XuaXua wrote:mumra wrote:I think one problem is that it's not clear where the line is drawn between Alchemy and Transmutations.
Correct.
Alchemy is the mystic art of transforming one thing into another (lead into gold).
Transmutations is the mystic art that was made for this game which has spells that transform one thing into another.
Poison Magic is the mystic art that was made for this game to categorize the shallow pool of poison-related spells.
I've been thinking some more about this and it works for me like this:
Transmutations; changes of form (entirely magical)
Alchemy; relating to composition of matter and scientific processes (magic is basically acting as a catalyst)
Changes to spell schools:
Fulsome Distillation -> Alchemy/Necromancy
Evaporate -> Fire/Alchemy
Sublimation of Blood -> Alchemy/Necromancy?
New spells:
- Grimm's idea for welding floor trash into golems is coincidentally exactly something I thought of a few days ago (kind of related to a portal/branch idea I haven't finished writing up yet). The problems I see are that a) it's very similar to twisted resurrection but b) more abusable, because weapons don't rot like corpses do. Maybe the golems created could be unstable and stop working / fall apart after a while.
- Storm Clouds - Alchemy/Air, produces clouds that zap for elec damage every few turns. Creating real clouds is a scientific process and to me fits that definition of alchemy.
- The Philosopher's Stone.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher%27s_stone - This is the classical "holy grail" of Alchemy - it's the sought-after substance that converts base metals to gold and grants immortality / regeneration. How this could fit in with Crawl's mechanics is a bit harder; as I understand it the devs don't want regenerative spells outside of Necromancy, and being able to create gold from floor trash sounds ridiculously abusable. But it'd be nice to have a level 9 Alchemy spell somehow themed around the Philosopher's Stone as this was considered the ultimate goal for alchemists. Something like level 9 Charms/Alchemy which temporarily turns your skin or armour into gold and grants very high AC / MP (and Reflection?)
- Another slightly more interesting option would be turning gold
into stuff. Maybe "Bolt of Silver" which uses gold as a reagent and of course inflicts extra damage on chaotic beings.