skull extractor?

Man, you sound like me early on...

Unfortunately, getting Alchemy to 50 is a HUGE slog... It's very much just like the crafting that I hate in most other games: Make 1000 things nobody needs to get to where you can make stuff you want, or in my case, qualify to learn BC

Just one more thing to think about while you are planning what to do next

After a while, I set long term goals and learned to work on whatever I felt like for as long as I felt like it, often stopping what I was doing to go off and do something else, and it really helped me love the game much more than I already had since I was able to drop my old habit of griiiinnnnndddding on stuff I really wasn't enjoying

PS - Not all crafting is like that

Yeah, Alchemy is weird that way. The potions you can make are great, but I don't go through them fast enough to justify making more ^-^ A little resistance here and there, tho, use that up!

Good info and advice. Thanks. Yeah, I was starting to sense that Alchemy would not only be a grind but also making stuff that I really don't care to use. I'm not a fan of hot-barring potions (heals, power, cures, etc.) in games. I know they can be helpful - and dare I say essential, but I hate the concept of them. Hey big bad monster I'm fighting, I am almost dead from the wounds you have inflicted on me but I'm going to stop slashing you with my sword for a moment and drink this magical elixir so I won't die and can continue attacking you. Ugh!

I digress....

I have soooooo much still to learn in PG as I am only 6 days in :) True noob here. I just know some things I may want to focus on later will require huge time sinks and I would rather start sooner than later. As for my desire for Battle Chemistry mentioned in an earlier post, I *think* I want to go this route for the following reasons:

Today I am running Sword and Psychology (pretty typical I suppose for someone just starting out). I don't think I have any AoE skills at the moment and I hate the fact that when I have adds I have to literally kill one and then the next rather than at least having *some* AoE I can drop in the rotation. I hear BC has nice AoE.

Second case for BC, someone gave me an hour long buff in Serbule the other night called something like "Extra Toe"(?). Holy crap what an amazing movement speed buff. I want that!

Sorry I've derailed the thread, it wasn't my intention but the conversation has been good and you guys all seem very helpful and knowledgeable. Thanks again.

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Originally Posted by urgatorb8

hey big bad monster I'm fighting, I am almost dead from the wounds you have inflicted on me but I'm going to stop slashing you with my sword for a moment and drink this magical elixir so I won't die and can continue attacking you. Ugh!

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Some give you resistances. So it becomes "Hey, these monsters do a lot of X damage, I will drink a resistance potion so I wont die to them".

Alchemy is a slog, yes. I suggest you get every bone/skull you find and make the bone meal recipe with alchemy. It's a negligible amount of exp, but if you are going to level gardening, you will need a LOT of bone meal anyway. Your other option are speed potions. Don't expect to get BC anytime soon - it's an advanced skill for a reason. It's very unlikely it will be the first combat skill you get to 50, so I suggest you to have it as a more mid-long term goal. That said, yeah extra toes is really nice. I don't even use my BC other than for running around and it's at 41 from killing mobs while traveling.

Now, Cheesemaking is a long-long term goal. You can start early, but it is both time and money-intensive. I wouldn't try to level it this early, but if all you need is butter you should be okay.

Thanks. Yes, I have no vision of becoming BC any time soon. But I might as well start doing what I can now towards that goal :)

I finally got the favor the other night with Theresse (I think) to make Bone Meal from any bone. It's nice as I am hunting and get bone items, instead of them taking up space in my inventory, I convert them all to Bone Dust and only use 1 slot. It's real nice.

On the bad RNG side.... I must have killed 200 animal mobs last night and did not get a single stomach using my Organ Knife. I got two doing the same thing the night before last. Still no favor with Braignon to get the butter skill. I'll be back at it again tonight. Just need one more.

On the good side of things, I finally got Ivyn to Close Friends and now have access to his 32 storage slots (any item type). OMG this will be a huge plus for me. I can't wait to reorganize my goods later. Next goal is to focus on that Charles guy in the tent outside Serbule Keep so I can gain his favor and access his Alchemy item storage. I didn't see an option to Hang Out with him - maybe it just wasn't up the time I spoke with him - but it seems like winning his favor might be a grind. I think he only likes Combat Potions and other less easy to get items or something like that. If anyone knows a cheap and fairly easy way to up his favor, I'm all ears and would appreciate hearing about it. Thanks in advance.

The storage in Serbule Hills and Eltibule can be super helpful as well

I store stuff for and from surveying in Serb Hills and Farming, Textile and Cheesemaking stuff in Eltibule

This may be the thread to ask something I've been wondering about for a while: If I have a butchering knife with an increased chance to get organs and a second butchering knife with an increase to the butchering skill, do their bonuses stack or is only one knife used? I figure they most likely stack, but does anyone know for sure?

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Originally Posted by urgatorb8

Next goal is to focus on that Charles guy in the tent outside Serbule Keep so I can gain his favor and access his Alchemy item storage. I didn't see an option to Hang Out with him - maybe it just wasn't up the time I spoke with him - but it seems like winning his favor might be a grind. I think he only likes Combat Potions and other less easy to get items or something like that. If anyone knows a cheap and fairly easy way to up his favor, I'm all ears and would appreciate hearing about it. Thanks in advance.

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Well, he likes battle chemistry beakers and flasks which have a higher chance of dropping if you are using the battle chemistry skill... Sorry, I know it's a bit of a chicken and egg problem. I'm not sure what else he likes. I have mostly not been using his storage much - I think it only works for completed potions?

As far as leveling alchemy goes: Sun Vale has a work order board that will occasionally ask for potions. Whether it's necessarily cost-effective to collect the potion ingredients varies by work order, but it can be a fun way to break up the skulls to bone meal routine. After I maxed alchemy, I also found myself using a lot of mushroom suspensions for mushroom farming ( which requires very high level mycology to learn). So, if you are willing to wait a long time to start on alchemy, leveling via suspensions could also be a possibility. Cheese making also uses suspensions but I agree with other comments that you are probably better off waiting on doing full-scale cheesemaking. Butter is a good skill to have but anything that uses stomachs is a bit expensive. In other long term possibilities, you can pick up quite a few alchemy bonus levels from transmutation and augmentation. Alchemy is one of those skills that seems to become much easier at higher levels.

Oh, on Braigon favor: Iirc, the stomach quest gives you 50 favor for 5 stomachs worth about 5000 council total. So, the odds are pretty good that you can find some presents for him that will get you the same amount of favor for cheaper. I've never done much with Braigon; I think I've mostly been feeding him oils (hatred oil, fear oil, crossing oil, etc.) which isn't a lot of favor but cheaper than doing the stomach quest. E.g. if you find a hatred oil, it's worth 100 councils to sell and around 8 favor with Braigon. So, if you give him 7, that's 56 favor for 700 councils - much better than the stomachs. I don't know if anyone has a better way to butter Braigon up.

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Originally Posted by Tagamogi

Oh, on Braigon favor: Iirc, the stomach quest gives you 50 favor for 5 stomachs worth about 5000 council total. So, the odds are pretty good that you can find some presents for him that will get you the same amount of favor for cheaper. I've never done much with Braigon; I think I've mostly been feeding him oils (hatred oil, fear oil, crossing oil, etc.) which isn't a lot of favor but cheaper than doing the stomach quest. E.g. if you find a hatred oil, it's worth 100 councils to sell and around 8 favor with Braigon. So, if you give him 7, that's 56 favor for 700 councils - much better than the stomachs. I don't know if anyone has a better way to butter Braigon up.

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Wow, this is very smart. I hadn't thought about it this way. I may go this route instead of a straight turn in of stomachs.

If someone can confirm if Charles in the tent's storage slots only store completed potions or if it can also store items that are used in Alchemy, that would be very helpful to me. With a 64 slot max capacity, I would assume you can store ingredients as well. Otherwise, who would need to store 64 different stacks of potions. Maybe I don't know yet what I don't know but.... If you can only store completed potions then I won't be in any hurry to gain his favor. It sounded attractive to me right now as I begin to level Alchemy and I can store ingredients for later need.

Wiki says:

Items that are allowed in this storage:

Items that can be crafted using alchemy.
.......Exceptions: Mushroom Suspensions, Inks, Drugs (Cranium Powders, Pineal Juices)
Decoctions and Memory Enhancers, but not most other potions

Sooo.... Yeah, I have no idea

I never favored him up because I felt like it was way too limited sounding