Alchemy

These items take time to brew so it's best to do them ahead of a mission. When they're done, I'll let you know what the final result is.

Alchemy uses reagents found in nature. Reagents have properties with a number assigned to them to state how strong they are: H, T, C, R.
H stands for Healing and T for Toxin. C is for Catalyst, which means the plant can be used as a base for making the end result more potent. R stands for Reaction, which means the reagent holds instabilities that increase the difficulty of making the item, but the end result could be more powerful.

The base already has a large amount of common plants:
Silverleaf (H2)
Noonshade (H1,T1)
Greenstem (C1)
Though because each usage of a plant amounts to a large amount of them being used up for a single serving, they may need time to regrow if there were multiple harvests in a single month.

Alchemy has a base difficulty roll of 8 which increases by 1 (2 for R type) for every property greater than 1. So working with Silverleaf and Noonshade for example has a difficulty 9, while Greenstem is only 8. Each additional ingredient used also increases difficulty by 1, so if you were brewing Silverleaf, Greenstem and Noonshade all together it has a total difficulty of 12.
Additionally you could instead choose to make a tincture instead that only has a base difficulty of 4, but the effects of the end result will be diminished.

If there is a property in a reagent you don't want, you could extract it for +1 difficulty more for each number of it. If the alchemy roll is successful in the end, that extracted property becomes an 'essence' item that you can add to other brews. Essences only increase the difficulty of alchemy by 1 for every two of them present, so using only one essence won't increase the difficulty at all.

If the successful alchemy only has two property types and they're both in balanced amounts it could become something special. A balanced amount of H and T will become an antidote, balanced T and C becomes an acid, balanced C and R becomes a compound. Antidotes offset toxic effects, acids can damage enemies and if strong enough corrode armor, and compounds for transmutation while also valuable in engineering projects.

If alchemy results in something with perfect balance in an all four properties, it becomes an elixir with a broad range of benefits. You can perform even more alchemy on the elixir but only with essences. Essences are twice as potent when added to an elixir and the first essence added transforms every property of the elixir to that essence type. There's a limit of three essences when working on an elixir.

A final thing an alchemist can do is transmutation, but it is challenging with a base difficulty of 15 and uses up a compound. One thing that can be transmuted is mundane weapons and armor to become a bit stronger. You could also try transmute gemstones and minerals into something else, but something more valuable will be more difficult. Transmuting can only be done inside the base since all the tools and equipment for it needs its own facility.

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Encountered wild reagents so far:
 Thornweed (T1) (12 Per. or Nat. to find, found in wild growth. 10 Nat. to harvest)
 Black Ivy (T2) (12 Per. or Nat. to find, found in wild growth. 12 Nat to harvest)
 Freshwater Briar (2H, 1C) (10 Per. Or Nat. to find, found in clean jungle lakes. 16 Nat to harvest)
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:33, Sat 11 Mar 2023.

Mysticism


Mysticism is similar to alchemy in that it uses reagents and their H T C R properties, but they cannot be mixed together and have to be pure. Unbalanced reagent properties can be separated, each yielding half its normal amount. And instead of making concoctions, mysticism creates incense and powders. Incense is used for Ritual, which is a time consuming communion that gives benefits that can last a few IC hours. Powders are for Sorcery, which can be used right away for immediate effect.

H has properties of divination. Divination Rituals grant clairvoyance which may reveal answers related to questions asked, and paths toward a specific goal in mind. Unless the H is in high concentration however the revelations may be hazy and cryptic. If used in Sorcery, the divination grants a burst of perception and perhaps a quick direction or answer to an imagined question or goal, however it will likely be an incomplete one if used for complex purposes.

T is for hexes. A Hexing Ritual can hinder and curse a living target in mind with bad luck or some other kind of malaise they have in mind, but the mystic must know what the target looks like and must have some fragment of them, with the most effective being blood, but hair or flesh can work as well. Hexing Sorcery on the other hand only requires reagents, but the target must be relatively nearby and kept in sight. The debilitation or curse from a sorcery will weaken the target in the manner desired, but it will last only a few moments.

C is for elementalism. With an Elemental Ritual, anything that has been seen before can have reality around it influenced by way of earth, water, air and fire. Some possibilities may include a certain area of the seas made gentler or more treacherous, rain can be summoned where it hasn't fallen before, earth shifted to try move something out of the way, and wind influenced to create or calm storms. These rituals however have more difficulty than the others to create substantial effect. Elemental Sorcery does the same thing but for a short and immediate action to the nearby element. If a mystic has gemstones of a certain type, wearing them as a form of jewellery might also make Elemental Sorcery capable of conjuring elemental power from their own palm, but such a thing is more difficult.

R is for evocation, and is the most advanced type of mysticism while also having the most straightforward effect. Evocation Rituals are required to perform any Evocation Sorcery, and their sole purpose is to attune the mystic to harness destructive force at their fingertips. Once the ritual is complete, for a while the mystic can conjure globes or bolts of chaotic magic (no reagents even required), often in the form of fire or destructive energy. Jewellery of certain rare gemstones can be found to prolong or enhance the attunement effect of an Evocation Ritual.

Engineering

Engineering is the most freeform of the crafting skills. It does not use reagents, instead using the stockpile of goods at base, or in Maintenance Kits and Modification Packs when outside of base. So long as there is access to the above goods that can be imagination can be attempted to be made such as traps, gadgets, improvised weapons and simple engines to name a few.

Advanced sophisticated items can also be made with engineering, but they will usually require compounds made by an alchemist and to a greater degree gemstones. The importance of gemstones in this world is that they are powerful energy manipulator and thus form the best materials for components.

Red gems hold a lot of charge, so they are ideal for delivering extra power. They are the most prone to instabilities however. They are charged by heat.
Blue gems are like red, but their power is much more sustainable for a prolonged period of time and they are very stable, but don't carry as much energy as red ones. They are charged by water, particularly in a current.
Dark stones are rare, and are as powerful as red ones, and stable as blue. They charge in total darkness.
Yellow gems have the most energetic flow and can distribute power the most easily with minimal loss. Due to that they allow the scale of a project to increase to build something bigger where before it would have had to been smaller due to restricted flow.
Green stones are harmonizers and enhancers. If the project has drawbacks and instabilities, green gemstones could reduce those weaknesses. A different use for them is as conduits to make a different section of stone do its job better.
White stones are rare, but they're the only type that function as a self-replenishing battery for the entire item so long as there is exposure to sunlight.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:12, Sun 26 Feb 2023.