Alchemist

Alert

Resource

Destroy

Type

Power to Transmute

Transforms Pods into Better Pods

During any warpfall, you may use this power to “transmute” a pod. Ravage one of your ships, reveal a pod in your cache, and target an exhausted pod in the forge of the same type. If the pods are attack pods, they must have an aur value within 4 of each other. Transform the revealed pod into a pod with the same aur value as the targeted pod.

Legacy: When pods are exhausted, they transform into random pods of the same type.

Transmutation is considered a lost art among those who have developed interstellar travel, but the Alchemists work tirelessly to keep the craft alive. They will accept domination over the Cosmos as fair recompense for their work.

Any: Warpfall

Optional

Wild Flare

At any time, you may discharge this flare to scrap a support pod from your cache to abduct an exhausted pod of the same type from the forge.

Any: Any

Super Flare

When using your power to transmute an attack pod, you may target any exhausted attack pod in the forge.

Any: Any

Modifications

Original Alchemist can activate any phase. Changed to warpfall only to simplify the timing.
Originally the power of Transmutation. Changed to an action verb to make the power sound more forceful.
Original Alchemist scraps a pod and abducts a pod from the forge. I modified it to transform the original pod to match the one in the forge, allowing it to cause long-term consequences such as removing certain support pods from the match.
Alchemist’s legacy introduces a rather chaotic effect that only really comes into play when the forge is reset. Every exhausted pod becomes a different pod of the same type, meaning there is a decent chance that any given pod will never be seen again after it is scrapped. The effect could result in the removal of the 40 pod, or it could result in seven 40 pods being injected into the late-game. Any alien could potentially be helped or harmed by this legacy, and it might not matter at all if the forge is never reset. Info aliens like Mind and Oracle can mitigate the uncertainty behind this legacy, while pod-gaining powers like Glutton and Remora can gain more from the chaos.

Tips

Alchemist can use its power to keep increasing the strength of its attack pods, increasing the overall strength of the pool of pods in the match. It needs to temper how much it uses its power with the number of ships it can afford to spend.
The Warp Key is especially valuable for Alchemist, since it can keep getting it back with its power by transmuting other artifact pods. Other aliens may want to avoid discharging it unless they want to give Alchemist the key to free transmutation.
By employing its power consistently, Alchemist can keep its cache well-stocked with pods it wants. It can make Alchemist a compensation magnet, which it can also exploit for some free wins.
Aside from attack pods, Alchemist has free access to the entire exhausted forge, so long as it has a pod of the same type. Other aliens will need to be cautious about discharging valuable pods

Development Notes

I made a point for Alchemist to reveal the original pod being transmuted, allowing all aliens to know if a pod is being removed from the match. The original version scrapped the pod anyway, so revealing the pod just maintains the consistency.
Powers that can activate at any time once per turn feel tricky to me. The design works for flares since flares go to the exhaust during warpfall, creating a clear visual for all parties as to why they cannot be used again. I prefer powers that can be activated at any time to be conditional or mandatory, rather than freely usable with the “once per invasion” restriction. Also, since my version incorporates the exhaust system, where pods are not scrapped until the end of upkeep, there is less of a need to be able to transmute a pod at any time. Any pods that could be transmuted at the start of the invasion should be the same as the ones at the end, and this way there are fewer timing-related issues, such as being able to transmute a pod right as it is exhausted during upkeep.
Alchemist cannot gain lucre with its ability, since lucre does not exist in the forge. Even if it did, it would merely transform lucre into lucre, which would have no effect.
In the FFG version, Ninja was Converter, and I would constantly mix it up with Alchemist due to them having such similar theming. I wanted to do more to distinguish them and create a better mental image of each. Alchemist mechanically transforming pods also helps to distinguish the two, since Alchemist no longer scraps pods as part of its power, and it puts Alchemist into its own unique design space. It’s much easier to remember Ninja as a kawarimi power than trying to square whether Alchemist converts pods into other pods or ships.
Traditionally, an alchemist is known as a fictional profession that combines science and magic together. They are most known for their ability to convert lead into gold, which is to transform something useless into something of value. This idea is captured through Alchemist’s ability to transform a pod of lower value into a pod of greater value, with my version of the power completing the theme by making the transformation literal. As long as Alchemist has a specimen of gold to use as a reference, it can transform that lead no problem.
I always like finding ways to incorporate the advantages of a digital card game vs. a physical one. The FFG version cannot physically transform the cards without dealing permanent damage to the deck, so the original design is a compromise on the theme in a way that makes enough sense. With my version, I can expand on the original idea in the same way I did with Clone, actually transforming pods instead of making the power a different flavor of Diver.
In FFG Cosmic, Alchemist can transmute reinforcement pods into stronger reinforcement pods. In my Cosmic, all reinforcement pods are identical, so they can instead be transformed into other distress pods, or vice versa.
Transmuting specifically refers to altering something’s nature or appearance. I think it better captures the job of an alchemist than something like “transform” or “convert”. The former could refer to transforming oneself, and the latter sounds more like currency exchange.
When a pod with only one copy is transmuted, it is essentially being vaporized, replaced with an additional copy of another pod. This can have long-term consequences if the forge is reset, especially if important artifacts like the Cosmic Zap or Warp Key are transmuted. Alternatively, more of these can enter play by transmuting into them.