Extremely rare essences

My first thought was just an across-the-board increase in the rarer types 
(including Nether and Chaos - I think it would be fair if the average character 
got more than one chance to forge rNether in a typical game, for example.)

Another one that is rare is Time. While this is probably a for a good reason as 
it can be used to infuse speed on items, it is a shame that it does not start 
appearing until so late, so alchemists do not get much of a chance at making 
speed potions as an alternative to a staff of speed.

However, it has also occurred to me that there are a lot of different types of 
essences, some of which are used for only a very few things. Nether is a good 
example - the only thing it is used for (aside from exploding potions and 
breathing) is infusing rNether.

Maybe it would be a good idea to streamline the system by merging some of the 
rarer or less-used types, so that even if the number of essences generated is 
not increased, the usefulness of the ones found are.

My proposal is:

Nether, Death, Darkness - merge to Death (the one essence of dark/necromantic 
forces.)
Life, Protection - merge to Life (the one essence for healing and defense.)
Light, Blessing, Knowledge - merge to Blessing (the one essence for 
enlightenment, holiness etc.)
Nexus, Chaos - merge to Chaos (the one essence for weird and random stuff.)

Others stay the same - with the possible exception that Potions of Speed use 
Life instead of Time.

NotMorgoth
Original comment by pla...@googlemail.com on 28 Feb 2011 at 5:19
beoran / skills-angband

Extremely rare essences #164
