Physicker Studies & Alchemy
Physickers heal through bandaging, stitching, or placing salves on Wounds, and by administering curative brews. Advanced practitioners study the art of Alchemy, where they precisely balance the extracted properties of ingredients in order to create even more potent elixirs and manipulate the Aspects of their soul.
Please Note
Citadel is currently in playtesting. All rules released are subject to change before our first official event in 2025.
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Trade Skills
General Information
The Trade Skills are skills that allow a character to create tagged items (items that are In-Play and can be used or sold within the game). Each Tier of a Trade Skill provides a character with five (5) Production Points per Production Period.
Additionally, each Trade Skill has a more magically focused skill associated with it. Artificer has Arcanatech, Inscription has Sigilcraft, and Physicker has Alchemy. Characters are not required to purchase the magical skills, but the Tiers of those magical skills require the character to have a specific level of the base skill. For example, to be eligible to purchase Arcanatech 1, the character must have Artificer 3.
Item Costs
Each item eligible to be crafted by a Trade Skill will have a listed Production Point cost and Material Unit cost. A character expends the associated cost to create the item. Production Points (PP) represent the character's ability and the time spent crafting the item. Material Units (MU) represent the basic components used in production. Examples include metal bars for Artificer, ink and parchment for Inscription, and herbs for Physicker Studies. Every item takes a certain number of MU to create the finished product.
The number of units remains constant for each item, but the market cost of Material Units for a given skill may fluctuate from event to event. These fluctuations are common knowledge and will be readily accessible to view. When a character uses their Trade Skill to craft an item, they can either supply their own Material Units or purchase them from the Production Marshal for the current rate. Note that the Production Marshal will only sell a player the Material Units needed to make the items they are crafting. Material Units can also be found In-Play or purchased from merchants or other players.
Production Periods
There are three times a character can use Production Points: at the beginning of an event, anytime during an event, or as an Between Game Action.
Beginning of the Event: At Check-In, you can spend up to your full amount of Production Points for each full day of the event. Any unspent PP will be noted on your character sheet and can be spent during the event. A typical weekend event is considered to be two (2) full days. For example, if you have Physicker 2 and are attending a weekend event, you have twenty (20) total PP to spend, though the items you craft must never require more PP than you have in a single Production Period. The only exception to that rule is for Arcanatech enchantments (see the Arcanatech section for more details).
During an Event: Unspent PP can be used by collaborating with a Production Marshal. During most events, a Production Marshal will be In-Play at various times. The identity of the Production Marshal(s) will be noted during Opening Ceremonies.
Between Game Actions: Each Between Game Action (BGA) used for Production allows a player 150% of their PP for a Production Period. Thus, if you have Artificer 4, you would have 30 PP to spend, though you cannot make a single item requiring more than 20 PP. The character is still required to pay the MU cost of these created items, and must turn in the cost at the next event's Check-In before they receive the item tags from their BGA.
Physicker Studies
Physickers heal through bandaging, stitching, or placing salves on Wounds, and by administering curative brews. Advanced practitioners study the art of Alchemy, where they precisely balance the extracted properties of ingredients in order to create even more potent elixirs and manipulate the Aspects of their soul.
Every Physicker has a Book of Formulas containing all of the recipes they know. This book is an In-Play item and may be lost or stolen. Each recipe is a text prop, and Scribes may create duplicates of existing formulas. A Physicker must have access to a physical text prop of the recipe they are creating at the time of creation. A character that begins play as a Physicker, receives ten (10) Common recipes of their choice to have within their Book of Formulas. See the Physicker Studies Production Table for more information.
Each level of Physicker gives you 5 Production Points per Production Period.
Physicker Studies Tier Cost
Physicker 1 - 12XP
Prerequisites: none
Total of five (5) Production Points per Production Period.
Included Skill: Apply Salve. You are able to apply a Salve to a willing individual or someone who is unable to resist. Applying a salve takes ten (10) seconds.
Included Skill: Healing Ways. You have studied the basics of first aid, and have gained the Healing Ways skill. (See General Skills for more information).
Physicker 2 - 5XP
Prerequisites: Physicker 1
Total of ten (10) Production Points per Production Period.
Physicker 3 - 8XP
Prerequisites: Physicker 2
Total of 15 PP per Production Period.
Included Skill: Trained Physicker. You have spent a long time in study to hone your skills as a trained Physicker. You gain the Chirurgery skill and the ability to use a Chirurgery Kit (see the Physicker Production List for more information).
Chirurgery allows a Physicker to stitch wounds to speed the healing process. To initiate Chirurgery, you declare, "Beginning Chirurgery", and must spend one (1) minute of Concentration and roleplay. When the process is complete, you declare "Ending Chirurgery". If the target was Bleeding Out, Chirurgery pauses their Bleed Out Timer. A patient who was Unconscious regains Consciousness after the one (1) minute is complete.
A character treated by a Chirurgeon becomes Walking Wounded and their remaining Walking Wounded time is shortened to thirty (30) minutes. With an Accelerate Healing effect applied (before or after Chirurgery), the target's Walking Wounded time is shortened to fifteen (15) minutes. The time the patient has spent while Stabilized is deducted from the remaining time. A target may not receive the benefit of Chirurgery more than once for the same Wounds.
Chirurgery may also be used to reattach severed limbs, if the limb is present.
In desperate situations, you may perform Chirurgery on yourself as long as you are Conscious and neither of your arms are Wounded. You cannot perform Chirurgery if either of your arms are Wounded. A Physicker performing Chirurgery must have a Chirurgery Kit.
Physicker 4 - 8XP
Prerequisites: Physicker 3
Total of twenty (20) Production Points per Production Period.
Physicker 5 - 8XP
Prerequisites: Physicker 4
Total of twenty-five (25) Production Points per Production Period.
Included Skill: Apply Contact Poison. Contact poisons are the most dangerous to handle. Any character without an appropriate ability who attempts to apply a contact poison will automatically affect themself instead. A single dose of contact poison will cover up to a 1’x1’ surface (or 144 square inches). The tag for the poison must be attached in some way to the object to which the contact poison has been applied. Additionally, a gel-like substance, such as Vaseline, must be smeared on the object to represent the poison. Any object coated with contact poison that is touched with bare flesh will affect a character. If objects inside a cabin are coated with contact poison, these objects must be noted in the Cabin Notes.
Physicker 6 - 8XP
Prerequisites: Physicker 5
Total of thirty (30) Production Points per Production Period.
Physicker 7 - 10XP
Prerequisites: Physicker 6
Total of thirty-five (35) Production Points per Production Period.
Physicker 8 - 10XP
Prerequisites: Physicker 7
Total of forty (40) Production Points per Production Period.
Physicker 9 - 12XP
Prerequisites: Physicker 8
Total of forty-five (45) Production Points per Production Period.
Physicker 10 - 12XP
Prerequisites: Physicker 9
Total of fifty (50) Production Points per Production Period.
Advanced Healing Ways - 5XP
Prerequisite: Physicker 1
You have studied anatomy and physiology on a deeper level, and now when using the Healing Ways skill, you may ask the following additional questions after at least ten (10) seconds of inspection:
Have you been Dead for less than five minutes?
Are you Disrupted, Poisoned, Slowed, or Weakened?
If Poisoned, what type of Poison was used? What is the Poison count (if any)?
Do you have a Disease?
Are you Drained?
Are you Paralyzed or Petrified?
Are you suffering from a Mental effect? If so, which one?
What nationality are you? Do you have any physical traits from your Heritage?
Do you have a Soul Bond to more than one Aspect of Essence? (This does not reveal what the Soul Bonds are, just whether there is more than one).
Volatile Brews - 5XP
Prerequisite: Physicker 2
At the start of every event, you may create three (3) brews or salves that each have a PP cost of five (5) or less and MU cost of three (3) or less without expending the PP or MU to do so. These represent mixtures that you were able to concoct with extra materials you had on hand. However, because of their unconventional recipe, they are Volatile. Only the Physicker that created them is able to use them and they expire at the end of the event.
Volatile Brew Expert - 8XP
Prerequisite: Volatile Brews and Physicker 8
At the start of every event, the Physicker may create three (3) brews that each have a PP cost of ten (10) or less and an MU cost of five (5) or less. These brews represent mixtures that you were able to concoct with extra materials you had on hand. However, because of their unconventional recipe, the brews are Volatile. Only you are able to use them and they expire at the end of the event.
These three (3) brews are in addition to the three (3) volatile brews granted by the Volatile Brews skill.
Heal Toughness 1 - 5XP
Prerequisite: Physicker 3
You may spend one (1) minute of Concentration and roleplay tending to a patient. At the end of that minute, the target's Toughness is instantly restored to its maximum amount.
You may do this three (3) times per Short Rest.
Heal Toughness 2 - 5XP
Prerequisite: Heal Toughness 1 and Physicker 5
You may heal all of a target's Toughness one (1) additional time per Short Rest, for a total of four (4) times per Short Rest.
Heal Toughness 3 - 5XP
Prerequisite: Heal Toughness 2 and Physicker 7
You may heal all of a target's Toughness one (1) additional time per Short Rest, for a total of five (5) times per Short Rest.
Botanist - 5XP
Prerequisite: Physicker 3
Much of the beginning Physicker's training revolves around the study of plants. You have learned to identify and harvest plants safely while retaining their unique properties, and may re-plant them into your personal garden. Players with this ability are highly encouraged to have a phys-repped garden on site. The prop should be clearly marked with a Garden Notes sheet, which lists all the plants in the garden, and the contents of the garden should be kept up to date on the player's character sheet.
To plant something new in the garden, you must have the correct part of the plant (such as a seed or a whole, living plant). The tag for the plant will indicate if it can be planted or if it has any special growing properties. Once planted, the tag for that plant is considered expended, and cannot be utilized unless you choose to entirely remove it from your garden. You may maintain a number of plants in your garden equal to your Physicker Tier. This ability stacks with the Gardener General Skill.
You can choose to grow multiples of the same plant, if desired. At the start of each event, you may receive a duplicate tag of any plant within your garden to represent harvesting the excess growth.
Botanical Expert - 5XP
Prerequisite: Botanist and Physicker 8
The Physicker is such an expert gardener that they can grow even the most difficult and delicate plants.
You may plant a rare or exotic plant in your garden, even if the plant normally only grows in a specific location, such as within the Citadel or in a volcano. (There may be unique plants in this world that can not be planted under any circumstances. These plants will be noted on the Tag, please consult Plot if there are any questions.)
Transfer Miasma - 5XP
Prerequisite: Alchemy 1
The strange Miasma within the Citadel causes an extreme imbalance to the humors. Alchemists have learned to mitigate the symptoms for their patients by diluting the Miasma with additional Essence, but it is difficult and exhausting work.
Once per Short Rest, you may perform a procedure to Transfer Miasma. To perform the procedure, you must spend one (1) minute in Concentration and roleplay tending to your patients. You may target up to ten (10) creatures with this procedure and you are allowed to be one of the targets. You declare, "Beginning Transfer Miasma". When the process is complete, you declare, "Transfer Miasma." You can then shift around the Miasma Scores between the targets.
For example, Patient A has a Miasma Score of 11, Patient B has a Miasma Score of 7, and Patient C has a Miasma Score of 18, so the total score between the three patients is 36. The Alchemist could divide those 36 Miasma points however they desired between the patients, such as giving each of them a new Miasma Score of 12. Miasma points cannot be divided into fractions.
Poison Resistance 1 - 5XP
Prerequisite: Alchemy 1
After long term exposure to so many different chemicals, you have developed a tolerance for them.
You gain one (1) Resist Poison per Short Rest. This is an Innate Resist and does not require preparation to use.
Poison Resistance 2 - 8XP
Prerequisite: Poison Resistance 1 and Alchemy 2
You gain one (1) additional Resist Poison per Short Rest, for a total of two (2) Resist Poisons per Short Rest. These are an Innate Resists and do not require preparation to use.
Humorism - 5XP
Prerequisite: Physicker 4
An overabundance or lack of Essence within the body may cause dysfunction. Physickers refer to the expression of Essence within the physical body as humors. With training, a Physicker can learn how to rebalance those humors.
You may spend one (1) minute of Concentration and roleplay to grant a patient either one (1) Cleanse, one (1) Awaken, or one (1) Dispel Paralyze.
You declare, "Beginning Humorism". During that minute, you are encouraged to roleplay this by pretending to attach leeches to their patient, bloodletting with small incisions, or utilizing crystals or energy stones. When the process is complete, you declare either "Humorism Complete - Cleanse", "Humorism Complete - Awaken", or "Humorism Complete - Dispel Paralyze". As soon as Humorism is initiated, all Poison counts are frozen. A Physicker must have two uninjured arms in order to perform Humorism.
Resuscitation - 5XP
Prerequisite: Physicker 5
There is a brief window of opportunity between the bodily death and the full severing of the spirit. Skilled Physickers can take advantage of that to reconnect the spirit to the body. The Physicker must perform the functions of life - such as keeping the heart beating and the lungs breathing - so as to coax the spirit to return. It is an exhausting process that requires the Physicker to have an assistant.
A corpse must be fully intact in order for a Resuscitate to work, and the target can only be Resuscitated if they have been dead for less than five (5) minutes.
Resuscitate requires five (5) minutes of Concentration and roleplay by a Physicker and one (1) additional person. The additional person is not required to have levels of Physicker as they are being directed by the Physicker with the Resuscitation skill. After being Resuscitated, the target character is considered to be healed from all Wounds and Purified from all effects, but suffers an unavoidable Disrupt Essence.
Studia Mortis - 5XP
Prerequisite: Physicker 5
Physickers are no stranger to death. Although they spend much of their time attempting to extend the lives of their patients, sometimes treatments fail or occur too late.
You are able to examine a dead body to determine some facts about the corpse's cause of death. You may ask the following questions (in any order) after at least ten (10) seconds of examination:
--How were you killed?
--Did you die under the effects of a Poison or Disease?
--If you were killed by a magical effect? What Aspect of Essence was the magic?
--Were you killed by drowning, suffocation, exsanguination, immolation, or an explosion?
--Approximately how long have you been dead?
Additional questions may be answered at the discretion of the Marshal.
Experimental Elixers - 5XP
Prerequisite: Physicker 6
A skilled Physicker strives to perfect their recipes through experimentation. They may experiment with different solutions, adding various ingredients and utilizing unconventional techniques to produce something useful.
At the start of each event, you may spend Production Points to create Experimental Elixirs. Each Experimental Elixir costs [X] PP and [X] MU (*Correct Prices will be added once Production Lists are finalized*).
After marking off the PP for its creation, the player rolls on the Experimental Elixir Table to see what they created, and the Production Marshal will give them an appropriate tag.
Quick Concoction - 8XP
Prerequisite: Physicker 7
The practiced hands of a Physicker can create what they need with whatever they happen to have in their pockets.
Once per Short Rest, you may spend one (1) minute in Concentration and roleplay to create a Volatile brew without expending any PP or MU on its creation. It must be a Formula that you are capable of creating, have within your Book of Formulas, and does not require any special components. A brew created in this way lasts until it is used or until the next time you take a Short Rest, whichever comes first. As with other Volatile brews, only the Physicker that created it may use it.
Alchemy
The art of Alchemy is where practitioners learn to precisely balance the extracted properties of ingredients in order to create even more potent elixirs, chemicals, and poisons. Alchemists understand the balance between the physical and the spiritual, and realize that Essence is just the purest form of both.
Alchemy 1 - 12XP
Prerequisite: Physicker 3
First Recipes. Upon purchase of this skill, you receive two (2) of the following Alchemical recipes of their choice to add to their Book of Formulas: [insert choices once Formula list is finalized].
Alchemy of the Soul. An Alchemist understands the balance between the physical and the spiritual, and realizes that Essence is just the purest form of both. Using the same logic as precisely mixing and balancing the components for a brew, the Alchemist draws forth the Essence of their Spirit and incorporates new material.
When you gain this skill, you receive the Formula to create an Alchemical Furnace. The creation of an Alchemical Furnace is a unique journey for each Alchemist.The Furnace is bound to the Alchemist's Soul, and contains the potential ingredients to transmute their Soul in different ways, symbolized by five (5) tokens. The process is difficult to predict, but results in a beneficial effect from the Aspect or material associated with the token. Once created, the Alchemist may spend two (2) Production Points in order to draw two (2) tokens from the Furnace each Reset.
Alchemy 2 - 15XP
Prerequisite: Alchemy 1 and Physicker 5
The Alchemist is now skilled enough to create a personal Alembic and further refine their Alchemical Furnace.
Alembic. Although any Alchemist with the correct Formula can transmute metals or kalzokash, some Alchemist's choose to create a Personal Alembic, which provides them with one (1) Production Period's worth of PP each event that may only be used for Transmutation Formulas. Upon purchase of Alchemy 2, you receive the Alchemical Formula for creating a Personal Alembic.
Alchemical Furnace Refinement. The experienced Alchemist understands their own Spirit and the materials of transmutation well enough that they can begin adjusting the raw materials within their Furnace. They may choose to remove a token permanently (although may never have less than five (5) tokens), and or add duplicates of any Tier 1 token. Additionally, they gain acess to Tier 2 token types, which may be added into their Furnace (although they may not have duplicates of Tier 2 tokens).
Alchemy 3 - 15XP
Prerequisite: Alchemy 2 and Physicker 7
Alchemists are always pushing the boundaries on what is physically possible.
Esoteric Procedures. You are able to initiate Esoteric Procedures as the Head Chirurgeon or Head Alchemist. You must have the Alchemical Formula for the Esoteric Procedure you wish to initiate in your Book of Formulas. The Formula for the procedure explains the rules specific to the Procedure, including what is needed for the Procedure, and the success or failure conditions. It is very common for other healers and Physickers to work together with the Head Chirurgeon in order to increase the odds that the Esoteric Healing Procedure will be a success.
Alchemical Furnace Mastery. In addition to their previous ability, the Alchemist may now have duplicates of Tier 2 tokens within their Furnace, and gain access to Tier 3 token types. They may never have duplicates of Tier 3 tokens.
Transmutation of the Physical
The primary focus of the Art of Alchemy is Transmutation. Foundational to Alchemy is the magical ability to transmute physical materials. This is most often done with metals, such as transmuting iron into copper or silver into gold. It can also be done with kalzokash, such as changing a bright mote into a clay mote. Skilled Alchemists, with the correct Formulas, are even able to transmute Basic kalzokash into Greater form, or a Greater kalzokash into an Exalted form.
Alembic
Although any Alchemist with the correct Formula can transmute metals or kalzokash, some Alchemists choose to create a Personal Alembic, which provides them with one (1) Production Period worth of PP each event that may only be used for Transmutation Formulas. Upon purchase of Alchemy 2, you receive the Alchemical Formulas for creating a Personal Alembic.
Once created, the Personal Alembic does not expire and cannot be used by any other Alchemist, as it is attuned specifically to its creator.
Transmutation of the Soul
Some Alchemists are not content to only transmute the physical. They push the boundaries by performing transmutations on the very Soul.
Alchemical Furnace
An Alchemist understands the balance between the physical and the spiritual, and realizes that Essence is just the purest form of both. Using the same logic as precisely mixing and balancing the components for a brew, the Alchemist draws forth the Essence of their Spirit and incorporates new material.
They perform this Soul Transmutation using an Alchemical Furnace. The creation of an Alchemical Furnace is a unique journey for each Alchemist.The Furnace is bound to the Alchemist's Soul, and contains the potential ingredients to transmute their Soul in different ways, symbolized by five (5) tokens.
The process is difficult to predict, but results in a beneficial effect from the Aspect or material associated with the token. Once created, the Alchemist may spend two (2) Production Points in order to draw two (2) tokens from the Furnace each Reset.
During a typical three-day event, an Alchemist with an Alchemical Furnace spends two (2) PP on Friday night to draw two (2) tokens. Drawn tokens remain out of the Furnace for the remainder of the event. The drawn tokens remain active until the next Reset. After Reset (sundown on Saturday), the Alchemist draws two (2) more tokens from their Furnace for two (2) new effects. At the end of the event, all drawn tokens are returned to the Furnace.
When the Alchemical Furnace and tokens are first created, each token is tied to a different Aspect of Essence (Air, Earth, Fire, Light, Water). However, as the Alchemist grows in experience and discovers new Formulas, they are able to add, subtract, or change the tokens inside their Furnace, leading to different possibilities. You can never go below five tokens, but there is no upper limit to the number of tokens in a Furnace.
Alchemists who use an Alchemical Furnace learn to be adaptive. They are never entirely sure what sort of boon they will gain from their Furnace on a given draw. Some attempt to “stack the deck” - tweaking the tokens within their Furnace to ensure the highest chance to get what they want. Others embrace the unpredictability and enjoy the challenge it presents.
Alchemists of Tier 2 and Tier 3 have mastered the basic Aspects of Essence, and are able to incorporate tokens of a more esoteric nature, such as Iron, Poison, Tavrashil, or Sun.
Esoteric Procedures
When an Alchemist has mastered the Transmutation of their own Soul, they often desire to Transmute the Souls of others. There are a few Esoteric Procedures that are generally known and accepted as “standard.” However, most Esoteric Procedures are more, well, esoteric.
Alchemists often jealously guard their Formulas. The rare, dangerous, and - at times - ethically questionable potential of Esoteric Procedures keeps them relegated to only the most dedicated Alchemists.