I'm an old school player from the AD&D days. My group, back then, considered potions and scrolls to be highly desirable items since they could provide abilities you couldn't have any other way, and allow you to exceed the "Normal" limits of PCs in a single day. For example, a cleric might be able to heal twice a day (before a long rest) but when armed with healing potions you can heal beyond the daily limit.
This has to be treated carefully to avoid creating a balance problem. If not, the party makes/buys a huge stack of healing potions, or whatever, and steamrolls a dungeon.
My method of curtailing the amount of alchemy flying off the shelves at the local DVS is to require difficult to find ingredients in purified/concentrated forms (pre-brewed or distilled) in exacting amounts to achieve the best concentrations for use. All this leads to a fixed lab and not a brew on the fly sort of thing. Some treatments for wounds could be handled better in the woods by a trained Ranger than usual bind wounds by just anyone, but the high potency healing potion would require a great deal of work. Pricing would be proportionate to the amount of time it took to brew up the stuff times the cost of effort to gather the ingredients.
I don't mind having a player with a skill for Alchemy, but they would need an expensive lab, access to the ingredients and the time to brew up some good stuff.
I have a few ideas for homebrew alchemical lab equipment that can help everything along such as a scale that can guarantee a precise measurement of a substance or a flask/beaker that can purify or distill a chemical without fire just using time or a magic word.
I also nickname the Alchemists "petal pluckers" because they can be distracted in a tense moment when they see Deathbell growing by the stream. Off they go and the party's stealth is ruined.
How do you add flavor to the alchemy in your campaigns? How do you keep it from getting out of control?
I haven't had a problem with brewing potions since the time and money required are so great and our campaigns havent had a lot of treasure or downtime.
My experience is similar to DxJxC. While crafting potions was great in 2e when I started playing, the 5e rules make it rarely worth the time and money.
I also nickname the Alchemists "petal pluckers" because they can be distracted in a tense moment when they see Deathbell growing by the stream. Off they go and the party's stealth is ruined.
Well...they aren't idiots, right? :) I mean, that's a funny scene for a movie. But is a party member likely to just wander off from actually sneaking up on the castle gate to do that? Would the rogue get ten feet from the guard shack and decide to go pickpocket that nobleman instead? Someone might, but why would alchemists be more likely to abandon a mission for their personal goals than anyone else? Just something that stood out to me :)
The idea is cool, I like using a player-interactive way to manage something like potion availability. Seems better for the games I like to play than a big open air shopping mall with a potions tent.
I'm an old school player from the AD&D days. My group, back then, considered potions and scrolls to be highly desirable items since they could provide abilities you couldn't have any other way, and allow you to exceed the "Normal" limits of PCs in a single day. For example, a cleric might be able to heal twice a day (before a long rest) but when armed with healing potions you can heal beyond the daily limit.
This has to be treated carefully to avoid creating a balance problem. If not, the party makes/buys a huge stack of healing potions, or whatever, and steamrolls a dungeon.
My method of curtailing the amount of alchemy flying off the shelves at the local DVS is to require difficult to find ingredients in purified/concentrated forms (pre-brewed or distilled) in exacting amounts to achieve the best concentrations for use. All this leads to a fixed lab and not a brew on the fly sort of thing. Some treatments for wounds could be handled better in the woods by a trained Ranger than usual bind wounds by just anyone, but the high potency healing potion would require a great deal of work. Pricing would be proportionate to the amount of time it took to brew up the stuff times the cost of effort to gather the ingredients.
I don't mind having a player with a skill for Alchemy, but they would need an expensive lab, access to the ingredients and the time to brew up some good stuff.
I have a few ideas for homebrew alchemical lab equipment that can help everything along such as a scale that can guarantee a precise measurement of a substance or a flask/beaker that can purify or distill a chemical without fire just using time or a magic word.
I also nickname the Alchemists "petal pluckers" because they can be distracted in a tense moment when they see Deathbell growing by the stream. Off they go and the party's stealth is ruined.
How do you add flavor to the alchemy in your campaigns? How do you keep it from getting out of control?
I haven't had a problem with brewing potions since the time and money required are so great and our campaigns havent had a lot of treasure or downtime.
Have you had players express an interest in alchemy? With the influence of Skyrim, I fear many players will want to just "drink up."
My experience is similar to DxJxC. While crafting potions was great in 2e when I started playing, the 5e rules make it rarely worth the time and money.
Well...they aren't idiots, right? :) I mean, that's a funny scene for a movie. But is a party member likely to just wander off from actually sneaking up on the castle gate to do that? Would the rogue get ten feet from the guard shack and decide to go pickpocket that nobleman instead? Someone might, but why would alchemists be more likely to abandon a mission for their personal goals than anyone else? Just something that stood out to me :)
The idea is cool, I like using a player-interactive way to manage something like potion availability. Seems better for the games I like to play than a big open air shopping mall with a potions tent.
Looking for new subclasses, spells, magic items, feats, and races? Opinions welcome :)