Upgrading alchemy

[darkbuu_1]

I can't help but feel that alchemical items are a little underwhelming especially given their price tag, there are some cool effects in there but far too many of them feels like I'm spending a large chuck of change on a 50/50 chance of a wasted turn. It also strikes me as a bit strange that that item you made when you were just a level 1 novice is just as effective as when you become level 20.

In order to make crafts a little more potent or at least reliable I was thinking something along the lines of:
For each -2 you take to your craft roll you may add +1 to the DC, or +1 to one of its numeral effects (such as duration or damage).

I have a feeling this number might be a bit low but anything else feels too high, and an exponential penalty would cap out fairly soon.

I think this could also lead well into the idea of exotic ingredients and savaging the remains of monsters or from the wild. If for example you're fighting a creature and you notice it has special property such as a Mimic and its natural adhesive, you could gather some up to gain a bonus on your craft check when you add it to your next batch of tanglefoot bags.

What are your thoughts, does this have a chance?

If this can be made to work there are a few other things I wanted to do to alchemy, including removing the caster requirement, lowering the price, adding poison making and modifying, and maybe even just rolling potion brewing into the same thing but that's if this can be made to work.

[rferries]

All those options sound good. The one issue with skill checks is that it's very easy to pump up your check (e.g. with items granting a +30 competence bonus), so either a) say that your homebrew is intended only for games where such bonuses aren't allowed or b) take those bonuses into account when setting Craft DCs, while still somehow making them accessible for non-munchkin players.

[rferries]

To copy something I just posted elsewhere:

Whenever you craft a masterwork item, it gains a +1 masterwork bonus instead of its normal bonus. For each +10 you add to the Craft DC of the masterwork component (normally DC 20), the masterwork bonus of the finished item increases by +1. Masterwork bonuses have different effects, according to the item type (see below).

...

Alchemical Items
For each +1 of the item's masterwork bonus, double all numerical effects of the item (including but not limited to range increments, damage die, durations, and bonuses) other than save DCs. Add the item's masterwork bonus to its save DC (if any).

As for poisons, I'd just say you can craft any poison (and maybe even concoct diseases too) in the SRD using Craft (alchemy).