User:Xandar/Complete Alchemy/Mortis Alchemia

Poisons in 3.5 are very hit-and-miss as far as usefulness goes. Some people adore them, some people hate them, some are indifferent to them. I see their merits, but I don't like how they operate, something about their sole impact on Attributes just doesn't mesh well with me. While some may disagree with this strategy, this portion of the Revision changes the way that Poisons work and reclassifies them some. The following content changes the original categorization, instead of referring to all of them as just "Poisons" the general term here will be "Toxins." This is to avoid confusion with the sub-categories that are in use, those being: Poisons, Venoms, and Toxins.

• Poisons are self explanatory, and follow their real-life restrictions. When you hear that this substance is a poison, you should know that they must be ingested or inhaled, some even being a Contact Delivery. Poisons are Always manufactured, being derived from different plant materials.
• Venoms are also self explanatory, also following their real-life restrictions, a venom must be taken in through the blood via injuries, like the bites or stings from various creatures. There are Manufactured Venoms as well, but the most common source is from creatures.
• Toxins are a little different, while they share the Terminology for generic reference, this is appropriate, as Toxic-classed Reagents can be prepared into Either Poison or Venom form, allowing for greater freedom for the user, no longer are you forced to deliver it via a blade or by feeding it to your victim, you can choose which method is more ideal for your target. An important thing to note about Toxins is that once they’re prepared into either Poison or Venom form, the choice is set and may not be changed.

Toxin use as presented here is not an innately evil act, illegal however does describe the use of Toxins. Typically carrying a vial of any Toxin is difficult to justify however, as their use is almost always associated with Assassins and generally regarded as something that only one who is up to no good would use. Poisons are considered dishonorable to any classes or characters that hold Honor in high regard, but can be utilized by Good characters without it being considered against their Morality, though it may not sit well with them that they used such underhanded tactics against a person. Against a Monster of some sort however, few see issues with its use. Good Characters typically would be more inclined to use various different Potions with offensive capabilities, however.

Like in Chapter 1, this chapter is broken into numerous sections as follows.

• Creation DC - The Formula that determines how difficult it is to craft a Toxin. With the Creation DC in hand, an attempt at creation may be made. This Formula determines the difficulty of creating the toxin you’ve devised, and the formula is shared with Potion creation.
• Creation Time - Toxins, much like Potions, don’t spontaneously appear once the Reagents are brought together in the same container. This Formula Determines how long it takes to Brew a Poison, and is shared with Potion creation.
• Toxin Duration - An important thing to know about a poison you’ve devised, Poison Duration will tell you how long a Venom or Poison will remain in the system of those who Fail to save against it. This Formula is also shared with Potion creation.
• Toxin Effects - While Self explanatory enough, the effects of a Toxin must be quantified, and information as part of the Effects is used as part of other formulas. This is not so much of a Formula as much as it is a basic explanation of how to accomplish this, and is shared with Potions.
• Toxin Save DC - Similarly Self explanatory, and a Unique Formula to Toxins, The Save DC of course determines what the intended Victim of a Toxin must roll in order to resist falling victim to its effects. Should they fail, the Toxin runs its course.

Toxin Creation DC

Creation DC 10 + (+1 Per Reagent Slot Used) + (Reagent Quantity/2)

The First and perhaps most Important thing to determine when creating either a Potion or Poison, is the DC to Craft the poison in the first place. This is directly borrowed from the Creation DC of Potions, and functions identically.

Creation Time

Creation Time : (DC-15)/2 (Minimum 1)

A factor that’s important to know, creation time is self explanatory, dictating how long it takes to make a Poison. For the sake of simplicity, Round appropriately for even X amount of Hours creation times, rounding down if it’s .1-.4, up if it's .5-.9. This is to prevent Complex and higher level potions from being created Easily and frequently. Example:

Greenblood Oil : 4 Assassin Vine, DC 18. (18-15)/2 = 1.5, Rounded to 2.

This means a sample of Greenblood Oil created with 4 samples of Assassin Vine takes Two Hours to brew into a usable toxin form. Much like in Potions, there is Necessity to clean your equipment after it is used, sharing the Ten minute cleaning time, and should you choose to allow it to generate some form of Error chance, it would share that as well.

Toxin Duration

5 + (+1 Per Reagent Slot Used) + (+1 Per 2 Reagents)/2, Minimum 1.

The duration of a Toxin is an important thing to know, as this rebuild does damage per round, it allows for you to know how many rounds a Toxin will last, and the damage it will deal over its entire run. This Formula is intended to establish a Baseline, and last longer in accordance to the reagents used in its creation, as more and more reagents ought to contribute towards both the duration and intensity of the resulting Toxin.

Toxicity Rating and Toxin Effects

Toxicity Rating confers the Damage per Round that a Toxin will deal, an integral thing to know for anyone who intends to use Toxins. Damage per round is the chosen Version of Poisons for this revision. Initially it was more problematic when the Duration Formula did not include dividing by two, as Poisons would obviously do twice as much damage over their total duration, but the new numbers are more satisfying. Damage/Round is determined by the Toxic Ingredients solely, so if you were to include Ignus Flower, or some other Reagent that doesn’t have a Toxic Quality to it, it wouldn’t enhance the Damage/Round.

Total Toxicity Rating (Add together the Toxicity Rank of Every Individual Reagent to determine this)/15

With the Above Formula, it's entirely possible to have a resulting number that is Below 1. In cases like these it alters the Damage/Round structure somewhat, instead of dealing damage every round appropriate to the amount listed, the damage gets ‘Banked’ until it Reaches 1. So for example, Cofus Powder has a Toxicity Rank of 1, were you to make a Venom of it with 5 Samples of Cofus Powder, the Total Toxicity Rating would be 5. Divided by 10 is .5. The Venom wouldn’t deal .5 Damage per turn, instead being Banked until it totals to 1, which means it would Deal 1 Damage every 2 Turns instead. Whenever the damage is at least 1 per round and has a leftover, it is rounded appropriately, up if it is .5-9, down if it is .1-4.

Secondary Reagents like Ignus Flower, Thunder Petal, Gelu Crystals and so forth with Energy Types or other effects do Not contribute to the Damage/Round that a Toxin has, but can change the damage type or grant it additional effects instead. Ignus Flower may result in the poison doing Fire Typed Damage, Thunder Petal may result in Lightning Damage, etc. More exotic Reagents such as Pondero Pollen may result in the Victim being resistant to magic, possibly preventing them from Restoring themselves with curative magic.

In the case of Secondary Reagents such as Ignus flower being used to change the Damage type (Such as with ‘Fang’ Venoms) Do *Not* factor them into the Duration Formula, as they have no inherent value towards Extending a Toxin, solely changing the Damage type Of the Toxin. While this doesn’t contribute to the Duration of a Toxin, is should be included in the creation DC and Save DC’s. In a case where the Damage type induced by the Reagent is the Sole Damage contribution, then it does contribute towards the Duration.

Secondary Effects can be very versatile, allowing for the creation of Utility Toxins that are relatively undetectable by those who currently suffer from them. If a Toxin has no Damage per round, the Victim may not even know they have been poisoned, as nothing seems to be amiss. In cases like this, the Duration of the Poison is replaced with an Incubation period, delaying the desired effects by the time specified instead. Often this leads to Toxins that have a myriad of effects, but take quite a while to kick in.

Effects like Paralysis, Sleep, Unconsciousness, Blindness, Deafness, Mute, and so forth have their own Methods to determine duration of those particular effects, but in the case of Reagents that Directly Damage Attributes, such as Strength or Constitution, the Reagent itself contains the detail on how much it individually contributes to a concoction. A Toxin designed to impact Nothing but Attributes would be Effective, particularly if it's designed to target several vital ones simultaneously, but the more Reagents placed into a brew as it’s being created, the more difficult it is to create it overall.

Attribute Damage in Toxins should not be Instantaneous, neither at the beginning of a Poison, nor at the end. Attribute Damage should be reflected by the Damage that a Toxin does to your body as you’re exposed to it over time. This makes more sense in regard to Venom, and to Reagents that have Attribute Damage in Addition to Toxicity Ratings, but to keep it consistent, it applies here as well. The easiest way to Determine this is to Divide the Damage to an Attribute that a Poison will Deal by its Duration, for example 3 Strength Damage over 12 Rounds, this would deal 1 Damage to your Strength every 4 Rounds, up to the Total 3 Strength Damage.

Variant Rule : If you take issue with the Set Damage per Round Structure, feel free to adapt it to a Rudimentary Die based system. If it does 1 Damage per round, don’t alter it, 2 Damag per round, flip a coin. 3 Damge per round, a D3 or d4-1. 4 Damage per round, a d4. Five Damage per round, a d4+1 or d6-1. Six Damage per round, a d6. Seven Damage per round, d6+1 or d8-1. 8 Damage per Round, a d8. 9 Damage per Round, a d8+1 or d10-1. 10 Damage Per Round, a d10. Apply as you prefer.

Toxin Save DC

The Save DC of a Toxin is equally as important as Prior factors, as it's necessary to know what an enemy must make on their save in order to Resist being Poisoned.

10 + (+1 Per Reagent Slot) + (+1 Per 4 Reagents) 10 + (+1 Per Reagent Slot) + (+Toxicity Total/4) + (+1 Per 1 Damage/Round)

If a Toxin has no Toxicity Score, use the First Formula instead.

This is to represent that the Toxicity of a Toxin is impacted by its Concentration, you can’t expect the most Deadly poison in the world to be just as effective when diluted with water, nor can you expect the weakest poison in the world to be just as weak when concentrated several times over. It may be possible to add specific quantities like adding 50% of the original DC when you Concentrate it and have added 50% of the effect intensity, but as I haven’t tested these numbers yet, it sounds more like that would get out of hand. Rapidly increasing the DC without proportionate effects has its use in reference to balance (Most directly to prevent players from repeatedly concentrating a mild poison to a severely overpowered status), but I’d like for the DC to represent the poison effects more as well.

Error Chance

Error chance is determined by the Reagents included in a poison as it’s created. For every Individual sample of a Reagent, the poison incurs 1% of Error Chance, scaling to the total number of Reagents included, and then distributed among the Flukes and Flaws System as listed Below, maxing out at 100%. A Poison comprised of Twelve Reagents would have a 12% Error Chance, which is rolled upon Successful Creation. If Flaw chance is accrued by letting a Poison Sit for too long during creation, it will expand the Flaw chance even if Error Chance has reached 100%, and will overwrite Fluke chance because of this.

Chicory is a Reagent that can reduce Error chance per sample used, but that eliminates both Flaws and Flukes, as both are considered Errors in creation, even if they may be beneficial.

Flukes and Flaws

These Manifest in a Number of different Forms, representing the chance of an Alchemist making a mistake, no matter how skilled. These mistakes can be beneficial or detrimental, and can be considered a straightforward sort of “Buff vs Debuff” system for Alchemic combinations. A Fluke is a Positive, or at least Beneficial “error” in creation, while a Flaw is a Negative, or undesired Error in creation. There are two options, for the Manifestation of Flukes and Flaws, depending on Preference.

The First method involves a table similarly to the Least, Minor, Major tables used for Treasure. First you roll to Determine if an Error occurs during Creation (Typically either with 2d10 for Percentage, or if it’s a multiple of 5, a d20 can be used similarly to the method listed below), then Determine whether its a Fluke or a Flaw. Afterwards, roll Percentage once more according to the result. 01-70% gives a Least (Rank 1) Fluke or Flaw. 71-90% gives a Minor (Rank 2) Fluke or Flaw, and 91-100% gives a Major (Rank 3) Fluke or Flaw. Simply Roll an appropriate Die to determine which Fluke or flaw is granted as they should be chosen Randomly.

The Second Method streamlines it somewhat, and is based on Rolling a D20 instead, requiring Error chance to be Multiples of Ten, and the Ranks of Flukes and Flaws is dependant on this. This is determined by dividing the Error chance in half and assigning it to Flukes and Flaws appropriately. 10% Error Margin becomes 5% Fluke chance, 5% Flaw chance, these are assigned to 1 and 20 respectively, and can only result in Rank 1 of either. 20% Error Margin becomes 10% Fluke Chance, 10% Flaw chance, these are assigned to 1-2, and 19-20 respectively, 1 and 20 result in Rank 2’s, 2 and 19 result in Rank 1’s. 30% Error Margin becomes 15% Fluke chance, 15% Flaw chance, assigned to 1-3 and 19-20, 3 and 18 are Rank 1’s, 2 and 19 are Rank 2’s, and 1 and 20 are Rank 3’s. As the Error Margin expands past 30%, add 5% to the Lower Ranks before the Higher Ranks. For example a 40% Error margin has a 20% chance for Flukes or Flaws, 5% chance for a Rank 3 (1 or 20), 5% chance for a Rank 2 (2 or 19) and a 10% chance for a Rank 1 (3-4 and 17-18).

Flukes:

Improved Effects - A Fluke that benefits your creation by treating it as though it were made with additional reagents, even when it wasn’t. This should be determined Randomly, but for simplicity, a player or the DM may choose the reagent impacted by this Fluke. When a Potion is using Compound Reagents (Byssodica in Tandem with Ignus Leaf For example) Treat it as though Both are impacted by this to avoid bizarre conditions where a Potion grants Fire Resistance, but also technically should accrue fire Damage due to excess ignus leaf, or by accidentally resisting something unintentionally due to excess Byssodica.

• Improved Effects Rank 1 - When Calculating the effects, treat it as though it were made with 20% more of a Single Reagent. This doesn’t improve the Duration, only the effects.
• Improved Effects Rank 2 - When Calculating the effects, treat it as though it were made with 40% more of a Single Reagent. This doesn’t improve the Duration, only the effects.
• Improved Effects Rank 3 - When Calculating the effects, treat it as though it were made with 20% more of a Single Reagent. This doesn’t improve the Duration, only the effects.

Improved Duration - A fluke that benefits your creation by increasing its Duration, or reducing it where applicable. Creations that benefit from a longer Duration are improved by this Fluke, Creations that benefit from a Shorter Duration are Reduced by this Fluke. Regardless of how Tempus Nuts are used, the Duration will be Improved, meaning if they’re Empowered at the cost of a Shorter Duration, this fluke will extend the Duration further.

• Improved Duration Rank 1 - Alter the Duration of the Creation by 25%. Round appropriately based on longer or shorter duration benefits.
• Improved Duration Rank 2 - Alter the Duration of the Creation by 50%. Round appropriately based on longer or shorter duration benefits.
• Improved Duration Rank 3 - Alter the Duration of the Creation by 75%. Round appropriately based on longer or shorter duration benefits.

Intensify Creation - A Fluke that Benefits your creation overall, this fluke is similar to Improved Effects, but applies to the Potion as a whole rather than an individual reagent, and the effects aren’t quite as intensified because of this, but are intensified broadly. This does not improve Duration.

• Intensify Creation Rank 1 - Treat the effects of the creation as 10% Higher than they would otherwise be.
• Intensify Creation Rank 2 - Treat the effects of the creation as 20% Higher than they would otherwise be.
• Intensify Creation Rank 3 - Treat the effects of the creation as 30% Higher than they would otherwise be.

Flaws:

Reduced Effects - A Flaw that benefits your creation by treating it as though it were made with additional reagents, even when it wasn’t. This should be determined Randomly, but for simplicity, a player or the DM may choose the reagent impacted by this Fluke. When a Creation is using Compound Reagents (Byssodica in Tandem with Ignus Leaf For example) Treat it as though Both are impacted by this to avoid bizarre conditions where a Potion grants Fire Resistance, but also technically should accrue fire Damage due to excess ignus leaf, or by accidentally resisting something unintentionally due to excess Byssodica.

• Reduced Effects Rank 1 - When Calculating the effects, treat it as though it were made with 20% Less of a Single Reagent. This doesn’t reduce the Duration, only the effects.
• Reduced Effects Rank 2 - When Calculating the effects, treat it as though it were made with 40% Less of a Single Reagent. This doesn’t reduce the Duration, only the effects.
• Reduced Effects Rank 3 - When Calculating the effects, treat it as though it were made with 60% Less of a Single Reagent. This doesn’t reduce the Duration, only the effects.

Reduced Duration - A flaw that penalizes your creation by Reducing its Duration, or increasing it where applicable. Creations that benefit from a longer Duration are Reduced by this Flaw, Creations that benefit from a Shorter Duration are improved by this Flaw. Regardless of how Tempus Nuts are used, the Duration will be Reduced, meaning if Tempus nuts are used to empower the effects at the cost of a shorter duration, the duration will be further shortened.

• Reduced Duration Rank 1 - Alter the Duration of the Creation by 25%. Round appropriately based on longer or shorter duration benefits.
• Reduced Duration Rank 2 - Alter the Duration of the Creation by 50%. Round appropriately based on longer or shorter duration benefits.
• Reduced Duration Rank 3 - Alter the Duration of the Creation by 75%. Round appropriately based on longer or shorter duration benefits.

Impede Creation - A flaw that penalizes your creation overall, this flaw is similar to Reduced Effects, but applies to the Potion as a whole rather than an individual reagent, and the effects aren’t quite as reduced because of this, but are impeded more broadly. This does not reduce Duration.

• Impede Creation Rank 1 - Treat the effects of the creation as 10% lower than they would otherwise be.
• Impede Creation Rank 2 - Treat the effects of the creation as 20% lower than they would otherwise be.
• Impede Creation Rank 3 - Treat the effects of the creation as 30% lower than they would otherwise be.

I recognize that this list is a little short, there are technically only 3 that are split up into 3 different Versions of themselves, or Inverted and shared between the two categories, but for once I feel that this serves enough function to be included. Previously it seemed too Barren to include. Expansion is desired of course, but uncertain.

Dilution and Concentration

Potions are created at a chosen Potency, but savvy adventurers may decide that what they have may be overkill, or not strong enough. Should what they have be more than enough for a given situation, Dilution is used. Should what they have not be enough, but there are enough Raw Reagents, Concentration is used to empower what they have. Dilution - If you cut the effects of a Potion in Half (Duration remains the same) you gain two samples of the now-reduced Potion. This is useful in varying ways, if one desires to spread a thorough amount of Alchemists Fire over an area, you may weaken the flames in exchange for covering more spaces, or if you’re a less-than-lawful character, Selling a Diluted Potion as if it were the real deal could net you a mild profit.

Concentration and Infusion - So you’ve made or found a Potion that isn’t as effective as you’d like it to be, perhaps you’ve created it ahead of time and never used it, but now you’re a more effective Alchemist than you once were. What is one to do about this, down the hatch and deal with it being weaker than you may like? Of course not! Using your skill as an Alchemist, you know how to add to the Potion to make it more potent, or give it function that it didn’t have previously. Concentration is accomplished by using the Original Potion as a Reagent (Though it doesn’t count as one in any Formulas) and adding more Reagents to it, the quantity of which is up to the player Concentrating or Infusing the potion.

Concentration is the term used when referring to adding more of the Reagents that are already in a potion, a Health Potion that you put more Health Restoring Reagents into for example will be more effective in accordance to what you add to it.

Infusion is the term used when referring to adding Reagents that weren’t part of the original Potion to it to give it more use or utility. For example, adding Bloodroot to a Health Potion so that you have a Restorative that also improves your Strength for a short Duration.

Concentration and Infusion aren’t innately difficult per se, but are accomplished by effectively re-brewing a Potion. The Difficulty to do so includes the Difficulty to create the Base Potion, but it also allows you to improve the base Potion’s effects and Duration.

In this case, the Formulae used are as follows:

Creation DC : Base Potion DC + (Reagent Slots used) + (Reagent Quantity/2)

As can be seen, this is a very slight modification to the Creation DC used when crafting either Poisons or Potions. The Base Potion DC replaces the 10 to appropriately reflect that you’re Improving a Potion through this means. When it comes to the Reagent Slots used, if Concentrating a Potion and using more Reagents that are already present in the potion, do not increase the DC per slot, as it’s already accounted for in the Base Potion DC.

Potion/Poison Duration: Base Potion/Poison Duration + [(+1 per Reagent Slot Used, Max 5) + (+1 Per 2 Reagents)/2]

Once again, a slight modification to the normal Formula, using the base Duration instead, representing how the Duration is improved by the addition of Alchemical Material. Much like with the Creation DC, if just Concentrating rather than Infusing, do not increase the DC per slot, as it’s already accounted for in the Base Potion DC.

Example of Concentration:

Greenblood Oil : 4 Assassin Vine, Creation DC of 13, 4 Round Duration, 1 Damage/2 Rounds, 1 Hour Creation time, Save DC 14. Concentration is accomplished by adding 8 Assassin Vine.

Greenblood Oil : 12 Assassin Vine, Creation DC of 17, 5 Round Duration, 1 Damage/Round, 1 Hour Creation time, Save DC 18.

Example of Infusion:

Greenblood Oil : 4 Assassin Vine, Creation DC of 13, 4 Round Duration, 1 Damage/2 Rounds, 1 hour Creation Time, Save DC 14. Infusion is accomplished by adding 4 Cripple's Cane.

Crippling Greenblood Oil : 4 Assassins Vine, 4 Cripple's Cane, Creation DC of 16, 5 Round Duration, 1 Damage/2 Rounds -2 Strength, 1 Hour Creation Time, Save DC 15. The name of this creation is incidental, a Toxins name can often be invented and determined by the creator.

What this accomplishes is allows for you to Upgrade a Toxin that you may have found or created beforehand, improving their effects to whatever they would have been if they had initially been created with these quantities in mind. Effectively this “Remakes” the potion with adjusted Reagent quantity, adjusting the Duration, Creation Time, and Creation DC.

After it is Finalized, this section will also include a list of Poisons and their Recipes in their own sections