Alchemical Formulae
Blood-Staunching Compress
Alchemy: •
Roll: Intelligence + Occult
Difficulty: 3
Cost of
Materials: Resources •
Effects: Bandages steeped in Blood-Staunching
Compress, when applied to a wound, automatically staunch the flow of blood (no
roll needed), and wounds wrapped in these bandages do not re-open unless the
character botches a combat or Athletics roll. Wound dressings cannot be steeped
in both Blood-Staunching Compress and Wound-Cleansing Unguent. Blood-Staunching
Compress maintains potency for one year.
Venom-Allaying Draught
Alchemy: •
Roll: Intelligence + Occult
Difficulty: 2
Cost of
Materials: Equal to poison
cost
Effects: Each Venom-Allaying Draught is a separate formula,
specific to a given poison or venom. If applied promptly (within a number of
turns equal to 10 - twice the poison’s difficulty to resist), it allows a
Stamina + Resistance roll for mortals to resist even powerful toxins. This roll
is made at normal difficulty levels, not the doubled levels mortals normally
suffer. Antitoxins normally retain their potency for five years.
Wound-Cleansing Unguent
Alchemy: •
Roll: Intelligence + Occult
Difficulty: 1
Cost of
Materials: Resources •
Effects: Prevents sepsis effects. Patients treated
with antiseptics do not need to roll for infection from surgery unless surgeon
botches, and wound dressings treated in antiseptics reduce infection difficulty
by 1. Wound-Cleansing Unguent will retain its potency for at least a decade, so
long as it is carefully stored. Bandages soaked in the Wound-Cleansing Unguent
normally will keep for 90 days if carefully wrapped, but more commonly, they
are prepared the night before injuries are expected. It takes two hours for
soaked bandages to dry.
Draught Of Blessed Respite
Alchemy: ••
Roll: Intelligence + Occult
Difficulty: 2
Cost of
Materials: Resources •
Effects: The Draught of Blessed Respite is a simple sleeping
potion, commonly used by those who have trouble gaining enough rest at night.
The potion also has a secondary effect — a half dose of the potion,
administered in a glass of wine, has the effect of putting the imbiber into a highly
restful half-sleep for four hours. During this time, any dice pool involving
the user’s Perception, Wits or Dexterity is halved, but she can still function,
after a fashion, and she rapidly recovers from fatigue, coming out of this
half-sleep fully rested and recovered. A bottle of Blessed Respite normally
contains five doses and, until opened, retains its potency for three years.
Once exposed to air, however, the potion quickly decays, becoming useless in
only a month.
Addiction: Using Blessed Respite more times per week than
the user’s Stamina can lead to addiction. The roll to avoid addiction is
difficulty (half the doses taken in a week). An addict is physically dependent
on Blessed Respite to gain meaningful sleep — without a dose each night, she
suffers a -1 to all dice pools and gains only half the normal benefits of rest
(including healing, Essence recovery, recovering from fatigue, etc.). Breaking
this addiction is difficult — the Recovery rating is 4, although no physical
side effects (other than the lack of sleep) occur.
Hero’s Recovery
Alchemy: ••
Roll: Intelligence + Occult
Difficulty: 3
Cost of
Materials: Resources ••
Effects: Hero’s Recovery is composed of a variety of
rare herbs, strong wine and the blood of some fearsome beast — usually a
hunting cat of some kind, but nearly any large predator will do. The potion’s
effects last for half a day per dot of Stamina the recipient has. During this
time, the mortal recovers from injuries as an Exalt does. Serious injuries may
require that more than one dose be administered through the course of
treatment. Mortals cannot stand more than their Stamina in number of doses
administered in one course (so someone with Stamina 4 could, over the course of
eight days, take four doses of Hero’s Recovery). Exceeding this dosage reverses
the effects, doubling the patient’s recovery times.
Philtre Of Desire
Alchemy: ••
Roll: Intelligence + Occult
Difficulty: 2
Cost of
Materials: Resources ••
Effects: One of a variety of potions designed to
inspire an emotional reaction in the desired target. Depending on the exact
recipe, some potions may be designed to be drunk by the person who should be
the target of the emotions, while others are to be imbibed by the person who
should feel them. Typically, these potions either grant the imbiber a two-die
bonus to their Performance, Presence or Socialize dice pools with respect to
the victim only, or they increase the difficulty of rolls made for the
victim to resist the target’s suggestions by 1. These potions are normally personalized
— they require some article with a sympathetic connection to the victim
(clothing, hair, nail clippings, some treasured possession) to work properly.
Increase the difficulty by 1 if no article
is present and by 2 for a generic potion that increases everyone’s reactions to
the imbiber. Botches on Social rolls made while using these potions can lead to
decades-long hatreds or all-consuming jealous obsessions. Philtres
of Desire normally only retain their potency for a month or two.
Eagle’s Eye Potion
Alchemy: •••
Roll: Wits + Occult
Difficulty: 3
Cost of
Materials: Resources ••
Effects: Eagle’s Eye Potion clears the sight,
granting preternaturally clear vision while it is in effect. It takes one hour
to gain its full strength, and the effects last for five hours (plus one
additional hour for each extra success on the production roll). While active,
the potion grants +1 Perception to all vision-related tasks. Similar potions
can be developed for hearing and smell.
Final Vengeance
Alchemy: •••
Roll: Wits + Occult
Difficulty: 3
Cost of
Materials: Resources •••
Effects: Final Vengeance is a powerful painkiller
and euphoric. Used mostly by assassin cults, desperate soldiers and the
foolhardy, this potion allows the imbiber to ignore all wound penalties and
automatically succeed at all Valor checks while under its effects, and they can
(and will) continue to fight until dead. The potion’s effects last for one scene.
Afterward, the imbiber is reduced to a Stamina of 1, regaining
one dot of Stamina for each day of complete rest. So long as his Stamina is
reduced, all healing is done at half the normal rate, and the patient may not
take advantage of non-magical methods of increasing the healing rate.
Munificent Antivenin
Alchemy: •••
Roll: Intelligence + Occult
Difficulty: 3
Cost of
Materials: Resources •••
Effects: The Munificent Antivenin is a powerful elixir,
capable of negating even the most deadly of poisons. If ingested in time, the
antivenin immediately clears out all trace of the poison from the imbiber’s
bloodstream over the course of several turns (normally one turn per difficulty to
resist the toxin). This experience is hardly a pleasant one, accompanied as it
is by racking pains, vomiting and sweating from every pore as the body tries to
eject the toxin. Afterward, the subject is fatigued, suffering a two-die penalty
on all dice pools until he has a chance to rest for at least four hours.
Tiger’s Heart Elixir
Alchemy: •••
Roll: Wits + Occult
Difficulty: 3
Cost of
Materials: Resources ••
Effects: Tiger’s Heart Elixir emboldens the spirit, driving
fear and doubt away like mist in the dawn. This potion takes only one minute to
take effect, and then, it grants the imbiber +1 Valor for a number of scenes equal
to the successes rolled when creating the elixir. Tiger’s Heart Elixir has no
side effects and is not normally addictive.
Valiant Warrior Formula
Alchemy: •••
Roll: Wits + Occult
Difficulty: 2
Cost of
Materials: Resources •••
Effects: Valiant Warrior Formula is sometimes used by
soldiers who have to keep up with exceptional warriors or champions,
particularly the Dragon-Blooded. This potion lasts one day, and so long as the
potion is in effect, the soldier, no matter her experience, is not treated as
an extra. He has the full complement of health levels, can spend Willpower to
power Virtues, etc.
Wind-Fire Potion
Alchemy: ••••
Roll: Wits + Occult
Difficulty: 4
Cost of
Materials: Resources ••
Effects: The Wind-Fire Potion is so named because it
imbues those who drink it — usually soldiers — with the speed of the wind and
the ferocity of fire. Most militaries make sparing use of Wind-Fire Potion, if
they use it at all. While it turns soldiers into fierce combatants, it also
makes them hard to control and can have serious long-term side effects. While
under the influence of the potion, a soldier gains +1 to their Physical
Attributes, Wits and Valor but loses one dot of Compassion, Temperance and
Intelligence.
Furthermore, the imbiber is no longer
treated as an extra (heroic mortals instead gain two additional -4 health levels)
and can stunt like an Exalt. The positive effects of the potion last for one scene,
plus one additional scene for every three successes rolled in creating the
potion. Once the positive effects of the potion wear off, the user crashes, suffering
the same downsides as before and, additionally, suffering a -1 to all Physical
Attributes and -1 to all dice pools from fatigue.
Addiction: Anyone taking more than one dose of Wind-Fire
Potion in a month may become addicted. The difficulty to resist addiction is
(the number of times the potion was taken in the last month + 2). Addiction is mostly
psychological — when confronted with some important task or mission, the addict
will seek out the potion, believing he can only achieve positive results with
its aid. The potion has no withdrawal effects, other than the normal side
effects and is Recovery 2.
Heavenly Transmutation Processes
Alchemy: •••••
Roll: Perception + Occult
Difficulty: 7
Cost of
Materials: Varies — Resources
of original
materials +1
Effects: The art of transmuting the lesser into the more noble extends beyond living flesh for the master alchemist.
With the secrets of the Heavenly Transmutation Processes, the alchemist can
change base materials into noble ones. He can transform the crudest pig iron
into flawless steel, lead into gold, or common
citrines into flawless rubies. Each transmutation process is a separate formula,
learned individually — knowledge of changing iron to steel is of no use when
one wishes to change granite into marble. Transmutation typically takes one
hour per pound of material to be transmuted and results in half as much
materials as the process was started with — 20 pounds of iron results in 10
pounds of steel. Unlike most alchemy, transmutation costs one Willpower per
batch of material to be changed (exceptionally large batches may require more
than one Willpower). An alchemist can typically work on no more material than
twice his Stamina + Endurance in pounds at one time. Materials created through
this process are suitable for creation into artifacts, for use in creating
exceptional weapons or armor or for other duties that require excellent quality
material.
Six-Demon Potion
Alchemy: •••••
Roll: Stamina + Occult
Difficulty: 5 (typically produced in six-dose batches, for
difficulty 8)
Cost of
Materials: Resources ••••
Effects: Perhaps the greatest of alchemical feats,
the Six-Demon Potion imbues the drinker with the might of six demons — or so it
is claimed. In reality, the elixir is not quite so potent, but it can grant a
mortal great power for a time. When imbibed by a mortal, the Six-Demon Potion has
the following effects:
• The mortal is treated as an Exalt for all
purposes — she recovers from wounds and penalties, rolls against poisons or
diseases, moves and fights just as an Exalt does for the duration of the
potion. This specifically includes stunting, but mortals cannot regain Essence
using stunts (with a three-die stunt, they could regain a point of temporary
Willpower, up to their normal limit).
• The potion adds two
temporary Willpower to the mortal’s pool. This bonus can raise the pool
above her permanent Willpower. These dots fade at the end of the potion’s
duration if not used.
• The potion adds two dots to the mortal’s
Valor until the potion wears off. This can raise her Valor above 5 for the duration
of the potion’s effects. If a mortal’s Valor rises above 5, she is immune to
all Valor checks until it falls below 5.
• The potion temporarily adds 1 dot to the
mortal’s Physical Attributes, Wits and Perception.
This potion has no effect
whatsoever on Exalted, spirits, demons, ghosts, the Fair Folk or God-Blooded of
any sort. The potion’s effects, other than wound recovery, typically last for
no more than 10 minutes (plus one minute for each additional success rolled),
and take three minutes to take effect. The wound-recovery effects of the potion
linger after the others have subsided, lasting for three days, plus one day per
extra success. Brewing this potion takes one month of near-constant supervision
and a wide variety of ingredients from throughout Creation, mixed in at the proper
times. Once produced, a Six-Demon Potion will retain its potency for three
years, plus three months for each success rolled.