Suggestion: A chemistry set

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There is a bit of an imbalance between scrolls,spellbooks and potions - you
can write scrolls and spellbooks with a magic marker but the closest
equivalent for potions is alchemy which is much more limited (personally I
use it so rarely that I have to look up the recipes every time).

I suggets a new tool, the chemistry set. This would produce potions from
water in the same way that a magic marker produces scrolls from blank paper
and be charged similarly.

 

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John Campbell wrote:
<snip>
> That said, I think I'd rather see the issue addressed by
> expanding the existing alchemy system to have a greater variety of
> recipies with more possible outcomes than by adding this chemistry
kit.
>

How about Alchemy skill too. More skill slots for people to use so
they'll *want* to get higher levels than XL14.

-K

 

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Nick Hounsome wrote:
> There is a bit of an imbalance between scrolls,spellbooks and potions
- you
> can write scrolls and spellbooks with a magic marker but the closest
> equivalent for potions is alchemy which is much more limited
(personally I
> use it so rarely that I have to look up the recipes every time).
>
> I suggets a new tool, the chemistry set. This would produce potions
from
> water in the same way that a magic marker produces scrolls from blank
paper
> and be charged similarly.

But this allows you to create unlimited wishes, making it the most
powerful item in the game by some margin.

Perhaps it could be a little more limited, and not allow you to create
smoky potions?

Darth.

 

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Darth. wrote:
> Nick Hounsome wrote:
>
>>There is a bit of an imbalance between scrolls,spellbooks and potions
> - you
>>can write scrolls and spellbooks with a magic marker but the closest
>>equivalent for potions is alchemy which is much more limited
> (personally I
>>use it so rarely that I have to look up the recipes every time).
>>
>>I suggets a new tool, the chemistry set. This would produce potions
> from
>>water in the same way that a magic marker produces scrolls from blank
> paper
>>and be charged similarly.
>
>
> But this allows you to create unlimited wishes, making it the most
> powerful item in the game by some margin.
>
> Perhaps it could be a little more limited, and not allow you to create
> smoky potions?

Assuming that "charged similarly to a magic marker" means "uses
a variable but large number of charges, depending on what you're making,
and can only be recharged once", and given the low probability of
actually getting a wish out of a smoky potion, and the fact that that
probability drops rapidly the more of them you get, this doesn't really
seem like a problem to me.

Also note that in games where smokies are one of fruit juice,
booze, oil, acid, or sickness (about a 1:5 chance), horns of plenty can
already potentially produce unlimited wishes (up to 120, when djinn go
extinct, anyway), and without the caveat of only being rechargable once.
(And you're going to need the PYEC, in any case, if you don't want to be
burning more scrolls of charging than you're getting wishes.)

That said, I think I'd rather see the issue addressed by
expanding the existing alchemy system to have a greater variety of
recipies with more possible outcomes than by adding this chemistry kit.

--
John Campbell
jcampbel@lynn.ci-n.com

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.nethack (More info?)

On Fri, 22 Apr 2005, Darth. wrote:

>
> Nick Hounsome wrote:
> > There is a bit of an imbalance between scrolls,spellbooks and potions
> > - you
> > can write scrolls and spellbooks with a magic marker but the closest
> > equivalent for potions is alchemy which is much more limited
> > (personally I
> > use it so rarely that I have to look up the recipes every time).
> >
> > I suggets a new tool, the chemistry set. This would produce potions
> > from water in the same way that a magic marker produces scrolls from
> > blank paper and be charged similarly.
>
> But this allows you to create unlimited wishes, making it the most
> powerful item in the game by some margin.

Far from unlimited since the set would have charges an cannot be charged
more than once (similar to markers). I would not say that markers can
create unlimited scrolls of genocide (unfortunately).
Plus the odds to get wishes from smokies are quite small, even more if
you're going for many wishes. But still, I do agree that even the ability
to generate a single wish with ratehr good odds is overpowered (since I
guess the odds of finding a set at DL2 will be slightly higher than thoses
of finding a wand of wishing at the same time...)

> Perhaps it could be a little more limited, and not allow you to create
> smoky potions?

You pours ingredients into water.
Water turns smoky.
But wait!
A djinni appears.
"You disturbed me, fool!"

He he, a nice trick for those who have not read enough spoilers...

Hypocoristiquement,
Jym.

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.nethack (More info?)

In article <xU9ae.55$yc.25@trnddc04>,
John Campbell <jcampbel@lynn.ci-n.com> wrote:
> That said, I think I'd rather see the issue addressed by
>expanding the existing alchemy system to have a greater variety of
>recipies with more possible outcomes than by adding this chemistry kit.

Then let me recommend the Combined Alchemy Patch [1]. It's a combination
of two patches, one by me and one by Nephi. My bit allows you to
generate potions by dissolving appropriate gems in acid. Nephi's bit
then allows you to mix potions together to form new ones, based on
colour combination rules. (But I'm pretty sure you can't make smoky
potions either way).

These replace the existing system, and have the benefit (imho) that alchemy
is a little more experimental. Since the results are based on colours,
then the rules of alchemy will change from game to game.

Malcolm

[1] http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~malcolmr/nethack