AbdulAlhazred
Legend
Clockwork certainly is an interesting form of practice, though it feels magical enough to be considered ritualistic as well (basically flavor, but I guess we've already established that many rituals and practices are interchangeable). This interchangeability is leading me to pretty much abolish the mechanical differentiation between the two in HoML, it just seems unneeded...
Alchemy in 4e is indeed largely 2nd rate, or worse. There are a few items that are stupid good, a few that are about right, and the vast majority are vastly underpowered.
In HoML I have hit upon a strategy, though it would require some changes to work with 4e (changes to 4e, not the strategy, but minor changes). Instead of having a distinct thing called Alchemy, I noted that there are scrolls, potions, and certain other consumables. One way to make this work is to simply create a rule that allows you to prepare the effects of any ritual (or practice, though some of them don't seem too appropriate and others kind of inherently do this already). So a 'scroll' is merely a prepared ritual, as is a 'potion', etc. Which forms are appropriate is kind of up to the GM and players. Thus Alchemy per-se goes away, as it simply becomes a series of prepared ritual effects that utilize ingredients and get embodied in appropriate forms. This means that 'enchant item' 'brew potion', and other similar things, basically go away. They can be replaced by specific ritual formulas which produce each effect (this also automatically obviates the need for the awkward common/uncommon/rare stuff, as it only existed to thwart making of too many of certain items, you can now simply not give out enough ingredients, or even the formula to, these troublesome things). So if you have an issue with Flaming Weapons, then just don't give out the "Flaming Weapon" ritual.
This only leaves the question of what differentiates permanent from consumable items. I think one possibility is if you make a permanent item, you have to tie up a surge in it. This would admittedly make permanent items rather rare, but still possibly worth crafting now and then (and you can always disenchant them to recover the surge). This takes advantage of the precedent set by teleportation circles.
Its a good point. I've not done this much, but it has some real potential to let a party both split up and still adventure 'together'.
