Tricky demand, as the successful ones keep their secrets & styles to themselves, while the ``losers & died at the dungeon entry´´ are not worth talking about... 🤣
Tip for the aspiring poisoners out there: an *anti*coagulant makes 'em bleed like a stuck pig, a coagulant does the other thing. Not that it matters too much to a rogue, mind you - turning your victim's blood into clotted goo while they're trying to use it will also shorten their life expectancy considerably.
My first rogue was my take on a high-society thief. She was always dressed in high fashion outfits and her typical MO was to sneak into parties and high society events and subtly steal jewelry and valuables. But her love of fashion wasn't just for show; she used a capelet to blind a bandit that would have nat20'd otherwise, and used different shades of lipstick to mark trees when the party was in a fey trap of a cycling forest.
My next rogue is going to be The Book Keeper He works at a library, so he has to be stealthy and quick with hands because scholars are a very sensitive folk to noises while studying. He spends the days reading adventure novels, so now he wants an adventure of his own, and also he’s in the search of more special books for his library.
I did a version of a brute Barbarian/Rogue and went for the more Conan the Barbarian route. He used his Rogue skills to put himself into good positions and then the wits and strength came in to finish off the job, not very dexterous or charismatic but quite wise, strong, and cunning. Very fun type of character
@@TheClericCorner hell yeah, Conan is an amazing character to roleplay. Id also suggest a Jojo build (second jojo who fought the pillarmen) he looks like he has the thief rogue build with fast hands since he always relied heavily on sleight of hand to throw grenades and steal stuff. Plus he is a master of all kinds of weapons no matter what they are and was very powerful in close combat using Harmon (so maybe a multiclass into open hand monk?)
I had a Triton Swashbuckler Pirate, Crest Underquill. I focused more on Strength to help him with climbing and jumping. And in spite of his negative Intelligence, I picked up the Magic Initiate feat for Prestidigitation, Mending, and Frost Fingers; mostly to cover his tracks and enable daring getaways. A personal favorite of mine was to use his racial Wall of Water spell to make a 5ft diameter ring in a narrow passage and freeze it with Frost Fingers. Since the spell has creatures attack 5ft segments, it usually took at least 3 attacks to clear entirely, circumference is diameter*pi after all. Although my favorite aspect was the trinket my DM let me pick up for him. A large, clear gem that when gripped tightly, whispers in Terran, from the Elemental Evil Trinkets list. Ended up playing him akin to Captain Jack Sparrow, even listening to his gem for advice on decisions, since he knew Primordial as a Triton, which Terran is a dialect of.
I have always favored the rogue for the skill monkey aspect over the petty thief idea. Currently my “rogue” is a merchant that used to work at an antique shop. He can appraise any item the party comes to and discern it’s magical properties. My party jokes that my character is a commoner they decided to take with him. In every situation we walk into my character has been the “generic human commoner the party has with them” so I take in the guise of a merchant, cartographer, messenger, repair guy, or what ever the party would normally hire an NPC to do for them. Most times this allows for me to bail the party out of trouble when they get caught up in something I can smooth talk their way out of it. At base tho my character isn’t trying to be underhanded he’s originally just a guy that was hired to appraise magic items until they realized just how skillful I was.
LOL I love the idea of a rogue with an essential oil MLM being like "Every month, you get the BEST essential oils shipped to your door and if you sign up now, you get frankincense for FREE!" and it's just watered down soup
I made a rogue that I reflavored as a knight who didn’t put in the time and work to become a competent fighter and instead relied on dirty tricks and underhanded tactics to make up the difference.
My rogue was a young bored noble woman whom got good at sneaking past her parents guards to party with the peasants. While drinking she overheard a party of adventurers getting a job and she thought that sounds like fun :D so joined them
I got two rogues for you that I got a lot of fun out of: One came from a town under the rule of an ancient green dragon. Every so often the dragon would come into town and select from the young an apprentice, which he would train into being one of his spies and whatnot. Athras was the middle child of a prolific family of ten siblings, most of his siblings showing great promise to the point he was often overlooked. The dragon needless to say chose him and Athras devoted all his energy into the training, mostly just to seek the validation he had lacked. The green dragon wanted a saboteur to destabilize a nearby kingdom and thus taught Athras how to insight revolts and sway people. He was very effective as a seditionist. The second requires a bit more context, premise of the campaign was that the players were all heroes that were resurrected after several years had past, enough that most of the parties families had past away. Silvious the half-elf came from a family were his mother was a herbalist and his father a carpenter, he frequently helped raised his 7 younger siblings, his talents lying in storytelling and performing. He dreamed of being a hero and famous, eventually set out to do so. His luck quickly went downhill to the point that he resorted to thievery, and finding that he was rather skilled at it, went on a spree. He quickly became a scourge of dwarves, to the point that when he came back to life he was a near ancestral grudgemark to dwarves, eventually he got caught by the elven kindgom, who faked his execution to forced him into being a spy/handler for the underworld of their kingdom. The job effectively turned his life around to the point that around the time of his actual death, he was a hero, even though he didn't really feel like it. Due to the nature of his life Silvious was hands-down the most worldly-experienced of the party and used that experience in a sort of mentor/helper/lorekeeper role. At the end of the campaign the only skills he didn't have proficiency with was stealth and sleight of hand interestingly enough. Both characters families were alive and well from start to end of the campaign, barring Silvious' human parent.
@@TheClericCorner For Silvious he was a scout archetype to really showcase his background, he made great use of the skirmisher abilities to dip in and out of combat, plus the expertises made sense with his medicinal understanding of herbs from his mother. He eventually became a fiend warlock after being kidnapped by a pair of succubi who wanted to use him to defeat Grazz't, the BBEG of our campaign. The Pair had been introduced earlier as bodyguards in a situation that nearly killed our wizard and bard, Silvious stepping in to bargain out a deal in the effort to save him. Both facts didn't sit well with the paladin... Athras was a mastermind rogue who also became a warlock (heavily reflavored fey-pact) to the green dragon, who granted him some of his power as a reward.
I really appreciate this "better" series. At this point in D&D, looking at new takes on the classes and gameplay options is just what many of us are looking for. Thanks.
Had this idea for a three-way multiclass Rogue. It's a well-intentioned goblin that owes someone in the party a life debt and misinterpreted what exactly that entailed. Start Trickery Domain Cleric juuust far enough for Mirror Image. Then go Fighter Echo Knight and then finally, take most of your levels in Arcane Trickster. In combat, your character is a mess of deception and distraction, pumping out decent damage while ruining the days of those you fight through your Echo. Invoke Duplicity, summon your Echo and cast Mirror Image. Now, six little frightened goblins are running around with two putting out damage via attacks and spells and all enemies making saving throws against you have disadvantage. Additionally, you get Blindsense, Magical Ambush and Versatile Trickster on top of Second Wind, Evasion, Uncanny Dodge, Action Surge and the ability to beat back your foes to keep the party safe with a whopping 7d6 of Sneak Attack damage that you or your Echo can put out. Granted, this assumes you can hit Lv 20, but a frightened Matrioshka Doll of Doom sounds like a fun time. Additionally, a Fallen Aasimar Phantom Rogue who lost their spouse in a tragic accident that took their memories. Turns out, they and their spouse are caught in a neverending cycle of loss and reincarnation with their new skill/tool proficiency at dawn being skills they or their spouse had in a past life determined by what they did or used to be. The necrotic damage they do is a manifestation of their soul's grief over constantly watching their lover pass on. The nifty thing about this character (yes, yes, hur hur, edgy is edgy, let's move on) is that if they die in-game, the DM can either force them to come back afterwards, shocked and hurt by everything they felt, mentally and physically exhausted after their body being forcibly brought back online like a rebooted computer, OR They then become available to play in a new campaign, their story continuing to grow till they eventually become freed of the cycle. Last words: Option 2 is also a great basis as an additional NPC (or even PC) in a campaign based on the Seven Deadly Sins (and the additional ones like Despair which this fits perfectly).
I'm inspired by the idea of a noble rogue. I'm thinking non magical. He would be a rakish gentleman. Maybe a lothario and famed dulist. Think Don Juan, using his skills to woo nobles, sneak into bedrooms and kill fathers, brothers and partners who demand satisfaction. Maybe have a don Giovanni moment as part of his backstory with a run in with the ghost of someone's dad he killed, giving him archane trickster type skills if he tries to change his ways. I've never been that bothered about rogues, but I gotta play this guy!
Firstly, the make up is really good. You nailed it! Secondly, great video! I've always found it easier for me to reflavor magic classes but more martial/nonmagic classes are more difficult imo. Great job with finding so many ways to reflavor them
that highwayman rogue idea would be fantastic with a splash of talking to animals. and if you have a caster that can wipe memory, you can abduct a carrier pigeon, interrogate it, read its message, wipe its memory, then send it back to where it was going in the first place. this hopefully erases the traces of the bird being intercepted other than a slight delay that can be chalked up to some bad weather.
My current rogue is named Doc. And that was his focus. I leaned in on the medicine angle getting racial proficiency and expertise, then went mastermind for the support abilities. I got the gunner feat, since it's a low magic campaign and wanted some firepower. I also took the healer feat for some non-magical healing. But I grew bored. My playstyle is more being in the thick of the action, so I retrained mastermind to go swashbuckler. I see Doc as a Captain Blood/Erroll Flynn type, jumping in to save or fight when necessary. His backstory was he was going to medical school and he ran out of money. So he turned to crime to help pay his tuition. He also started dating the headmaster's daughter. Needless to say, when her father caught them together and the school talked to his folks about tuition, he needed to leave town immediately. He found a berth as a ship's physician and sailed away from his previous life. Since he never finished school, he can't open shop as a doctor, so he turned to adventuring to achieve his ultimate goal: a cushy life. He wants to have enough money to live a comfortable life without needing to work ever again. This is one of my most fleshed out characters and we're approaching level 11 (after a long rest). I'm looking forward to reliable talent. My medicine check is going to be at least 22. Same with Persuasion and Deception and Insight. It should be fun!
I made 2 different flavored rogues. The first was a butcher, and his weapon of choice was a meat cleaver from his butcher shop. The second called himself a "street mage", specializing in misdirection, sleight of hand, and other such things; in essence, he was a real world magician in a world with actual magic.
My First 5E character is in Adventure League Human (Variant) Rogue (Arcane Trickster) with a costume Background pulling from Sage and Urchin. His feat is Magical Initiate Wizard to get Mage Hand(getting an early start), True Strike (to get my sneak no in the first round), and my first level spell was find familiar bat later changing to burning hands after level 4. He dropped out of Wizard School after making a pack with an Imp and got the class attacked by his devil master killing most the class. He was then taken in by a Temple Raider (divine version of Arcane Trickster). I took Expertise's in Perception and Arcana. The sorcerer was so pissed I had a had a +7 Arcana I keep telling him you should have studied more His trinkets are important to his ark half a book he cannot read or understand which is his masters burnt and ripped spell book with the lower level section that was destroyed this will become the book I use for ritual casting at level 4 and in the vain of a dead pixie in a bottle my other trinket is an Imp frozen in a block of Ice which is the imp that was trying to make a warlock contract with me my master trapped him in the ice when the DM rewards in 5E Season 9 - Avernus Rising included getting an Imp familiar. He turned the tables on the Imp.
I have a friend that actually made a doctor rouge subclass that you can trade some of your sneak dice to add debuffs to the guy they are hitting, like cutting tendons to reduce movement speed or give them a concussion to give disadvantage
My rogue is a storied former assassin who was captured and executed, and was brought back with old, very rudimentary necromancy so he’s basically de-leveled to the appropriate player level for whatever campaign he’s in. He’s a rapier fencer but also a cryomancer- no evidence of any kills if the victim is just a puddle on the ground! Still developing his personality, but so far I’ve come up with him being very human, but also an anal-retentive perfectionist and a bit of a neat freak. He also wears some nice clothing that was tailored for him by some kindly nobles he kept safe once. Basically, I’m turning tropes over on their heads!
Rogue ideas. Some of my contributions have been identical to what Cleric Corner has put out. I have watched the video. His suggestions are EPIC as always. Also loving the Robert Pattinson Batman eqsue makeup for the video. My suggestions: The Fairy: You have an annoying pet. This could be an animal or fairy. This pet alerts you to danger and keeps saying "Hey Listen!" "Hey Watch Out!". Okay this is somewhat similar to the video, the difference being mine involves you playing Link and being pestered by Navi! The Jester: A Rogue that doesn't actually stab people? Yep. You have a sneaky friend that does all the archery and sneak attacking for you. You play the annoying person in a jester outfit. Meanwhile the unseen person kills your foes. Pick Shadow Rogue. The Phantom: Pick custom Lineage for this one. You are a phantom who has unfinished business. You have a brief time before you vanish. Phantom Rogue, Arcane Trickster and Soul Knife Rogues fit this one well. Also grab Telekinetic and Telepathy for extra creepiness. The Plague: Pick custom Lineage and choose the Poisoner Feat. Now send out poisonous insects to infect your foes. Grab the Arcane Trickster to command those insects (your Mage Hand).
@@TheClericCorner Actually human considering that I based said pirate off a cosplay that I have for myself. Still. My character is carrying a cutlass, a rapier, 2 Main Gauche (daggers for mechanics) and, if setting permits, a b bandolier of 6 single-shot flintlock pistols.
My main PC is an arcane trickster who could easily be mistaken for a bard demeanor-wise. They fled their former life as a noble after gaining stealth/dex skills from having to sneak around to do basically anything growing up, learning the basics of magic from being initially trained to become a warlock (spoiler alert: they kinda ditched before that). Their socialite training gave them the people skills needed to form connections once they struck out on their own, becoming a performer as a means of income/self-expression in the wake of being forced to keep up appearances their whole life. They took up thievery on the side to bolster their usefulness to their newly established contacts and as a means of Robin Hooding the twisted nobles they'd grown to resent. The particular roguish archetype I gave them is "Phantom Thief," combining their stealth/acrobatic skills with their eccentricity and flair for the dramatic. They're a crafty li'l gremlin and I love them to death.
@@TheClericCorner aw thank you! ^^ And yeah they're fun as hell to play/work with. If I ever find a campaign to use them in, I'm gonna have SO much fun chipping away at the layers I built into them
Rogues are honestly the second Class that helped me realize you can reflavor them is almost anything, this was long before I found your wonderful series that took what I was thinking and put it into video form. The first was Bard but that's not important. On the surface rogues look like they are made to be super sneaky and stealthy. But honestly almost all of their abilities have to do with making it so you are really good at a specific thing, it just advises that you choose stealth. You can be the most smooth character in the entire party, as well as the most intimidating. You can also have better intelligence skills than everyone else. I have made characters who literally had expertise and every one of the intelligence killed and basically became Indiana Jones. I have out wrestled Barbarians with rogues, defeated Wizards in logic puzzles, and found myself match convertible debates only by bards. A rogue does not need to be the edgy dude who always fought for food, the road can even be the most mentally balanced person of the party because he found the one thing he wants to do and decided not only is he going to do it but he's going to be the best at it. I think that would be an interesting thing to play at a party. How's the Rogue be the emotional and moral support.
I had an idea for a rouge that was a bard by trade, specialize in both musical and card thieves cant... It's important... Charisma first and dexterity second he isn't meant to deal the most damage but does have a weird quirk, he poisons the people from his past if they recognize him. He has a backstory that deals in miscommunication over love and fraternity. He goes from town to town starting parties to help hide his movements.
I run a Curse of Strahd campaign where I have a reincarnated Sergei Von Zarovitch as the son of Strahd and adopted brother of Irena Kolyana. He acts as an Investigator rogue, and is rather bad at hiding his dhampirism.
I'm making a rogue phantom who got the subclass powers from Persephone. Multiclassing into cleric as Persephone/Hades as the patron tasked to protect graves and punish Necromancers. Picked for the reverence of nature and acceptance of death. Plus necromancers always work in the shadows or at night so dark vision already helps.
I have a rouge who is also a monk of shadow, He works for a criminal organization to uncover every little secret and detail, Using a persons darkest secrets to blackmail and scam an individual. He pretends to be everyones friend while gaining more and more information from them, Eventually gaining their trust. And before long he finally gets their secrets he makes a deal with the individual. Blackmailing them.
Considering that toxicologist is a real medical and legal career where you study Poison and toxins, venom, to treat people who was poisoned and to find out what kind of poison was used and considering that certain medicine have been made with certain ingredients that otherwise would be deadly if you use too much of it like certain poison and material used to make explosion in certain doses can heal someone with certain condition but if you used too much it it can kill someone then of course use of Cauterization where heated metal and using gunpowder to cauterized a wounds and alcohol have a history to numb the pain and used as disinfectant so your healer could be any number of characters.
I have three rogues, a gnome arcane trickster/ranger in a homebrew game with simple firearms, she is a sniper/bomber. A goblin who by the way of the game might become a field medic and a sea elf pirate.
@@TheClericCorner Yes, I am very lucky to have several games on-going. They don't all run every week but our group has several DMs and we tend to play at least twice a week.
I had an idea for a rogue NPC in my homebrew setting. They're a high-level thief that has a pile of magic items, and they act as the headmaster of a school for mages. Most people assume they're a wizard, but they just have magic items and spell scrolls to help them cast spells,... and they know a lot *about* magic. They sure can teach you how to copy fireball into your spellbook, even though they can't cast it without their Staff of the Magi.
@@TheClericCorner Ranger I think, but just because when we think of a barbarian we think always in The same Big brute guy, so it Will be Nice to see fresh ideas, different from the cliché!! I'm sure any of those You Will do a great job with amazing ideas!
I have helped a player make a teifling rouge to be like NightCralwer from the Xmen sense disengage makes you unable to have opportunity attack make on you for this turn we called it his bamp. It worked because this was limited to his sight line.
I have had 2 rogues recently: one of the them was a follower of mystra kinda ended up as Sherlock homes/King Arthur mix and my certain character is courtesan
Too many people seem to be looking for new ways to "rogue." If you're a rogue, especially a human rogue, know the benefits of flour, pepper, and silica sand. Flour to help you find hidden doors, pepper to ward off dogs and animals, silica sand (coupled with any light source) and you can see where any invisible creature or person is trying to hide.
I've always wanted to play a rogue but it's an important class that you only need one of and that's really popular, so whenever I find a game the rogue is already filled in
Haha I've definitely found it's a popular one at most tables 😂 but I played in a 2 year campaign with 2 rogues, and now DM one with two, and it's actually a blast! They always have a partner in crime 👌
The Mortician idea reminds me of Alchemist archetype from Pathfinder 1E the Vivisectionist which got sneak attack scaling. Very much a doctor gone dark.
Im playing my first campaign ever and my character is a rogue. He was born in a circus family but got banned when the kings daughter died at an accident during a presentation that involved pyromancy. Living alone from city to city he put his abilities to survive and did so by using that cup and ball game to scam people, stealing from the drunk at taverns and impersonate a bard. His weakeness is that he cant resist to trick people more powerful than him due to the despise he has from the king and his court.
I have a rouge I want to play where he is an elf at the end of his life span. He spent his life helping his human (or regular life span race) friend set to the head of his noble house and has been the adviser for generations, each generation begins to ignore him more and more till he sees that the descendants of his friend have become corrupted, he left as he could not stand to see them destroy the Legacy. He later finds out they planned to kill him as some of the people of the house were loyal to him and not the main family’s. Inquisitive rogue or mastermind
I've always wanted to play a Brute Rogue who supports a sports team with extreme prejudice and fights dirty against similar fans of other teams...like a soccer hooligan...or a Raiders fan. Sadly, most campaign settings don't have sports leagues.
So many way ideas as to how to create your character. A carpenter and a Stonemason and painter were understand marking that is part of their occupation for example utilities graffiti used in construction then of course merchants like butcher have their own back slang similar to pig Latin to secretly communicate with each other and of course Latin itself was a language spoken only by the members of the clergy and the Bible was written in Latin so unless you're rich you can't afford a education to learn Latin. And executioner were either butcher or criminal who were forced to become Executioner and they have to know anatomy and people were desperate for anyone who knows how to treat them so they're known to go to executioner to have the executioner treat them medically.
I have a tortle theif rogue barbarian who prides him self on being the dirtiest fighter he loves to hit people with his grappling hook and puts buckets on people's heads
I have one idea that came out of the blue some time ago. The Monkey rogue. You are a child from the woods, learning all skills necessary to survive whithin wolves or other animals who pack tactics all around. Your sneak attack could be just a savage and violent blow, like a brown bear, and your thieves' cant may be something more primal ou even sylvan. The thief would be my pick, something like Mogli with all the climbing agility/crafting stuff and using unknown items Tive uma ideia que veio do nada um tempo atrás. O Ladino Macaco. Você é o filho da selva, e aprendeu as perícias necessárias para sobreviver com lobos ou outros animais de matilha. Seu ataque furtivo poderia ser apenas um golpe selvagem e violento, tal como um urso marrom, e sua gíria de ladrão pode ser algo mais primal ou até mesmo silvestre. O ladrão seria minha escolha, algo como Mogli com toda a ideia de agilidade enquanto escala/criação e uso de itens desconhecidos
this video is to hard to watch... i keep getting distracted by how much your eyes POP !!! its like im staring into the yes of Puss in boots in Shriek 2! ( i did listen tho.. just had to turn my phone over lol )
@@TheClericCorner even then since we've so many different way to heal both in work of fiction and real life why not Considering that both Rambo, revenant, and red dead redemption films and videos games have you used gunpowder to cauterized a wounds, What about use of herbs to heal you.What about use of warm foot bath to treat the cold or being cold?,What about use of blankets to sweat out the Sickness., Don't blood clinic give you Sugary treats to help with the loss of blood? Sleeping, eating and drinking, use of country side air, even Mountaintop sanitarium where Sanatoriums were a common form of tuberculosis treatment in the late 19th-early 20th century, as it was believed rest, sunlight and crisp cold mountain air would be better for the patient's lungs. They faded away with the discovery of antibiotics, but modern reviews have noted that they at least seemed to help, likely in part by simply being a low-stress environment with comparatively good hygiene practices for the era. In a few countries (usually with highly centralized medicine) remote mountain hospitals are still used to treat patients with communicable diseases. This is mostly to ensure the patient can't leave until it's believed they are more or less cured or understand how to prevent spreading their affliction. Many of these hospitals are former sanatoriums. A few drug and substance rehab centers fit the bill today. Nearly all rehab centers are either isolated or gated, and a mountaintop location is rather effective at preventing a breakout while at the same time not giving the patients the impression that they are trapped. and even use of water In Shinto belief, evil, death, and curses are seen as literal filth that can be washed away; even regular water can be used, but the water from a Healing Spring is more effective due to its higher purity Shinto shrines offer washing in extra-pure water as one of their services (whether ritually purified and/or from a nearby spring), and bathing at hot springs is a popular Japanese pastime. This is a surprisingly common belief in the western world as well. The idea of spa towns and sacred wells date back to ancient times. Germanic and Celtic peoples, in particular, considered wells and springs sacred sites for healing and would leave offerings in thanks. This is the reason for the superstition of tossing a penny into a fountain for luck. The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes. A list of Scottish "sacred wells". the Roman Baths of Bath supposedly drew their water from a healing spring devoted to Sulis Minerva. Hydrotherapy is most common for physical therapy and mobility rehabilitation. In the past, it was also a common treatment for alcoholism. It's also the real-life basis for the Foot Bath Treatment.
@@TheClericCorner Black coffee is a popular folk remedy for sobering a person up, but the only real remedy for alcohol intoxication is time.with honey, lemon, and brown liquor (usually some variety of whiskey but sometimes rum or brandy are used). The hot liquid and honey both work to soothe a sore throat. The alcohol helps ease the aches and pains associated with mild illness and makes it easier to sleep, which speeds up recovery time. In Russia a traditional variation of this folk remedy is a raspberry tea - a good measure of raspberry jam dissolved in a mug of hot tea (and the tea is actually optional), possibly with measure of some liquor, often herbal balsam, as it's believed that raspberry has anti-fever properties. Traditional medicine in many parts of the world prominently involves teas made from roots, leaves, bark, etc said to heal various ailments. While many have dubious medical value, others have been adapted by science-based medicine (i.e. willow bark tea to aspirin). Tea, and green tea in particular, experienced a surge in popularity in the 2010s in North America due to its supposed health benefits, notably its high antioxidant content. TheraFlu is a beverage that combines elements of medicine and hot tea and comes in different varieties intended to help with symptoms of cold and flu. George MacDonald Fraser repeatedly asserted that in the British Army, a hot sweet cup of tea is the remedy for all ills except perhaps a bullet through the stomach - and he isn't sure about this last proviso. The British military's enthusiasm for tea does have practical benefits, however, being both a good prophylactic against hypothermia and a good incentive to make sure the water has been boiled properly. Hawkeye would agree with the bullet through the stomach remark, as pointed out above in Live-Action TV. Grog, or rum mixed with lemon or lime juice in hot water or milknote , was used by the British Navy to ward off scurvy. In the winter of 1535, French explorer Jacques Cartier and several of his men developed scurvy while they were icebound in the St. Lawrence River. Some local Iroquois people gave them tea made from the needles and bark of a white cedar tree, and they recovered quickly. The remedy was effective because cedar and many other types of evergreen needles are rich in Vitamin C. There is, of course, the ancient urban legend that states that St. Bernard dogs treated hypothermia patients with warm brandy, famously represented by little barrels tied around their necks. Not only is this something that never happened in the entire history of using St. Bernards as rescue dogs, it was determined by researchers of all types (including the MythBusters) that brandy is a very bad (even dangerous) fluid to give hypothermia sufferers because it has the side-effect of making veins expand, which worsens the human body's capacity to hold in heat. Many professional singers and speakers swear by hot tea with honey and lemon for soothing a strained throat or even treating a case of laryngitis. Andy Serkis used a variant that he called "Gollum Juice" (with ginger instead of tea) while working on The Lord of the Rings. He claims he drank it "by the bucketload" every day, saving his voice. Lemsip (and unbranded equivalents) is a common cold and flu medication containing paracetamol which is designed to be taken in the form of a hot drink (it comes as sachets of powder to which you add hot, but not boiling, water). In Asia, ginger tea is an ideal drink for cold weather and is a remedy against sore throats due to the spiciness of the ginger root. Black coffee is a popular folk remedy for sobering a person up, but the only real remedy for alcohol intoxication is time. In general, hot drinks with things like honey, and chicken soup, can help quite a bit with illnesses like the common cold where there is no "cure" other than time. Sick people often prolong their illnesses by not eating, and not getting enough fluids (because feeling sick is not conducive to proper nutrition). Substances like this can help with mild dehydration, and provide needed nutrients, electrolytes, and vitamins that the body needs to actually fight the infection, along with making the person more comfortable so they can rest (which lets the immune system work faster). This is the main reason these types of hot drinks and soups are helpful for sick people. This obviously only works with minor colds and such, if you have a severe fever or anything else seriously wrong it's time to see a doctor. Elderflower tea can provide soothing relief and help with colds.