User:Xandar/Complete Alchemy/Reagents Compendium

Reagents are an integral portion of Alchemy, without them it's impossible to create any of the Potions, as all of their effects are derived from the Reagents in particular. The Reagents are laid out in such a way that you can easily determine their relevant information, including their prices, rarity, environment, and so forth. Part of refining the format of the alchemy Rebuild and breaking it apart into multiple documents both for Ease of Access and for Ease of Editing. This chapter serves as an information reserve for all of the Reagents.

Reagent Rarity

Reagents come in four Tiers of Rarity, Common, Uncommon, Elusive, and Rare. Rarity determines how plentiful they are in their respective Environments, and subsequently sets a DC for finding them.

• Common Reagents can be spotted in large quantities, either spread out over a large area or in common groupings, becomes of this they can be easily discovered. The DC to discover Common Reagents is usually 10, and even someone unfamiliar with Alchemy and Herbs can usually identify them.
• Uncommon Reagents can be discovered relatively easily, not in the same Abundance as Common Reagents, whether spread out or grouped together. The DC for Uncommon Reagents is usually 15, those unfamiliar with Alchemy and Herbs can find them, but are usually more unfamiliar with them, picking them as curiosities typically.
• Elusive Reagents can be discovered with some effort, though occur in far less abundance than even Uncommon Reagents. The DC for Elusive Reagents is 20, meaning that the chances of an untrained eye spotting them is particularly low, though still possible. The Common Folk that discover and pluck these Reagents often do so believing them to be unique plants that they may never see again.
• Rare Reagents require a trained eye to discover, having a DC of 25 to Discover. These plants are almost never found by those without any training in Alchemy or Herbs.

The DC's referenced in these Rarities correspond to any of Three Skills that could be used to Discover them. Spot/Perception can be used, as can Survival (In the case of Herbalist Training), as well as the Alchemy Skill. I suggest using whichever is Highest, or most appropriate given the character.

Reagent Environments

Reagents grow and are Discovered in Different Locations and Environments, Gelu Crystals for example are endemic to colder regions, though can be found rarely in warmer climates so long as the temperature has dipped sufficiently. Similarly, Cavernous Shrooms are native to the underground, and while they can be grown in planters and controlled Environments, would not be found in forests, deserts, plains, and other open surface areas. Each Reagent has a Listed environment where it can be discovered, as well as a note about temperature requirements.

Reagent Harvesting

Harvesting Reagents is a Hit-and-Miss process, in both player and DM terms. Consider the frequency of Traffic in an area that you're searching, if its close to a civilization, chances are that the Reagent sources nearby have frequent visitors who harvest them as they become available. This lowers, and in some cases eliminates the chances that the Reagents of an area can be harvested at all. Areas such as this are referred to as High-Traffic areas.

If on a Trail or road of some sort between civilizations, reagents may have been harvested as someone passes along, situations like this only reliably result in Half as many reagents as could be found otherwise, these areas are known as Medium-Traffic areas.

Areas where the only trails that can be found are those created by wildlife are known as Low-Traffic areas, and have an abundance of Reagents, with minimal possibility of being discovered and harvested by others.

• High Traffic Areas have a number of properties to them, the previously mentioned chance for a Majority of the Reagents to have been harvested before you arrive is perhaps the most debilitating to your searches. The barren status of the area often makes it difficult to discover reagents that others may have missed, but those more keen of skill can still accomplish this. If you successfully make your Harvest check with a -10 Penalty to the task, you will successfully find reagents, though anywhere between 50-75% less as far as quantity goes, which is up to your DM.
• Medium Traffic Areas have similar properties, the Harvest check is instead done at a -5 Penalty, and the Penalty to Reagent quantity is only 25-50%, once again up to DM decision, making areas like this still viable to search in as opposed to being written off due to the visible traffic.
• Low Traffic Areas are different than the above areas in that no Penalties are instated for either Harvest checks, or Reagent quantity, as Low Traffic areas are meant to represent the unbroken wilderness.

Variables exist in this system, assuming that a Civilization has no Alchemists or Herbalists, High-Traffic areas could be just as untouched as Low-Traffic Areas. Situations like this call for the Penalty to Harvesting to be removed entirely, and for the Reagent Quantity to be diminished to 0-25% instead, as some reagents are still Discovered and picked. The Same Penalty could be included in a rudimentary form under the argument that Wildlife consumes the reagents, but this complicates it further than Necessary.

Alchemist and Herbalist Presence can also impact Medium and Low Traffic areas, if a moving convoy has an alchemist or two, Medium-Traffic areas could be more barren akin to High-Traffic areas, owing to the alchemists in the group gathering for their craft. Low-Traffic areas could have the same effect if a Hermit Alchemist frequents the area.

All of these variables are up to your DM, but the most important factor is the Quantity of Reagents harvested. Variables already exist to Diminish them, but what is the Standard Quantity that they're Harvested in? This is determined by Rarity, as listed below.

• Common Reagents can be found in Abundance. When searching and harvesting from an Area, Roll 2d6 and the result is the quantity you find.
• Uncommon Reagents can be found in decent quantities, roll 1d8 and the result is the quantity you find.
• Elusive reagents can be found in limited quantity, Roll 1d4 and the result is the quantity you find.
• Rare reagents can be found in singular quantity exclusively, only granting a single reagent when discovered.

Harvesting from an area can be handled in a few ways, the first method listed here requires a player to be looking for a Specific Reagent, which allows for them to harvest from an area repeatedly while "Targeting" different Reagents each time until you've exhausted the area. The Second method is to simply roll a Spot/Perception, Alchemy, or Survival check (Whichever is deemed appropriate to the character) and compare the result to the DC of the Reagents in the area. Once this is done, reward the player with the reagents they've found accordingly, rolling for the quantity as well.

The time table for these methods of searching work in Hours, for each reagent that you find or search for, it takes One Hour of time searching and harvesting, making some searches day-long endeavors.

Reagents of course can be purchased from herbal shops and Apothecaries, hence the notes of the Reagent value. Each value section is marked as a range as opposed to a specific value, the lower end marks an appropriate per-sample cost for the reagents when they're either common to an area, or in surplus, while the higher end of it marks appropriate per-sample costs for reagents when not native to an area, or in low-stock and potentially high-demand.

Reagent Format

This section briefly covers the format that Reagents will be displayed in. Note, this is unlikely to remain the format, as there's probably a far superior method for laying it out somewhere on this wiki.

Reagent Name - Straightforward, names the reagent.

Environment - Temperature : Environment Type.

Rarity - Lists the rarity of the Reagent.

Value - Lists the Value of the Reagent per-sample. Shown as a range typically.

Herbalism - The effects contributed by a single sample of the Reagent (if Applicable) when made into a Poultice. Poultices are the term for a collection of different Reagents made into a sort of Bandage that is often packed into a wound, against the skin, or consumed for its effects, though also covers different forms, see the Herbalism section in the Introduction for more information.

Information - Complex and based on the Reagent in question, gives information on it, including visual appearance or lore.

Property - Defines the Important effect of the Reagent, and specifies if its a more generic one. This is key when Custom-Alchemy is in play, as it can be argued that a Property can be put to different forms, though these often require DM permission first.

Harvest DC - Only relevant to a few Reagents, the harvest DC also varies on a case-by-case basis, determining a level of skill required to harvest a Reagent in a way that avoids injury or avoids ruining the reagent in question.

Alchemy - Lists the Uses of a Reagent in Alchemy, and the required quantity to achieve the effects specified.

Toxicity Rating - Only Relevant to Toxic Reagents, this number is used to determine the lethality of a Toxin created with said reagent. Works on a Scale of 0-10.

Reagent List

Omitted Temporarily until a better format can be figured out. There's quite a lot of Reagents that would be added here, and I'm mildly afraid that a sudden gargantuan article on the wiki is a no-no and I've not noticed a rule specifying. This is easily the largest part of the Revision as a whole, and still requires a bit of work as well before it will be 100% Complete.