailed information about that ingredient.