Potions

Among the easiest of items to make, potions range from simple healing brews to potent mixtures capable of taming dragons or restoring a character to complete health and sanity. Some potions are clerical potions and can only be manufactured by priests. These include: the elixir of health, potion of extra-healing, potion of fire resistance, potion of healing, potion of sweet water, and potion of vitality.

Level Requirements: Both priests and wizards must be at least 9th level to create potions. Specialists in the school of alchemy may brew potions at 6th level, but must use special procedures to do so. They may use the standard procedure after reaching 9th level or continue to use their special process.

Facilities: Wizards require an alchemical laboratory or a forge to brew potions; priests must have a consecrated altar. (See Chapter 5 .) A wizard may need to expand his library in order to obtain the texts and tomes needed for researching the potion’s formula.

Research: Before a character can brew a potion, he must discover what processes, materials, and special ingredients are required, and how these must be combined for success. This research requires 1d3+1 weeks at a cost of 100 gp per week, but if the character uses a commune or contact other plane spell to speed his research, he automatically succeeds in the minimum time.

If the character has a full dose of the potion in question to use as a sample, the research takes only one week and costs nothing. However, he still must have access to a laboratory or an altar in order to conduct the research.

Alchemists may use the research rules above once they reach 9th level, but before that they must follow a lengthier and more expensive process if they take advantage of their ability to create potions before other wizards can. An alchemist of less than 9th level must spend two weeks and 500 gp per potion level to research the formula and then pass a learn spells check. (A potion’s equivalent spell level is its experience point value divided by 100, rounded up.)

Once a character has researched a potion’s formula, he need not research it again; he can create samples of the potion as often as he wishes, as long as he follows the cost and time requirements.

Processes and Materials: Potions that contain only a single-use require one rare material and one common process; potions that provide several doses with one brewing require an exotic material and a rare process. (See Special Ingredients at the end of this chapter.) Potions that normally produce more than one dose include potion of diminution, elixir of health, potion of extra-healing, potion of fire breath, potion of fire resistance, potion of growth, potion of invisibility, oil of impact, and potion of rainbow hues.

One of the advantages of the alchemist is that he need not obtain special ingredients before creating a potion; his knowledge of chemicals and reagents enables him to simulate these rare materials, whether he is using the alchemical process or the magical process.

Cost and Time: Assuming that the character is able to obtain any special or unusual materials required for the potion, it will cost him a number of gold pieces equal to the potion’s experience point value to brew the potion. This process takes one day per 100 gp required.

The alchemical process usually requires one full week and 300 to 1,800 gp (3d6x100) to brew a potion. If the potion’s experience point value is greater than 700, then the alchemist must spend an extra day per 100 experience points brewing the potion. However, at 9th level, the alchemist may choose to use the normal potion-brewing rules instead.

Success or Failure: The base chance for a successful brewing is 70%, +2% per character level, –1% for every 100 gp the potion costs. For example, a 13th-level wizard brewing a potion of fire breath would have a success chance of 96% (70% + 26% for character level), less 4% (400 gp), for a total of 92%. The DM should make this check in secret, since on a natural roll of 96 or higher the process fails, and the potion is cursed in some way (typically, it becomes a potion of poison or delusion instead of what it should be).

Alchemists may instead use a learn spells check, with a +1% bonus per character level, to see if they are successful in brewing the potion. Or, if the alchemist is 9th level or higher, he may produce the potion by magical means, using the normal success check of 70% + 2% per level. If this is the case, the alchemist gains a +5% to his success chance due to his specialist knowledge of potions.

Talghaz the Enchanter, a 9th-level wizard, decides that he needs to produce a philter of love in order to help a princess fall in love with one of his comrades. Talghaz already possesses a minimal library and arranges to borrow the laboratory of his alchemist friend. As a result, he can begin his research without any additional expense. He uses no special techniques, so the research takes 1d3+1 weeks and costs him 100 gp per week.

After three weeks, Talghaz finishes his research. He discovers that the potion requires the tears of a dryad as a rare material and, with some grumbling, sets out to find a dryad and convince her to shed a few tears for him. One week (and an interesting adventure) later, Talghaz returns to the laboratory with a vial full of dryad tears and sets about brewing his potion. A philter of love is worth 200 XP, so it takes Talghaz two days and 200 gp to brew the potion.

When Talghaz finishes, the DM checks in secret to see if he was successful. The base chance is 70%, plus 18% for Talghaz’s level, less 2% for the potion’s experience point value. The DM also decides that a philter of love is right up an enchanter’s alley and gives Talghaz the +5% bonus for specialization. His total chance of success is 91%; if the DM rolls a 96 or higher, the failure creates a cursed potion. (Wouldn’t that be a surprise for Talghaz’s friend?)

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