Alternate Alchemy and Herb Lore

Main: Kaliteth

Alchemy, Arcane Concoctions

• Ointments - pasty or creamy lotions applied externally to body (or object).
• Potions -
• Powders -

Bombs

Alchemists are also able to create special explosives, either as traps or grenades, that produce a magical effect within an area. These are generally very specialized bombs, intended for a very particular use.

• Silver Starburst - werebeasts caught in the area effect become coated in a layer of enchanted silver dust which neutralizes their regenerative abilities for 1d minutes.

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 means of treating injuries, illnesses, disease and ability enhancements, however, with much less potency than with the use of alchemical concoctions. 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 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

• Recovery - level 1 (Blehum leaf, Mofetus root)
• Resistant (disease +3 to HT, 30 minutes) - level 1 (Puwuwarn berry, Bipoth leaf)
• Resistant (poison +3 to HT, 30 minutes) - level 1 (Puwuwarn berry, Focerus leaf)
• Rapid Healing - level 1 (Aevral root, Kenihum flower)

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; blood agent.
• Vapor - a gaseous poison that affect those who inhale the fumes; respiratory agent.

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.

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

Reference Materials

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