Great source book for Rangers, Druids and other herbalists.

It's always hard to find cool stuff for rangers and druids, and this book really delivers on that front. The plants are all interesting and unique, and each is adorned with cool backstory and functional adventure hooks.

Frankly, one of the best "17 [insert noun here]" supplements I've seen.

A useful collection for those who want to increase the value of herbalism. A few (3-4) plants were not very interesting to me, but that is obviously subjective.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Converts to Atlas' Occult Lore's herbalism rules fairly easily.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Well, I just got roped into running a game, and since everyone is playing elf tree-huggers I figured I should get me a few products to keep the nature lovers happy. This will definitely do the trick. Each entry includes information on how the plant can be harvested and the special properties it offers. Each plant is interesting and seems designed for a specific type of ecosystem, making the product useful in a wide variety of environments.

Unfortunately, the explanations aren?t really fleshed out well. The product alludes to a lot of stuff that can be done with the plants, but doesn?t really get much involved in the mechanics. So DMs need to read, understand, and plan a mechanic beforehand before using some of these plants.

I?m not sure how I feel about the art. A lot of it is real-life photos, which obviously don?t represent the fantasy plants. Others are medieval woodcuts. Others look like generic clip art. It makes for an awkward looking product.
<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: A lot of good material to use for a nature-geared game. Good price.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Art doesn't do anything for the product, and the mechanics aren't fleshed out.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Decent product, with a homemade appearance. The idea behind the product is nice, but there are many more options out there that have more for us to use on similar topics. However, not too bad for the price.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: The print-friendly version is available.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Some of the magical effects of some plants are too powerful, and should be much more valuable.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

17 Plants is a supplement from The Le Games. The zipped file is just under 3.5 megabytes, and contains four files; two PDFs, an RTF document, and a plain text readme file. Both PDFs contain bookmarks, and all of the files have a non-hyperlinked table of contents.

The two PDFs are broken up into a screen-viewing PDF, and a printable PDF. The screen-viewing PDF is 32 pages long, including a page for the credits and table of contents, two pages for the OGL, a page for credit and legal information, and one page for an ad blurb. This PDF has black borders around every page, as well as headers and footers along each page. It also has black-and-white and full-color artwork, some of the latter being photopraphs. Oddly, the printable PDF is two pages shorter, and lacks the borders, but still contains the artwork and headers/footers. The RTF file is 26 pages long, and contains no artwork, though some of the letters are in a colored font.

The product opens with an introduction talking about ancient forests, woodlands thousands of years old that have never been despoiled by humanoid races. Within these ancient forests are plants the likes of which are undreamt of, with strange properties. Seventeen of those plants are described therein.

Each plant has a description given which tells us what the plant looks like. Properties are described next, which describe what the plant can do if prepared/used properly. Harvesting then details the proper way to gather the plant for use, since improper harvesting usually means you can?t use the plant?s special properties. Locating is fairly self-explanatory, as it describes where the plant is found in the ancient forest. Each plant then closes with a notation of the plant?s market value, and plot hooks that a GM can use with each plant. Altogether, as each section tends to get at least a paragraph, each plant?s total entry takes up roughly a page (artwork notwithstanding).

Each of the plants can confer a minor benefit (or harm) upon a user, and are very interesting, making them perfect additions to a magical world. For example, the protean shadow tree has berries that contain the essence of shadow, and if pulped and spread on a weapon, they deal 1d2 Strength damage in addition to normal damage.

Druids, rangers, and perhaps a few arcane spellcasters will get the most mileage out of this product, as finding, gathering, and preparing these plants requires skills only they are likely to have. However, that said, there are plants in here that would be interesting to use in any game, particularly with the associated adventure hooks. As such, 17 Plants is a product that would fill its niche perfectly in any d20 game. <br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Each of the plants described here was detailed ecologically, painting an evocative picture that stirred the imagination. Each of the plants was quasi-magical enough that they could easily be placed in a fantasy or modern game.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The printable PDF didn't seem nearly as printable as the RTF file that was included, making that PDF somewhat superfluous.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

It would have been easy for The Le Games to put together a collection of plants and present them as drugs to be inhaled, sniffed, rubbed, touched or licked by your player character. Instead, writer Ewan Conradie has put together a collection of plants that are a tad more alchemical than this, creating unique items that can be used by nearly all the core player classes of your Dungeons & Dragons game.

Downloading this product will provide you with two bookmarked versions of this .pdf, one formatted for your monitor and one formatted for your printer. For the purposes of this review, I?ll be taking a look at the printer-friendly version of ?17 Plants.?

After a page of introduction and material detailing how to use this supplement, we?re thrust right into The Ancient Forest. This isn?t just a stereotypical romp through the woods. The Ancient Forest is a place of history, wisdom, mystery and, as you can guess, these seventeen plants.

The plants in this collection are varied. There?s devil?s blood weed, which smells quite nice, but only to cover the scent of the decomposing bodies it?s entangled within its dominating weeds; and the similar yellow heather, which also smells quite nice, but can help cure a character of nausea. There?s the celestial tree, whose wood can be used to create magically-enhanced musical items (flutes, etc.); and the spiny blackberry, which can, when consumed, heal ability damage caused by poison but if used in more-than-moderate amounts actually causes more ability damage (it?s not made clear, but I assume the spiny blackberry?s restorative powers heal damage caused by ingested poison as opposed to contact poison or the other poison types). Each of the plants is unique in their description, use and application, and cost. Rules are also given for locating and harvesting of each of the plants, and as a bonus, some of these plants even include a listing for plot hooks to help DMs incorporate these new plants into their game.

Even though at least two of the core classes ? the ranger and the druid ? have their feet firmly planted in nature, it?s rare to see a supplement devoted strictly to unique fantasy plants. Most of these plants can be harvested, and most of the core classes can make use of this material (a bard should be thrilled to have a flute made of wood from a celestial tree, for example). However, the psionic classes have no representation here; it would have been interesting to see a plant or two that would impact a psionic character.

The format of ?17 Plants? is as tight as The Le Games? other ?17?? products, but a few typos do creep into the text. These don?t distract from the overall text, however. This may sound like a ?niche? product, but it can definitely be used at your game table.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: There is a versatility to this product that I didn't expect when I first started reviewing it. This isn't just a collection of medicinal plants or magic berries; it's a fully-developed group of fantasy plants.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: There are a few typos in this well-formatted product. Also, it would have been nice to see the psionic classes represented in "17 Plants."<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>