Downtime: Alchemical Pursuits

Long has this lingered as a "draft", intended to be published, but inchoate in form. The Scribes have recently put it together coherently, for your perusal:

Concerning alchemy as a skill, what is meant is not so much, as the country rube might think it, the distillation of magic spells into a spell one can merely imbibe; but rather, the distillation of various natural properties of a plant, root, stone, or animal, into a sympathetically useful poultice, elixir, or other drug.

We won't be using Barker's rules, but our own (presented below the image), but to help introduce the subject:

"An alchemist can recognise chemical compounds (such as poisons, elixirs, etc.). He can also make chemical substances if deemed possible by the referee. His success is governed by his level of experience and by the Chances of Spells Working Table (cf. Sec. 434). ..." (Empire of the Petal Throne, M.A.R. Barker, 1975, p.15)

Poisons and their antidotes, venoms and their antivenins, are the obvious use of such a skill, and the alchemists peddling antivenins for sekeker poisoning are legion; so too, the healing properties of bacta and of Sakkra-blood have been capitalized on by different guilds and by the Hanse to create a healing-product to be sold at scale for various ailments.

But there are, of course, other uses: take some essence of tsu'uru, preserved properly in neutral spirits, and with certain other additives (some efficacious, some to offset the bitterness), a dose can be created that allows a person to resist the psychical assaults of a psionic; treated another way, according to a different formula, the same essence can be used to create a drug that causes incessant hallucinations, capitalizing on the tsu'uru's powerful hallucinatory nature.

Despite the (limited) understanding of the unlearned thinking it necessary, knowledge of the magical arts is actually unnecessary for the practice of alchemy, as the art does not specifically reproduce any magical effect (not to be confused with the fact that magical intelligence readily lends itself to mastering the alchemical processes!). Anyone with the skill, regardless of magical skill, may attempt an alchemical experiment.

To wit:
An alchemist--ideally a player-character of such skill, but perhaps instead a hired specialist--proposes a project for the development of an alchemical product, be it an imbibed potion, a poultice, an inhaled substance, etc.

The proposal must distinctly include the special ingredients to be used, and the effect expected to be derived from such ingredients.
For instance, Tsa Xiit Qaa, Klackon journeydore alchemist, is hired by the Heroic Company to develop a special chemical agent from the glands of an aqa'a worm taken from the winding tunnels of the Weirding Caves, knowing that the creatures seem to "burrow" through stone, and hoping for something that would be useful in "corroding" stone.
So Tsa's proposal to the referee might be as follows: "I take the aqa'a glands and attempt to isolate the corrosive digestive acids that help the creature break through stone, with the intent of creating a kind of potion or chemical that is similarly able to break down stone--a dose of which might conceivably 'melt' a hole through a thing stone wall or door."

The connection between the ingredient and the effect must be justified, however tenuous the justification (and there are myriad such spurious justifications in the history of alchemy, many of which proved too tenuous ...). But once established as an hypothesis, the alchemist then begins work combining and recombining ingredients, agents, and reagents.

Though the simplest of tools can technically be used in such work--a fire and a clay pot can cook something up--specialized tools are indisputably useful. Likewise formulae--sure, anyone given enough experimentation can cook something useful out of narpine bark, but starting with a formula will significantly shorten the period of trial and error, and undoubtedly improve the final product. Additional sympathetic ingredients (to be included in the initial proposal if included!) can aid in the process, as does subtlety in the arcane arts, which grant a kind of secret knowledge of the workings of the world.

Distilled, a kind of formula for the rules concerning the downtime activity of alchemy can be derived:

1. propose to the referee the effect of a special ingredient when distilled alchemically; remember to justify the connection
   
   
2. consider one's resources: receive a +1 cumulative bonus (to the following die roll), from the use of an established formula, the use of a stocked workshop, the presence of a skilled assistant, the process being previously performed by the alchemist, the use of certain exotic or expensive additives, any appropriate attribute at 15+, &c. as the referee allows
   
   
3. spend a minimum of 50 gp per dose to be created, though the actual cost is to be determined by negotiation with the referee and depending on the perceived "power" of the drug
   
   
4. roll 2d6, plus bonuses above; add a further +1 per half of the player-character's magic-user levels:
   snake-eyes (unmodified 2) - always a failure, regardless of bonuses
   3-5 - the gold and ingredients went to a failed experiment. Roll at +1 on your next attempt with the same proposed ingredients and effect
   6-9 - the basic theory is right, and you produced one dose, but your methods need improvement; roll on the complications table below
   (IF cumulative bonuses would automatically bump one up past this category, an unmodified 7 on the dice indicates something went wrong in the process, roll per complications anyway)
   10-12 - everything went right; assuming you had enough ingredients and spent enough money, you can create 1 dose of your concoction per character level (magic-user), or half that otherwise

Die  Roll	Alchemical Complications
1	Disaster! Something went very wrong, and your ingredients and work are ruined
2	What is that smell? Save v. poison as you catch a whiff of evil gases, or touch something that can leach through skin; save or you are sickened for the 1d3 weeks, making all rolls at -1 (downtime or adventure)
3	Burned! The crucible was hotter than you realized, your next adventure is at -1d3 hp
4	Subpar additives … Perhaps the seller cut them with something inert, this potion functions at only half its intended effect
5	An effective combination--contrary to above, whatever was added acts as a catalyst, or whatever, and the potion is half-again as strong
6	Everything actually went right, you were worried about nothing
7	Strange reactions--the ingredients didn't mix as you foresaw, and now you have a potion with an effect rather different than intended (referee's discretion)
8	New insight--going through the process helped you understand your hypothesis better, roll at +1 next time you attempt the same project
9	Eureka! Inspiration strikes for a new use for the ingredients used--a different kind of potion, a different combination … roll at +1 if you attempt it in future
10	Happy accident--your process and ingredients actually produced one more potion than you would originally have created