Alchemy and Herb Lore

Alchemy has a storied history in the Jade Empire. Alchemy is split into two categories. Alchemy uses the rules for Fusion Alchemy in Pyramid #4/1 (use the TL3 cost columns), with some changes:

• Either Blessed (Harmony with the Tao) or Gadgeteer are required to use Alchemy for anything other than the processes given under Basic Practical Chemistry (someone with the Rote Alchemy perk may perform any of the tasks below except for Identifying Magic Items, but only with respect to one specific elixir).
• The aerosol form of elixirs is unavailable, as the technology to produce devices that spray it has not been developed.
• A successful Meditation roll made before the Alchemy (and/or Esoteric Medicine, for internal alchemy) roll to produce an elixir gives +1 (+2 on a critical success) to the roll.
• Critical failures when mixing elixirs do not produce explosions as in GURPS Magic, but instead produce products that poison their drinkers; use the effects of arsenic (Basic Set, p.439) to represent such toxic results (this is the case even if the alchemist was attempting to produce a different sort of poison). If this occurs when creating an internal elixir inside your own body, you are immediately subject to that poison's effects!
• Each elixir can be improved up to your Alchemy skill level as a seperate Hard technique defaulting to Alchemy at a penalty equal to (degree of refinement + 1). If you improve an elixir technique to full skill level, you can brew that elixir "from memory". Otherwise, you need either a supervising alchemist who does have the technique at full skill level or a formulary: a reference book describing the formula (and any other special considerations) for one or more elixirs. Availability of formularies varies wildly. Generally, formularies for any elixir of three or fewer degrees of refinement can be found at the local alchemist's shop of any village of at least 100 people. The alchemist may be persuaded to allow you to copy the formulary for a price, or may offer to produce a copy himself; the usual cost of either option is three times the total cost of the elixir, less (but never cheaper than buying the elixir itself) for truly ubiquitous concoctions, more so for poisons, rare antidotes, etc. It is widely known that the temple of Taz-khala at Jewel on the Lake contains formularies for a number of (primarily medicinal) elixirs with degrees of refinement of six or fewer, which can be perused for a small fee or copied for a much larger one. Formularies for more elixirs with degrees of refinement of 7 or higher are the exclusive providence of royal healers, ancient hermits, and lost stores of knowledge, and finding them is generally an adventure in and of itself. Of course, another option is to experiment in an attempt to reverse-engineer a working formula (or create an entirely new one...). It is assumed that the information on a single elixir requires a number of pages equal to (the default penalty calculated above / 2), rounded up, and that copying a formulary takes eight hours per page (and a successful Writing roll).

What Can Alchemy Do?

Basic Practical Chemistry

• An unmodified skill roll can be made to perform extractive procedures (that refine existing natural materials) such as distillation (Distillation can be improved up to Alchemy+6 with a Hard Technique).
• An unmodified skill roll lets a practitioner perform simple inorganic syntheses (such as the creation of sulfuric acid ("oil of vitriol") via calcination of sulfides such as cinnabar). As a general rule, if it takes more than two steps or requires expensive, bulky lab equipment, it is not "simple"! More complicated synthesis is difficult or impossible; the GM may assign a penalty of -3 or worse, or simply rule the attempt fails.
• Perform identification and analysis of (non-magical) chemicals, at -3 to skill.

Identifying Enchanted Items

Through treatment with a variety of chemicals, an alchemist can ascertain whether or not an item is enchanted. This requires an hour of analysis, $50 in reagents, and a roll against Alchemy-2 (improvable up to Alchemy+2 with a Hard technique). On a critical success, the alchemist gets some inkling of the enchantment’s purpose. On a critical failure, the item has been splashed with acid or knocked into a flame; whether this is disastrous depends on the item.

Detecting and Identifying Elixirs

A trained alchemist can identify magical elixirs. A successful Per-based Alchemy roll lets the alchemist recognize an elixir as an alchemical preparation upon seeing it, or when they smell food or drink containing it. Acute Senses assist this roll as appropriate. Analyzing an elixir requires four hours and an unmodified Alchemy roll (improvable up to Alchemy+4 with a Hard technique); a critical failure ruins the elixir, poisoning it as if a critical failure was rolled when brewing it. An alchemist can perform an analysis in just ten seconds by tasting the elixir - if they do so, any failed roll means it affects them as if they had taken it all. If the alchemist has encountered or brewed the elixir in question (or one similar, at the GM's discretion), any success pinpoints the nature of the elixir; if it is an unfamiliar elixir, a normal success merely gives a vague indication of the elixir’s purpose, while a critical success reveals the precise effects of the elixir.

Brew Elixirs

Obviously, Alchemy can be used to brew elixirs, either with a lab or inside the body of the alchemist or another person.

Elixir Creation Modifiers:

• Batching: -1 for every two doses produced after the first two.
• Body: For internal elixirs only, -2 for brewing within a willing subject, -4 for an unwilling one, or -6 for a corpse.
• Chinese Astrological, Elemental, and Bagua Modifiers: See Thaumatology, p.86 and p.255. The GM will determine the skill bonuses or penalties for these.
• Degrees of Refinement: A penalty equal to the degrees of refinement.
• Equipment: Rolls to create External elixirs use the equipment modifiers in the Basic Set, p.345. Creating external elixirs is impossible without a basic alchemy kit! Internal elixirs can be created without any tools, but also cannot recieve bonuses from equipment quality.
• Formularies: -6 if you lack a formulary or a supervisor, except for elixirs whose techniques have been bought up to full skill level.
• Materials: Access to exceptional materials may provide a bonus of +1 to +5, at the GM's discretion.
• Time Spent: +1 for taking double the listed refinement time; no further improvement is possible. Hurrying gives -1 for every 10% decrease in refinement time; the minimum time to create an elixir with two or more degrees of refinement is one day.

Inventing and Reinventing Elixirs

Finally, an alchemist can experiment. This is usually attempted in order to either create a variation on an elixir they know or to replicate an elixir that already exists but that the alchemist lacks a formulary for, but some alchemists set out to make all-new elixirs. This uses the rules for New Inventions (Basic Set, p.473), or Gadgeteering (Basic Set, p.475) if the alchemist has the Gadgeteer advantage, save for the following changes:

• Modifiers: Use the modifiers below instead of the ones in the Basic Set.
• Prototyping: Time and cost are as for the complexity level with the next greater penalty. Count only the Basic Penalty and penalties for degrees of refinement when determining this (for gadgeteers, do not use the complexity level penalties given in Gadgeteering, but do add the degrees of refinement penalty to the basic penalty after halving it, not before). For example, an elixir with five degrees of refinement has a penalty of -6 + (2 x -5), or -16, which is between the -14 for a Complex invention and the -22 for an Amazing one, so it takes 3d months and $500,000 to prototype. A successful Prototype roll produces a single dose of the new elixir and a sheaf of notes that serves as a formulary for the elixir. It may now be manufactured, studied, and raised like any other elixir. If the alchemist loses his notes before mastering the elixir, however, he must repeat the research process to replace the formulary. A critical failure ruins the prototype, poisoning it as described in Detecting and Identifying Elixirs.
• Bugtesting: Use the rules for Detecting and Identifying Elixirs, above, instead of those listed under Testing and Bugs in the Basic Set. A normal analysis takes 4 hours; a successful roll finds one bug; a critical success finds all bugs. A failure triggers a major bug; a critical failure ruins the prototype, poisoning it as described in Detecting and Identifying Elixirs. A quick analysis takes only ten seconds, but any failure subjects you to the elixir's effects as well as the effects of any remaining bugs!

Additionally, alchemists and artificers with Gadgeteer can purchase the Inspired Creation and Inspired Development techniques from Powers: The Weird.

Elixir Invention Modifiers

These modifiers apply to both the Concept roll and the Prototype roll.

• Basic Penalty: -6. This always applies.
• Chinese Astrological, Elemental, and Bagua Modifiers: See Thaumatology, p.86 and p.255. The GM will determine the skill bonuses or penalties for these.
• Degrees of Refinement: A penalty equal to double the degree of refinement of the desired elixir. Those with Gadgeteer halve this penalty, rounding up.
• Idea: +1 or +2 if you give a convincing, genre-appropriate, or clever description of what the elixir will do.
• Reinvention: +5 if you have a working sample of the elixir you are trying to copy, or +2 if the elixir already exists but you have no sample.
• Variation: +1 to +5 (GM's discretion) if the elixir is a variant on an existing one.

Prototype Modifiers

These modifiers apply only to the Prototype roll.

• Assistants: +1 per assistant with Alchemy at 20+, up to +4.
• Equipment: Inventing or recreating an elixir requires at least a basic alchemy kit. A basic alchemy kit gives -10, a good-quality lab gives -5, and a fine-quality lab removes the penalty. This penalty is also waived for alchemists with Gadgeteer.
• Time Spent: +1 for taking double the listed time; no further improvement is possible. Hurrying gives -1 for every 10% decrease in prototyping time; the minimum time is one day.