Careers in WFRP1e and 2e - the Alchemist's Apprentice

 The second basic career in WFRP 1e, the Alchemist's Apprentice, is an interesting case study in conversion between WFRP 1e and 2e.  The Alchemist career archetype was removed from 2e, that conceptual space being given to Wizards from the Lore of Metal tradition.  That being so, the Alchemist's Apprentice became simply a Wizard's Apprentice.  I think there is something of a flavour loss here, since the 1e Alchemist wasn't quite a wizard, but something more akin to a chemist with some magic, although I will agree that the skills framework of 1e only supported this idea so far (but so far was definitely more than 'nothing' in this context).  If we wish to re-work the 1e Alchemist Apprentice or create a 2e Alchemist Apprentice, how might we approach this?

One potential approach might be to add some of the skills from the Artisan's Apprentice and the Wizard's Apprentice and perhaps the Student to the 1e Alchemist's Apprentice but perhaps with some lower percentage chances of acquiring the same skills.  For example, the current career:

Skills: Brewing, Evaluate, Read/Write, 50% chance of Chemistry

Could become:

Skills: Brewing, Evaluate, Read/Write, 50% chance of Arcane Language - Magick, 50% chance of Chemistry, 50% chance of Drive Cart, 50% chance of Secret Language - Classical, 25% chance of Scroll Lore, 10% chance of Consume Alcohol, 10% chance of Very Resilient, 10% chance of Very Strong, 5% chance of Astronomy, 5% chance of Identify Plants, 5% chance of Numismatics, 5% chance of Speak Additional Language

Again, this one has at least a fair shake at being a much more useful character.  It might be best I think to increase the chance of Chemistry to 75% in the above case.  An option that I have omitted is for a 50% chance of Cast Spells - Petty, because the character couldn't use it even if they got the skill (because they would have no magic points); similarly, at least one point would be required to use Scroll Lore, so that might have been better off being omitted also. Even if most of the "chance of" rolls come up unlucky, then the character can relatively easily purchase with XP some very useful skills early on.  

Incidentally, the above reminds me of how unclear the rules regarding scrolls actually are; I think that the logic of the skill entry and the magical item entry together make the requirements as follows:

Can read the language in which the scroll is written

Has the Scroll Lore skill

Can cast the 'type' of magic of the spell(s) written on the scroll.  So, an apprentice with Cast Spells - Petty Magic cannot cast a Level 1 Battle Magic spell from a scroll, but a Wizard with Cast Spells - Battle 1 can cast a Level 4 Battle Magic spell from a scroll.

Has at least 1 Magic Point

I am reasonably sure that is what the rules say; I am far less sure that is what the authors intended...it is important though, because Dwarf and Halfling Wizards are going to be well-advised to use scrolls as their primary means of spellcasting until they have reached levels 2 or 3 in wizardry (if they ever do)...anyway, as they say, I digress!

Moving the other way into 2e will be done in the future, since it makes no sense to look at the Alchemist's Apprentice without looking at the Alchemist...