Version 0.10 · not yet playtested
Alchemy wrings power from matter: reagents, salts, essences, the hidden properties of things. The art works, but the forces it channels do not stay in the flask. They settle into the alchemist’s own flesh as corruption, and when the body can hold no more, they set into a permanent mutation. Where the arcane sorcerer’s pool empties and refills clean (see Arcane Sorcery), the alchemist’s taint sheds only slowly and leaves a lasting mark for every well overrun. This is the personal, ratcheting end of the family (see Alternative Magic Systems).
This supplement swaps the core’s stress fuel for a taint track that fills as you cast, and its falter for a mutation. Everything else stands unchanged. If a rule is not below, it works as the core book says.
An alchemist has a taint track of 4 + Might boxes, drawn on the sheet. Might is the body’s capacity to endure what the art does to it; Wits is the casting attribute, the knowledge to work the formula. Casting fills taint boxes (unlike mana, which you spend down).
| Magnitude | Taint | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Cantrip | 0 | A minor working, at will. Never marks taint. |
| Spell | +1 | One real effect now: a firebomb, an acid flask, a draught, a cloud. |
| Greater spell | +2 | An area blast, a corrosive fog, a transmutation, a berserk brew. |
| Ritual | 0 | Slow, careful work, out of a fight (and the alchemist’s item-brewing). |
On a partial (9–12) take the reduced effect free, or mark +1 taint for the full result. Always optional.
Much alchemy is thrown or drunk, not chanted. Deliver a bomb with Shoot, apply a salve or draught with a touch; the working is the mixing, and the taint is its price.
The body purges taint grudgingly. A full rest sheds 1 taint box. There is no morning-fresh refill; a heavy day’s alchemy leaves you carrying tomorrow’s risk. Only proper downtime clears a badly fouled system.
When a casting would fill the last taint box and spill over, the corruption sets: roll a mutation below (or take one the GM offers), then clear the taint track to zero, the loose corruption has found a permanent home. The mutation is yours for good.
| d6 | Mutation |
|---|---|
| 1 | Chitinous hide. Armor 1 that cannot be removed, but you can no longer wear worn armor over it, and folk stare. |
| 2 | Extra eye. +1 to notice and aim; you look wrong, −2 to put strangers at ease. |
| 3 | Elongated limbs. Reach and a Speed step, but fine work and blending in come hard. |
| 4 | Toxic blood. A creature that draws your blood in melee takes 2 harm; disease and poison find you easily. |
| 5 | Hulking growth. +1 to Might-based rolls; −1 to Agility-based rolls; doorways are a problem. |
| 6 | Gilled and clammy. Breathe water and shrug off cold, but dry heat and thirst hit you double. |
Mutations are permanent, removed only by a rare cure or a costly downtime working. They stack. A master alchemist is half his own experiment.
Every alchemical bundle grants Caustic Splash, the at-will poke: a flicked vial of acid at one target for 2 magical harm (it eats through armor, so it ignores it), rolled to hit. It never rivals a real bomb or weapon. Reflavor it, a spat reagent, an ember, a stinging dust, but hold the cap. Being a cantrip, it marks no taint, the alchemist’s safe, small option.
Setting flavors:
A ready-to-use alchemical catalog, sorted by magnitude. Copy chosen entries onto a spell-book sheet. Damage numbers are the L1 default; a playbook’s damage step scales them. All damage is magical harm.