AGE of Tamriel - Alchemy Rules

( PDF link )

So I've been spending many hours slowly writing AoT. For a good while I was wracking my brain on the magic chapter, dealing mostly with how to handle magic spells. Should I follow how they are handled in the basic rules, with spells tied to arcana levels? Or should I go with how Dragon AGE does it? Where you can pick-and-choose your spells, and some spells require you to know one or more spells before you can learn them.

I spent lots of time trying to find a solution, that eventually I noticed I was getting pretty burned out on the AoT project, and Fantasy AGE in generally. To counter this burn-out, I put AoT aside and played around with other things. I kept coming back to it every now and then, but never spending more then an hour at a time writing.

I recently decided to skip the magic chapter for the moment and focus on something else; alchemy. My initial idea was to follow how alchemy was handled in Skyrim and the Elder Scrolls Online; I kinda like the idea of having many reagents and there various interactions with each other. However, in keeping with my goal of trying to not introduce unneeded rules, I trimmed it back to something that resembles how alchemy already works in Fantasy AGE, with a additions.

The highlights to my rules are:

* Your level in the Alchemy Training talent determines what level of items you can create.
* Each alchemy item is its own separate recipe.
* Characters learn recipes through talents, training (with trainers or buying recipes), or through experimentation.
* You only need to make one (maybe two) tests when creating an item.
* Alchemy revolves around reagents, which come in three types; Common, Uncommon, and Rare.
* Reagents can be bought or harvested.
* Harvesting reagents takes an Advanced test; the TN and Threshold are based on the tier of the reagent.
* Harvesting reagents may also pose a threat with Hazards. Hazards are negative effects that can affect a character if they fail at harvesting a reagent.
* There is a Master Alchemist specialization that grants additional recipes, a unique stunt when harvesting reagents, and a bonus to avoiding hazards.

Now, my alchemy rules (and much like everything else I write) has not been playtested in the least. I do try and think of how the rules will affect gameplay, but without actually doing so, all I am really doing is guessing.

PS. This is also a preview of a newer look for AoT. The original was inspired by the manual for Morrowind, with its red and tan colors. But the newest look is inspired by the Skyrim manual, having blue on white. I find this change much easier on the eyes when reading.