Alchemy craft
The general term in DragonRealms for improving the quality of a substance, or changing one substance into another. The most commonly known process makes herbs more potent or changes them into potions, salves, tea, or other forms. Other processes also exist to create non-herbal substances such as poisons or tea.
Herbal Alchemy
There are three basic steps to creating herbal potions.
- Gather ingredients
- Prepare ingredients
- Mix ingredients
Ingredients
Basic herbal alchemy requires three ingredients: an herb, a catalyst, and water. The basic mix is done in a 1:1:1 ratio, or equal parts of each. Adding more catalyst is ok, since the unused portion will be left as a remainder. Potions can be successfully mixed at other ratios of herb to water but at present there is no benefit to doing so.
For water locations, visit Kythryn's Journal.
Pieces vs. Parts
A piece of a substance is an individual inventory item, listed separately when you look into your container.
In the dark gem pouch you see some georin grass, some georin grass, and some georin grass.
In the above example, there are three pieces of georin grass in the pouch.
Parts measure the quantity inside a single piece, and this is what is important for alchemy. Use the COUNT command to tell how many parts are in a given piece of something:
>count geor grass in my dar pouch There's five parts left of the georin grass.
Many basic alchemy ingredients are foraged in small pieces with only one or two parts. And very frequently it is necessary to change the size of your herb and catalyst pieces so they are the same. You can COMBINE two smaller pieces of a solid substance into a larger one, and BREAK them to make them smaller. Liquids such as water are combined and broken via the POUR verb.
Preparation
The more Foraging skill you know, the more potent your herbs will be. Potency is also improved if the herb was foraged carefully or precisely. For the most potent herbs, you need a skilled forager to gather them precisely.
Most experienced alchemists agree that all herbs are made even more potent by drying them. This can be done either by using a Wayerd pyramid or by having a Ranger perform the proper Beseech. So the second step to making a good potion is to dry your herbs, although it is not required. In many cases, the simple dried herb is more potent than the herb will be in potion form, so you can stop right there. The herbs that are improved by making into potion are georin, eghmok, nilos, blocil, and hulnik.[1] Catalysts are also generally improved by drying, although the effect of this is more subtle.
The next step if you are going to continue and make the potion is to crush the herb using a mortar and pestle so it is in a mixable form. Undried herbs will yield a pulp when crushed, and dried herbs a powder or paste. You must also crush your catalyst for the same reason.
Next gather some water from a convenient spot, and you're ready to mix.
Mixing
Count out your ingredients carefully into equal-sized pieces, and place them all together in your mixing vessel. There is no size limit on potions, larger potions require more skill to mix together, Rangers are better than all other classes at mixing. Your potion will not combine if there are any extra or foreign ingredients in the vessel. Note that a wax label counts as an item inside a container so your mixing vessel won't work if it has a label on it. The only thing inside your vessel should be one piece of the crushed herb, one piece of the crushed catalyst, and one piece of water (see Pieces vs. Parts above).
The size of your completed potion will be the same as the part count of the individual ingredients. If your ingredients have five parts each, your finished potion will have five parts. As noted above, if you start with a larger chunk of catalyst than your water and herb, only the required amount will be used with the rest left over.
Many different containers can be used as a mixing vessel if you don't have a proper mixing bowl. Empty gem pouches and treasure boxes are popular choices. Just MIX container WITH mixing stick or close the container and SHAKE.
Injuries to the hands, arms, eyes, and head can interfere with Alchemy so heal up if you are having trouble.
Tinctures
Tincture jars are a way to make dried herbs even more potent, precise dried herbs are best and a local Ranger can find them for you. A single dose lasts 5 minutes.
You need one part of herb to 19 parts alcohol, which currently is obtainable by purchase from some alchemy shops.
The process takes as fast as you can stuff the ingredients in and close the jar. Tinctures are intended for external use only, and are poisonous when ingested although that method of use has the most healing power. Tinctures don't heal slight bleeders.
If you close your jar and open it and nothing happens, it means your herb is bugged and you'll need to find a different one. Known bugged herbs: store-bought cebi (dry, powdered), store-bought plovik (dry, powdered), foraged plovik (dry, powdered), foraged muljin (dry, powdered), foraged sufil (dry, powdered). Haven't check all herbs in all forms yet, once I get everything a complete bug report will be made.
When drank, tinctures cause internal poisoning that damages the abdomen.
Known Alchemy Recipes
Useful Commands
Tools
- Wayerd pyramid
- Unlonchai bucket
- Stove
- Mortar and pestle
- Mixing bowl and mixing stick, or other vessel (pouch, box, etc)
- Vial or Jar to hold water
- Tincture jar