Rime of the Frostmaiden: Goodberry

I have run 15 sessions of Rime of the Frostmaiden and I have a lot of backlogged material to post here. However, I have run into the question of Goodberry and how it affects the Rime campaign several times in the last week, so I thought I might do a quick post discussing how to deal with a party that contains a Druid or Ranger able to cast Goodberry.

Change the Spell?

There are a few people suggesting that a DM should change the goodberry spell in some way. One suggestion was to have the Goodberry spell consume the component (a sprig of mistletoe) even though the spell does not explicitly say so (which is the requirement per rules-as-written in the PHB). Talking about the spell component brings a question to my mind – Would the party have access to the spell component in the first place? That is, will a sprig of mistletoe be available to them in the frozen north? Where there is no light? My answer is probably not! Mistletoe needs a lot of light to grow and Icewind Dale has been consumed by an everlasting dark winter for the past 2 years.

The issue with both of these suggestions is, of course, that it will seem unfair to the players if you tell them the spell they chose and prepared is not workable as they try to cast it. If you want to go this direction it is better to make any pronouncements about spell components or spell access during session 0 rather than in the middle of the game.

The other question it brings up is: Can’t the druid/ranger just use a spellcasting focus instead of the component? And the answer is… yes, yes they possibly could! This negates the solution above unless you remove their ability to do so, and again, that is something that should be discussed in session 0.

So, to address this from a different direction, let’s look at the goodberry spell and its effects.

How Good is Goodberry?

Goodberry only sustains a PC’s nourishment needs for 24 hours. There are plenty of other ways to have the harsh Frostmaiden environment affect the party other than food scarcity (see my post on travel, cold, and lighting). So, if you really don’t care to do anything, you can ignore goodberrry, for the most part, in favor of the other environmental hardships they will suffer. Why am I writing this blog post then? Because I’m a huge nerd and I love talking about D&D – the same reason you are reading this right now.

But what if they use Goodberry all the damn time? Even though it’s not necessarily game breaking, it might feel a bit annoying since the party is escaping part of the difficulty of the setting so easily. Well, perhaps there are some consequences for using goodberry too much!

How Bad is Goodberry?

1. If anyone in Icewind Dale sees that the party has a way to get easy sustenance, word might get around and in every town the people will be begging them for some berries. This reduces the value of the sacrifice the residents of some towns are making to Auril, so she gets mad and sends some cultists, or a blizzard, or some coldlight walkers, to the town to wreak havoc! Then the town blames the PCs… how will they deal with that?
2. Perhaps there is an addictive quality to the berries and 12 hours after they consume one, they want another. If they do eat another, they are sooooooo overstuffed it nauseates them. A long rest is needed to shake off the condition. Perhaps this acts mechanically as the poisoned condition (disadvantage on attack rolls & ability checks). The 12 hour issue will ensure they don’t just eat goodberries every day and the poisoned condition is more harsh than a level of exhaustion, so they will likely avoid it at all costs.
3. All of the awakened animals can smell the goodberries and start to follow the PCs around. Some in a predatory fashion, stalking and watching, waiting for the right moment to pounce and steal the pack containing the berries (or the hand that holds them!). Some behave as scavengers, simply trailing the party at a healthy distance, biding their time, waiting for the party to sleep and then trying to nuzzle around their bags and steal the delicious goodberries.
4. The frost druids in the area are sent by Auril to stop the group from having such a nourishing food source. Auril sees the use of goodberries as a disruption of her tenets. Goodberries do, after all, take away the hardship needed for the people in Auril’s purview to exhibit the ENDURANCE tenet she wants them to uphold.
5. Something to think about: maybe the magical essence in goodberries is bad for animals – make sure your party doesn’t feed them to the sled dogs or axebeaks they are using to get around the region! I would say the goodberries inflict the slowed condition on any animals used by the party.

I don’t find the Goodberry to be all that problematic in the game, but it is a fun thought exercise to go through the issues and consequences of their existence.

Campaign Update

My Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign, which we have dubbed Endless Night, is well on its way – 15 sessions in! You can watch it here: Endless Night Playlist 

You can support my work by checking out Frostmaiden DMsGuild release – it is a SILVER best seller called The Creed of Auril and contains information on the Church of Auril and descriptions of cult beliefs, behaviors, membership, and rationale. It also has 16 new spells, 2 new magic items, 6 new NPC statblocks, and over 12 detailed ways to add cultists and cult activity to the Ten-Towns area. The product is $4.99 on the DMs Guild and you can purchase it by clicking here: The Creed of Auril

You can also support me and my co-creators by purchasing Scientific Secrets of Icewind Dale – new and challenging creatures and lore for your arctic D&D game: Scientific Secrets of Icewind Dale on the DMsGuild or by shopping on the DMsGuild for other great products by clicking the banner below, which contains an affiliate link.

Until next time, I wish you good gaming!

 ~DMSamuel