Alchemy

The Grand Arts of Alchemy

According to Alchemists, all that is can be divided eventually down into 8 Dominions, through which all matter can be categorised and translated, eventually, through secret and perilous arts. The path of Alchemy is much the same as our modern understanding of science, only mixed in with perhaps equal parts magic, philosophy, and luck. The most dedicated Alchemists end up changes and warped by their secret knowledges, and those that seek the Magnum Opera, are the most twisted of all.

The Dominions of Alchemy

Metal - Base
The name of all base things that are inorganic. Characterised by heaviness, denseness, darkness. The Alchemist with the Knowledge of the Metal domain practices in many ways the most famous of Alchemical practices, the translation of base metals into gold, silver, and other precious metals. Unknown to most, these practices are common, even basic, procedures. The trick is to make it economical. The more immediately useful aspects of the Metallic Alchemist's arts, are the imbibing of properties into metals, such as conductivity to magic, or resistance to the same for example.
Crystal - High
The name of all grand things that bear not the stains of life or the indignities of formlessness. Characterised by beauty, delicateness, lightness. Crystal has many esoteric and unintuitive properties to the uninitiated. Conduction of energies beyond the mortal mind, the focusing and refining of magic, the restructuring of other materials; all these are the realm of the Crystalline Alchemist who knows when to grind, or grow, when to nurture large matrices, or rush small ones.
Liquid - Base
The beginnings of formlessness, labile boundaries and permeable to many manners of things. The most common uses of Liquid Alchemy are the most widely practised; the creation of healing drafts, and other such potions of varying effects. They can range from simple dyes, to deathly concoctions that reek of chemicals. Putties and oils also fall within the Liquid Alchemist's remit.
Aetheric - High
The ending of formlessness; so far removed from being that anything can pass through it. Yet even so it bears many effects on the realms of what is, and is necessary for life (as far as is known), and must in some small way unknown to Natural Philosophy be made up of infinitesimal matter. The Aetherically gifted Alchemist can whip up storms in bottles, or create potent vapours, or remove them entirely from an area.
Flora - Base
The unthinking mode of living flesh and organic compounds. The Alchemist who practices the lore of Floral Alchemy can grow and thus create living things with properties and uses of their desire. Remedies, poisons, drugs, pigments, food-stuffs, all these and more are among the remit of the Floral Alchemist. The most knowledgable Floral Alchemist can even reach past the limits of plants and delve into the secrets of other organic matrices, the powers of soils, certain stones, fabrics even.
Fauna - High
The thinking mode of what lives, which might even give rise eventually to the self, a much sought after goal of Alchemy. The Alchemist versed in Faunal methods can reshape flesh to suit and serve; they can change its material, adapt its purposes, enhance or dull its senses. They can even create small servants to perform small tasks.
Energetic - Heresy
The heresy of the Energetic Alchemist is that they do not deal in matter and being and modes of refinement. The Energetic Alchemist deals in the realm beyond matter to touch on the realms of energy, the base actions of thought, the movement behind the moving. Their currency is lightning, their creations brass and metals in intricate patterns to achieve the impossible.

Alchemical Actions

The Alchemy Roll

In general, most actions you can perform with your secret arts requires either a recipe, or an Alchemy roll. Alchemy rolls consist of you trying to roll beneath your Alchemy skill ranks on a d6, with a number of modifiers attached to the roll. At the DM's discretion, if the task is particularly easy or difficult, the size of the dice can be changed to better represent the challenge at hand.   

Basic Alchemy

This action allows you to turn a material into another material of the same dominion. You need only pass an Alchemy check to do so.

Ascension/Debasement

This action allows you to turn a material of a base dominion into a material of its high dominion, or vice versa. Ascending a material gives a penalty of -1 to your alchemy roll.

Translation

This action allows you to turn a material of a base dominion into a material of another base Dominion.

Infusion/Cancellation

This action allows you to add (infuse) or remove (cancel) a property to/from a material. Ascending a material gives a penalty of -1 to your alchemy roll. You may not infuse additional properties to a material that has more properties than you have ranks in Alchemy.
[In this case, properties refer to special and unusual properties of materials, even those that are not common to their dominion. For example, the healing effects of a potion are a property, the poisonousness of a venom is a property, and the reflectiveness of a metal to name a few.] 

Combination/Separation

This action allows you to combine two materials of the same dominion into a material with both of its component material's properties, or separate a material with at least two properties into two materials of the same dominion with the properties of the original material split between them as the alchemist sees fit. Ascending a material gives a penalty of -1 to your alchemy roll.

Recipe

You can of course bypass all rolls if you posses a recipe, as long as you fulfil the requirement of the recipe. You can learn recipes that you posses in the same way as wizards learn new spells. You can create recipes by passing an Alchemy roll, at your DM's discretion.

Archetypes of Alchemists

Basic
Dealing with lower level materials grants the Basic Alchemist a wide range of knowledge and applicable methods. Note however, that basic does not refer to the techniques and capabilities of the Alchemist, merely the states of matter with which they work. They manoeuvre the modes of matter with expert precision, and restructure, refine, and combine with ease. They seek the Universal Panacea, with which all impurity and ill-humour can be destroyed.
Specialist Dominions: Metal, Flora, Liquid
Magnum Opus: The Universal Panacea
Suggested Recipes: Healing drafts, alchemist's fire, oil of slipperiness, glue bombs.
First Negation: Skin-deep blemishes remove themselves from you. You skin is perfect and smooth.
Second Negation: All features on you become perfectly arranged, mathematically so. Its somewhat unnerving.

Biological
With a focus one the modes of matter that live, Biological Alchemists can sometimes come across as playing at god, rearranging the stuff of life in the means that suit them. They rearrange flesh as easily as speaking, they nurture and cultivate life at a whim. Life is but another tool in their arsenal, and all manner of servants follow them, fulfilling maddeningly specific purposes.
Specialist Dominions: Flora, Fauna
Magnum Opus: True Homunculus
Suggested Recipes: Temporary animal aspect potions, draft of water-breathing, tangle-weed bombs.
First Negation: Your blood changes colour, and your flesh changes texture. The changes are random, and change every few days.
Second Negation: Plant-like materials sprout from odd places on your skin, and your flesh is slightly spongey to the touch.

Aethereal
The Aethereal Alchemists
Specialist Dominions: Liquid, Aetheric
Magnum Opus: Breath of Life
Suggested Recipes: Smoke grenades, vapours of vigour, sleeping drafts, potent acids.
First Negation: You are always buffeted by a unseen, unfelt wind which only affects you.
Second Negation: You hover slightly above the ground. If you breath hard, it can be heard like wind in a canyon.

Empirical
Empirical Alchemists
Specialist Dominions: Metal, Crystal
Magnum Opus: Perfect Translation [The Fundament Forge]
Suggested Recipes: Specially treated metals, artificial arcanite crystal, conduction rods.
First Negation: Your eyes become glassy, your hair becomes metallic and rigid, your nails are iron.
Second Negation: Your bones become hard and crystalline within you, in some places they jut awkwardly (though painlessly) from your body.

Abstract
Quite what it really is that the Abstract Alchemists really do is up for much debate.
Specialist Dominions: Crystal, Fauna, Aetheric
Magnum Opus: The Philosopher's Stone
Suggested Recipes: Drafts of Elemental Immunity, Draft of Mind Erasure, Living Crystals
First Negation: Solid matter in your body becomes subtly gem-like, your blood runs thin.
Second Negation: Your blood is totally gaseous now, bleeding is more like letting air from a balloon. You breath reeks of ozone.

Heretical/Energetic
Dangerous and deviant, Energetic Alchemists must keep their heresies down in the darkness away from prying eyes.
Specialist Dominions: None
Magnum Opus: The Machine Mind
Suggested Recipes: Lightning in a Bottle, Stun Mines, Trip-Wire Bombs, Kinetic Absorbers.
First Negation: Small jolts of light dash along your veins, your teeth spark sometimes when they touch.
Second Negation: Your joints lose some of their plasticity, your muscles curl like plastic tubing beneath your skin.
Conductions: Instead of Specialised Dominions, Conductions allow you to generate energy from Dominions with an Alchemy Roll. Energy is key to following and powering Energetic recipes. You may not Conduct energy from areas you do not have a Conduction for, though when you choose Conductions, you can choose any Dominion for it.

The Alchemical Path - The Easier Way

If you want a simpler way to progress this skill, then just follow the instructions below.
A character gains the following benefits at the following ranks of Alchemy.

1 rank: The character can perform Alchemy Rolls, and chooses their Archetype.
2 ranks: The character chooses one of the Dominions in their Archetype's areas to become a Specialised Dominion. They show the signs of their First Negation. They gain their Archtype's trait.
Basic Trait: +1 to Translation Rolls
Biological Trait: +1 to Infusion Rolls
Aethereal Trait: +1 to Combination Rolls
Empirical Trait: +1 to Rolls to generate Money
Abstract Trait: +1 to Ascension Rolls
Heretical/Energetic Trait: Conductions rather than Specialisations
4 Ranks: The character chooses another Dominion in their Archetype's areas to become another Specialised Dominion. They show the signs of their Second Negation.
Maximum Ranks: The character can now begin work on their Archetype's Magnum Opus. Should they ever complete it, they show the signs of their Final Negation.

The Alchemical Sephirot - The Harder Way

With each rank gained in the Alchemy Skill, the Character gains a new space on the Sephirot, beginning first with Kingdom at the first rank. Each space can only be chosen if the character already posses a space that is connected to it. Thus, the second space chose must always be Foundation, and after that, the third space can be Splendour, Eternity, or Beauty.
Once the maximum number of ranks have been attained, new spaces on the Sephirot can be gained by expenditure of time and resources equal to those needed to have attained the maximum rank, and by achieving something within the field of Alchemy that has never been achieved before.
[This will probably require some amount of DM discretion. In general, the projects to acquire further spaces on the Sephirot should be grand in scope, and novel in some regard at least. Err on the side of generosity as long as they aren't phoning it in.]  
 

Kingdom

This is gained when you take your first rank in Alchemy. With it, you gain basic access to Alchemical processes and knowledge.

Foundation

This is gained when you take your second rank in Alchemy. With it, you gain a Dominion Specialisation from on your chosen Archetype's areas.

Splendour

You may purchase this Sephirot area when you gain a new rank. With it, you suffer no penalty to Ascension rolls.

Eternity

You may purchase this Sephirot area when you gain a new rank. With it, you suffer no penalty to Translation rolls.

Beauty

You may purchase this Sephirot area when you gain a new rank. With it, you gain an additional Dominion specialisation.

Judgement

You may purchase this Sephirot area when you gain a new rank. With it, you suffer no penalty to Combination and Separation rolls.

Kindness

You may purchase this Sephirot area when you gain a new rank. With it, you suffer no penalty to Infusion and Cancellation rolls.

Knowledge

You may purchase this Sephirot area when you gain a new rank. With it, you gain +1 to rolls involving your Dominons of Specialisation.

Understanding

You may purchase this Sephirot area when you gain a new rank. With it, you gain +1 to rolls concerning Dominions adjacent to your areas of Specialisation.

Wisdom

You may purchase this Sephirot area when you gain a new rank. With it, you gain +1 to rolls concerning Dominions

Crown

You may purchase this Sephirot area when you gain a new rank, as long as you have all three of Knowledge, Understanding, and Wisdom. With Crown, you can begin the long journey to the creation of your Specialisation's Magnum Opus.

The Magnum Opera

The process of creating the Magnum Opera has never been documented in history, though the results of them have popped up here and there in history, presumably created by non-human hands through their mysterious magics and powers. The ultimate dream of every Alchemist is the creation of their Magnum Opus. Some have come close. By the grace of gods, perhaps you will be the first.

Once either the maximum ranks in Alchemy has been gained (if using the easier way) or the Crown has been achieved (is using the harder way), the final project can be put into motion. In no particular order, the Alchemist must succeed on at least 3 Alchemy rolls on a d10 to determine the process of creation. They must obtain the Key Reagent for the creation of the Magnum Opus (which is specific to each Opera) which probably is a great quest in and of itself. Optionally, the Alchemist can also gather up a Catalyst for the reaction, which is not necessary, but makes the final process easier. To create the Magnum Opus consumes the Key Reagent, and requires the Alchemist pass an Alchemy roll on a d12, which can be rolled twice and the better result taken if a sufficient Catalyst is present and consumed. If the roll is passed, the Alchemist must make the Sacrifice, they show the signs of their Final Negation, and their, glistening, gleaming, is the Magnum Opus. Nothing will ever be the same.

The Universal Panacea

Effect: Instant return to maximum hit points, curing of all negative effects, -1 maximum hit points permanently.

Key Reagent: The Roots of the Oolean Poppy Plants

Catalyst: Flesh untouched by Sickness

The Sacrifice: You automatically fail saving throws against poison. 

Final Negation: All blemishes are gone from your body, all deviations smoothed out. You are the perfect (unnervingly and inhumanly so) example of your kind.

The Breath of Life
Effect: You are immune to all the deleterious effects caused by your environment. Inasmuch as they will not kill you, at least. Discomfort and pain are yet your travelling companions.
Key Reagent: An Angel's (or other such space-faring creature's) Lungs
Catalyst: Corpses of Creatures with Elemental Immunities
The Sacrifice: Loss of Homeostasis [you become terribly vulnerable to environmental dangers]
Final Negation: You are always cold, your breath comes out in harsh gasps, dew forms on you at all hours.

The True Homunculus
Effect: If your body is brought back to your Homunculus within a day of your death, you can return from death in a new body.
Key Reagent: Clay of the Garden of Childhood (or wherever mankind was born)
Catalyst: Doppelganger Corpses
The Sacrifice: You automatically fail saving throws against System Shock
Final Negation: Your flesh is sickly and pallid, barely holding itself together. Your mind, however, is sharp as razors, and easily (and harmlessly) removed from your ailing body.

Perfect Translation - The Fundament Forge
Effect: You can create whatever you want, no rolls necessary, gram for gram.
Key Reagent: A Tongue of the Immortal Flame
Catalyst: Vast, VAST amounts of Gold
The Sacrifice: You have the Midas Touch
Final Negation: Your skin is gold; your eyes, gemstones; your blood, a flow of rubies.

The Philosopher's Stone
Effect: You will never die of age, or age related concerns. You maximum hit points cannot be decreased.
Key Reagent: A Heart of an Immortal
Catalyst: The Blood of Many Races
The Sacrifice: Addiction to the Elixir of Life (instant, no save possible)
Final Negation: Your breath is a hurricane within you, your flesh studded with gleaming crystal, your remaining meat a wild kaleidoscope of colours.

The Machine Mind
Effect: Oh shit, its a sentient AI. Fuck. What have you done?
Key Reagent: The Recursive Connection Theory (said to be held by the Djinn Technocrats)
Catalyst: Copious amounts of Lightning
The Sacrifice: You automatically fail saving throws against Devices
Final Negation: Your veins are wires; your meat tubes, metal pipes; your flesh nets, gauze.

[Final Designer Notes]
This is designed for a system like LotFP, where skills are ranked from 0 to 6.

Scrimshaw Charms

Scrimshaw Charms

There are three aspects to creating a Charm: Level, Medium, and Pattern.

There are three Levels of Charm, Novice, Initiate, and Master.
Novice Charms are the easiest to craft, but are also the weakest.
Master Charms are the hardest to craft, but are also the most powerful.
Initiate Charms are somewhere in the middle.

The effects they offer are many and varied, they depend on the pattern carved into the medium.

Aspects of Charms and Bone

The Medium is always Bone, though there are two further aspects of the Bone that must be known; the Quantity, and the Quality.

The Quantity of the Bone depends on how much you have to work with. If you have an entire skeleton, you can afford to spoil your work many times before being forced to stop. If you have merely a knuckle-bone, you have no such second chance.
The Quantity of Bone you have is recorded as either a Pittance, a Bundle, or a Heap. A Pittance is mostly equivalent to a few good finger bones. A Bundle is mostly equivalent to a majority or so of a fully grown human's skeleton. A Heap is mostly equivalent to a good few humans' full skeletons.

The Quality of the Bone depends on many factors, and represents the power inherent in the Bone. Higher Quality Bone makes it easier to craft a charm, and Master level Charms require high Quality Bone to even begin. Some of the Factors that influence the quality of the Bone are the type of creature you took it from, the potency of the creature in life, and how whole the Bone is. Some charms will favour some types of Bone, and will treat the Bone as if it were higher quality than it is. Quality is recorded as either Poor, Fine, or Brilliant. Poor Bone is usually broken badly in some way. Fine Bone is what most people have in their bodies; deformed in each person's unique way, or bearing some small defect. Brilliant Bone is flawless, and a taxonomic exemplar of a species' Bones.

When You First Learn Scrimshaw

If you have learned Scrimshaw at character creation, you know Charm Patterns of your choice equal to 1 plus your choice of your Wisdom or Intelligence modifier, and 1 Minor Pattern. You also begin with Sets of Bone equal to the Modifier you didn't choose, generated as if bought from a Bone Merchant.

If you learn Scrimshaw during play, when you gain your first rank, you learn Randomly selected Charm Patterns equal to 1 plus your choice of your Wisdom or Intelligence Modifier, and 1 minor Pattern.  

Recording Your Bone

Every load of Bone you possess for the purposes of Scrimshaw is called a Set, and always has the properties of Quantity and Quality, and sometimes others.
Each set of Bone should be recorded in this manner; a [Quantity] of [Quality] [Creature Type] Bone.

For example; a Bundle of Fine Fey Bone.

Any further details, such as specific bones gathered or traits of the being you gathered Bone from, should be recorded beneath the primary description of the set. When using bone with that specific extra detail, such as if you are using spell-caster bone, always treat those specific Bones as having a Quantity of Pittance.
For example, you might have a:

Trove of Fine Humanoid Bone
- Spellcaster Bone
- Scapulas
- Diseased Bone

If you use these more specific types of Bone, and the dice say you should deplete them, merely remove them from that set of Bone, the Quantity of the main Set is not affected, unless it is also a Pittance with no other specific Bones, in which case it is also depleted. They are also always treated as being the same Quality of Bone as their parent Set. If they are higher Quality, then they belong to a different Set of Bone don't they?

Types of Pattern

There are a wide, wide variety of Patterns, and they determine the effects the charms have, and they are themselves divided into seven categories: Curse, Luck, Skill, Odd, Spell, Spirit, and Ward. There are also minor Charms that have similarly limited powers known by most that carve Bone.

Curse charms are bound with magics that bring misfortune or harm on others. They are more potent when crafted with Bone that is related by species or blood to the target.

Luck charms are wound with lines that bring fortune to you or deflect harm from you. They are more potent when crafted with Bone that is related by species or blood to you.

Skill charms are run about with engravings that enhance your abilities and provide knowledge. They are more potent when crafted with Bone from a being skilled in the knowledge you wish the charm to provide.

Odd charms are adorned with a chaos of lines and dots that provide a plethora of effects that are not easily placed in other categories. There is no way to predict what Bones will enhance their potency until the first time the pattern is attempted.

Spell charms are marked with arcane runes and equations that mimic the effects of a spell when broken. They are more potent when crafted with the Bones of spellcasters.

Spirit charms are marred by faux-tooth and claw marks that can be used to call upon a spirit creature to do the crafter’s will. They are most potent when crafted with the Bones of the animal whose spirit will be called on.

Ward charms are emblazoned with sigils that offer protection and safety to their creator. They are most potent when crafted with the Bones of a creature that was resistant to the type of the danger the charm itself offers protection to.

Minor Charms have only slight works and lines written into them, and off small benefits or charms for their makers. Minor Charms are also unique in four ways; there is no chance of failure when crafting them, they can only be made at novice level, they can only benefit the person who crafted them, and they do not require attunement. Anyone with ranks in Scrimshaw knows a number of minor patterns equal to their Scrimshaw Ranks.

To use a Charm, one must only have it on their person. They must be attuned to as if they were magic items; though you may attune to a number of Bone Charms equal to your proficiency modifier using 1 attunement slot if you crafted the Charms, if you did not craft the Charms, you can attune to a number equal to half your proficiency modifier (rounded down) using a single attunement slot. Charms whose effects are triggered when broken do not require attunement. Charms that target creatures other than those attuned to them must still be attuned to a creature for their effects to work. Minor Charms do not require attunement.

Retrieving Bone

Buying

Bone can be bought from the right people, though often in limited quantities and qualities. A typical Bone-seller’s inventory will have d4 lots of Bone for sail. 

For each lot, roll a d6. Each roll of 1, 2, or 3 represents a lot of Poor Quality Bone. If the roll was a 1, it is a Pittance; if it was a 2 it is a Bundle, if it was a 3 it is a Heap. 

Each roll of 4, or 5 represents a lot of Fine Quality Bone. If the roll was a 4, it is a Pittance; if the roll was a 5, it is a Bundle. 

Each roll of 6 represents a lot of Brilliant Quality Bone. Brilliant Quality Bone is always offered as in a Pittance.

For a lot of Poor Quality roll a d4. For a lot of Fine Quality, roll a d6. For a lot of Brilliant Quality, roll a d10. Use the table below to determine the type of creature the Bone came from:

1 - Beast
2 - Humanoid
3 - Monstrosity
4 - Undead
5 - Giant
6 - Aberration
7 - Fey
8 - Dragon
9 - Celestial
10 - Infernal

Specific Bones cannot usually be bought, though they might be "ordered" in advance, at the DM's discretion.
Prices are determined at the DM’s discretion.

Harvesting

Using the corpse of a creature, Bone can be retrieved using your Medicine, Nature, or Scrimshaw skill.

When you harvest Bone from a creature, take a number of dice equal to your ranks in your choice of your Medicine, Nature, or Scrimshaw skill +1, and roll them. You may pair up dice that show the same result. For each pair of 1, 2, or 3, you have found some Poor Quality Bone. If the roll was a 1, it is a Pittance; if it was a 2 it is a Bundle, if it was a 3 it is a Heap. For each pair of 4, or 5, you have found some Fine Quality Bone. If the roll was a 4, it is a Pittance; if the roll was a 5, it is a Bundle. For each pair of 6, you have found Brilliant Quality Bone. Brilliant Bone is always found as a Pittance.

If you can match no dice, you find no worthwhile Bone.

For each spare dice you have no paired or have chosen not to pair, you may also specify a specific bone to be included in that set of Bone, which should be recorded with it.

It takes 10 minutes to attempt to harvest bone from a creature, or 20 minutes if the creature is huge or larger.

You can only harvest Bone from any given creature once.

Finding/Looting in Dungeon

Generally, Bone that you find amongst the debris of adventuring that you don't personally and bodily tear free from a creature you have recently slain will not be suitable for carving Bones. If it is, your Dungeon Master should tell you so, and any special aspects that it may have (though you may need to investigate the Bone further to discern them if the DM deems necessary). Generally, these Bones will always be a Pittance, and your DM will tell you what Quality they are. You should probably record these separately from your other sets of Bone.

Searching during Down-Time 

If you have access to truly gargantuan quantities of bone, such as those in a catacomb, you may harvest Bone during your Down-Time. For each day's worth of searching you do, you may test your Scrimshaw skill (with difficulty depending on the source of the Bone at the DM's discretion), and if you succeed, you may determine one set of Bone in the same way as you would determine one from a Bone-Seller's inventory, though it is always of the appropriate type and species for the source of Bone you utilise.

Increasing Amounts of Bone You Already Have

If you find a type of Bone from a type of creature that shares a Quality which you already have and has a higher Quantity, replace it with the higher Quantity. If it has a lower Quantity, it gives no extra benefit. If it has the same Quantity, put a check next to the Bone, and roll a d6. If you roll more than the number of checks, there is no change, but leave the checks there. If you roll the same as, or less than the number of checks, increase the Quantity.

You can't increase the Quantity of a Hoard. 

Discovering Patterns

You can discover a pattern by researching, similarly to researching a new spell.

To research, you should choose whether you are researching a pattern of any kind, a pattern from a specific Category, or if you wish to find a Pattern with a specific effect (or create a new Pattern with an effect of your devising).

If you wish to discover a random pattern, take a pool of 3d4. At the end of each day spent mostly researching, roll the pool, and remove any 1s. When you have no dice left in your pool, you discover a pattern.

If you wish to discover a pattern from a specific category, take a pool of 4d8. At the end of each day spent mostly researching, roll the pool, and remove any 1s. When you have no dice left in your pool, you discover a pattern.

If you wish to discover a specific pattern (or create a new pattern), take a pool of 5d12. At the end of each day spent mostly researching, roll the pool, and remove any 1s. When you have no dice left in your pool, you discover a pattern.

You may stop researching a pattern at any time, but if you do, all progress is lost unless you start researching the same pattern where you left it off.

Crafting a Charm

When you wish to make a Charm, you must decide on the Pattern you wish to engrave, the Level you wish to engrave it at, and the Medium you will carve it on. If you are told to treat your Bone as being levels of Quality higher than it actually is, you can increase the level of Quality beyond Brilliant; record it as Brilliant+The number of increased Quality levels, eg. Brilliant+2

When carving a Curse Charm, you must use a Bone from the same species as the creature you want to be affected by the Charm. You also treat Bone that is from a creature related to the Target as being 1 level of Quality higher than it actually is, and Bone that is from the specific creature as being 2 Quality higher.

When carving a Luck Charm, you treat Bone that is from the same species as you as being 1 Quality higher than it actually is, and Bone that is from you as being 2 Quality higher.

When carving a Skill Charm, you treat Bone from a creature who had at least 1 rank in the relevant skill as being 1 Quality higher, and Bone from a creature who had at least 3 ranks in the relevant skill as being 2 Quality higher.

When carving an Odd Charm, roll two d20 on the table below to determine two Bone aspects. If the Bone matches one aspect, it is counted as being 1 Quality higher than it actually is, and if it matches both aspects, it counts as being 2 Quality higher than it actually is.

Bone Aspect Table
1 - Beast Bone
2 - Humanoid Bone
3 - Monstrosity Bone
4 - Undead Bone
5 - Giant Bone
6 - Aberration Bone
7 - Fey Bone
8 - Dragon Bone
9 - Celestial Bone
10 - Infernal Bone
11 - Magic User Bone
12 - Non-Magic User Bone
13 - Bone from a Small or smaller Creature
14 - Bone from a Large or larger Creature
15 - Bone from someone related to you (including you)
16 - Bone that is at least 100 years old.
17 - Bone that is less than a year old.
18 - Bone that bears the mark of a strange disease.
19 - Bone that has shed blood before.
20 - Saint's Bones.

When carving a Spell Charm, you treat Bone from a creature that could cast any spells at all as being 1 Quality higher than it actually is, and Bone from a creature that could cast at least 4th level spells as being 2 Quality higher.

When carving a Spirit Charm, you treat Bone from a creature that matches the type of spirit the pattern will summon as being 1 Quality higher than it actually is, and Bone from a creature of at least double its normal hit dice that matches the type of spirit the pattern will summon as being 2 quality higher.

When carving a Ward Charm, you treat Bone from a creature that had resistance to the type of damage the pattern wards against as being 1 Quality higher than it actually is, and Bone from a creature that is immune to the type of damage the pattern wards against as being 2 higher.

Novice Charms are relatively easy to make, and a skilled Scrimshaw carver can have no chance of failure with a high Quality piece of Bone. Initiate Charms are somewhat trickier to make, though a skilled Scrimshaw carver with a high Quality piece of Bone will still have a very good chance of succeeding on the first try. Master Charms are very challenging to make, and even a master Scrimshaw carver could fail multiple times even with a high Quality piece of Bone.

When choosing a piece of Bone to work, the high the Quality of the Bone, the easier it will be to craft. Having a high Quantity of Bone will not directly increase your chances of success, but it will give you extra chances should you fail. You can only choose one piece of Bone to work at any one time.

When crafting the Charm itself, take a dice depending on the Level of charm you are attempting to craft.

If you wish to craft a Novice charm, take a d8. 

If you wish to craft an Initiate charm, take a d12. 

If you wish to craft a Master charm, take a d20. 

When using Poor Quality Bone, your target number is 1. 

If you are using Fine Quality Bone, your target number is 3. 

If you are using Brilliant Quality Bone, your target number is 7. 

When using Bone of a Quality higher than Brilliant, add double the bonus levels to your Target Number. E.g. if you are using Brilliant+2 Bone, your target number is 11. 

If your Scrimshaw skill is at least equal to the Target Number, you may roll twice and take the better result; treating Target Numbers higher than 7 as 7 for this purpose. 

You must roll beneath the Target Number. 

Each time you roll, you must also roll a dice to see if your stock of Bone is depleted. 

For a Pittance, roll a d4. 

For a Bundle, roll a d6.

For a Heap, roll a d8.

On the roll of a 1, you decrease the Quantity of Bone you are working with one step, or remove it entirely if it has a Quantity of Pittance. If using a specific type of Bone from a set, rolls of 1, or 2 deplete that specific Bone type, though remember this has no effect on the Parent Set unless it is also a Pittance with no other specific types of Bone as a part of it. 

Regardless of success or failure, each attempt takes 2 hours for a Novice charm, 8 hours for an Initiate charm, and 1 week for a Master charm.

Example in Action:

Jerrick has a Scrimshaw skill of 3, and has the following set of Bone:

A Bundle of Poor Humanoid Bone
- Spellcaster Bone (2nd level)
- Rib Bone

He wishes to carve an Initiate level Spell Charm using his Spellcaster's bone. The spellcaster had 2nd level spells, so he increases the quality of his bone to Brilliant for the purposes of crafting the charm. His target number is thus 7. He takes his d12, and only rolls it once since his skill is less than the target number. He rolls a 4, and takes 8 hours to craft the Charm. He then rolls a d4 to see if he depletes his Spellcaster Bone since it is always treated as a Pittance, and rolls a 2, so the Bone is depleted, but this has no effect on the Parent Set other than that.

Bone Charm Patterns

Notes to DM: Charms numbered 1 through 10 are the basic Charms that can be randomly researched. Charms marked with a * were made by a player requesting a specific effect. Will probably add a few letters to mark which player created which pattern.

When reading the effects, when there are words in italics separated by /’s, they separate the effects of Novice/Initiate/Master charms.

Curse Charms
1 - If something kills you, they too shall die within a year/month/week.
2 - The target suffers seemingly endless and cruel Dreams, for a week/a month/a year.
3 - The target suffers end of Love, to their gain/to no particular hurt/in the worst way possible.
4 - The target finds it all too easy to wander off/get lost/be hopelessly astray.
5 - The target contracts a minor illness/a serious condition/a deadly plague.
6 - Animals find the target uncomfortable to be around/an annoyance/an active threat.
7 - The target will often find themselves mildly unlucky/somewhat unlucky/desperately unlucky.
8 - The target will never be able to sleep more than 6/4/2 hours each night.
9 - The target will find themselves drawn into an endless sleep for d4 days/d4 weeks/d4 months.
10 - If you use two Bones in this charm, you can cause mild/serious/deadly antipathy between two targets.

Luck Charms
1 - When you roll a d20, your rolls of 4/5/6 are counted as 8/10/12.
2 - When you roll a d20, also roll a d8/d10/d12 with it, and use the higher roll.
3 - If a ranged weapon attack misses your AC by 1, if you make a successful dexterity save with a DC of the attack roll, the attack hits something else within 5/10/15 feet of you.
4 - Add a +1/+2/+3 bonus to a saving throw that you add no proficiency to (decide when you craft the charm).
5 - You score a critical hit on rolls of 19/18/17 or higher. (Cannot be further modified)
6 - Every week, roll a d10. On the roll of a 10, you gain a few coins/a handful of coins/a purse of coins.
7 - When you roll for regaining HP, or gaining HP because of a level up, your results are counted as being 2/3/4 if they would be lower.
8 - Add a +1/+2/+3 to a skill that you are not proficient in (decide when you craft the charm).
9 - When you suffer a critical hit, you have a 1 in 6/2 in 6/3 in 6 chance to ignore the extra damage and effects.
10 - When you fail a skill check, you may try again if you choose. This charm has 1/3/7 uses.

Skill Charms
1 - Add a +d4/+d6/+d8 to all skill checks to do with Nautical activities.
2 - Add a +d4/+d6/+d8 to all skill checks to do with Meat.
3 - Add a +d4/+d6/+d8 to all skill checks to do with interacting with Animals.
4 - Add a +d4/+d6/+d8 to all skill checks to do with restraining someone.
5 - Add a +d4/+d6/+d8 to all skill checks to do with Doors.
6 - Add a +d4/+d6/+d8 to all skill checks to do with Foraging or Hunting for Food.
7 - Add a +d4/+d6/+d8 to all skill checks undertaken in Total Darkness.
8 - While you hold this charm, you have advantage on all checks using one/two/all set(s) of tools with which the creature whose Bone you used to craft this charm was proficient with (choose when you craft the charm, if you choose a tool set with which the creature was not proficient with, the charm has no effect).
9 - While you hold this charm, you roll one/two/three additional d20s, choosing the highest result on all history checks to do with the species whose Bone you used to craft this charm.
10 - You learn skills 1/3/7 days quicker than normal.

Odd Charms
1 - You can talk to your choice of one/two/three of rats, bats, cats, and gnats (choose when you craft the charm).
2 - Can be planted, and 1/2d4/3d8 mushrooms with strange powers will grow there 1 minute later.
3 - You grow gills while this charm is in your mouth. Can be used for 1/10/100 minutes each day.
4 - Your dreams are slightly/kind of/somewhat prophetic.
5 - Your touch is slightly/kind of/somewhat reassuring.
6 - You can eat some/a meals worth of/all your food needs of spoiled food.
7 - Will point at the nearest grave within a mile/10 miles/100 miles when dropped.
8 - This Charm is a whistle, and can mimic a noise chosen when the charm is crafted/a noise you have heard within the last hour/a noise you have heard in the last day. Once a noise is chosen, that is the only noise it can mimic.
9 - You sound like a specified individual chosen when this charm was crafted/at least a day in advance of/just before you hold this charm to your throat. Once an individual is chosen, that is the only individual it can imitate.
10 - When broken, this charm releases a swarm of flies/rats/locusts that obey the first order you give them, for no longer than 1 hour/1 day/1 week.

Spell Charms
1 - You cast blade ward/sanctuary/pass without trace
2 - You cast produce flame/fog cloud/web3 - You cast true strike/detect magic/detect thoughts
4 - You cast friends/charm person/enthrall
5 - You cast light/faerie fire/scorching ray
6 - You cast minor illusion/disguise self/invisibility
7 - You cast spare the dying/false life/blindness or deafness
8 - You cast prestidigitation/goodberry/enhance ability
9 - When a spell is cast within 10 feet of you, you gain one/three/seven temporary hit points.
10 - You may memorise one/two/four more spells than you normally could.

Spirit Charms

All summoned creatures will serve faithfully for a maximum of 1 month, or until they use up their allotted abilities.
1 - When you break this charm, you summon a cat that knows 1/3/7 random 1st level wizard spells, that can teach them to you over 10 minutes, though you can't write these spells down in any way.
2 - When you break this charm, you summon a bat that will faithfully spy/report on 1/2/4 areas, using any senses at its disposal.
3 - When you break this charm, you summon a wolf with 1/2/4 hit dice that serves you faithfully.
4 - When you break this charm, you summon a raven that will whisper 1/2/4 secrets in your ear.
5 - When you break this charm, you summon a rat that will faithfully fetch 1/2/4 items that a rat could feasibly carry at your request.
6 - When you break this charm, you summon an owl that will translate 1/3/7 conversation(s) or paragraph(s) of any language that it hears or reads, and whisper them in your ear.
7 - When you break this charm, you summon a terrible worm that will destroy any object that could conceivably be eaten over the course of 1 day/1 hour/1 minute.
8 - When you break this charm, you cast find familiar, though it will only serve for 1 day/1 week/1 month.
9 - Any creatures that are summoned by magic within 10 feet of this charm have 1/2/4 extra bonus hit die.
10 - When you break this charm you cast animal friendship/beast sense/animal messenger.

Ward Charms
1 - A creature that has just dealt you damage has a -1/-2/-4 to hit you for the next day.
2 - A creature that inflicts a condition on you has a 1 in 6/1 in 4/1 in 2 chance of suffering it too.
3 - All creatures have a -1/-2/-4 modifier to all opposed strength and dexterity skills involving you.
4 - You reduce the damage each dice of fire damage deals to you by 1/2/3.
5 - You reduce the damage each dice of cold damage deals to you by 1/2/3.
6 - You reduce the damage each dice of lightning damage deals to you by 1/2/3.
7 - You reduce the damage each dice of thunder damage deals to you by 1/2/3.
8 - You reduce the damage each dice of acid damage deals to you by 1/2/3.
9 - You reduce the damage each dice of poison damage deals to you by 1/2/3.
10 - You reduce the damage each dice of radiant and necrotic damage deals to you by 1/2/3.

Minor Charms
1 - You may eat this charm to gain the benefits of a small meal taken from the animal whose bone the charm was carved from, though it provides no relief from hunger.
2 - If you carve this Charm on a bone that matches a place on your body where you have suffered a wound, it will heal twice as quickly.
3 - If you burn this charm, it burns for 24 hours, and will not go out unless you specifically douse it.
4 - Leaving this charm under your pillow while you sleep protects you from bad dreams and other such unconscious interference (equivalent to advantage on any saves against such effects).
5 - Carrying this charm gives you a small friendship with rats for a number of days equal to the number of knuckle-bones you used to craft the charm.
6 - Carrying this charm protects you from the evil eye (equivalent to advantage on any saves against such effects). This charm must be carved from a skull fragment that includes a whole eye-socket.
7 - This charm feels cold when malevolent spirits are present. It must be carved from the bone of a murderer.
8 - This charm always points north when dropped. It must always be carved from a matching pair of Ribs.
9 - Planting this charm in a field of crops ensures they will not be blighted for a month. This Charm must be carved from a Pelvis.
10 - Intergrating this charm into the walls of a building ensures it will not be blown down by storms. This Charm must be carved from at least 3 Spinal Vertebrae.

Immortality: Everything you ever wanted to know, but were too short-lived to ask

Recently, a player of mine made a pact with Excrutiators (dark beings who study the deaths of mortals from other realms) to forsake her mortality and become a Lich. I like the idea that there are a number of ways you might be able to forsake the mortal bonds that shackle our lives in my games, and that all of them are available at different levels of difficulty. I'm still not quite sure how achievable I want these kinds of things to be; I think the happy middle is that the more "perfect" or rather, the less drawbacks the Immortality has, the higher level you'd need to be to get it. Potentially I want anyone at any level to be able to become immortal, its just that it won't quite be as easy as all that. We'll have to see. Immortality fundamentally changes what the game (and most importantly combat if they are that immortal, which I'd suggest you should avoid, too much hassle) is about, and what the character needs, so deploy it with caution, but I think it is very much worth deploying. The ramifications will certainly make for memorable experiences I'd wager.

Lichdom
The classic method. There are many ways to become a lich, and not all are as pleasant or difficult as the others. Lich is more of a catch-all term for the many, many ways to achieve immortality by removing one's soul and storing it elsewhere. There are indeed some very easy and simple ways to become a lich, but all of them need knowledge and specific materials and spells, thus it is usually only the higher-level wizards that ever achieve it, and usually only with the most complicated variations on the ritual. Eternity is a long time to be spent in a corpse after all, you want as many bells and whistles you can.

Potentially anyone can become a lich with enough effort and materials, even at first level (though the time spent gathering said materials will almost certainly be enough for a few levels as it is).

Effects:
- Immortality as long as your Phylactery remains intact
- Phylactery required
- Undeath
- You can come back from bodily destruction
- More dependent on the method of Lichdom used. Some require upkeep in souls, some won't prevent rot and decay, some cause irrevicable insanity. The list will be long and complex I'm sure.

Vampirism
Another classic. There are exactly two ways to become a vampire; drinking the life-blood of a vampire, or by accepting the gift of the Thirster, one of the Grimm Powers of the Shadowfell, and the original source of vampirism. The powers of a vampire increase with age, and with blood drunk; initially it begins only as an inurement to death by old age and a lethal aversion to sunlight, but eventually you get all the powers such a creature of the night is rumoured and suggested to have. Most vampires are actually powerful warriors, their bloodlust on the battlefield actualised into their new curse.

Effects:
- Immortality as long as you meet the upkeep
- Thirst and requirement for the blood of men
- Aversion and weakness to sunlight
- Undeath
- Bodily destruction is the end

Becoming a Lamenter
Actually totally out of a being's hands, mostly only happens to those who have a serious quest to complete when the cold grasp of death tightens around them, but potentially anyone can become a Lamenter. Of course, the shades of death often obscure the creature's original purpose, and they lose themselves in the murk of eternity. Their long grey lives are spent in pursuit of impossible tasks and ambitions, anything to stave of the inevitable monotony of infinity and the madness that comes with it. Lamenters tend to congregate in tomb-cities, and hunt the insane ones that lurk like rats in the tunnels underneath. More on Lamenters to come.

Effects
- Immortality without any requirements
- No real requirements
- Not much of anything really
- You need something to stave of the boredom or you'll go mad

Saint-hood
All Saints are of course immune to death by old age, a God isn't going to invest such power in their agents for so trivial of a death to take them from the mortal realms. The fact that almost every Saint has been martyred within a couple decades of their canonisation is little distraction from the process of ascending for many. The powers of Sainthood are difficult to turn down, both from the magnitude of the power offered, and the fact that you have to be quite devout as it is to receive such an offer from your deity, and thus refusing the offer is off the table for such an individual.

Potentially anyone devout enough could become a Saint, though usually only Clerics and Paladins will be focused enough on their faith to ever achieve it. It also isn't quite as good as you might immediately think; while it does avoid most of the downsides associated with immortality as gained from other methods, you do have something of a responsibility to the deity that granted you the Sainthood; but of course that is seldom a downside for the type of individual to be offered Sainthood anyway.

Effects
- Immortality as long as you keep up the good rep with your god
- Divinely appointed powers
- People want your opinion on like, everything
- People want you gone because your god isn't as good as theirs
- Basically all the problems of celebrity and zeal

Alchemical Immortality
There are two main methods of achieving this, creating an undying body and transfering your alchemical soul into it, or transferring your alchemical soul into a fully-grown homunculi (though you will need to repeat this every few decades or so, homunculi aren't as eternal as the alchemical soul).

Creating such new bodies is horrendously hard, and ludicrously expensive. At least the Stone of the Philosophers has actually been confirmed to have been created more than once, though of course homunculi are somewhat common among master alchemists, its just that transferral of the alchemical soul is the hard part. Creating an undying alchemical body has yet to be achieved, as far as is known.

The other aspect of Alchemical immortality is that the alchemical soul isn't as rigid as you might think. It is just as changable as it is whilst in the body, and while the person who appears in the new body is literally speaking the same person who went in, that doesn't mean they won't emerge changed to one degree or another.

Golems and other such constructs have been known to be used in place of Alchemical bodies, but it is a rather lesser form of immortality. Golem bodies are much less flexible than Homunculi in many ways.

Effects:
- Immortality as long as you aren't killed, and can maintain the body you live in
- Transferring your Alchemical soul might change it in certain ways, some small, some unavoidable
- Doubtless others will seek you out and demand you do the same for them

Demonic Apotheosis
The end result of many fiendish pacts, the giving over of your soul utterly to hell is tempting for many of the more boring and less gifted members of the human race. Of course, most will not make it, struck down by zealous do-gooders before the ritual is ever reached, and often the Demon who made the pact will often try to get the pactee struck down themselves (though indirectly of course) before they transfer the terms of the pact they bound them to.

Once Apotheosis is reached of course, the mortal shell sloughs off, and a new form of demonic proportions emerges, grand in power and dark majesty. Most who do achieve it find it to be less glamorous than they imagined. The potential to advance is there of course, the Demon said it would, but the newly minted demon didn't quite realise that they would start as low on the ladder as they would, nor that they would have to take orders from a liege. This isn't to say that they are weak at all, or not free to do much of what they wish, but many find it not as they quite expected.

Effects:
- Immortality, as a Demon, with all that entails
- You start off as a reasonably middle-ranking demon, you must earn your way up
- You have a Demonic Liege-lord, usually the demon you made your pact with, until you overthrow them
- You do have a lot of free time, but also obligations you must fulfil

Draconic Apotheosis
With the heart of every Dragon-born is the spark of a dragon. When they die, it can (and often will) gutter and die within them, but every so often, a Dragon-Born of sufficient stature and power will kindle the spark into a raging flame, fanned by their cult of followers in a ritual specifically bred to increases the chances, and as their mortal form expires, they instantly reincarnate into their new semi-divine form, rising from the ashes wreathed in magic, and power.

This is of course, limited to Dragon-born.

Effects:
- Immortality as a Dragon
- You are a Dragon
- A Dragon is you

Becoming a Death-Knight
The path of the Paladin is hard, and not all can make it. Of those that do, there are some that stumble and falter at the last, break their oaths, and fail to atone. From this stock, a Death Knight might be born. Words are power, more than people know, and breaking one's word twists and distorts that power, fuses and suffuses it to the soul, blackens and crisps it up like thin meat in the pan. These cracked and broken souls do not work right, and are the main source of an Anti-Paladin's power. Should they die, there is a chance that the crooked soul left within can't leave, and thus is the Death Knight born, the unholy powers of a broken oath sustaining it and corrupting it further. Redemption is the only way to permanently destroy a Death Knight, but the longer one remains as it is, the less and less likely redemption ever becomes.

This is usually only available to Fallen Paladins, but others who make mighty oaths and break them may achieve it too.

Effects:
- Immortality unless you redeem yourself, which is unlikely
- Basically everyone hates you
- Your Anti-Paladin powers are enhanced, as your undead body can handle the negative energies of your magics more easily
- You can recover from bodily destruction eventually, but it takes longer and longer each time, and each time it takes and greater and greater tax on your mind, until eventually you go insane and dormant

Naturalisation
The connection of a Druid to the Land itself is strong, and grows with the centuries. Eventually, the bind transgresses life itself, and the Druid becomes a part of the living world in a very literal sense. As one steeps themselves in the webs of alliances of the earth and the living things within and on it, the more one becomes tangled within themselves. Thus, a Druid who remains within their chosen Grove long enough will eventually never leave, becoming something of a part of it themselves. They live on as long as the Grove does, existing in symbiotic harmony. It is immortality of a sort to those outside it, but to the Druid themselves, it just the next step of life.

This is mostly the domain of druids, but any animist can achieve it eventually.

Effects:
- Immortality connected with the area of the World you are bound to
- You can only be destroyed if the area of the World you are bound to is destroyed too, which is really hard to actually pull off
- You have some influence over the area, but it is somewhat democratic, and you must convince the world it is in its best interests to follow your suggestions
- You can't ever leave the Grove you are bound to

Becoming an Iron-Wight
Just as the blades of mighty warriors soak up magic with each life they take, so to does the wielder. Just as the blades of the greatest warriors must eventually become magical from the slaughter they enable, so to does the wielder become less and less capable of anything else. Finally, they leave behind the comparatively frail flesh they once trusted in and become infused within their arms and armour, a metal gestalt consciousness, a sack of useless dried meat and rattling bones within the true iron-exoskeleton-creature. This is not what most warriors would want; you are lost utterly to the thrill of battle and the glory of the slaughter, but even the most grizzled veteran will usually hold other things dear, and existence as an Iron-Wight means forgoing those other things.

But there are enough with the lack of anything to live for that the most profane battlefields have been known to be stalked by immortal engines of death, empty armour still fighting for the sake of fighting and the spilling of blood.

Only the mightiest of warriors will even approach the level of slaughter needed to transcend their mortal skin and earn their iron-skin.

Effects:
- Immortality as long as your Steel Body survives
- Slaughter is the only response you can have to just about anything
- You are bound to the arms and armour you had when you became an Iron-Wight, you can never change them. To do so would be like amputating a limb, potentially fatal.

Leave Behind thy Mortal Flesh, be Changed
There are many peoples beyond our lands that are not human in the least, they exist long, far longer than us. They are not human at all, but they can make us like them. Perhaps you could find them, convince them to make you like them. Lesser than they are, but greater than you are now. Or perhaps they'd just suck out your innards and discard your empty skin-sack as garbage, or enslave you to build their cyclopean cities for all eternity. Hey, its immortality of a kind.

Effects:
- Immortality as long as you aren't slain
- If you can persuade them to actually do it for you, and I can't see why they ever would really
- And you need to live as an aberration now, not a man

Mummification
A rather specific form of immortality, taught to men by dry and bright gods. Somewhat inconvenient for most in that death must be tasted first before life can begin again, immortal and imperishable. The flesh must be preserved, the organs removed and stored in ensorcelled jars, charms and pendents secreted throughout the funerary wrappings to guard and protect the immortal soul. Then, and only then, life will reignite within like fire, and the newly forged immortal rises.

Unfortunately, the preservations of the flesh will one day fail, the organs one day rot away to nothing, the charms and pendents battered down over millenia until the soul within is exposed, withered and weeping to the elements of the afterlife. You do get a millenia or two of perfect existance, the better the team that performs the ceremonies and rituals, the longer you will live; but one day, eventually, it will wear down, leaving you a husk, mad and cold and forever clinging on to life by the broken nails of your metaphorical finger tips.

Anyone who knows the rites and rituals, and has a team willing to perform them to their corpse, can become a Mummy.

Effects:
- Perfect Immortality (or at least, your ego is inflated enough that you never see the drawbacks)
- Vulnerability in that you exist only as long as your organs, charms, and flesh remain
- Those same organs, charms, and flesh will deteriorate eventually, nothing you can do about it

The Stone of the Philosopher
More properly the elixir derived from it, and one of the pinnacles of the Alchemists Art alongside perfect transmutation, and Homunculi. To sup of that gold milk is to live eternally, and perfectly. That's it, no catches or drawbacks, except for dependence on the stone for your life. Unfortunately, should it ever get out that you managed it, then that is only the start of your troubles. There will be many who wish to propitiate you for some for themselves, who wish to take it from you, who wish to take for themselves the methods of its creation. Oh, and keeping up the supply of ingredients and reagents you need will probably be a bit of a hassle too. Maybe its not quite worth it except as an academic exercise.

Effects
- Immortality, with no drawbacks
- None, really.
- Okay, there area a few social knock-ons but thats it really

Amassing Words of God
Few will ever even come close to finding one, let alone the number that would be required to ascend to become a god themselves. The Words of God are those divine exaltations that force the world to exist as the speaker wishes it, the engines of deific movement and thought. To speak them is to control them, to make the world as you see it should be. Some mortals know one, maybe two, mostly the Saints granted them by their divine patrons. Knowing more attracts all sorts of attentions from those that see the attempt to become more than you are as perversion of the natural order. Should you learn enough though, even Death may become too intimidated to attempt to destroy you, and your divine domain becomes evident from the words you know, and you ascend shining and glorious.

Of course, you'll also need followers, but those come easily when the very elements of existance bend and contort to your whims.

Effects
- Immortality as long as you aren't struck down before you can fully ascend to godhood
- Power over the ELEMENTS THEMSELVES as long as you know the word for it
- Some people might be a bit upset by what you want to do
- Some people might be really for what you want to do

Using a Wish
But that is sort of cheating isn't it.

Effects:
- Immortality, probably
- It probably won't end well for you, you'd probably end up with some sort of "figurative immortality" like that "Oh, but your story and name will live on!" tripe.

Living in the Undying Lands of the Fae
Beyond the bramble bush, beneath the standing stone, within the flowing of the waters, the bright shining land of the Fey-Lords blossoms like a flower of fire. There, all that is exists to its utter pinnacle, beautiful and glorious and dangerous. You won't be immortal to start with, you'd still only be human, but the longer you remain, the more and more you take on the traits of their brilliance and vitality. You'll leave behind your frail humanity, and become more like them. In the Undying Lands, you cannot die unless it is utterly appropriate, which for the cunning individual is nearly the same. If you were sick and on your death bed, you would not die unless all your family were there, tear stained cheeks and puffy eyes telling you how much they'd miss you. However, if they were to gather, it would then be completely unavoidable that you would die. Its a tricky balance to strike. You could not be struck down in combat, except by your arch-nemesis, and only then at the climax of your rivalry, but one of you at least, is guaranteed to die. Thus the endless scheming and stagnant rivalries of the Fey-Lords, none of them wants to risk such a confrontation.

The Fey-Lords are also the other main obstacle to immortality through this route. There are enough immortals trying to enforce their domains throughout the feywilds. They don't wish to have another potential competitor.

Effects:
- Immortality outside of very specific circumstances
- You need to spend a long while in the Feywild first, and avoid getting curb-stomped by anxious Fey-Lords
- You won't be a man anymore, you'd become a Fey yourself

Dwelling in the Thin Lands of the Grimm
Grim are the Thin Lands, dark and cold, always on the brink of death beneath the ever dimming soft-red sun. Always on the brink, never quite tipping over though.

Unlike the Undying Realms, immortality on the Shadowfell is easy enough to attain, no-one cares about you, or how long you stay. The only thing is whatever it is that ails you, it will never leave you. It will progress and worsen and make every moment agony, but it will never kill you. There are stories of men you have degenerated into piles of flowing cancers, or ever spilling out their guts and blood, or who have wizened and wrinkled down to tiny ancient pygmies. It is immortality, technically. I wouldn't though. Some might though, if truly desperate enough.

Effects:
- Immortality as long as no-one actually murders you
- Your existance will not be pleasant
- Oh and the Grimm may try to snap you up like a leftover party snack

Practice the Rites of the Red God
There is one god who hides in the dark and forgotten corners of the divine spheres, the last of his family. He killed and ate the rest. He ate all sorts, his home, his family, other gods, men, beasts, trees, dirt, stone, anything to quench the unquechable. He ate and ate and ate until nothing was left, not even a name. His is the Cannibal god, red and raw, bleeding and bloody.

His rites and devotions remain among the mortal realms, and you can follow them too if you wish. Each morsel you swallow down is a silent prayer, each gulp a libation, the tiny scraps and drips that run down your chin and stain your chest and darken your cheeks is an exultant psalm. Feast on flesh, glut yourself on liquids, gnaw on muscles, chew bone, crunch eyes, slurp fingers, these are the holy doings of the Eaters of Men, the glorious ministry of the Sanguine Church. You too can live forever, as the Red God does. Do unto others as he did unto himself.

Just don't let anyone catch you at it.

Effects:
- Eat (one is the number of mouths)
- Eat (two is the number of his sets of teeth)
- Eat (three is the number of throats of his neck)
- Eat (four is the number of family which he devoured)
- Eat (five is the number of what was eaten when he ate himself)
- Eat (six is the number of years he ate from the history of the world)
- Eat (seven is the number for which he was consecrated)
- Eat (eight is the number of teeth he severs meat with)
- Eat (nine is the number of times you will eat to be like him)

Eat of the Fruit of that Perfect Garden
It was so that when the first of men crawled from the sea, they were perfect and immortal, they dragged behind them a sack of the kelp-fruits from the garden in which their first childhood was spent. The sack ran out, the immortal fires within them guttered and died, they became mortals. Now we all must die.

Or perhaps it was over the horizon whereon lie those final mountains upon which all souls must crest on their way towards their eternal destination that the Garden lay, guarded by burning angels. Or maybe in the sky itself, some other land held fast in the grand firmament of the sky. Perhaps it is closer than we think, among us at this very time. Or maybe it exists no more, trampled beneath the cities and factories and monuments of man.

But if there are fruit left, and you ate of them, your immortal fires would surely be reignited. Surely.

Effects:
- None can say, but they who dwelt when light was first made by young until-then-unlit stars.

Tools of the Magic User

More of a repository for myself of the various rules/fluffs about the tools of the trade for magic users. Styled roughly for 5th ed DnD (if only because its all my groups play at the moment), and driven by the lack of anything exciting for Wizards/Sorcerers to really do with their arcane focii. I mean, if you think the weapon list is bad, at least there are actual mechanical differences outside of weight between weapons. It really is attrocious, why would you ever go with anything other than the cheapest/lightest one available? So, I think arcane focuses are gone from my games, as are material components really (I mean, as cool as the concept is, as of now I don't have a way to actually make them as fun to keep track of as they are to use, and no one uses them anyway because of stupid focuses). And thus; these are their replacements, stolen mostly from various other people because they are better at thinking about this stuff than me.

Wands
Stolen from: http://www.paperspencils.com/2017/02/26/better-magic-wands-d100-magic-wands/
(hopefully I will discover how to do the nice neat links I see other people doing at some point. I'm lazy like that.)

Essentially, these I think will mostly replace cantrips, and be a mite bit more predictable and standard. Essentially, a wand is a small stick, containing the rough energies of a single spell, that can be cast over and over, and is fueled by the owner's life force. Most anyone can create a wand if they're smart/well versed enough (poss. reqs Int 13 and Arcana prof). They reduce the maker's max HP by an amount dependent on the power of the wand, and the wand's usage dice, that determines when the wand finally runs down.

There are enough really cool and useful cantrips that people (and by people I mean me) want to take but can't justify giving up those precious cantrip slots on, I feel. I think I may entirely nix damaging cantrips entirely for the sake of putting them in wands, but we'll see. I personally think wizards are good enough as it is without the inclusion of always on hand spells that are just as good as actual weapons, given the destructive potential of spell slots on top of that, but that might just be me. Anyway...

Staves, Rods, Whatever
Also Stolen from: http://www.paperspencils.com/2017/03/01/better-wizard-staves-d100-wizard-staves/

Solidified laws of magic, they grant their bearer phenomenal power, and are the end game for most wizards I should think. Less bonus spell lists, more containers for spell-modifications a la metamagic but more whacky and wild, or for bodies of knowledge and bound and trapped otherworldly beings, warlock patrons in sticks. You see a wizard with a Stave, you know he's a badass.

Spell-Books
The general idea here and for Spell Scrolls and Grimoires is inspired by the Grimoires of Wessex that I read in Broodmother Skyfortress but which I am lead to believe first appeared on Jeff's Gameblog, I'm sure if you've found me, you know enough about D&D blogs to know Jeff's.

Spell-Books are essentially individual to each wizard, a compilation of lab-notes and contractions of magical un-logics and incantations that each wizard has tamed to their own tongues. The writer of any given spell-book can use their spell-book to prepare and memorise spells, and also cast spontaneously from, as long as they still provide the magical impetus (i.e. spell slot). However, any given spell-book is mostly only legible to the Wizard that wrote it. The writing and scribbles within are so idiosyncratic to the mental landscape of the writer that even to other wizards it's mostly illegible nonsense, even if they're reading a spell they themselves know. A wizard can decipher another wizard's spells, but it takes time, and probably a lot of it. With enough study, you could probably become proficient in the scrawls of specific wizards, but that's probably not worth the effort. Usually.

Grimoires 
In many ways the opposite of Spell-Books, they also contain spells, with one difference. They can be understood by anyone. Sort of like books of well layed out and simply displayed magical-proofs that anyone can follow along with, as opposed to the idiosyncratic short-hands of a wizard's spell-book. Copying a spell from a grimoire to your spell-book is simplicity itself, and even non-casters could probably memorise a spell (though probably only one, two at most) from it with enough study. Thus they make fantastic treasures, rare as they are.

The downside to grimoires, however, is that they are ludicrously, insanely expensive, difficult, and time-consuming to actually make. It is one thing to write a spell in your own short hand, decoding that into the fundamental expressions of magical source code for a grimoire is an entirely different league of complexity. It is even dangerous, and potentially lethal to write down a grimoire-spell wrongly. You also can't cast spells from them spontaneously, they are simply to verbose and wordy to cast in anyway other than as rituals.

Spell Scrolls
Something of the middle ground between Spell-Books and Grimoires, they are idiosyncratic as spell-books are, but they are roughly legible to others as well. Creating a spell-scroll is difficult, but not as difficult as a grimoire. Anyone can cast a scroll's spell from it, as long as they provide the impetus (i.e. the spell slot), and a spell can be copied from a spell-scroll into a spell-book/grimoire, but it does require decoding in the same way as a spell-book before it can be copied from.

In desperate times, you can use a spell-scroll to cast its spell without a spell slot, (such that even non-casters can use a spell scroll in this way) but doing so not only consumes the spell-scroll, but also erases it from the mind of the wizard that originally wrote the spell scroll, and stops the person who cast the spell from ever being able to cast it again.

Scrying Orbs
This one is mine, haha! Take that OSR community! I will be invited to your luxury drinking bars and sup from your golden tables one day!

A real scrying orb is essentially, charged to the brim with magic, and tremendously valuable to the right parties. Much like a wand, it obviates the need to know divination spells to cast them, though it doesn't provide the impetus for them. They don't start off knowing all divination spells however, and any that it doesn't know can be imparted into it but a wizard that knows such a spell, meaning that once the spell has been imparted, no more knowledge of it is required. Unfortunately, they are somewhat rare. The wizards who are actually capable of creating them have no real need of them for the most part except for convenience, so they are not often made.

Arcanite Crystals
Mine too (and might actually be one of the best things I've come up with in my estimation).

Magic is transformative for wizards, certainly figurative, sometimes literally in application, and literally literally for all wizards. Casting spells eventually turns your bones to shimmering arcanite crystal, its why wizards are so fragile. The skeleton of an archmage is literally priceless due to the magnitude of the arcane-energies that reverberate through their bones.

In practical use, Arcanite is the fuel for the most powerful rituals, and allows for wizards to cast spells of a level higher than they might normally be able to manage. They can also be used to provide impetus for spells (essentially acting as extra spell-slots) but they do require a certain amount of time to recharge afterwards. They will eventually burn out when used enough, as represented by a usage die.

There are stories of certain biomancers who have managed to surgically remove their own skeletons, prop their own sacks for flesh up with manufactured replacements, and utilise their own bones to terrifying effect, the personal connection to the arcanite they use magnifying its potency. The odd necromancer has also been said to animate a powerful wizard's skeleton, effectively now having a travelling magical power-house wandering around besides them.

Divine Alternatives
As an addendum, I've also made a small list of equivalents for Divine Casters, which are similar in most ways, but a bit different too, and a bit cooler in some cases I think.

Wands - Reliquaries: Allow you to cast the miracle that was most associated with the saint the Relic originally came from. Doesn't require any HP sacrifice, but does require a offering to recharge once the use die runs down (which are probably also a little smaller on average than wands use die).

Crystals - Offerings: Sort of, they more function in that most clerics need to give regular offerings to their deity to keep up their Divine Favour, and a good enough offering might occasionally grant the pious cleric extra "spell slots". They can't be cynically offered either, their Deity/DM would know the difference between one honestly offered and one offered because the Cleric just wants another spell.

Rods - Sainthood: Again, sort of. On becoming a saint, you are a saint of something, which you can channel through your miracles. It is also a way towards immortality for clerics, much like lichdom for wizards.

Spell Scrolls - Litanies: You can recite a litany to channel its inherent miracle, but you must always have the slot for it.

Grimoires - Sacred Texts: i.e. your faiths bible-equivalents. You can't cast from it spontaneously, only as a ritual, and you can't add to them (unless you're starting a heretical off-shoot, which is a whole other kettle of fish) but they do have generally larger lists of available spells than arcane grimoires, and might have other abilities inherent to them, such as being able to invoke angels.

Rods - Words of God: Again, sort of. The Words of God are the real deal, the literal power of gods actualised as verbal pronouncements that you can learn, if you are devout enough. Once mastered however (and the methods of mastering are as obscure, difficult, and potentially blasphemous as you might think) you can invoke them for essentially free power over the word you have mastered, and alter miracles using them that you cast as well. Dangerous to have, but powerful. Learn enough, and you could essentially act as a god yourself.

The Surgeon-Necromancers of Scapula

On the fat-blackened isle of Scapula, the Surgeon-Necromancers reign supreme. Not as tyrants though, as oligarchs, who's subjects depend on them willingly and utterly. Without their services, half the magic-users within 300 miles would die. Horribly.

For a price, the Surgeon-Necromancers will put new organs into your body and mold them into your flesh, or perhaps subtley alter your biology. They might tamper with your vital energies, or tweak your metabolic functions. Their proddings and scratchings and manipulations will grant you extraordinary powers, attributes, tolerances. They can grant you powers over flame, lightning, disease; they can provide you beastial attributes, the ability to fly, to raise the dead, to heal with a touch. If the ability can be found in nature, or can be reproduced with a biological basis, they can transpose it into you. Each piece of work is also unique, and never quite manifests in the same way, nor is contained in the same form.

This is not with cost of course. First it requires a small fortune (though only a small one); not just for the surgery, but also over the course of years in the ever-mounting costs of the thick black liquid that maintains your new biology. Of course, the it is the Surgeon-Necromancers and only the Surgeon-Necromancers that supply it. This is the source of their dominance; if you have their arts performed upon you, and do not regularly consume the liquid, your body will rot and die around you. It will be long and painful, but it can easily be held in check for as long as you like... as long as you pay.

The other complication involved is that by the technicalities of the universes fundamental workings, you are for all intents and purposes, undead. You are still wholly alive and functioning of course, magic affects you as if you were alive, you heal at the normal rate, you still need the basic metabolic requirements of all living animals (assuming the Necromancers didn't remove them from you), but magic will also treat you as if you were undead, and the words of priests and paladins will repel you and burn you. Its something of a grey area.

There are four colleges of the Surgeon-Necromancers, each with their own specialties and services; Xanthic, Mavric, Elaic, and Vyssinic.

The Xanthic College is the colour of old bile, and acne. Grand brass vats seethe and boil on the fringes while other pots, pans, furnaces, and presses are put to furious work all about. The knives of the Xanthic Surgeons are red-hot during the processes, the better to cauterise the wounds they must inevitably inflict. The ministrations of the Xanthic Surgeons are, clearly, the most painful.

The abilities they can grant you are mastery over fire, pheromones to instill vigour and strength into those around you, and the mental strength to dominate minds. Fiery strength, liquid rage, and dominance pheromones are produced in the cinder-glands of the Xanthic college. They can transpose all such attributes that belong to creatures possessed of excess rage and vitriolic temperament. They do tend to increase the irritability of the wielder, but that is surely a small price to pay for such powers.

The Mavric College is a deep black, like the night sky unspoiled by the pathetic sparks of stars. Deep pools of oils and unguents are brewed in vast halls that reek of fat and dirt. Smoke and fumes play large roles in the Mavric Surgeon's works, and their suction masks for the protection of the surgeon and the patient have yet to actually kill anyone. The tall tales of ragged, lipless faces are surely just the poor ravings of dissatisfied customers.

Mavric Surgeons bestow abilities that protect, that give authority over flesh and over the earth itself. Their grit-sacs can project darkness, fear, and hallucinations. Creatures that lurk in the dark and seldom brave the light are fair game to the Mavric Surgeon; though such melancholy can cling to the organ's new bearer. The Black Elixir will hold the worst effects at bay of course...

The emerald cathedral-theatre is the Eliac College. Vast pipes of viscous teal and jade tar flow all about the space, only leaking sizzling drips into the corners that no-one cares about. Syringes and Injectors are the preferred tools of the Eliac Surgeons, and very few ever complain about air being injected into them...

Powers over fluids, of healing, and fetching or summoning are the specialties of the Eliac College. The glassy fibres they bestow can calm and equalize, or inflict inequalities in the humours of those they touch. Sometimes they can even be impelled to act as secondary limbs, though only the very highest quality surgeons can accomplish such a feat. 

And finally, the blood-red Vyssinic College. Pay no attention to the wasp-hives that dapple the walls in grist-comb, it would only raise more questions than we have time for answers. Satisfy yourself with the knowledge that the honey they produce ensures the Vyssinic Surgeon's success in their procedures. Neither should you give any mind to the grand bellows they cart around to each Surgeon's practicing area. They merely require them to achieve the proper 'atmosphere'.

Either way, the Vyssinic College is proud to bequeath to their customers the powers of unshakable resolve, command of lightning, and irresistible charm. Flight is beyond most Surgeon-Necromancers, but the most skilled of the Vyssinic College are whispered to have mastered the arts necessary to confer the freedom of the skies to their patients.

The process of becoming a patient of a College involves a staggering amount of patience and paper-work, staggering amounts of money, and finally, staggering amounts of pain. Then and only then will they accept you as a patient to go under the knives and implements of the Surgeon-Necromancers. They first must ensure that your humours and levels are within their acceptable ranges, and that you are fit and healthy (roughly speaking) before they strip you, clean you, bathe you in a kind of thick, syrupy goo, and then finally sedate you. Unfortunately, their sedation methods aren't quite as refined as some would like, and there are a few horror stories here and there of patients awakening to find the many limbs of a Surgeon rummaging about inside their flesh.

The methods and techniques of their work are closely guarded as to be worth the weight of the College buildings in gold, and the formula of the dark elixir is unquestionably priceless. So far, the Surgeon-Necromancers remain unique in all the worlds, though not for the lack of trying from their would-be competitors; though they often end up being hung and burnt by lynch mobs for their unspeakable acts in the name of imitation.