Hi everyone,

there are two things that even after a fair amount of trail and error I haven′t figured out so far:

1) How does one precisely control for the third - optional - ingredients when making a potion? Example:
Mixing two different ingredients with "restore health" together produces a health potion. So let′s say as second ability I′d like to include "Regenerate Health". So I add, as optional ingredient, "Luna Moth Wing" (which amongst others can give Regenerate Health). However, nothing happens - I can′t get the "Regenerate Health" characteristic. How does this precisely work?

2) I noticed that it is possible to "order" companions to approach the enchanting or alchemy table. However, they don′t do anything. How exactly does this work?

Many thanks in advance.

lead

1) I'm not quite sure. It seems like so: ingredient A has effect of X and Y, ingredient B has Y and Z, ingredient C has Z and X. Combining these 3, you are likely to make a potion that has effect of X, Y and Z.
2) I don't think a companion can enchant or making potions for you...

Your 3rd ingredient also has to have an effect which pairs up with either the first 2 ingredients.

ie. you have restore health paired up with first 2 , then if you have regenerate health on your 3rd, one of the first 2 must have regenerate also

This.
Take a look at a slow/damage health poison.
Deathbell has slow and damage health to it,mix that with salt(slow),then add skeever tail(damage health).

In this case salt and skeever tail share a similar effect as deathbell.

(Btw, when mentioning ingredient effects here in the forum, is this considered a "spoiler"? so if yes, the following contains spoilers!)

Thank you very much - that was all quite revealing! Now let me ask one final thing - I did it exactly as described:

I used Imp Stool + Blue Mountain Flower as primary ingredients which give the "restore health".

As second attribute I wanted "Fortify" health which comes with Blue Mountain Flower.

So as 3rd ingredient I selected "Hanging Moss" - which also has "Fortify Health". And in fact it worked, however with a little collateral effect: it gave me a negative feat (Damage Magicka Regen - which Blue Mountain Flower and Hanging Moss have in common too) too. Unless you don′t have the proper Alchemy Perk that is the "normal way it goes", Correct?

If that′s the case I guess that I understand Alchemy completely now

Thats the way it works.
If your character doesn't use magick then that is still a good potion to take,however try thisto get the same effect without the damage magick regen.

Those multiple effect potions and poison that have conflicting results are a good way to level your alchemy skill though.

AO is correct on both accounts. The latter is a good way to make money as well. Alchemy is a very powerful skill, one could argue it being the most powerful. It is by far the most versatile. I recently took quite the liking to the craft.

While followers will forego the animation for crafting, I am afraid it ends there. That is sad though. You would think they would at least use random items form their inventory.

Thanks a lot for the helpful replies!