Hermit's Tonic

Hermit's Tonic

Hermit's Tonic is a powerful restorative magic item, and one that is hard to create. The tonic comes from a gourd with a cork tapped into it, and must be consumed in one draught, from said gourd. When consumed, it fully restores any creature to it's full potential, healing any injuries, reversing any negative status ailments, and eliminates the need to eat or drink for a full week. Nabarin created this spell to handle the chance of accident or injury, as they were prone to long periods of solitude and something like an accidental fall in the tower could leave them vulnerable. An imp could easily be tasked to fetch the Hermit's Tonic, and in a long gulp, the injuries and fatigue would be erased.

Creation: A Hermit's tonic is created inside a gourd. The plant has to be cultivated for this purpose, and reduced to where there is only one gourd on the vine. A hole has to be bored into it, an a mixture of alchemical components have to be introduced, and then corked. After a year, the fruit will be ripe, the tonic inside potent, and once picked, it can sit in a cool dark area and last for years without weakening in potency. There is a limit to how many can be created, as the alchemical components cost approximately 100 gold pieces, and the plant has to be tended with care and attention for the full year, otherwise the potion spoils. The potion inside doesn't protect the gourd from insects, wildlife, being stepped on, being stolen, busting from too much rain, dying from too little rain, or extremes of heat or cold.

Abilities - (gamepeak time)

A character consuming a Hermit's Tonic is restored not to their previous health, they are restored to their maximum potential health. When calculating this, HP are increased to the maximum variable, instead of having 3D8 health for a level 3 cleric, their heath becomes the maximum of 24 hp, not adjusted for other stat bonuses. All negative status ailments are cancels, unless they are previously existing flaws. The tonic cannot restore sight to a blind person, but a person who lost their eyes and the wounds have not healed will be fully healed.

Extended Gamespeak

If the game uses a merits and flaws system, consuming a Hermit's Tonic gives the player a number of points to spend towards removing said flaws, starting with the most recently inflicted flaws first, and then progressing backwards. There is an obvious benefit, as someone who routinely consumes Hermit's Tonics are going to have all of their flaws removed, and then their stats improved, and their general health stats maxed out.

Limitations

Hermit's Tonics are difficult and time consuming to create, and the plants themselves lend something to this. A king cannot demand a garden of hermit's tonic plants to be grown constantly. The more people are around, the more magic that is worked, the more likely it is that the spell will fail and the gourd will rot on the vine. Hermit Tonics are best grown by hermits, in remote locations.

They are expensive to purchase, providing a hermit selling one can be found. They should cost as much as the average peasant makes in several years, or as much as a small estate if one is found to go to auction.

The tonic is perishable. Despite being in a gourd, the container and the liquid within are no more durable than any hollowed out gourd full of juice. A damaged gourd's contents will evaporate in a matter of minutes, and if spilled, it's efficacy is greatly diminished

Unfortunately:

'Hermit Tonics are immensely popular, and valuable. Especially to villains, monsters, and things generally evil. The tonic itself has no alignment, and will fully restore a sick child, a wounded paladin, a crippled infernal cultist, or even a nearly slain dragon or arch-demon. A supernatural or magical creature that consumes a Hermit's Tonic can decide to use its restorative powers, or it can enhance it's natural abilities. This can be short term, such as raising special abilities to their maximum, such as a dragon's breath weapon automatically inflicting its maximum potential damage, but for only one terrible blast. It can be a moderate increase, letting the player roll multiple dice and picking the best of the those rolled for a few days. Finally it can be used for very long term improvements such as raising a magic attack from using D4 to D6 permanently, or adding an additional die worth of damage.