The Art of Alchemy

Mages don't only just cast spells - they also have access to a brew potion skill. With this mid-level skill, the mage can brew special spells, even those generally only gifted to clerics by their gods, and even some not castable by any other means. It is rumoured some alchemists even know recipes to brews that restore the drinker's mana! These recipes are often well-guarded secrets, as alchemists generally do not like competition in acquiring the spell components needed to make their prized brews.

There are three main types of items that can be used as spell components. These fall under the category of 'spellcomp', 'herb', or 'food'. These are found under the 'TYPE' heading in an identify or list. Spellcomps can be bought or otherwise acquired from special shopkeepers, or found around the world. These shopkeepers are in every major city from Airam to Zin.

So you have the spellcomps, are you ready to brew? No - you need to learn the 'brew potion skill first. Salk in the city of Ralnoth can teach you this skill and get you on the way to brewing potions.

There are other skills that may help you with brewing and using potions. The first of these, 'potion lore', allows you to identify the critical aspects of new brews and is required to submit new potion recipes to the Ralnoth Alchemists Guild. There is also a 'potion bottling' skill that can be used to preserve brews so that they don't lose their magical properties over time.

(Salk is also a high ranking member of the Ralnoth Alchemists Guild, and can help you enter and advance in the guild. To begin, you must learn the 'potion lore' skill, which will allow you to submit new recipes to the guild. Submit enough high level recipes and you can gain access to guild-member-only shops loaded with obscure spellcomps.)

Note that finding or buying spell components can be difficult or expensive, and if your skill levels are low you may fail and ruin the brew. It's a good idea to practice your potion brewing skills to a high level so you don't waste components.

So assuming you have the brew potion skills and some spellcomps, you just need to find a liquid container in which to brew the potion. Assuming your recipe yields a potion, the level of the spells will be determined by the average levels of the spellcomps you used. Note that food is usually low level, and some spellcomps are listed as 'total levels'. If you don't know any recipes, you can get some easy starter recipies from the web page of the Ralnoth Alchemists Guild.

A good way to stumble upon recipes is with the potion lore skill. If you possess this skill, you will be told the chances of what the recipe will brew, such as 'certain to brew heal', or 'low chance to brew stoneskin'. This is much more effective than just identifying brews as the brew you made may have been misbrewed or contaminated.

Some alchemists prefer the scattershot approach, which can often land a lot of experience. This is done by acquiring a lot of spellcomps and simply brewing all of them together to see what you get. If you don't like the result, you can easily empty out the container and repeat. Be careful though, as some potions will be activated by being dumped out. Some alchemists prefer to simply donate these potions instead of having to deal with dangerous high level spells.

If you find a really good brew that you want to use later, the potion bottling skill allows you to bottle your brew so that it won't lose its spells over time. This skill can be learned from Salk and requires one hundred gold for each bottle. Beware! Bottled potions do not save, so if you need to log out you may want to drop or donate your potions. This also means that bottled potions will be lost if the game reboots.