Alchemists!

[Yagathai]

Well, one of the players in my game insists on playing an alchemist's apprentice, so I figured it would be incumbent upon me to throw together some lifepaths so he can do that. I do have some alchemy rules that I may post later if you're good, but for now please enjoy the following:

City setting:

Alchemist's Apprentice
Time: 6 years
Traits: 2
Res: 10
Stat: +1 Men
Skills: 7 pts: Read, Scribe, Asbestos Hands*, Singed Eyebrows*, Bloodshot Eyes*, Handy with the Bellows* Mend, Research, Symbology, Alchemy
Leads: Villager, Peasant, Outcast, Servitude

Alchemist
Time: 10 years
Traits: 3
Res: 20
Stat: +1 Men
Skills: 8 pts: Alchemy, Falsehood, Persuasion, Astrology, Poisons, Apothecary, Strange Smell*, Scorched*
Leads: Noble Court, Outcast, Peasant
Prerequsite: Alchemist's Apprentice, Mad Alchemist's Apprentice

Noble setting:

Alchemist's Apprentice
As city setting, only with Calligraphy and Singed Finery instead of Singed Eyebrows.

Noble Court sub-setting:

Court Alchemist
Time: 10 years
Traits: 3
Resources: 30
Stats: +1 Men
Skills: 8 pts: Falsehood, Etiquette, Soothing Platitudes, Astrology, Alchemy, Poisons, Apothecary, Odd Smell*, Quick Getaway*
Leads: Outcast, Peasant, City-Dweller
Prerequisite: Alchemist's Apprentice, Mad Alchemist's Apprentice

Peasant/Outcast Setting:

Mad Alchemist's Apprentice
Time: 6 years
Traits: 3
Resources: 3
Stats: +1 Men, -1 Phys
Skills: 9pts: Read, Scribe, Inconspicous, Symbology, Research, Poisons, Alchemy, Explosion-wise,Asbestos Hands*, Prone to Nosebleeds*, Vomit at Will*, Singed Everything*, Resigned*
Leads: Outcast, Servitude, Peasant, City-Dweller

Mad Alchemist
Time: 15 years
Traits: 8
Resources: 5
Stats: +1 Men, -1 Phys
Skills: Alchemy, Herbalism*, Poisons, Astrology, Symbology, Research, Stone House*, Horrible Scars*, Mad Gleam*, Scorched*, Driven*, Palsy*
Leads: Outcast, Peasant, City-Dwelle
Prerequisites: Alchemist's Apprentice, Mad Alchemist's Apprentice, Alchemist, Recluse Wizard, Sorceror, Court Sorceror or Court Alchemist

[Kublai]

Cool!

I would suggest making alchemy the required skill for the other two alchemist lifepaths, as you did the mad alchemist.

I would also call the Mad Alchemist Apprentice lifepath .... "Igor!" :D

You forgot how many Skill pts the Mad Alchemist earns.

8 trait pts for the Mad Alchemist LP??? :shock: Isn't that a little much?

The skill and trait points are a little generous in general, I'd say, especially the trait pts. Sorcerer App's and Sorcerers get 5 total because they need to buy the Gifted Trait. Not so with Alchemists, so it's not necessary to give them that much. I'd recommend 1 trait pt for each lp besides the Mad Alchemist one, which deserves 2 or 3.

As for skill pts, sometimes you are giving out 3 more pts than number of skills. This is VERY generous, I think. Try trimming those pts back. At this point, your apprentices are earning more skills than knights!

[Yagathai]

Er, the 8 pts was a typo. It was supposed to be 3.

And how do you know that Alchemists don't need the Gifted trait, hm? There aren't any rules for it posted anywhere (yet). And according to the Burner (I think), it's a magical skill.

As far as making Alchemy a required skill for Court Alchemist, I won't. Historically, most 'alchemists" were charlatans and fakers, which is why I threw in Falsehood, Soothing Platitudes and the "quick getaway" trait. My Alchemy rules make alchemical manipulations very unstable, very dangerous, and very hard to get exactly right, which means that a court alchemist is going to spend a lot of his time explaining why he hasn't created an immortality serum yet, or why all the kindom's lead plumbing isn't yellow and shiny. His primary skill is making his patron THINK he's doing important things, rather than actually doing them.

Er, and as far as the skill points go, doublecheck your math. I've adjusted them a bit, but they were never more than two more points than the number of skills (which was an error, anyway, so :P )

Revisions

Peasant/Outcast Setting:

Mad Alchemist's Apprentice
Time: 6 years
Traits: 3
Resources: 3
Stats: +1 Men, -1 Phys
Skills: 8pts: Read, Scribe, Inconspicous, Symbology, Research, Poisons, Alchemy, Explosion-wise, Asbestos Hands*, Bloodshot Eyes*, Prone to Nosebleeds*, Vomit at Will*, Singed Everything*, Resigned*
Leads: Outcast, Servitude, Peasant, City-Dweller

Mad Alchemist
Time: 15 years
Traits: 3
Resources: 5
Stats: +1 Men, -1 Phys
Skills: 7 pts: Alchemy, Herbalism, Poisons, Astrology, Symbology, Research, Stone House*, Horrible Scars*, Mad Gleam*, Scorched*, Driven*, Palsy*
Leads: Outcast, Peasant, City-Dweller
Prerequisites: Alchemist's Apprentice, Mad Alchemist's Apprentice, Alchemist, Sorceror, Court Sorceror or Court Alchemist

City setting:

Alchemist's Apprentice
Time: 6 years
Traits: 2
Res: 10
Stat: +1 Men
Skills: 7 pts: Read, Scribe, Asbestos Hands*, Singed Eyebrows*, Bloodshot Eyes*, Handy with the Bellows* Mend, Research, Symbology, Alchemy
Leads: Villager, Peasant, Outcast, Servitude

Alchemist
Time: 10 years
Traits: 3
Res: 20
Stat: +1 Men
Skills: 8 pts: Alchemy, Falsehood, Persuasion, Astrology, Poisons, Apothecary, Appraise, Strange Smell*, Scorched*
Leads: Noble Court, Outcast, Peasant
Prerequisites: Alchemist's Apprentice, Mad Alchemist's Apprentice, Sorceror, Court Sorceror

Noble setting:

Alchemist's Apprentice
As city setting, only with Calligraphy and Singed Finery instead of Singed Eyebrows.

Noble Court sub-setting:

Court Alchemist
Time: 10 years
Traits: 3
Resources: 30
Stats: +1 Men
Skills: 8 pts: Falsehood, Etiquette, Soothing Platitudes, Astrology, Alchemy, Poisons, Apothecary, Appraise, Strange Smell*, Quick Getaway*
Leads: Outcast, Peasant, City-Dweller
Prerequisite: Alchemist's Apprentice, Mad Alchemist's Apprentice, Sorceror, Court Sorceror

[Drozdal]

Those are great! But still you gave out too many skill points for those guys.
I Love Vomit at Will trait :]
Great job.

Dro

[mike_ravenwood]

perhaps adding a negative charater trait that is a bit more severe than the ones listened. Maybe not for the apprentices, but after spending at times 16 years playing with chemicals of a wide variety, probably making more mistakes than break throughs, would take a mental or physical toll. After all there is a reason why people can be "mad as a Hatter"... exposeure to mercury I believe and that's just one chemical. Even the most wildly respected court Alchemist will be a little off. A Mad Alchemist should be one messed up individual. Balancing the negatives would make them higher than average skill and traits and would be a little more fair and a blast to play. You could even provide a selection and give them the choice between a mental or physical "defects" depending on their exposure.

[Yagathai]

Droz: Why do people keep saying I'm giving too many skill points? It's a highly skilled profession, isn't it?

mike_ravenwood: That was my intent with giving the Mad Alchemist a -1 Phys and the Palsy trait. In my alchemy rules I also recommend doing something similar for alchemists and those that partake excessively of their products. I just didn't want to make the LPs overcomplicated, y'know?

[Lxndr]

FWIW, I don't think it's "too many." It looks like "just enough." Well, maybe I'd give one less skill point to the Mad pair, since they're fumbling and stuff. They're not as "highly skilled" as the City or the Noble Court.

(And thank you for allowing Court Alchemist to feed directly off Alchemist - it's annoying that my Nobleman has to wander into the City setting to be a Sorcerer, then wander BACK to the court to be a Court Sorcerer.)

[Lxndr]

Did you revise the skill points after removing the duplicate skills? I know that was talked about yesterday, but everything went kaput.

[Yagathai]

I am planning on doing one last revision to the LPs. I stated my intention, but then we got haxx0red.

[Kublai]

I read the Alchemist rules on the other thread. If these are the rules going to be used for your Alchemist, then I suggest cutting back on Trait points by a lot since they won't be needing the Gifted Trait.

[eruditus]

I think yagathai's trait and skill points are so high in hopes that I will pass them and HE can use them for future PCs in my game :P

:lol:

[Yagathai]

Don't be silly. If I want to do that, I already can -- or at least so close to it that it makes no difference.