This thread is going to collect all alchemical items from the old mixed FMF Gearbooks thread, and is supposed to exclusively contain alchemical items, field alchemy applications, bone grinding, and chimistry, and all pertinent rules discussions.
Liber Alchemica Table of Content Links
Alchemy:
The 13th Bullet
Blackwood’s Noose
Chains of Lukas
Earthborn Elixir
LORD BRIAN’S BLESSING
Solovin’s Balm
Wraithwax and Wraithwax Catalyst
Bone Grinding:
Kin-Pact
Marrow-Drinker
Another repost from the old FMF Gearbooks thread, a compound that can give you that larger-than-life presence that can be a real boon to commanders on a battlefield:
Solovin’s Balm
[Alchemical Compound]
Cost: 42 gc per vial
Description: Sometimes referred to as Solomon’s Palm for reasons that will soon become evident, the small lead vial this compound comes in is usually kept in a compartment in the back of a sunburst of Morrow amulet. Rubbing one’s hands with this compound before applying certain kinds of powerful healing magic is known to drastically lessen the potential negative side-effects, though the rarity of this kind of magic means the compound is rarely fabricated, let alone used, and usually only applied in high-profile cases in which the priest knows the subject has had such healing magic used on them before, and is thus at an increased risk of negative consequences.
Special Rules: A character who wants to use the Heal spell (see IKRPG, p. 240) can first use a quick action to rub his hands with a dose of Solovin’s Balm before casting the spell. When then making the roll on the Pain Healing table (see IKRPG, p. 240), roll 2d6 and use the lower result. Additionally, if one of the dice for the Pain of Healing comes up on a result of 1, this use of the Heal spell does not count against the total number of times the Heal spell has been used on the subject. If both dice come up on a result of 1, this use of the Heal spell is also not subject to the accumulated penalties from previous uses of the spell on this subject, in addition to not adding to the tally of how often the Heal spell has been used.
Once a spellcaster has rubbed Solovin’s Balm onto their hands, they must use the Heal spell within 1d3+1 rounds, or this compound’s effects elapse. Each use of Solovin’s Balm is only efficacious for one casting of the Heal spell.
Brewing Requirements: Alchemy
Ingredients: 1 unit of alchemical stone, 1 unit of arcane minerals, 1 unit of heavy metals, 1 unit of mineral crystals, 1 unit of organic oil
Total Material Cost: 14 gc
Alchemical Formula: Creating Solovin’s Balm requires an alchemy lab and two hours spent combining, cooking and stabilising the ingredients. Additionally, at the beginning of the process the ingredients and lab equipment must be blessed by a priest of Veteran level or higher. At the end of synthesis, the alchemist makes an INT+Alchemy roll against a target number of 16. If the roll succeeds, the alchemist creates one vial of Solovin’s Balm. If the roll fails, one unit of alchemical waste (liquid) is created instead.
Comments welcome, as usual.
Blackwood’s Noose
[Alchemical Compound]
Cost: 45 gc per vial
Description: Drinking this thick, sludgy compound causes the imbiber’s metabolism to shut down when subjected to extreme trauma, putting them into a form of temporarily suspended animation that potentially gives rescuers sufficient time to arrive and revive them.
While the compound has gained its current popular moniker for a notorious criminal who famously used it to survive his execution, it can also be invaluable for those trapped in dire circumstances who know rescuers are on their way but will arrive a few hours too late, like miners trapped in a collapsed shaft or someone trapped underwater. A spy is also rumoured to have used the compound to survive hiding in a seashore cave that completely flooded during high tide, though trying this still must have taken nerves of steel indeed, as the compound does not take effect until just before death.
Special Rules: 1d6 minutes after a living character has drunk a dose of Blackwood’s Noose, and for up to 1d3 hours afterwards, any roll result on the injury table that could potentially kill them, e.g. from bleeding out, and any similar effect like drowning or being choked, will instead render them comatose and to all appearances dead for 1d6+PHY hours. During this time, a character examining the “body” must succeed on an INT+Medicine skill roll against a target number of 17 to realise the character isn’t truly dead (but might still mistake their condition for dying). During their coma, the user of Blackwood’s Noose requires no air, food or water, but could potentially still be harmed by temperature extremes (since there is practically no metabolism, the user could easily freeze solid if exposed to freezing temperatures, for example, killing them).
Once the character wakes or is somehow woken from their coma, they are still in the condition they were in when they went into suspended animation (so a character who is bleeding out still needs someone to see to their wounds), and will be very groggy for an additional 1d3+1 hours afterwards, suffering -2 to all skill rolls and losing a quick action each turn during this time.
It should be mentioned that Blackwood’s Noose will not protect the user from injuries that are instantly fatal (e.g. through getting a result of 3 on the injury table) or getting one’s head chopped off or other vital organs destroyed (Blackwood’s execution had been via short drop so the rope did not snap his neck, allowing the compound to work while he was choking to death). Also, characters who are capable of collecting souls may notice that they did not get this character’s soul, though they might misattribute this to other causes (e.g. this character’s soul bearing the mark of an Infernal).
Morgan’s Notes: Though Blackwood’s Noose could potentially be used during surgeries as well, the fact that the compound only begins to take effect when the subject is in dire straits indeed has been off-putting to patients, to say the least.
Brewing Requirements: Alchemy
Ingredients: 1 unit of alchemical stone, 1 unit of alchemical waste (liquid), 1 burrow-mawg adrenal gland, 1 unit of mineral crystals, 1 unit of organic toxin
Total Material Cost: 15 gc
Alchemical Formula: Creating Blackwood’s Noose 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 15. If the roll succeeds, the alchemist creates one vial of Blackwood’s Noose. If the roll fails, one unit of alchemical waste (liquid) is created instead.
Comments welcome, as usual.
Earthborn Elixir
Cost: 60 gc per vial
Description: Drinking this compound, which seems to constantly change colour depending on nearby objects and creatures, grants the user some of the elemental adaptability earthborn dire trolls are infamous for, though the effect can also become distracting to the user if the terrain does not allow this adaptability to trigger.
Special Rules: 1d3+1 rounds after a living character has drunk a dose of earthborn elixir, and for 1d6+PHY minutes afterwards, they gain an earthborn dire troll’s Elemental Communion ability (A character with the Elemental Communion ability gains +2 DEF while within 2” of deep or shallow water, +2 ARM while within 2” of obstacles or obstructions, and +2 SPD if they begin their current activation while within 2” of rough terrain).
However, in each round in which users of earthborn elixir are not getting any bonuses from their Elemental Communion ability, they instead suffer a -1 penalty to all attack rolls and skill rolls, as well as to STR.
After a dose of earthborn elixir has worn off, the -1 penalty to attack rolls, skill rolls and STR continues to persist for the same duration as the elixir’s beneficial effects (as the user does not have the Elemental Communion ability any more, and thus is now unable to negate the penalty). Multiple doses of earthborn elixir can be taken end to end without negative side-effects as such, but the duration of the aftereffects is cumulative, and only begins to elapse once the last dose’s beneficial effects have worn off.
Brewing Requirements: Alchemy
Ingredients: 2 units of alchemical stone, 1 unit of arcane minerals, 1 unit of mineral crystals, 1 unit of mutagenic extract
Total Material Cost: 20 gc
Alchemical Formula: Creating earthborn elixir 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 vial of earthborn elixir. If the roll fails, one unit of alchemical waste (liquid) is created instead.
Comments welcome, as usual.
Kin-Pact
[Bone Grinder Fetish]
Description: Made from the braided sinews of the alpha of a pack of animals, a bone grinder may use this fetish to tie a bone grinder fetish to an individual who is not a bone grinder themselves in order to grant the powers of that fetish to another while they stay close.
Special Rules: A character with the Bone Grinder ability can spend a full action to use the kin-pact cord to tie another bone grinder fetish to a friendly and willing character. That character then receives all the benefits granted by that fetish while they are within the bone grinder’s command range. As long as the kin-pact’s lifespan has not elapsed yet, it can be unwound and used on a different bone grinder fetish any number of times.
A kin-pact cannot be used on fetishes that must be consumed rather than worn or carried, but a kin-pact can be used on fetishes not created by the bone grinder who made the kin-pact. A character can only benefit from one fetish tied to them by a kin-pact at the same time.
The GM has the final say as to whether any bone grinder fetish can be loaned to another character this way (e.g. fetishes that affect spellcasting or require an ARC stat would not offer any bonuses to non-Gifted characters, for example).
Creation: Creating this fetish requires the carcass of the alpha of a pack of animals (e.g. the lead wolf of a pack of wolves). Creating the fetish requires the bone grinder to strip out the carcass’s sinews, clean them, and braid them into a cord, which takes two hours and requires a successful INT+Alchemy or INT+Craft (extraordinary zoology) skill roll, whichever is lower, against a target number of 15. On a failure, the bone grinder
A kin-pact fetish retains its potency for d3+1 weeks or until the current user makes an attack against the bone grinder who used the fetish on them while within their command range, whichever comes first.
Comments welcome, as usual.
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.
Chains of Lukas
Cost: 48 gc per vial
Description: Another alchemical compound attributed to the Thamarite Scion of the Mad, the so-called Chains of Lukas are a strange fluid of an indeterminate colour that no two observers seem capable of agreeing on. Ingesting the compound or breathing in its aerosolised form will cause the victim’s mind to become stuck on one emotion for a time, which in the short term will lead to irrational behaviour and may, in the long term, cause insanity.
Special Rules: 1d3+3 minutes after ingesting a dose of Chains of Lukas and for 1d3+1 hours afterwards, a living character must pass an Intellect roll against a target number of 14 or become unable to experience any emotion but the one they were feeling in the round in which the compound took effect. During this time, nothing short of magic can change the character’s emotional state, and even on a successful attempt to magically change the character’s emotional state, the character will then simply remain “stuck” in their new emotional state until the compound’s effects have elapsed.
While Chains of Lukas are in effect, attempts to persuade the target character to act in contradiction to their emotional state suffer a -4 penalty to the required Social skill roll, while attempts to persuade them to act upon their emotions gain a +2 bonus. Similarly, all skill and attack rolls the character makes to act against their current emotion suffer a -2 penalty, while all skill and attack rolls made for actions in accordance with their emotional state gain a +1 bonus. The character is also effectively fearless if they were not suffering from any of the effects of fear when Chains of Lukas took effect, though if they were currently suffering from Anxiety or Panic (see IKRPG, p. 224, for details), these conditions will neither worsen nor improve as long as the compound is in effect.
Multiple doses of Chains of Lukas can be used end to end, or additional doses may be applied simultaneously. In either case a separate Intellect roll must be made to resist each individual dose, and the duration of the compound’s effects is cumulative for each failed roll.
Chains of Lukas are usually deployed via alchemical grenade (see IKRPG, p. 297); in this case, the compound takes effect immediately. An alchemical grenade filled with Chains of Lukas costs 58 gc.
Brewing Requirements: Alchemy
Ingredients: 1 unit of alchemical stone, 1 unit of arcane extract, 1 unit of heavy metals, 1 unit of mineral crystals, 1 unit of organic toxin
Total Material Cost: 16 gc
Alchemical Formula: Creating Chains of Lukas 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 vial of Chains of Lukas. If the roll fails, one unit of alchemical waste (liquid) is created instead, and breathing in the fumes of the failed synthesis causes the alchemist’s emotions to fluctuate wildly, inflicting a -1 penalty to skill and attack rolls for 1d3x10 minutes from the distraction.
Comments welcome, as usual.
The 13th Bullet
Cost: 64 gc per bullet (light pistol or light rifle ammunition)
Description: Also known as the Black Bullet or Lynch’s Wrath, this rune shot bullet has been specially crafted from alchemically modified materials to allow a gun mage to supercharge it with more rune shot spells than would otherwise be realistically feasible. Originally custom-made for Captain Dixon Lynch of the Black 13th Strike Force, the formula has since been stolen and become available to any gun mage who is willing and able to pay the exorbitant cost for a single projectile that could shift the tide of battle in one fell swoop.
Special Rules: When a gun mage casts rune shot spells on a 13th Bullet loaded into their magelock firearm, they can choose to upkeep all rune shot spells on the 13th Bullet by gaining 1 fatigue (if a will weaver) or spending 1 focus or 1 fury (if a focuser or harnesser) in their Control Phases, irrespective of the number of rune shot spells already on the 13th Bullet. This enables the gun mage to continue charging the bullet with rune shot spells over consecutive turns until they are ready to take the shot, or to keep one charged-up bullet ready for a later attack.
As usual, no duplicate spells may be cast on the 13th Bullet, and upkeeping rune shot spells on a 13th Bullet also counts as upkeeping a friendly spell on the gun mage. If the gun mage is unable to pay the upkeep cost or otherwise prevented from upkeeping spells, all spells already on the 13th Bullet expire, though the gun mage may begin charging the bullet again.
A 13th Bullet with upkept rune shot spells on it makes the runes on a magelock firearm glow very brightly. This inflicts a -3 penalty to the gun mage’s Sneak rolls, beginning when the gun mage first pays the upkeep cost. Charging a 13th Bullet loaded into a non-magelock firearm is also extremely unwise, as the bullet will automatically damage the firearm when the upkeep cost is first paid, and will completely destroy the firearm in the gun mage’s next Control Phase if the gun mage continues upkeeping the rune shot spells on the bullet (see “Imperfect Instruments” in IKKNG, p. 244, for the effects of non-magelock firearms being damaged by rune shot spells). Gun mages must make use of aids like runestorm oil (see MIKG1, pp. 228-229) if they want to make the most of trying to fire a 13th Bullet from a non-magelock firearm.
Example of Play: A gun mage with ARC 4 begins charging a 13th Bullet by casting Rune Shot: Accuracy, Rune Shot: Black Penny, Rune Shot: Brutal and Rune Shot: Molten Shot on it, gaining 4 fatigue and choosing to upkeep the 13th Bullet. In the gun mage’s next Maintenance Phase, his fatigue is first reduced by ARC as usual, then the gun mage gains 1 fatigue in his Control Phase to upkeep the 13th Bullet. His magelock begins to visibly blaze with power at this point, likely ruining any chance of staying unnoticed, but the gun mage immediately proceeds to add Rune Shot: Detonator and Rune Shot: Heart Stopper to the 13th Bullet, gaining an additional 7 fatigue but passing his fatigue roll. The gun mage has now cast all the rune shot spells he knows and takes his shot, firing a bullet containing 11 points of fatigue’s worth of rune shot spells. Alternatively, he could also have chosen to keep the bullet ready for a while yet by continuing to pay the upkeep cost.
Brewing Requirements: Craft Rune Shot ability, Alchemy, Craft (gunsmith) or Pistol or Rifle
Morgan’s Note: An alchemist and a gun mage can work in tandem to create a 13th Bullet, with the alchemist crafting the bullet itself and the gun mage finishing the runic inscriptions.
Ingredients: 1 unit of alchemical stone, 1 unit of arcane minerals, 1 unit of heavy metals, 1 unit of mineral crystals; basic material for one rune shot bullet and casing (1 gc)
Total Material Cost: 14 gc
Alchemical Formula: Creating a 13th Bullet requires an alchemy lab as well as a rune shot casting kit and two hours spent combining, cooking and stabilising the ingredients, plus 15 minutes for inscribing the finished bullet and casing with runes. At the end of this time, the alchemist makes an INT+Alchemy roll or Craft (gunsmith) roll, whichever is lower, against a target number of 16 (The alchemist may substitute INT+Pistol or INT+Rifle for INT+Craft (gunsmith), as these skills also allow the fabrication of ammunition). If the roll succeeds, the alchemist creates one 13th Bullet. If the roll fails, the resulting product is unusable as either a rune bullet or standard bullet, and counts as two units of alchemical waste (crystal) instead.
Comments welcome, as usual.