Make alchemy recipes randomized per-game and consistent with a game, by doing the following:

• Initialize a N by N matrix at the start of the game, where N is the number of different potions in the game besides water. The matrix provides a lookup for what the constituent potion types in the appropriate rows mix to combine.
• Basic alchemy practices don’t consult the matrix, for instance, dipping a cursed potion into something always causes a blast, and dipping a potion into another of the same does nothing.
• Nonmagical potions are possibly excluded from the reagent set, the result set, or both. Most likely the reagent set if both source potions are nonmagical - it doesn’t make sense to mix nonmagical juice with booze and wind up with a magical potion of enlightenment. But it may also not make enough sense if combining two magical potions produces a nonmagical one.
• The number of entries for a given potion type in the matrix are proportionate to the generation frequency of that potion. So there may only be one specific combination of potions which produces polymorph, whereas many things produce sickness or fruit juice.
• Hardcoded rules like could be enforced on the matrix if need be, but it’s probably better if players don’t have an easy known path to mass produce full healing or gain ability.

This system gets rid of random alchemy results entirely, but does not necessarily get rid of the chance of an alchemic blast or failing and turning into water or evaporating. Possibly these could be removed, so that the player is incentivized to try and mix together as many potion types as they can to discover what they produce and find interesting combinations.

A list of known alchemy recipes could be added to the discoveries list so the player can use it as a reference.

An Alchemist role, revolving around potions and alchemy, and likely requiring overhauls of several systems.

• The main form of combat is to create phials of potion (where 1 potion splits into many phials), which can be tossed at enemies to cause potion effects on them. The main potions used are things like acid, paralysis, (lit) oil, and confusion.
  • Phials come in all the same types as normal potions but have somewhat weaker effects.
  • You can dip a stack of empty phials into a potion to fill them with that potion (up to some maximum).
  • Thrown phials have the same exact splash damage effect on things as throwing the potion would produce, but drinking it is a small enough dose to only cause the splash damage effects to the drinker. Requires some balance so that splash damage is useful against monsters but not useful for the player to drink for beneficial phials.
  • Phials can be dipped into potions, but nothing can be dipped into phials.
• The quest artifact is the Philosopher’s Stone.
  • The quest leader is Nicolas Flamel and the nemesis is an Avatar of Death (like Death, but weaker).
  • Fun possibilities for transmuting materials here if the object materials patch is in effect.
  • Its base item type could be a ruby (but perhaps not because dnethack makes the Heart of Ahriman a ruby) or a garnet, based on its color in Harry Potter, or an opal.
• Can also create alchemic gizmos: smoke bombs from potions of blindness, firebombs from potions of oil, all lighter and more numerous and useful than the base potions.
• Start with all potions identified.
• Could start with an alchemy kit, which is a rare tool find for other roles. NeroOneTrueKing proposed a set of mechanics for an alchemy kit:
  • Has 3 compartments. The first accepts only potions/phials of polymorph (or perhaps it just has charges and you can recharge it by using potions of polymorph).
  • The other compartments must each only contain items of the same material.
  • A success chance is displayed based on the amount of polymorph potion available, the weight ratio of the two compartments, and the materials themselves (metal can transform into metal relatively easily).
  • A successful use swaps all of the materials of the two compartments.
• Needs mechanics such that in an Alchemist’s hands, no potion is useless.

The invoke effect of the Philosopher’s Stone is heavily debated.

• It creates potions of the Elixir of Life. This potion cures disease and restores lost attributes, but most importantly it grants temporary intrinsic lifesaving. If you die with intrinsic lifesaving, you lose the remaining time for the intrinsic.
• Creating potions is way too powerful since the player will be able to bank them, so nerf this: perhaps you can only get Elixir of Life by dipping the Stone into a potion of full healing, or something. Or Elixir goes bad after a while and reverts to water, making it usable for before a fight but not for stashing.
• The Elixir should not be more powerful than a potion of full healing, or the invoke effect of the Staff of Aesculapius - healers should be the best at actual healing. Probably, getting lifesaved from intrinsic lifesaving will only restore enough HP to stay alive a little longer.
• The Elixir gives a large temporary boost to HP regeneration.
• No Elixir of Life; it instead turns potions of sickness into (extra? full?) healing.
• The Stone can turn metal objects into gold or can turn rocks into gold pieces when rubbed on them.
• When dipped into gain level or gain energy, transforms the potion into polymorph.

A really great Alchemist implementation would probably involve a full alchemy overhaul which adds herbs and fungi, harvesting ingredients from corpses, cooking, and interesting ways to combine everything. The challenge with making this is how to make it useful for other roles and not just the alchemist, and at the same time not overcomplicating the game with the new additions.

This was migrated from the summary of the “Alchemy” mega-idea following its breakup into smaller independent ones. It is not an idea in and of itself, but is rather design notes on the present state of the alchemy system as a whole which may still be useful.

NetHack’s alchemy system is balanced around the assumption that the player will not hold onto nearly every potion in the game, turn them to water, and polypile them into alchemy ingredients; however, this is not hard to do. Should the player do this, they can amass hundreds of hit points worth of full healing potions, or all the gain ability potions required to max out every stat, or get dozens of potions of holy water.

For most potions in the game, diluting for holy water or alchemizing/polypiling for alchemizing is their ultimate fate, and there are enough potions so that the player never really has to agonize over what to do with a potion. One solution to this would be to make more potions than just acid effective for throwing at monsters.

The color alchemy and gem alchemy patches are unsatisfactory, as is any system that ties alchemy recipes to the random appearance of potions. This is because it makes the game choose at the beginning whether powerful potions can be produced out of junk potions/gems, or out of expensive potions/gems, or not at all — all before the player gets a chance to learn how alchemy will work in this game. It has a large impact on overall strategy that the player can’t discover until probably the midgame. At the same time, having hardcoded alchemy rules is unsatisfactory because it’s inflexible and carries a heavy spoiler requirement.

Random alchemy is also odd: dipping the same potions in the same way can yield different potion results.

Several new objects for aiding in alchemy:

• Flask, holds multiple quaffs of a single potion type (so that holy water can’t be mass-created but other potions can).
• Mortar and pestle, can grind gems / other things into dust which can be used to make potions.
• Alembic, can distill potions from things in the dungeon such as corpses.
• Recipe books/scrolls, which tell the reader how to create a certain potion through alchemy, and identifies the result potion or even all potions involved.

Non-weapon skill that has various effects on alchemy: make alchemical blasts less common (or zero at high skill), and increase the probability that mixing certain potions yields the right result.

Allow sinks to be catalysts for alchemizing things. (Or possibly add a “cauldron” as a new piece of dungeon furniture, but that’s iffier.)

• You can dip potions into sinks to pour them down the drain, experiencing the vapor effects in a safe way. (Pouring polymorph down the sink of course polymorphs the sink.) This requires vapor effects to be implemented for many of the potions that don’t currently have any.
• If you don’t pour the potion down the drain, you instead mix it with the fluid from the tap, which is usually water but can already be a random potion.
• Possibly, doing alchemy in/on a sink is more efficient. There are many possible forms this could take, such as:
  • Potions not diluting when you mix them.
  • Reduced or zero chance of an alchemic blast.
  • You can get results from mixing potions that you can’t otherwise. (Flavor for this is weak. Is the character heating them somehow with the hot water?)

A radically different system from how alchemy currently works, known as “1 + 1 = 2”: no matter how many potions are in the stacks being dipped, only one from each stack is consumed, and two alchemized potions are always produced.

• Intended as a balance fix for the player’s current ability to make stacks and stacks of full healing, gain ability, or gain level potions, and promote use of found potions instead of diluting them.
• Significantly, potions of holy water mostly work like they do now - the holy water does not mix with anything and is consumed, while the dipped item becomes blessed - but you can only dip a singular item into the holy water, including other potions. This loss of the ability to mass-produce holy water creates a significant balance change.
  • Or it could sometimes make two holy waters, but be biased against it, and allow both waters to become uncursed in the process.
  • Still unbalanced, since holy water can otherwise be mass produced through water prayers and blessed confused remove curse.
• Undiluted potions can be duplicated by dipping them in normal water, e.g. one potion of gain level + one water = 2 diluted potions of gain level.
  • Diluted potions may need to have weaker effects to compensate for this, or undiluted potions stronger effects.
  • Or potions in general should become rarer, and possibly generate diluted.

Potion of regeneration. Grants some medium duration (maybe fifty to a hundred turns) of temporary intrinsic hungerless regeneration. Can be brewed using healing potions, perhaps, but should be fairly rare in terms of random generation.

New Biologist role, which revolves around polymorphing monsters, brewing potions (probably non-alchemically), and possibly collecting samples from monsters.

Possibly, they start with a number of potions of booze, but are penalized for drinking booze; it’s intended to use for brewing with samples. They also possibly have a guidebook describing recipes (other roles can do this too, but lacking a guidebook they won’t be able to do it very well).

Starting equipment may contain:

• Alchemy smock
• Gloves, probably leather but maybe padded
• Goggles, a new eye-slot tool made of plastic that protects your eyes from splashes and spits just like the visored helmet
• Knife
• Walking shoes
• Wand of polymorph (questionable)
• Tripe and vegetables to tame monsters

One take on the quest: it sees you fighting the Black Mold (a mold that constantly multiplies itself and attacks with random elemental damage, including possibly disintegration, when touched). The quest artifact is the Elixir of Immortality, but this is not possessed by the nemesis; instead you have to brew it yourself using an ingredient found on the goal level and which will be destroyed by the Black Mold if you don’t get there first. The Elixir isn’t needed; the quest is counted complete if you destroy all the Black Mold.

They can get Expert in only a few skills, including knife.

They are penalized for “animal testing”, which is polymorphing or otherwise abusing living peaceful or tame monsters. Or possibly it’s okay as long as the subject isn’t killed. However, they are rewarded for other forms of experimentation.

Addendum to the brewing patch: you can ferment/dissolve newt corpses to produce potions of gain energy, and can combine various fruits with water to produce fruit juice. Also, since booze tastes like liquid fire, fermenting a red mold corpse produces a potion of booze.

Dipping water into oil doesn’t count as random alchemy.

Nerf the effects of diluted potions in order to disincentivize diluting them and fix alchemy abuses. Start with healing potions: a diluted healing potion of any type heals only half as much as otherwise, and either confers half as much max HP as an undiluted potion or possibly no max HP at all. When alchemizing with diluted potions, half of the amount dipped will bubble or steam off as water, wasting those potions entirely (e.g. 6 diluted healings + gain energy = 3 diluted extra healings).

Charging a potion of fruit juice turns it into a potion of see invisible. Dipping fruit juice into confusion turns it into a potion of booze.