new alchemy system

[NPC Lord]

im considering creating a new way to create items with alchemy. it would be different than a normal craft skill, reliying on luck to produce greater results. you wouldn't just make a check every so often to see if you have something. in the normal alchemy system, you start out with nothing and end up with something. in my system, to make something, you need to get the ingrediants.also, the variety of items avalible is greater. the way I have it goes like this:
a cleric takes 2 aromatic herbs(an ingrediant),adds some water, and puts it in an alchemy pot( an item for alchemy). then he makes an alchemy check. if he suceeds, then things go as normal, until he gets to the end. then he rolls 2d4. thats how much life it will heal. i know this system is shoddy now, so id love to hear any sugestions you have. i think you can get the gist of the system.

 

[Notmousse]

Have you been playing Dragon Quest 8?

 

[NPC Lord]

maybe, but i actualy got it from a very old ps1 rpg. and besides, it is cool

 

[GreatLemur]

So the main thing you're proposing would be alchemy "recipes" that require specific ingredients rather than just GP-priced amounts of nonspecific materials? That doesn't sound like a bad idea, as long as you're actually willing to come up such recipes for all alchemical items, and figure out what a character would have to do to find each ingredient.

But if you're going to make the effectiveness of an alchemical item variable based on its quality, shouldn't that quality be based on the skill of the alchemist instead of just rolled randomly? Say, if an alchemy check result of 15 is success, then a result of 20 could be a great success, resulting in a more powerful product (of course, then you'd have to determine what that would mean for each type of alchemical item...).

It'd be cool, certainly, but it would take a lot of work. Could make a nice product, I think. I keep thinking that WotC needs to release a big alchemy-related book with lots of such recipes, expanded mechanics for Craft (alchemy), lists of the possible uses and values for various critters from the Monster Manuals, and rules for the use of various rare ingredients as spell components and in magical item creation.

 

[NPC Lord]

yeah, thats exactly what i was thinking. im still working on it, but so far, it seems like it will be very nice.