Strider knew what he was doing.

[ScottyG]

Isn't this kind of covered by their spell ability? They can cure wounds, neutralize poison, cure disease.

[AxeMental]

Scientists DO investigate folk claims. It's just that most were investigated long ago and turned up negative. When folk remedies become fashionable again scientists don't need to test the same claims again.

Thats good, and they should continue looking back at some of the more complex remedies as well (such as the one sited in the article). If its something that can save lives, its worth the effort. And I wouldn't rely on studies conducted in the past on remedies. The above article states that each ingredient by itself didn't offer alot of help, but the combination was what was effective. Very intereseting. I'd look at the quality of the tests done to see how the were designed. I'm not suggesting ditch modern science. I'm suggesting use common sense. Many docs don't even tell patients to eat right (they'd rather give them blood pressure meds then put them on a low blood pressure diet). Likewise, herbs that can be eaten in moderations safely known to be helpful aren't mentioned (yet at medical research centers these are part of the SOP) to healing things like Lupus, MS, Sjogrens, heart disease, bone disease etc. Sadly my wife is pretty sick, and I've had first hand experience with this. If you mention this to some doctors (say diet in helping reduce the autoimmune systems flareup, something 1000s of patients have figured out on their own) they used to laugh in our face and push pills. Now JAMA and other medical journals are instructing them "diet is key to resolving many cases of autoimmune (usually starting with an exclusion diet)" now they are no longer laughing.

Things like acupuncture and hypnosis are standard treatment at many western clinical centers (despite alot of resistance at first by the medical community). Science (and medicine) often move by paradigm shifts. This is really slow, and profit motive can make it slower. Studies to prove naturally occuring x (say some common herb) works to kill y aren't often done because of the MASSIVE expense of the study (following 1000 patients for 10 years say). Waiting for long term research to come to a conclusion isn't always in the patients best interest (when your suffering from a life long illness and possible death, you try anything when the regular stuff doesn't work). Yeah, the "alternative med" field is thick with crooks. Whats new? But they aren't all crooks. Read the recovery stories of 100s of patients that try some of these wacked remedies that end up helping. The best places to look for advice are at multi-disciplinary research centers that focus on dealing with patients of last resort, that have your particular problem (read their websites), and check out their patient forums and message boards (patients will often indicate what worked and what didn't). Doctors can't mess around with "alternative medicine" without losing thier medical license (more now then ever with the new centralized system), but these centers often can.

This is a bit off topic but interesting: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/polio-shri ... d=19688955

Scotty, I'm thinking of something starting at say 3% at first and gradually rising. And the source would be arcane medicine taught to rangers only. I wouldn't want this to overshadow a cleric, only be a last option if the cleric wasn't around. A sorta hail Mary pass.

[Falconer]

In my Middle-earth games in the past I have reskinned the Cleric class as the Ranger. They can use swords and they can track, or whatever, but fundamentally they mechanically are Clerics, what with healing (requiring athelas as component) and power over undead. I don’t think I’ll handle it quite that way in the future, but it’s a thought.

[Kellri]

The Chinese probably have the most extensive folk medical tradition in the modern world. Their source books in some cases date to the Han Dynasty or earlier. Some of the cures are extremely effective. Testing and analyzing them to determine exactly how and why they work is one of the primary tasks of the Chinese pharmaceutical industry. To a lesser degree the Indians are also doing the same with Ayurvedic medicine. That's all great. In 2015 it's much more valuable to know that a particular plant is an MAOI inhibitor rather than 'it increases yin and moderates yang'. The downside rarely gets reported in the West: people die every single day from misuse or overuse of traditional cures, usually from kidney or liver failure.

[AxeMental]

people die every single day from misuse or overuse of traditional cures, usually from kidney or liver failure.

Yep, thats a problem here as well (not as severe, but liver and kidney problems). Thats why you have to use this stuff under the supervision of someone who knows what the hell they are doing and can order routine blood tests to keep an eye on how your organs are doing. They also have to be familiar enough with it to know how medications work together with herbals.

[thedungeondelver]

Over on a Twilight:2000 forum (yes, there's enough people who played it to have a whole forum) there was some discussion of "controlled" substances after the bomb, even in the few areas where civil authority still existed and the consensus was that things like cannabis and so on would probably be tolerated if not slipped into medical use given their analgesic properties and the dearth of things like tylenol and other now-common drugs.