Forums » Crafting and Gathering

Alchemist: herbs and oils

    • 768 posts
    December 27, 2018 5:46 AM PST

    Aside of potions and poisons in glasses, I was thinking about the use of herbs and oils.

     

    These could open up global recipes as wel as regional recipes.

    Herbs could be used to heal, cure or otherwise manipulate magical effects.

    Oils can be used similarly to patch up wounds or perhaps increase mitigation? (like a sunblock would)

    It would allow for a more unique experience for the alchemists across Terminus as not everyone would have the same recipe/ or herbs in the area.

    This ties in nicely with the environment and it would allow for more recognition and uniqueness in the world. As players would know; "You want to make a Frosted Dandelion infusion? Well, you'll find Frosted Dandelions over in the ...region." And I find that a nice touch in the game.

    We already use this in real life, so it wouldn't be too far fetched to encounter this in Pantheon, would it?

    Any thoughts?

    • 2419 posts
    January 3, 2019 7:41 AM PST

    I was a huge fan of Alchemy in EQ1 and intend to engage in Alchemy if Pantheon has it.  The creation of potions that mimic (but not replace) player spells would be a great boon to the game.  Healing potions, 'cleansing' potions that remove disease/poison effects, potions for all the different resists, potions for stat boosts..all should be available to create.

    What is most important is that potitions in no way replace player spell so this means they should never have the same level of power as a player cast spell.

    Having regional differences would be a good design decision.  I'd still say that you should be able to procure a large portion of your alchemy ingredients from local vendors to cover all the basic potions.  For those higher level potions or for potions that give special benefits then, yes, going out into the world to find those materials should be necessary.

    VR has already alluded to this when it comes to spells and abilities.  Many will be found on vendors/class trainers but for the higher end and more special spells/abilities, you need to go adventuring.

    • 2138 posts
    January 7, 2019 10:27 AM PST

    Maybe oils you could apply/imbue and herbs could be consumed. Oil could be applied to leather/armor or like you suggested to flesh to provide a small resist boost, like flax seed or whatever terminus fauna. Or applied to a bow, staff or weapon to boost or add a little kind of damage, like curare or snake venom. I can see these as one time, temporary applications.

    Herbs could be eaten or...smoked. (I know a bit of a trope, but whatever). and being eaten could provide small counters to poison or disease or the coveted brief hp regen, and if certain kinds smoked could improve certain spells or enhance -although not increase- certain stats like agi, dex, or sta if making a long run.

    For both of these- just because I like to fuss-maybe have or need to have implements to use those herbs and oils, like a small pipe or stone cup (not mortar and pestle, something to put your thumb in to grind leaves) and maybe a off-handled dipper for the oils. The implements could be the containers for the oils and herbs, limited capacity, and click  on the ones you wanted to use. Hopefully there will be some cool animation to accompany it. As you become more skilled you could purchase more elaborate or decorative implements- that could hold more herbs and oils. Eventally you would have to make a trade off because potions would be better.   

    • 768 posts
    January 8, 2019 12:11 AM PST

    Manouk said:

    Herbs could be eaten or...smoked. (I know a bit of a trope, but whatever). and being eaten could provide small counters to poison or disease or the coveted brief hp regen, and if certain kinds smoked could improve certain spells or enhance -although not increase- certain stats like agi, dex, or sta if making a long run.

    For both of these- just because I like to fuss-maybe have or need to have implements to use those herbs and oils, like a small pipe or stone cup (not mortar and pestle, something to put your thumb in to grind leaves) and maybe a off-handled dipper for the oils. The implements could be the containers for the oils and herbs, limited capacity, and click  on the ones you wanted to use. Hopefully there will be some cool animation to accompany it. As you become more skilled you could purchase more elaborate or decorative implements- that could hold more herbs and oils. Eventally you would have to make a trade off because potions would be better.   

    The idea of transforming herbs into smoke, is quite nice. Perhaps it could envolve special fires to ignite. 

    My path of thinking: smoke could blend in with state of mind or any magical summoning/casting effect. So a priest might need to burn herbs to amplify a certain spell. Or as shamans would, get into state of mind where their mitigation or curing spells become more effective. A temporary wisdom buff (to put it into plain terminology). Smokebombs or clouds could be used by scouts. Different herbs might trigger a bigger cloud or be more effective against different kind of mobs. 

    Eating of herbs could again be effective for many classes and again as temporary buffs or mitigation increases. ( slight, not overpowering)

    When crafting with materials as herbs and oils, it could be a nice addition to have those little cups and bowls ingame. But I'm not sure how far Pantheon would go there. It could allow all kinds of crafters for more recipe diversity. And perhaps even make a living out of crafting those items. 

    I'ld still consider herbs and oils to be common ground for potion and posion makers. So, I wouldn't demand a hard choice there, it's optional for both specializations.

    Although I enjoy the animations of smoking a pike or starting a small fire to burn up the herbs or bash into a small bowl. This might not be something, one would expect early on in the game. 

    Still, it's a fun consideration.


    This post was edited by Barin999 at January 8, 2019 12:11 AM PST
    • 768 posts
    January 8, 2019 12:16 AM PST

    Vandraad said: 

    What is most important is that potitions in no way replace player spell so this means they should never have the same level of power as a player cast spell.

    Having regional differences would be a good design decision.  I'd still say that you should be able to procure a large portion of your alchemy ingredients from local vendors to cover all the basic potions.  For those higher level potions or for potions that give special benefits then, yes, going out into the world to find those materials should be necessary.

    VR has already alluded to this when it comes to spells and abilities.  Many will be found on vendors/class trainers but for the higher end and more special spells/abilities, you need to go adventuring.

    Agreed, these items or products should not be replacing the usefullness of spells that certain classes can cast. 

    I'ld be focusing towards boosting, mitigating or at best decreasing the spell cost. ...Because I consumed this dandelionroot, curing my noxious effect would cost the caster less mana. Or the noxious might have a lesser chance of landing on me, due to the dandelionroot. Or by consuming dandelionroots, my curespells can be cast with less expense or have a warding effect after the curespell has landed. 

    There are many directions this could go. As long it's not taking over the actuall spells, like you correctly pointed out.