Potion

Overview

There are five potent herbs that are common throughout the Empire. These herbs are infused with magic which allows them to be used by a skilled physick to cure a range of ailments.

In addition, it is possible for a skilled apothecary to mix herbs together to create a powerful potion. Anyone who is not so badly wounded that they cannot fight can consume a potion unaided, and anyone can be fed a potion to receive the benefits.

Herbs

• You can only use the magical effects of a herb if you have physick skill
• Any character who has a herb garden receives new herbs after each downtime
• You cannot use a herb without a suitable card and phys-rep present

There are five common herbs in the Empire; it is possible for fleet owners to purchase them from foreign ports but most Imperial herbs are grown in a herb garden. A character who owns a herb garden will receive 14 herbs from their resource in their downtime.

Common Herbs
Bladeroot
Cerulean Mazzarine
Imperial Roseweald
Marrowort
True Vervain

Although herbs have powerful healing properties, they require skill to apply. They can only be applied by a character that has the physick skill, usually as part of some appropriate medical roleplaying.

Herbs are indicated by a small card (85mm x 55mm), printed by Profound Decisions, that indicates the presence of the herb and includes the rules for using the herb. You must provide a phys-reps for any herbs that your character owns, and the cards should be kept with the phys-reps, otherwise you cannot use the herbs in game and should not carry the cards on your person.

Potions

• Any character can use a potion with five seconds of appropriate roleplaying
• You can feed a potion to another character if they are willing
• Some potions are tonics; a character can be under the effect of only one tonic at a time
• A potion is wasted if it is not applied in the correct way

Any character can use a potion. Potions have both mechanical effects and roleplaying effects. To use a potion, you should engage in at least five seconds of appropriate roleplaying and then open the rip-on-use card that accompanies the potion. Once you have done this both the roleplaying effects and the mechanical effects apply to you, provided you have applied it correctly.

You can only use a potion yourself if you are not dying on zero hits. If you are not dying then you can administer a potion to another character to so that they can benefit from it (feeding it to them or applying it to their body) provided that they are willing. If they are not willing to let you administer the potion then it is wasted.

Potions come in four forms: they may be a liquid, salve, oil or infusion. This information is found at the top of the reverse side of the card that accompanies the potion.

• A liquid is an elixir or philtre that is drunk.
• A salve is a balm or ointment that is smeared on the skin,or into a wound.
• An oil is a thick viscious liquid that is daubed or poured onto a weapon.
• An infusion is a volatile substance that reacts to heat. Infusions are burnt or boiled and the steam or smoke they produce inhaled.

If you consume the potion in the right way, you gain the benefits. If you don't, then the potion is wasted.

Poisons

Most minor poisons are obsolete within the Empire due to the presence of magicians who can remove basic poisons with a simple incantation, and apothecaries who can treat most poisoning with a simple herb. Those looking to harm their opponents through such means seek out apothecaries who can brew potent, near magical toxins.

On the surface apothecaries study the various poison recipes so as to understand them and to learn to create antidotes - the poison and its antidote cannot truly be separated. Some malicious herbalists point to the fact that most poison antidotes are themselves toxic and accuse those who claim to study poison only for its medical use to be hypocrites.

The knowledge to brew non-lethal poisons, by contrast, is widespread: preparations such as gutwrench or the Tisane of the Stuttering Fool have undeniably negative effects on those who imbibe them, but these effects always stop short of death. While sometimes referred to as poisons, these preparations are actually simply potions with unpleasent effects on the imbiber, and follow all the normal potion rules, rather than the poison rules.

Poisons

• Herbal preparations rapidly lose their effectiveness when mixed with other substances. Potions which are not specifically poisons become inert within 10 seconds of being mixed with food or drink.
• You cannot 'poison' a character with a potion without the assistance of a referee,
• A poison is a potion that can specifically be used surreptitiously against a character. Using a poison requires the assistance of a referee.

The majority of herbal preparations lose their effectiveness very quickly when mixed with other food or drink. It is acceptable to roleplay mixing a liquid with water and handing it to a companion, but you cannot 'spike' someone with a potion without the assistance of a referee. Some preparations, brewed by apothecaries trained in recipes such as The Assassin's Gate are specifically intended to be used against other characters surreptitiously.

Poisons are highly volatile, and break down quickly. Once a poison is brewed, it loses all effectiveness within fifteen minutes, becoming inert. This creates a very narrow window of opportunity for the poison to be administered to a target; you cannot prepare a poison in advance for later use. To use a poison you need to take the ingredients to a referee and mix them together; the referee will then stay with the poison until it is delivered or until the duration expires, or it becomes clear you do not wish to continue.

A poison tends to effect the first person who consumes it. If you pour a dose of poison into a jug it will poison the first person who drinks from that jug. If you pour five doses, it will poison the first five people who drink from it. Poisons do not stack with themselves; someone who consumes five doses of a poison in quick succession is poisoned only once.

Antidotes work in a similar way. In each case, there is a specific antidote for each poison. If the wrong antidote is used, the target will die. An antidote must be brewed and then applied within fifteen minutes - usually the apothecary who brews it is responsible for treating the victim of poisoning.

Most fatal poisons will kill their target within thirty minutes of the referee delivering the poison effects if the correct antidote is not provided.

Identifying a Potion

• Anyone who recognizes the in-character description of a potion can identify it using appropriate roleplaying

On the back of each potion card is an in-character description. Each potion with the same effect has the same description. The descriptive text suggests ways you might gather the information about the contents through roleplaying. Any character can try to identify a potion by looking at the description.

A character with the apothecary skill who is not sure about a potion can ask a referee if they recognise it as one of the ones they know how to make. Apothecaries have no special ability to recognise potions they cannot make.

The detect magic spell is no use in identifying potions or their effects; they are herbal effects, not magical ones. Some magicians use ritual magic to identify potions, but it is rarely as effective as simply asking an apothecary who knows how to brew that preparation to identify it.

Tonics

• A character can only be under the effect of one tonic at a time.
• If you are under the effect of one tonic and drink another tonic, the first potion's effects end and are replaced by those of the new potion.

Potions with long-duration effects such as those created by the Tonics of the Open Sky or the Tonics of the Deep Forest are tonics. A character can benefit from only one tonic at a time. Unless a potion specifically says so under it's mechanical effects, it is not a tonic.

Brewing Potions

• Characters with the apothecary skill can mix herbs to create potions.
  
• Ingredients can be exchanged for potions at GOD.
• You may be able to apply a potion directly to someone with the help of a referee if you know how to make it and have the correct ingredients.

Potions are usually mixed from common #herbs, although some potions use other components as well such as liao or crystal mana, or even ilium. You need to take the materials to a referee or to GOD and exchange them for potion lammies. You can make several potions at once.

It takes around a few minutes of appropriate roleplaying to brew a potion; it is acceptable to count the time you spend exchanging ingredients for potions towards this time if you wish. The exception to this is the creation of poisons and antidotes which follow different guidelines.

The recipes needed to make potions are gathered together into sets with similar effects. You cannot brew a potion unless you have the appropriate skill. Every apothecary knows how to make the preparations in the Apothecary potions set. To brew other potions you need to take the extra recipe skill. You can select one of the sets of recipes from the list opposite each time they buy the skill. You can then make all the potions in that set provided you have the correct ingredients.

For example, an apothecary who gains training in the Master Medicinal learns to prepare three useful healing elixirs - tranquil nostrum, Maledict's Medicament and the sovereign specific. All three recipes are gained at the same time, and are not learnt separately.

Further Reading

• A list of available potion and poison recipes is here.