Oil (material)

For other meanings of "Oil", please see Oil (disambiguation).

Oils are a family of chemical materials often used as a form of flammable fuel or lubricant.

Uses

In adventuring

Oil is a versatile material often employed by adventurers as lantern fuel for light or an easily thrown liquid lubricant that can also be ignited. It is often included in kits of equipment geared toward exploring dungeons, ruins, and underwater locations, and for defeating locked or barred doors.

A jetcaster can spray oil, among other materials, across a wide area. Fever grass oil treated by a shaman can repel biting insects.

In clothing

Fishing galoshes made of liquid rubber are treated with a mixture of oils and natural Arcadian materials to harden them.

In craft

Oils, as well as wax and lacquer, are sometimes used to finish wood to protect it from moisture. Oil-based paints are also used in artworks.

In cuisine

Cooking oils are used to fry foods, particularly in frying pans. Splattering hot cooking oil can be hazardous if not controlled. Oil-fried foods eaten in the Inner Sea region include reefclaw pasties and deep-fried quail eggs. It is also used to grease dishes and brown vegetables such as onions. Olive oil is particularly commonly used in the Inner Sea region, where it is also employed as dressing.

Fruits can also express oils from their skins, as is the case with orange peels squeezed to enhance cocktails such as the Carpenden Twist.

In explosives

An explosive "stump remover" conceived by Vane Oreld of Phaendar was composed of animal manure and alchemically refined lamp oil.

In lighting

Oil-fueled lanterns, lamps, and braziers are common forms of lighting. While most use various forms of lamp oil, some use viscous alchemical oils that burn slowly over a long period of time. A lantern staff bears an oil-burning lantern at its head. Those skilled in alchemy can concentrate mundane lamp oil into a form that burns more brightly.

As a lubricant

Most oils are slippery and can serve as a lubricant. Tools used by escape artists often feature specialized oils for slipping free of bonds. Oil is a typical component of kits used in firearm cleaning and maintenance, and magical immaculate holsters can instantly clean and oil a pair of firearms to mitigate the risks of a misfire.

Mechanical goods use oil to lubricate their components, and low-quality mechanical items can unpredictably leak or burn oil.

In magic

See also: Oil (magic item)

The Beacon of the North, a powerful magic item, requires a uniquely formulated oil to function.

In medicine

Some oils have medicinal uses, such as drowsy sun, which can help mitigate fatigue and improve vision. Oils are also used in massage.

In perfumes

Scented and floral oils are sometimes used in perfumes, and scented oil-soaked rags can be stuffed into the beak of a plague doctor's mask to negate the foul smells of a disease-stricken location.

In religion

Religious altars and ceremonies sometimes incorporate oils in their rites. Ifrits use oil in religious services, and fountains in Medina Mudii'a typically dispense lamp oil instead of water.

In sabotage

Oil is often used as an accelerant for arson, and Zyphen priests have employed it as a subtle form of sabotage by mixing lamp oil with varnish to coat buildings and make them more susceptible to catching fire.

In trade

Bunyips, globsters, and whales are often hunted for their blubber, which can be processed into quality oil. Dwarven settlements often do business in refining oils extracted from fish, geese, seals, and whales into lamp oils and candle waxes that produce less smoke and burn finer than others' products. Black mucky oil seeps from the ground in Cordelon, which local alchemists have refined into particularly effective lamp oil and alchemical reagents.

Kapok tree dryads of the Mwangi Expanse refine the tree's seeds into fine oils that are highly sought-after for their purportedly magical properties.

Creatures

A roiling oil.

A roiling oil is a living mixture of oil and alchemist's fire. Living graffiti are most often made from oil-based paints.

In 4399 AR, an army of constructs known as the Oil Nomads attacked Three Craters in Arcadia. Their defeat further solidified the rule of the Smog Lords, and the runoff from the destroyed constructs polluted one of the three namesake lakes, which is now known as Oilpan.

Notable types

Cardice oil is a viscous blue-hued alchemical oil that spreads on the surface of water before suddenly freezing solid enough to bear a person's weight for 20 minutes' to an hour's time. The oil itself is volatile and mildly harmful to the touch.

Keros oil is a stable, bitter-tasting oil that burns at a relatively low temperature, which makes it ideal for performers who spew mouthfuls of the oil past an open flame to ignite it. This usage also lends it the nickname of "firebreather's oil".

External links

• Oil (real-world family of materials) on Wikipedia
• Kerosene (real-world lamp and lantern oil) on Wikipedia
• Oil on Archives of Nethys for Pathfinder Second Edition
• Oil on Archives of Nethys for Pathfinder First Edition