Concoct Potions: Replacement for Envenom Weapon

[semiticgod]

The Envenom Weapon feat is only available to characters with at least 1 rogue level and an Alchemy of 8. In IWD2:EE, this feat will grant access to Concoct Potions instead.

Concoct Potions will open a store from which the player can buy any type of potion aside from the permanent stat boost potions only available from Oswald. For every 2 points of Alchemy above 8, the store prices are 5% lower. Charisma has no impact on prices; Concoct Potions will temporarily set the user's Charisma to 10.

The new potions will replace all vanilla potions except for the permanent stat boost potions. All effects last 10 rounds unless otherwise specified. The player gains access to more potions at higher levels of Alchemy, and the prices range from 50 to 5,000 depending on strength. Here is what I'm thinking so far:

Alchemy 8: Sweet Elixir: heals 1d4 HP and cures poison and disease Bonemeal Eyedrops: +3 to ranged attacks Smoke Bomb: invisibility for 1d3+3 seconds Rainwater Brew: heals 2d6 HP Radiant Philter: 5/- fire resistance Fizzy Drink: +4 movement rate and speed factor

Alchemy 10: Musk Wine: +6 Strength Plasma: +2 damage Beetle Grease: +4 Reflex saves Bitter Tonic: +4 Fortitude saves Brine Solution: +4 Will saves Ogre Bile: +25 HP

Alchemy 12: Electric Gel: 5/- electrical resistance Ghoul Powder: 5/- cold resistance Zombie Slime: 5/- acid resistance Treant Sap: barkskin (+3 AC) Fish Lubricant: Freedom of Movement Sour Draught: heals 4d8 HP

Alchemy 14: Oil of Speed: haste Lime Juice: 5 spell resistance Burning Oil: 4d6 fire damage, 30' radius, Reflex save DC 15 for half, nonmagical Troll Serum: regenerate 5 HP per round Blood Nectar: +2 to all ability scores Vial of Scales: +2 generic AC

Alchemy 16: Murky Liquor: 1/- physical damage resistance Potion of Clarity: immunity to fear, charm, domination, feeblemind, and confusion Snake Lymph: 1/- poison resistance Golden Bubbles: +1 luck Black Mania: +1 attack per round, -2 attack bonus Refined Ectoplasm: 10/+2 damage reduction

Alchemy 18: Magnetic Fluid: -5 to hit, damage, and AC, -10 physical damage resistance, deals 10d4 crushing damage to anyone who attacks the user Coral Balm: tortoise shell, 100 HP Burning Syrup: Dispel Magic (no save), +10 spell resistance, 25% spell failure Fire Salamander Jelly: Fire Shield Red Frost Salamander Jelly: Fire Shield Blue

Alchemy 20: Fairy Oil: Mirror Image Vampire Milk: heals 6d10 HP Feyr Secretion: Blink Upgrades to level 8 Alchemy potions?

Alchemy 22: Upgrades to level 10 Alchemy potions?

Alchemy 24: Upgrades to level 12 Alchemy potions?

Alchemy 26: Upgrades to level 14 Alchemy potions?

Alchemy 28: Upgrades to level 16 Alchemy potions?

Alchemy 30: Upgrades to level 18 Alchemy potions?

Alchemy 32: Beholder Sauce: Improved Alacrity and -4 to casting speed for 2 rounds Upgrades to level 20 Alchemy potions?

[OlvynChuru]

My thoughts:

These potions replace the vanilla potions? So we'll be finding Zombie Slime and Beetle Grease throughout the game?

Murky Liquor could probably be made available at Alchemy 8. The main issue with physical damage resistance is about having too much of it (specifically, at least one character in the party with too much of it), not about having it too early.

The power of this ability will depend greatly on how easy it is to achieve high Alchemy skill levels on a single character. For this ability, all that matters is the highest Alchemy skill a character in your party can get; it doesn't matter how many alchemists there are in the party. That's okay. But we may need to keep some control on the easiness of getting high Alchemy mainly through item modifications. If the party obtains a ring that boosts Alchemy by 10, that effectively increases the party wizard's Alchemy skill by 10 permanently (the wizard only needs to put on the ring when they want to make a potion).

Today Icewind Dale 2 stopped working on my computer and I've been unable to test things. I'm wondering, do skill bonuses from multiple items stack? It would be very nice if someone could find this out for me. This will affect how we balance skill-increasing items. If item skill bonuses stack, that's a good reason for there to be fewer items that grant Alchemy bonuses.

However, even if the party manages to achieve a very high Alchemy skill early on, that doesn't mean that they'll be able to afford so many potions early on.

Here are some ideas for a high skill potions (Alchemy levels 22 and up); we can adjust the given stats and required skill levels of these potions to make them more balanced if necessary.

• Stoneskin Potion - Alchemy 22
• Potion of Snakebreathing (six-round Vipergout potion) - Alchemy 24
• Flask of Burning Anger (when thrown at a point, summons a berserk fire elemental at that point that attacks the nearest creature that has less than 20/- Fire Resistance; when drunk, deals 12d12 fire damage, fortitude save for half, so don't drink it) - Alchemy 26
• Potion of Super Berserk (grants +5 damage, +3 attack, and +1 attack per round, but grants -5 AC and causes drinker to go berserk in combat with no save; effects last for 5 rounds; spells that protect against berserk will block all effects of this potion) - Alchemy 28
• Black Dragon Elixir (polymorphs self into black dragon great wyrm (more powerful than druid version, at least comparable with the Elemental Half-Dragon) for just 2 rounds) - Alchemy 36 (making it a Red Dragon Elixir would be cooler and more unique if we could bring over the red dragon sprite)

[semiticgod]

This would indeed add Zombie Slime potions to the game. I think these potions are more interesting and flavorful than in vanilla, and the icons will be less goofy-looking. A lot of IWD2 potion bottles have bizarre, nonsensical shapes for no reason (can you imagine trying to store Potions of Extra Healing, or handling Potions of Invisibility without breaking them?) and the colors are so flat that the potions look like they came from the BG games.

I can make Vial of Scales into a Stoneskin potion (or maybe Iron Skins). It was originally a weaker Stoneskin potion in the Alchemist kit mod for BG2.

Vipergout would also work. We could replace Snake Lymph, but that poison resistance is pretty rare and probably worth preserving. I'll find another potion to replace.

As for the Flask of Burning Anger, we can't make it deal 12d12 fire damage to the user only when it is drunk from the inventory screen. I wouldn't recommend that potion; there are already tons of ways to summon a Fire Elemental.

I'll turn Black Mania into a berserk potion.

The Black Dragon potion makes little conceptual sense and the gigantic sprite would look distracting and ridiculous if it only lasts 2 rounds. Besides, we already have a black dragon polymorph option in the form of druids, and that shapeshifting ability becomes considerably less cool if any character can replicate the effect just by borrowing a potion.

[Grammarsalad]

Concoct Potion has missing icon.

And other issues

[OlvynChuru]

Concoct Potions works fine now.

Also, now that new feats can be added, Concoct Potions is its own feat and Envenom Weapon is back in the game. The poison of Envenom Weapon now deals damage over time rather than decreasing stats, and the saving throw scales with the user's Alchemy skill.