Minor change to the description of Cauldron item

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Brightrim
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Minor change to the description of Cauldron item

Post by Brightrim »

Current description:
Cauldron - A cast metal pot used to brew all sorts of concoctions in the production of potions.

Suggested change:
Cauldron - A metal cauldron with intricate mechanisms, used to brew all sorts of concoctions in the production of potions.


Reasoning:
Magic, which includes alchemy, has been very open ended and left to the imagination in most cases so far. This due to a lack of established lore and functions outside of what the engine establishes as fact, leaving a lot of it up to the players (and in some cases, GM permissions).

And until some proper lore is established in these cases, of how things really work in Illarion, it's going to remain up to each players individual imagination to fill in the gaps.

So establishing a cauldron as a "cast metal pot" feels bad to me as an alchemist. It feels like the magic and mystery is removed, and a cauldron from then on is just established as to be a metal pot. But then, where does the fire come in to play? If you put in herbs in a cauldron without water, they burn, so there must be fire or some kind of heating mechanism. And why do alchemists have to use stationary cauldrons if it's just a metal pot, and not just some pot helmet they carry around as a makeshift cauldron to brew in?

So to me it feels much better to give an open ended description like the suggested one above, which allows you to fill the gaps with your imagination without contradicting the established facts of alchemy. At least until proper lore and facts about how alchemy actually works, other than what the book of alchemy says in regards to essences and other engine aspects, have been established.

Here's how I've been imagining the cauldrons usage, in wait for future official lore that describes it in more detail:
I imagine a metal cauldron with an isolated space at the bottom for a flame, either magically fuelled or with fuel input, granting heat but not burning the wooden tables these cauldrons so commonly stand on. I also imagine mechanisms that allow the alchemist to adjust the width, height and intensity of the flame for their needs.
It is my alchemy fantasy that a part of being an alchemist, and why they need such high perception, essence and willpower, is that they have to constantly control the intensity of their flames. Use exact amounts of carefully processed herbs that they add to their brew at the exact right moments, herbs that each require specific heat intensities to best extract the purest possible essences from them. An intense labour of concentration that tears on the willpower, that require acute judgement and perception.

So to conclude, it might be making a mountain out of a molehill, but I just want to express how big of a difference an open ended description can be for your imagination and how important some magic and mystery can be. To me it feels like just establishing a cauldron as a simple metal pot takes away some of that magic and fun, and would give the wrong impression to newbies if that's their first encounter with Illarions alchemy.
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Jupiter
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Re: Minor change to the description of Cauldron item

Post by Jupiter »

Bringing alchemy lore is quite high on my personal to do list. Though, until now it was mostly done via quests, and, sadly lost since characters are not always keen to share knowledge.
So how about we use this as a chance to bring some lore into the game? However, I am not sure the alchemy cauldron should have a description like any ordinary tool, because alchemy is certainly more elaborate than common crafting ;) So feel free to come up with longer and more fancy texts.
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