Geas

Yesterday I was gathering herbs and analysed a few bunch of them. I did the same thing today and got some new names on the list, but some of the names I got yesterday didn't appear again, and I'm quite certain I got several of those herbs again. Is that normal? I mean shouldn't I be able to remember the plants I analyse, and then be able to recognize them, when I see them again?

That is part of how skills work. I fear you just have to accept it.

If you collect, lets say 100 herbs of the same type, and analyse them one by one, you can end up identifying maybe 30 or so, its skill dependant, and the rest you just aren't sure of. It is not like you remember for ever which herbs looks exactly how.

When I started collecting and analysing herbs, I always dropped all my herbs on the ground, picked them up one at a time, analysed that herb, put it in a container, and got the next one. That way I had a much higher chance of actually finding out the names of herbs I might have a use for rather than failing the identification on a huge heap of identical herbs and having to sell and rebuy them to know the name.

Thank you, that might just help

The herb mechanism is a bit odd anyway right now.

If character A analyses a herb, then drops it and leaves the place, and character B enters, character B will know the name of that herb. But ICly, he shouldn't know unless he either analyzed it, or someone else told him that this herb is a luzren or another herb type.

I'm quite certain I got several of those herbs again. Is that normal? I mean shouldn't I be able to remember the plants I analyse, and then be able to recognize them, when I see them again?

Quite possibly so but right now it is how the herb mechanism works.

You could however try to use an IC explanation such as that there are differences between the various herbs of the same type: all luzren herbs would be "wet, green plants", but their characteristics could be slightly different (not so green, different weight or height and so on)

And these differences would make it harder for your character to find out that this plant is a luzren, but the one looking a bit similar could still be a totally different herb. In which case I am sure with a high herbalism skill, the character would know the difference, but a young herbalist wouldn't be totally sure about this yet.

(Plants are different in reallife too even though it would be from the same species or genus)

Well thanks to the first suggestion, I'm not a real good herbalist , though the mechanism is still unlogical if you ask me

I must be overtired because I read the post over a few times and I still don't know exactly what you find illogical. Could you reiterate for me?

You discover the identity of a certain herb, then sees another one which looks much like it, and yet you have to analyse it again, and it's not certain you figure out that it's the same. That doesn't make much sense to me.

I think the more illogical part is being able to tell what an herb is called if someone else has analysed it. Unless it's labeled, how would you really know? But it would make it hard for beginning alchemists if they couldn't really recognize ingredients. Especially animal components, since there's no real way to differentiate a mantis eye from a spider eye without analysing it. With herbs at least you can look at the description.

I agree, I always wondered why my character knew the name of a herb that was lying somewhere.

Desiderea wrote:I think the more illogical part is being able to tell what an herb is called if someone else has analysed it. Unless it's labeled, how would you really know? But it would make it hard for beginning alchemists if they couldn't really recognize ingredients. Especially animal components, since there's no real way to differentiate a mantis eye from a spider eye without analysing it. With herbs at least you can look at the description.

Perhaps some ingredients could have default size adjectives. This is Turian's domain, however.

You discover the identity of a certain herb, then sees another one which looks much like it, and yet you have to analyse it again, and it's not certain you figure out that it's the same. That doesn't make much sense to me.

A few years ago, I started looking for wild mushrooms. Over the years, I've gotten pretty good at identifying the ones that I know are safe. But at first, I had to ask someone more knowledgeable just about every time I saw a mushroom I thought might be right.

Even now, there are a couple of mushrooms that are really hard to tell from look-alikes. I've seen the "true" mushrooms tons of times, but in the forest, the true mushrooms are stubbornly non-standard and difficult to identify.
Here's an example:

Real Mushroom: http://www.markerobst.de/image/produkte ... rlinge.jpg

Look Alike: http://www.natur-server.com/Bilder/FM/0 ... erling.jpg

In game terms, both of these could be a "small, golden-yellow mushroom" but they're not the same herb. Just because you found a "small, golden-yellow mushroom" yesterday that you were sure was the true mushroom, doesn't mean that the "small, golden-yellow mushroom" is necessarily the same. So you might analyse it and decide you just can't be sure.