is alchemy overpowered?

[hippo]

is alchemy overpowered in your opinion? I want advice from anyone who uses them often. specifically which potions are the most useful from experience in melee combat.

[MacSuibhne]

Aqua Vitalis and Buck's Blood. Maybe Bowman's Brew and certainly Lazarus after a very hard fight.

[wjpower2003]

I tend to avoid a lot of the potions because I find that the whole potions thing kind of breaks immersion. The only ones I use if I have to are Bane, Antidote, Marigold, Lazarus, Cockerel and Hair o The Dog.

I prefer to maintain Henry's health, energy and nourishment using sleep and food where possible.

[Old Ben]

I use mostly Nighthawk potion to improve night vision. I take out most bandit/cuman camps at night with my bow and stealth. Otherwise its food and sleep to keep up my health.

[MacSuibhne]

Yeah, Nighthawk is useful as is Padfoot. Most of them are helpful. None of them are indispensable except perhaps SS.

[hippo]

fascinating. i've been using aqua vitalis and bjorn's rage and lazarus but i've been wanted to know what else is viable thanks. and to this day despite 5 play throughs i haven't made an archer yet.

and wjpower2003 yeah potions break immersion no doubt it's just not normal to take herbal potions and have the strength pcp would provide. thanks for the suggestions i'll look into them i shouldn't be doing the same thing every playthrough.

[MacSuibhne]

Except for Bivoli's Rage I don't recall any potion that augments strength.

Stamina perhaps...

Is coffee still a thing, IRL?

[hippo]

I don't recall anything either for strength. what's the potion that increases warfare by 5?

[MacSuibhne]

I'm not in-game right now but I think it might be Bivoli's Rage.

BTW, for those who find potions somehow distasteful, or immersion breaking, drugs have been used esp. in combat since time out of mind. Cocaine was issued to troops liberally in WWI. Bennies were used extensively, esp. by pilots in WWII.

This might be interesting:
https://militaryhistorynow.com/2018/05/08/combat-high-a-sobering-history-of-drug-use-in-wartime/

Pay attention to the section about Russian troops, esp. in connection to Bivoli's Rage. Might even be some cultural antecedents from Bohemia.

And as implied above coffee is a modern, 'go-getter' stimulant that almost everyone uses... and of course drugs to dull our senses, like marijuana, nicotine, alcohol and so forth, are, in some quarters, so commonplace as to be part of the daily diet.

"Better living through chemistry (alchemy)".

[hippo]

huh i had no idea about that. just weird a potion is the difference from killing 7 men in melee and dying.

[Valykry]

Originally posted by MacSuibhne:

Yeah, Nighthawk is useful as is Padfoot. Most of them are helpful. None of them are indispensable except perhaps SS.

I would say even that one isn't indispensable. I've used it once by accident, and that's about it.
Though I do love nighthawk and bane tipped arrows.

[GrannYgraine]

Henry uses Buck's Blood, Cockerel, and Lazarus before battle. Lazarus has saved him many times by healing him right when he's been on the brink of death.
He also poisons his weapons with poison, Bane, Dollmaker, Witches Brew, and any other poison that tickles his fancy. It helps that he can poison as many arrows as he can.

[hippo]

huh i never did use poison on enemies i thought it was overkill with stimulants alone

[Old Ben]

Originally posted by Valykry:

Originally posted by MacSuibhne:

Yeah, Nighthawk is useful as is Padfoot. Most of them are helpful. None of them are indispensable except perhaps SS.

I would say even that one isn't indispensable. I've used it once by accident, and that's about it.
Though I do love nighthawk and bane tipped arrows.

If you like Bane on arrows, try Dollmaker potion on arrows, it sometimes makes the bandits stand there and twitch, bet it would be good on a sword too, but haven't tried that yet as I do almost all my kills with bow.

Potion Description (Effects) for Dollmaker

Your muscles atrophy and you lose control of your limbs. Your entire body feels wooden and you can only move with great difficulty. Your Combat skills with weapons and without are reduced by 5 for ten minutes and your Stamina is lowered by 50%. You can't sprint.

Aesop potion is another good one when sneaking into bandit camps as the bandit dogs will not bark at you. ( i guess you smell like another dog ?)

[Old Ben]

Originally posted by hippo:

I don't recall anything either for strength. what's the potion that increases warfare by 5?

Artemisia potion will increase Strength and Warfare for 5-10 mins.

[MacSuibhne]

Originally posted by Old Ben:

Originally posted by hippo:

I don't recall anything either for strength. what's the potion that increases warfare by 5?

Artemisia potion will increase Strength and Warfare for 5-10 mins.

What kind of strange visions do you have and does it interfere with combat?