Alchemy and Herb Lore

Alchemy has a storied history in the Jade Empire. Alchemy is split into two categories. Alchemy uses the rules for Fusion Alchemy in Pyramid #4/1 (use the TL3 cost columns), with some changes:

• To start with, either Blessed (Harmony with the Tao) or Gadgeteer are required to use Alchemy for anything other than the processes given under "Basic Practical Chemistry".
• The aerosol form of elixirs is unavailable, as the technology to produce devices that spray it has not been developed.
• A successful Meditation roll made before the Alchemy (and/or Esoteric Medicine, for internal alchemy)
• Critical failures when mixing elixirs do not produce explosions as in GURPS Magic, but instead produce products that poison their drinkers; use the effects of arsenic (Basic Set, p.439) to represent such toxic results (this is the case even if the alchemist was attempting to produce a different sort of poison). If this occurs when creating an internal elixir inside your own body, you are immediately subject to that poison's effects!

Modifiers:

What Can Alchemy Do?

Basic Practical Chemistry

• An unmodified skill roll can be made to perform extractive procedures (that refine existing natural materials) such as distillation (Distillation can be improved up to Alchemy+6 with a Hard Technique).
• An unmodified skill roll lets a practitioner perform simple inorganic syntheses (such as the creation of sulfuric acid ("oil of vitriol") via calcination of sulfides such as cinnabar). As a general rule, if it takes more than two steps or requires expensive, bulky lab equipment, it is not "simple"! More complicated synthesis is difficult or impossible; the GM may assign a penalty of -3 or worse, or simply rule the attempt fails.
• Perform identification and analysis of (non-magical) chemicals, at -3 to skill.

Identifying Enchanted Items

Through treatment with a variety of chemicals, an alchemist can ascertain whether or not an item is enchanted. This requires an hour of analysis, $50 in reagents, and a roll against Alchemy-2 (improvable up to Alchemy+2 with a Hard technique). On a critical success, the alchemist gets some inkling of the enchantment’s purpose. On a critical failure, the item has been splashed with acid or knocked into a flame. Whether this is disastrous depends on the item.

Detecting and Identifying Elixirs

A trained alchemist can identify magical elixirs. A successful Per-based Alchemy roll lets the alchemist recognize an elixir as an alchemical preparation upon seeing it, or when they smell food or drink containing it. Acute Senses assist this roll as appropriate. Analyzing an elixir requires four hours and an Alchemy roll (improvable up to Alchemy+4 with a Hard technique); a critical failure ruins the elixir, poisoning it as if a critical failure was rolled when brewing it. An alchemist can perform an analysis in just ten seconds by tasting the elixir - if they do so, any failed roll means it affects them as if they had taken it all. If the alchemist has encountered or brewed the elixir in question (or one similar, at the GM's discretion), any success pinpoints the nature of the elixir; if it is an unfamiliar elixir, a normal success merely gives a vague indication of the elixir’s purpose, while a critical success reveals the precise effects of the elixir.

Create Elixirs

Lastly, and obviously, Alchemy can be used to brew elixirs, either with a lab or inside the body of the alchemist or another person.