Alchemy - Identify a Potion
Sometimes, a character will find a potion or elixir while
adventuring and there will be no indications of what
that potion does. Not all potions that has the same
effects have the exact same ingredients. Thus, even if an alchemist has successfully identified a Health Elixir
in the past, it does not mean that they can recognize all
such potions automatically.
While some of the ingredients might be guessed with the concoction's color, texture and scent, the best indicator is taste. Therefore, ultimately, the process of identifying will include tasting the liquid. Sadly, tasting an unidentified potion is a dangerous process as one does not want to drink poison. In addition, you do not want to drink much of the liquid to render it less effective from gulping half of the dose. A skilled alchemist would have determined much of the ingredients prior to tasting and a single drop is enough to identify its properties without altering its effects while a neophyte might have to drink more of the potion to identify it, making it less potent when being drank later.
It is also possible to identify a potion from only a small quantity of liquid that would be left in the vial, or alchemical oil on a weapon. This is generally used for investigation purposes.
The difficulty to identify a potion or mixture equals to its rarity divided by 2, rounded up. Making an NPC Do The Job Sometimes a party will lack a character skilled in Alchemy or even an Intellect-based character and would rather bring the potion to someone that will identify the potion for them. In these case, the alchemist would charge the PCs 20 per potion. To keep it simple, you do not have to make the alchemist roll the check and just simply consider that their roll succeeded without extra symbols to spend. EXAMPLE #1 OF AN IDENTIFY A POTION CHECK Heidi’s party just defeated a group or goblins that left Elysha, one of her companions, badly wounded. Looting the goblins, Heidi finds a potion but it is unidentified. Fortunately, Heidi is a skilled alchemist. She takes out her alchemist’s kit and attempt to identify its properties. Fortunately, the potion is a Health Elixir (see Realms of Terrinoth page 102). Since the elixir has a rarity of 2, the starting difficulty is Easy (d). As Heidi uses an alchemist’s kit, she does not suffer from setback. Heidi’s player rolls the dice and obtain s. By succeeding the check, the elixir is successfully identified. The extra s has no use and is disregarded. The GM spends the h to have Heidi having drank more liquid than intended and the mixture will heal one less wound than it was intended upon consumption. Heidi spends the t to benefit from the full effect of the potion, making her heal 5 wounds (or less if she already drank Health Elixir that session). EXAMPLE #2 OF AN IDENTIFY A POTION CHECK Elysha is a member of The Wardens in the city of Bareshield. She takes part in an investigation regarding the murder of some noble at the court. Elysha is searching the deceased's quarters in hope to find a clue. Browsing to the noble's belongings, she finds a small wooden box which contains vials, some are full while others are empty. According to the noble's family, he was taking some medicine to treat a sickness. Elysha is a novice alchemist and decides to analyze the last droplets of liquid inside one of the empty vials. The medicine was replaced by poison earlier that day. Poison has a rarity of 5 so the difficulty is set to Hard (ddd). Elysha is using the castle's laboratory to identify the liquid, adding b to the check. There is only a bit on liquid in the vial, so the GM adds bb to the check. The roll comes up with sa. Elysha can deduct that the vial contained poison. She spends the a to learn more about it and the GM tells her that one of the ingredients in the concoction is from a specific far away kingdom of Kaldaria. Now this throws the spotlight on a delegate from that kingdom that is currently living in the guest quarters. Her investigation progresses as she closes with the murderer.
While some of the ingredients might be guessed with the concoction's color, texture and scent, the best indicator is taste. Therefore, ultimately, the process of identifying will include tasting the liquid. Sadly, tasting an unidentified potion is a dangerous process as one does not want to drink poison. In addition, you do not want to drink much of the liquid to render it less effective from gulping half of the dose. A skilled alchemist would have determined much of the ingredients prior to tasting and a single drop is enough to identify its properties without altering its effects while a neophyte might have to drink more of the potion to identify it, making it less potent when being drank later.
It is also possible to identify a potion from only a small quantity of liquid that would be left in the vial, or alchemical oil on a weapon. This is generally used for investigation purposes.
The difficulty to identify a potion or mixture equals to its rarity divided by 2, rounded up. Making an NPC Do The Job Sometimes a party will lack a character skilled in Alchemy or even an Intellect-based character and would rather bring the potion to someone that will identify the potion for them. In these case, the alchemist would charge the PCs 20 per potion. To keep it simple, you do not have to make the alchemist roll the check and just simply consider that their roll succeeded without extra symbols to spend. EXAMPLE #1 OF AN IDENTIFY A POTION CHECK Heidi’s party just defeated a group or goblins that left Elysha, one of her companions, badly wounded. Looting the goblins, Heidi finds a potion but it is unidentified. Fortunately, Heidi is a skilled alchemist. She takes out her alchemist’s kit and attempt to identify its properties. Fortunately, the potion is a Health Elixir (see Realms of Terrinoth page 102). Since the elixir has a rarity of 2, the starting difficulty is Easy (d). As Heidi uses an alchemist’s kit, she does not suffer from setback. Heidi’s player rolls the dice and obtain s. By succeeding the check, the elixir is successfully identified. The extra s has no use and is disregarded. The GM spends the h to have Heidi having drank more liquid than intended and the mixture will heal one less wound than it was intended upon consumption. Heidi spends the t to benefit from the full effect of the potion, making her heal 5 wounds (or less if she already drank Health Elixir that session). EXAMPLE #2 OF AN IDENTIFY A POTION CHECK Elysha is a member of The Wardens in the city of Bareshield. She takes part in an investigation regarding the murder of some noble at the court. Elysha is searching the deceased's quarters in hope to find a clue. Browsing to the noble's belongings, she finds a small wooden box which contains vials, some are full while others are empty. According to the noble's family, he was taking some medicine to treat a sickness. Elysha is a novice alchemist and decides to analyze the last droplets of liquid inside one of the empty vials. The medicine was replaced by poison earlier that day. Poison has a rarity of 5 so the difficulty is set to Hard (ddd). Elysha is using the castle's laboratory to identify the liquid, adding b to the check. There is only a bit on liquid in the vial, so the GM adds bb to the check. The roll comes up with sa. Elysha can deduct that the vial contained poison. She spends the a to learn more about it and the GM tells her that one of the ingredients in the concoction is from a specific far away kingdom of Kaldaria. Now this throws the spotlight on a delegate from that kingdom that is currently living in the guest quarters. Her investigation progresses as she closes with the murderer.
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