Seeking Alchemy System Advice

[GhostBear]

Hello,

One of my players is interested in having a character in our 3.5 game that is heavily involved in alchemy. However, the alchemy system as it is defined in very shallow and we both would like something more in depth.

I asked if he could come up with any systems that he had seen that we might be able to use as a model, and he mentioned that the system in TES4: Oblivion was pretty good. Every plant or other material has 4 properties. At low levels of alchemy skills, you can only access the first or second properties, and can only access all 4 at high levels of the skill. Mixing two or more things together with matching properties will produce that effect in the final product.

Not a bad system all things considered and I'm leaning towards something along those lines, but I'd like to know if anyone can point me to other systems, generic or otherwise.

Any advice would be great. Has anyone included a strong alchemy aspect in their game and run into problems? What worked well, what broke? Do you have component property listings that can be shared? Did someone with a strong alchemy skill manage to outshine other characters certain situations and how did you balance this? Is it better to have a single alchemy skill or would it be better to break it up into different specialties, and what might these specialties be?

I would like to keep Alchemy as a skill-only element of the game and I am not interested in a full-blown class. There's no reason why a cleric shouldn't have some knowledge for fixing up some analgesics and a rogue shouldn't have some idea on how to prepare a poison or two.

Thanks!

 

[Rel]

I have a campaign that I just started up in which I wanted Alchemy to be a big part of the magic used by "the Empire" that is central to the setting. That's because they don't view Alchemy as magic and magic is generally considered to be the province of bizarre and possibly evil spirits that hover around the edges of civilization. However none of the players opted to make an Alchemist type of character and so I didn't go too far down the road of coming up with a system for it.

If what you're wanting is a list of plant or animal parts and the sorts of alchemy they might be useful in, I can tell you where to find one:

Essence Companion - Guild Companion Publications | RPGNow.com

The Essence Companion for Rolemaster has a treasure trove of information including lists of hundreds and hundreds of animal vegetable and mineral components for rituals and other spellcasting. These could easily be adapted as the basis for a system of alchemy as there is a listing of the sorts of magic for which they would be appropriate. The charts included show the costs of such items in the standard Rolemaster economy, but even if that isn't useful to you then it would give you an idea as to their rarity.

I know a fair bit about that book because I helped to write it.

 

[nedjer]

Hello,

One of my players is interested in having a character in our 3.5 game that is heavily involved in alchemy. However, the alchemy system as it is defined in very shallow and we both would like something more in depth.

I asked if he could come up with any systems that he had seen that we might be able to use as a model, and he mentioned that the system in TES4: Oblivion was pretty good. Every plant or other material has 4 properties. At low levels of alchemy skills, you can only access the first or second properties, and can only access all 4 at high levels of the skill. Mixing two or more things together with matching properties will produce that effect in the final product.

Not a bad system all things considered and I'm leaning towards something along those lines, but I'd like to know if anyone can point me to other systems, generic or otherwise.

Any advice would be great. Has anyone included a strong alchemy aspect in their game and run into problems? What worked well, what broke? Do you have component property listings that can be shared? Did someone with a strong alchemy skill manage to outshine other characters certain situations and how did you balance this? Is it better to have a single alchemy skill or would it be better to break it up into different specialties, and what might these specialties be?

I would like to keep Alchemy as a skill-only element of the game and I am not interested in a full-blown class. There's no reason why a cleric shouldn't have some knowledge for fixing up some analgesics and a rogue shouldn't have some idea on how to prepare a poison or two.

Thanks!

There's a chapter in Lyndon Hardy's fiction Master of the Five Magics that's well worth a look if you're into putting alchemy in a fantasy game. Recommend skipping the not so good first chapter.

 

[samuraiko]

You might also take a look at the Iron Kingdoms setting. It's very low magic, but replaces magic with alchemy and technology. It's hard to get a hold of though.

 

[Janx]

Fullmetal Alchemist?

In that series, its more like ritual magic, get the ingredients, make the symbol, feed in energy, viola, transmutation. though they made it pretty fast for combat effects.


The Oblivion system is basically potion brewing. You'd need to have a big list of ingredients. And know their commonality, because the PC will be looking for ingredients in the wild, and in stores.

You could simplify from Oblivion's 4 attributes, and just hunt down lists on ingredients (there are books on it, Scott Cunningham has one I believe). From their look at their traits and pick which ones apply to existing potions.

Basically, by knowing what ingredients can make a D&D potion, that's what the player will have to get, plus making the skill DC check.

 

[The Shaman]

The Maelstrom Companion includes rules for alchemy - characters begin with knowledge of a few "recipes" for brewing different substances and may learn more as they go on. The system is based on real-world chemical and alchemical knowledge of the late Renaissace/Early Modern era but includes some magical effects as well. I'm using it, sans magic, for my Flashing Blades game.

Maelstrom's core rulebook also includes a great section on herbs and their use as well, which I've also folded into my game.