Overview
Alchemy is an ancient and esoteric art that mixes folk wisdom, religious ideas, modern science and a healthy dose of trial and error to produce wondrous items and effects. Potions, elixirs, bombs, remedies, poisons and balms all exist within a master alchemist's repertoire.
Alchemy Tools
In order to create these wondrous items, alchemists need the appropriate tools and ingredients. Firstly, the tools. There are three primary tools that an alchemist will use, those of the Apothecary, Poisoner, and Bombadier. These three tools allow the alchemist to produce potions, poisons and bombs respectively. An alchemist's lab (or portable lab), counts as all three tools.
Individuals who master the alchemical arts master each tool independently, as such, all three tools have separate mastery progressions.
Apothecary Tools
The tools of an apothecary are specialised to create fluids, suspensions and other liquid based products. These liquids are meant to be ingested and are referred to as potions.
Poisoner's Tools
The tools of a poisoner are specialised to create gels, suspensions, poultices and pastes. These are meant to be smeared on weapons, or mixed into a solution and ingested. These products are used to harm their investees, or on occasion, draw out poisons and remove toxins. When used to harm these are called poisons.
Bombadier's Tools
The tools of a bombadier are specialised to create volatile suspensions that are housed in safe to transport vessels. These volatile products are referred to as bombs.
Alchemy Threshold
Many bombs and poisons will call for resistance checks. The threshold for resistance checks made against an alchemist's bombs and poisons are shared and is called the alchemy threshold. When a creature has at least level one mastery with any alchemy tools, they gain:
Ingredients
No matter the alchemical item being created, the fundamental reagents that comprise are required.
The ingredients used, the know how to harvest them, and the rules for gathering them apply to all forms of alchemy.
Fundamental Reagents
All ingredients used in the creation of alchemical items are broken down into five distinct categories. These categories describe in general the nature of the ingredient and what its use within alchemy may be. They are:
Corpus
Which represent the earth, soil, salt and the body.
Anima
Which represent the sun, energy, fire, light and masculinity.
Argentum
Which represents the moon, change, motion and femininity.
Vitriol
Which represents decay, revelation, renewal, corrosion and the mind.
Aether
Which represents essence, magic, the divine and the soul.
These categories hold spiritual and ritual significance to the alchemists. However, to those not adherent to the esoteric elements of the pursuit, they merely represent the broad categories of natural substances. Substances that can be harvested from living organisms or found in the environment, that when combined in the right way, produce wondrous effects.
All ingredients used in alchemy would fall into one of these categories, and would be interchangeable with any other item from its category. For instance, lime stone powder and red river clay would be Corpus. A recipe will not call for two units of lime stone powder, it would call for two units of Corpus, meaning any ingredient in that category would suffice.
A note about this alchemy and the real world alchemical beliefs of mid century Europe: This system is heavily inspired by the real world alchemical beliefs and borrows many themes and symbols from said beliefs. However I have changed things to fit into the broader themes and ideas of the game system, as well as conforming it to a structure which suits a TTRPG system.
In addition the game system elements take heavy inspiration from the Witcher game series, most notably the alchemy system in Witcher 2.
Harvesting
These ingredients can be harvested from living organisms. Contained within various creatures are internal organs or lobules that can be used as ingredients. These internal components require knowledge and skill to retrieve in a usable state. Certain creature types can be harvested only for certain ingredients. The creature sources of each ingredient are listed in the Ingredient Source section.
In order to harvest an ingredient from a creature, you need to make a successful Medicine or Precision check, threshold 15. On a success you harvest 1d4-1 (minimum 1) ingredientsfrom that creature. The ingredients harvested may be any combination of ingredients that could be harvested from that creature type. The same creature cannot be harvested twice by you or any other alchemist. A failed check would also mark that creature as 'harvested'. A character that does not have any mastery with an alchemy tool may attempt to harvest a creature under the direction of a character that does have mastery. The character without mastery will make their roll at disadvantage.
Harvesting on a success or failure takes 10 minutes.
Harvesting Checks
Medicine or Precision check of 15. On success, harvest 1d4-1 (minimum 1) ingredients of your choice from the ingredients which can be harvested from that creature type.
"You can never have too many gallbladders.
Indeed, you may think you have enough Vitriol, but I assure you... you do not."
-- Heravard II, senior lecturer at the Chesterholm Academy for Poisoning.
Foraging
Ingredients can be foraged for in adition to harvested. They can be found in the earth, within plants, in the sea and many other environments. It takes skill and a great deal of knowledge to uncover and retrieve these ingredients.
Every environment will be home to a certain selection of the five ingredients, and when searching in these areas you will forage only for those available ingredients.
In order to forage for these ingredients you must roll a Naturalism check threshold 15. On a success you forage 1d4 + 1 ingredients of your choice from the available selection.
Restrictions and Time
The same area cannot be foraged by you more than once per day. A distinct area is considered to be around 1 square kilometer (0.38 miles). Although this is contextual and the GM may determine the area that has been harvested by your efforts to be greater or smaller than this.
Foraging, successfully or not, takes 1 hour.
A character that does not have any mastery with an alchemy tool may attempt to forage under the direction of a character that does have mastery. The character without mastery will make their roll at disadvantage.
Foraging Checks
Naturalism check of 15. On success, you forage 1d4 + 1 ingredients of your choice from the available selection.
Ingredient Sources
Any Alchemist worth his Corpus knows where to find the ingredients they need. What environments hold which ingredients, and which creatures contain what they need.
The ingredients and their sources are listed as follows:
Corpus
Harvest: Beasts, Mutants, Humanoids
Forage: Grassland, Forest, Riverlands, Farmland, Mountains
Anima
Harvest: Fey, Fiends, Abominations
Forage: Forest, Deserts, Mountains, Caves
Argentum
Harvest: Mutants, Fey, Humanoids
Forage: Ocean, Riverlands, Swamps, Coastal
Vitriol
Harvest: Undead, Abominations, Beasts
Forage: Swamps, Caves, Ruins, Crypts
Aether
Harvest: Dragons, Elementals, Constructs
Forage: Sacred Sites, Ruins, Mountains, Magical Locations
Potions
Creating Potions
In order to create a potion you need: Apothecary tools, as well as at least level one mastery with those tools, a recipe, the alchemy ingredients for that recipe and a receptacle to hold the finished potion (typically a glass vial).
Using your Apothecary tools you may brew potions during rest. It takes 1 hour to brew a number of potions equal to your Will. Brewing does not interrupt your rest. All regular potions last 1 week before spoiling. Advanced potion recipes take a year to spoil, whilst elixirs never spoil.
Consuming Potions
Every creature with a digestive system that can consume organic matter can consume potions and derive their listed benefits. The basic action Consume Potion governs the consumption of potions unless otherwise specified.
Consuming a potion provides you with its effects for its duration.
Toxicity
Potions are powerful concoctions that temporarily mutate the body, and as such, take their toll. Each potion has a toxicity. This expresses the mutational and toxic load that the potion has. Toxicity is cumulative and each source of toxicity lasts as long as the potion's effects do (i.e., the duration).
Each creature has a Maximum Toxicity score which refers to how much their body can endure. Your Current Toxicity represents the toxic loads you are currently under.
Maximum Toxicity Calculation
A creature that does not have poison damage mitigation has: max toxicity equal to their Fortitude - 5 (minimum 0).
A creature that does have poison damage mitigation (half or full), has: max toxicity equal to their Fortitude.
Exceeding Maximum Toxicity
If a creature's current toxicity ever exceeds their max toxicity, they (immediately upon exceeding it) take poison damage equal to 10 times the amount they have exceeded their max. They will then take this damage with the same calculation at the start of each of their turns or whenever their toxicity increases further beyond their max. This damage cannot be reduced in any way.
Example: A character with a max toxicity of 6, takes a potion and brings their current toxicity to 8. They will immediately take 20 poison damage, then at the start of their turn, their current toxicity is still 8, they will take another 20 poison damage.
The antidote potion will remove all current potion effects and toxicity. A Medicine check made with the use of medical supplies, apothecary tools or poisoner's tools with a threshold of 20 will also end all potion effects and remove all toxicity.
Potion Recipes
Potion recipes are pieces of collected wisdom and knowledge on how to brew these potions that are passed down from generation to generation, teacher to student. Learning a recipe amounts to more than just having written it down or memorised its ingredients. Learning a recipe includes practising it, learning the idiosyncrasies and complications of the recipe.
Every alchemist has a catalogue of recipes they can create. The number of recipes known is influenced by a number of factors, such as class features, talents and of course apothecary tool mastery.
Poisons
Another one of the types of alchemical creation an alchemist has trained to produce are poisons. These gels and pastes produce great harm when they enter the body of an unlucky creature.
Creating Poisons
In order to create a poison you need: Poisoner's tools, as well as at least level one mastery with those tools, a recipe, the alchemy ingredients for that recipe and a receptacle to hold the finished poison.
Using your Poisoner's tools you mulch together, brew and extract your dangerous products. It takes 1 hour to brew a number of poisons equal to your Will. Brewing does not interrupt your rest. Poisons do not spoil.
Using Poisons
You may spend 1 minute to coat a blade's edge or dissolve a poison into water. When a blade's edge is poisoned, it remains poisoned for 1 hour, conferring its effect upon any creature with a circulatory system that is cut by the weapon. All weapons with a cutting edge can be coated in poison.
Coating a blade, or mixing the poison into a solution will use that poison.
Whenever a creature is successfully attacked by a coated weapon, it is subjected to the effects of that poison.
A blade must be cleaned with high proof alcohol in order to remove the poison from it. Once a blade is coated, it cannot be coated again, until the poison wears off in 1 hour or it is cleaned.
When a poison is consumed the creature has advantage on any Resistance check made against the poison, as well as reducing the damage done by half.
Alchemy Threshold
Many poisons will call for a resistance check of some kind, the threshold used is your alchemy threshold.
Tolerance
In addition many poisons will have the tolerance keyword. This denotes the conditions under which and period of time that the creature becomes immune to the effects of that particular poison.
Note: tolerance is developed to a poison, and as such the same poison on two different weapons, or administered by different creatures are subject to the same tolerance.
Poison Recipes
Poison recipes are pieces of collected wisdom and knowledge on how to create these concoctions. Learning a recipe amounts to more than just having written it down or memorised its ingredients. Learning a recipe includes practising it, learning the idiosyncrasies and complications of the recipe.
Every alchemist has a catalogue of recipes they can create. The number of recipes known is influenced by a number of factors, such as class features, talents and of course poisoner's tool mastery.
Bombs
Bombs are the most volatile and hazardous production of alchemists. These concoctions activate causing great harm or wondrous effects when the conditions are met... most often a fuse burning up.
Creating Bombs
In order to create a bomb you need: Bombadier's tools, as well as at least level one mastery with those tools, a recipe, the alchemy ingredients for that recipe, a receptacle to hold the finished preparation and a fuse to attach to the vessel.
Using your Bombadier's tools you mulch together, brew and extract your dangerous products. It takes 1 hour to brew a number of bombs equal to your Will. Brewing does not interrupt your rest. Bombs spoil after 1 week.
Using Bombs
Bombs are stored on a character's person, and retrieved for free as part of the Throw Bomb basic action. If the bombs are stored in a bag or pouch that cannot be immediately accessed then a GM may add an additional 1AP cost to the process, representing the additional effort required to retrieve the bomb.
The use of a bomb is governed by the Throw Bomb basic action.
Bomb Recipes
Bomb recipes are pieces of collected wisdom and knowledge on how to create these concoctions. Learning a recipe amounts to more than just having written it down or memorised its ingredients. Learning a recipe includes practising it, learning the idiosyncrasies and complications of the recipe.
Every alchemist has a catalogue of recipes they can create. The number of recipes known is influenced by a number of factors, such as class features, talents and of course bombadier's tool mastery.
Quick Reference
This section provides a simplified and concatinated overview of the rules of alchemy. This is your quick reference, for when you need a recap.