Alchemy

 

The Alchemy skill is a specialized crafting skill that allows players to create a range of useful balms, elixers, aromatics and explosives, as well as to bind spells into magical potions that can then be activated by consuming, applying, inhaling or otherwise using them as prescribed.

Costs and Time

As with other crafting skills, the first thing you need to know before alchemical crafting is the List Price for the alchemical potion, aromatic or mixture you are making. From this, you can use the Rule of Quarters to determine the cost of ingredients and how long the crafting process will take. Exceptionally, because alchemical crafting is done in batches, the quarter of the list price that normally represents profit is not relevant to alchemical crafting.

Batch Crafting

Unlike standard crafting in which specific items must be crafted individually, in alchemical crafting, mixtures can be made in batches. This can greatly increase the efficiency and profitability of crafting potions, but also significantly increases risks.

With alchemical crafting, provided you have a large enough lab and the right equipment, you can attempt to craft as many doses of a potion or mixture as you wish. The material cost for the batch is simply multiplied by the number of doses being crafted. The overhead costs and the crafting time do not change. However, each addition dose in the batch beyond the first introduces a penalty of (-1,-2,-3,-5,-8,-13,-21, etc) to the ultimate crafting roll. This includes the dose 'added' if you are using a starter in the crafting process.

For example, if crafting a batch of six Standard Concentration Potions, with a material cost of $100, you would need to invest $600 in materials, plus $100 in overhead costs, and then spend 13 hours and 20 minutes crafting before adding a Standard Concentration Potion ($400) as a starter (so now there are seven doses) and then finally rolling a 21C using the Alchemy skill at a penalty of -13.

Regardless of how many doses you are making, the process for crafting alchemical mixtures follows three main steps.

Step One: Crafting the Matrix

The first step when using the Alchemy skill to craft a potion or other mixture is to craft an 'alchemical matrix'. An alchemical matrix is a magical, chemical concoction that has the capacity - at a precise moment in the alchemical process - to have a magical effect 'suspended' within it. Every potion, elixir, balm, aromatic, oil or other mixture has its own unique recipe. You cannot create a 'generic' matrix and then decide during the process what kind of potion you want to turn it into. You must set out from the very beginning to create a specific matrix that will become imbued with a specific magical effect.

Provided you have the tools and equipment on hand, and an adequate workspace, and provided you have gathered the correct materials, you can then spend the time required to combine the ingredients into a matrix using the appropriate procedures. Note that this process can not be interupted and must be continuous. The process does not necessarily require the alchemist themselves to be awake and attentive to it the entire time, but someone must attend the lab continuously (the cost of qualified assistants is included in the overhead).

Thus, from the moment the alchemical crafting process begins, once the crafting time expires, the process will come to its conclusion one way or another. In the last turn of the crafting time, you will have created an alchemical matrix into which you may now suspend a spell or other magical effect.

When an alchemical matrix is created, it only lasts an instant, so you must proceed with the next step immediately, or else everything is wasted.

Step Two: From Matrix to Magic

In the turn that immediately follows the creation of an alchemical matrix, you must imbue the spell or other magical effect that you wish to bind into your alchemical mixture. This can be done in one of two ways; either by casting a spell into the matrix, or by adding an alchemical starter.

Casting a Spell into a Matrix

To imbue an alchemical matrix with a spell, all you need to do is cast it into the matrix. This can be done by casting it yourself, having someone else on hand to cast it, or by casting the spell from a scroll. However it is done, it must be done at the exact moment the alchemical matrix is active or the entire process fails.

If the spell fails or is not cast, the matrix spoils resulting in the failure of the entire process and loss of all the ingredients and time invested. In the event of any catastrophe when casting the spell, the matrix spoils, the process fails, and all ingredients and time invested are wasted. The catastrophe is otherwise resolved normally.

If the spell is cast successfully, then it will be effectively suspended in the matrix, and the alchemical mixture is ready to be completed. If the result is a critical success, the critical is resolved normally, and the potions in the resulting batch could potentially afford the benefits of a critical success to the person who uses the mixture, depending on the outcome of the Alchemy skill roll that completes the mixture (see below).

Adding an Alchemical Starter into a Matrix

Another way to bind a magical effect into an alchemical matrix is to use an alchemical starter. Essentially this means simply adding an existing potion or mixture into the matrix so that its properties are reproduced throughout the matrix - effectively creating more doses of an existing mixture. Obviously for potions that do not correspond exactly to spells, using a starter is a requirement - there is no spell that allows you to restore 3d6 Concentration to a subject the way a Standard Restore Concentration potion does - so to make Standard Restore Concentration potions, you will require a Standard Restore Concentration potion as a starter. When adding an alchemical starter to an alchemical matrix you simply pour it into the matrix at the precise moment, and the alchemical mixture is ready to be completed.

When adding a starter to a matrix, you are effectively adding a dose to the entire mixture (this makes the process more risky, but you get the dose back if successful).

Step Three: Completing the Mixture

After creating a matrix and successfully imbuing it with magic either from a spell or by adding a starter, the final step is to stabilize the mixture, completing the process.

To do this, roll a 21C using the Alchemy skill. The degree of success or failure will have an impact on the resulting mixture(s).

If the 21C using the Alchemy skill is unsuccessful, the mixture fails, and all the ingredients, time and spells or starters are wasted. On a minor catastrophe, the materials are wasted, and a minor explosion or fire does 3d4 damage to the alchemist and 2d4+2 x $500 damage to the laboratory. On a major catastrophe, the materials are wasted, and a major explosion does 1d12 damage, +1d12 for each rarity level (common, uncommon, etc) of the intended potion to everyone in the building, and 3d8 x $2000 damage to the laboratory.

If the 21C using the Alchemy skill is successful, the matrix is stabilized and the mixture is completed. A mixture containing a spell will have the effective skill level of the spell capped at the lower of the Alchemy skill roll or the spell skill roll. For example, if a Quickness spell was cast into the matrix with a roll of 26, and then the Alchemy skill roll to complete the crafting was a 23, then the resulting mixture will be a Potion of Quickness (23). Conversely, if a Potion of Speed (24) was added as a starter into a matrix, which was then completed with an Alchemy skill roll of 28, then the resulting mixtures(s) will be Potions of Speed (24).

A minor critical means the resulting mixture is of high potency, and can be diluted to produce 50% more doses of the mixture (with a minimum of one additional dose). A major critical means the resulting mixture is of exceptional potency, and can be diluted to produce 100% more doses of the mixture.

More examples of crafting alchemical mixtures can be found here.