Skills/Alchemy
Alchemy is the craft of grinding reagents into potions. Every heal, cure, refresh and explosion potion a player drinks or throws in New Bradford starts in an alchemist's mortar and pestle. Alchemists keep fighters alive, supply poisoners with their poisons, and make the explosion potions that hit harder the better the thrower's Alchemy.
This page explains how alchemy works in New Bradford, from your first lesser heal to a Grandmaster's greater explosion. For putting poison on blades and food, see Poisoning. For identifying poisoned food, see Taste Identification.
At a glance
| Skill category | Crafting & gathering |
|---|---|
| Tool | Mortar and pestle (see Tools) |
| Workstation | None. You can mix potions anywhere. |
| Materials | Reagents and empty bottles |
| What you can make | Refresh, agility, night sight, heal, strength, poison, cure and explosion potions |
| Other uses | Explosion potions you throw do extra damage based on your Alchemy. |
| Skill cap | 100 (Grandmaster) |
| Starting gear | Choosing Alchemy as a starting skill gives you a mortar and pestle, 4 empty bottles and a robe. |
Tools
| Tool | Name | Uses | Where to get it | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Mortar and pestle | 25 to 75 (100 if exceptional) | Alchemists, glassblowers and herbalists (8 gold). Tinkers can make one from 3 iron ingots (20 Tinkering). | Weighs 1 stone. Opens the alchemy menu. |
|
Potion keg | Holds 100 potions | Tinkers make them (75 Tinkering) | Stores one kind of potion. See Potion kegs. |
The mortar must be on your person, in your backpack: "The tool must be on your person to use."
Every attempt uses one charge, whether it succeeds or fails. When the last one is gone the mortar breaks: "You have worn out your tool!" Carry a spare.
How to make a potion
- Put the reagents and some empty bottles in your backpack.
- Double-click your mortar and pestle. The alchemy menu opens.
- Pick a category (Refresh, Agility, Night Sight, Healing, Strength, Poisonous, Cure or Explosive), then the potion.
- You grind the reagents. On success the potion goes in your backpack: "You pour the potion into a bottle..."
The menu also has a Make Last button to repeat your last potion and a Last Ten list.
Every potion takes one empty bottle plus its reagents.
Success chance
Every potion has a minimum Alchemy (listed in the tables below). Below it, you can't make the potion at all. "Any" means anyone can try it.
At the minimum your chance is 0%, and it rises by 2% for every skill point above it. At 50 points above the minimum you never fail. For example, a greater heal potion needs 55.0, so you have a 50% chance at 80.0 and a 90% chance at 100.0.
A failed attempt costs the reagents, but you keep the bottle: "You fail to create a useful potion."
Potions have no quality. A potion made by a Grandmaster works exactly like one bought from a shop.
Potion kegs
A potion keg holds up to 100 potions of one kind and weighs 20 stones plus a little for each potion. Potions don't stack in your backpack, so a keg is the way to carry and store them in bulk.
- Fill it: drop a potion on the keg. The potion is poured in and you get the empty bottle back. A keg only takes the kind of potion it already holds.
- Empty it: double-click the keg with an empty bottle in your backpack to fill one potion.
- Straight from the mortar: if you're carrying a keg that already holds some of the same potion and isn't full, each new potion goes straight into it and you get the bottle back: "You create the potion and pour it into a keg." An empty keg won't fill this way, so pour one potion in by hand first.
- Tinkers make kegs from an empty keg, 10 empty bottles, a barrel lid and a keg tap. Carpenters make the keg and lid.
| Part | Made by | |
|---|---|---|
|
Empty keg | Carpentry (57.8), from 3 barrel staves, barrel hoops and a barrel lid |
|
Barrel lid | Carpentry (11.0), from 4 boards or logs |
|
Keg tap | Tinkering (35.0), from 2 iron ingots |
|
10 empty bottles | Alchemists, glassblowers, herbalists and provisioners (5 gold) |
Reagents
Alchemy only uses eight reagents, the same ones mages use. Alchemists, mages and glassblowers sell all eight, and herbalists carry some of them.
| Reagent | Potions | Buy from alchemists | Sell to alchemists | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Black pearl | Refresh, Total Refresh | 5 gold | 3 gold |
|
Blood moss | Agility, Greater Agility | 5 gold | 3 gold |
|
Spiders' silk | Night Sight | 3 gold | 2 gold |
|
Ginseng | Lesser Heal, Heal, Greater Heal | 3 gold | 2 gold |
|
Mandrake root | Strength, Greater Strength | 3 gold | 2 gold |
|
Nightshade | All four poisons | 3 gold | 2 gold |
|
Garlic | Lesser Cure, Cure, Greater Cure | 3 gold | 2 gold |
|
Sulfurous ash | All three explosions | 3 gold | 2 gold |
|
|
Empty bottle | Every potion | 5 gold | 3 gold |
Potions
In every table, Alchemy needed is the minimum skill, Always succeeds at is the skill where you stop failing, and Success at 100 is your chance at 100.0 Alchemy.
Refresh
| Potion | Alchemy needed | Always succeeds at | Success at 100 | Reagents (plus 1 empty bottle) | Effect | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Refresh | Any | 25.0 | 100% | 1 black pearl |
Restores 25% of your maximum stamina. |
|
|
Total Refresh | 25.0 | 75.0 | 100% | 5 black pearl |
Restores all of your stamina. |
Agility
| Potion | Alchemy needed | Always succeeds at | Success at 100 | Reagents (plus 1 empty bottle) | Effect | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Agility | 15.0 | 65.0 | 100% | 1 blood moss |
+10 Dexterity for 2 minutes. |
|
|
Greater Agility | 35.0 | 85.0 | 100% | 3 blood moss |
+20 Dexterity for 2 minutes. |
Night Sight
| Potion | Alchemy needed | Always succeeds at | Success at 100 | Reagents (plus 1 empty bottle) | Effect | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Night Sight | Any | 25.0 | 100% | 1 spiders' silk |
Lets you see in the dark for 15 to 39 minutes. |
Heal
| Potion | Alchemy needed | Always succeeds at | Success at 100 | Reagents (plus 1 empty bottle) | Effect | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Lesser Heal | Any | 25.0 | 100% | 1 ginseng |
Heals 3 to 10 hit points. |
|
|
Heal | 15.0 | 65.0 | 100% | 3 ginseng |
Heals 6 to 20 hit points. |
|
|
Greater Heal | 55.0 | 105.0 | 90% | 7 ginseng |
Heals 9 to 30 hit points. |
Strength
| Potion | Alchemy needed | Always succeeds at | Success at 100 | Reagents (plus 1 empty bottle) | Effect | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Strength | 25.0 | 75.0 | 100% | 2 mandrake root |
+10 Strength for 2 minutes. |
|
|
Greater Strength | 45.0 | 95.0 | 100% | 5 mandrake root |
+20 Strength for 2 minutes. |
Poison
| Potion | Alchemy needed | Always succeeds at | Success at 100 | Reagents (plus 1 empty bottle) | Effect | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Lesser Poison | Any | 45.0 | 100% | 1 nightshade |
Lesser poison. Used with Poisoning. |
|
|
Poison | 15.0 | 65.0 | 100% | 2 nightshade |
Regular poison. |
|
|
Greater Poison | 55.0 | 105.0 | 90% | 4 nightshade |
Greater poison. |
|
|
Deadly Poison | 90.0 | 140.0 | 20% | 8 nightshade |
Deadly poison. |
Cure
| Potion | Alchemy needed | Always succeeds at | Success at 100 | Reagents (plus 1 empty bottle) | Effect | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Lesser Cure | Any | 40.0 | 100% | 1 garlic |
Can cure lesser and regular poison, and sometimes greater. |
|
|
Cure | 25.0 | 75.0 | 100% | 3 garlic |
Cures lesser poison, usually regular, and sometimes greater or deadly. |
|
|
Greater Cure | 65.0 | 115.0 | 70% | 6 garlic |
Cures everything up to greater poison, and usually deadly. |
Explosion
| Potion | Alchemy needed | Always succeeds at | Success at 100 | Reagents (plus 1 empty bottle) | Effect | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Lesser Explosion | 5.0 | 55.0 | 100% | 3 sulfurous ash |
Thrown. 5 to 10 damage. |
|
|
Explosion | 35.0 | 85.0 | 100% | 5 sulfurous ash |
Thrown. 10 to 20 damage. |
|
|
Greater Explosion | 65.0 | 115.0 | 70% | 10 sulfurous ash |
Thrown. 15 to 30 damage. |
Using potions
Double-click a potion to drink it. The empty bottle goes back in your backpack, ready to be filled again.
- You need a free hand to drink: "You must have a free hand to drink a potion." Holding a two-handed weapon, or a weapon and a shield, stops you. Explosion potions are the exception.
- Drinking reveals you if you're hidden.
- Potions don't stack. Each one takes its own place in your backpack.
- Alchemists, glassblowers and mages sell the basic potions (refresh, agility, night sight, lesser heal, strength, lesser poison and lesser cure) for 15 gold, and lesser explosion for 21. Everything stronger has to be made by a player.
Heal potions
- Lesser heal restores 3 to 10 hit points, heal 6 to 20 and greater heal 9 to 30.
- You must wait 10 seconds between heal potions: "You must wait a few seconds before using another healing potion."
- You can't drink one while poisoned or mortally wounded: "You cannot heal yourself in your current state." Cure first.
- At full health: "You are already at full health."
Cure potions
A cure potion has a chance to cure you, depending on how strong the poison is:
| Potion | Lesser poison | Regular poison | Greater poison | Deadly poison | Lethal poison |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lesser Cure |
75% | 50% | 15% | 0% | 0% |
| Cure |
100% | 75% | 50% | 15% | 0% |
| Greater Cure |
100% | 100% | 100% | 75% | 25% |
"You feel cured of poison!" means it worked. "That potion was not strong enough to cure your ailment!" means it didn't, and the potion is gone. If you aren't poisoned: "You are not poisoned."
Strength, agility, refresh and night sight
- Strength and agility potions raise the stat by 10 (greater: 20) for 2 minutes. You can't stack two of the same kind: "You are already under a similar effect."
- Refresh restores a quarter of your maximum stamina, total refresh all of it. At full stamina you won't drink one.
- Night sight lights up your surroundings for 15 to 39 minutes: "You already have night sight." means you're still under one.
Poison potions
Drinking a poison potion poisons you. They're meant for Poisoning: use the skill, pick the potion, then pick a blade or a piece of food.
Explosion potions
- Double-click the potion. You get a target cursor and the fuse starts: "You should throw it now!"
- A countdown of 3, 2, 1 appears over your head.
- Target a spot or a creature up to 10 tiles away. The potion flies there and explodes when the countdown ends.
- The blast hits everyone within 2 tiles, you included if you're standing too close.
- Damage is 5 to 10 (lesser), 10 to 20 (regular) or 15 to 30 (greater), plus a tenth of your Alchemy (+10 at 100.0), up to 40 per target.
- If you don't throw it in time, it explodes in your backpack.
- You don't need a free hand to throw one.
Training Alchemy
- Every attempt can raise your Alchemy, whether it succeeds or fails, but only while the potion is a challenge. Once you reach a potion's Always succeeds at skill it's too easy to teach you anything.
- Below 10.0 you gain on every attempt. Above that, each attempt has a chance to gain 0.1.
- The harder the potion is for you, the better your chance to gain, especially when you succeed. Your chance also drops as you get closer to your Alchemy cap and to your total skill cap.
- Reaching 100.0 adds Alchemy to the Skills Mastered count on your achievements.
- Town alchemists, glassblowers and herbalists will also teach you the basics for a fee.
Suggested path
These suggestions favor the cheapest reagents for each skill range. A failure only costs the reagents, so your bottles are never wasted. Sell spare potions back, or keep them for Poisoning practice.
| Alchemy | Make | Reagents each |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 25 | Lesser Heal potions (or Refresh, Night Sight) |
1 ginseng |
| 25 to 45 | Lesser Poison or Lesser Cure potions |
1 nightshade / 1 garlic |
| 45 to 60 | Agility potions |
1 blood moss |
| 60 to 70 | Strength potions |
2 mandrake root |
| 70 to 85 | Greater Strength potions (or Greater Agility) |
5 mandrake root / 3 blood moss |
| 85 to 100 | Greater Poison potions |
4 nightshade |
The basic potions you make while training sell back to alchemists for 7 gold each.
Messages you'll see
| Message | What it means |
|---|---|
| You pour the potion into a bottle... | Success. |
| You create the potion and pour it into a keg. | Success, and the potion went into a matching keg in your backpack. |
| You fail to create a useful potion. | The attempt failed and the reagents are gone. You keep the bottle. |
| You lack the required skill to craft this item. | Your Alchemy is below that potion's minimum. |
| The tool must be on your person to use. | Put the mortar and pestle in your backpack. |
| You have worn out your tool! | Your mortar broke. Grab a spare. |
| You must have a free hand to drink a potion. | Put away your shield or two-handed weapon. |
| You must wait a few seconds before using another healing potion. | Heal potions need 10 seconds between drinks. |
| You cannot heal yourself in your current state. | You're poisoned or mortally wounded. Cure first. |
| That potion was not strong enough to cure your ailment! | The poison was too strong. Try a stronger cure. |
| You are already under a similar effect. | Wait for your strength or agility potion to wear off. |
| You should throw it now! | The explosion potion's fuse is lit. |
Tips
- Buy reagents in bulk from alchemists, mages and glassblowers. Ginseng, garlic, nightshade and mandrake are 3 gold, black pearl and blood moss 5.
- Failures keep the bottle, so you never need more bottles than potions you'll actually make.
- Carry a potion keg for heal and cure potions. One keg holds 100 potions in a single backpack slot.
- Cure before you heal. Heal potions don't work while you're poisoned.
- Raise your Alchemy for explosions. Your skill adds up to 10 damage to every explosion potion you throw.
- Count before you throw. Holding an explosion potion too long blows it up in your pack.