Alchemical Items

Broadly speaking, we break alchemical items into a few categories: Chemicals, Drugs, Poisons, Potions and Bombs.

Chrystal (Drug, Minor)

Chrystal is a fairly literal name; it has a complex chemical production process, and the substance that results is solid and clear, somewhat like glass or chrystal. Chrystal can be ingested in various ways; when taken, it makes the user far more energetic — perhaps dangerously so — an can cause them to fixate on certain tasks.

Chrystal is illegal in much of the Commonwealth and most of the Kingdoms of Men — although it is still widely available in these areas.

  • +3 INIT
  • -5 INT
  • -5 WIL
  • +10 to checks related to Task Actions
  • cannot make passive Perception or Knowledge checks
  • Duration: one hour
  • Tags: Drug, Illegal
  • Cost: [Minor]

Grenade (Bomb, Minor)

Grenades are a fairly recent innovation, arising from the experiments with explosive powders in the Commonwealth and the Goblin Empire. Grenades are powerful, but also dangerous: badly-made grenades may be more hazardous to their users than their intended targets, and even a well-made grenade can be mis-thrown, or placed to near to an ally.

  • Attack: Thrown Weapons, 2d10 DV, AP -2
    • Attack Tags: Blast, Fire
  • Item Tags: Bomb
  • Cost: [Minor]

Healing Potion (Potion, Minor)

Healing potions help characters heal faster.

  • Heal one additional DV per day
  • +10 on checks made to resist disease
  • Duration: 24 hours
  • Tags: Potion
  • Cost: [Minor]

Healing Potion, Magical (Potion, Moderate)

These more powerful, magical healing potions cause those who drink them to heal much faster.

  • Heal 1 DV/hour; regain 1 Wound per 12 Hours, after all DUR is healed.
  • Duration: 12 hours.
  • Tags: Magical, Potion
  • Cost: [Moderate]

Monster (Potion, Moderate)

These magical potions make the user significantly more physically powerful — although they also cause alarming personality changes, making the user more aggressive and prone to violence.

  • +10 DUR, +10 STR
  • -5 SAV, -5 INT
  • Duration: 1 hour
  • Tags: Magical, Potion
  • Cost: [Moderate]

Numbing (Drug, Minor)

Some herbs can be steeped into a tea or solution; when ingested, they dull a character's perception of pain, but they also make a character less alert.

  • Negate one wound
  • -2 Init
  • Duration: one hour
  • Tags: Drug
  • Cost [Minor]

Oil (Chemical, Bomb, Minor)

Oil is a thick, translucent, viscous, flammable chemical substance; it has myriad uses, from a fuel for lights to use as a weapon.

  • Objects coverd in oil take 1D10÷2 DV per turn, and will burn for about 5 minutes.
  • Oil can be put out by washing it off with water, covering a burning object in sand, or (in the case of a character) by rolling around on the ground.
  • Tags: Chemical, Flammable
  • Cost: [Minor]

Oil Grenades

Sometimes a wick or rag is stuffed into the neck of a container of oil and lit; it is then possible to use the container of oil as a bomg or grenade. (Of course, this requires that the container is fragile enough to shatter when thrown — which most ceramic or glass containers are.)

  • Attack: Thrown Weapon, 2m splash
    • The splashed area (and any objects in it) is covered in burning oil (as above).
    • Attack Tags: Splash, Fire
Do I have to buy a separate oil "grenade"?

So, there's a description for an "oil grenade", but not rules for making or acquiring it. How do you get an oil grenade?

The idea is that turning a canister of oil into an "oil grenade" is a trivial process — if you have a dose of oil, you can just stuff a rag into it, light it and throw it. The same logic applies to the scour and tar chemicals, below.

Poppy Juice (Drug, Minor)

Poppy juice is brewed from poppies, and is used both medicinally and recreationally. When taking, depending on the concentration, it masks pain; causes sluggishness and drowsiness; and confuses the sense and wits, bringing about hallucinations.

It can be useful in medical settings, as a treatment for physical pain; for some seizures and cramps, since it relaxes the muscles; and for some mental ailments, as it tranquilizes the mind. However, it can be highly addictive, especially in concentration; for this reason, in the Commonwealth, it is only legal for its medical uses. (Of course, it is also popular in drug dens, where it may be cut with other drugs.)

Overdoses can be fatal; one of the darker uses that physicians have put it to is to provide a gentle, painless death to the terminally ill and suffering.

  • -5 to all attributes
  • -5 STR
  • Negate one wound and one trauma
  • Duration: four hours
  • Tags: Drug, Illegal
  • Cost: [Moderate]

Scour (Chemical)

Scour is a highly caustic chemical. It is commonly used in some very specific professions, because it can break down stone, grim and metal. However, scour is also very dangerous; it will cause terrible chemical burns, can dissolve flesh and bones, and is highly poisonous. For this very reason, it is sometimes used as a (particularly cruel and terrible) weapon or poison.

  • Scour can dissolve many substances, and causes terrible chemical burns.
    • An object (or character) covered in Scour takes 1D10 DV per turn.
  • Scour is thick and sticky, which makes it difficult to remove.
    • Fortunately, Scour dissolves in water, which makes it very easy to wash off (if water is available).
  • If ingested, Scour is lethal;
    • it deals 3D10 DV per turn until the character dies.
    • Fortunately, it is visually distinct (being a thick, pale, greenish paste), and the taste is obvious (and horrible).
  • There are a few substances that Scour won't dissolve — among them glass and pottery.
  • Tags: Chemical, Caustic, Poison
  • Cost: [Moderate]

Scour Grenades

A container of scour can be thrown as a weapon, covering the target in scour.

  • Attack: Thrown Weapon, Splash 1D10÷2m
    • Anything in the splashed area is covered in Scour.
  • Tags: Splash, Caustic

'Shrooms (Drug, Minor)

Certain mushrooms have a powerful effect on a character's state of mind; some claim it makes them more intuitive or artistic, though people who have been around people using mushrooms can say that it definitely makes one less alert and coordinated.

  • +5 INT
  • -5 COO
  • Duration: one hour
  • Tags: Drug
  • Cost: [Minor]

Smoke (Bomb)

Smoke canisters are small metallic or ceramic cylinders filled with various powders and substances. When lit, they smoke heavily, making them useful for obscuring an area.

  • Produces a cloud of smoke with a radius of 1d10+1m, centered on the canister of smoke.
    • Can be thrown, as per the rules for Thrown Weapons.
  • Creatures in the cloud are obscured from visual perception; the strong smell of smoke also impedes scent (-20 to perception checks using scent).
  • Tags: Smoke
  • Cost: [Minor]

Stim (Drug, Minor)

Stims are minor stimulants, which makes the character more alert.

  • +2 INIT
  • Duration: one hour
  • Tags: Drug
  • Cost: [Minor]

Tar (Chemical, Moderate)

his thick, black, viscous and sticky substance burns intensely when lit; once lit, it is very difficult to put out.

  • If an object is covered in burning tar, it takes 1D10÷2 DV per turn.
    • Tar burns for a very long time; items covered in tar normally burn for up to thirty minutes.
  • Tar is very difficult to extinguish;
    • dropping and rolling will not extinguish it, and neither will pouring water on it.
    • Submerging an object in water will put the fire out, but the tar will remain hot for some time, and might re-ignite when exposed to air again.

Tar Grenades

Tar is often prepared in a glass or clay container with a lit wick, creating a dangerous weapon.

  • Attack: Thrown Weapons, Splash 1D10÷2m
    • Anything in the splash is covered in burning tar.
  • Tags: Splash, Fire