Arboriculture (sage ability)

Arboriculture is an amateur-status sage ability in the study of Bushes & Shrubs that grants the character an ability to recognize the genera and species of shrubs on sight, as well as the ability to recognize a potentially animated tree from one that's not. The character will also know the best harvest time and whether the fruit that can be see is safe to eat or not. In the case of plants that produce other than food, the character will also know how to gather these products and distill them, if need be.

Additional products that can be harvested from bushes and shrubs include bark, flowers for perfume, woody materials for gum, resin, incense and oils for distilling, along with various parts of a plant that are used for making medicinal drugs and poisons. The character will be able to gather these safely and without destroying the host plant.

If the plant is deliberately searched for in its natural environment, the character should be able to find single plants every 20-80 minutes (2d4 x10) and valuable patches, with 5-30 plants growing together, after 1-30 hours of searching. These numbers apply to well-watered environments; triple the time necessary in arid climates, and multiply the time by ten in desert climates.

Once per year, when the plant is ripe (typically a 5-30 day period), the character will be able to harvest 3-12 lbs. of food, or 3-12 oz. of valuable material, per plant.

See Pruning