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Alchemy
http://forums.paradigmconcepts.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=2426		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Dace [ Tue Nov 15, 2016 11:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Alchemy
I'm curious, shouldn't Alchemy be its own skill as opposed to a foci of Scholarship? I'm wondering why that wasn't done in the first place and if it was overlooked.
Author:  Blusponge [ Wed Nov 16, 2016 2:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Alchemy
My notes have Alchemy as its own skill, linked to Reason. Where are you seeing it as a Foci of Scholarship. I know it was its own skill in The Blessed and Damned.

The Traditions should look like this:
Alchemy (Reason): Art of transformation through potions, oils, etc
Animism (Will): Natural effects, shaped or sped up
Hermetic (Education): Versatile, but slow
Kabbalah (Education): Deciphering the mysteries of universe through the Words of God
Thaumaturgy (Reason): The art of using sorcery to enhance technology
Prayer (Courage): Defensive, few visible effects

Tom
Author:  Dace [ Wed Nov 16, 2016 8:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Alchemy
Relics and Rites. I might have missed something. I was going over the material again for fun and noticed that I didn't see that skill, or the Kabbalah skill. That one appeared to be Scholarship: Philopshy and Theology.

I thought it was odd that both skills were like that but I could have missed something, or maybe it was changed in an update to the pdf (I'm bad about updating pdfs).
Author:  Blusponge [ Thu Nov 17, 2016 10:31 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Alchemy
Dace wrote:
Relics and Rites. I might have missed something. I was going over the material again for fun and noticed that I didn't see that skill, or the Kabbalah skill. That one appeared to be Scholarship: Philopshy and Theology.


If you compare the Talents in the core for the Sorcerous Traditions, you'll see that none of those require a skill in the tradition either. R&R doesn't cover skills at all. So yeah, I suspect this might have been an oversight. It's something that could easily be covered in errata.

Quote:
I thought it was odd that both skills were like that but I could have missed something, or maybe it was changed in an update to the pdf (I'm bad about updating pdfs).


No, I don't see either of them covered in the text. So I don't think it was a PDF issue. Good catch. Maybe when Eric gets around to releasing errata for the core book he can cover that too.

Tom
Author:  Dace [ Thu Nov 17, 2016 10:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Alchemy
Quote:
If you compare the Talents in the core for the Sorcerous Traditions, you'll see that none of those require a skill in the tradition either. R&R doesn't cover skills at all. So yeah, I suspect this might have been an oversight. It's something that could easily be covered in errata.


Yeah which was why I questioned it. I thought it odd that the others had listed skills and this didn't. So I guess it would be good to assume that both Alchemy and Kabbalah are their own separate skills that you gotta take in order to get the basic talent.

As an aside I wonder if Lightbringers will get Thaumaturgy back or if Alchemy is meant to represent that part of them.
Author:  PCI Eric [ Fri Nov 18, 2016 7:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Alchemy
Kabbalah is a skill in the Sorcerous Tradition category. That needs errata.

Alchemy is merely a skill focus. The skill is needed to prepare, not to use.
Author:  Dace [ Fri Nov 18, 2016 9:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Alchemy
So I'm curious as to the reason why Alchemy is a skill focus?
Author:  Blusponge [ Sat Nov 19, 2016 4:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Alchemy
PCI Eric wrote:
Alchemy is merely a skill focus. The skill is needed to prepare, not to use.


Well…sure, it makes perfect sense that you wouldn't need a skill to drink a potion.

So let me see if I get this straight. When I spend 25 points for basic Heremticism, I get the Hermeticism skill at 1, right? But when I buy basic alchemy, I just use my scholarship skill? I dunno. That seems wildly inconsistent to me for some reason. Like one more special snowflake ability (like Attack Focus, since weapons are the only thing in the game you need a Talent to specialize in) just to mess with players and GMs. I mean, I get it. Alchemy was pretty accepted science in that age, so having it fall under Scholarship OR Hermeticism makes…sense. I just don't like having these random skills, Talents, Tricks, and Abilities that don't work like 99% of the rest of the game. It feels…inconsistent for no good reason.

Hrm….
Author:  PCI Eric [ Sat Nov 26, 2016 12:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Alchemy
I can appreciate wanting consistency between magical types, but Alchemy was always going to be the odd-man out. It is 100% preparation and usable by others. A Sorcerous Tradition skill is inherently a combat skill. Rolling an Alchemy skill to throw a vial is just... strange.

Consistency in rules function is often a merit, but the risk of that is shaving off the sharp edges. 4E D&D would be an example of taking it too far. You may feel we've gone to far the other direction, I don't happen to agree on that point.
Author:  Blusponge [ Sat Nov 26, 2016 5:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Alchemy
PCI Eric wrote:
I can appreciate wanting consistency between magical types, but Alchemy was always going to be the odd-man out. It is 100% preparation and usable by others. A Sorcerous Tradition skill is inherently a combat skill. Rolling an Alchemy skill to throw a vial is just... strange.


Oh sure, when you present it like that.

I'm talking about that 100% preparation. That's where the specific Alchemy skill makes sense over a skill focus. Of course, it begs the question, does preparing a hermetic rite in advance require a roll if the rite exceeds Mastery? Or is the roll only made at the moment of execution. I'll have to look that up.

Tom
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