Feature Proposal: Synthesizing potions

[Not named John]

Since this is my first time registering and posting anything in the Tavern even though I've been playing since 0.4, I first want to thank the developers for the hard work they've put in making Crawl as awesome as it is. Y'all are awesome.

I doubt this is the first time this has been suggested, but I was thinking about how a "potion mixing/alchemy" component could be added to Crawl that would fit in with the general game design philosophy—i.e., a system that wasn't overly complicated or reliant on spoilers, made sense thematically, didn't encourage scumming, and added strategic value. Plus, given how hybrid and melee-based characters in particular are desperately reliant on consumables, I think that if a fair system could be worked out, it would add interesting strategic decisions for all characters, but would help even things out for characters that don't start with magic, as those (in my experience) are the ones whose viability (or rather, lack thereof) is most at the whim of the RNG.

I thought I'd post some of the ideas here to get feedback and see if any developer liked it and wanted to run with it. (Unfortunately I can't code, otherwise I'd be happy to work on it myself.)

I'm not sure how the mixing would work in terms of interface, and there would be a separate question of how a character would learn the recipes, enabling them to mix the ingredients, or if these recipes are already known both to the player and the character. I think it would make sense for the ingredients to be identified before they can be used (obviously—no mixing random pots), but I think the resultant potion shouldn't have to be identified beforehand (and, upon synthesis, will auto-ID).

Obviously, for anti-scumming purposes, pots of experience (definitely) and mutation (maybe) would have to be impossible to make. I'm also pretty sure Dex, Int, and Str gains are capped at +3, but if I am wrong about that recipe ideas #1 and # 2 below might be bad ideas. Each recipe requires three potions in order to make one, so that getting just what you want comes at a considerable price.


RECIPE IDEAS

1.) Changing Gain Foo
1 Pot Gain Dexterity OR Gain Strength + 2 Pots Brilliance = 1 Potion of Gain Intelligence
1 Pot Gain Strength OR Gain Int + 2 Pots of Agility = 1 Pot Gain Dexterity
1 Pot Gain Dex OR Gain Int + 2 Pots of Might = 1 Pot Gain Strength

2.) Making Gain Foo
1 Pot of Experience + 2 Pots of Agility OR Brilliance OR Might = 1 Pot of Gain Dex/Int/Str (respectively)

3.) Making Cure Mutation
1 Pot of Experience + 1 Pot of Restore Abilities + 1 Pot of Mutation = 1 Pot of Cure Mutation
1 Pot of Gain Foo + 1 Pot of Restore Abilities + 1 Pot of Mutation = 1 Pot of Cure Mutation

4.) Making Pots of Restore Abilities
1 Pot each of Agility, Brilliance, and Might = 1 Pot of Restore Abilities

5.) Making Pots of Resistance
1 Pot of Magic + 1 Pot of Levitation + 1 Pot of Berserk Rage = 1 Pot of Resistance

6.) Making Pots of Magic
1 Pot of Resistance + 2 Pots of Brilliance = 1 Pot of Magic

7.) Making Pots of Levitation
3 Pots of Agility = 1 Pot of Levitation

8.) Making Pots of Berserk Rage
3 Pots of Might = 1 Pot of Berserk Rage

9.) Making Pots of Agility/Might/Brilliance
1 Pot of Restore Abilities + I Pot of Might + 1 Pot of Brilliance = 1 Pot of Agility
1 Pot of Restore Abilities + I Pot of Agility + 1 Pot of Brilliance = 1 Pot of Might
1 Pot of Restore Abilities + I Pot of Might + 1 Pot of Agility = 1 Pot of Brilliance

10.) Making Potions of Curing/Heal Wounds
3 Pots of Curing = 1 Pot of Heal Wounds
3 Pots of Heal Wounds = 1 Pot of Curing

[KoboldLord]

I should warn you that 'Nethack has it' is considered negative justification for a feature around these parts. Nethack is an excellent game, but if Crawl were to become just like Nethack there wouldn't be much point in having it as a separate game. This is sometimes expressed very rudely.

Anyway, there's some limited potion synthesis already in the game, in terms of the Fullsome Distillation spell. It's at risk of cutting because it's a bit grindy, and it provides a functionally limitless supply of confusion and poison potions at minimal cost. The problem would be more serious if it was able to produce actually-useful potions like the ones you've listed; as it is the spell is still very difficult to handle in design terms.

Really good potions aren't really supposed to be available in infinite supply. Leaving aside the potential to stack all your gain foo potions onto a single most desirable stat, you aren't supposed to be able to go into every major battle with might up, or resistance up, or whatever. Those are supposed to be powerful effects in limited supply, so there's a serious decision to be made whenever you could use them.

[Not named John]

.... Yeah, those are really good points.

I wasn't thinking about Nethack, actually (which is a game I've only played maybe 4 times and stopped because it wasn't my cup of tea); I was thinking primarily in terms of adding a different dimension of strategy, while perhaps giving players some recourse when it comes to those aspects of Crawl that seem unfair—by which I don't mean "too difficult." Pots of Resistance are so vital for melee characters in particular, whether as a way to counteract banishment and paralysis (thanks to the MR boost) or to offset the near-necessity of rElec in Zot. (Magic-inclined races have better innate MR, and have far more options for incapacitating spellcasters—including a spell that stops most spellcasting in a large radius!) Without an amulet of rMut, a great character can be badly warped and made either unviable or else unfun to play. It really sucks when you play well, but have a character that is going to be extremely hard to ascend with simply because you are missing out on a few items. That seems much more "NetHack-ish" to me. It would be nice if players had greater leeway to patch together a workable ascension kit out of their consumables.

I know that not every character one starts should be ascendable, and that DEFINITELY not every character should be capable of post-endgame content. But I think it would be neat if players had a way to make their consumables go a bit further in the late game by exchanging one effect of roughly equal power for another of roughly equal power, with a 3-to-1 cost making up for the benefit of customizability. I tried to be careful in the recipes I proposed that there aren't many "no-brainer" changes. Pots of Resistance and Pots of Magic seem roughly even in power, IMO, for instance, though if that's a problem the recipe can be changed or left out. I didn't mean that all these recipes should be implemented; that might add too much customizability and infringe upon the power of the RNG Gods.

I also recognize that this would potentially incentivize an annoying degree of stockpiling and inventory micromanagement, though some of that can be alleviated if the interface for mixing is done well.