Among the many treatises of alchemy, none is more famous than the Emerald Tablet, a text akin for alchemists to the Book of Vile Darkness or the Book of Exalted Deeds, containing limitless scientific potential. Those that lay their hands on the mystical Emerald Tablet understand that alchemy isn't limited to the physical world, but encompasses all levels of reality, matter, shape, and form. The tablet unveils the universal principles of growth and the fluidity of change in all things. Made of pure emerald, its surface is carved with alchemical equations that only practitioners can understand. The tablet can be read from all directions and angles, seemingly revealing new texts based on its orientation, a puzzling property of its form.
It is said to contain infinite alchemical knowledge, from the secret to create a Philosopher’s Stone, how to achieve true chrysopoeia or how to brew the elixir of immortality. The tablet has been lost and rediscovered countless times through the ages, always sparking a new age of discovery and scientific achievements when found. Many attempts have been made to copy its formulas, and some have had some limited successes in doing so, but the most difficult formulas always seem to end-up incorrect, somehow requiring the tablet’s possession to be performed.
An attuned creature must spend 80 hours reading and studying the tablet to digest its contents and gain its benefits. Other creatures can read the carvings but glean no deeper meaning and reap no benefits. Benefits granted by the Emerald Tablet last only as long as you have the tablet in your possession. If you lose possession of the tablet, you lose all the benefits that it grants.
Random Properties. The Emerald Tablet has the following random properties:
- 1 major beneficial property
- 1 major detrimental property
Increased Intelligence. After you spend the requisite amount of time reading and studying the tablet, your Intelligence score increases by 2, to a maximum of 24. You can't gain this benefit from the tablet more than once.
Inner Alchemy. The numerical effects and duration of potions you drink are doubled. If a potion has nothing to double in this way, it works normally.
Marvelous Alchemist. You gain intuitive knowledge of alchemy. You can instantly identify any poison, potion, or oil you come across. You gain advantage on ability checks using alchemist’s supplies and double your proficiency bonus with them.
Additionally, you can use an alchemy jug you possess to create a potion of your choice during a short rest. Unless drunk within 24 hours, the potion loses its magical properties. The tablet can't be used this way again until the next dawn.
Destroying the Tablet. The tablet holds the mean of its own destruction. The tablet is destroyed if it is submerged in alkahest acid for 24 hours. Alkahest is a complex acid, requiring many rare and costly components, that can only be created by a creature attuned to the tablet.
Notes: Bonus: Intelligence Score, by a creature proficient with alchemist’s supplies
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