The Brotherhood of Alchemists

[Fela]

Yes, the ingredients always drop. I've spent too much time in MMOs killing bears with no livers. Screw that. The challenge is in finding the monsters in the first place.

I'm okay with it being possible to complete a set of potions without going to the Far East, as long as it's unlikely. Even if a character does get lucky and gets a naga tongue in the west, it might be in their best interest to not finish off a set that early. The idea is to get as many potions as possible before getting the prize at the end.

What do you mean 'as many as possible' ? You can only get 4 potions if i understand the deletion thingy right.
The main problem i see is, that the stat elixir will be MUCH more valuable once a stat is maxxed, which will again cause some possibly undesired meta gaming?

[Repton]

What do you mean 'as many as possible' ? You can only get 4 potions if i understand the deletion thingy right.

If you're lucky, you could get five...

e.g. the following sequence is possible:

0 0 0 No one has made anything.
1 1 0 You help one alchemist, another makes a potion.
2 1 1 You help the guy with nothing, one of the others makes a potion.
2 2 2 You help one of the guys with one, and the other guy with one makes another potion.
3 3 2 You help one of them, one of the others makes another potion.
4 - - You help one of the threes, nothing else matters.

There's a 50-50 chance of getting this sequence (if you try for it), and no risk of losing the end prize.

It's not possible to get six, though.

[Fela]

I thought that when a potion is completed every other alchemist would remove one of theirs.
On reading it again i find it's another (i.e. one).

All of them would make more sense, though

[Susramanian]

It wouldn't necessarily make more sense for all of them to make a potion whenever one does. Maybe their hired adventurers are getting killed. Maybe their potions are blowing up their labs. Also, if completing a potion for an alchemist causes both the others to make a potion, the mini game loses much of its depth; you can only make four potions, no matter what. The way it is now, if you keep track of who's made what, you can strategically pick your potions to increase your chances of getting a fifth before the game's up. More depth = more fun. Hell, if anything, I'd consider making this all even more complicated to add to the fun! Maybe add a fourth Master Alchemist, or a way to secretly sabotage other alchemists to extend the life of the game (encounter an adventurer running errands for another alchemist, kill him, and take his ingredients), or something along those lines.