Potion Types (Patreon)

Note that this is an old design document, written before the prologue. As such, it is not necessarily 100% accurate anymore.

There are three main types of concoctions : potions, elixirs and philters.

Potions are a purely alchemical product, created through the mixing, refining, ect, of alchemical components, bringing out their innate properties due to their imbuement by mana. While they do require skill, experience and some tools (which become more and more expensive and complex the better the potion), with preferably a sanitized alchemy lab to make them in, they do not require any training in magic or enchanting to make, and do not require mana to create.

Elixirs are potions where the effects of certain ingredients, or the whole potion, has been tweaked and enhanced via complex enchantments. Elixirs can be made by anyone with knowledge of enchanting magic and mana, but the effects are exponentially better if the enchanter is more powerful and more skilled. It should be noted that making an Elixir is more or less demultiplying the effects of a potion, and can only be done up to a point. The process is extremely complicated as the enchantments have to be applied at very specific stages of the ingredients' preparation or at specific stages of the potion, making them expensive. They are, however, incredibly stable, and have a virtually unlimited shelf life, while most potions degrade after a while (with the notable exception of those with a stasis enchantment).

Philters are not technically potions. They are, however, a liquid, so most people consider them as such. Philters are essentially liquid mana that has been subjected to a series of enchantments, or execution commands. They are very, very unstable, as instead of being grounded by the stable processes and magic code of ingredients, the mana is directly processed by a sentient made enchantment, which has some serious issues. If the enchantment is damaged, wether through time, magical interference to the liquid mana, or even just distruption spells, it can get out of control and create extremely violent and unexpected results (usually resulting in the person absorbing it dying). Additionally, if the enchantment is too powerful for the person taking the Philter, or the enchantment fails to consume the mana quickly enough before it is absorbed by whoever is taking the Philter, the person is either consumed by the power or suffers the same effects as an uncontrolled mana gem absorption, both which are extremely lethal.