Any opinions about my adventure idea? (warning: very very homebrew-ish!)

[Jon_Dahl]

I've been thinking about the role and function of alchemy lately. It's not magic, but it can have 'magical' effects. I was thinking that the bad guys could exploit this, just for the sake of an adventure hook(s). I'm just looking to stir some **** up, but within the boundaries of the game system.

In my game, an evil NPC alchemist would develop the following alchemical solution:
- It gives +2 alchemical bonus on Int for 1 hour.
- Mixed with water it creates a slightly different solution: it confers the aforementioned bonus, but there is also a 1 out of 12 chance of forcing the drinker into rolling a Fort save vs. DC 15. A failure means that the drinker now suffers from paranoid schizophrenia; success negates the effect. This solution is automatically created if more than an ounce of water and the alchemical solution are quaffed within an hour.
- Price: 100 gp.

I would like to know if there is any game mechanical reason why this plan would fail? Let's imagine that several high-op characters would be suspicious of the alchemical solution. My idea here is that alchemy is kind of a 'blind spot' in D&D 3.x. Is it?

[SilverLeaf167]

I like the concept, and have a bit of a soft spot for alchemy, but what exactly is the adventure idea here? I see an interesting alchemical item, yes. What's the "plan"?

Did you mean that the adventure would be caused by the evil alchemist distributing/selling this potion to people, giving more and more of them schizophrenia? Because that does sound like it could work. You probably want to attach some mechanical aspect to the schizophrenia, though: you as the DM can definitely just roleplay it, but if the PCs somehow end up with it, it should give some more concrete debuff.

Or do you expect the PCs to start drinking this stuff on a regular basis, thus giving them schizophrenia sooner or later? Frankly, +2 Int for 1 hour is impractical and minor enough that not even the Wizard of the group would really bother with it, unlike NPCs who might be interested in this "wonder drug" for IC reasons.

[Pleh]

Sounds reasonable enough to try it out. What players are you dealing with? Do they typically munchkin or role play? Are they more or less experienced than you? Issues of game balance will depend more on how hard the players are trying to bend the rules.

Honestly, I just think this reeks of Dr Jekyll. I would add a small chance (say, 1 to 5 percent) that the concoction turns them into their own personal version of Mr Hyde. Each time this happens, the chance of it happening again doubles. If the chance of it happening ever exceeds 100%, they have to start rolling will saves to prevent themselves from seeking out more and imbibing it.

[Jon_Dahl]

I like the concept, and have a bit of a soft spot for alchemy, but what exactly is the adventure idea here? I see an interesting alchemical item, yes. What's the "plan"?

Did you mean that the adventure would be caused by the evil alchemist distributing/selling this potion to people, giving more and more of them schizophrenia? Because that does sound like it could work. You probably want to attach some mechanical aspect to the schizophrenia, though: you as the DM can definitely just roleplay it, but if the PCs somehow end up with it, it should give some more concrete debuff.

Or do you expect the PCs to start drinking this stuff on a regular basis, thus giving them schizophrenia sooner or later? Frankly, +2 Int for 1 hour is impractical and minor enough that not even the Wizard of the group would really bother with it, unlike NPCs who might be interested in this "wonder drug" for IC reasons.

Yes, I completely failed to explain that. Sorry! I meant either or both of the options that you have presented.

[SilverLeaf167]

Yes, I completely failed to explain that. Sorry! I meant either or both of the options that you have presented.

Well, to answer your other question: alchemy is a bit of a blind spot in the sense that people don't use it very much. However, players definitely have a great deal of healthy (?) distrust for anything they have to put in their mouths. They're infinitely more likely to put on a cursed item than to drink anything halfway suspicious, even if it's not technically magical. It could very well be poisonous, or even just taste really bad.

Thus you have a bit of a difficult situation: if you make a big deal out of this wonder drug, with roleplaying and everything, the players will probably be very suspicious of it. On the other hand, if you just include it in some list as "just a normal homebrew item" and the players get it from there, they might feel pretty cheated when it bites them in the ass with no foreshadowing.

With the added fact that players really have little reason to care about +2 Int, you're probably best off having a bunch of NPCs suffer the side effects instead of expecting the PCs to use it. I can imagine that a drink that literally makes you smarter might have some... mind-expanding effects, and those with the money could definitely abuse it for recreational purposes.

[Jon_Dahl]

Thus you have a bit of a difficult situation: if you make a big deal out of this wonder drug, with roleplaying and everything, the players will probably be very suspicious of it. On the other hand, if you just include it in some list as "just a normal homebrew item" and the players get it from there, they might feel pretty cheated when it bites them in the ass with no foreshadowing.


I will choose the bolded option. It will be interesting to see if I can use the in-game marketing forces and the popular (NPC) support to convince the PCs to join the Super-Intelligence craze. Whatever happens, I think it will be interesting.

[Jon_Dahl]

Sounds reasonable enough to try it out. What players are you dealing with? Do they typically munchkin or role play? Are they more or less experienced than you? Issues of game balance will depend more on how hard the players are trying to bend the rules.

Honestly, I just think this reeks of Dr Jekyll. I would add a small chance (say, 1 to 5 percent) that the concoction turns them into their own personal version of Mr Hyde. Each time this happens, the chance of it happening again doubles. If the chance of it happening ever exceeds 100%, they have to start rolling will saves to prevent themselves from seeking out more and imbibing it.

They roleplay about 90% of the time, I think. Three of the are less experienced them me, one is a lot more experienced. I like the idea of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde!

[GrayDeath]

Don`t take this the wrong way, but given the history of your threads: neither.
If you try to get them "afflicted" it will just be another "they never saw anything coming/are disheartened/don´t have fun" moment, and they (see before) will very likely not realize what you are trying to do with the "many people suddenly suffer from Shizophrenia" either (remember the "3 clues" disaster^^).

Mind, if you are positive you can overcome the earlier difficulties (and have players actually paying attention AND don´t forget a lot of clues), be my guest.

I just don`t see it happening.....

[Barbarian Horde]

Up the dosage, increases the int bonus even more, but fort save increases with it. I mean if your gonna take drugs... needs an overdose cap like 3+ will send you into helpless state for x hours.

Create a table for effects similar to insanity. Regardless double check with your PCs if your going to making mind altering drugs that could potentially change their entire concept they had. Nothing worse then role playing something you absolutely hate.

Different options include
Paniced status x rounds
Stunned x rounds
Dazed x rounds
Exhausted x rounds
Staggered x rounds