i disagree on the scalation of items, simply because hearthstone is about farming and after a while ppl will stop using old items or just skip lowlevel content.
Example, i personally never crafted leather or bronze tools, because i already have gathered iron and even steel, ofcourse i have to level up my smith but that’s just a matter of time and enough of grindable material (stuff i have to craft but simply don’t need in such quantity)…
So i suggest a complex system of wounds/injuries, diseases and health, a lil bit like fallout with the radiation and the elder scrolls series, with equivalent potions, tonics and other medical items.
Different types of wounds will debuff your maximum health and other stats like movement speed, the amount of items a character can carry. To heal wounds, they need to be treated by the herbalist, which will take time and will cost bandages and maybe additional (special?) food.
Diseases will spread by enemies or simply A huge amounts of hearthlings and animals/pets. Every disease needs a different potion/tonic (no omnipotent solution), will take out the hearthling completely, so they have to spend time in a special bed and the herbalist has to take care of them till they’re cured or even pass away.
Additionaly we could add items to prevent illness among your village, herbalist could grow/collect herbs, hold bees to make honey (food, met), wax (candles) and royal jelly (medical ingredients), herbs could be used as ingredient in tonics and as some kind of incense sticks.
So we could introduce more tasks for the herbalist, merge apiarist class and a more immersive life among the village.