Classes
Class refers to your character’s choice of adventuring profession.
RPG Series
Illustrations by the inimitable Julie Dillon.
PERFUME OIL BLENDS
Presented in an amber apothecary vial
“You all meet at an inn…
Pen and paper role-playing games have been a tremendous influence in my life since my formative years. My parents bought me the magenta D&D boxed set back in 1982, along with the Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Monster Manual. My lifelong passion for fantasy, science fiction, war games, and mythology was well-channeled through RPGs, and I credit playing D&D with helping me sustain my imagination and sense of wonder through adulthood.
I played with one particular group through the bulk of my late teens and early 20s, and this series was inspired, specifically, by the time that we spent campaigning together. Our group was somewhat prop-driven in our gaming: we felt that setting a mood was conducive to our style of gameplay. Little things like changes in lighting, minor sound effects, and music made a world of difference, and we found that utilizing miniatures, model railroad scenery, and other tools in order to physically illustrate strategies and provide visual cues was tremendously useful. How much more immersive would it have been if we’d been able to smell the crypt we were crawling through? Or the stench of steel and blood that permeates a warrior’s cloak? What do the wizard’s spell components smell like? What does winter in the desert smell like? Or spring in a druid’s sanctuary?
Pen and paper role playing games are, to me, dynamic stories that are propelled by the active participation of many individuals. You can’t have a strong storyline without creating characters of some depth. When you create a character, you generally have their personalities, priorities, and history in mind, along with a clear vision of what your character looks and sounds like. But how does she smell? What does the world around her smell like?
In most pen and paper fantasy RPGs, three of the primary attributes that you must choose for your character are race, class, and alignment. Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s RPG scent series was designed to emulate the character creation process, and are meant to be layered in order to create a character concept. In short: you layer your class, race, and the two fragrances that compose your alignment to construct your character scent. RPGs in all their myriad forms – CRPGs, MMOs, and old school pen and paper – have brought me immeasurable joy. This is my homage. This series is dedicated to my first DMs – my parents – for laughing off the nutter-perpetuated AD&D Satan Scare of the 80’s. Thanks for taking the time to play with your little girl. I miss you, and I love you.
Updated Autumn 2019! –
Customize your perfect character scent! Our RPG collection has now expanded to include six more character classes – each available in three different labels, featuring different gender options in the artwork. Just select whichever you want from the product’s drop-down menu: F, M, or NB. The scents available with the new label options: Artificer, Assassin, Berzerker, Monk, Psionicist, and Sorcerer.
The scent isn’t affected; the only difference is the label art.
This feature will be coming soon to all the rest of the previous blends! Many thanks to Julie Dillon for the illustrations!
Jahmiah –
Received this as a frimp with my last order. I love the rpg series, so was excited to have another one in my collection. It is a sweet incense smell, with dragons blood and leather being the dominant notes. The juniper hangs in the background making it fresh, and a little cool. It reminds me of Ranger but more sweet/incense instead of woodsy/leather. I would wear this on an outdoor adventure when you want to be ‘fumed but also want something subtle and close to the skin. Long lasting with low throw. I like it even though it’s not what I expected!
jessikanon –
Berzerker is quite the morpher on me. It starts as an evergreen forest/musk scent. I don’t know what furs are supposed to smell like, but there’s a warm and animalistic undercurrent. As it dries, there is a leather stage (still woodsy). I was disappointed that the blood and metal were nowhere to be seen, but then… Once dry, upon sniffing closely, a VERY realistic blood note punched me on the face. This phase smells just like dried blood or metal, with the forest/leather cloud right behind it (think a silver pendant that has been worn and keeps the lingering scent of the owner’s perfume). An hour later, no blood, kinda incensey, kinda metallic, mostly woodsy.
This is more wearable than I thought, but not an everyday scent for me. The blood, although only noticeable from up close, is a bit too unnerving.
Emily Stamets –
Wet, I get a LOT of herb- the juniper and poplar bud take center stage.
As it dries, there is a warm spice explosion (clove, sweet Saigon cinnamon). This transitions into a bright herb again as the juniper reassert itself.
It smells like a fancy spa where they use all plant-derived cleaning products and diffuse welcoming warm scents.
Sadly, this only lasts about an hour on me before completely disappearing, but if I ever want an hourlong escape, I’ll just dab some on my wrist and take a lovely nose journey.
I combined this with Black Forest, which goes sweet with green effervescence on me, and after drying down, my wrist smelled like a vanilla spice cake for an hour.