Warhammer Tradeskills Feature

Welcome to the first installment of an in-depth look at Warhammer Tradeskills, featuring Apothecary, Cultivation, and Butchering. Read on for all the juicy details!

Special thanks to Gary Astleford and Phillip Chan for writing this piece!

Apothecary

"Oooh, that's a nice one! Clear as crystal, and not a bubble to be seen in it! Where'd you say these came from, again? Tilea? How impressive! Fine, then, I'll take the lot of them. Best not be any broken ones! The last lot was half shards by the time it was delivered!"

-- Gertrude Weiss, Apothecary (overheard in Altdorf's market)

Apothecary is a crafting production skill that allows you to create potions that apply various temporary augmentations to your characters. A secondary feature in Apothecary is the crafting of dyes. By finding a pigment and grinding it down with a mortar and pestle, anyone can create a substance which is capable of dyeing cloth, leather, or even metal! Whether a Swordmaster or a Witch Elf, all players can benefit from the abundant selection of concoctions available.

The central item of the Apothecary craft is the vial. Vials are rated depending on their quality, which ranges from Apprentice to Master Apothecary. A vial provides the necessary container for the completed potion. Any merchant or vendor in the Age of Reckoning would quickly be put out of business without an unlimited supply of such vials.

"It's not all about black cauldrons, newt eyes, or ghoul essences! Which isn't to say those bits don't have their place in the profession, mind you, but these rumors make us sound like common witches!"

-- Vander "The Warlock" Kohl, prior to his arrest and execution

An empty vial doesn't make for much of a potion, so you must place a main ingredient, culled from Cultivation or Butchering, into the waiting container. There are other ingredients too: some that increase the number of potions you can create with a single vial, some that extend the duration of the potion's effects, and even some that make it possible to create something better than what you originally planned. Finally, the concoction must be stabilized. Throwing too many ingredients into a single brew makes it volatile and more difficult to concoct.

With all your ingredients in place, you can combine them together in a frenzy of maniacal whimsy, creating wondrous potions that do anything from enhancing your character to gluing your victims to the ground. So grab a vial, a main ingredient, and brew away! Be sure to experiment with different combinations, and share your homebrewed recipes with others!

Cultivation

"All the horrors of tomorrow are hidden in the seeds of today."

-- Chaos Proverb

Cultivation is a gathering skill that feeds ingredients to Apothecary. You can learn this valuable skill from specific trainers in the world. Cultivation has undergone some very interesting changes lately. For example, the merchants have tapped the market and are now hoarding seeds to sell to hapless players. How opportunistic!

Don't despair! The beauty of plants is their ability to generate seeds, thereby propagating their species. If a burgeoning grower is careful, he only needs one seed to populate an entire garden of plants that will sustain him indefinitely.

"That which grows from the soil represents a miracle from the bosom of Rhya, yet even it will sit idle and rotten if not for the gifts of Taal."

-- Father Eichmann, Priest of Taal and Rhya

Merchants in the Age of Reckoning are a shrewd bunch, and have hedged the market on the various plant-growing necessities: soil, watering equipment, and fertilizers are bought and sold across the world. Luckily, all their proceeds go to the war effort. Waaagh!

Recent reports from the front indicate that new types of plants are being discovered on a daily basis. Some are so powerful that they might become attuned to only one cultivator! How bizarre!
Butchering

"A sharp knife's the most important tool a butcher can have. Fine steel is the best choice, but beware of rust. Treat the edge like a delicate flower, and oil your whetstone between each stroke. After all, it's always less painful to slice off your thumb with a keen blade than to carve out a pound of flesh with a dull one."

-- Gerard Fleischer, Journeyman Butcher

Another gathering skill is Butchering. The Butcher's craft feeds ingredients to Apothecaries. Rather than spend time nursing seeds, a Butcher can exert his unfettered dominance over beasts in the Age of Reckoning. Kill for sport! Kill for purpose! Or kill because you want a Rhinox Horn for the rarest of brews! From the claws of the noble griffon, to the bile from the liver of a lowly boar, all beasts in the Age of Reckoning conceal some medicinal use.

"I met the most curious little man on the road to Talabheim. His cart was laden with all manner of goods: jars of tripe steeped in scented oils, unborn calves baked in clay, even the tender portions of a lion preserved in brine that was taken from the Great Ocean.

"The latter, he said, would make me irresistible once I'd imbibed it.

"Of course I bought one! It hasn't made me irresistible yet, but it did give me the bloody flux. If I ever find that filthy Halfling, I'll see his tender portions preserved in brine ..."

-- Overheard in the Ten Tailed Cat

Do you feel like drinking some strange animal's blood, or devouring the organs of your feral prey? You can also harness the multiplicative power of Squigs or the adamantine quality of insect chitin in your potions today!

The beasts of the Old World are fierce, but you are fiercer. Butcher them all, I say, and harvest the best bits for your own diabolical concoctions. Anything to make you meaner, leaner, and harder to kill!

Talisman Making

"Me mum, she was somethin' special. Could take somethin' what was downright ordinary and turn it into somethin' magic. She gave me this ribbon here 'fore I left for the front lines, told me to tie it on my spear 'n never take it off. I've been in a dozen battles since then, 'n I ain't never been hurt. Not so much as a scratch.

"It's mum's ribbon what keeps me safe, I tell ya. If Sigmar himself told me to take it off, I'd tell the old boy to stuff himself."

-- Corporal Alfons Hirsch

Talisman Making is a crafting production skill that allows you to transform magical objects found in the world into useful trinkets and charms. Talisman Making trainers can be found everywhere in the world, and with a little practice an amateur curio collector can transform himself into a powerful hedge wizard.

Curious objects, gold dust, and primal magical essences, once placed into a relic box, can yield spectacular results with only a few chanted words. Such products include trinkets to hang from your sword that make it sharper, or charms to place in your staff that open your mind to the Winds of Magic.

"I am unsure as to the nature of this power. Is it the faith of those who use such charms that makes them so effective? Or is there some other magic at work? I must continue my research. I shudder to think that some otherworldly influence is
at work here, corrupting the brave men and women of my village."

-- Father Josef, Priest of Schwarzmarkt

Is a Sorceress making your life difficult? Place a charm in your armor that will make her blood run cold when her spell bounces harmlessly from your chest. Laugh dismissively when that pesky Knight of the Blazing Sun swings his sword at you, then cleave his skull in two with the strength of twenty men. Any advantage can be the deciding factor in wartime.

Talismans are things of incalculable value in the Age of Reckoning. Their ability to enhance otherwise mundane equipment can go a long way towards making a deadly warrior even stronger. Test out a variety of Talismans and watch your power grow.

Salvaging

"Gimme dat choppa, ya lout!"

"Why for should I, Worglob?"

"'Cuz I's bigger'n you, Iggrul, 'n if ya don't I'm gonna stomp yer guts out! Dat's why!"

"Oi, dat's as good a reason as I's heard all week! Here ya go!"

-- Worglob gets his due from Iggrul somewhere in Barak Varr

Salvaging is a gathering skill that allows players to break down equipment into its basic elements. As they crusade for their causes, great warriors and life-giving healers are always finding powerful artifacts and magical items. Such items, once discovered, render their dented shields, bloodstained swords, and cracked staves obsolete.

Why throw out or sell old equipment when you can siphon out its base magical properties and use them to make your new gear that much more effective? Want a little more oomph in your swing? The power within the sword you used in Saphery can always be transferred to a new weapon that you can employ in Caledor. After all, waste not, want not!

"So few people know the worth of their weapons. Some blacksmith worked for weeks, maybe months, to forge the blade, to sharpen it. And for what? So a pea-brained, self-titled 'hero' can toss it aside when a better one comes along? How pathetic!"

-- Karsten Vogt, Quartermaster

Salvaging the magical properties of equipment can be a difficult and risky business. The energy within magical items is elusive, and can often escape even the best salvager's efforts. Even when successfully collected, some small amount of power will always drain away into the Aether. Oftentimes a salvager must focus on only one property within an item. Some salvagers are lucky and find that they can maintain the potency of a property with no loss of effectiveness.

Scavenging

"How ya 'spect ta make any Karls if'n ya don't crack the gold teeth outta them jaws? Ain't like the dead need 'em no more."

-- Dussel, Bone-Picker

Scavenging is a gathering skill that allows players to obtain Talisman Making ingredients from the bodies of the dead. If you though that your enemy's Superstition or misguided faith was only there to warm the cold nights in High Pass with laughter and jeering, you were wrong!

Scavengers are encouraged to rifle through the pockets of their victims in search of treasured keepsakes. When following this calling, you should feel free to callously loot the dead bodies of your foes. Claim their sacrosanct symbols and valuables for your own indulgent purposes!

"I'm constantly amazed by the sentimentality of these Empire curs. It seems like every single one of them carries a pendant or a symbol of some kind. For all the prattle and pomp of their faith and conviction, I'd expect their gods to pay some attention to them when I'm cutting them down like chaff."

-- Morvass Dreadsong, Blackguard

Wasn't there a soldier in Reikland that wore a locket given to him by his long lost love? Or a greenskin in Barak Varr that wore a scorpion sting for luck? Take these things because you can! Take them because you enjoy it! Take them because their original owners won't be needing them ever again! This is war!

The Age of Reckoning is filled with many humanoid creatures, but not all of them carry religious or superstitious symbols. Don't be disappointed if you don't find an interesting curio -- instead, take their extra gold!