Alchemical Mythos Items
Table: Alchemical Mythos Items
Item Price Weight
Abhoth slime 6,000 gp 1 lb.
Assassin’s teapot 900 gp 1 lb.
Atlach-Nacha venom 1,650 gp —
Gorgondy 7,500 gp 2 lbs.
Metamorphic venom, ignition 360 gp —
Metamorphic venom, strike and escape 1,500 gp —
Milk of Shub-Niggurath 6,800 gp 1 lb.
Residue of formless spawn 2,500 gp 1/2 lb.
Space mead (1 serving brewed) 1,200 gp 1/2 lb.
Space mead (1 serving preserved) 2,400 gp 1/2 lb.
Tcho-Tcho oculus, fish eye 20 gp —
Tcho-Tcho oculus, bird eye 80 gp —
Tcho-Tcho oculus, humanoid eye 180 gp —
Twsha, proto-shoggoth 31,000 gp 1/2 lb.
Twsha, shoggoth 157,000 gp 1/2 lb.
Wine of Pnoth 1,000 gp 1/2 lb.

The following alchemical items are created by Mythos researchers, cultists, and advanced species to gain advantages over foes or serve the interests of the Great Old Ones and Outer Gods. The chart below lists the alchemical items in this section alphabetically.

Abhoth Slime

Weight 1 lb.; Price 6,000 gp; Craft (alchemy) DC 26

This strange slime is harvested straight from Abhoth's pool. It must be kept tightly corked at all times to retain its powers. When a flask of Abhoth slime is poured onto the ground or thrown as a splash weapon, it turns into a proto-shoggoth with one randomly-chosen ability from the Abhoth filth table. Its separation from Abhoth weakens it, and its ability scores are each reduced by 4 to a minimum of 3. (It loses 30 hit points and takes a –2 penalty to AC, CMD, and on all attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks.) Anyone holding the holy symbol of Abhoth can command it with a successful Handle Animal check against DC 26. Otherwise, it attacks the creature that dealt the most damage to it last round, or the nearest creature if no creature dealt damage to it last round. It does not attack creatures displaying the holy symbol of Abhoth. It dissolves into a puddle of lifeless slime after 11 rounds.

Assassin's Teapot

Weight 1 lb.; Price 900 gp; Craft (alchemy) DC 29

This Tcho-Tcho item resembles an ordinary teapot in an elaborate style borrowed from other nearby cultures (often jade or porcelain with elegant designs). Inside lives a Tcho-Tcho creation, a sessile creature composed of a simple system of sphincters and bladders. The creature’s main bladder is filled by pouring water, tea, milk, or any desired liquid into the top of the teapot. To use the assassin’s teapot, pour whatever is in the main bladder from the spout into the victim’s cup. While pouring, the user can signal the creature to release a liquid from one of its other bladders to taint the tea. This is usually a poison but not always. It could also be a hallucinogen, a potion, or even something helpful. The creature does not consume or expose itself to any potion or alchemical concoction stored in its bladders, which are protected by a thick layer of inert mucus.

The creature can be trained to listen to subvocalized commands, recognize keywords, or respond to slight taps on the outside of the teapot. It is not intelligent or sentient, but it is able to follow these simple orders. Thus, the user can pour regular tea into the cups of everyone at the table except the chosen target, who gets tea plus a dose of poison. The user doesn’t even need to hold the teapot, so long as he can drum his fingers on the table, tap his knife against a glass, hum something, or otherwise signal the teapot’s inhabitant. The deadly applications of this device make it highly useful for those who wish to dispose of or incapacitate another person in a formal setting.

Another of the creature's bladders contains its food supply, which typically lasts for decades. When the food runs out, even then the creature does not die, but simply goes inert until it is fed again. The teapot can be opened through secret levers and latches to insert food. Tcho-Tcho usually give the creature several scoops of human brain matter, but any high-energy fatty protein will do.

The teapot does not produce its own poison. Any ingredients the user wishes to dispense must be added to it.

Atlach-Nacha Venom

Weight —; Price 1,650 gp; Craft (alchemy) DC 21

This venom is milked straight from the god. It is generally smeared on weapons. It has no effect if imbibed.

Poison—injury; save Fort DC 21; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect paralyzed for 7 days; cure 2 saves.

Gorgondy

Weight 2 lbs. Price 7,500 gp; Craft (alchemy) DC 35

This dark, evil liquor must be kept in strong, heavily armored iron bottles to retain its potency. When drunk, it changes the drinker's alignment one step closer to evil. Class abilities based on alignment change to match (unless the new alignment results in losing the ability altogether due to incompatible alignment). If the drinker is evil before drinking it, the drinker's soul will be destroyed upon death and the drinker's corpse will arise as a Mythos undead. The drinker can negate all these effects with a successful DC 15 Will save upon drinking.

Metamorphic Venom

Weight —; Price varies; Craft (alchemy) DC equals save DC + 5

Metamorphic venom is an alchemical weapon developed by serpentfolk that changes its effect cyclically. Many variations exist and serpentfolk alchemists readily invent more as needed. Venom might be smeared on a weapon or placed on the tip of the user’s gloved finger. Most metamorphic venoms have a 3- to 7-stage cycle. The venom changes color and odor between stages, so the user can know which effect is active. The venom changes stages rather than being used up when a creature is exposed to it or it has its non-poison effect. Each exposure to a different stage of the same metamorphic venom functions as exposure to a different poison, with separate effects and saving throws. Non-poison stages do not allow Fortitude saves and simply take effect once rather than continuously. Non-poison stages can affect creatures that are immune to poison and potentially even objects. The venom is exhausted once the final stage has been used.

Metamorphic Venom: Ignition

Price 360 gp; Type poison, contact; Save Fortitude DC 13 Poison Frequency 1/round for 2 rounds

  • First Stage (transparent): 1d2 Dex damage 146
  • Second Stage (red): 1d6 fire damage and victim catches on fire
  • Third Stage (non-poison; blue): douses burning on contact

Metamorphic Venom: Strike and Escape

Price 1,500 gp; Type poison, contact; Save Fortitude DC 15 Poison Frequency 1/round for 4 rounds

  • First Stage (brown): cumulative –1 penalty to attacks and Perception checks for 1 hour
  • Second Stage (gray): 1d6 acid damage; also affects worn armor and is not halved or reduced by hardness
  • Third Stage (yellow): 1d2 Con damage
  • Fourth Stage (green): 1d2 Str damage
  • Fifth Stage (blue): 1d2 Dex damage
  • Sixth Stage (non-poison; black): produces 10-ft. cube of smoke around object touched, as the spell fog cloud
  • Seventh Stage (non-poison; white): heals 1d8+1 points of damage and grants a +10 bonus on saves against exposure to prior stages of strike and escape for 4 rounds
Sandy's Notes: Using Metamorphic Venom: Strike and Escape
  • 1. First application: This weakens and deadens the target’s vision, so he cannot easily track or see the user.
  • 2. Second application: This acid can weaken the target’s armor or other protection.
  • 3. Third application: This poison makes other poisons more dangerous.
  • 4. Fourth application: This poison weakens the target now that she cannot easily resist.
  • 5. Fifth application: The third venom is applied in case the third application was resisted or ineffective or just to add more toxin to the victim to end the fight faster.
  • 6. Sixth application: This produces a cloud of black smoke for the user to hide or flee behind.
  • 7. Seventh application: This healing salve is supposed to be applied to the wounds the user has received in the fight. An uninjured poisoner can use it on an ally.

Milk of Shub-Niggurath

Weight 1 lb.; Price 6,800gp; Craft (alchemy) DC 33

This purple liquid cures the drinker of all nonmagical diseases and physical ability damage and penalties, and begins the drinker’s mutation into a monstrous hybrid creature. The drinker gains a +4 enhancement bonus to Strength and Constitution for 1d4 weeks. Unless the drinker succeeds at a DC 20 Fortitude saving throw, it transforms into an insane outer mutant at the end of that time (see the outer mutant template). A second dose of this milk accelerates the process, causing the drinker's mutations to become more prominent and stranger and doubling the speed of the transformation. By the third drink, the drinker goes insane, and becomes a monster on the following round. The milk is a curse and a poison, so either neutralize poison or remove curse can end its effects before the transformation is complete; selenine does so automatically. After complete transformation, only a miracle or wish can undo the effect.

Residue of Formless Spawn

Weight 1/2 lb.; Price 2,500 gp; Craft (alchemy) DC 30

Created using secret reagents, the black liquid composing a formless spawn's body can dissolve anything—even glass. It can only be housed in a specially prepared magical container. Upon contact with any object or creature, it deals 7d6 points of acid damage each round for 3 rounds, bypassing all hardness. A successful DC 20 Reflex save reduces the damage by half and allows the victim to drop the acid in the same space, where it deals damage to any creatures or objects it touches and the surface below for the rest of its duration. One dose can dissolve about 125 cubic feet of matter (a 5-foot cube) before losing its properties.

Space Mead

Weight 1/2 lb.; Price 1,200 gp (hire a brewer for 1 year to produce 1 serving) or 2,400 gp (preserved canister of 1 serving); Craft (alchemy) DC 30

When drunk, this golden liquid renders you safe from all harm caused by being in outer space for 12 days. The subject need not eat, breathe, or drink for that time. Normally, space mead evanesces uselessly if not consumed within a few hours, but some alien brewers have learned to preserve sealed canisters of the stuff.

Tcho-Tcho Oculus

Weight —; Price 20 gp (fish eye), 80 gp (bird eye), 180 gp (humanoid eye); Craft (alchemy) DC 15

A small bottle of brine preserves this eye, chanted over and pickled in special drugs and spices. Human eyes are traditional and most effective, but other eyes are also useful. Whoever consumes the oculus gains an alchemical bonus on Perception checks for 1d4 hours. Eating the eye is a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity. A humanoid eye grants a +6 bonus. The eye of a keen-eyed animal such as a bird grants a +4 bonus. The eye of a weak-eyed animal such as a fish grants a +2 bonus.

Twsha

Weight 1/2 lb.; Price 31,000 gp (proto-shoggoth) or 157,000 gp (shoggoth); Handle Animal DC 38 (proto-shoggoth) or DC 48 (shoggoth)

This is a small blob of protoplasm which can be manipulated by a user to control the actions of one specific shoggoth from which the blob was taken.

Extracting a shoggoth twsha from a shoggoth requires a successful Handle Animal check. The user must maintain constant mental focus while clutching and controlling the blob with both hands. If the user falls asleep or ceases concentrating, the shoggoth escapes the user's control and can act normally until its twsha is used again. To use the shoggoth twsha, a successful DC 33 Handle Animal is required every 10 minutes or the shoggoth is released (DC 23 for a proto-shoggoth).

After 10 minutes of uninterrupted concentration, a user can attempt to bring a shoggoth back under control with a successful DC 38 Handle Animal check (DC 28 for a proto-shoggoth). Because the shoggoth can sense who uses the twsha, the item is extremely difficult to buy or sell.

Wine of Pnoth

Weight 1/2 lb.; Price 1,000 gp per drink; Craft (alchemy) DC 25

This wine has the same effect as any other alcohol with one dramatic exception: the effects are permanent and never lessen without magic or other dramatic interventions. The effect of each drink can be negated with a successful DC 13 Fortitude saving throw. The first time a drinker fails this save, they become tipsy (imposing a –2 penalty on Acrobatics and Perception checks). The next drink makes the drinker drunk (gaining the sickened condition). For each drink thereafter, the drinker suffers 2 points of Constitution, Dexterity, and Wisdom drain. Only spells and effects that reverse both poison and insanity relieve any of these effects. This is an ingested poison.

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