Welcome to the forums, Shug!
There is an
ALCHEMY SPOILER THREAD that might help you.
There are keys for most things. Lockpicking is fairly popular though. It depends on how much you want to search. You need it to complete a side-quest later in the game.
Swords are plentiful later in the game. And the other expertises (including shield) are broken. Only Sword and Bow work properly.
You can drain life with weapon enhancements and I've heard only one case of being able to drain mana.
Each colour is a different level of magic. There is a list somewhere else in the forum, I'm not sure where though. They don't mean much overall.
Almost all items in
Divine Divinity are random, even those critical to the story. You could find lists where to find them, but their statistics will always be random.
The charms come in four different levels, Green, Red, Silver and Gold, and can boost your attributes or resistances.
Lots of luck! Have Fun.
