Herbs, potions, and magical elixirs seem to fit a fantasy game well. Everquest includes alchemy as a shaman-only trade skill. This works well for shamans because it gives a shaman a way to make extra platinum selling gate potions and spirit of the wolf potions to other players.
An Everquest shaman can raise his alchemy skill after he reaches level 25. Once he meets the minimum level cap, he can get it to the maximum skill level at any time. The shaman needs to know the right herbs and have the right container to start on his way to making potions that can benefit his pocket book, himself, and sometimes other players.
Getting Started in Alchemy
An Everquest shaman can learn alchemy from a trainer before the level 25 requirement. The class trainers do not teach the skill past a skill leve1 of 21. After the trainer will no longer teach a shaman character, a shaman who wants to advance he must gather the herbs to make his potions and find the proper container in which to mix his potions.
The designers of the game, who decided to give the shaman the role of the tribal witch doctor, decided that all alchemy recipes require a medicine bag. The most basic version of the medicine can be bought off vendors, and more advanced versions can be obtained from tailors, gnome tinkerers, and drops in higher level zones.
Leveling Up Alchemy Quickly
The following list obtained from the Trivial list on EQ Traders, a vital resource for any Everquest or EQ2 trade skill player. Corrections or suggestions on improvements are welcomed.
- Trainer to 21
- Abysmal Deep Sea Breathing Potion to 31
- Wayfarer Green Dye to 38
- Philter of the Serpentine to 45
- Distillate of the Skinspikes II to 52
- Formed Suspension of Slime II to 62
- Philter of Clear Sight to 70
- Philter of the Wolf I to 75
- Distillate of Regeneration III to 83
- Elixir of the Serpentine IV to 90
- Elixir of the Avian IV to 100
- Distillate of Regeneration IV to 110
This will get the shaman's alchemy skill to 110 and further research can be done by browsing through the recipes that are available and figuring out what recipes are the easiest to make at which level. The easier the ingredients are to gather and the fewer there are, the quicker a shaman can raise his skill.
Alchemy's Profitability
Alchemy is one of the few trade skills where a profit can be turned by selling the potions to other players fairly quickly. Items like spirit of wolf potions are desirable for classes that can solo. Even bards prefer to use the 30 minute spirit of wolf spell over their own faster Selo's Accelerating Chorus that lasts two and a half minutes. All a shaman needs to do is advertise that he is an alchemist. Good customer service skills apply. If a shaman gives players good prices, they may find that players of other classes are more likely to do favors for the shaman later.
Resources:
EQ Traders Alchemy Getting Started
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