Alchemy (Magic Vegas)

:Excerpted from Ritual Modifiers (Magic Vegas) v60c
====Alchemy====
Use this skill (specialized by tradition) to delay activation of a magical effect. Besides the obvious benefit of having prepared magic available for use at short notice, this is a convenient way to package magic for custom and realize economies of scale; see the section below on Commerce and Prices, specifically Commissioning Elixirs.
Preparing an elixir takes an hour, modified as usual for haste or extra time, in addition to whatever time the ritual itself takes. The intended subject (or object) must be exposed to the elixir, typically by consuming it, or anointing his skin, but it is also possible to make a flammable pastille (or cigarette) which affects those who breathe the smoke. In this case, an unintended subject might be exposed to the elixir, in which case it can still have an effect, but bonuses for contagion, sympathy, and name won’t apply. Compare the margin of success of the Alchemy roll against the ritual parameter table for duration; that’s the shelf life, and the clock starts on actual duration of the magical effect once it takes effect, 1d seconds after exposure. This makes field alchemy iffy, good for immediate consumption only, but routine circumstances grant +4 as usual, so a typical magician can usually manage a week, and professionals deliver a 3-month shelf life. Preserve Food doesn’t work on elixirs (because magic can’t enhance magic).
Modifiers for tools apply, ranging from -2 for a kitchen to +2 for a special-purpose laboratory. A well-stocked Alchemy lab will have the necessary ingredients on hand with a roll against the Housekeeping skill of whoever maintains it; otherwise they’ll cost $25 per dose. For a skillful magician or one with assistants, this can be a real bargain: Prepare a large batch of elixirs with a single ritual, taking the corresponding penalty for Multiple Targets, and activate that ritual piecemeal. For this purpose, a single individual counts as a new target each time he consumes an elixir, even from the same batch. Ingredients vary by ritual and may be scrounged, grown in a garden, or found easily in a well-maintained lab, or they may only be available for purchase in bulk such that a single dose can't be made more cheaply than a large batch; $25 is merely the average.
Consuming the elixir requires a HT check at +2; failure indicates an irritating condition consistent with the margin of failure for 1d times ten minutes, for instance coughing on failure by 2, nausea on failure by 3, severe pain on failure by 4. (This is a mundane effect of bizarre unregulated ingredients, so magical HT bonuses apply.) Whoever consumes an elixir becomes either the subject or object of the underlying ritual, specified at the time of casting. For instance, an elixir of Lust could cause the drinker to feel lust toward or to inspire lust in the first person of the opposite sex with whom he makes eye contact.