ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

So, according to the Brotherhood of Alchemists sidequest, there is a single available spot for a new member within the Brotherhood, and an alchemist must brew a certain three potions to qualify for the position. Player alchemists have neither the time nor inclination to brew them, what with being much more adventurous and combat-orientated and all.

However, while player alchemists can't brew the three potions, they can certainly come into possession of three potions...

1. JOINING THE BROTHERHOOD

A new NPC now appears in Last Hope if you play as an alchemist: A scout for the Brotherhood of Alchemists.

Speaking to him results in this:

"Ah, another aspiring soul hoping to join the prestigious Brotherhood of Alchemists, I presume? You've brought the three potions that we have tasked you to create, yes?"
a] (only appears if you possess three alchemist potions) Yes, of course! Here they are.
b] I think you have me confused with someone else. ("I see. Farewell, then.")

Upon handing over the three potions, the scout would continue with:

*The Brotherhood scout examines the potions closely. He slowly samples them, one by one.*
"Everything appears to be in order here... Excellent! Now then, obviously there are formalities that must be observed before you join the Brotherhood in earnest, tests and protocol and ceremonies and so forth, but as of this time I am authorised to give you these official Brotherhood Gauntlets, and to congratulate you on your new membership to our society! Congratulations, fellow alchemist!"

The scout leaves, and you are left with your reward - the Brotherhood Gauntlets.

Brotherhood Gauntlets (black gauntlets)
Tier 3 Light Gloves
"A pair of thick gloves woven from ebon thread and lined with overlapping plates of pearl that are given to all new members of the Brotherhood of Alchemists, their emblem meticulously sewn at the wrists. Gems thrown with these gauntlets are charged with incising force."
+6 Dexterity/Magic/Willpower
+20% Fire Resistance
Shockwave Bomb Cooldown -4
Gem bombs Ignore [Gem Tier x 10]% Of Enemy Resistances

(Here, I will admit that I play next to no alchemists, and as such have no clue if this artifact is underpowered/overpowered/etc. If anybody would like to suggest more suitable abilities for them, feel free. They should be good - after all, you're sacrificing three potions for them; that's potentially 2 skill points, 2 talent points and change!)

2. REPERCUSSIONS

Upon joining the Brotherhood, a new group has the potential to appear on the overworld map - an "Angry Band of Alchemists".

Encountering said group puts you into battle with Stire, Marus, Ungrol and Agrimley, plus their golems. The moment the battle begins, Agrimley immediately blows himself up, killing himself and leaving you with only three alchemists (and four golems) to face. Also, if Zigur patrols have gotten to Agrimley prior to the battle, he obviously doesn't appear.

Beyond some appropriately insulting emotes from the affronted alchemists upon encountering them ("Double-crosser!" "Backstabbing wretch!") the battle would be similar to facing three regular alchemist-class adventurers. The only special reward would be "Agrimley's Smoking Boots", a randart set of footwear (possibly weighted towards being beneficial to alchemists) found where Agrimley was stood before he exploded.

OK, I admit, I loved this idea from the beginning for being original (and those gloves are marginally overpowered with a potential 50% respen...) and fun to do... And then Agrimley blew himself up.

............................


I don't know if you've ever managed to inhale Mountain Dew or other carbonated beverages, but let me assure you. It burns.

I have not laughed so hard in quite awhile. This MUST be made, just for watching agrimley blow himself up.

Bonus points if the different alchemists utilize different builds. (A heat specialist, a Bomb specialist, a Golem specialist, etc.)

And don't forget, we need a uniquely named achievement for doing all of this.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go try and cough the rest of this drink up.

Doesn't quite fit the lore though, the alchemists need to produce lots of elixirs (possibly more than 12) to get in, its just that they only have three left by the time the player arrives.

Maybe you could give the elixirs to Tannen, who has a pile of others ready, and he could get into the Brotherhood.
Then instead of trying to kill you later, you have to defend him from the spontaneously exploding Agrimley and others.

Or maybe the assassin lord has a contract to obtain the elixirs for a shady alchemist / poison crafting associate of his that wants to win entry. Siding with the assassin lord would open up the option of donating the elixirs and getting different rewards. A new poison and a new trap come to mind.

And those gloves would be totally OP.

I like the general idea, but the reward doesn't really outweigh the reward of the potions. I mean if you get three potions you could get two class points two generics and up to six stats...
Maybe the reward could be a really good tool slotted item. That way everyone could use it. Give it something more generic like a powerful shield charm combined with some nice stats and potentially resistances.

Idea: Make the reward, rather than the gloves, either Refit Golem and locked Stone Alchemy at 1.0, or a +0.2 bonus to Explosives/Infusions/Golemancy/Advanced Golemancy, depending on if you do or do not have Refit Golem.

Having Refit Golem lets you generate a golem, you see. So your reward would be getting your Alchemist Golem(or a lot of knowledge about Alchemy, if you're already an Alchemist). None of the shown Alchemists are ever stated to have a Golem...maybe that's the reward for joining, if you don't already have one. It'd be a good reason to compete.

A totally un-upgradable golem, that still requires a category point to get and maintain reliably, along with the benefits of multiple potions and a final reward, is probably balanced... though it's hard to really say unless it got implemented. And the idea's certainly entertaining, if it's not unbalanced.

Cashing in three potions is really a very high price to pay - no tier 2 artifact is going to be worth that. I like the idea of the golem thing. I note that that would be mutually exclusive with the zig and pretty appealing to folks trying to run Insane - it provides significant help to certain scouting issues. I'll note that at least for the standard game, you could run it even without the cat point - NPC alchemists drop a fair number of alchemist gems already.