The Ministry for Mages Definitive Guide on Herb Gathering & Alchemy.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Post one: Herbs to be found in the Forests and Waters of the Big Wide World.
Post two: Alchemy Potions.
Post three: Other information; How to gather herbs, make potions, figure out costs.

INGREDIENTS TO BE FOUND IN THE FORESTS & WATERS

CONTENTS:
Quote 1: Exceptional Ingredients
Quote 2: Rare Ingredients
Quote 3: Uncommon Ingredients
Quote 4: Common Ingredients

*(numbers in brackets, amount of herbs needed per potion)

1. EXCEPTIONAL INGREDIENTS
Mountain Ivy
Use: Stamina Potion (2)
Found: in Forest - Those rare little flowers can only be found on higher Ground. There are only a few known locations where this expensive flower grows.

Dodo Plumes
Use: Teleportation, speed potion (1), Intelligence Potion (2)
Found: in Forest - Those very rare plumes allows you to make potions to teleport from one to another location.

Draconian Flower
Use: Harden Skin - stamina potion (3), strength potion (1)
Found: in Forest - Extracts of this lovely plant grants you a thick skin that makes you almost invunerable.

Sea Petal
Use: Cheese Boosting Potion (1), agility potion (1)
Found: in Water

2. RARE INGREDIENTS.
Scrib Jerky
Use: Potion of Joy (1), Intelligence Potion (2)
Found: in Forest

Vitalizing Gold Flower
Use: Stamina Potion (1), Pig Boosting Potion (3), Speed Potion (1)
Found: in Forest - extracts of this rare flowers can be used to create powerful stamina potions.

Stoneflower
Use: Strength Potion (1), Intelligence Potion (2)
Found: in Forest - with this plant powerful alchemists can make potions to make you stronger.

3. UNCOMMON INGREDIENTS
Crab Meat
Use: Fishing potion (1), Potion of Joy (1)
Found in Water

Mustard Seed
Use: Agility Potion (3), Cheese Boosting Potion (2)
Found: in Forest

Fog Lily
Use: Agility Potion (3)
Found: in water

Water Lilies
Use: Potion of Joy (1), Intelligence Potion (2)
Found: in Water

Moon Stone
Use: Mana Potion (5)
Found: in Forest - Although the moonstone isn't a stone, from a distance the herb looks like a stone.

Treated Bittergreen Petals
Use: Fortify Luck - Pig Boosting Potion (2), Intelligence Potion (2)
Found: in Forest - get a luck boost for a short period of time.

Nectar
Use: Alcohol - Potion of Joy (1), Stamina Potion (5), Speed Potion (2)
Found: in Forest - The ale of the gods, a few nips of thise and you will sing a song.

4. COMMON INGREDIENTS
Seaweed
Use: Fishing Potion (2), Strength Potion (4)
Found: in Water

Fish Scales
Use: Fishing Potion (2)
Found: in Water

Nettle
Use: Cheese Potion (4), Agility Potion (6)
Found: in Forest
Cheese Boosting Potion

Red Berry
Use: Healing Potion (5), Pig Boosting Potion (2)
Found: in Forest - a Red Berry, a very common herb, almost found in every forest around the known worlds.

Deadly Monkshade
Use: Poison Potion (TBA), Pig Boosting Potion (3), Speed Potion (10)
Found in Forest
The right doses of this plant can kill a man sized creature in a few days

Willow Anther
Use: Cure Disease - Potion of Joy (1), Strength Potion (7)
Found in Forest
Cure diseases with this powerful plant.

ALCHEMISTS WORKSHOP - POTIONS.

Product	Materials
Cheese Potion	1 Sea Petal,2 Mustard Seed, 4 Nettle
Potion of Joy	1 Willow Anther, 1 Nectar, 1 Water Lilies, 1 Crab Meat, 1 Scrib Jerky
Fishing Potion	1 Crab Meat,2 SeaWeed,2 Fish Scales
Healing Potion	5 Red Berry
Mana Potion	5 Moon Stone DISABLED FOR NOW
Intelligence Potion	2 Treated Bittergreen Petals, 2 Stoneflower, 2 Dodo Plumes, 2 Water Lilies, 2 Scrib Jerky
Pig Boosting Potion	2 Red Berry, 3 Deadly Monkshade, 2 Treated Bittergreen Petals, 3 Vitalizing Gold Flower
Stamina Potion	5 Nectar, 1 Vitalizing Gold Flower, 3 Draconian Flower, 2 Mountain Evy
Agility Potion	1 Sea Petal, 3 Mustard Seed, 6 Nettle, 3 Fog Lily
Speed Potion	10 Deadly Monkshade, 2 Nectar, 1 Vitalizing Gold Flower, 1 Dodo Plumes
Strength Potion	7 Willow Anther, 1 Stoneflower, 1 Draconian Flower, 4 Seaweed

FULL EXPLANTION OF POTIONS:

Making a Cheese Potion will cost you:
- 1 Sea Petal
- 2 Mustard Seed
- 4 Nettle
- 200 stamina

BENEFITS: Once you have made your cheese it takes up to 7 days to mature before you can use it, drinking the potion can reduce the time it takes to mature from 1 to 7 days. Beware sometimes it can ruin your cheese. Chance of failure depends on the quality of the potion you used. The higher the quality, the smaller your chance. Also your luck takes its role, like in many things. But, if the potion works, your cheese might be done in just a day Also depending on the quality of potion you use.

Making a Fishing Potion will cost you:
- 1 Crab Meat
- 2 Seaweed
- 2 Fish Scales
- 200 stamina

BENEFITS: Fishing potion increases the amount of tries you have depending on the quality level of the potion.
Extra tries = 3 * Quality level

Making a Healing Potion will cost you:
- 5 Red Berry
- 200 stamina

BENEFITS: Healing potions give 16.67% * Quality level back in life points from your maximum life.
So if you have 100 lifepoints and you drink 1 Cheap Healing Potion you will receive 17 life back, if you have 200 lifepoints however, you will receive 34 lifepoints back.
Quality level = Cheap = quality lvl 1, Normal = quality lvl 2, Expert = quality lvl 3, Master = quality lvl 4, Grand Master = quality lvl 5, Grail Lord = quality lvl 6

Making a Pig Boosting Potion will cost you:
- 2 Red Berry
- 3 Deadly Monkshade
- 2 Treated Bittergreen Petals
- 3 Vitalizing Gold Flower
- 500 stamina

BENEFITS: This potion doesn't boost your skills, it boost your pigs. Drinking such a potion will let you smell like a pig, because of that your pigs will go crazy and become more fat in a instance. Of course their are a few pigs who can't handle rapid fattening...those pigs explode (and are lost)!

Making a Potion of Joy will cost you:
- 1 Willow Anther
- 1 Nectar
- 1 Water Lilies
- 1 Crab Meat
- 1 Scrib Jerky
- 200 stamina

BENEFITS: You get 20 mood points for each quality level your potion contains.

Making a Stamina Potion will cost you:
- 5 Nectar
- 1 Vitalizing Gold Flower
- 3 Draconian Flower
- 2 Mountain Ivy
- 400 stamina

BENEFITS: Increases your stamina depending on the quality of the potion. A cheap potion gives 25 extra while a grail potion gives 200. It is not recommended for the expenditure that the cheap alchemist make this potion.

Making a Mana Potion will cost you: - DISABLED FOR NOW
- 5 Moon Stone
- 200 stamina

BENEFITS: Increases your Mana points in the same way as the health potion increases your health points.

___________________________________________________

THE FOLLOWING GIVE YOU TEMPORARY BENEFITS ONLY:

Quality level for each potion.

• Cheap = quality lvl 1 - 1 day duration.
  
• Normal = quality lvl 2 - 2 day duration.
  
• Expert = quality lvl 3 - 3 day duration.
  
• Master = quality lvl 4 - 4 day duration.
  
• Grand Master = quality lvl 5 - 5 day duration.
  
• Grail Lord = quality lvl 6 - 6 day duration
  

  Making a Normal Potion of Agility will cost you:
  - 1 Sea Petal
  - 3 Mustard Seed
  - 6 Nettle
  - 3 Fog Lily
  - 400 Stamina
  
  BENEFITS: Gives you a temporary 10 on your agility skill for a period of time.

  
  

  Making a Normal Potion of Speed will cost you:
  - 10 Deadly Monkshade
  - 2 Nectar
  - 1 Vitalizing Gold Flower
  - 1 Dodo Plumes
  - 400 Stamina
  
  BENEFITS: Gives you a temporary 10 on your speed skill for a period of time.

  
  

  Making a Normal Potion of Strength will cost you:
  - 7 Willow Anther
  - 1 Stoneflower
  - 1 Draconian Flower
  - 4 Seaweed
  - 400 Stamina
  
  BENEFITS: Gives you a temporary 10 on your Strength skill for a period of time.

  
  

  Making a Normal Potion of Intelligence will cost you:
  - 2 Treated Bittergreen Petals
  - 2 Stoneflower
  - 2 Dodo Plumes
  - 2 Water Lilies
  - 2 Scrib Jerky
  - 400 Stamina
  
  BENEFITS: Gives you a temporary 10 on your Intelligence skill for a period of time.

Last edited by JpRagavan on 22-Dec-2012, Reason : Added intelligence potion and Stamina requirements
Last edited by JpRagavan on |08-Feb-2013|, Reason : Added info about stamina & fishing potion

~ There is a Ministry of Mages: Guild for Herb Gathers and Alchemy - feel free to join it ~

JOIN HERE: THE MINISTRY FOR MAGES

CONTENTS:
1. Herb Gathering
1.1 Spending stamina to find herbs.
1.2 Making herb gathering worthwhile.
2. The Witches Hut
3. Making Potions: Alchemists Workshop
4. Costs, Potions and Market Sales.
4.1 Cost per herb
4.2 What to charge per each potion
________________________________________________

1. HERB GATHERING:

Example of skill needed:
Herbalism Skill: 81.454 + 20
Intelligence Skill: 2.710
Luck Skill: 8.390

1. You need a Herb Bags to gather herbs.
- The Higher the level of Quality, the more herbs you can find, however, your herb bag has no full limit. ie you can search for herbs for as many days at a time that you like and your herb bag will not be filled.
- Quality levels of herb bags are: Cheap, Normal, Expert, Master, Grand Master, Grail Lord. (see tailors guide for typical costs of herb bags)

2. Where to go to gather herbs:
- You head out of town via the town gates, at the town gates you have the option to hire the Follower Armentia who increases your herb gathering skill by 20%, she usually costs 1 silver and 44 bronze.
- There are 2 places to gather herbs. The Forest and the Sea.
- To gather in the forest you put your character over a forest and click on enter the forest.
- To gather in the sea, you put your character anywhere in the sea and click on the boat, the boat will give you an option to fish or to look for herbs.

3. Spending stamina to find herbs:
- The stamina you use has no effect on the chance. Every time you spend 1 stamina, you get a certain chance on finding a herb. Spending more stamina just generates more chances to find a herb. So spending 100 times 1 stamina or spending 1 time 100 stamina, is exactly the same.
- The higher your skill is, the quality of your bag, and your mood effect the chances of finding a herb. (Content seems to let you find more exceptional herbs.)

THE ONLY WAY TO MAKE HERB GATHERING WORTHWHILE IS TO SPEND DAYS AT A TIME OUT IN THE FOREST.

This allows you to be able to spend your max stamina and the cost of everything goes down the more herbs you find at one outing. Plus makes paying for the Follower more worthwhile and gives you enough herbs to exchange with the witch, see next.

It appears that mood has an effect on if you get exceptional herbs or not. My experience anyway, is that Im more likely to get them with a mood of content or above than I would be if I had less mood.

________________________________________________

2. THE WITCHES HUT:

-Here you can exchange your herbs for other herbs:
1. She will only exchange the same type of herbs for each other. I.e you want to get a herb that is rare, so she will give you a rare herb in exchange for other kinds of rare herbs.
2. The exchange is 1 for 4 and the herbs exchanged must be in the same categories, ie exceptional to be exchanged with exceptional, etc.
2. The exchange depends on your Mercantile skill.

Luck has no effect on the trades with the Witch.
Only the Mercantile Skill lowers the ratio of the Witch.
Basic ratio: 1 / 4
Mercantile on 50 or more gives a ratio of 1 / 3
Mercantile on 100 gives you a ratio of 1 / 2

At this moment, there is no way to increase your Mercantile Skill

Charm or Charisma does have an possible effect in the Witch Hut.

If certain requirements (who are secret) are met the Witch will give an extra reward while exchanging herbs.

This is related to your Charisma, but doesn't have a direct effect on the trading, its something extra.
________________________________________________

3. MAKING POTIONS: ALCHEMY WORKSHOP

Product	Cheap	Normal	Expert	Master	Grand Master	Grail
Cheese Potion	200	400	600	800	1000	1200
Potion of Joy	200	400	600	800	1000	1200
Fishing Potion	200	400	600	800	1000	1200
Healing potion	200	400	600	800	1000	1200
Strength Potion	400	800	1200	1600	2000	2400
Agility Potion	400	800	1200	1600	2000	2400
Intelligence Potion	400	800	1200	1600	2000	2400
Speed potion	400	800	1200	1600	2000	2400
Pig Boosting Potion	500	1000	1500	2000	2500	3000
Stamina Potion	400	800	1200	1600	2000	2400

Skills to stamina ratio:
0 - 24.99% - costs 1 stamina per 2 unit required to make things.
25 - 49.99% costs 1 stamina per every 3 units.
50 - 74.99% costs 1 stamina per every 4 units.
75 - 99.99% costs 1 stamina per every 5 units.
100% costs 1 stamina per every 6 units
________________________________________________

4. COSTS, POTIONS AND MARKET SALES:

4.1 Cost of each herb:

Rather than looking at what it cost per stamina, a simpler way is to look at it, is saying that each herb to cost you 10 bronze, if you get up to 10 herbs a day with the lowest skill, then you have made 1 silver for that day. With Armentia you generally get around 20 to 26 herbs per day and so 2 silver and 60 bronze, far more than working in town for the day. Plus it simplifies things and gives you a good herb income, as typically it costs less than this to gather herbs in a day, and so at that kind of price, it covers the cost of the herbs that have no uses. (see the witches hut for ways to get rid of the herbs that have no use).

The trick is also to use those herbs for potions, and then only sell herbs on the market for no less than 15 bronze each. This is so people buy your potions, because you also want to use the herbs you gather to increase your alchemy skill, and so customers would rather buy your potions than make them themselves. 10 bronze per herb also keeps your potions at an affordable price and starts benefiting your customer, because the costs will make it worthwhile for them to buy them for the benefits they give. Anything higher than this and a discerning buyer will leave your potoin on the market to grow mouldy with age, because it will be cheaper for them to do their daily activities by hard work and not through magical means. *sad face*

4.2 What to charge for each potion:

Herbs: 10 bronze per herb - no matter the quality (same for exceptional as it is for rare, else you just make the costs to much, see above).
Stamina: .005 bronze per stamina spent to make the potion.
Armentia (follower cost): 1.44 silver devided by amount of herbs gathered over the entire period she was with you.
Cost of Herb bag: 1 bronze per herb. (Usually it would be cost devided by amount of herbs gathered over all use. But since this is difficult to get to, perhaps have a guess. Say you think your going to gather around 500 herbs with this bag. I have a cheap bag, and gather up to 30 to 40 herbs per day with it, Advanced Herb skills and Armentia, so this can be a reasonable expectation). Cheap herb bag cost me 4 silver, so costs me roughly 1 bronze per herb).

Edited by Jpragavan : Changed for the new units requirement, Added missing Potions |07-Dec-2012|

I am sure that herb gathering loot tables are broken. Vitalizing Gold Flower seems to be much, much more rare to find than Draconian Flowers or Mountain Ivy, which are exceptional herbs. I have found 4 Dracs, and 3 Mountain Ivy's in the forest, and NO Vitalizing Gold Flowers.

That, or certain forests have them, and others do not.

Meanwhile I have 3 of those and 45 vitalising gold flowers. I said in the Spero thread of yours, you get a better yield the more stamina you use at one time. I use my full 118 stamina at once. Try that. Plus Aro has also stated that there is no special places...its the same chance wherever you search.

Hmm, seems like I got better yields going 10 stamina at a time. I'll try the full amount next time and see if I get any vitalizing gold flowers; though I just bought what I needed from the town a moment ago. Thanks.

You have spent 90 stamina searching for herbs.
You have found 7 herbs:
- 1 Red Berry (common).
- 2 Deadly Monkshade (common).
- 2 Willow Anther (common).
- 2 Nettle (common).
You gained 0.9 experience on your Herbalism Skill.

So far, I'm liking going 10 at a time. I'll try 90 stamina at once again the next time I gather and see if it looks any better.

:S that is odd....since I get 41 herbs...whats your skill like? And how many a day do you get using 10 stamina a time?

Im an expert herbalist. With a cheap herb bag. I remember doing 10 stamina a time when I first started out, and only finding 4 or so at a time, and then a couple of times finding 0 with it.

I went back over my early notes on herb gathering, it seems that Id find 1 to 2 herbs spending anything from 10 to 20 stamina. It wasnt until I spent 106 that I got up to 26 herbs at a time. So I would say that using 10 at a time, you'd get the same yield as using your full amount, and maybe better...least thats what I was getting for it when I first started looking. I always use Arementia the Herb follower..do you? She makes a huge difference when your starting out.

Using 20 didnt work at all and made me find less. Im happy with spending the full amount of stamina on one search, but I'll do some experimenting next time about it, to see if yeilds are better at 10 stamina or full use.

My herb skill is 18. I average 2 herbs per 10 stamina.

This book has been updated with new potions.

Updated guide to include a 3rd post about how to gather herbs, make potions, and costs.

Your current Alchemy Skill: 20.657 - able to make normal items.
Units completed with 1 stamina: 1

Your current Alchemy Skill: 25.061
Units completed with 1 stamina: 2

Book has been updated with this information.

Updated to change the witches hut information with more accurate info:

Your Mercantile Skill lowers the amount of tax you pay to a town. The effects are more visual when paying large sums of money.

Luck has no effect on the trades with the Witch.
Only the Mercantile Skill lowers the ratio of the Witch.
Basic ratio: 1 / 4
Mercantile on 50 or more gives a ratio of 1 / 3
Mercantile on 100 gives you a ratio of 1 / 2

At this moment, there is no way to increase your Mercantile Skill

Would somebody mind editing the recent potion changes to the guide? Healing potions now cost 250 units per level, potions of joy now restore 25 mood per level, and pig boosting potions no longer require red berries. Fishing potions give 2 extra tries per quality level.

wait, fishing pots basically triple with a cheap pot? up to 13x?

including xp?

..What?

No, if you spend 100 stamina, you get 20 tries.  If you use a normal fishing potion you get 20+6, or 26 total.

So, a cheap pot is basically 15 extra stamina worth of fishing, 30 for normal, etc etc.  Not sure if you can get multiple fish per try or not.

Err, no. Fishing is one try per 10 stamina. A cheap potion adds two to that.