HGd10PHB - Craft - Alchemy

Alchemy is a crafting skill that takes various ingredients called reagents and mixes them together to transform these reagents into other matter entirely. Its very name means "Art of Transformation" and this art has ties to the Transformation Purpose. Sometimes looked down on by Chemists and other Scientists, Alchemy is sometimes hailed as the precursor to the scientific method because of its basis in experimentation. At its most basic level, alchemy provides simple potions, tonics, tinctures, and concoctions that while not strictly magical in nature can mimic lesser-powered spells.

However, Alchemy can be used beyond the simple and natural. Combined with magic, Alchemy can delay effects of spells indefinitely or do some truly potent things.

Untrained: This skill may not be used untrained and will likely result in major failure if attempted.

Training
The process of learning how to craft alchemical recipes requires a prospective alchemist to study with a trainer for three weeks. During this time, the trainer will provide notes, guided experiments, and eventually practical problems for their student to solve to determine if they are fit to be an alchemist. At the end of these three weeks, the Player rolls the Basic Crafting Skill. If the roll is a 20 or higher, they gain the Craft: Alchemy Skill and may begin mixing alchemical recipes. If the roll fails, they must work for another three weeks. If the roll is less than a 15, they must find a new trainer as their current trainer will consider them a lost cause in most cases. This skill may be taken at Character Creation if the roll is sufficiently high enough and the three weeks is considered part of their backstory.

Kind Bonuses: Echtinik, Feldae, Meliai, Phymorians, and Goblins begin with +2 TP upon taking this skill.

Active Roll
The Active skill roll for the Craft: Alchemy Skill is compared to the DS of whatever the alchemist is attempting to make if working with a known recipe. See the chart below for a sample of known recipes. The GM should feel free to expand this list along with the players, especially through experimentation.

For creating magical potions or new recipes, see the Economics Encyclopedia - Chapter 2.

Reroll: No rerolling for a specific attempt is allowed. A failed roll means the reagents are consumed or made useless during the process. A new roll may be tried with fresh reagents.

Alchemical Recipes
The following recipes are beginner recipes to get the alchemist started and perhaps a few more powerful options for advanced users. The purpose of this chart is to give the GM and Players a starting point for this craft to enable them to build their own recipes as the Alchemist grows more skilled.

Alchemical Processes
Adsorption - the removal of chemicals from a gas by means of condensation on a surface or filter

Albedo - whitening, purification, the burning of impurity

Calcination - crushing and roasting a substance to remove certain components

Ceration - adding liquid to a substance in stages while you heat it, tends to make substance softer and waxier

Chromatography - using filters to separate and analyze the components of a solution or chemical

Chrusipoeia - transmuting into chrusil

Citrinitas - yellowing, spiritualization and enlightenment

Congelation - causing something to congeal or become more viscous

Cupellation - heating process by which noble metals (chrusil and arguril) are extracted from ores and alloys

Distillation - separating liquids by boiling them

Fusion - not typically in the modern physics "nuclear fusion" sense, but more likely just melting things together

Fixation - process by which a volatile substance is made to be resistant or immune to fire

Lerono - blackening, corruption and dissolution

Rubedo - reddening, unification, and communion with immortals

Sublimation - turning a solid into a gas without going to liquid stage first. Also can refer to boiling or vaporizing something, then cooling it quickly to resolidify.

Titration - process of adding a liquid to a solution drop by drop until a visible reaction or desired outcome is achieved

Vegetation of Metal - experiments where crystals or metals are "grown" in solution like a plant.

Common Reagents
Atalléf

Barka Root

Bitterwraith

Blowflower

Caustic Lime

Corpus Lily

Dawnstar Lily

Deep Oak Seed

Ether

Fluxogen

Flux Violet

Ghostwillow Leaves

Gorecreeper Roots

Holly Wrath

Iceshaver Vine

Maplesong Leaves

Mercury Weed

Mindsong

Mintweed

Moonshadow

Perriwrinkle Thorn

Pholug Nettle

Potash

Pyrogen

Soul Bromeliad

Starflower Petals

Starflower Seeds

Tucolo Pollen

Water, Pure

Alchemical Equipment

 * Mortar and Pestal - small ceramic bowl with ceramic rod used to crush materials
 * Portable Alchemists Lab - contains a few items for Alchemical Processes out in the field; contains a flask, beaker, lighter, small burner, six test tubes, a small centrifuge (2 tubes only), and a clay tablet that runes can be inscribed in and erased
 * Evangiel's Flask - impervious to all acids or other Chemical and Alchemical reactions
 * Sealed Pouch - pouch for carrying volatile dry reagents, sealed against water and other liquid permation
 * Acari - tiny electric mites born out of electrical experiments
 * Books, scrolls, and papers - full of formulas, coded formulas, and observations on experiments. Such notebooks are often written in the Alchemist Code (Language) code. Recent notes may also take the form of chalkboards or wax tablets. One of the founding books of the alchemical art is The Ruby Tablet aka The Secret of Halai.
 * Rune Compendium for all Spectra and Purposes
 * The Chrusilpedia of Cloepteris is an alchemical text from pre-Sundering Invarine.
 * The Musaeum Halaiticum is a 1600s compilation of many earlier alchemical writings.
 * Canary or other small animal in a cage. Like a Canary In A Coal Mine, this may give you a warning of the emission of toxic gas before the concentration level is at a lethal dose.
 * Centrifuge (manually-operated via crank or kick-operated like a potters wheel)
 * Charcoal Biscuits, to aid in minor cases of ingestion of toxic chemicals.
 * Crucible (clay bowls to hold items being heated in the furnace) and similar items:
 * Aludel - A series of stacked or nested ceramic tubes of descending size, to condense evaporated substances in a furnace.
 * Cupel - A shallow cone-shaped crucible with a layer of bone ash, wood ash, or crushed seashells. Used for Cupellation (see Alchemical Processes above).
 * Filters made of heavy paper or cloth. Also used filter paper with colorful bands of sediment from previous experiments.
 * Forge, Furnace or Oven. Alchemists often have many of these in different forms for different purposes.
 * Athanor - a slow-burning, self-feeding furnace
 * Descensory Furnace - built with a funnel on top, intended for heating liquids
 * Gasmask, Filtermask or Plaguedoctor's Mask
 * Glassware in various strange shapes and sizes:
 * Alembic - two (often large) vessels connected by a (narrower) tube
 * Beaker - cylindrical, with a flat bottom and a pouring lip
 * Burette - cylindrical, with a spigot or stopcock at the bottom; used in Titrations
 * Retort - spherical, with an extremely long downward-pointing neck
 * Vial - small glassware to hold liquids or powders
 * Chrusil, Lead, Chrusil-plated Lead, or various experimental nuggets or alloys suggesting success or failure.
 * Alchemist's Symbols; Runestones for Spectra and Purposes
 * Circle with a point at its centre - the alchemical symbol for chrusil; usually drawn on a flat table or the floor
 * Qin'ah's Hieroglyphica - an Unbular specific rune
 * Work of art praising Taphal or Halai
 * Sand Bath, Water Bath, or Dung Bath for keeping items and experiments at temperature, regulating cool-down, etc.
 * Still - More likely to produce dangerous alcohols for cleaning or experimenting than to have tasty homebrew.
 * Tabletop or workspace with a hard and smooth surface, such as granite, marble, or beaten metal.
 * Weighing Scale and/or Balance.

Navigation

 * Hero's Guild Players Handbook Home
 * Chapter 1 - Creature Kinds
 * Chapter 2 - Base Characteristics
 * Chapter 3 - Skills
 * Chapter 4 - Traits and Foibles
 * Chapter 5 - Physical Combat Skills 
 * Chapter 6 - Mystical Skills
 * Chapter 7 - Equipment
 * Chapter 8 - Crafting
 * Chapter 9 - Knowledge Social and Movement Skills
 * Chapter 10 - Optional Classes
 * Chapter 11 - Rules of Engagement