Spellcaster or potions maker.
This a little reflexion about the differences beetwen a spellcaster (wizard, priest, druid,…) and a potions maker (alchemist, herborist,…).
The spellcaster use magic to create instant effect but it costs power or life.
The potions maker use magical ingredients to create potions he can use when he needs.
In the freeform world of MM, both of them can do exactly the same effects but it could be interesting to differentiate how they do…
For spellcasters, the MM rules are perfectly clear and perfectly effective : he casts his spells with a stat roll (with or without advantage or disadvantage) and he looses number of HP equal to the level of the spell.
For the potions makers, I propose that he can cast his spell without roll any dice. He just uses the potion. Maybe, he can roll DEX if he has to target something with the flask or CON if the potion could have dangerous effect…
The stat roll is when the potion is created and instead of loosing HP, the potions maker looses money… because he has to buy magical ingredients, plants, flasks…
So to make d4 potions :
Level 1 “spells” costs CP
Level 2 “spells” costs SP
Level 3 “spells” costs EP
Level 4 “spells” costs GP
Level 5 “spells” costs PP
Level 6 “spells” costs MP
To have more potions (d6, d8) you have to roll one more time the money dR.
So let resume :
The spellcaster use magic to create instant effect with a stat roll and a loss of HP.
The potions maker use magical ingredients to create potions with a stat roll and after he can use them when he needs as an instant effect. He looses money for create them and he has to watch out for his encumbrance but he (or everyone else) can cast the spell instantly without a stat roll…
Nice! This is pretty much how Chris Stieha tells me he's doing it. I don't know if Mathieu Mazzoni is following the community posts, but he might be interested in trying this with Giuseppe the Alchemist.
ReplyDeleteEric Nieudan
ReplyDeleteIt's his character who send me this idea when we played together... I'm just waiting 2 months to write it...
Imbibed potions should have some small chance of risk to the user, like a spell going bad. Even if it was crafted correctly or is that too convoluted?
ReplyDeleteYou could ask for a save to avoid side effects. Maybe just when the dR comes up a 1?
ReplyDeleteCool ! What's about the condition for being a potion maker ? I suppose he has to learn new recips, like spells ?
ReplyDeleteMatthieu B
ReplyDeleteFor me it's exacty the same than spellcasters : two spells at the creation and one spell for level up choice.
Dani Cox maybe we can use the Chaos dR like spells. The difference is spellcaster use the dR when they cast the spell but the potion maker if the want to use this rule it could be like that :
I miss my potion but I want to try the chaos dR effect... I don't roll dice now, I mark my potions as Chaos potion and each I use one I roll chaos dR to see the effect.
I pretty sure than every proposition one the chaos table is working (with little arrangements maybe...)
I like that! Another way to do it would be rolling for potion making only when the potion is used. The alchemist doesn't have to know when they fucked up, after all. And if they failed, you roll d12 on the chaos table.
ReplyDeleteMatthieu B Yup, that's what I'd do: you need magical training, and a trait like alchemist. Your spells are potion formulas, and you learn them as normal.
ReplyDeleteI like this. It has some similarities to what I am playing with and has me thinking about advanced potions.
ReplyDeleteI also use the trait Alchemist with magical training, where each spell is a potion. I treat potions as consumable resources, like arrows, so you have to buy material for each and, depending on how much material you buy, you get an appropriate dice level (so CP is d4, SP is d6, EP is d8, etc). I am assuming 1hp spells, but I realize that I need to be able to have higher level potions. I will probably do that by having each potion level reduce the dice size that can be purchased (so SP buys d4 level 2 potions, EP is d6 level 2 potions, etc).
Eric Nieudan
ReplyDeleteroll the dice when the potion is used it's just perfect !
My next character will be an alchemist !!!!
As player i like the idea. Cause i'm not a huge fan of a magic life taxing rule. As a playtester i'm againt the idea of submagic system for different magic tradition. Classical fantasy magic, alchemy or tea leaves reading must have the same unified rules.
ReplyDeleteAs a master i could use this alchemy variation as the base rules for every magic casting but never used both ruleset at the same time.
Mathieu Mazzoni I also toyed with the idea of treating alchemists as characters who could only use the dR components and not the life taxing rule to case "spells." So roll the dR components once per combat and use those up.
ReplyDeleteThe way I understand the rules, one dR of components works for all your spells. You could require a separate dR of components for each spell, which would allow the alchemist more opportunities, but probably make them overpowered, especially compared to normal spellcasters.