Dark Apothecary

Who are they?

Apothecaries are masters of alchemy, having taken their craft into much farther depths than the usual chemist. Apothecaries are capable of crafting diseases, advanced curatives and elixirs, and can even forge combat devices such as firewater and volatile mixtures.

Amongst factions Apothecaries usually work in the background, preparing supplies for troops and seeking new weapons to pit against their enemies.

Who likes them?

The Forsaken Royal Apothecary Society is perhaps the most notable example of a faction's embrace of the apothecary- While they have recently become much more limited due to the events at the Wrathgate, the Forsaken still employee a healthy amount of associates and professors in the halls of the R.A.S.

Goblins also have knack for Apothecaries. Other factions may regard an apothecary with distrust, disbelief, or with welcoming arms, depending on how they bill themselves. While most alchemist draw near to the kind employed by the Forsaken, herbal healers exist as well.

Training

Requirements

Any class can play a Dark Apothecary

Alliance » Draenei Dwarf Gnome Human Night Elf

Horde » Blood Elf Forsaken Orc Tauren Troll

Strengths

• Master of Poisons

The apothecary can discern a poisoned substance from its odor or taste. Hopefully odor.

• Master of Alchemy

Basic potion effects are more potent when brewed by an Apothecary.

• Pocket Potions

Apothecaries can brew potent potions which require only a few drops to imbibe the effects. Because of this, they can carry more potions.

Weaknesses

• Glass Cannon

Your alchemy products will, most likely, be in glass. Glass shatters. If one of your more volatile potions were to break on your person, the result would be quite unsavory.

• Muddled Mixture

Alchemy concoctions can take some time to perfect, so at times your salves may not be as potent, or even have the right effect that you want.

• Preparation

You don't carry cauldrons into battle. Apothecaries go into combat with a set amount of potions at their disposal, and until they return to their cauldrons at their home/base or stop to brew some more, they won't be recharging that count. Brewing in general is also not instantaneous; As a result the Apothecary must plan his arsenal well, as not to fall short in the middle of battle.

Skills and abilities

• Alchemical Grenade

Apothecaries can create volatile mixtures which detonate upon release. Caution: Do not shake. Alchemical grenades can be modified in various ways- Alchemical grenades can even be -beneficial-, but the glass shrapnel can be an issue. Examples of grenade types could be firewater grenades, healing mist grenades, and frost grenades.

• Alchemical Plague

Magical and alchemical plagues have been seen many times in history, the most famous of which originated from the Undead Scourge and later the Forsaken's own banned plague. While apothecary made potions are likely not as virulent, they can still prove a formidable force. Plagues can range from mildly irritating to terminal illnesses, though they can almost always be cleansed if the victims seek aid. Highly infective, low-duration illnesses are much more effective in combat, usually hindering an opponent to allow him to be taken down.

• Longevity Potion

A standard potion of an apothecary. Increases the duration of effects granted from other mixtures.

• Mixmaster

While the above potions are good starts, the apothecary is dedicated to new concoctions and strange and esoteric spells. It is quite common for new potions to be discovered! [PM a gamemaster with your desired potion effect and, if accepted, the potion can be trained in your prestige thread and then be used in character!]

Training Outline

Commonly, an apothecary has humble beginnings in the form of a standard alchemist, sometimes already enrolled as an assistant to an actual apothecary. While most will simply end up relegated to grunt work- rushing to and fro around the lab, locating supplies for the professor- others will excel beyond their master's expectations and be apprenticed in proper under him. Those starting from scratch will need to earn their way into the company of an apothecary through other means- though, the basics of alchemy are not altogether difficult to grasp. Once an apprentice has been chosen (usually amongst a group of colleagues), his group will begin to climb through the ranks of the chemist's lab, being assigned different concoctions and gathering routines depending on the skill expected from them. In this way the undedicated or simple minded are usually weeded out, either by their inability to complete a task or an unfortunate mishap during an experiment gone awry. The instructing apothecary will typically settle for a handful of students to keep under his or her wing at a time, and will train them in person. Here many books and formulas will come into play- an aspiring apothecary cannot allow the slightest mishaps in the lab, as they could very well be fatal- Trainees are expected to memorize dosages, formulas, qualities of ingredients, and most importantly the recipes which make up their repertoire of potions.

Concoctions expected from the apothecaries in training scale in difficulty quite quickly, and if a student is unable to cope then they are simply left behind, more often than not. While initially quotas will be large quantities of inexpensive brews, later commissions will ask for difficult salves on a hard deadline. It is around this point when the trainees are first to become acquainted with specialized recipes such as those for the alchemical grenades and, under a secretive forsaken, perhaps even a plague or two.

As the apprentices become more and more accustomed to their lab routines and recipe lists they will finally be recognized as trained apothecaries. Those of the Forsaken regiment are usually commemorated with an induction into the Royal Apothecary Society, though the celebration for students of other factions may be somewhat less robust.

Although their schooling is complete, the studies of an apothecary are rarely even considered done. Apothecaries pride themselves in their concoctions, and many will go through extreme trials to produce a new quality recipe. While the apothecary class has a few standard recipes, the apothecary is usually defined by the creations he calls his own.

Active Dark Apothecaries

Currently there are no active Dark Apothecaries, so any applicants would have to create an NPC for the training.