Alchemy (Intellect)

Alchemy encompasses the knowledge and techniques to brew potions and elixirs. Although Alchemy isn’t considered a magic skill, the effects of your concoctions may approximate or even truly be magical, depending on the campaign setting. The limits of alchemical creations are up to your GM, who will assign difficulties to Alchemy checks appropriate to the potency of the brew.
Your character should use this skill if…
• Your character tries to identify a potion by taste.
• Your character wants to name the ingredients needed for a certain elixir.
• Your character tries to prepare a potion, elixir, poultice, tonic, or similar compound with wondrous or magical effects.
• Your character attempts to prepare a remedy for a disease or illness.
Your character should not use this skill if…
• Your character attempts to enchant an otherwise mundane liquid.
• Your character desires to heal someone directly through medical treatment of their wounds or laying on hands.
• Your character seeks to transmute lead into gold. That would clearly be magic!

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Difficulty for Potion Brewing
As a guideline for GMs, the difficulty of preparing a potion should generally correspond to its rarity: generally by dividing the rarity by 2 and rounding up. The resulting number should be the difficulty of the check to brew the potion. For instance, if your character wants to make a healing potion (painkillers, page 94) of rarity 2, the base difficulty of the check is Easy . If your character doesn’t have the proper equipment or ingredients, the difficulty may be higher.