Chthonic Halls Alchemy

Overview

This alchemy system is not just a potion list. It is a full discipline structured around alchemical dominions, transformation verbs, specialization paths, and endgame Magnum Opus projects.

Its core move is to treat alchemy as a flexible transmutation craft rather than a fixed catalog of recipes. Recipes still exist, but the system's identity comes from what an alchemist can do to materials through procedure.

Dominions Of Alchemy

The framework divides matter and being into dominions:

• Metal and Liquid as base physical domains
• Crystal and Aetheric as higher or more refined domains
• Flora and Fauna as living domains
• Energetic as a heretical energy-facing path outside ordinary matter logic

These dominions are the system's conceptual skeleton. They define what materials are, how they can be transformed, and what kinds of specialists emerge.

Core Alchemical Actions

The article gives alchemy a small set of reusable operations.

• Basic Alchemy: turn one material into another within the same dominion
• Ascension or Debasement: move material between a base dominion and its higher counterpart
• Translation: move material from one base dominion to another
• Infusion or Cancellation: add or remove a property from a material
• Combination or Separation: merge or split materials and their properties
• Recipe use: bypass uncertain procedure if a formula is already known

This is what makes the system portable. It is driven by verbs rather than by finished item entries.

Resolution Model

Alchemy actions usually require rolling under Alchemy ranks on a d6, modified by difficulty and by the type of operation performed. More complex transformations impose penalties unless the alchemist has advanced far enough along the progression path to remove them.

This keeps the system skill-facing without making it purely freeform.

Alchemist Progression

The article provides two advancement structures.

Easier path

The straightforward version gives rank-based benefits:

• choose an archetype
• specialize in dominions
• gain bonuses to specific operations
• take on visible bodily negations as the craft warps the alchemist
• eventually begin work on a Magnum Opus

Harder path

The more elaborate version uses a Sephirot-style progression map. This turns advancement into a research tree in which penalties are removed, dominion bonuses are added, and access to the final work is earned by reaching Crown.

Why It Matters

This source is useful because it gives alchemy a full procedural identity:

• materials have metaphysical categories
• operations are reusable and combinable
• specialists differ by what they refine and pursue
• advancement changes both capability and body
• endgame crafting becomes campaign-scale project play

It is therefore stronger than a simple potion-crafting appendix. It can support a whole character path or faction niche.

Comparison Use

Use this article when comparing:

• ingredient property logic versus fixed recipe alchemy
• crafting systems with explicit research progression
• transmutation frameworks versus potion lists
• science-magic hybrid subsystems that visibly transform the practitioner

See Also

• medicine-and-poison-ingredients-and-where-to-find-them.md - Terrain-organized ingredient sourcing layer that can feed this kind of alchemy
• fists-of-cinder-and-stone.md - Another resource-focused crafting reference, but organized by ecosystem rather than dominion theory

Sources

• https://chthonic-halls.blogspot.com/2018/09/alchemy.html