Alchemy

Version 0.10 · not yet playtested

Jon Mayo. PUBLIC DOMAIN (CC0-1.0)

Alchemy

Alchemy wrings power from matter: reagents, salts, essences, the hidden properties of things. The art works, but the forces it channels do not stay in the flask. They settle into the alchemist’s own flesh as corruption, and when the body can hold no more, they set into a permanent mutation. Where the arcane sorcerer’s pool empties and refills clean (see Arcane Sorcery), the alchemist’s taint sheds only slowly and leaves a lasting mark for every well overrun. This is the personal, ratcheting end of the family (see Alternative Magic Systems).

This supplement swaps the core’s stress fuel for a taint track that fills as you cast, and its falter for a mutation. Everything else stands unchanged. If a rule is not below, it works as the core book says.

1 The Taint Track

An alchemist has a taint track of 4 + Might boxes, drawn on the sheet. Might is the body’s capacity to endure what the art does to it; Wits is the casting attribute, the knowledge to work the formula. Casting fills taint boxes (unlike mana, which you spend down).

Magnitude | Taint | What it does
Cantrip | 0 | A minor working, at will. Never marks taint.
Spell | +1 | One real effect now: a firebomb, an acid flask, a draught, a cloud.
Greater spell | +2 | An area blast, a corrosive fog, a transmutation, a berserk brew.
Ritual | 0 | Slow, careful work, out of a fight (and the alchemist’s item-brewing).

On a partial (9–12) take the reduced effect free, or mark +1 taint for the full result. Always optional.

Much alchemy is thrown or drunk, not chanted. Deliver a bomb with Shoot, apply a salve or draught with a touch; the working is the mixing, and the taint is its price.

2 Recovery (Slow Purge)

The body purges taint grudgingly. A full rest sheds 1 taint box. There is no morning-fresh refill; a heavy day’s alchemy leaves you carrying tomorrow’s risk. Only proper downtime clears a badly fouled system.

3 Mutation (The Overfill)

When a casting would fill the last taint box and spill over, the corruption sets: roll a mutation below (or take one the GM offers), then clear the taint track to zero, the loose corruption has found a permanent home. The mutation is yours for good.

d6 | Mutation
1 | Chitinous hide. Armor 1 that cannot be removed, but you can no longer wear worn armor over it, and folk stare.
2 | Extra eye. +1 to notice and aim; you look wrong, −2 to put strangers at ease.
3 | Elongated limbs. Reach and a Speed step, but fine work and blending in come hard.
4 | Toxic blood. A creature that draws your blood in melee takes 2 harm; disease and poison find you easily.
5 | Hulking growth. +1 to Might-based rolls; −1 to Agility-based rolls; doorways are a problem.
6 | Gilled and clammy. Breathe water and shrug off cold, but dry heat and thirst hit you double.

Mutations are permanent, removed only by a rare cure or a costly downtime working. They stack. A master alchemist is half his own experiment.

4 The Dry Ember: Caustic Splash

Every alchemical bundle grants Caustic Splash, the at-will poke: a flicked vial of acid at one target for 2 magical harm (it eats through armor, so it ignores it), rolled to hit. It never rivals a real bomb or weapon. Reflavor it, a spat reagent, an ember, a stinging dust, but hold the cap. Being a cantrip, it marks no taint, the alchemist’s safe, small option.

5 Recommendations for a Playbook

Casting attribute: Wits. Toughness (Might) sets the taint capacity, so an alchemist wants both, and pays for spreading their grants thin.

Spellcasting Advanced Action named in voice (the Mixing, the Working, the Distillation). Grant a starting bundle: one cantrip, the Firebomb, and the Brew Elixirs ritual, plus Caustic Splash as the poke.

The taint track (4 + Might) on the sheet, with the mutation rule.

Light armor, ordinary HP. The alchemist’s danger is what they become, not frailty. Some embrace it; see the Fleshcrafter.

Speed 2, baseline.

Niche and lack. The alchemist does versatile consumables, area denial, and self-alteration better than anyone, and lacks clean or sacred magic and a body that stays its own shape.

Setting flavors:

The Alchemist. Bombs and elixirs, the classic. Signature: Brew Elixirs, a bag of prepared tricks. Fits a world of guilds and workshops.

The Fleshcrafter. Courts mutation as power, drinking their own corruption for monstrous strength. Signature: self-buff brews. Fits body-horror settings.

The Plague-Doctor. Poisons, cures, and clouds. Signature: Corrosive Cloud and Panacea. Fits an intrigue or blight campaign.

6 Sample Spell List: The Alchemist’s Formulary

A ready-to-use alchemical catalog, sorted by magnitude. Copy chosen entries onto a spell-book sheet. Damage numbers are the L1 default; a playbook’s damage step scales them. All damage is magical harm.

6.1 Cantrips (free, at will)

Caustic Splash. The poke: 2 magical harm to one target, ignoring armor.

Light Flare. Crack a vial for a bright, cold chem-light for a scene.

Analyze. Learn what a substance, material, or simple mechanism is and does.

Steady Hand. Stabilize a reaction, a poison, a delicate device for a moment.

Reek. A thrown stink one creature must back away from; no harm.

6.2 Spells (+1 taint)

Firebomb. The workhorse: a hurled flask bursts for 4 magical harm on one target (or a tight cluster). On 18+, the splash catches a second foe.

Acid Flask. 3 harm and the target’s armor drops by 1 until it is cleaned or repaired.

Elixir of Vigor. A draught heals the drinker or clears one condition.

Smoke Vial. Anchored (the spent vial). A zone fills with smoke; sight across it is blocked until it clears.

Adrenal Draught. Immediate. Drink to gain +2 on your next action this round.

Tanglefoot. A burst of clinging goo: one foe is Slowed (or Entangled on 18+) until it works free.

6.3 Greater Spells (+2 taint)

Dragon’s Breath Bomb. A gout of fire fills a zone: 4 magical harm to all within. Loud.

Corrosive Cloud. Concentration. A zone of acid mist; those inside take 3 harm each round and their armor sloughs.

Transmute. Soften stone, rot iron, harden cloth: change a material’s nature enough to open a way, foul a blade, or bar a door.

Berserker’s Brew. Immediate. Drink for +1 harm and a Speed step this scene; while it lasts you cannot Defend or retreat.

Freezing Bomb. A frost burst: 3 harm and Slowed to all in a zone.

6.4 Rituals (time, no taint)

Brew Elixirs. Anchored (reagents). In downtime, mark taint now to prepare a batch of bombs and draughts as physical items. Using a prepared item later marks no further taint, the alchemist’s signature: the cost is paid in the workshop.

Transmute Metals. Nudge base metal toward precious, slowly and within limits; the dream that founds the art.

Panacea. Brew a cure for a disease, poison, or affliction (not a mutation).

Homunculus. Grow a small servant-creature bound to your will.

Preserve. Halt rot and decay in a body or object for a long span.