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Alchemy (Draw Steel)

Skills

Definition

Alchemy covers the practical chemistry of the setting: distilling an acid, recognizing a poison by smell, neutralizing a spilled reagent, brewing a smoke bomb from market ingredients. It is a Reason skill because the work rewards precise measurement and memory for formulas. It comes up when the party finds unlabeled vials, needs a specific compound before a heist, wants to know what killed a body, or has downtime near a stocked laboratory.

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How it works

**Characteristic**: Reason. **Skill group**: Reason skills. **Test**: 2d10 + Reason; 11 or lower is tier 1, 12 to 16 tier 2, 17 or higher tier 3. Training grants a benefit and unlocks attempts untrained heroes cannot make. **How it is used**: Tier 3 identifies a substance exactly or produces a full-strength batch. Tier 2 gives a partial answer or a weaker product. Tier 1 wastes ingredients, and a botched brew can burn or fume. **Edges and banes**: A laboratory, reference notes, or a known formula grants an edge (+2). Rushed work, improvised glassware, or unfamiliar reagents imposes a bane (-2).

Tips

**Best for**: Heroes who want consumables the party cannot buy, and investigators who need to read poisonings and burns. **Character concepts**: Mage's Apprentice who tended the still, Sage career poisoner, memonek chemist. **Synergies**: Cook for shared ingredients and kitchens, Medicine for antidotes, Magic Lore when a substance is enchanted rather than chemical.

Frequently asked questions

Can I brew useful items during a respite?

Yes, with ingredients and a workspace. The Director sets what one respite can produce; a tier 3 result yields more or better doses.

Does Alchemy identify magic potions?

It reads the chemical side. If the effect is magical, the Director may call for Magic Lore instead or alongside it.

Further Reading

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