Herb tiers run counter to Coven's equipment paradigm. #28
Description
As first mentioned in #27, there are issues with the herb tiers. However, these stem from a central problem: the entire system of herb tiers runs counter to the paradigm by which Coven's equipment system is designed.
Coven's equipment system is designed such that the availability of equipment can mostly be ignored unless the GM intentionally does something interesting with it.
However, with the current system, the acquisition and cultivation of herbs requires tracking Botany skill, and so is actually involved as a "balancing" system. Firstly, this violates the equipment paradigm. Secondly, it goes so far as to present a hidden tax---buying up the Botany skill---that players are likely to miss at character creation.
Lastly, it does a poor job of doing any balancing anyway, as Botany 2 can be easily grabbed at character creation, and it's just a bit of XP to buy it up to 3. So it's just an annoying tax that prevents developing skills that the player wants the character to have.