PLANTS!! Or, how to enrich your setting's flora

One of the things that impressed me the most about Avowed was how much care was given to the flora of the Living Lands. It's often vibrant, awe-inspiring and, most important of all, gameable. Want to upgrade your gear? Go harvest some plants. Need a way to deal with large groups of enemies, but don't want to invest in magic? Well, some plants are basically grenades, molotovs or acid bombs. Oh, and you know the cool looking ruins you've spotted on the horizon? They're probably overgrown by giant roots, or if you're lucky, something even cooler!

The way Obsidian managed to seamlessly integrate flora into so many aspects of Avowed made me think of how some of my favourite fantasy writers usually pay a lot of attention to the flora of their own worlds, and how important those details are to making an immersive setting.

In my experience, however, most GMs overlook this aspect of world building completely, myself included. Sure, some of us pay lip service to it, dropping a few references to coniferous trees, berries and stuff like that when prompted by the players, but that's usually as far as it goes.

And honestly? That's completely fine by me. We're just nerds facilitating a game, we can't all be expected to be master world builders who spend hours and hours researching what sort of flora would make the most sense for each region of our settings. Simply put, this is the type of effort that rarely pays off, like developing intricate economies for every city or kingdom.

Still, the reason behind my enthusiasm for Avowed's flora wasn't related to realism or research at all, but how fantastic and unique it felt. And that, my friends, is much more achievable for us lowly GMs. Achievable and gameable.

TABLES ARE ALWAYS THE ANSWER

Well, maybe not always, but that's what I usually default to whenever I want to generate interesting things fast. I quickly settled into six different categories:

• Appearance: Usually the first thing the PCs will notice about a plant, and surprisingly useful for setting the mood, too. Drop some fleshy, writhing plants in the woods and your players are probably going to be immediately wary of the area.
• Biome: The sort of region your weird plants are located in. Try generating at least a couple of plants for each major area in your setting, but don't be afraid of reusing a plant in multiple regions.
• Interactions: Plants don't exist in a vacuum. Defining a few key ways they interact with their environment and the fauna that inhabits it is essential (and a lot of fun, too!).
• Smell: Never underestimate the impact of describing a smell. Our olfactory memory is unreasonably powerful, and you should wield it responsibly.
• Useful properties: I did mention this would be gameable, right?
• Rarity: While most of the categories above are player-facing, this one is more relevant to GMs. You can outright tell your players how rare or common a plant is, but isn't it more interesting to let them work for that knowledge?

Now that we've established what each table will explore, let's dig in!

Appearance	Biome	Interactions
1. Glowing tendrils	1. Rainforest	1. Calms nearby creatures
2. Umbrella-like leaves	2. Desert	2. Makes observers hallucinate
3. Gem-like flowers	3. Tundra	3. Attracts and feeds wildlife (prey)
4. Thorny, enormous vines	4. Swamp	4. Burrows when it rains
5. Fuzzy, humming moss	5. Mountains	5. Shrieks when approached
6. Spiral petals	6. Grasslands	6. Protected by predators
7. Color-changing fronds	7. Volcanic	7. Attracts lightning
8. Knotted roots	8. Coastal	8. Unroots itself and migrates
9. Maw-like blossoms	9. Swamps	9. Trips travelers
10. Skin-mimicking bark	10. Rocky hills	10. Changes color near magic
11. Feather-like leaves	11. Fjords	11. Hosts friendly insects
12. Stained glass bark	12. Lakes	12. Attracts fairies
13. Skeleton-like branch	13. Graveyards	13. Worshipped by undead
14. Sparkling stems	14. Savannas	14. Boosts plant growth
15. Fur-like shrubs	15. Prairies	15. Houses prey animals
16. Covered in red sap	16. Riverlands	16. Contaminates water
17. Crescent moon flowers	17. Islands	17. Darkens surroundings
18. Iridescent spores	18. Wastelands	18. Taints the soil
19. Bioluminescent patterns	19. Overgrown ruins	19. Repairs structures
20. Pulsing, organic growths	20. Underground	20. Infested with spiders

Smells	Properties	Rarity
1. Rotting meat	1. Healing salve	1. Common
2. Sweet honey	2. Disinfectant	2. Uncommon
3. Fresh rain	3. Stamina potion	3. Rare
4. Burnt sugar	4. Strong adhesive	4. Very Rare
5. Spiced wine	5. Powerful antidote	5. Legendary
6. Crushed metal	6. Alchemical marvel	6. Seasonal
7. Bone dust	7. Armor-like bark	7. Endangered
8. Vanilla	8. Highly nutritious	8. Abundant
9. Cinnamon	9. Fire-starting oil	9. Cultivated
10. Wet fur	10. Insect repellent	10. Regional
11. Lavender	11. Poison enhancer	11. Corrupted
12. Dragon's breath	12. Dye-making flowers	12. Ancient
13. Sea salt	13. Paralyzing sap	13. Interdimensional
14. Goblin sweat	14. Fermented alcohol	14. Sentient
15. Blood	15. Magic enhancer	15. Transient
16. Sulphur	16. Demon bait	16. Infernal
17. Arcane fire	17. Charming fragrance	17. Artificial
18. Fairy dust	18. Rust removal	18. Sacred
19. Wet stone	19. Highly explosive	19. Cursed
20. Phoenix feathers	20. Water purifier	20. Mythical

WEIRD GREEN WONDERS

Yeah, that should do it. I'm excited to start making some truly bizarre plants and dropping them in my campaigns, and if y'all end up doing the same, I'd love to know how it goes!