A harvester is a person who gathers components for alchemical, magical, scientific, or practical use from plants, animals, fungi, and other sources.

Contains a set of slender fillet knives, salt, twine, wax coated paper, burlap wrapping fabric, jars, vials, tweezers, and other collection and storage materials, sturdy gloves, and a small handbook, all contained within a metal storage box. Cost of a standard kit is 20 gp and weight is 10 lb.

Before a player begins hacking and butchering their hunt, they may instead choose to take a moment first and appraise the creature to be harvested. To do this, they must spend 1 minute examining the creature to be harvested and then roll an Intelligence check, adding their proficiency bonus if they are proficient in the skill corresponding to that creature (see table below). For example, appraising a Beholder (which is an aberrant), the check would be an Intelligence (Arcana) check, while appraising an Ogre (which is a giant) would require an Intelligence (Medicine) check.

The DC of the check is equal to 8 + the Harvested Creature’s CR (treating any CR less than 1 as 0). Success on this check grants the player full knowledge of any useful harvesting materials on the creature, the DC requirement to harvest those materials, any special requirements to harvest them, and any potential risks in doing so. In addition, any harvesting check made on that creature by that player is rolled at advantage. A character may only attempt one appraisal check per creature.

Some party members may prefer to let one character handle the appraisal of materials, while another more dexterous character handles the actual harvesting. In this scenario, all benefits of appraising a creature are conferred to the player doing the harvesting, so long as the player that performed the appraising assists the harvesting player through the whole duration of the harvest.

In order to harvest a creature, a character must make a Dexterity ability check using the same skill proficiency as listed in the above appraising table. For example, a character attempting a harvest check on an Aberrant would receive a bonus equal to their Dexterity modifier and their proficiency in Arcana (if they have any).

This check reflects a character’s ability to not only properly remove the intended item without damaging it, it also involves any ancillary requirements of the harvest such as proper preservation and storage techniques.

Each individual item in a creature’s harvesting table is listed with a DC next to it. Any roll that a player makes that equals or exceeds this DC grants that player that item. Rewards are cumulative, and a player receives every item with a DC equal to or below their ability check result. For example, rolling a total of 15 on a check to harvest an azer will reward the player with both “azer ash’, and “azer bronze skin”, but not a “spark of creation”. If they so wish, players may opt to not harvest a material even if they have met the DC threshold to harvest it.

Only one harvesting attempt may be made on a creature. Failure to meet a certain item’s DC threshold assumes that the item was made unsalvageable due to the harvester’s incompetence.

For most creatures, the time it takes to harvest a material is counted in minutes and is equal to the DC of that material divided by 5. For huge creatures however, it is equal in DC of that material, while for gargantuan creatures, it is equal to the DC of that material multiplied by 2.

If a player is harvesting a certain creature, or harvesting a creature of a certain type of material, the DM may allow them to use a relevant tool proficiency rather than a skill proficiency.

For example, the DM may allow a player to add their proficiency with Tinker’s Tools to their attempt to harvest a mechanical golem or use their proficiency with leatherworking tools when attempting to harvest a creature for its hide. Alternatively, all creature type proficiencies may be replaced by proficiency with the harvesting kit.

This guide assumes that most creatures you attempt to harvest died in direct combat and thus already accounts for the idea that you are harvesting creatures that are not in pristine condition. However, some deaths are more violent than others and can make harvesting useful materials either extremely difficult or downright impossible. Such examples include burning by fire, dissolving from acid, or being completely crushed under a pillar of stone. In these cases, raise the DC for harvesting any of that creature’s materials by 5. Alternatively, the DM may decide that well-orchestrated hunts result in a carcass that is prime for harvesting, such as creatures killed mostly through psychic damage, or those killed in one clean attack. In these cases, the DM should lower the DC for harvesting any of that creature’s materials by 5.

Furthermore, the DM may adjudicate whether or not some of a creature’s individual materials have been made useless due to effects imposed by them in the course of their death. Examples may include blood being tainted from poisoning, or their pelt being worthless due to excessive slashing/piercing damage.

This guide mostly assumes that harvesting takes place on a freshly killed corpse and that little to no decomposition has yet occurred. However, in some cases, a player may desire to harvest a creature that has been dead for quite a while. In these cases, the DM may declare that certain body parts have already withered away and become unharvestable or may decide to increase the DC’s of all harvestable materials as if the creature had died a particularly violent death. If corpse decomposition is too advanced, it is entirely within the DM’s right to deny harvesting the creature altogether.

As a quick guide, the following timeline may be observed to decide on decomposition levels:

1 hour after death: The carcass’ hide has ruptured from bloating and has become useless.

1 day after death: The carcass’ blood has become too tainted to be useful, and soft tissues like the eyes have putrefied.

3 days after death: The carcass’ internal organs have decomposed.

7 days after death: The carcass has undergone extensive putrefication and none of its soft tissue remains harvestable.

Note: Harder materials like bones, teeth, claws, and hair do not generally undergo decomposition and will remain usable indefinitely.

Every unique monster from the Monster Manual has been listed in this book with an associated harvest table. When your players attempt a harvest, simply look up the relevant monster in this guide and read out the results (monsters are listed in the same order as in the Monster Manual). The following is an explanation of how to read the table.

This is the DC required to harvest this item. Any harvesting check that equals or exceeds this threshold allows the player that made that check to successfully harvest that item.

The name of the item received. While for most items, the player only receives one of the listed item, some item names have parentheses next to them. These indicate the amount that a player receives upon a successful harvest e.g.: Aarakocra Feather (small pouch) or Aboleth Mucus (3 vials). At the DM’s discretion however, they may adjudicate that a player receives less or more than the stipulated quantity. Such reasons may include extremely high success on a roll, or certain methods in which the creature was killed.

A brief description of the item to be harvested. While this is usually just for flavour, some items also have a “Use” section. These items may be used immediately after being harvested and require no further adjustments or crafting. Their function is described here in the description box.

Additionally, some materials have harvesting requirements beyond just steady hands and a sharp knife. Any extra requirements or criteria for harvesting a material will be listed here.

All materials are listed with their base resell value. This is how much money an average shopkeeper would be willing to pay for the materials in good conditions. DM discretion is advised when varying this value, dependant on shopkeeper mood, rarity within the setting, condition of the material, etc. A material with a value listed as “varies” indicates that its usage is too specific for it to be sold to an average shopkeeper, and the value of the material would depend heavily on context.

When items are harvested in discrete quantities, the value listed refers to each individual item. For example, Aboleth Mucus is harvested as a set of 3 vials, and so the value listed (20 gp) refers to each individual vial (so successfully harvesting Aboleth Mucus would be worth 3 x 20 gp = 60 gp). When items are listed as indiscrete quantities however, the value listed refers to the entire quantity. For example, Aarakocra Feathers are harvested in the indiscrete quantity of a: “small pouch.” Thus the 8 sp value listed refers to the value of a “small pouch of Aarakocra Feathers,” not 8 sp for each individual feather.

The values listed here are based on a myriad of factors including: CR of the monster, average treasure horde values, use in crafting, whether the monster tends to be found alone, whether the item is consumable, probability of successfully harvesting the item, balance around existing prices, and sometimes just for flavour. These prices are intended as a baseline only, and the DM is free to adjust these values as they see fit for their campaign. The DM is also to keep in mind that, although certain items may have high values, not all vendors may want to buy them. For example, although a Death Knight Heart may be worth the high price of 4,000 gp, it may be difficult to sell it to the village grocer. Sometimes, finding the right buyer for an esoteric item can be an entertaining side quest in and of itself, or simply used as a good downtime activity.

The weight of the item listed in pounds. The weight listed here follows the same rules as values do; the listed number refers to the weight of individual items, unless that item is harvested in indistinct quantities, in which case the weight refers to the whole indistinct quantity.

Some items, although valuable, require a skilled artisan to craft them into a usable item. The material’s description details which item they can be crafted into. If this section is blank, the item has no craftable item associated with it.

In general, certain monster parts have been given one or more crafting tags to denote the essence that the monster part contributes to the crafting process. These tags include: Acid, Air, Arcane, Cold, Earth, Fire, Flora, Lightning, Poison, Psychic, Stealth, Strength, Unholy, Vitality, and Water, representing a variety of innate arcane, elemental, and physical characteristics of these monsters.

These crafting tags are then used in crafting tables to show which type of monsters need to be sought to create a particular potion, poison, or item.

Harvesting some creatures are more dangerous than others. While most creatures are harmless once killed, others possess poisons, acids, and breath sacks that remain active even after the creature’s death. Even worse is that a simple misplaced knife stroke or errant twitch of the hand can lead to these materials accidentally harming the harvester.

Under this optional rule, whenever a harvester rolls below the DC of a harvestable material that has a “Use” section that deals damage, the material is not just lost, it also expends its ability on the harvester. For example, a character that fails to properly harvest a poison would suffer the effect of that poison on themselves, or a character that fails to harvest a breath sack would release the effect of that breath sack in their direction. The exact adjudication of the failure result may change depending on the DM.

Certain alchemists, wizards, necromancers, or scholars may pay for an entire corpse if you happen to have one preserved. In such cases, the value is generally that of half the sum of the remaining parts (after all, you aren't taking the risks of trying to harvest it.) Butchers may pay significantly more for entire cadavers if they're interested in getting all the prime cuts, though the corpse will have to be in reasonable condition to make this valuable.

These four major components are found in most creatures, and always have some degree of alchemical use. The heart of a creature can be used to make a scroll of protection against that particular type of creature; the blood of a creature can be used to make arrows or weapons of slaying that particular type of creature; the brains of a creature can be used to make mind control potions that work on that particular type of creature; the eyes of a creature can be used to make invisibility potions that work against that particular type of creature.

Beyond this, the heart, blood, brains, and eyes of creatures may have other practical or alchemical benefit. Although the specifics may not be spelled out in the Harvesting Catalogue, usually the reasons behind wanting a particular piece of monster relate to how the monster makes use of it (a siren's tongue might be useful for potions or items that boost Charisma, or singing prowess, for example.)

The bones of a creature are sometimes of alchemical value, but most often serve as a trophy that proves that you defeated the beast in question, or at least found it, which can be impressive on its own. Bones can be used for ivory to make carvings and sculptures for practical and decorative purposes, are commonly used as part of necromancy, and occasionally have value due to their extraordinary toughness, which allows them to sometimes augment or make armor.

Necromancers may take particular interest in intact skeletons if properly prepared, although this is a subject somewhat outside of this text's scope.

Typically, the hide of a creature is harvested either for decorative purposes (an adventurer may have survived a giant constrictor snake and want a lasting reminder of their victory in boot form) or practical purposes (the hide of a dragon is famously known for making legendarily tough armor).

Leather (AC 11) and Boiled Leather / Hide (AC 12) are two constructions based upon cowhide (cow having an AC of 10). As such, one can get comfortable leather-equivalent products by adding 1 to the natural armor AC of a creature (its AC after removing any Dexterity bonuses), and less comfortable, more sturdy materials by adding 2 to the natural armor AC of a creature. In addition to basic leather, sufficiently thick, chitinous, or scaled creatures may instead be made into natural versions of scale mail or similar armor by adding 3 to the natural armor AC of a creature, using the beast's chitin, bones, or scales instead of metal plating if this would set AC higher than 14. People are notorious for turning dragons into magnificent suits of armor, something which all dragons despise despite the practicality of it.

Some creatures leave behind unpleasant substances, such as ectoplasm, mucous, ash, that nonetheless can be gathered and preserved for alchemical usage later. It might seem disgusting, but examination of the Harvester's Catalogue will provide advice on most creatures and their harvestable remnants.

Some creatures have a fundamentum, an organ that enables them to do what they do. For example, a draconic fundamentum fuels the beast's breath weapon. Typically, these organs are the most valuable for alchemical and arcane purposes, but are also the most difficult and dangerous parts to collect, as damaging them can not only ruin the organ but discharge its remaining power into the careless harvester's body.

Assuming you've properly dealt with the monster sufficiently that 'will it eat us?' is no longer a concern, the simplest answer to this is that a DM will have to adjudicate most cases of 'can we eat it?', as some races have very broad definitions of 'safe to eat', although there are some obvious suggestions for health and safety:

• Creatures with acidic or poisonous compositions are generally unpalatable without special treatment.
• Some creatures carry diseases that may or may not survive typical cooking processes.
• Sentient humanoids are generally off the menu of most civilized races, but not all.
• 'Good' creatures are generally off the menu of most good civilized races, but not all.

Given these caveats, the amount of meat on a particular carcass depends primarily on its size; a Tiny creature is barely enough to feed one Medium creature for one meal, whereas a Gargantuan beast might feed dozens easily.

The table below shows how much meat an inexperienced butcher may be able to harvest from a creature, especially after a battle may have ruined some of the meat (i.e. burned, frozen, poisoned, etc.). If a whole creature's carcass is brought to a butcher, the butcher may pay 4x the value rolled in the chart below for the carcass (if the butcher even WANTS this kind of creature - DM discretion). Of course, carrying a heavy carcass can be difficult, and the creature's bacteria that kept it alive will begin to ruin the meat, spoiling it within a day.

• † The weight of a raw piece of meat is 4 pounds. And one slab of meat (4 lbs.), can be used to make 1 dried ration (2 lbs.).
• ‡ Raw meat has a very short shelf-life, and will go bad within a day if it is not refrigerated or cured.
• ⋆ The table above uses a standard price of 5 cp per pound for a regular piece of animal meat (such as cattle or deer). The value of meat can vary drastically, depending on the quality, rarity and the creature it is sourced from. For example, dragon meat could easily cost 5 gp per pound, while insect meat could cost only a copper or two per pound. A DM can decide what is adequate, and if certain meat is worth more or less.

Monster parts can be stored in a preserved state such as by use of a Jar of Preservation (below), which may be available for purchase from an alchemist or enchanter. Otherwise, most parts will decay after a certain amount of time. Some items require an Enchanted Vial or Spirit Paper to harvest, specifically the essence or spirit of a creature.

An alternative to crafting is to sell the harvested part to a collector, alchemist, or enchanter. While most established items have a price already listed, an approximate guide for the value of a particular rare monster part not otherwise listed is given in the Monster Part Value table, below, assuming the monster part is preserved appropriately.

Uncommon item, 500 gp

This jar contains an extradimensional space filled with a cold, sterile solution. Up to three items harvested from monsters can be placed into the solution where they will remain preserved indefinitely until retrieved.

This book is filled with all sorts of useful information on the creatures that inhabit the multiverse; specifically, which parts of them are useful for harvesting. Using this book grants you advantage on any Appraise ability check, but doubles the time required.

Common item, 3 gp

Some creature parts have powerful, yet fleeting, magical energies within them. The motes from elementals, for example, hold traces of their former essences in them but disperse rapidly upon the destruction of their original form.

An enchanted vial is inlaid with several runes designed to keep any magical resource within from dissipating while the lid is closed and is often the only way of transporting certain parts back to a workshop for crafting.

Items that require an enchanted vial to be harvested are fragile by nature and must be stored inside an enchanted vial quickly to prevent degradation. Any attempt to harvest a material that has an enchanted vial as a requirement must be initiated within 1 minute of the death of its creature. An enchanted vial can only hold one crafting component.

Common item, 1 gp

Spirit paper is a versatile tool that resembles a square of bleached papyrus. The secrets of its production were reverse engineered from secrets brought back from distant necromantic cults. By performing a small ritual with the spirit paper shortly after slaying certain creatures, a copy of that creature’s soul is bound to the spirit paper for later use. These copies are not a true soul and are more akin to an echo. These echoes do retain all of the memories from its original body, and a few crafting techniques utilize these echoes to grant an item a low level of sentience or to mimic the abilities of their incorporeal reflections.

Using spirit paper is often the only way to harvest anything useful from creatures with incorporeal forms. Any harvesting attempt made for a creature part that has spirit paper as a requirement is done using a Wisdom (Religion) check rather than the usual check and is rolled separately for each item. Once a sheet of spirit paper has been used successfully to harvest an item, it cannot be reused, even if the item it contained is released.

Unlike most harvestable materials, materials that require spirit paper to be harvested dissipate very quickly after the death of its creature. Any attempt to harvest a material that has spirit paper as a requirement must be initiated within 1 minute of the death of the creature and takes 10 minutes to successfully complete. Spirit paper can only hold one crafting component.

The following are a few balance changes to accommodate the harvesting and crafting rules presented here, as well as a background and feat to incorporate harvesting into your game.

This guide adds in the new tool: the harvesting kit. Players may have proficiency in this like any other tool, and it is highly advised for them to have it as it provides a valuable bonus when making the checks outlined in this book. In order to accommodate this additional tool, the following classes and backgrounds have been slightly altered to give them the option to gain proficiency in the Harvesting Kit.

• Rangers may have proficiency with the harvesting kit upon character creation (this skill is not gained in multiclassing).
• Druids may have the option to choose between proficiency in the herbalism kit or the harvesting kit upon character creation (this skill is not gained in multiclassing).
• The Hermit background may choose between the herbalism kit and the harvesting kit as its starting tool proficiency and gains the appropriate kit as part of its starting equipment.
• The Outlander background may choose between a musical instrument or the harvesting kit as its initial tool proficiency. They may also choose between a hunting trap and the harvesting kit in its initial starting equipment.

Like a miner in their cave or a farmer in their field, you too make your living through reaping the riches of the natural world. Your resources, however, are the monsters and creatures that populate the multiverse. Although there are some who would scoff and call you a mere butcher, you understand the subtle complexities in the fantastical anatomies you find in your adventures, and only you are qualified enough to harvest them.

• Skill Proficiencies: Nature, Survival
• Tool Proficiencies: Harvesting Kit
• Languages: One of your choice
• Equipment: A set of traveler’s clothes, a hunting trap, harvesting kit, a cloak made from a creature you harvested, and a belt pouch containing 5 gp.

You have been harvesting creatures for a long time and as part of that, you have become deeply acquainted with the large industry of crafters and merchants that rely on the wares you bring. Whenever you enter a place of civilization, you have no trouble finding merchants willing to buy your materials or crafters that can work with your wares. You are also savvy in the bargaining techniques used when haggling over prices and are not easily tricked during negotiations. You often find yourself able to secure a good price, or even a discount, on services relating to harvested materials.

You’ve always hated leaving anything to waste and have always made sure you get the most out of any situation.

• You gain proficiency in the harvesting kit and the herbalism kit.
• You ignore any penalties for harvesting a creature that died a particularly violent death.
• Both appraising and harvesting a creature take half the time that it normally would.