[Marcus]

Hard targets was clearly intended to correct much of the damage done to the usefulness of Alchemy by SG.
Enchanting Gloves (taking care of the contact issues introduced in SG)
But much more interesting is Recharge Potency- Though the drain on this is rough. (F+1), it does address one of the biggest running issues with Alchemy. The ability to keep preparations useful.

The actual Alchemy section remains mind numbingly useless, re-hashing and even adding more confusion to the projectile discussion. Why this can't be dropped I can't understand. It still has no useful rules, and the whole enchanted shell thing is just even worse, Someone please go talk some sense into whoever let that stuff get printed.

Thoughts?

[Facemage]

Where are those rules about hard targets?

[ScytheKnight]

Where are those rules about hard targets?

Hard Targets was the latest book just released.

[Facemage]

Thanks, I bought it! It is interesting book and solves problems with contact trigger and astral visibility of alchemical preparations.

[Whiskeyjack]

Enchanting Gloves (taking care of the contact issues introduced in SG)

Man, do I ever hate the Air-Breathing Mermaid issue.

[Hobbes]

Recharge Potency seems to be a bit of a waste.  First you're spending a spell slot on (essentially) not learning a new spell.  Second it's effect is pretty sad, one more hour per net hit.  You could likely make a new Preparation for your trouble in most cases.

Hilariously, its most useful to Enchanting Adepts who are 100% dependent on using Preparations.  But, they'd need to make a Recharge Potency Preparation to use it.

The Biofiber Pocket is pretty solid though.  Blocks the Preparation from Astral sight on the buffs your teammates are lugging around (real problem) and handles the tables where they think there is an issue with Contact Preparations (Air Breathing Mermaid...). 

[firebug]

Enchanting Gloves (taking care of the contact issues introduced in SG)

Man, do I ever hate the Air-Breathing Mermaid issue.

What's this?  Someone needs to explain that one to me.

They did more or less confirm though that alchemy on arrows and bolts is 100% intended to work.  That alone gives alchemy a lot more combat utility than it did before.  Combat preparations aren't terribly powerful (they'll likely have less dice than a sorcerer would for the same spell) so combining them with bows and crossbows isn't so bad in my opinion.

I do agree with Hobbes that Recharge Potency is a waste.  One thing I could see using it for wouldn't work either since it explicitly says preparations can only hold one spell.

Biofiber pockets for your teammates to hold contact preps in, then grabbing enchanting gloves and a quickdraw quiver to always pull out the right alchemically prepared shaft...  That is pretty fuckin' rad.  I'm making an alchemist with a F8 Alchemy Focus, gonna use Edge on putting Analyze Device on my crossbow every day before the run...  Should give me enough time with it active once the lead starts flying.

Throwing knives with contact preps would also function now because of the enchanting gloves.  Overall, fun times.

EDIT:  If there was a clean way to use Quickening via Alchemy, and if Advanced Alchemy didn't require Fixation (gag) then it'd be even closer to balanced in comparison to Spellcasting.

[Marcus]

I think your missing the bigger picture if you think refreshing is a waste, the biggest issue with alchemy in play is being timed out on big spells. You can double your window at the cost of one force. It even helps the buff build. It's going to be most effective on high drain preps, but it seriously expands the opportunity window. Keep in mind it doesn't say it has to be your Perperation. So aura glove up, go find your alchemist buddy to get him to give ya a couple major spells and if time runs short refresh nice and easy.

Get an Arrow with a force 8 Manaball and your set.

[Marcus]

Enchanting Gloves (taking care of the contact issues introduced in SG)

Man, do I ever hate the Air-Breathing Mermaid issue.

What's this?  Someone needs to explain that one to me.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Headscratchers/MermaidProblem
Does that help?

Free your mind, the rest will follow! lol

[firebug]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Headscratchers/MermaidProblem
Does that help?

...No.

[Hobbes]

I think your missing the bigger picture if you think refreshing is a waste, the biggest issue with alchemy in play is being timed out on big spells. You can double your window at the cost of one force. It even helps the buff build. It's going to be most effective on high drain preps, but it seriously expands the opportunity window.

Recharge Potency is resisted by the force of the Potency so it doesn't work very well on "big spells".  You'll add a couple hours, sure, that can't be worth a spell slot on a character with a decent spellcasting pool.  That is a non-trivial opportunity cost for an at best niche effect.

[ScytheKnight]

The other issue is it's completely useless to an Aspected Alchemist.

[Marcus]

Recharge Potency is resisted by the force of the Potency so it doesn't work very well on "big spells".  You'll add a couple hours, sure, that can't be worth a spell slot on a character with a decent spellcasting pool.  That is a non-trivial opportunity cost for an at best niche effect.

Your kidding Right? This runs you 1 Spells,  1 contact, a special pocket protector and a pair of gloves for a couple drain free large spells in nearly any planned run. It completely eliminates the need for the Alchemy skill while giving solid benefit. It's an easy gimmick that can even be added after creation. All it costs for that is the karma cost of a spell,  a small investment of time to gain the contact, and pretty trivial amount of cash. It will work even better if you put some skill into archery or throwing but that's whatever. The cost to benefit ratio is overwhelmingly in the player's favor on this. If that seems like a bad deal to you by all means carry on. But I know great deal when I see one.

The other issue is it's completely useless to an Aspected Alchemist.

This is a fair point, and I am also very sad at the state of Aspected magic in 5th. But nothing to be done about it now.

[firebug]

Since we're talking about the viability of alchemy, was there ever an official thing stating that the Lifestyle feature "Special Work Area" didn't effect preparations?  I mean, logically it just means it's an area that is perhaps just a positive background count of 2 towards your tradition.  Completely reasonable to allow players to have for an extra cost per month.

I ask since I recall someone mentioning it, and it is certainly worth doing and can help alchemy be a bit more effective.

[Facemage]

I think your missing the bigger picture if you think refreshing is a waste, the biggest issue with alchemy in play is being timed out on big spells. You can double your window at the cost of one force. It even helps the buff build. It's going to be most effective on high drain preps, but it seriously expands the opportunity window. Keep in mind it doesn't say it has to be your Perperation. So aura glove up, go find your alchemist buddy to get him to give ya a couple major spells and if time runs short refresh nice and easy.

Get an Arrow with a force 8 Manaball and your set.

Correctly built alchemy mage can easily get 14-16 dices to alchemy test and 17-19 dices to drain test. This means that the manaball F5 is easily doable with potency 4-5 (reagents). The time window is 8-10 hours, which should be enough without any refreshing. Later with alchemy focus 4 (or high power focus) and couple centering bonus dices (+2 from initiation and +4 from centering focus) you can easily make f6-f7 manaball preparations with potency 5-6. Still, no need to refreshing.