======Alchemy====== ---- FIXME: I'm really worried about the 'Distill' and 'Imbue' abilities being too broad to easily adjudicate and balance. Additionally to their definitions being broad, they are also verbose. Ideally, an ability would be worded simply, tersely, and give the player a specialized tool. Until I can achieve this, I am relegating the 'Alchemy' ability back to the development phase. FIXME: I think the size of effect of imbuement, 1 cubic meter, is too large. Reconsider this - perhaps 1 liter instead? ---- Alchemy is the magic of manipulating matter. With alchemy, one can transmute materials, create everburning flames, or create the elixir of everlasting life. An alchemist's primary role is to transmute materials using 'qualities'. An alchemist distills a quality out of a material so that another material can be imbued with that quality. Every material has many qualities. Water, for instance, has among its qualities, the qualities of: 'heavy', 'liquid', and 'transparent blue in color'. If one wished, one could distill the transparent blueness out of a sample of water, and imbue it into a wooden door, rendering the wooden door transparent. Practitioners of alchemy are usually called 'alchemists', but some prefer the term 'transmuter'. Another term for the practice of alchemy is 'grammarie' which comes from folk tradition. While high-ranked alchemists know how to distill qualities from dozens of materials, lower ranked alchemists know only a few. The number of materials from which qualities can be distilled depends on your ranks in alchemy. * Alchemy, Rank 1: You know how to distill qualities from two materials. * Alchemy, Rank 2: You know how to distill qualities from five materials. * Alchemy, Rank 3: You know how to distill qualities from ten materials. * Alchemy, Rank 4: You know how to distill qualities from twenty materials. * Alchemy, Rank 5: You know how to distill qualities from fifty materials. Usually, the first materials that alchemists choose are (in order of preference): Water, iron, wet clay, wood, bread, feather. Note to players and GMs: Alchemy requires the player to keep good notes of what is in their inventory. If a player does not keep good notes of the samples and qualities in their inventory, they should not invest in playing an Alchemist. Tip: Using index cards or post-it notes as a means of keeping track of samples and distilled qualities can help. Sticky notes are especially useful in keeping track of distilled qualities, since they can be stuck on objects that have been imbued with that quality. ---------------------------------------------------------------- ===== Requirements ===== To successfully perform the abilities in Alchemy, you must meet the following requirements. //**Alchemical Training**//\\ To become a alchemist, one must have experience in handling and mixing chemicals. The character's backstory must include at least two years intensive training in a field that grants one such knowledge. Brewing, distilling, chemistry, or working as an apothecary are examples of such experience. //**Concentration**//\\ Any alchemical activity longer than 1 action requires concentration. //**Inventory Management**//\\ The player must keep good notes on the samples and distilled qualities in their inventory. Failure to keep good notes may force the GM to invalidate one's ranks in Alchemy. //**Study**//\\ The study of alchemy is unending. You must spend at least 1 hour a day studying alchemy. If you fail to meet this requirement, your GM may impose one or several penalties. Example penalties: The time required to distill and imbue qualities is doubled; One (or more) of your chosen perks becomes inactive. All penalties are removed after you have studied three days in a row. //**Tools**//\\ To perform the 'Distill Quality' spell, you must have adequate equipment: Glassware (vials, retorts, beakers), flame burner, eye protection, etc. If you do not have sufficient equipment, distillations can be slow, fail altogether, or even dangerously explode. ---------------------------------------------------------------- =====Spells===== FIXME: I'm really worried about the 'Distill' and 'Imbue' abilities being too broad to easily adjudicate and balance. In addition to their definitions being too broad, they are also too verbose. Ideally, an ability would be worded simply, tersely, and give the player a specialized tool. Until I can achieve this, I am relegating the 'Alchemy' ability back to the development phase. //**Distill Quality**//\\ To distill a quality from a material, one must have the appriopriate tools, and an adequately pure sample of 1 liter (1 quart) of material. The distillation requires 1 hour of work and concentration, and the sample of material is destroyed in the process. You may distill only one quality from a sample. Due to the destructive nature of distillation, qualities cannot be distilled from living organisms. The quality distilled takes the form of a 1 milliter bead of shiny liquid, similar in appearance to mercury. Usually, alchemists store qualities in little glass vials. Qualities should be recorded on the character sheet as such: //'__Quality__ as __material__'//. For example: 'Transparent-blue as water', 'soft as clay', 'hard as iron'. //**Imbue Quality**//\\ To imbue a quality into a material, one must have a distilled quality available. As an action, you press the quality into the material. The material then gains the quality imbued into it. The quality is consumed in the process. If any original quality of the material conflicts with the imbued quality, the imbued quality replaces the original quality. The volume of material effected by the imbuement is 1 cubic meter (or a cube, three feet to a side). The imbuement only extends as far as the material being imbued - if one were to imbue a quality into a wooden door set into a stone wall, only the door would be affected. Attempting to imbue a living organism causing the action to fail and the quality to be wasted with no effect - you must take the perk 'Imbue Living Organism' to imbue a living organism.((FIXME: 'Imbue Quality' is still a little unfinished. does it require an action? what happens when a quality accidentally comes in contact with another material, as from an accident? what happens if a bunch of vials full of qualities are dropped and broken? is physical touch required? is an incantation required? what if I attach a vial of quality to an arrow?)) //**Restore Quality**//\\ You can restore an object to its original state prior to imbuement. To do this, If a material has been altered by an imbuement, one may choose to restore the material to its original state. To do so, one must imbue the material with a quality again. That quality can be either the same quality that one wishes to cancel out, or a quality that would restore the material to its original state. For example, if one were to render wood as heavy as iron (using a 'heavy as iron' quality), then one can use either another 'heavy as iron' quality, or a 'heavy as wood' quality to restore the wood back to its original state. Note: If an object was damaged or destroyed by an imbuement, restoring a quality does not reverse the damage. ---- ===== Perks ===== Each time you gain ranks in Alchemy, you may also gain your choice of one of the following perks. If an alchemist is rank 5 or greater, they may choose a Magnum Opus instead of a perk - however, each alchemist can choose only one Magnum Opus. //**All Materials**//\\ The number of materials from which you can distill a quality is unlimited, regardless of your ranks in Alchemy. //**Apothecary**//\\ You can competently handle, dose, mix, and store drugs, medicines, and potions. You can identify medicinal herbs and plants in the wilderness. With only a little bit of work, you can find drugs and illicit chemicals in towns and cities. You may brew 1 potion per day if you have sufficient materials and at least 1 hour of downtime. You may brew more potions per day if you spend 1 inspiration point and 1 hour for each beyond the first. Healing Potion: When a creature heals an injury, they may heal it as if it were one degree less severe (treat mortal as severe, severe as light.) //**Eightfold Imbuement**//\\ When you imbue a quality, you can instead choose to affect a volume of material eight times greater. If you are taking this perk for the first time, that would increase the effect of your imbuement from 1 cubic meter, to 8 cubic meters. You may take this perk multiple times, each time multiplying the effect by 8. //**Fast Distillation**//\\ You can distill a quality in 1 minute, instead of 1 hour. //**Imbue Living Organism**//((FIXME: Consider renaming 'Potion' and changing the wording to fit.))\\ You have the ability to use the 'Imbue Quality' spell on a living organism. Additionally, distilled qualities can be treated as potions. If a distilled quality is drunk as a potion, it imbues the drinker as if by the 'Imbue Quality' spell. The effects of an imbuement on a living organism only last 1 hour. If an organism is imbued with an essence that alters its body into another material, the organism magically survives as normal. For example, if one were to imbue a human with 'liquid as water', the human would become as liquid as water, yet still survive (though if the water of their body were evaporated, or mixed with poison, they may suffer grievous injury). As the effect of the imbuement ends, the organism is restored to its original form. If one were to imbue an organism with a Total Essence, the organism is killed((though might be restored to life and its original state by the use of another Total Essence, if the corpse remains intact. - but: does this tread too closely to Necromancy?)), becoming wholly that new material. You may take this perk multiple times, each time increasing the duration of imbuement effects on an organism by eight. //**Luminary of Legend**//\\ You are allowed to learn more than one Magnum Opus. Unless you also have the 'Prodigy' perk, you still cannot learn a Magnum Opus before achieving Rank 5 in Alchemy. This perk does not grant additional magna opera itself - those must be bought as perks - this perk merely allows one to break the "only one magnum opus" rule. //**Multi-Quality**//\\ When you distill a quality, you may choose to store that quality into an already-existing quality. For example, if you have one quality in your inventory, 'transparent-blue as water', and are distilling a 'soft as clay' quality, you may choose to store both qualities together as: 'transparent-blue as water, soft as clay'. Conflicting qualities cannot be stored in this way. Imbuements using these kinds of multi-qualities imbue your choice of any or all of the qualities stored. //**Polymath**//\\ You are an expert in four fields of academic study. Discuss with your GM which studies in which you are an expert. Examples are: Anthropology, Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Economics, Engineering, History, Linguistics, Mathematics, Philosophy, Physics, Theology, Zoology. Isaac Newton, for example, would be an expert in Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics, and Theology. You may take this perk multiple times, each time increasing the number of academic fields in which you are an expert by four. //**Prodigy**//\\ This perk allows an alchemist to choose a Magnum Opus, even if they are not Rank 5. Any time the alchemist can choose an Alchemy perk while having the Prodigy perk, they may take that as an opportunity to instead gain a Magnum Opus. As usual, only one Magnum Opus can be known. //**Scientific Grant: Assistants**//\\ Through the generosity of some authority (king, college, private interest, etc.), you gain three assistants. Because of this perk, these assistants are sufficiently trained, equipped, and housed to help you perform alchemical tasks and running a laboratory. You may take this perk multiple times, each time gaining three assistants. These assistants can even perform the 'Distill Quality' spell, but only while they work in a laboratory, and each can only distill one quality per day. Note: You can hire assistants without this perk, but the expense and responsibility of these hired assistants is entirely yours, rather than granted by the authority. //**Scientific Grant: Laboratory**//\\ Through the generosity of some authority (king, college, private interest, etc.), you gain the use of a large, well-supplied laboratory. While working in this laboratory, the 'Tools' requirement is satisfied for Alchemy. You may take this perk multiple times, each time gaining a laboratory in a new location. Note: You can buy or rent a laboratory without this perk, but the expense and responsibility of maintaining the laboratory is entirely yours, rather than handled by the authority who issued the grant. //**Scientific Grant: Special Dispensation**//\\ Through the generosity of some authority (king, college, private interest, etc.), you gain license to perform illegal activities, as long as they are in service of a scientific goal of the authority. You must share all of your research with the authority issuing the grant. While you have this perk, certain specific illegal activities are not illegal for you. You must keep paperwork certifying this fact on your person at all times, in case a law enforcement officer needs to confirm the legality of your actions. Failure to present this certification paperwork is in itself a crime. //**Total Essence**//\\ When you distill a quality from a sample, you can choose to distill a Total Essence containing __all__ the qualities from a sample. Alert your GM when you do, and mark this in your character sheet as 'Total essence of __material__'. When you use this Total Essence to imbue a material, that imbued material is transmuted into the material of the original sample. For example, if one were to distill 'Total Essence of gold' and imbue it into a wooden door, that door would then become a golden door. Materials altered by a Total Essence can only be restored using another Total Essence. ---- =====Magnum Opus===== A Magnum Opus((GM Note: Magna Opera are //extremely// powerful. On the same power level as an archetype. If you wish to veto any or all magna opera, warn any players intending to play an alchemist before they commit to doing so.)) (plural: 'magna opera') is a 'great work' of alchemy. When the alchemist gains rank 5 in Alchemy, they are allowed to gain a Magnum Opus instead of a perk. However, an alchemist can only know one Magnum Opus. //**Magnum Opus: Philosopher's Stone**//\\ You have learned how to create the legendary Philosopher's Stone. To do so, you need a laboratory of equivalent value to that of the best in the world, and ten years worth of labor. With each qualified assistant, you may reduce the time required by one year, to a minimum of one year (1 assistant = 9 years, 2 assistants = 8 years, etc.). Your assistants cannot work without your help, so you must also work in the laboratory on this project. After the labor is finished, you have created a white philosopher's stone. The stone is astoundingly heavy - despite only the size of a tangerine (roughly 6cm or 2.5in diameter sphere), it weighs 4 kilograms (8 pounds). The philosopher's stone is a soft material and can be cut with a knife. You can create as many philosopher stones as you want, but you cannot create another until the prior one is finished. The philosopher's stone has the following properties: * **Alkahest**: When a portion of the philosopher's stone is dissolved in a strong acid or base (usually sulfuric acid or lye), the solution becomes 'Alkahest', the universal solvent. This solvent will dissolve any material that is not the same material that it was created in. (If it was created in a clay jar, this alkahest will not dissolve clay.) One dose of Alkahest can be made with 500 grams (1 pound) of philosopher's stone mixed with 250 milliliters (1 cup) of strong acid or base. * **Resurrect**: When the whole philosopher's stone is implanted into a corpse, the stone will be absorbed, and the corpse is resurrected to life, fully healed and vital, with its soul restored. This cannot be performed with a philosopher's some that has been used for other uses. * **Elixir of Life**: When a portion of the philosopher's stone is dissolved in wine, the wine becomes the Elixir of Life, and can be drank to give everlasting youth, changing the age of the organism that drank it to an age of their choice. Any age-related illnesses are cured. The organism continues to age naturally as if from that restored age. This elixir can be drunk again to reset the age of the organism. One dose of Elixir of Life can be made with 500 grams (1 pound) of philosopher's stone mixed with 250 milliliters (1 cup) of wine. * **Everburning Oil**: When a portion of the philosopher's stone is dissolved in oil, the oil can be lit aflame permanently, and will not be consumed by flame. One dose of Everburning Oil can be made with 500 grams (1 pound) of philosopher's stone mixed with 250 milliliters (1 cup) of oil. * **Panacea**: When a portion of the philosopher's stone is dissolved in water, the water becomes panacea and can be drank to cure all illnesses, injuries, and curses suffered by the drinker. Even death can be cured by panacea, though only if the death was not caused by old age, and occurred less than one week prior. While panacea cannot prevent death due to old age, it can stave off age-related illnesses, and a regular drinker of panacea is likely to have an uncannily prolonged life. One dose of panacea will cause a person to cease aging for 1 year. One dose of Panacea can be made with 500 grams (1 pound) of philosopher's stone mixed with 250 milliliters (1 cup) of water. * **Red Philosopher's Stone**: If the philosopher's stone is kept in contact with pure gold for one year (perhaps held in a golden vessel) the philosopher's stone will mature into a red philosopher's stone. It will now transmute base metals into gold instead of silver, and transmute stone into diamond, simply by touching the philosopher's stone to the material. Only 1 kilogram of material can be transmuted this way each action. * **Transmute Base Metals**: When the philosopher's stone is touched to base metals (aluminum, copper, lead, mercury, nickel, tin, or zinc), they are changed to silver. Only 1 kilogram of silver can be produced this way each action. //**Magnum Opus: Homunculus**//\\ You have created a homunculus - an artificially-created being. Alchemists create homunculi for various reasons: To have offspring of their own, to have a loyal servant, or to replace themselves with a more powerful version. When first created, it takes the form of a small, childlike humanoid, barely a foot tall. It can speak and move it's body as a young child can. As long as its creator does not mistreat it, it remains obedient and agreeable towards its creator. It does not need to be provided with sustenance, but if it is, it grows slightly larger. When fed milk, it grows larger, but remains childlike and obedient. If fed with earth, metal, or wood, it grows gigantic, but loses its own will, becoming entirely robotic to the alchemist. If fed a variety of foods, and provided with adequate education, it grows into an autonomous adult of the creator's race. If fed the blood of creatures, it gains the knowledge, and some of the behaviors, of the creatures whose blood it was fed. //**Magnum Opus: Immortality**//\\ You have learned the secret to immortality. To grant immortality to an organism, you must FIXME:__BLANK__ ((FIXME: What needs to happen? This should be effortful. Immortality can only be granted ONCE.)). Immortality is not simply everlasting life, it is freedom from death. An immortal being no longer needs to eat or drink. Injuries cannot end an immortal being's life, and even mortal injuries will always heal quickly and without leaving a scar. //**Magnum Opus: Prime Materia**//\\ You have learned that everything, even that which is immaterial, is fundamentally an extension of the ultimate material: Prime Materia. ((FIXME: What is Prime Materia good for? Maybe it's so that qualities, once distilled, never run out from imbuing. Maybe one can distill qualities from things that are not "materials" like concepts and experiences - love, death, night. Prime Materia should allow distillation of qualities of living organisms - and from corpses but as if they were living.)) //**Magnum Opus: Technological Revolution**//\\ You have discovered a revolutionary new technology that will be instrumental in bringing about a new technological age. You can create artifacts of this technology, and can teach characters to use and develop this technology on their own. Discuss with your GM as to the most appropriate choice. Examples follow: ^ Current age of History ^ Revolutionary Technology ^ | Presapient | Sapience | | ::: | Tools | | Prehistoric | Agriculture | | ::: | Animal power | | ::: | Currency | | ::: | Fire | | ::: | Stone tools | | ::: | Sailing | | ::: | Navigation by stars | | Ancient | Water power | | ::: | Fossil fuel | | ::: | Lenses and fine glasswork | | ::: | Metalworking | | ::: | Unpowered flight (kites) | | Medieval | Steam power | | ::: | Powered flight | | ::: | Electricity generation | | ::: | Gunpowder weaponry | | ::: | Scientific method | | ::: | Printing press | | Industrial | Computer | | ::: | Radio | | ::: | Rocketry and Manned Spaceflight | | Modern | Interstellar flight | | ::: | Artificial intelligence | ---------------------------------------------------------------- ===== Inspiration Options, Examples ===== //**Discover Distillation**//\\ Gain 1 inspiration point whenever you distill a quality-material combination that is new to you. Forexample, if you have never distilled __any__ qualities from wood before, then the first time you distill a quality from wood, for instance 'hard as wood', you gain 1 inspiration point. If you distill another, different, quality from wood, for instance 'brown as wood', you gain another inspiration point. Any successive distillations of 'hard as wood' or 'brown as wood' do not gant inspiration because these would not be new to you. //**SPEND_PLACEHOLDER**//\\ Spend 1 inspiration point to ---------------------------------------------------------------- =====GM Notes===== FIXME: Should the object that carries a distilled quality be instead named an 'essence'? Would this make the ability easier to understand? GM Note: Terms like 'light' and 'heavy' sometimes need to be interpreted as 'massive' or 'dense'. For example, if one were to imbue a cannonball with the quality 'light as a feather', then the cannonball, if fired, would be as effective a projectile as a feather. Be sure to get clarification from the player the intended quality, and instruct them to use terms like 'massive' or 'dense' when necessary. ===Curses=== * Poisoning * Cancer * Runaway transmutation * Technological revolution leads to cold war or global war or extinction event * Scientific grant leads to deal with the devil * Classical Elements * Air 🜁 * Earth 🜃 * Fire 🜂 * Water 🜄 Wuxing Elements * Wood * Fire * Earth * Metal * Water Mahābhūta * Consciousness * Space * Air * Fire * Water * Earth Godai Elements * Earth (chi: stability/stubbornness) * Water (sui: flexibility/emotionalism) * Fire (ka: aggression/fear) * Wind (fu: wisdom/love) * Void (ku: creative/communicative) [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemical_symbol|Wiki of Alchemical Symbols]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_alchemists|Wiki List of Alchemists]] GM Note: It is important to remember that Alchemy is still magic. If a player discovers that similies can be distilled, they should be rewarded by allowing such distillations. Examples: 'dead as a doornail', 'dumb as a box of rocks', 'clean as a whistle', 'deaf as a post', 'honest as the day is long', 'fresh as a daisy', 'happy as a clam'.((Maybe prime materia is how one unlocks distillations of concepts instead of materials like 'honest as the day is long' - taking a day, and distilling honesty out of it.)) How to create a Mimic: Mimics originate from a particular type of alchemical accident - when an alchemist imbues a motive force (such as a soul) and a fluid quality (usually that of clay) into an inanimate object, this creates a mimic. Many alchemists try to create servitors in this way, not realizing that motive forces are usually rebellious and egocentric. A better method of creating a servitor is to create a homunculus and feeding it clay. ====Development notes==== Alchemists search for the true nature of reality by attempting to distill materials down to their very essence. With these essences, an alchemist can imbue something or someone with the quality that the essence carries. Key terms: Distill, Essence, Imbue, Material Distill - You can spend a day distilling (a volume of) a substance into an 'alchemical essence'. This essence contains one quality of the original substance (hardness, color, heat, etc.) and can be used to Imbue another substance with that trait. A distilled alchemical essence is 1/1,000th the volume of the original substance (1 liter becomes 1 cubic centimeter), and has the same weight as water. Imbue - You can imbue a portion of a substance depending on your ranks in Alchemy. To imbue an object, you must physically apply one or more essence samples to the object using an action. The essences applied diffuse into the object instantly. By tradition, a student of alchemy renders a selection of Rank 1 = 1 liter Rank 2 = Factors: Volume or Mass of target. This is problematic, because one should be able to transmute the quality of weight/density and size. Number of qualities being changed Speed of transmutation Value of material Quality of laboratory {QoL | None, Improvised, Field, Basic, Advanced, Academy} Desired abilities: Transmute base metal to precious metal (i.e. lead to gold). Create exotic materials such as: Mithril, Adamant (ium, ite, etc), Cavorite, Scrith. Put one's speech into a jar, then that speech is released with good fidelity when the jar is opened. Extract 'years of life' for later use - E.G. Vampirism, life-suction-device from The Princess Bride, the arm-clocks from 'In Time'. †