Alchemy & Crafting - The Witcher RPG Guide

Alchemy is Applied Chemistry, Not Magic

Think of Alchemy Like Medical Chemistry: A pharmacist combines specific ingredients in precise ratios to create medicines that enhance human performance or treat specific conditions. Alchemists do the same thing, but their "patients" are people who fight monsters for a living. Every potion is a specialized pharmaceutical designed to give humans an edge against supernatural threats.

Toxicity Warning: Unlike magic potions in fairy tales, witcher potions are fundamentally toxic. They work by pushing a mutated body beyond normal limits, and this always comes at a cost. Every potion carries a Toxicity rating; drink too many too quickly and you'll poison yourself. An ordinary human who drinks a witcher potion is in serious trouble from the first swallow. Professional alchemists understand these limits and respect them.

graph TD A[Alchemical Process] --> B[Gather Raw Materials] A --> C[Prepare Ingredients] A --> D[Follow Recipe Precisely] A --> E[Monitor Quality] B --> F[Natural Ingredients<br/>Plants, Minerals, Animals] B --> G[Monster Parts<br/>Organs, Blood, Secretions] B --> H[Rare Components<br/>Meteorites, Magical Crystals] C --> I[Distillation] C --> J[Purification] C --> K[Concentration] D --> L[Timing Critical] D --> M[Temperature Control] D --> N[Mixing Order Matters] E --> O[Potency Testing] E --> P[Purity Analysis] E --> Q[Shelf Life Assessment] O --> R[Alchemy Check<br/>d10 + CRA + Alchemy] P --> R Q --> R R --> S{Beat the formula's DC?} S -->|No| T[Wasted Ingredients, Wasted Day] S -->|Yes| U[Potion Works as the Formula Says]

In game terms: brewing is an Alchemy check and building gear is a Crafting check. Both are CRA skills, and both need a formula (for alchemy) or a diagram (for crafting) plus the right components. Roll d10 + CRA + skill and beat the DC the formula or diagram sets.

The Three Pillars of Alchemical Success

Professional alchemists succeed through mastery of these fundamental principles:

Ingredient Knowledge: Understanding what each component contributes and how they interact
Process Mastery: Executing techniques with precision and consistency
Quality Control: Testing and refining to achieve reliable, safe results

The Alchemist's Workshop - Setting Up for Success

Essential Equipment and Layout

A proper alchemical workshop is as important as the recipes themselves. Poor equipment leads to inconsistent results and dangerous failures.

Workshop Equipment Investment Guide

Optional house rule, not from the core rulebook. The numbers are this guide's suggestion for tables that want workshops to matter; check your rulebook's price lists before using them.

Equipment Level	Cost	Quality Bonus	Failure Risk	Suitable For
Makeshift (Improvised)	25 crowns	-2 to all rolls	High	Emergency field work only
Basic (Apprentice)	200 crowns	+0 to rolls	Moderate	Simple potions and oils
Professional	800 crowns	+2 to all rolls	Low	Advanced formulations
Master's Setup	3000 crowns	+4 to all rolls	Very Low	Experimental research

Miss Havisham's Revenge Laboratory:
Miss Havisham sank a small fortune into a master-level alchemical laboratory hidden in her mansion's basement. Her setup includes:

Climate Control: Precisely regulated temperature and humidity
Rare Equipment: Glass apparatus from Oxenfurt University, dwarven precision tools
Exotic Ingredients: Rare components acquired through decades of patient collecting
Safety Measures: Ventilation system, fire suppression, antidote stockpile
Documentation: Meticulous records of every experiment and result

The initial investment was enormous, but now she can create potions other alchemists can only dream of.

Ingredient Categories and Sources

Understanding Alchemical Components

Every ingredient brings specific properties to an alchemical formula. Master alchemists understand not just what ingredients do, but why they work and how they interact.

Herbalism

Common Sources: Forests, meadows, gardens

Properties: Healing, enhancement, stability

Examples: Swallow herb (healing), White myrtle (purification)

Most stable and predictable ingredients

Minerals

Common Sources: Mines, caves, meteorites

Properties: Binding, amplification, preservation

Examples: Saltpeter (explosive), Silver dust (purification)

Provide structure and potency to formulas

Monster Parts

Common Sources: Hunting contracts, monster corpses

Properties: Unique effects, high potency, instability

Examples: Ghoul blood (toxicity resistance), Wyvern scales (armor enhancement)

Most powerful but dangerous ingredients

The nine alchemical substances: in The Witcher TRPG, every ingredient carries one of nine substances: Vitriol, Rebis, Aether, Quebrith, Hydragenum, Vermilion, Sol, Caelum and Fulgur. A formula asks for substances, not specific plants, so any herb or monster part that carries the right substance will do. That's why a clever alchemist can brew with whatever grows near the road.

Ingredients are Like Cooking Components: Just as a chef knows that salt enhances flavor, butter adds richness, and acid provides balance, an alchemist understands that herbs provide base effects, minerals amplify and stabilize, and monster parts add unique properties. You can't just substitute ingredients randomly any more than you can replace flour with sugar in bread.

Ingredient Quality and Rarity

The core rules don't grade ingredients by quality. If your table wants that flavour, here's an optional house rule: the same ingredient can vary in quality, affecting both the potency and safety of the final product.

Poor

Common

Enhanced

Superior

Legendary

Ingredient Market Economics

A Common Healing Herb, Priced by Quality (house rule, relative to the rulebook's list price):

Poor Quality: a fraction of list price (dried, old, partly spoiled)
Common Quality: list price (fresh, properly stored)
Enhanced Quality: a few times list price (peak harvest time, expert preparation)
Superior Quality: around ten times list price (rare variants, perfect conditions)
Legendary Quality: whatever the seller dares to ask (extremely rare)

Note: monster parts usually cost far more than herbs, because someone had to kill the monster first.

Oliver Twist's Ingredient Sourcing Dilemma:
Oliver needs to brew healing potions for an upcoming monster hunt, but his budget is tight:

Cheap Option: Buy poor-quality ingredients for a handful of crowns - potions will be weak and might cause side effects
Standard Option: Buy common ingredients at the going rate - reliable but unexceptional results
Investment Option: Buy enhanced ingredients for three times as much - superior potions that could save his life

Oliver chooses the investment option, reasoning that the extra cost is worthless if he doesn't survive to spend his contract payment.

Potion Categories and Applications

Enhancement Potions - Pushing Human Limits

These potions temporarily boost physical or mental capabilities beyond normal human limits, but at significant toxicity cost. The potions below are the classics from the books and games; the rulebook gives each one exact effects, durations, Toxicity and formulae, so the cards here describe what they do in broad strokes rather than reprinting numbers.

Swallow - The Universal Healer

Primary Effect: Accelerated healing - your wounds close while it lasts

Duration: Limited (see the rulebook)

Toxicity: Moderate

Key Ingredients (flavour): Swallow herb, drowner brain, celandine

Crafting Difficulty: One of the easier formulae - still a CRA + Alchemy check against the formula's DC

Recipe (flavour): 2 parts swallow herb + 1 part drowner brain + 1 part celandine Process: Distill herbs separately, combine with brain extract at 60°C Quality Control: Test on small wound, observe healing rate

David Copperfield's Field Experience: "I always carry three Swallow potions on any hunt. The first one I drink before engaging a dangerous monster - it means any wounds I take will start healing immediately. The second is for mid-fight emergencies. The third is insurance, because sometimes you need healing more than you need to avoid toxicity."

Cat - Enhanced Perception

Primary Effect: See in darkness - no penalties for fighting or searching in the dark

Duration: Limited (see the rulebook)

Toxicity: Low to moderate

Key Ingredients: Cat's eye, water hag tooth, sewant mushrooms

Side Effects (flavour): Light sensitivity, temporary color blindness

Agnes Wickfield's Night Hunt: "Cat potion is essential for fighting nocturnal monsters, but you pay for it the next day. I once had to track a katakan through midnight sewers - the Cat potion let me see perfectly in absolute darkness, but when dawn came, normal sunlight felt like staring into a forge. Plan accordingly."

Thunderbolt - Combat Enhancement

Primary Effect: Harder-hitting attacks - you fight like a berserker

Duration: Limited (see the rulebook)

Toxicity: High

Key Ingredients: Cortinarius, nekker eye, endrega embryo

Warning (flavour): Increases aggression, reduces judgment - dangerous for social situations

Protective Potions - Surviving Monster Abilities

These specialized concoctions provide resistance to specific monster attacks and environmental hazards.

Golden Oriole - Poison Immunity

Primary Effect: Protection against poison - the counter to venomous monsters

Duration: Limited (see the rulebook)

Toxicity: High

Key Ingredients: Blowball, venom extract, white myrtle

Critical Note: Ironically toxic to create and consume, but essential for fighting venomous monsters

The Toxicity System - Your Body's Limits

Every potion adds its Toxicity to your running total. Exceed your limit, and the "cures" become more dangerous than the monsters. Witchers' mutations let them carry a heavy load; anyone else is poisoned by witcher potions almost at once. The exact limits and penalties are in the rulebook - the bands below are this guide's way of picturing the load, not official thresholds.

Toxicity: Light load → Heavy load → At your limit → Over your limit

Toxicity Level	Effects	Symptoms	Risk
Light load	None to speak of	None	Can safely consume more potions
Heavy load	Still in the safe zone, but not by much	Dilated pupils, slight tremor	Approaching dangerous levels
At your limit	One more potion is a gamble you'll lose	Nausea, disorientation, aggression	Stop drinking. Now.
Over your limit	You are poisoned (rulebook penalties apply)	Hallucinations, seizures	Life-threatening poisoning

Toxicity Recovery: Unlike Stamina, Toxicity doesn't bounce back with a breather - it drains away over time (the rulebook gives the rate). A heavy dose can stay in your system long after the fight is over. Plan your potion consumption carefully, especially before multi-day expeditions.

Weapon Oils and Combat Enhancements

The Science of Monster-Specific Weapons

Weapon oils exploit specific vulnerabilities in monster physiology, turning ordinary steel into specialized monster-hunting tools.

Necrophage Oil - Corpse Eater's Bane

Effect: Extra damage against ghouls, drowners, and other necrophages

Applications: Wears off after a limited number of hits (see the rulebook)

Ingredients: Sewant mushrooms, monster liver, alchemy paste

Mechanism: Creates chemical reaction with necrophage digestive acids

Captain Cuttle's Practical Wisdom: "Before my first ghoul hunt, I thought the oil was superstition. 'How can rubbing mushroom paste on steel make it deadlier?' Then I saw what happened when my untreated sword barely scratched the beast, while my partner's oiled blade cut through it like butter. The oil doesn't make the weapon sharper - it makes monster flesh more vulnerable to damage."

Cursed Oil - Breaking Supernatural Protection

Effect: Extra damage against werewolves and other cursed ones

Applications: Wears off after a limited number of hits

Ingredients: Wolfsbane, specter dust, silver shavings

Special (flavour): Some hunters swear it glows faintly near cursed creatures

Relict Oil - Ancient Bane

Effect: Extra damage against leshens, fiends and other relicts

Applications: Wears off after a limited number of hits

Ingredients: Rare herbs only found in ancient forests, meteorite dust

Warning (flavour): Some druids swear it angers every other spirit in the forest

Bomb Crafting - Alchemical Explosives

Alchemical bombs provide tactical advantages through area effects, crowd control, and environmental manipulation.

Grapeshot - Anti-Personnel Explosive

Effect: Explodes into shrapnel, damaging everyone in the blast

Ingredients: Saltpeter, iron shavings, binding agent

Tactical Use: Clearing groups of weak enemies, forcing movement

Safety Note: Throw it far, and don't stand where your friends are

Moon Dust - Magic Disruption

Effect: A cloud of dimeritium-laced dust that hampers magic, shapeshifting and vanishing tricks

Ingredients (flavour): Dimeritium shavings, quicksilver, binding powder

Tactical Use: Stopping specters fading out, keeping shapeshifters in one shape, rattling enemy spellcasters

Warning: Your own mage (and your witcher's Signs) won't enjoy it either

Crafting Non-Alchemical Equipment

Weapon and Armor Crafting

While alchemy focuses on consumables, traditional crafting creates the durable equipment that keeps hunters alive.

Crafting Quality Levels

Optional house rule. In the core rules a diagram tells you what you make; these tiers are for tables that want a smith's extra effort to show.

Quality	Durability Bonus	Performance Bonus	Material Cost Multiplier	Time Required
Crude	-20%	-1 to effectiveness	×0.5	Half normal time
Average	Normal	Standard effectiveness	×1.0	Standard time
Superior	+50%	+1 to effectiveness	×2.0	Double time
Masterwork	+100%	+2 to effectiveness	×5.0	Five times normal

Joe Gargery's Masterwork Philosophy:
"Pip asked me why I spend three weeks forging one sword when I could make five crude ones in the same time. I told him: 'Lad, when you're face-to-face with a griffin, do you want a sword that might break on the first parry, or one that'll serve you faithfully for years?' Quality takes time, but time invested in good tools is time that saves your life later."

Specialized Hunting Equipment

Professional monster hunters require specialized tools beyond standard weapons and armor.

Silver Weapons

Effect: Extra damage vs monsters vulnerable to silver

Cost: Far more than a plain steel blade

Drawback: Softer metal, requires frequent maintenance

Meteorite Steel

Effect (flavour): Legendary steel, the stuff of witchers' blades

Cost: Whatever you can beg, borrow or steal

Rarity: Extremely rare, often pre-existing artifacts

Mahakaman Steel

Effect: Superior balance and durability

Cost: Pricey, and worth every crown

Source: Dwarven smiths only

Try It - Alchemical Workshop Management

Scenario: Preparing for a Contract

You've accepted a contract to eliminate a pack of nekkers terrorizing a mining village. You have 3 days to prepare and a budget of 400 crowns.

Contract Details

Target: 8-12 nekkers (pack hunters, poison claws, underground lairs)
Location: Abandoned mine shafts, limited light, confined spaces
Timeline: 3 days to prepare, 2 days maximum for completion
Complications: Miners report strange glowing in the depths - possible nekker warrior

Phase 1: Resource Allocation

You need to balance your 400-crown budget between:

Raw Ingredients: For potions, oils, and bombs
Equipment Maintenance: Weapon sharpening, armor repair
Specialized Gear: Lighting, rope, backup weapons
Emergency Supplies: Antidotes, healing supplies, escape tools

Phase 2: Recipe Planning

Given nekker vulnerabilities (sensitive to light, poison claws, pack tactics), plan your alchemical preparations:

Suggested Nekker-Fighting Formula List

Prices are illustrative for this scenario; use your rulebook's price lists at the table.

Necrophage Oil (2 applications): 40 crowns - Essential for weapon effectiveness
Cat Potion (2 doses): 60 crowns - Underground darkvision
Swallow Potion (3 doses): 75 crowns - Healing for prolonged fight
Golden Oriole (1 dose): 100 crowns - Poison immunity for nekker claws
Grapeshot Bombs (4 bombs): 80 crowns - Area damage vs packs
Samum Bombs (2 bombs): 40 crowns - Blinding flash for light-sensitive nekkers

Total Alchemical Cost: 395 crowns (5 crowns remaining for miscellaneous supplies)

Phase 3: Risk Assessment

Analyze the toxicity implications of your potion plan. Look up each potion's Toxicity in the rulebook and add them up:

Cat Potion: low to moderate
Swallow Potion: moderate, and you've packed three
Golden Oriole: high
Total if you drink everything: well past any sane limit (poisoned, at best)

Toxicity Management Challenge: You cannot safely consume all these potions at once. Develop a consumption strategy that manages toxicity while maintaining effectiveness throughout the multi-day hunt.

Phase 4: Brewing Schedule

Plan your 3-day preparation timeline:

Day 1: Acquire ingredients, prepare workspace, begin complex potions
Day 2: Finish potions, create oils and bombs, test quality
Day 3: Final preparations, equipment checks, travel to site

Your Turn: Create Alternative Strategy

Design an alternative approach with the same 400-crown budget but different priorities. Consider:

What if you focused on bombs and traps instead of potions?
How would you adapt if nekker poison immunity wasn't available?
What contingency plans would you make for unexpected complications?
How would you modify your approach if the budget was only 200 crowns?

Going Further with Alchemy

Experimental Formulation

Master alchemists can modify existing recipes or create entirely new formulations to meet specific needs.

Magical vs Mundane Alchemy

Understanding the difference between magical enhancement and pure chemistry helps determine which approach suits different situations.

Field Alchemy

Techniques for creating basic alchemical products without a full workshop, essential for long expeditions.

Economic Considerations

Balancing the cost of preparation against potential contract rewards, and managing resources for sustainable monster hunting careers.

Ready to Brew Your Way to Victory?

You now understand the scientific art of alchemical preparation:

Alchemy is applied chemistry requiring precision, knowledge, and proper equipment
Ingredient quality dramatically affects both potency and safety of final products
Toxicity management is crucial for safe potion consumption
Weapon oils and bombs provide tactical advantages against specific monster types
Proper preparation can mean the difference between success and death
Resource management and budgeting are essential skills for professional hunters

Next up is Monster Hunting: taking contracts, researching what's out there, and putting all these oils, bombs and potions to work against the things that go bump in the Continent's night.