Magic Plant Gardening

Taking the time to nurture a large supply of magical plants is an extensive project that produces truly special results. By spending considerable time and effort, a dedicated gardener can draw out the most powerful effects hidden deep in root and stem. This is not a task to be taken lightly and requires skill, commitment, and patience. Only one type of magical plant can be cared for by one character at a time, as the process is intensive and the needs of each magic plant are different. For more details on using magic plants, see the Magic and Spells chapter.
Magic plant gardening is divided into two aspects: cultivating and maintaining. Cultivating involves the downtime necessary to create a new garden filled with a particular type of magic plant, while maintaining involves the downtime necessary to ensure the health and safety of that garden in the long-term.
Cultivating a Magic Garden

Cultivating a garden of magic plants requires a character to have the Hedgecraft feat, the appropriate tools for gardening, and the ability to perform consecutive workweeks of gardening, with an outlay of 25 gp in expenses per workweek. In addition, the character must have at least ten fresh, mature magic plants of the same type and a suitable plot of land to start cultivating. A fresh, mature magic plant includes its roots and is capable of reproducing. A character can’t start a garden with only a magic plant’s cuttings. Each type of magic plant has a different cultivation time requirement, as detailed in the cultivated wort section of each plant’s entry in the Magic and Spells chapter. Once a magic plant garden has been cultivated, it produces fresh cuttings each day, and creatures in the garden gain access to its cultivated magical effects, as long as the garden remains maintained.

Assistance.

If the character has an assistant to tend the garden while the character is away, the cultivating weeks don’t need to be consecutive. The character must still spend the requisite number of workweeks cultivating the garden and spend the required funds before the garden’s cultivated magical effects can be used. The assistant doesn’t need the Hedgecraft feat to tend the garden. For example, a character begins cultivating a garden of chaunic clover, spending two workweeks doing so. The character’s assistant then tends the garden for three weeks while the character spends time adventuring. After the adventure, the character must spend two more workweeks cultivating the garden to fulfill the clover’s requirement of four weeks of cultivation before gaining access to its cultivated wort.

Cultivation Checks.
To cultivate a garden of magic plants, a character makes a series of checks, with a DC determined by the rarity of the magic plant, as shown on the Magic Plant Cultivation table. Cultivation complications can increase the DC.

Magic Plant Cultivation

Rarity

DC

Uncommon

10

Rare

15

Very rare

20

For each workweek spent cultivating after the first week, the character makes one check of the player’s choice: Strength (Athletics), Intelligence (Arcana), Intelligence (Nature), or Wisdom (Survival). If desired, the character can replace up to half of the necessary skill checks with Constitution saving throws, getting the job done through perseverance and hard work. The character has advantage on a check if another character assists with the gardening that week. The assistant doesn’t need the Hedgecraft feat to aid the gardening character.
A failure means the character made no real progress that week, and that workweek doesn’t count toward fulfilling the requisite number of cultivating weeks for that magic plant (funds are still spent normally for the week). If the character fails three checks, there is a 50 percent chance the magic plants are ruined, and the character must acquire more before attempting to cultivate a garden again.
A success means the character made progress that week, and that workweek counts toward fulfilling the requisite number of cultivating weeks for that magic plant. If the character succeeds on three checks, the magic plants are healthy enough that they can’t be ruined, regardless of how many failures the character has afterward. If the character successfully cultivates the garden, the cultivated wort immediately becomes available at the end of the final requisite workweek, and the garden provides the benefits described in the plant’s cultivated wort entry. The cultivated wort lasts for as long as the garden is maintained. If the character isn’t of a high enough level to activate the magic plant’s cultivated wort, the garden remains healthy as long as it is maintained, and the cultivated wort can be activated with one week of work any time after the character reaches the appropriate level.
Maintaining a Magic Garden

Once cultivated, a garden of magic plants requires 25 gp and at least one workweek of maintenance every 30 days to retain its magical properties. Maintaining the garden doesn’t require a skill check, and a character doesn’t need the Hedgecraft feat to do so. Alternatively, a character with the Hedgecraft feat can spend 25 gp and one day tending the garden every 30 days to maintain it. If a garden hasn’t been maintained in over 30 days, it loses its cultivated wort, and the garden must be cultivated anew. At the GM’s discretion, up to 1d10 of the plants in the abandoned garden can be recovered and used to cultivate a new garden.
A cultivated garden produces 2d6 fresh plant cuttings each week it is maintained after the initial cultivation. A fresh cutting remains usable and magical for up to 10 days. A cutting must be dried to maintain any magic after 10 days. A “cutting” varies by magic plant, but it is typically a sprig or bloom.
Complications

Cultivating large quantities of magic plants can sometimes attract unwanted and even dangerous attention, and growing anything comes with the risks of exposure to the elements or natural disasters. A character has a 10 percent chance of triggering a complication for each workweek spent cultivating a magic garden. When a complication is triggered, the GM can create a complication or roll a d6 and consult the Cultivating Complications table. Maintaining a magic garden doesn’t trigger a complication, but, at the GM’s discretion, inclement weather, thieves, or other events might reduce the number of clippings the garden produces each week.
Cultivating Complications

d6

Complication

1

Swarms of pest insects attack your plants. Increase the DC of this workweek’s cultivating check by 5.

2

A group of pixies moves into your garden and begins to play pranks and disruptive tricks on you.

3

Someone or something has broken into your garden while you are away and has stolen your tools, forcing you to buy new ones.

4

Another hedgecrafter or druid arrives and demands that you cease your efforts, claiming that you are upsetting the natural order.

5

A disease has swept through your plants, ravaging a large portion and setting you back 1 workweek. No cuttings are available this week.

6

Inclement weather or other natural disaster damages your plants, setting you back 1d4 workweeks. No cuttings are available this week.