Re: CF: Quest & Characters and Alchemy

[Mark Wedel <mwedel@scruznet.com>]

Scott Wedel wrote:
> 
> 1) An alchemist starts off basically able to do chemistry.  Take
> sulfur, charcoal and saltpeter in order to make an explosive
> powder.  Likewise able to make aspirin (mild pain reliever),
> knockout gasses and so on.  Advancing at alchemy should require
> spending lots of money for quality compounds and acquiring some
> alchemist books.  The actual advancement comes from successfully
> making the desired compound.  At this level the alchemist should
> have a "Lab stuff" item.  And presumably that item could have
> different bonuses depending on how well it was made and how much
> it has been used.

 Makes sense.  Certainly awarding experience just to alchemy for successful use
of the skill makes sense.  Ideally, more stuff should be found outdoors - for
example, I remember one of the ultima games were you needed various reagents to
cast the spells - most were not particulary expensive, but the important ones
could only be found in specific areas of the world and I think at specific
times.  Similiar here - maybe the components are not especially valuable, but
you need to go out and find them - you need relative fresh mushrooms for that
potion, so the store isn't likely to have them (consider the demon ichor which
decomposes as an example).

 One consideration is whether the alchemist is a class by itself, or a 'hobby'
picked up by adventurers.  I could certainly see alchemy being an interesting
thing to play in a real life RPG, but if in crossfire the character mostly sits
in town mixing things, that doesn't sound very interesting.  Perhaps that is how
the character could be - no one is forced to play it, but if you want to, you
can.

 Related to this is how important is alchemy in the game.  Until some number of
releases ago, it didn't exist, so at current time, it really is not important. 
Should it be important?  For example, if it is the only way you are ever likely
to get stat improvement potions, it becomes very important.

 I will note that idea of reduction of ability for unused skills doesn't appeal
to me much.  IT may be realistic, but doesn't necessarily mean it is fun to play
with that.  I think with the current gameplay, it especially doesn't work, as
most often, you go out on your fairly long adventure, and then come back and do
all your misc stuff.  So while on that long adventure, you may loose most of
your skill making something, and never able to regain it.  We don't currently
reduce mages ability to cast spells if they haven't cast anything for a while,
but that is just as valid as alchemy.

 Now we could certainly add a difficulty rating to the formulae file, and this
more or less corresponds to the level in alchemy skill.  A first level character
would not be able to make the potion of strength.  You could even base exp on
the difficulty - say you get 10* the difficulty or something when you make
something.  Making large batches decreases the chance, but increases the exp. 
Making something very basic for you increases the chances, and so on.  Reading a
new recipe grants exp.  Since the only way your are likely to get alchemy exp is
using the skill, it does force the use of the skill.
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