Charms Amulets & Talismans

For game purposes, a charm with protective powers is called an amulet, while a charm with empowering abilities is called a talisman (not to be confused with the Amulet and Talisman meta-spells).

TIME AND COST TO MAKE
The cost in materials to manufacture an alchemical charm is the same as for an elixir with the same effects. The time to make such an amulet or talisman is 10 times that listed to make the elixir
At the end of the time period, the alchemist makes his skill roll, applying any penalties as per the equivalent elixir. A critical failure has the usual explosive results, while a normal failure merely wastes the time and materials.
The knowledge of how to make charms is a potent and difficult skill – each charm is a separate Hard technique, with its own formulary, which defaults to the corresponding elixir technique-2.
In many settings, the secrets of making charms may be restricted to Masters or Grand Masters of the Alchemists’ Guild.

Unless mentioned Charms are effectively Elixirs that recharge and generally function the same.

Analysis
In general, if an alchemist knows the formula for the elixir in question, he can recognize it with five minutes’ examination and a successful Alchemy skill roll. If it has powers that he does not know the formula for, the GM may assign a penalty to the Alchemy roll, ranging from -1 to -10. As usual, the GM rolls for the player, and lies on any critical failures.

USING CHARMS
Amulets are treated as always-on magic items. There is no “time to
cast,” and they cost the user no energy. They protect the wearer at all times, whether the person knows what the amulet does or not.

Alchemical talismans – empowering devices – work for only a limited time. When a talisman is used, its effects last as long as the corresponding elixir would. The talisman then becomes dormant and must “recharge” for a number of days equal to the number of weeks it would take to brew the appropriate elixir. Thus, a talisman of Charisma would last 1d hours, and take three days to recharge before it can be used again. A talisman of Luck lasts 2d hours, then needs six days to recharge, and so on. Talismans only recharge while worn; a talisman stashed in a chest or backpack will lie dormant indefinitely.

There is no “cost to cast” for a talisman – no energy is spent activating one. The wearer must will the talisman to have its particular effect – simply willing it to “Do something!” won’t work.

In a normal-mana area, most talismans work automatically when willed to. In a low-mana area, the user must roll against the effective skill of the alchemist who originally created the talisman. If a roll is required, apply any penalties to skill that the alchemist needed to roll to create the charm, but do not apply the -5 penalty that enchanted items suffer in a low-mana area.