Wraithwax [Alchemical Formula]
Cost: 48 gc per stick of wraithwax (sufficient for six wooden arrows or crossbow bolts)
Description: This innocuous-looking compound appears to very much be an anachronism in the age of firearms, but its inventors hope to yet find a way to adapt it to more modern ranged weapons. Simply put, wraithwax can be used to imbue arrows and other wooden missiles with the ability to bypass obstacles on the way to their target. Sticks of wraithwax need to be stored in lead containers before use in order to prevent ambient arcane energies from setting off compound, which would render it useless in short order.
Special Rules: When a character makes a ranged attack using a bow or crossbow and arrows or bolts impregnated with wraithwax, the attack ignores concealment and cover (but not line of sight) unless the intervening obstacles and terrain have been made impervious to incorporeal or ghostly characters.
Unfortunately, the effects of wraithwax on an appropriate missile also need to be triggered by an arcane pulse. This pulse can be delivered by using a magical or mechanikal bow or crossbow to shoot the missile, by the attacker being under the effect of a friendly spell that enhances their ranged attack and/or damage rolls, or by touching the arrow with a wraithwax catalyst a few moments before the attack is made. If neither of these conditions has been met, the wraithwax missile has no additional effect (and can actually be reused if it can be retrieved otherwise undamaged), but once the wraithwax’s properties have been triggered, they last for one round or until the missile hits its target, whichever comes first, and then the compound burns itself out, rendering the missile a regular arrow or bolt of its kind again.
In order to imbue a wooden missile with wraithwax, a stick of wraithwax must be melted down, and the missile must then be allow to soak up the molten wax before allowing the compound to cool and harden again. This procedure requires no roll but takes at least one hour.
Brewing Requirements: Alchemy
Ingredients: 2 units of alchemical stone, 1 unit of ectoplasm, 1 unit of mineral crystals, 3 units of organic oil (wax)
Total Material Cost: 16 gc
Alchemical Formula: Creating wraithwax requires an alchemy lab and two hours spent combining, cooking and stabilising the ingredients. At the end of this time, the alchemist makes an INT+Alchemy roll against a target number of 16. If the roll succeeds, the alchemist creates one stick of wraithwax, which is sufficient to modify six wooden arrows or crossbow bolts. If the roll fails, one unit of alchemical waste (crystal) is created instead.
Wraithwax Catalyst [Alchemical Formula]
Cost: 11 gc per crystal (see Alchemical Formula)
Description: Touching this small, faintly glowing crystal to a wooden missile imbued with wraithwax triggers that compound’s special properties. Wraithwax catalyst crystals last indefinitely and can be reused any number of time, but if archers or crossbowmen need to resort to their use, the awkward procedure usually makes taking the shot less accurate.
Special Rules: A character who has a wraithwax arrow nocked or a crossbow loaded with a wraithwax bolt can use a quick action to touch the missile with the catalyst immediately before taking the shot in order to trigger the wraithwax compound’s effects (This usually precludes gaining an aiming bonus, but an assistant standing in B2B with the archer or crossbowman can activate the wraithwax missile instead by spending a quick action in their activation).
Brewing Requirements: Alchemy
Ingredients: 1 unit of alchemical stone, 1 unit of arcane minerals, 1 unit of mineral crystals
Total Material Cost: 11 gc
Alchemical Formula: Creating wraithwax catalyst crystals requires an alchemy lab and two hours spent combining, cooking and stabilising the ingredients, plus another 1d3+1 days for the crystals to grow. At the end of this time, the alchemist makes an INT+Alchemy roll against a target number of 14. If the roll succeeds, the alchemist creates three wraithwax catalyst crystals. If the roll fails, one unit of alchemical waste (crystal) is created instead.
Comments welcome, as usual.