Alternate Alchemy and Herb Lore

Main: Kaliteth

Alchemy, Arcane Concoctions

Throughout the lands of Kaliteth, many vendors can be found who offer what they claim are potent potions and magical ointments that can cure almost any ailment, but most in fact are charlatans who sell fraudulent wares and have no skills other than lying. However, there are a very rare few who do have the master skills to produce items of a magical nature. The following are some of the items that might be found:

• Büran's Bane Bombinel - when activated, this hand grenade explodes with a devastating force and flash of fire (3 sec fuse, 6d cr ex, 6d burn ex). [uncommon] $50, 1 lb.
• Dragon Torch - these torches have been specially crafted to ignite without the need of an existing flame or spark--simply pull a string--and they will ignite even in the most inhospitable conditions (rain, wind, etc.). They have also been designed to burn longer and brighter than normal torches (+5 visibility in 30 yard radius for 3 hours). [uncommon] $30, 0.5 lbs.
• Evernight Bombinel - when activated, this hand grenade emits a thin cloud of smoke (lingers for 40 sec) that has the effect of causing those who breath it to nearly instantly fall asleep (3 sec fuse, 4 yard radius, HT-8 or Sleep for 1 minute per margin failed). [rare] $150, 1 lb.
• Fox's Ointment - when this oily lotion is smeared onto one's body (clothed or otherwise), it will emit a fragrance that has the effect of concealing even the most foul odors from being scented by either man, dog or beast (as Obscure smell +10 stealthy) for 1 hour. [uncommon] $50, 0.25 lbs.
• Potion of the Red Hand - this is a much more potent version of the Potion of Unbleeding which will heal all but the worse wounds (20 HP). [rare] $250, 0.125 lbs.
• Potion of Unbleeding - this syrupy concoction, when drunken, will cause cuts to mend and bruises to heal (1d HP). [uncommon] $25, 0.125 lbs.

Herbs, a Natural Remedy

Making use of herbs, whether applied raw or as part of a brew or tincture, can provide a fast and affordable non-magical means of treating injuries, illnesses and disease. Most herbs are easily found in the wilderness, or herb gardens, requiring 30 minutes and a successful Naturalist or Herb Lore skill roll to find each herb. Alternatively, one can often times find herbs or finished concoctions for sale from local merchants.

• Balm - juices or oils extracted from herbs and distilled to high concentrations; applied externally.
• Poultice - raw herb that have been ground together and placed as a compress.
• Unguent - an herbal concoction brewed and stored in vial; ingested.
• Tonic - a tincture of alcohol filtered through an herbal blend, providing enhancements; ingested.

Common Remedies

• Tonic of Disease Resistance: [1] (Puwuwarn berry, Bipoth leaf) Resistant (disease +3 to HT, 30 minutes).
• Tonic of Poison Resistance: [1] (Puwuwarn berry, Focerus leaf) Resistant (poison +3 to HT, 30 minutes).
• Unguent of Healing: [1] (Aevral root, Kenihum flower) Rapid Healing, providing bonus for 10 days.
• Unguent of Invigoration: [1] (Blehum leaf, Mofetus root) Recovery.

Poisons

Similar in many regards to herbal medicine, but with the expressed purpose of creating a poison or antidote to a poison. They are non-magical in nature, but can be quite potent. Ingredients can be gathered in the wilderness or purchased, similar to herbalism, but using the Poisons skill instead of Herb Lore.

• Elixir - poisonous solutions that must be ingested.
• Oil - viscous poison meant to be applied to weapons (cut/imp/pi), providing some form of follow-up damage or affliction if any natural damage penetrates DR (even at 0 HP damage); blood agent. Each "dose" coats one melee weapon (providing 2d6 "strikes") or 10 arrows/bolts.
• Vapor - a gaseous poison that affect those who inhale the fumes; respiratory agent.

Common Poisons

• Elixir of Sleep: [3] (Drymarus bery, Kenihum flower, Olyvor bark, Strekerus mushroom, Uleboteus flower) resist at HT+0, onset 1 minute, sleep for 1 hour per margin of failure.
• Oil of Actaea Toxin: [6] (Dried Actaea Beetle, Glyvonos flower, Kimeas leaf, Phegakall leaf, Powdered Krozdealb) 4d tox damage, plus must resist at HT-2, or be afflicted with seizures for 1 minute per margin of failure, followed by being stunned until passing a HT check.
• Oil of Firey Veins: [5] (Bekerus flower, Fupaumas root, Powdered Gruienk, Ramoth root, Strahous flower) resist at HT-4, or suffer terrible pain for 1 minute per margin of failure, followed by being stunned until passing a HT check.

Brewing Concoctions

Step 1
Determine the nature of the concoction, based on advantages and disadvantages, that will be applied to the subject of the concoction. From this get the CP value and divide by 10 (round up) to identify the “potency level” of the mixture.

• Poisons only use the Affliction and Innate Attack advantages.
• Herbal Remedies are never stronger than 6 potency levels, most providing a HT bonus for resistance to toxins or a minor bonus to First Aid checks.

Step 2
If the concoction is one that the brewer is not familiar with, nor has written instruction for, then experimentation must be done to develop a prototype.

1. Concept: skill roll - potency level. Failure means unable to determine a valid concept; critical failure means a flawed concept.
2. Experimental Mixture: this requires 10 times the normal length to brew the concoction, as well as 10 times the required ingredients; skill roll - potency level. Failure means a botched attempt; critical failure means a disastrous attempt (poison, explosion, backfire, opposing effect, etc.); critical success completes experimentation in half the time and expense in ingredients. Closely based on an existing recipe provides a bonus of +5 to the skill check, especially when attempting to eliminate side effects from previous experiments.
3. Side Effects (flaws): 4 - margin of success. These are unintended effects which are mostly harmless but an annoying nuisance.

Step 3

Potency Level	Number of Ingredients
	Very Common	Common	Uncommon	Rare
1	2	-	-	-
2	3	1	-	-
3	3	2	-	-
4	2	2	1	-
5	1	2	2	-
6	-	2	2	1
7	-	1	2	2
8	-	-	2	3
9	-	-	1	4
10+	-	-	+1/above 10	5

Identify which ingredients are needed and gather them in preparation to brewing the concoction. Each dose of concoction requires particular quantity of ingredients, so when creating multiple doses, multiple quantities of the ingredients are needed as well. Apply the “find modifier” from the alchemical table of ingredients to the skill roll to find checks.

Step 4
Brew the concoction, at the end of which make the appropriate skill check, with a penalty equal to the potency level.

Equipment: brewing concoctions, especially very potent ones, requires the use of multiple pieces of equipment--alembic, aludel, athanor, calcinator, cauldron, crucible, glass vials, mortar and pestle, retort, sand bath, scales, silver knife.

• Improvised: -3 to skill roll
• Mortar and pestle only ($10): -1 to skill roll
• Basic kit (alembic, cauldron, mortar and pestle, $50): +0 to skill roll
• Full kit (all above, $300): +2 to skill roll
• Master kit ($1600): +4 to skill roll

Brewing Time: 1 hour per potency level (herbal & poisons) or 3 hours per potency level (alchemy). Time spent rules can be used to increase or decrease this time, with normal penalty or bonus to the skill check.

Amount Produced: by default, each brewing attempt produced 1 use of a concoction. Especially skilled brewers can produce more in the same amount of time, incurring a -1 penalty per each additional use produced in the same batch.

Identifying Concoctions

Use the [appropriate skill - potency level], to identify the nature of a concoction. Information learned is based on the margin of victory:

• 0-1 : type of concoction (poison, herbal or alchemical)
• 2-4 : basic nature (advantage, disadvantage)
• 5-6 : specific details of concoction effects
• 7+ : existing side effects

Purchasing Concoctions

There are individuals who specialize in creating concoctions to sell to the general public, but those considered harmful (poisons) or potentially dangerous are typically illegal to buy, sell or possess. There are also unscrupulous dealers (traveling vendors) who sell concoctions they claim are beneficial that actually provide no benefit at all.

A single dose (use) of concoction weighs 1.6 oz (0.1 lbs) and costs 100¢ per potency level

All liquid concoction containers come with a stopper/plug/cap to seal the contents within. They are all made of glass, with DR 1 and 4 HP.

• Ampule, very small glass bulb, which holds 1 dose; 1 oz (0.0625 lbs); 7¢ ea.
• Vial, small glass tube, holds 5 doses; 3 oz (0.1875 lbs); 10¢ ea.
• Flask, glass bottle, holds 20 doses; 8 oz (0.5 lbs); 14¢ ea.

Reference Materials

Written reference materials concerning herbal medicine and alchemy are exceptionally rare and very expensive to own, but can provide invaluable information.