[crossfire] RFC: dynamic alchemy

[Nicolas Weeger (Laposte)]

Hello.

> The basic idea of these quests is that you can apply for being thaught
> some alchemy tricks by some some alchemists (and smiths, bowyers).  They
> ask you to perform some specific tasks before they reveal more of their
> secrets to you.  This is a bit similar to the quest for becoming the

I like the idea, though it merely goes with the «lock» code as used by the 
fire resistance potion, I think.

> One of the things that hinder the usage of alchemy in the game is that the
> formulas are *much* too difficult to find in dungeons and in shops.  As a

Indeed. You can of course experiment, but exploding cauldrons kill all too 
often :)

> formula for any useful item.  Not to mention that having the formula is a
> prerequisite, but only a small part of the solution: the ingredients are
> usually hard to find and the difficulty for creating the most useful items
> is such that there is a very high probability of failure.  I had to slay a

For many formulaes I find the ingredients way too hard to find as compared to 
finding the equivalent item.
I'll grant you that potions will work everywhere, as opposed to scrolls/spells 
on cursed/non magic squares. But still, for instance balm of first aid is way 
too hard to do, for a few hitpoints restored!
(as a side note: shouldn't the balm of flying [word of recall] work whether 
square is cursed or not, like other balms?)

As for finding formulas, I'd say your idea of alchemists could be interesting, 
but shouldn't require combat or such - maybe finding ingredients, or rare 
items?

Nicolas