Tonics

This information is reliable as of patch 2.0.199.7. If this is no longer the current patch, you can help by updating it.

This information is reliable as of patch 2.0.199.7.

Tonics are consumable items that can apply a variety of effects upon being used on the player or another creature. All tonics with the exception of luminous hoarshrooms come in the form of injectors.

In the game world, tonics that are applied via injector are artifacts in the sense that their design is a relic of another time and culture. Because of this, they are unidentified to new characters (unless a character starts with one of that tonic in their inventory). As well, they work differently on the physiology of True Kin and mutants, with mutants receiving weakened effects.

The Horticulturist caste starts with a selection of tonic injectors.

List of tonics

• blaze injector
• Eaters' nectar injector
• hulk honey injector
• love injector
• rubbergum injector
• salve injector
• shade oil injector
• skulk injector
• sphynx salt injector
• ubernostrum injector
• luminous hoarshroom

Tonic Colors

Injector-type tonics generate with random sprite colors and unidentified descriptions during each playthrough. The player must determine which injector is which during each new playthrough.

The possible unidentified injector sprites and descriptions are:

a small milky tube

a small smokey tube

a small turquoise tube

a small cobalt tube

a small violet tube

a small rosey tube

a small mossy tube

a small muddy tube

a small gold-flecked tube

a small platinum tube

An unidentified empty injector is always described as:

a cracked tube

Making tonics

The player character can learn to make the injector-type tonics through Tinkering, in the same way as other artifacts. Each tonic injector requires some scrap and one special ingredient to build.

Simultaneous tonics

There is a limit to the number of simultaneous tonics that a creature can take without risking an adverse reaction. By default, the limit is one active tonic effect. The Juicer skill increases this limit by one. In addition to this limit, Mutant characters always have a chance of an adverse reaction just from taking a tonic.

Adverse reactions

If a creature takes a tonic while already at their limit, they must make a Toughness save (difficulty 16 + 3 per tonic over limit) for each pre-existing active tonic effect. If any of these saves fail, a reaction occurs and the player will receive the message: "The tonics you ingested react adversely to each other."

Mutants also have a 5% base chance of an adverse reaction whenever they take a tonic. For mutants with the Tonic Allergy (D) defect, this chance is increased to 33%. If a reaction occurs, the player will receive the message: "Your mutant physiology reacts adversely to the tonic."

When an adverse reaction occurs, the ingested tonic's effect is cancelled and its overdose effect is applied instead.

Tonic	Overdose effect
blaze injector	The creature is set on fire, i.e., their temperature is set to 200° over the temperature at which they normally burn (unless they already exceeded that).
Eaters' nectar injector	Does not cause overdose at all.
hulk honey injector	The creature temporarily gains Nerve Poppy (D) and enters a state of enraged confusion.
luminous hoarshroom	The creature is frozen, i.e., their temperature is set to 20° under their brittle temperature (unless they already fell short of that).
love injector	Same effect as blaze injector.
rubbergum injector	There is a 35% chance each turn for the creature to go prone, as long as they aren't flying.
salve injector	No special effect.
shade oil injector	Between one and three shadow versions of the creature spawn in the same zone, much the same as with Evil Twin (D).
skulk injector	The creature is blinded for 21–30 turns.
sphynx salt injector	All of the creature's mental mutations go on cooldown for 200 turns (unless they already exceeded that).
ubernostrum injector	No special effect.

Cooking

Tonics can be preserved into ingredients with the cooking system. This allows their effects to be used in recipes and meals.

Applying Tonics to Creatures

Any tonic can be applied to other creatures by equipping it in the player’s primary hand and attacking, firing it from a booster gun or dart gun, or throwing it, assuming the attack hits and penetrates. Alternately, many creatures will use available tonics in combat, or any source of Domination can let the player apply it as them directly.