User talk:Xandar

Hello!

Interestingly, there's an obscure book I ran across that I still haven't fully managed to understand, but it's called Alchemy & Herbalists; You should be able to google the name and bring up the free PDF I have. I was going to just put in a direct link to the PDF, but the spam filter isn't allowing it for some reason. You may find it an interesting read, along with Pathfinder's Alchemist class and this.

All that aside, welcome to the Wiki, and if you want any help, don't be afraid to give me a yell :P Depending on how well your Alchemy project turns out, I may make reference of it in the campaign setting I'm currently building, if that's okay with you.

Anyway, have a nice day. --Zhenra-Khal (talk) 23:21, 30 May 2017 (MDT)

Thank you for the warm welcome! I've found the book (I think) and intend to read through it soon to see if it offers any good additions to the Revision, I half wonder if its a little late to learn of its existence however as I'm Nearing a point where I'm almost ready to add pages on here. Given that its still not uploaded and "out" yet however, there's never a point where it's too late I suppose. I was generally a fan of the Alchemist Class from Pathfinder, interestingly the only thing about it that I didn't care for was the focus on the 'Bomb' feature it had. I don't really know why, it didn't ever sit right with me, I always felt it should be more specific than just a 'Bomb.' Its *Possible* that I'll include a custom Alchemist Class with the Revision with Class Features Catered to the rules I've come up with, but I'm not certain of that yet, as its basically just a set of Alternative Alchemy Rules for now. That Witch Doctor Class I'd seen before, hadn't given it a full and proper read yet, but I think it looks to be a really useful one, and if I ever do the Expansion regarding Witchcraft and Voodoo and the like, it would be an Excellent companion, as would the Alchemist class with a few Minor changes, or a complete rewrite that's suited for this specifically.

At the moment the most pressing matter is finalizing a Duration Formula for Potions, expanding the Reagents somewhat, applying Toxicity Ratings to the Toxic Ingredients to separate them from one another, and then just filling out the list of Potions and Poisons more than there already is. Honestly its a little overwhelming at the moment, I'd almost given up on it because of that, but your Welcome and interest in it has given me a Confidence boost. I'd be Perfectly fine with your use of the System, should it prove to be something that you actually Like once I publish it!

I think there's enough content over it that it might Warrant a "Book" Setup akin to how the Tome of Prowess content is laid out, so as a new user, if you could help me figure out how to set something like that up when its ready, I'd be Hugely in your Debt.

Thanks again for your interest, and I'm a little surprised you even found my User page given that I have no official content yet! --Xandar (talk) 00:26, 31 May 2017 (MT)

I just noticed your userpage in the recent changes and decided to give a quick check, and decided your Alchemy idea was interesting, and to offer my help.

As far as a duration formula, I have rather little idea what to do there, except to determine a base duration - I dunno what your setup is, but if you'r using a "Caster level" of sorts for the system, you could put the base duration at somewhere around 1 round/ 2 CL (Possibly using the Craft (Alchemy) DC of the finished product as the "caster level"). Then you can determine "steps" of increase and decrease - For example, in my campaign setting, in the Magic section, the spell durations come in "Steps" like this: Instantaneous > 1 round > 1 round/2 CL > 1 minute > 1 round/CL > 1 minute/CL > 1 hour > 1 hour/CL > 24 hours > 1 day/CL > Permanent. The caster can "tweak" the spell, making it more difficult to cast in return for a longer duration, as so forth; Such as increasing the spell's duration by one step, reducing the casting time by one step, and so forth.

That way, the alchemist can make more difficult but longer-lasting potions, or easier ones that don't last as long, and so forth. If it's helpful, here's the link: Realms Of Beyond (3.5e Campaign Setting)/Magic.

Anyway, Alchemy has always been one of my favorite fantasy subjects, and most alchemical items are either rather pitiful is usefulness in comparison to magic items and the like, or simply replicate magic effects. Creating a better system is something I'm all for, and until I saw that someone was working on a system for Alchemy, I hadn't really thought a whole lot about it; I overhauled the magic system for my campaign setting - But what about the poor Alchemy system? 'Tis something I hadn't considered until now, but it really should be addressed eventually.

As for a "book" setup, I'm sure I can help you format your creation for that; It's time-consuming, but not incredibly difficult. I'd be glad to give a hand where I can.

On the note of reagents, the Alchemy and Herbalists book contains some information on reagents, so that would be a place to look for ideas. I recall some optional spell components in a few splatbooks, but I don't remember which books or what the components even were, or if they'd be useful to alchemy.

Anyway, like I said, let me know if you need ideas or help formatting! I generally check the wiki every day, so it should never be too terribly long before I reply. --Zhenra-Khal (talk) 00:50, 31 May 2017 (MDT)

I'd actually come up with a number of Formula's already regarding factors like Duration, Craft DC, Save DC, Effect Strength, etc. The basic principle behind the system at the moment is that you have Five "Slots" where Alchemic Reagents go, limiting it to Five Reagent categories overall felt a little constrained initially but I think it works for the better. Each of these Reagent Slots can accept up to 20 of an Individual Reagent in a "Stack" just to serve as a Cap to creation, otherwise you'd have people dedicated enough to put Hundreds+ in each slot for Ridiculously hard to make but subsequently Ridiculously powerful creations as far as effect intensity goes.

The Duration Formula right now is shared across a few different aspects of the Revision and meant to be a Diminishing Returns structure, so that you aren't Just Cramming it full of Reagents and might actually use the Specialized Reagent that Boosts Duration in itself. That Formula is: 1/2 Primary Reagent (Max 10) + 1/3 Secondary Reagent (Max 6 rounded down) + 1/5 Tertiary Reagent (Max 4) + 1/10 Quaternary Reagent (Max 2) + 1/20 Quintary Reagent (Max 1.) It's a little restrictive overall but that leaves you with a creation that lasts a guaranteed 23 Rounds, which isn't Bad, but you could get much further with it if you were to dedicate one of the slots to the Reagent that is designed as a Duration Enhancer. The way I see it, it pushes (Forces, lets be honest) a player to choose between trying to add in more Damage to say, a poison, or another beneficial effect in this Health Potion or whatever, or just increasing the duration in general with the proper Reagents.

That Same Formula was initially going to be the Poison Damage/Round Formula as well before I realized that that would make a Poison made from Tons and Tons of Black Lotus Flowers essentially equal in damage to a poison made from say, Nightshade, regardless of the individual poisons Merits or how lethal they're supposed to be, hence the addition of the Toxicity Rating layer of information. It can probably be considered a Bad Move but I've fairly drastically redone the effects of poisons to be a DoT effect with Minor but still existent Attribute Damage. I think them damaging Str, Dex, Con, etc made enough sense on the thought that a poison could weaken you, but the damage being solely concentrated there didn't sit right with me. A few of the Reagents and subsequent poisons are also capable of status effect Conditions, such as Nausea, Dazed, Fatigued, exhausted, etc. It's complicated enough and has enough things that people Might Not like that I've already been marking down Variant Rules to the system that are more in line with what I assume to be a traditional view on D&D rules regarding Damage and the like.

Regarding the bit about Optional Spell components, that's kind of what this whole Revision is about. Almost nothing is "Required" in any of the Alchemic combinations, its (in my opinion) very Free form and allows a pretty significant degree of customization, in a way every Reagent is Optional because nothings Forcing you to use them unless you're following a specific Recipe to achieve a specific potion or Poison. I'm constantly expanding the Reagents, Potions and Poisons as I work on this in an attempt to get it more Fleshed out, hopefully that book gives me some new ideas, things to adapt, etc as I read into it, thanks again for telling me about it because I certainly didn't know it existed. --Xandar (talk) 11:20, 31 May 2017

All that sounds really wicked. Can't wait to see the finished product.

Also, yeah, I didn't know the book existed for a long time, then I randomly stumbled across it somewhere and thought it was very interesting. --Zhenra-Khal (talk) 11:32, 31 May 2017 (MDT)

So, the Revision is in its final stages and has gotten quite a bit of reworking. When it comes to uploading it here, any suggestions as to how I should go about this? I don't want to be That Guy who doesn't know how Websites like this work (I already don't) and suddenly a Handful of new Pages crop up when that's a No-No. Still a bit of time to go before its completely ready, but I figure getting info like that cleared away might be beneficial. --Xandar (talk) 02:07, 24 July 2017 (MT)

Reminds me of the alchemy system in an old prg computer game called Darklands. This shows a little of what I mean: //www.darklands.net/tools/winning.shtml Elohim (talk) 12:04, 9 September 2017 (MDT)

Thanks!

Just wanted to say thanks for referencing / building on top of my ToP work. It's always nice to run across that sort of thing :-) - Tarkisflux ^Talk 00:19, 30 August 2017 (MDT)

More referencing than building upon I would say, I'm a big fan of Tome of Prowess so I wanted both to be able to work in tandem, and took a bit of inspiration from some of your methods in the different Skills, but overall I don't think its quite the same, or probably as well made. Likewise, its nice to see someone's had a look at my work, thank you! --Xandar (talk) 19:46, 30 August 2017 (MT)