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Alchemical Field Assay Kit 113

—

by

Dale
in

From: Lineage 831 of Geode Vein

This apparatus is the essential tool for Marn’s prospecting mission. It is a compact, heavily-built kit housed in a bronze-reinforced case made from the hardened hide of a basalt-carapaced beast. When opened, it unfolds to reveal a meticulously organized set of instruments for material analysis. The kit includes a series of small, precisely carved crystal tuning forks; when struck and touched to a mineral sample, Marn can use his innate vibrational sense to feel the resonance and identify the material’s core composition. It also contains several empty, stoppered glass vials for collecting samples, a miniature alchemical burner fueled by a slow-burning magic crystal, and dropper bottles of purified reagents—including a potent, refined version of his own skin secretion used to test a stone’s solubility. The centerpiece is a small, articulated bronze stand with delicate clamps for holding a specimen steady, allowing him to perform detailed analysis and preliminary refinement even in the most rugged wilderness.

Lore

This is not a mere collection of tools but a standardized, guild-issue piece of advanced equipment, the “Mark III Field Assayer,” which is presented to every Anuran prospector upon the completion of their apprenticeship. To own one is a mark of professional competence, a symbol that the user has been entrusted by the Guild to operate independently in the field and accurately assess the value of new discoveries. The kit’s meticulous, interlocking organization is a point of pride among prospectors; a messy or incomplete kit is seen as a sign of a sloppy, untrustworthy mind.

The crystal tuning forks are the heart of the apparatus. Each is a precisely crafted composite: the standard quartz fork measures general density, the basalt fork is tuned for igneous rock, and the most prized is the silver-veined marble fork, a traditional gift from a mentor (in Marn’s case, his mother) used to detect and analyze the resonance of magical enchantments on stone. The kit’s most vital reagent is the potent, refined version of the wearer’s own skin secretion. A prospector must constantly resupply this vial themselves, making the kit a symbiotic tool that is uniquely attuned to its owner and requires their biological signature to function at peak efficiency.

Item Values

  • Tier 1 Stats:
    • Intelligence: The kit’s organized layout and diagnostic tools aid in logical deduction. The user gains a +1 bonus to their Intelligence score while using the kit.
    • Weight: 10 lbs.
  • Skills Gained:
    • Tool Proficiency: The kit is a self-contained laboratory. A character who possesses the kit is considered proficient with both Alchemist’s Supplies and Tinker’s Tools. If they are already proficient, they may add double their proficiency bonus to any check made using this specific kit.
  • Passive Magics:
    • Material Identification: The user can automatically identify any common, non-magical mineral, metal, or stone after 1 minute of study with the kit. No roll is required for mundane materials.
    • Contamination Shield: The bronze-reinforced case is magically treated to be airtight and inert. Samples and reagents stored within are protected from magical contamination, environmental decay, and physical damage.
    • Symbiotic Reagents: The kit’s reagents are designed to work in concert with the user’s biology. When using their own refined skin secretion as part of an analysis, the user has Advantage on the associated skill check.
  • Activatable Magics:
    • Detailed Alchemical Assay (1 use per Long Rest): The user can conduct a full, one-hour analysis of a single object or substance no larger than a one-foot cube. At the end of the hour, the user learns its exact chemical and magical composition, its approximate age and origins (if not mundane), and any hidden properties, enchantments, or vulnerabilities. This functions like the Identify spell but provides significantly more detail on the object’s physical nature.
    • Resonance Scan (3 uses per Long Rest): As an Action, the user can strike one of the kit’s tuning forks and touch it to an object. They make an Intelligence (Investigation) check to learn one key piece of information about the object’s internal structure, such as if it is solid or hollow, its most prominent material, or if it contains complex moving parts.
    • Purify Sample (3 uses per Long Rest): The user can utilize the miniature alchemical burner and reagents to purify a small sample of a substance. This can render a vial of poisoned or dirty water potable, remove a mundane toxin from a food sample, or burn the impurities from a fist-sized chunk of raw ore to reveal the pure metal within.
  • Specific Slot:
    • Inventory. This apparatus is a carried item and must be deployed on a stable surface to be used effectively.
  • Tags: Tool, Kit, Apparatus, Anuran, Prospector, Guild-Issue, Alchemical, Diagnostic, Analysis, Utility, Investigation, Scholarly, Identification, Purification, Non-Combat, Symbiotic, Professional, Portable-Lab, Multi-Tool, Consumable-Reagents, Heavy-Duty

The Alchemical Field Assay Kit is a piece of restricted, professional equipment. Its sale and value are intrinsically tied to its most critical component: the Anuran skin secretion used as a primary reagent. Acquiring the kit is one challenge; keeping it functional is another entirely.

The Anuran Prospector’s Guild Quartermaster (Abbeville)

  • The Shop: This is not a public store but a secure and meticulously organized supply office within a Prospector’s Guild hall. The air smells of clean ozone, mineral dust, and reagents. Every tool and container is stored in a perfectly labeled drawer or cabinet.
  • How It Is Acquired: This is the only official source for a new kit. An Anuran prospector who completes their apprenticeship is issued one as their badge of office. If a kit is lost or destroyed, a replacement must be formally requisitioned. The sale is recorded, and the kit’s serial number is registered to the prospector. Selling a guild-issued kit to an outsider is a severe crime that results in exile.
  • Cost: The official replacement cost for a guild member is 35 Rhodium (350 Platinum). This price is subsidized by the guild and is far below its open-market value.

The Erudite Alchemist (Scholarly City)

  • The Shop: In a city famed for its mages’ college or university, a high-end alchemical supply shop like “The Golden Alembic” might have one. The shop is a pristine laboratory, filled with gleaming glassware, rare ingredients, and arcane instruments.
  • How It Is Acquired: The proprietor, a master alchemist of another race, would have acquired the kit through academic trade or from an adventurer. They would be fascinated by its Anuran design. Lacking the biological component, the alchemist would have spent months creating a less-effective synthetic reagent. The sale is a professional consultation, with the alchemist enthusiastically explaining the kit’s functions but also its limitations when used with their synthetic formula (e.g., the user cannot gain the “Symbiotic Reagents” advantage).
  • Cost: 55 Rhodium (550 Platinum). This price includes the kit itself and a few vials of the custom-made, but inferior, synthetic reagent. Further vials would need to be purchased from the same alchemist.

The Shadow Broker (Black Market)

  • The Shop: This is not a shop but a discreet meeting arranged by a broker who specializes in high-value, non-combat tools for spies, counterfeiters, and wealthy collectors. The meeting would take place in a secure, private location, such as the back room of an exclusive club.
  • How It Is Acquired: The kit is almost certainly stolen but in perfect condition. The broker is savvy and understands that the kit’s true value lies in a reliable supply of the authentic Anuran reagent. The sale is a package deal. The broker has an exclusive—and highly illegal—contract with a disgraced or desperate Anuran alchemist who provides a steady supply of the real secretion. Buying the kit means entering into this dangerous and expensive supply chain.
  • Cost: The price is for both the item and the connection. The kit itself costs 50 Rhodium (500 Platinum). The real price is the ongoing, secret contract for the authentic reagent, which could cost as much as 2 Platinum per vial, paid through the broker. Breaking this contract would have dangerous consequences.

The Alchemical Field Assay Kit is a tool of preparation and knowledge, not direct conflict. Its role in offense and defense is always indirect, focusing on providing critical information or creating a solution to a problem before it becomes a physical fight.

Defensive & Precautionary Roleplay

In a defensive capacity, the kit is used to identify and neutralize hidden dangers, whether they be traps, poisons, or environmental hazards.

Dungeon & Ruin Exploration

This is the kit’s primary defensive environment, perfect for analyzing the unknown.

  • Roleplay Example: The party discovers a strange, shimmering liquid pooling from a statue’s mouth. It could be a healing potion or a deadly trap.

Marn would kneel at a safe distance, open his kit, and use a long tool to collect a sample. Using his Purify Sample burner, he would analyze the vapors. “It is not magical,” he’d announce. “My analysis shows it’s a highly corrosive acid, designed to melt armor and flesh. Do not touch it.” He has defended the party from a devastating trap through careful analysis.

Urban & Social Intrigue

In a city, the kit is a tool for counter-espionage and security.

  • Roleplay Example: A noble ally suspects their food is being poisoned.

Marn would be invited to a banquet. He would discreetly take samples of the wine and food. Later, using a Detailed Alchemical Assay, he could report back to the noble. “It is not a common poison. It’s a slow-acting alchemical agent made from ground Firebloom petals, keyed to your specific physiology. My analysis has also identified its antidote.” He has defended his ally from assassination and provided the means to reverse it.

Wilderness & Survival

In the wild, the kit defends the party from the dangers of nature itself.

  • Roleplay Example: The party is out of rations and finds a patch of unknown, colorful mushrooms.

Marn would deploy his kit, cross-referencing the mushroom’s spores with his reagents. “These are not edible,” he would determine. “But my analysis shows they are not poisonous, either. They contain a powerful paralytic agent. We can use this.” He has not only defended the party from being poisoned but has also turned a potential hazard into a useful resource.

Offensive & Sabotage Roleplay

Offensively, the kit is a tool of sabotage. It is used to discover and exploit an enemy’s weaknesses or to dismantle their reputation and operations with undeniable proof.

Dungeon & Ruin Exploration

Against a powerful, singular foe, the kit is used to find the perfect weapon.

  • Roleplay Example: The party faces a powerful, ancient iron golem that seems immune to their attacks.

While the others keep it distracted, Marn would perform a Detailed Alchemical Assay on a metal shaving a party member managed to knock loose. After a tense analysis, he finds the answer. “The golem’s iron was alloyed with a rare, magically-resonant metal!” he would shout. “It is immune to normal magic, but my analysis shows its resonant frequency is acutely vulnerable to sonic damage!” He has provided the exact information needed to defeat the “invulnerable” foe.

Urban & Social Intrigue

Here, the kit’s “offensive” power is in its ability to ruin an opponent’s career or plans.

  • Roleplay Example: A rival merchant is selling “authentic” Abbevillian steam-pistons at a suspiciously low price, undercutting the party’s own business.

Marn would purchase one of the rival’s pistons. A Detailed Assay would reveal the truth. He could then present his findings to the Merchant’s Guild. “As my analysis shows, the primary components are not true Anuran steel but cheap, soft iron coated in a thin layer of bronze. They are dangerous fakes that will explode after a dozen uses. He is a fraud.” He has offensively destroyed his rival’s business with pure, scientific fact.

Wilderness & Survival

The kit can be used to create specialized offensive tools from the natural environment.

  • Roleplay Example: The party needs to capture a specific, dangerous beast alive.

Marn would use the kit to analyze local flora and fauna. “This large lily pad,” he might determine, “secretes a powerful but non-lethal neurotoxin to stun its prey. If I can refine it with my own secretion as a binding agent, we can create a dart coating that will knock the beast unconscious without killing it.” He has used his analytical skill to create the perfect tool for a non-lethal takedown.

Perception of Activation:

The perception of activating the Alchemical Field Assay Kit is not a single event, but the experience of a master artisan engaging with their craft. It varies depending on the tool being used.

Activation 1: Resonance Scan (Using the Tuning Forks)

This is the subtle, diagnostic ability for quick analysis of a material’s structure.

User’s Perspective (Marn)

  • Physical Sensation: Marn feels the smooth, cool crystal of the tuning fork in his hand. When struck, a pleasant, high-frequency tingle runs up his arm. When he touches it to a surface, the primary perception is a complex feedback of vibrations, a tactile “image” of the material’s interior.
  • Auditory: He hears a single, pure, musical note from the struck fork that seems to hang in the air for an unnaturally long time.
  • Extra-Sensory Perception:
    • Vibrational Sense: This is the key perception. His innate sense is focused by the fork into a coherent “query.” When he touches the stone, he feels the “echo” return, painting a detailed map in his mind. He perceives the heavy, dense “thrum” of solid rock, the airy, empty “silence” of a hidden cavity, or the sharp, crystalline “chime” of a pure ore vein.
    • Ley Line Attunement: He feels the fork gently using the local ley line energy as a carrier wave, sending his perception into the object and returning the data.

Observer’s Perspective

  • Visual: They see the user strike a crystal tuning fork, which begins to glow with a soft, steady light (e.g., clean white for quartz). They see the user touch the humming fork to a surface and become intensely still and focused.
  • Auditory: A clear, pure musical note is audible to anyone nearby.
  • Extra-Sensory Perception:
    • Magical Sense: A magically attuned observer perceives a very small, focused pulse of divination magic, like a single, quiet sonar ping.
    • Empathic Sense: An empath feels a state of deep, analytical concentration from the user, a mind focused entirely on listening.

Positives

  • Discreet: The activation is quiet and subtle, unlikely to cause alarm or reveal the user’s full capabilities. It projects an aura of calm expertise.
  • Informative: For the user, the feedback is incredibly detailed and provides far more information than a simple visual inspection.

Negatives

  • Vulnerability: The deep concentration required leaves the user highly vulnerable and less aware of their immediate surroundings.
  • No Tactical Presence: The activation has no intimidating or distracting effect in a conflict.

Activation 2: Alchemical Assay (Using the Burner & Reagents)

This is the more involved process for detailed chemical and magical analysis.

User’s Perspective (Marn)

  • Physical Sensation: He feels the precise, satisfying clicks of the articulated bronze stand unfolding. He feels the cool glass of the droppers and the contained, directed heat from the burner’s flame.
  • Olfactory: This is a dominant sense. He perceives the sharp, acrid scent of a testing acid, the sweet aroma of a neutralizing agent, or the familiar, tangy smell of his own refined secretion as it reacts with a sample.
  • Extra-Sensory Perception:
    • Alchemical Sense: A skilled user like Marn has an intuitive, almost psionic, connection to the process. He can feel the chemical bonds of a substance breaking down and reforming. He perceives the “rightness” of a pure substance or the chaotic “wrongness” of a poison.

Observer’s Perspective

  • Visual: An observer witnesses a fascinating, miniature science experiment. The burner produces a silent, needle-thin jet of blue magical flame. They see the user add clear liquids to a sample, causing it to dramatically change color, bubble, or give off a puff of colored smoke.
  • Auditory: The process is mostly silent, punctuated by the clink of glass vials and the occasional sharp hiss or sizzle of a chemical reaction.
  • Extra-Sensory Perception:
    • Magical Sense: A magically attuned observer would perceive transmutation magic occurring on a minuscule scale, as the fundamental properties of the sample are altered and revealed.
    • Empathic Sense: An empath feels the user’s intense intellectual curiosity and methodical focus, the mindset of a scholar solving a puzzle.

Positives

  • Demonstrative Proof: The clear, visual results of the tests (e.g., a liquid turning black) provide undeniable, objective proof about a substance’s nature, which can be very convincing in a negotiation or investigation.
  • Controlled Environment: The kit allows for complex analysis to be performed safely and reliably, even in the wilderness.

Negatives

  • Time and Space: The process is slow and requires a stable, flat surface to set up the kit, making it impossible to use in a hurry or during a chaotic event.
  • Consumable Resources: The activation uses up finite reagents, which must be restocked. An observer might note which reagents are being used, giving them a clue as to what the user is testing for.

Schematic: Journeyman’s Assay Kit

This blueprint details the construction of a comprehensive, Tier-1 field analysis kit. It is a complex, multi-disciplinary project that requires a high degree of precision in several crafts. The finished product is a reliable, portable laboratory for any serious prospector, alchemist, or investigator.

Materials Needed:

  • Structural Components:
    • 1x Large Hide of Hardened Leather (for the folding case)
    • 2x Bronze Ingots (for the stand, fork bases, and fittings)
    • 1x Set of Alchemical Glassware (vials, beakers, droppers)
  • Core Components:
    • 1x Set of 3 Tuning Crystals (Uncut, high-quality: 1x Quartz, 1x Obsidian, 1x Amethyst)
    • 1x Miniature Burner Assembly (prefabricated)
    • 1x Standard Magic Crystal (for fuel)
  • Starter Reagents:
    • 1x Flask of Distilled Water
    • 1x Vial of Purified Acid
    • 1x Pouch of Powdered Silver
    • (Note: Specialized reagents, such as Anuran skin secretion, must be sourced and created separately.)

Tools Required:

  • Primary Workstations:
    • A clean, well-lit Tinker’s Bench.
    • An Alchemist’s Lab.
  • Artisan’s Kits:
    • A complete Tinker’s Kit.
    • A complete Jeweler’s Kit.
    • A Leatherworker’s Kit.
    • A full set of Alchemist’s Supplies.

Skill Requirements:

  • Primary Proficiency: The crafter must possess Journeyman-level proficiency in Tinkering, as the assembly of the kit’s delicate mechanisms is the most complex structural step.
  • Secondary Proficiencies: The crafter must also be proficient in Alchemy and Jewelcrafting.
  • Recommendation: This is a project of precision and patience. Each component must be crafted to exacting standards, as a flaw in one part (e.g., an improperly tuned fork or a contaminated reagent) can render the entire kit unreliable.

Crafting Steps:

  1. Construct the Case: At a Leatherworker’s Bench, the hardened leather is cut, stitched, and folded to create the durable, multi-compartment case. Bronze fittings are added to the corners and clasp for reinforcement. Fitted straps and loops are integrated into the interior to securely hold each component.
  2. Forge the Hardware: The bronze ingots are melted down and cast into the required components: the delicate, articulated arms of the specimen stand and the rough, two-pronged shapes for the tuning fork bases. These are then filed and polished to a smooth finish.
  3. Shape the Crystal Forks: At the Jeweler’s Bench, the three uncut crystals are carefully cut, shaped, and polished. They are then securely mounted onto the bronze bases to create the finished tuning forks. This step requires immense precision to ensure each fork will resonate at the correct frequency.
  4. Assemble the Burner: The prefabricated burner assembly is installed into its designated compartment in the case. It is then connected to a small housing, designed to hold the standard magic crystal that serves as its fuel source.
  5. Prepare the Starter Reagents: At the Alchemist’s Lab, the starter reagents are prepared and purified. The distilled water, acid, and powdered silver are carefully measured and sealed in their respective glass vials and pouches.
  6. Final Assembly & Calibration: Each finished component—the stand, the forks, the burner, and the glassware—is fitted into its designated slot in the case. The final step is to calibrate the tuning forks against known mineral samples and to write up a small manifest detailing the kit’s contents and functions for its new owner.

Nida and Gilded Mountain

Hark to the tale, for its words are chipped and worn, a poor copy of a story from a tongue that now is only silence. It speaks of the first Assay Kit, from an age the scribes have named the Time of False Stone.

In those days, a great wonder was found. A new mountain was discovered on the far isles of Abbeville, and this mountain shone as if it were a piece of the sun. Its veins were not of iron or tin, but of pure, soft gold that could be pulled from the rock with one’s hands. Its geodes, when split, held gems of impossible size and flawlessness. A great frenzy, a fever of wealth, took hold of the Anuran people. They abandoned their patient quarries and their slow, careful work. Why shape the hard granite when one could gather the easy gold? The Grand Forges grew quiet, and the sounds of making were replaced by the sounds of counting.

But there was one, a young alchemist and prospector named Nida, who felt a wrongness in this new prosperity. Her heart was not gladdened. The gold, she spake, was too soft. The gems were too perfect, like glass, and held no inner song. And the mountain itself… when she placed her hands upon it, it was silent to her vibrational sense. It did not hum with the deep, true song of the earth. It was a dead thing, a hollow echo.

She went before the Clan Mothers and the Queen, and she spake of her doubts. But they were blinded by the shine of the new wealth. They called her a doomsayer, one whose heart was jealous. “The Shaper has blessed us, Nida,” they said. “Do not question this gift.”

Nida saw that their eyes were deceived by the glitter. She knew she could not fight a mountain of gold with words alone. She needed to show them its inner truth. In her small, quiet workshop, she began a new making. She would not craft a tool to shape stone, but a tool to question it, a truth-teller in a box.

For its tools, she sought things of pure truth. The scrolls are damaged here, but they say she found the crystals for her tuning forks in a great geyser field, where for a thousand years they had been scoured and purified by the hot, true breath of the world’s core. For her burner, she captured not a flame of heat and passion, but a cold, blue flame of pure analysis, housed in a crystal of perfect clarity.

And for her reagents, she distilled the purest essences. But the key, the story tells, was a thing of her own making. She took her own skin secretion, the gift of her people, and refined it. She distilled it until it was no longer a solvent for stone, but a solvent for falsehood, a liquid that would react only to that which was not true.

When her kit was finished, she traveled to the Gilded Mountain. A great festival was underway to celebrate the new prosperity. Nida walked through the cheering crowds to the foot of the Queen’s dais. She held up her bronze-bound kit. “You celebrate a lie,” she spake, and a great anger rose from the people.

The Queen, in her wisdom, allowed the test. Nida opened her kit. She took a nugget of the shining gold and placed it on the articulated stand. First, she struck the geyser-born tuning fork. The sound was not a clear, true ring, but a sick, dissonant buzz, like a trapped fly. The crowd grew uneasy.

Then, Nida placed a single drop of her truth-solvent upon the golden nugget. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, with a foul hiss, the nugget did not melt, but dissolved. It collapsed into a cloud of stinking, yellow dust and a single, worthless piece of iron pyrite. She tested a flawless diamond, and with a sharp crack, it shattered, revealing the common quartz within, its magical disguise broken.

She had shown them the truth. The entire mountain was a great deception, a gilded trap. The old texts call it a “Deceiver’s Vein,” a grand illusion wrought by a trickster-spirit whose name is lost, a thing made to lull the Anuran people into a soft and easy ruin. Nida had saved them not with a weapon, but with a question, and with the tools to find its answer.

The Moral of the Story: For a mountain of false gold is worth less than a single true stone, and the greatest tool is not the one that gathers wealth, but the one that reveals the truth.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition)

Alchemical Field Assay Kit Wondrous item, uncommon

This compact, bronze-reinforced case unfolds into a miniature alchemical workstation. It contains a set of crystal tuning forks, glassware, reagents, and a small, magically-fueled burner.

  • Tool Proficiency: While this kit is on your person, you are considered proficient with both Alchemist’s Supplies and Tinker’s Tools.
  • Analytical Properties: The kit has 5 charges. It regains 1d4 + 1 expended charges daily at dawn. You can expend charges to activate the following properties:
    • Detailed Assay (3 Charges): As an action, you can touch the kit to an object and expend 3 charges to cast the identify spell.
    • Resonance Scan (1 Charge): As an action, you can expend 1 charge and touch a crystal tuning fork to an object. You learn the object’s most prominent material composition (e.g., iron, granite, oak) and whether it is solid or contains a hollow space.
    • Purify (1 Charge): As an action, you can expend 1 charge and touch the kit’s burner to an object to cast the purify food and drink spell.

Blades in the Dark

Assayer’s Valise A heavy, reinforced leather valise that unfolds to reveal a meticulously organized set of tools for analysis: crystal resonators, glassware, a spirit lamp, and various reagents. (Fine, 2 Load)

This is the tool of a whisper, leech, or other professional who needs to know the true nature of the things they acquire, steal, or create.

  • Special Qualities:
    • This is a fine set of tinker’s tools and alchemist’s supplies.
    • When you Study an object, substance, or arcane artifact, you get +1d to your roll.
  • Activatable Abilities:
    • Perform Detailed Analysis: You can use the kit to perform a deep scientific or alchemical analysis of a substance. This is a long-term project (typically a 4 or 6-segment clock). When the clock is complete, you can ask the GM a complex question about the substance’s origins, composition, or hidden properties.
    • Neutralize Toxin: When dealing with a poison or other chemical agent, you can Tinker with it using the kit. On a success, you can neutralize its effects or create a temporary antidote.

Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition)

Miskatonic University Field Analysis Kit A state-of-the-art portable laboratory issued to Miskatonic University’s geology and archaeology departments for field expeditions. It contains everything needed for chemical, mineral, and spectral analysis.

This kit is the pinnacle of mundane scientific inquiry, but its instruments can yield terrifying results when pointed at things that defy rational explanation.

  • Game Mechanics:
    • Masterwork Tools: The kit is a comprehensive set of scientific tools. It provides a +30% bonus to Chemistry, Geology, and Appraise rolls made in the field.
    • Portable Laboratory: The kit allows the user to perform complex analyses that would normally require a full university laboratory. This may allow for certain plot-relevant discoveries that would otherwise be impossible in a remote location (e.g., identifying a non-terrestrial compound).
    • Unsettling Results: Analyzing materials of a truly alien or Mythos nature with the kit can be mentally damaging. After a successful roll to analyze such an object, the Keeper may call for a Sanity roll (0/1d3 loss) as the investigator’s scientific worldview is shattered by the impossible results.
    • Purify: A successful Chemistry roll allows the user to neutralize any mundane poison or purify a contaminated food or water sample.

Knave (2nd Edition)

Assay Kit A heavy, reinforced case containing a variety of tools for analyzing materials: crystal tuning forks, glassware, a small burner, and chemical reagents.

  • Slots: This comprehensive kit takes up 2 of a character’s 10 inventory slots.
  • Qualities:
    • The kit functions as both a set of Alchemist’s Tools and Tinker’s Tools.
    • You have Advantage on all tests to identify substances, appraise materials, or discern the nature of a poison.
  • Abilities:
    • The kit holds 3 charges, which refresh each day.
    • Purify (1 charge): You can use an action to touch the kit’s burner to one ration’s worth of food or one container of water, removing any non-magical poison or contamination.
    • Analyze (1 charge): You can spend 10 minutes using the kit to analyze an object. The GM will give you a short, truthful description of its primary material and any obvious magical auras it possesses.

Fate Core

Prospector’s Truth-Teller Kit This is an Extra, representing a sophisticated mobile laboratory that allows the user to discover the truth of the physical world.

  • ASPECTS:
    • High Concept: A Complete Laboratory in a Box
    • Trouble: Requires Consumable Reagents and Careful Handling
    • Other: Everything in its Proper Place
  • STUNTS:
    • Meticulous Analysis: Because I have the perfect tool for any analysis, I get a +2 to Overcome obstacles with Investigate or Lore when I am examining a physical object or substance.
    • Purify: Once per session, I can use my kit to purify a contaminated substance. I can automatically remove a Poisoned or Contaminated Situation Aspect from a single object or container of liquid.
    • Resonance Scan: Twice per session, I can use my crystal tuning forks to Create an Advantage by taking a quick reading of a structure, placing an Aspect like Hollow Wall or Cracked Foundation on it with one free invocation.

Numenera & Cypher System

Anuran Assay Kit This is an Artifact, a compact and efficient diagnostic tool from a culture that perfected field alchemy.

  • Level: 4
  • Form: A bronze-reinforced case that unfolds into a miniature analysis station with glassware, a crystal-fueled burner, and resonating forks.
  • Effect:
    • Passive: The wearer gains an asset on all tasks involving the identification or analysis of physical substances (such as chemicals, minerals, or organic matter).
    • Active: As an action, the wearer can analyze a small sample of a substance. They immediately learn its general nature and one specific detail about it (e.g., its primary weakness, if it is poisonous, its material of origin).
    • Active: As an action, the wearer can use the kit’s burner and reagents to purify up to a liter of liquid or a handful of solid material, removing any mundane toxins or impurities. Each time this purification ability is used, the depletion roll must be checked.
  • Depletion: 1 in 1d20.

Pathfinder (2nd Edition)

Alchemical Assay Kit Item 3 Uncommon Alchemical Anuran

  • Price 60 gp
  • Usage held in 2 hands; Bulk 1
  • This bronze-reinforced case unfolds to reveal a set of masterwork tools for field analysis, including tuning forks, glassware, and a small, magically-fueled burner.
  • Game Mechanics: This kit contains a set of masterwork Alchemist’s Tools and Tinker’s Tools. You gain a +1 item bonus to Crafting checks made with these tools.
  • Activate [10 minutes] Analyze Substance (Concentrate, Investigate); Frequency once per hour; Effect You perform a detailed analysis on a small object or a sample of a substance. You can attempt to Identify Alchemy or Discern the true nature of the substance. You gain a +2 circumstance bonus to this check, and you can perform this analysis even if you do not have a formula book.
  • Activate [one-action] Purify (Alchemical, Consumable); Frequency three times per day; Effect You touch the kit’s burner to a small amount of food or drink (up to 1 bulk). It is purified as if by a 1st-level purify food and drink spell.

Savage Worlds (Adventure Edition)

Prospector’s Field Kit An advanced, portable laboratory containing all the necessary tools for on-site analysis of chemical and mineral substances.

  • Weight: 8
  • Cost: 2,500
  • Notes:
    • Mobile Laboratory: This kit functions as a portable set of both Alchemy and Repair tools (see SWADE Gear). It grants a +1 bonus to all Alchemy and Repair rolls.
    • Material Analysis: With 1d4 rounds of study, a character can use this kit to identify any unknown substance, poison, or disease with a successful Science or Alchemy roll.
    • Purify: The kit contains enough purifying reagents for 3 uses (these can be replenished during downtime). As an action, one use can be expended to render a gallon of water safe to drink, neutralize a simple poison in a meal, or identify the nature of a more complex one.

Shadowrun (6th World)

Ares “Sequoia” Field Science Kit A rugged, mil-spec portable laboratory in a reinforced briefcase. It contains a full suite of sensors, a micro-centrifuge, a spectral analyzer, and reagent synthesizers. It is the gold standard for corporate field scientists and espionage agents.

  • Rating: 4
  • Availability: 14R
  • Cost: 16,000¥
  • Game Mechanics:
    • Portable Laboratory: This kit functions as a set of Rating 4 Scientific Instruments (Chemistry, Biology, etc.), allowing tests that would normally require a full facility.
    • Analysis Software: The kit is loaded with Ares’ proprietary analysis software. The user gains 2 Edge when making any Chemistry, Biology, or Engineering test using the kit’s integrated tools.
    • Purification Cycle (Major Action): By succeeding on a Chemistry + Logic [Mental] (3) test, the user can program the kit’s micro-centrifuge to neutralize any non-magical toxin, pathogen, or impurity in a liquid or solid sample up to one liter in volume.
    • Resonance Scan: The kit’s sensor can analyze an object’s material composition. With a Perception + Intuition [Sensor] (2) test, the user can learn the exact material makeup of an object and identify any hidden structural flaws.

Starfinder

Professional’s Alchemical Kit Level 5 Technological Item

  • Price 3,100 credits
  • Bulk 1
  • This advanced, portable chemistry lab contains everything an aspiring scientist or alchemist needs for detailed analysis in the field. It is a compact, multi-function tool in a durable case.
  • Game Mechanics:
    • Integrated Tool Kit: This kit functions as a masterwork alchemist’s lab and a masterwork engineering tool kit, granting a +2 circumstance bonus on all Engineering and Mysticism checks related to alchemy and material science.
    • Integrated Scanner: Once per day as a standard action, you can use the kit’s multi-spectral scanner to analyze an object up to 1 bulk. You learn its complete chemical composition and any active magical auras, as if you had cast identify.
    • Purification Unit: The kit has an integrated micro-filter and purifier. Three times per day, as a standard action, the kit can be used to cast purify food and drink.

Traveller (Mongoose 2nd Edition)

Field Science Kit (TL 10) A standard-issue, multi-purpose analysis kit for Imperial Interstellar Scout Service survey teams. The kit is rugged, reliable, and contains a wide array of sensors and diagnostic tools.

  • Weight: 3 kg
  • Power: Power Pack (Internal)
  • Cost: Cr 28,000
  • Game Mechanics:
    • Integrated Laboratory: This kit contains a full suite of scientific instruments (sensors, microscope, spectrometer). It allows a user to perform any Science check as if they had access to a full ship’s laboratory. It grants DM+2 to all Science checks made using the kit.
    • Sample Analysis: By spending 10 minutes of work, the user can learn the complete chemical, biological, and radiological makeup of any sample placed within the kit.
    • Purification Unit: The kit can purify 1 liter of water or one meal, neutralizing any mundane toxins or pathogens. The internal power pack holds enough energy for 5 uses before needing to be recharged.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (4th Edition)

Altdorf Engineer’s Assay Kit A heavy, leather-bound case containing a marvel of Imperial engineering. Inside is a collection of precisely crafted glass vials, a miniature alcohol burner, crystal tuning forks, and various lenses and gauges.

  • Encumbrance: 2
  • Availability: Rare
  • Qualities: Fine (+20), Technical
  • Game Mechanics:
    • Masterwork Tools: This kit is considered a set of Fine quality Alchemist’s Tools and Engineer’s Tools. The user gains a +10 bonus to any Test made using these tools.
    • Detailed Analysis: When you use this kit to make a Trade (Alchemist) or Trade (Engineer) Test to identify the properties of a substance or mechanism, you may spend 1 Resolve Point to automatically add +2 Success Levels to your result after rolling.
    • Purge Contaminants: By making a successful Challenging (+0) Trade (Alchemist) Test, the user can neutralize any non-magical poison or disease present in a single serving of food or drink.
    • Structural Resonance: By spending a maneuver to tap a structure with one of the kit’s tuning forks, the user may make a Difficult (–10) Perception Test. If successful, they can identify one structural weakness, secret door, or hidden compartment within 3 yards.