Introduction
Alchemy is a great skill to have for the PvMer, PvPer, or obvious Merchant. Some folks choose not to carry potions on a PvMer. I say screw that, potions are especially good against some of the more difficult monsters that inhabit the lands of UO. Greater Cures and Greater Heals I always carry into dungeons because they can be incredibly useful. Using potions in PvP can give your warrior the upper hand via Greater Strengths and Greater Agilities. And a merchant can make a fair amount of money selling potions or the coveted potion kegs. I sold these on two vendors for a good amount of time. But be prepared to spend some time buying regs, because your potions will sell. Eventually I stopped selling potions and just stuck to selling kegs and made a fair amount of gold doing that.

Overview
Alchemy is a really easy skill to GM especially due to the advent of power hour. I have heard of folks GMing it within a week. And with a nice amount of regs I consider it truly viable. I recommend using Alchemy on a mule character. There is no need to have this skill on a Mage or Warrior type character. At one time, Alchemy was a famous skill among Fisherman. But when they made it to where fisherman had to kill to get the SOS and Maps it was less popular. Alchemy is EXTREMELY important if you choose to GM Poisoning eventually.

Macroing
First things first, unattended macroing is frowned upon by OSI and could lead to the loss of you're account, so don't do it. If you choose to Attend Macro your Alchemy skill (which I HIGHLY recommend) then do what you can to get UOAssist. This handy little utility will not only help you with Alchemy, it is wonderful with many different uses in UO as well. There are two different ways to macro Alchemy. Both can be a little bit of a pain. If you choose to fill bottles, Macroing can be fairly easy. The problem lies in taking all of them bottles and filling up kegs. I believe Kegs should be a necessity if you are going to work this skill. Storing 1 keg is far easier on lockdowns or bank space than 100 bottles. In case you didn't know a keg holds 100 bottles of potion. A good way to macro this is to "charge" your mortars. All mortars remember what the last potion they made was. So if you make a GA. Next time just double click that mortar, and retarget the mortar again vice the regs. It will automatically make the last potion type that was made with that mortar. The other way to macro is to use your mortar and then target a keg. But if you fail then you will not get a target cursor. How I combat this is by using the hiding skill within the macro. This way if you fail at making the potion, the hiding skill will interrupt the Alchemy portion of the macro so you will not miss any attempts. I know it sounds confusing, but when done properly the macro looks like this:

Use Item (Charged Mortar #1)
Target (Charged Mortar #1)
Target (Keg)
Use Skill (Hiding)

Or if you wish to fill your pack with a large amount of empty bottles use this version that uses 4 mortars. Depending on your lag, you may have to adjust this somewhat. Using 4 mortars setup 4 UOA Macros:

Macro #1 (Mortar #1)
Use Item (Charged Mortar #1)
Target (Charged Mortar #1)

Macro #2 (Mortar #2)
Use Item (Charged Mortar #2)
Target (Charged Mortar #2)

Macro #3 (Mortar #3)
Use Item (Charged Mortar #3)
Target (Charged Mortar #3)

Macro #4 (Mortar #4)
Use Item (Charged Mortar #4)
Target (Charged Mortar #4)

It may take a little bit to get the feel, but once you get it, you can churn out some bottles. I use those four macros with my F1-F4 keys. Then I just fire them off with my left hand in that order, by the time you hit #4, #1 should be done. Then just hit them again. Make sure that you have a stack of about 100 empty bottles in your pack. and enough regs to satisfy the requirements for that many potions, including failures.

Skill Gain
Below you will find what to make at what level. I.e. At 50 Skill make Explosion potions, they cost 5 SA per potion made.

Skill Level: 50
What to make: Explosion
Reagents Needed: 5 Sulphurous Ash

Skill Level: 64
What to make: Greater Strength
Reagents Needed: 5 Mandrake Root

Skill Level: 72
What to make: Greater Poison
Reagents Needed: 4 Nightshade

Skill Level: 80
What to make: Greater Heal
Reagents Needed: 7 Ginseng

Skill Level: 90
What to make: Greater Cure
Reagents Needed: 5 Garlic

As you are making these potions you can choose what you wish to do with all of them. Explosions are pretty much a waste unless they are Greater, so get rid of them. GS, GH, and GC you can keep to use for your own characters or you can sell them. GP I would keep a hold of for Poisoning, you WILL need them for that skill.

Miscellaneous Information
A Greater Heal potion is just that. If you make it at 90 skill or 100 skill there is NO difference in the potion strength. This skill is not like Smithing or Tailoring. Where GM equipment is better than regular. Another important note is that this skill is a Craftsman skill, i.e. It's not movement based. So work it in your house or at the bank, but there is no need to 8x8 it or anything crazy like that. I have heard too many arguments over 8x8ing this skill. Trust me, get nice and cozy in your house or at the bank, and work the skill. You will do just fine.

Conclusion
Well that's it. A skill that isn't very hard to work. All it takes is regs; I would say 200k worth and about 5 Power Hours. Last time I GM'd this skill was late last year so I may be a little bit off. But on Gators skill scale of 1-10. 1=suckiest 10=cheesy I give this skill an 8. Mainly because dealing with all of them bottles are a pain at times.