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I'm hoping that some kind folks in the paizo forums can help me clear up how Boro Beads and Preserving Flasks interact with an Admixture Vial created extract. I'm new to the forums, so if I'm posting this in the wrong area please let me know.
Let’s start with what I think is clear:
The way each item is worded, each item creates or functions with an extract. Admixture Vial creates “one usable extract”. Boro Bead recharges “any one extract mixed and then consumed that day”. Preserving Flask causes “an extract” to remain potent until it is consumed or otherwise removed from the flask.
Past that, everything gets a little muddier. Boro Bead and Preserving Flask are each fairly clear on how they work and the fact that they only work on a specific level of extract.
Admixture Vial, however, is somewhat unclear on how it functions and what level of extract it creates. While I am interested in exactly how an Admixture Vial works, I don't want to distract from my main question of how it works in conjunction with Preserving Flasks and Boro Beads. In interest of determining that, I've written out different possibilities for how the Admixture Vial works ad then put forth ideas on how that interpretation in conjunction with the other two items and I'd like input on if my interpretations are correct or incorrect.
Possibility a) Admixture Vial combines two extracts. The new extract is an extract equal to the highest level extract used in the process. I think you put this in a Preserving Flask of the appropriate level, since Preserving Flask just asks that you use an extract.
I don think you can recharge the combined extract OR the individual extracts combined to make the Admixtured extract with a Boro Bead. I don’t think combining counts as having “mixed” that day. My interpretation is that “mixed” broken down in game terms is “having prepared into a slot”. I also think the combined extract is technically a new extract, meaning its components were never “consumed” that day. My interpretation is that "consumed" broken down in game terms is “having imbibed to ‘cast’” and not “used as something resembling a material component for this new extract” even if that new extract that will then be "consumed" with all the effects of the extracts "mixed". You can’t use the Boro Bead’s sister item Pearl of Power to recharge a spell expended for something like Divine Interference - the spell explicitly has to be cast. I believe that similarly if you have not “cast” that specific extract, it does not qualify for Boro Bead recharging.
Possibility b) Admixture Vial combines two extracts. The new extract is an extract with a level to the highest level extract used plus two (intuited from the reference to Combine Extracts in the Admixture vial text). Functionally the same as possibility a), will need a higher level Preserving Flask.
Possibility c) Admixture Vial functions exactly as the Combine Extracts discovery and actually combines formulae rather than the extracts mentioned in its text. This creates a clearly defined level of extract and works with both Boro Beads and Preserving Flask, no question.
Possibility d) Admixture Vial functions similarly to the Combine Extracts discovery but uses extracts in the place of formulae (level 1 extract plus level 1 extract prepares a level 3 extract into a level 3 slot). This works with Preserving Flask due to the clearly defined level. It should work with a Boro Bead for the Admixtured extract, since it has been prepared into a slot but not for the component extracts due to the reasons outlined in possibility a)
Possibility e) Admixture Vial creates an extract that that is considered to simultaneously be each extract level of its component extracts. The Admixtured extract can be used with a Preserving Flask if both extracts are the same level and can’t be used with a Boro Bead for the reasons outlined in possibility a). This seems pretty unlikely but I'm trying to be thorough.
You might have also noticed that each possibility allows Admixtured extracts to work with a Preserving Flask. If you have a good reason why that isn't the case, I really want to read it.
I'd like answers on if the possibilities outlined follow the rules and opinions on which possibility is the most likely to be correct. Or answers on if any of them are definitely incorrect - I tried to cover all the possibilities of how Admixture Vial *could* work but if any of them don't mesh with the rules, less variance on a relatively commonly recommended item's function is good.
I have no idea, but I'm commenting because I'm hoping someone else shows up and does...