Subject: RQ Mailing list, Volume 1, Number 2 From: 8hum190@violet.Berkeley.edu (Elliot Wilen) Subject: Potions for RuneQuest They ain't perfect, I'm sure, but everybody would change them anyway. --Elliot Wilen Here they are: These rules are intended to re-introduce man-made poisons and potions to the RQ III system. For the most part, they amount to an update and extension of the RQ II rules. I'll be the first to admit that they aren't, strictly speaking, 'realistic'. Real poisons do not improve in potency according to the skill of their maker--they are simply manufactured according to recipe, and they have a more-or-less constant effect. But I'm presenting these rules anyway since they do integrate well with the overall RuneQuest system, and people may find some or all of them useful. Disclaimer: these rules have not been playtested. They may be sketchy in places. Suggestions for improvement, especially after playtest, are welcome. Throughout the text, I've indicated notes by using a number inside of square brackets [ ] . Alchemical Skills Poison, as described in the Player's Book, usually causes damage to total hit points. However, other types of drugs, breathed, injected, ingested, poured into an ear, or contacted by the skin, do exist. Some alternatives to simple damage-causing poison are: acid, drugs which cause sleep, drugs which cause paralysis, and mind-altering drugs which cause hallucinations, changes in behavior, or loss of willpower. Healing potions and salves may also exist. There are also antidotes to the various kinds of poisons. Finally, certain types of magic spells may be stored in a potion. (At GM discretion, not all 'potions' need necessarily be in liquid form: cakes, pills, and powders are okay, too.) Making Potions Each type of potion, poison, drug, or acid requires a different skill to manufacture. We can classify all of these skills under the general rubric of Alchemical skills, just as Play Instrument and Craft are also sets of skills. Alchemy skills are Knowledge skills with base chance of 00% and no experience check box. This means that they cannot be learned or increased through experience, only through training and research, though they may be trained/researched up to 100%.[1] Use of Alchemy is somewhat different from the usual application of a skill percentage.[2] The maximum potency of a specific item which a character is capable of making is 1/5 of the character's skill, rounded up. Thus the highest possible potency is 20.[3] Success is guaranteed unless the player fumbles. If this happens, roll again against the skill percentage. A normal success on this roll indicates that the character realized his mistake; otherwise the faulty product will not be detected until it is used. A fumble on this roll would mean something especially bad happened: not only is the potion weakened/useless/having unintended effect, but the alchemist accidentally imbibed/ingested/inhaled (etc.) some of it! (In this case, it may take normal effect the important point is that something happened to the poor guy.) Cost of Manufacture and Prices The cost of manufacturing a potion depends on its type and POT. Since people will inevitably set their own prices, I've made no effort to set precise costs. Instead, I've extrapolated prices from RQ II and multiplied them by a semi-arbitrary factor of 10 to convert from Lunars to pennies. The cost of purchase would be roughly ten times the cost of manufacture. These prices should be considered to apply for a small city. Adjust as appropriate for other locations of manufacture/sale. One dose is approx. 100 ml. = 1 U.S. gill = 4 fluid oz. = 1/2 cup General Type Cost of Ingredients per Dose (per point of POT) Acid 50p Poison 40p (should be increased considerably for special poisons, such as slow-acting or contact) Drug 200p minimum; cost varies highly depending on effect Antidote As Cost of Countered Agent Healing 200p (if used) Magic 400p (POT=maximum MP which may go into it) Effect of Potions Acid--A full dose causes its POT in damage to whatever it contacts. Adjust damage for contact with less than a full dose. (Keep in mind that if acid is splattered on someone, he's likely not to be hit by all of it.) Effects on objects will vary according to construction, POT, and length of contact. Armor and weapons will be damaged or even rendered completely useless by powerful acids--one way to handle this would be to roll on the resistance table for each round of contact, having the POT of the acid attack the armor points of the weapon or armor. Each success results in the loss of one armor point. Poison--This works exactly as described in the Player's Book, page 83. Note that the 'typical' man-made poison is ingested and takes effect very quickly. Blade venoms (for application to weapons), contact poison, slow-acting poison, poison gas, and other special types will cost more to manufacture--twice as much or higher. Drugs--Most drugs will need to overcome the CON of their target to take effect. If they do not successfully overcome the CON, partial effects may still apply. Typical effects of drugs include sleep, paralysis while retaining consciousness, hallucinations, and loss of willpower. Partial effects might include temporary loss of STR, DEX, INT, or maximum fatigue points. The effects of a drug typically last 2*POT hours. Antidote--According to GM discretion (and possibly only after research by characters), each drug or poison may be counteracted by an antidote. Antidotes may be taken in advance of contact with a harmful agent, in which case the substance has its POT reduced by the POT of the antidote before being applied. Antidotes last for 1/2 hour after being taken. Alternatively, an antidote may be administered after the harmful substance has been introduced into the system of its victim. Poison antidotes will counter an amount of poison damage already received equal to 1/2 POT. The POT of a drug antidote must attack the POT of the drug on the resistance table; success indicates that the drug has been successfully counteracted. Note that multiple doses of an antidote of a given POT will *not* have a greater effect than a single dose, but a greater POT antidote will supersede a previously-administered antidote of lower POT. (Note also that the GM should devise prices for the antidotes of natural poisons such as snake venom, since they have no price of their own.) Healing--If it is desired to include non-magical healing potions and healing salves in your campaign, you may allow them to heal their POT in hit points of damage. Since these rules would make it possible to create potions which heal 20 or more points of damage, you might want to increase the ratio of skill percentage:POT for healing potions (say, 1:10). On the other hand, such potions really don't make a whole lot of sense, and non-magical healing is already handled by the First Aid skill. Magic Potions Only Sorcery and Spirit Magic spells may be put into potions.[4] The effect of a magic potion is exactly as if the spell had been cast on the person who drank the potion; it does not give the person the ability to cast the spell. Thus a potion of disruption disrupts the drinker, a befuddle potion befuddles him, and a heal potion heals him. On the other hand, an extinguish potion is meaningless, as is a wish potion, because extinguish cast on a human has no effect, and a wish is not cast on anyone at all. In general, making a magic potion involves storing a spell and magic points in liquid form. Of course, special (costly) substances are needed to brew the liquid which stores the magic. Since a potion is good for only one use, the magician does not lose permanent power. Instead, he expends the normal MP cost of the spell. The spell may be manipulated by sorcery skills and/or boosted, as long as the cost is paid and the potion has the requisite POT. Manufacture of the magic potion is treated exactly as for other potions: roll versus Alchemy skill and assume success unless a fumble occurs, etc. However, if the spell is being manipulated, use the lowest skill involved (out of Alchemy and the relevent Sorcery skills). When the potion is drunk, it automatically takes effect unless it is resisted. ------------------------------------------------ Notes 1]Or higher, given the standard rules on training. However, since the highest skill level attainable (for a Knowledge skill) through research is 111%, then if one assumes that teachers cannot teach people of higher skill than they, and that all knowledge of Alchemy was originally gained through research, then the highest possible POT is 23. Alternatively, the maximum could simply be set at 100%. 2]Though it may be appropriate to apply a similar system to Craft and some other skills. 3]Usually. See note 1. 4]The main reason I said this is because I had a hard time fitting in Divine Magic. In general, I'm much less certain about these magic potion rules than about the others. -Elliot The RuneQuest(tm) mailing list is a courtesy of Andrew Bell. All opinions and material above is the responsibility of the originator, and copyrights are held by them. 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