Alchemy | Pascal's Wager Wiki

Alchemy is the crafting service at every altar. You combine monster parts, herbs and stones into elixirs and powders, into throwable combat items, and into trophies. The game stores all 60 recipes in one table, FormulaData. Crafting never fails and never rolls dice, so the interesting part is how recipes become visible, what limits a batch, and where each formula really comes from.

How crafting works#

Open an altar and choose the Alchemy tab (the action button on it reads "Craft"). The pause-menu version of the screen is greyed out, so you can only craft at an altar. See Altars.
The list is split into two main tabs. Alchemy has three folds: Recovery, Enhancement and Combat Item. Trophy has three folds: Scars, Resistance and Nightmare. A fold is only shown if it holds at least one recipe you have unlocked.
Click a recipe to see its ingredient bars. A bar is green when you hold enough and red when you do not. The confirm button answers "Not Enough Materials" unless all three bars are green.
For elixirs and combat items a number picker opens. For trophies you always craft exactly one.
On confirm the game adds the result to your bag first and then removes the ingredients (the listed amount times the number made). It plays the altar animation and records the craft for Achievements and for the save's "items made" counters.

What limits a batch:

Result	Limit
Elixirs and combat items	The picker maximum is the smallest of: how many more you can carry before the stack limit of 10, and how many times each ingredient fits into what you hold. If you already carry 10 the game says the item "has reached Maximum Capacity".
Trophies	One per craft. The trophy bag holds at most 600 (constant `TrophyCapacity`); at 600 the game says "Max Trophies reached."

The crafted elixirs have a price of 0 in the item table, so they are not worth anything to merchants. See Consumables and Throwables for what the results do.

Unlocking recipes#

A recipe appears in the list when every quest id in its ShowQuestId is complete. Ids are separated by semicolons and all of them must be done. For almost every recipe those quests are completed by an item:

Elixirs and combat items: the quest is completed by acquiring the matching Formula item (ids 79001 to 79021, 20 items). Picking it up, buying it, or receiving it as a quest reward all complete it. The Formula item's only job is to flip the quest flag.
Trophies: there is no Formula item. The recipe appears the first time you obtain one of the listed trophy parts. The flag is set when the part enters your bag (the game checks for a gain above zero), so a gifted part counts the same as a dropped one. When several parts complete the same quest, any one of them is enough.
Early Alchemy intro (quest 15032): the first five trophy recipes (Sinister Claw, Defiled Shell, Skull of Delirium, Disc of Blights, Discipline), the Elixir of Health and the Elixir of Sanity also require quest 15032. It is completed by the line that ends an early story conversation (StoryDialog 45, spoken as "Be careful."), and also by obtaining the Elixir of Health formula. In practice you have it from the start of the game. The Elixir of Sanity (6 Bone Fragments) therefore needs no formula item at all.

A recipe can therefore be visible before you hold all of its ingredients: you only need to have obtained the parts that complete its quests. The red bars then tell you what is still missing.

In story mode the list is filtered by these quests. In other battle modes the filter is skipped, but the Alchemy tab is hidden in Arcade mode anyway (see Altars).

Recipes: Recovery#

Result	Ingredients	Formula source	Max stack
Elixir of Stamina	1x Contaminated Deer Blood + 1x Mature Spore + 3x Active Sendril	Merchant 5117 (Katib), 80 / 120 / 160 / 240 BF; item 79003	10
Elixir of Health	1x Ruptured Tail + 1x Mature Spore + 1x Active Sendril	None needed: shown by the early Alchemy intro (quest 15032); item 79019 is redundant	10
Elixir of Sanity	6x Bone Fragment	None needed: shown by the early Alchemy intro (quest 15032)	10
Elixir of Hallucination	2x Adamina Herbs + 1x Active Sendril	One fixed pick-up in Adamina (item 79004)	10
Elixir of Energy	2x Elixir of Stamina + 1x Tender Fungus + 1x Active Symbiote	Quest reward (quest 75063, item 79012): Karst Cave / carriage conversation	10
Elixir of Recovery	2x Elixir of Health + 1x Tender Fungus + 1x Active Symbiote	Quest reward (quest 75064, item 79013): Karst Cave / carriage conversation	10

"Max stack" is the item's NumMax. Prices in "BF" are Bone Fragments for game journeys 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 (journey 4 and later keep the last number). See Merchants and New Game Plus. Elixir stats and where to buy the finished elixirs: Consumables.

Recipes: Enhancement#

Result	Ingredients	Formula source	Max stack
Potion of Wealth	8x Big Bone + 1x Mature Spore + 1x Active Symbiote	Quest reward (quest 75062, item 79005): a conversation in the Karst Cave / carriage	10
Brute Force	1x Small Bony Spur + 1x Trippy Flower + 3x Active Sendril	Merchant 3004 (Exilium), 90 / 135 / 200 / 300 BF; item 79006	10
Powder of Defence	1x Miner's Shell + 1x Heggem Mushroom + 3x Active Sendril	Merchant 1040 (Heggem), 25 / 35 / 50 / 75 BF; item 79001	10
Elixir of Inertia	1x Bone Chip + 2x Adamina Herbs + 2x Active Sendril	Merchant 2009 (Adamina), 45 / 65 / 85 / 125 BF; item 79007	10
Antitoxin Potion	1x A Broken Tooth + 1x Distorting Vine + 2x Active Sendril	Merchant 3004 (Exilium), 70 / 105 / 155 / 225 BF; item 79008	10
Dimming Elixir	1x Gleaming Deer Antlers + 1x Glass Ball + 2x Active Sendril	Merchant 5117 (Katib), 80 / 120 / 160 / 240 BF; item 79009	10
Anti-Sendril Elixir	1x Fragment of the Creed + 1x Twilight Weed + 2x Active Sendril	Quest reward (quest 45076, item 79010): Edith conversation ending with a thank-you to the Courier	10
Elixir of Epiphany	2x Brute Force + 1x Edith Moss + 1x Active Symbiote	No direct source in the data; only the Blessing counter of this elixir (item 79014)	10
Petrification Powder	2x Powder of Defence + 1x Eroded Rock + 1x Active Symbiote	No direct source in the data; only the Blessing counter of this elixir (item 79015)	10

Recipes: Combat Item#

Result	Ingredients	Formula source	Max stack
Wildfire	1x Throwing Knife + 1x Elixir of Inertia	Merchant 2009 (Adamina), 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 BF; item 79002	10
Poison Awl	1x Bony Spur + 1x Antitoxin Potion	Merchant 3004 (Exilium), 90 / 135 / 200 / 300 BF; item 79016	10
Stun Crystal	1x Eroded Rock + 1x Dimming Elixir	Merchant 5117 (Katib), 100 / 150 / 200 / 300 BF; item 79017	10
Blinding Smoke	1x Empty Smoking Pot + 1x Anti-Sendril Elixir	Merchant 4096 (Edith), 100 / 150 / 200 / 300 BF; item 79018	10
Fireworks Barrel	1x Anthozoan Bones + 2x Nitrate Powder	No source found anywhere in the data (item 79020)	10
Soul River Water	1x Bygone Shadow + 1x Sea Barnacle	Quest reward (quest 95218, item 79021): DLC-area conversation	10

Wildfire, Poison Awl, Stun Crystal and Blinding Smoke each consume one finished elixir. The ingredient bar compares exact item ids, so a blessed elixir (id + 1000, see Blessing) does not count (inferred from that comparison).

Recipes: Trophies#

All 39 trophy recipes need exactly one Raw Stone. Every result is created at its base level with the stat lines written in the trophy table (none of them uses random properties), so two crafted copies are identical. See Trophy list for the stats and Trophy enhancement for what comes next, and Materials for where each part drops. The "Area" column is read from the first digit of the unlocking quest id, which seems to follow the story-area numbering of the quest table (inferred: 1 Heggem, 2 Adamina, 3 Exilium, 4 Edith, 5 Katib, 6 Blessedland, 9 DLC area).

#	Trophy	Kind	Ingredients (the Raw Stone is always the third)	Recipe appears once you have obtained	Area	Sells for
1	Sinister Claw	Scars	1x Miner's Claw + 1x Broken Arrow + 1x Raw Stone	Miner's Claw (and the early Alchemy intro)	Heggem	10
2	Defiled Shell	Resistance	1x Miner's Shell + 1x Broken Rod + 1x Raw Stone	Miner's Shell (and the early Alchemy intro)	Heggem	10
3	Skull of Delirium	Nightmare	1x Predator's Skull + 1x Broken Bone Spur + 1x Raw Stone	Predator's Skull (and the early Alchemy intro)	Heggem	10
4	Disc of Blights	Nightmare	1x Predator's Spine + 1x Broken Bone Spur + 1x Raw Stone	Predator's Spine (and the early Alchemy intro)	Heggem	10
5	Discipline	Scars	1x Ascetic's Whip + 1x Worn Ring + 1x Raw Stone	Ascetic's Whip and Worn Ring (and the early Alchemy intro)	Heggem	not sellable
6	The Soul-Eroding Chain	Scars	1x Rusty Chain-Hook + 2x Swaddling Clothes Fragments + 1x Raw Stone	Rusty Chain-Hook	Adamina	15
7	Bone Necklace	Resistance	3x Bone Chip + 1x Swaddling Clothes Fragments + 1x Raw Stone	Bone Chip	Adamina	11
8	Mother's Love	Nightmare	1x Tattered Puppet + 1x Bloody Bandage + 1x Raw Stone	Tattered Puppet or Bloody Bandage	Adamina	20
9	Father's Love	Scars	1x Virgo's Whip + 1x Warm Flesh + 1x Raw Stone	Virgo's Whip or Warm Flesh	Adamina	not sellable
10	Toxic Fang	Resistance	3x A Broken Tooth + 2x Broken Arrow + 1x Raw Stone	A Broken Tooth	Exilium	13
11	Wither	Scars	1x Broken Lance + 5x Distorting Vine + 1x Raw Stone	Broken Lance	Exilium	20
12	Power of the Church	Resistance	1x Rusty Armor + 1x Broken Shield + 1x Raw Stone	Rusty Armor	Exilium	20
13	Dreamland	Resistance	1x Broken Mirror + 5x Trippy Flower + 1x Raw Stone	Broken Mirror	Exilium	25
14	Oath	Nightmare	1x Jenny's Ring + 1x Patrick's Ring + 1x Raw Stone	Jenny's Ring and Patrick's Ring	Exilium	not sellable
15	The Withered	Scars	1x Broken Poleaxes + 1x Distorting Vine + 1x Raw Stone	Broken Poleaxes	Katib	35
16	Half-hilted Bone Sword	Scars	2x Small Bony Spur + 1x Worn Hilt + 1x Raw Stone	Small Bony Spur	Exilium	20
17	Fully-hilted Bone Sword	Scars	2x Bony Spur + 1x Worn Hilt + 1x Raw Stone	Bony Spur	Katib	35
18	Crystal Antler	Resistance	1x Gleaming Deer Antlers + 2x Broken Arrow + 1x Raw Stone	Gleaming Deer Antlers	Katib	25
19	Lost Badge	Resistance	1x Church Knight's Badge + 1x Contaminated Deer Blood + 1x Raw Stone	Church Knight's Badge	Katib	25
20	Eternity	Nightmare	1x Drake's sand glass + 1x Air-dried Skeleton + 1x Raw Stone	Drake's sand glass and Air-dried Skeleton	Katib	not sellable
21	Crazy Mask	Scars	1x Minion Mask + 1x Noble Hat + 1x Raw Stone	Minion Mask or Noble Hat	Edith	30
22	Savage Reaper	Scars	1x Reaper + 3x Edith Moss + 1x Raw Stone	Reaper	Edith	30
23	Flame of Vengance	Resistance	1x Empty Smoking Pot + 1x Fragment of the Creed + 1x Raw Stone	Empty Smoking Pot	Blessedland	40
24	Glory	Nightmare	1x Horn + 1x Rusted Horseshoe + 1x Raw Stone	Horn	Katib	40
25	Ambition	Nightmare	1x Extinct Torch + 1x Fragment of the Creed + 1x Raw Stone	Extinct Torch	Blessedland	40
26	Pale Egg	Resistance	1x Pure White Amulet + 1x Colossus Core + 1x Raw Stone	Colossus Core and Pure White Amulet	Edith	not sellable
27	Scarlet Egg	Nightmare	1x Bloodstained Vizard + 1x Colossus Core + 1x Raw Stone	Colossus Core and Bloodstained Vizard	Edith	not sellable
28	Tristram's Residue	Scars	1x Bloodstained Tristram + 1x Sanctus Bell + 1x Raw Stone	Bloodstained Tristram and Sanctus Bell	Blessedland	not sellable
29	Tristram's Lie	Nightmare	1x Bloodstained Tristram + 1x Eucharist + 1x Raw Stone	Bloodstained Tristram and Eucharist	Blessedland	not sellable
30	Tristram's Roil	Resistance	1x Bloodstained Tristram + 1x Cruets + 1x Raw Stone	Bloodstained Tristram and Cruets	Blessedland	not sellable
31	Basilisk's Epiphany	Scars	1x Bloodstained Basilisk + 1x Sanctus Bell + 1x Raw Stone	Bloodstained Basilisk and Sanctus Bell	Blessedland	not sellable
32	Basilisk's Protection	Nightmare	1x Bloodstained Basilisk + 1x Eucharist + 1x Raw Stone	Bloodstained Basilisk and Eucharist	Blessedland	not sellable
33	Basilisk's Nirvana	Resistance	1x Bloodstained Basilisk + 1x Cruets + 1x Raw Stone	Bloodstained Basilisk and Cruets	Blessedland	not sellable
34	Broken Eternity	Nightmare	1x Broken Sand Glass + 1x Air-dried Skeleton + 1x Raw Stone	Broken Sand Glass and Air-dried Skeleton	Katib	not sellable
35	Seal of the Pious	Resistance	1x Broken Blessed Tome + 1x Sea Monster's Scales + 1x Raw Stone	Broken Blessed Tome or Sea Monster's Scales	DLC area	not sellable
36	Slumber Vessel	Scars	1x Contaminated Silver Nail + 2x Bygone Shadow + 1x Raw Stone	Contaminated Silver Nail	DLC area	40
37	Halo Pendant	Resistance	1x Shrivelled Sea Spider + 2x Bygone Shadow + 1x Raw Stone	Shrivelled Sea Spider	DLC area	40
38	Cocoon of Deceit	Nightmare	1x Broken Carapace + 1x Moist Sludge + 1x Raw Stone	Moist Sludge or Broken Carapace	DLC area	40
39	Strong Spirit Casket	Nightmare	1x Lizard of the Deep Sea + 5x Bygone Shadow + 1x Raw Stone	Lizard of the Deep Sea	DLC area	not sellable

Where the formulas really come from#

The elixir and combat-item recipes depend on 20 Formula items (ids 79001 to 79021; there is no 79011, and the Elixir of Sanity has none). The sources found in the data:

Source type	Formulas
Sold by merchants	Powder of Defence, Wildfire, Elixir of Stamina, Brute Force, Elixir of Inertia, Antitoxin Potion, Dimming Elixir, Poison Awl, Stun Crystal, Blinding Smoke. Prices are in the tables above. Every shop row has a stock of 1 and refresh switched off, so each formula can be bought only once, and because the stock is flagged "not reset" it does not come back after a death or a New Game Plus restart (the prices for later journeys only matter if you skipped the formula earlier); see Merchants#Stock, restocking and New Game Plus and Chapter merchants.
Quest rewards	Potion of Wealth, Elixir of Energy and Elixir of Recovery (three consecutive conversations of one quest line, in the Karst Cave and the carriage), Anti-Sendril Elixir (Edith) and Soul River Water (DLC area). The quest action "item to bag" hands over the formula.
Pick-up in the world	Elixir of Hallucination (one fixed pick-up in Adamina).
Not needed	Elixir of Health and Elixir of Sanity (the early intro quest is enough).
Nothing found	Elixir of Epiphany, Petrification Powder and the Fireworks Barrel have no merchant, pick-up or quest source in any table. The first two can still be earned through the Blessing counter. The Fireworks Barrel formula cannot be obtained by any route in the data, and its ingredient Nitrate Powder (item 70064, a rare material the item text says comes from the Eastern continent) appears only in `ItemData` and `FormulaData`: no drop table, pick-up, shop or quest gives it. The recipe looks like cut content (inferred).

Hidden mechanics#

Unlocked recipes are permanent. Every quest id used by ShowQuestId is flagged "not reset" in StoryQuest, so a recipe you have unlocked survives deaths and New Game Plus restarts, and the formula shops do not restock either (NotReset = 1, IsRefresh = 0; fs_savestory.lua:1252-1262, :2150-2175, :3419-3450, ms_transactiondata.lua:27-37). A recipe also carries a small "new" marker until you open it once.
Crafting is deterministic. No failure chance, no bonus output, no hidden quality. The only dice near alchemy are in Blessing.
A batch is capped by the stack of 10, not by your materials, for every elixir and combat item.
Slot 3 of every trophy recipe is the Raw Stone. Slot 2 is the "other part". The screen has code that replaces the name and icon of slot 2 with "???" until the quest of that ingredient is done. In the shipped data it never triggers: every slot-2 part completes a quest that is already required to show the recipe.
Any-of unlocks. Crazy Mask appears once you obtain either the Minion Mask or the Noble Hat; Mother's Love with the Tattered Puppet or the Bloody Bandage; Father's Love with Virgo's Whip or the Warm Flesh; Seal of the Pious with the Broken Blessed Tome or the Sea Monster's Scales; Cocoon of Deceit with the Moist Sludge or the Broken Carapace. Recipes listing two quests need both: Discipline, Oath, Eternity, Broken Eternity, Pale Egg, Scarlet Egg and the six Tristram and Basilisk trophies.
The Tristram and Basilisk trophies form a 2 x 3 grid. The three Tristram trophies need Bloodstained Tristram plus one of Sanctus Bell, Eucharist or Cruets; the three Basilisk trophies need Bloodstained Basilisk plus the same three. Pale Egg and Scarlet Egg both need the Colossus Core plus a Pure White Amulet or a Bloodstained Vizard.
Equip groups. Eternity and Broken Eternity share one equip-group id (60040), so only one of the two can be worn. Eleven other crafted trophies (Discipline, Father's Love, Oath, Pale Egg, Scarlet Egg, three Tristram, three Basilisk) have a group id of their own, so you cannot wear two copies of the same one; the equip check compares the two slots of the same trophy kind. The remaining crafted trophies have group id 0 and can be doubled up.
Making things is counted. Crafting a combat item, an elixir or a trophy each feeds its own achievement counter, and the first craft of anything awards a "first time" achievement.
Crafted trophies are never "unique" trophies. Unique trophies (a UniqueId above 0) refuse a second copy; none of the 39 crafted trophies has one, so you can make as many as the bag allows.

Sources#

luascript/structdata/ms_formuladata.lua:1-49 (lookup by formula id, main type and recipe type).
luascript/ui/controller/playerinfoctrl.lua:7406-7490 (confirm flow, capacity checks, ingredient removal, achievements), :7629-7656 (count picker), :8009-8139 (Alchemy folds), :8145-8270 (Trophy folds), :8319-8459 (recipe buttons, slot-2 hiding), :8467-8529 (ingredient bars), :9127-9140 (quest filter), :2330-2362 (equip-group check).
luascript/controller/controllermodebase.lua:429-444 (all quests required), controllerstorymode.lua:5494-5629 (AddBagItem completes the item's quest), :5507-5526 (unique-trophy refusal), :8894-8903 (quest reward "item to bag").
luascript/structdata/ms_itemdata.lua:12-60 (type ids), :156-157 (TrophyStrengthLevelMax, TrophyCapacity = 600).
luascript/structdata/fs_trophyitemdata.lua:7-70 (crafted trophies use base level and fixed properties).
Tables: FormulaData rows 1-60 (es_formuladata.lua); ItemData rows 82-175 (CompleteQuestId of parts and Formula items); TrophyData (results, Price, EquipUniqueId, UniqueId); WeaponData ids 30003-30010; ItemData 79001-79021 (20 rows, no 79011), StoryItem row 58 (Elixir of Hallucination pick-up), StoryQuest NotReset flags, StoryDialog 45, 855, 2105, 2116, 2127, 2251, 2262, 2273, 2710 (quest conversations); StoryQuest rows 845, 1591-1593, 2366 (reward actions); TransactionData rows 10003, 20007, 20008, 31003-31005, 41003, 51004-51006 (formula shops, es_transactiondata.lua).

Categories:Items and shops