Alchemical Crafting

Alchemy is the ill-understood art of crafting potions, elixirs, and even items that seem to be imbued with arcane powers.

Find out more about alchemy on page 79 of Unlimited Power: A Sourcebook for Mystics.

Crafting follows three steps: Step 1: Select Template, in which the PC chooses what kind of item to make; Step 2: Acquire Materials, in which the PC acquires the supplies to build it; and Step 3: Construction, in which the PC actually assembles the item.

STEP 1: SELECT TEMPLATE

When a craftsperson sets about creating an item, the player first chooses a template from one of the following tables:

ACQUIRING TEMPLATES

From a narrative standpoint, there are countless ways that a character might come to know how to build a particular item.

It is always up to the GM whether a given template is available to a PC. As a general rule of thumb, most templates should be available to the PCs a majority of the time—the difficulty of turning abstract knowledge into a practical device is reflected by the difficulty of the checks to acquire materials and construct the device. However, if it makes for a more interesting story, the GM (or the player) can require the character to spend time on research or even go on a short adventure to complete Step 1: Select Template for a particularly special item. Alternatively, a character's past successes (or failures) might open the door to crafting a brand-new item.

ALCHEMICAL POTION TEMPLATES

Name	Material Price/Rarity	Check	Time
Acid	600 credits/6	Average difficulty Discipline or Knowledge (Lore) check	2 hours
Draught of Fire	400 credits/5	Hard difficulty Discipline or Knowledge (Lore) check	3 hours
Elixir of Vigor	600 credits/6	Hard difficulty Discipline or Knowledge (Lore) check	4 hours
Healing Potion	1,000 credits/5	Average difficulty Discipline or Knowledge (Lore) check	2 hours
Poison	500 credits/4	Easy difficulty Discipline or Knowledge (Lore) check	2 hours
Potion of Wills	1,000 credits/8	Daunting difficulty Discipline or Knowledge (Lore) check	6 hours
Stimulant	400 credits/4	Average difficulty Discipline or Knowledge (Lore) check	2 hours
Water of Life	1,000 credits/10	Formidable difficulty Discipline or Knowledge (Lore) check	8 hours
Weakening Potion	1,000 credits/6	Hard difficulty Discipline or Knowledge (Lore) check	4 hours

ALCHEMICAL TALISMAN TEMPLATES

Name	Material Price/Rarity	Check	Time
Amulet of Power	500 credits/6	Hard difficulty Discipline or Knowledge (Lore) check	4 hours
Fetish of Fear	300 credits/4	Average difficulty Discipline or Knowledge (Lore) check	2 hours
Healing Accelerant	600 credits/5	Daunting difficulty Discipline or Knowledge (Lore) check	8 hours
Neural Charm	1,200 credits/7	Daunting difficulty Discipline or Knowledge (Lore) check	6 hours
Protective Amulet	300 credits/4	Easy difficulty Discipline or Knowledge (Lore) check	3 hours
Shield Amulet	1,000 credits/8	Daunting difficulty Discipline or Knowledge (Lore) check	2 hours
Talisman of Fate	4,000 credits/6	Hard difficulty Discipline or Knowledge (Lore) check	10 hours
Token of Resistance	1,800 credits/9	Formidable difficulty Discipline or Knowledge (Lore) check	8 hours

ALCHEMICAL POTIONS

Alchemical potions are a wide range of tinctures and elixirs with a variety of side effects.

ACID

[T]his can be applied to weapons, or even added to food.

When affected by this potion, the target must make a Hard difficulty Resilience check. If they fail, they suffer 2 wounds at the beginning of their turn for the next three rounds, plus one additional round per threat result.

DRAUGHT OF FIRE

Once consumed, the user's body is covered with flames. They do not harm the user and the user ignores any fire- or flame-related damage. Their unarmed attacks gain the Burn 4 quality, or add +1 to that quality if it was already possessed. This effect lasts 1 round, or 30 minutes if used in narrative time.

ELIXIR OF VIGOR

When the user consumes this potion, their Brawn increases by 1 but their Willpower is reduced by 1. This effect lasts until the end of the following round.

HEALING POTION

When the user consumes this potion, they immediately heal one Critical Injury with a severity of Hard or less. Although this potion can heal the Maimed Critical Injury, it cannot regrow the lost limb.

POISON

When affected by this poison, the target must immediately make an Average difficulty Resilience check. If they fail, they suffer 5 wounds plus 1 strain per threat result.

POTION OF WILLS

This potion cannot be applied to a weapon; it must be ingested. When affected by the poison, the target must make an Average difficulty Resilience check. If they fail, they count their Willpower as 0 for the remainder of the encounter (or one hour in narrative time). At the GM's discretion, they are also willing to follow any instructions they receive. The duration increases by one hour per threat result.

STIMULANT

When the user consumes this potion, they increase their strain threshold by five for the remainder of the encounter (or one hour in narrative time).

WATER OF LIFE

When the user consumes this potion, they heal all wounds and strain they are currently suffering. In addition, if applied to a target who died during the current encounter, the target may immediately make a Daunting difficulty Discipline or Resilience check (even though the target is dead). If successful, the target returns to life and heals one Critical Injury of their choice that they are suffering from.

Alternatively, a the user may consume this potion while making a Force power check. If they do so, they suffer 1 Conflict, and they add an automatic light point and dark point result to the check results. If the Force user is attempting to make a Conjure check, they add two light point and two dark point results instead.

WEAKENING POISON

When affected by the potion, the target must immediately make an Average difficulty Resilience check. If they fail, they reduce their wound and strain threshold to half their normal value (rounding up) for the remainder of the encounter (or one hour in narrative time). The duration increases by one hour per threat result.

ALCHEMICAL TALISMANS

Alchemical talismans are generally small items either worn on necklaces, carried on a belt, or held in the user's hand.

AMULET OF POWER

The user may employ this talisman to roll 1 additional Force die as part of a Force power check or when adding a Force die to a skill check. Once used, the talisman fragments into dust.

FETISH OF FEAR

The user may choose to have an enemy character attempting to move into engaged range with them to first make an Average difficulty Fear check as an out of turn incidental. If the character succeeds, they can move as desired. If the character fails, they cannot perform the desired maneuver but can still perform another maneuver instead.

NEURAL CHARM

While wearing this talisman, when the user makes a Knowledge check, they may suffer a number of strain up to their Intellect characteristic. If they do, they add boost dice equal to the strain suffered this way to the check.

PROTECTIVE AMULET

While active, the talisman allows the user to ignore environmental effects such as fire, acid, and corrosive atmospheres. They always act as if in a standard gravity field and may breathe normally even underwater and in a vacuum. Weapons with the Burn quality do not count as having that quality when used as part of an attack against the user.

HEALING ACCELERANT

When the talisman is active, whenever the user would recover strain or wounds, the user recovers that amount plus 1 instead.

SHIELD AMULET

If the user would suffer damage from an attack where a Force power was used either to perform the attack or augment its effects, they may choose to reduce the damage the attack inflicts by half (rounded up). This talisman can only be used once per session.

TALISMAN OF FATE

Whenever the GM would flip 1 Destiny Point to upgrade the ability or difficulty of a skill check involving the user, the user may downgrade the difficulty of the check once. This does not return the Destiny Point to the dark side. This talisman falls apart and dissolves after a single use.

TOKEN OF RESISTANCE

Whenever the user is targeted by an opposed social skill check where a Force power was used either to perform or augment the check, they may choose to have the opposing character roll 1 fewer Force dice as part of the check. If this means there are not enough Force dice for the check to be made or the power to activate, the check automatically fails.

STEP 2: ACQUIRE MATERIALS

To attempt to build an item based on the chosen template, the PC must acquire appropriate materials for that template. [...] For all mechanical purposes, materials count as a single item with the listed cost and rarity.

At the GM's discretion, PCs can acquire some or all of the materials for a template via means other than paying for them (such as salvaging them, stealing them, or receiving them as gift).

STEP 3: CONSTRUCTION

After acquiring the materials to make the item, the character must make the associated check, listed under "Check" on the relevant table, to actually construct the item. If the character succeeds, the item is fully function and has the profile listed in its template. If the character fails on the check, the product that comes out of the attempt is unusable, and the materials are lost.

The tables below include suggestions on how to integrate other results into construction. First crafters can use advantage and triumph results to make improvements to the item. Then the GM can spend threat and despair results to add flaws. Unless a limit is specified, an option from these tables may be selected any number of times, and its effects stack.

The amount of time Step 3: Construction takes is determined by the estimate of working hours listed in the template under "Time." Every success result reduces this time by 2 hours (to a minimum of 1 hour). [...] The final potion or talisman has an encumbrance value of 0.

ALCHEMICAL CRAFTING

Because alchemical creations are all created with the Force in some way, there are a few extra rules that apply when crafting these items.

First, only Force-sensitive characters may attempt to craft an alchemical creation.

Second, whenever a character attempts to craft an alchemical creation, they should roll Force dice equal equal to their current Force rating as part of the check, and they must have a current Force rating of at least 1 to attempt the check at all. The character does not spend the light point or dark point results from the check to generate Force points. Instead, the character may spend any light point result generated on the check to get one of the effects listed in the tables below. Likewise, the GM may spend any dark point result generated on the check to get one of the effects listed on the same table. These are the only ways to spend the light point and dark point results generated on this check.

SPENDING ADVANTAGE, TRIUMPH, THREAT, DESPAIR, LIGHT POINT, AND DARK POINT RESULTS ON POTION CREATIONS

Symbols	Effect
1 advantage, triumph, or light point	Fortifying: If the potion is beneficial, the target heals one wound when consuming it. Reviving: If the potion is beneficial, the target heals two strain when consuming it. Draining: If the potion is harmful, the target suffers two strain when consuming it.
2 advantages, 1 triumph, or 2 light points	Long-lasting: If the potion has a duration associated with it, increase the duration by one hour (or one round in structured encounters). Careful Measuring: By carefully measuring ingredients, some are saved for later. The character retains supplies worth 50% of the material price needed to craft the potion (this can only be selected once).
3 advantages, 1 triumph, or 3 light points	Large Batch: Brew up an extra large batch of the concoction, creating two doses of the potion instead of one. Extra Potency: If the potion is harmful, increase the difficulty to resist it by 1 (to a maximum of Formidable).
4 advantages, 1 triumph, or 4 light points	Recipe: Create a recipe that permanently reduces the difficulty of creating this type of potion by 1 (to a minimum of Simple [-]). Virulent: If the potion is harmful, upgrade the difficulty of any checks to resist it once.
2 triumphs, or 5 light points	Empowered: If the potion is beneficial, it remains in the user's system, and has the same effect the following round.
1 threat, despair, or dark point	Foul Taste: If the potion is beneficial, the user suffers 2 strain after consuming it and benefiting from its effects. Vile Smell: If the potion is harmful, characters add a boost die to any checks made to notice it in food, drink, or applied to a weapon.
2 threats, 1 despair, or 2 dark points	Brief Effect: If the potion has a duration associated with it, decrease the duration by one hour (to a minimum of half an hour) or by one round (to a minimum of one round). Sloppy Brewing: The character requires extra ingredients due to brewing mistakes, and must obtain additional supplies with a cost equal to 25% of the base cost.
3 threats, 1 despair, or 3 dark points	Diluted Strength: If the potion is harmful, reduce the difficulty to resist it by 1 (to a minimum of Simple [-]). Empowered by Evil: The user suffers 2 Conflict after consuming the potion.
2 despairs, or 4 dark points	Unexpected Side Effects: After the potion is consumed and its effect applied, the GM selects the effects of a different alchemical potion and applies those to the target as well. These effects should be beneficial to the target if the potion was created to be harmful, and vise versa.

SPENDING ADVANTAGE, TRIUMPH, THREAT, DESPAIR, LIGHT POINT, AND DARK POINT RESULTS ON TALISMAN CREATIONS

Symbols	Effect
1 advantage, triumph, or light point	Draining: If the talisman affects another character in a harmful manner, that character suffers 1 strain after resolving the effects of the talisman. Hidden Purpose: Add a setback die to any checks made to determine the talisman's true function.
2 advantages, 1 triumph, or 2 light points	Growing Power: If the talisman is used to oppose an enemy's skill check or an enemy must perform a skill check due to the talisman's activation, that check's difficulty is increased by 1. Invigorating: The user recovers 1 strain after using the talisman. Careful Measuring: By carefully measuring materials, some are saved for later. The character retains supplies worth 50% of the material price needed to craft the talisman (this can only be selected once).
3 advantages, 1 triumph, or 3 light points	Additional Power: If the talisman is used to inflict or reduce damage, the amount inflicted or reduced is increase by 2. Clever Construction: The crafter finds an inspired way to fashion more while using the same amount of material, creating two of that talisman instead of one.
4 advantages, 1 triumph, or 4 light points	Blueprint: Create a construction formula that permanently reduces the difficulty of creating this type of talisman by 1 (to a minimum of Simple [—]). Redirect Energy: If the talisman reduces damage or resists enemy influences, the user may make a single maneuver as an out-of-turn incidental once its effects are resolved.
2 triumphs, or 5 light points	Empowered: If the talisman can only be used once per session or is lost after one use, it instead can be used twice per session or has one additional use before it is lost (this can only be selected once). Mighty: If the talisman adds or removes dice to a check, it adds or removes one additional die of that type (this can only be selected once).
1 threat, despair, or dark point	Noticeable: Force users add a boost die to any checks made to determine that the talisman is an actual alchemically crafted item and not merely decorative jewelry or an ornamental keepsake. Cumbersome: The talisman is awkwardly fashioned. Increase its encumbrance by 1.
2 threats, 1 despair, or 2 dark points	Bad Feeling: The user suffers 1 Conflict after using the talisman. Sloppy Integration: The character requires extra ingredients due to crafting mistakes, and must obtain additional supplies with a cost equal to 25% of the base cost.
3 threats, 1 despair, or 3 dark points	Hard to Control: The user must perform a Hard difficulty Discipline check as an incidental (out-of-turn if needed) in order for the talisman to activate. Empowered by Evil: The user suffers 2 Conflict after using the talisman.
2 despairs, or 4 dark points	Twisted Fates: The user must spend a Destiny Point in order to use the talisman. Failure to Activate: The talisman seems cursed, and prone to malfunction. The GM may spend 2 Destiny Points to have the talisman fail to work when the user wishes it to. This does not count as using it for the purposes of its duration, or number of times it can be used per session or before being lost.