D20 Alchemist
Alchemists specialize in preparing all manner of pharmaceutical substances; medicines in both pills or draughts, salves, ointments to sell to patients and physicians alike. This is along with being capable of making various toxins and chemical agents that can be used in all manner of other deeds both upstanding and more...nefarious, though these are generally kept 'hush-hush'. Their workshops are what you would expect, bubbling beakers, notes all around, worn mortar and pestles, chemicals and ingredients all about on shelves with prices listed, and a thin haze all about. A bittersweet chemical smell clings to everything, which is not unexpected. Alchemists, as hinted at, some of them will supplement their income with more....illicit activities, though if you ask one of them, what they are doing isn't illegal. After all, they don't know the intentions of their clients and that is not their job! They are also known to occasionally dabble in the drug trades, though this is exceedingly high risk, especially various stronger hallucinogenic substances, as these are highly illicit. It used to be seen that alchemists were direct competition to the Physician's College and their guild, but for the last three hundred years they had become seen more as the manufacturer side of medicine, the idea being it allows the physician to focus on the actual doctoring, without needing to spend extra years learning all the complex chemistry involved in making various medicines, salves and ointments, they simply need to learn what they are and what they treat so they could ask for it by name. As this idea became accepted continent wide, finally a hundred years ago, alchemists were officially recognized. The guild is yet young, so very strongly and aggressively defending their rights, pushing into every city and town they can. They can be ruthless as a guild is want to be for its members, if they catch someone unlicensed practicing the craft.
As to how an alchemist ends up on an adventure, well there are many rare and difficult to find ingredients, and as such they are expensive. So alchemists oft have money problems or a need to go out to a particular place to acquire and harvest some more of a particular ingredient. Many will also take, on occasion, temporary employment with expeditions, mercenaries or even military groups for extra coin.
Role: Within a party, an Alchemist can kind of provide all manner of benefits, a bit of healing, buffing, and damage, all depending on their concoctions of choice, and which fields of speciality they take in which order by level. They also have that base bit of healing of course, in their stim that scales by levels, one of their main abilities, though it is limited in its uses per day.
Career
Qualifications
Class Skills: Appraise, Bluff, Consume Alcohol, Craft (Alchemy), Diplomacy, Gossip, Heal, Intimidate, Knowledge (Chemistry), Knowledge (Plants), Knowledge (Medicine), Knowledge (Science), Perception, Research, Ride (Equine or Swine), Sense Motive, Survival, Use Magick Device
Career Progression
| Level | Base Action Bonus | Fort Save | Reflex Save | Will Save | Class Features | 1st Focus Concoctions/Day | 2nd Focus Concoctions/Day | 3rd Focus Concoctions/Day | 4th Focus Concoctions/Day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | +0 | +2 | +2 | +0 | Stim 1d4, Concoctions, 1st Alchemical Focus | 3 | - | - | - |
| 2 | +1 | +3 | +3 | +0 | Poison Resistance +2, Advanced Formulae 1 | 4 | - | - | - |
| 3 | +2 | +3 | +3 | +1 | Stim 2d4, Swift Alchemy | 5 | - | - | - |
| 4 | +3 | +4 | +4 | +1 | Master Formulae 1, Limited Bonus Feat | 6 | - | - | - |
| 5 | +3 | +4 | +4 | +1 | Stim 3d4 Poison Resistance +4, 2nd Alchemical Focus | 7 | 1 | - | - |
| 6/td] | +4/td] | +5/td] | +5/td] | +2/td] | Advanced Formulae 2, Skill Focus (Any class skill of choice) Bonus Feat | 8 | 2 | - | - |
| 7 | +5 | +5 | +5 | +2 | Stim 4d4 | 8 | 3 | - | - |
| 8 | +6/+1 | +6 | +6 | +2 | Poison Resistance +6 | 9 | 4 | - | - |
| 9 | +6/+1 | +6 | +6 | +3 | Master Formulae 2, Stim 5d4 | 9 | 5 | - | - |
| 10 | +7/+2 | +7 | +7 | +3 | Poison Immunity, 3rd Alchemical Focus | 9 | 5 | 1 | - |
| 11 | +8/+3 | +7 | +7 | +3 | Stim 6d4, Advanced Formulae 3 | 9 | 6 | 2 | - |
| 12 | +9/+4 | +8 | +8 | +4 | Bonus Feat | 10 | 7 | 3 | - |
| 13 | +9/+4 | +8 | +8 | +4 | Stim 7d4 | 10 | 8 | 4 | - |
| 14 | +10/+5 | +9 | +9 | +4 | Master Formulae 3 | 10 | 9 | 4 | - |
| 15 | +11/+6/+1 | +9 | +9 | +5 | 4th Alchemical Focus, Stim 8d4 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 1 |
| 16 | +12/+7/+2 | +10 | +10 | +5 | Advanced Formulae 4 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 2 |
| 17 | +12/+7/+2 | +10 | +10 | +5 | Stim 9d4 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 3 |
| 18 | +13/+8/+3 | +11 | +11 | +6 | Instant Alchemy | 10 | 10 | 8 | 4 |
| 19 | +14/+9/+4 | +11 | +11 | +6 | Stim 10d4, Master Formulae 4 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 4 |
| 20 | +15/+10/+5 | +12 | +12 | +6 | Grandmaster of Alchemy | 10 | 10 | 10 | 5 |
Other Benefits
Stim An alchemist knows how to make a variety of chemicals to stimulate the body and mind, and this is of course their primary ability, one that is the natural dictate of their profession. Whether it be college students needing pick me ups for a hard night of cramming, or a fist fighter going into the sand circle looking for a bit of an edge, or indeed, a companion whom has been hurt needing a bit of a boost to stay in the fight, to hold on until it is safe to give them proper medical attention, alchemist stims have a variety of uses. An alchemist may use this ability a number of times a day equal to their 1+Alchemist level+Intelligence Modifier. Upon declaring to use it, they must choose one of the following four that is the substance they are having their target inject or ingest, however they wish to describe it;
Adrenal Root Extract: This heightens the ability to focus and the awakefulness of the person it is given to. It lasts a 10 minutes/alchemist level and grants them a boost equal to the dice rolled on all skill checks.
Hemlock Ichor: This substance, though many know hemlock as a toxin, when treated properly it is actually a powerful nerve medicine. The target gains temp hitpoints equal to the dice rolled, these last for 1 minute/alchemist level and are eaten through first, which means when they fade, unless the target took more damage than the temp hitpoints, they are at full hp.
Mugswort Powder: This compound, rubbed on cuts and wounds, can help provide some relief to bleeding and pain. Target you use this on immediately heals an amount of hp equal to your roll of the d4s.
Willow sap extract: This particular substance, if injected, once cured properly by a skilled alchemist, will provide a temporary boost to alertness, immune resistance, and reaction speed. It lasts for rounds=alchemist level and grants the target a bonus equal to the dice rolled to Initiative rolls and Saves.
Concoctions: An alchemist is a bit like a caster, though of course nothing they are doing is magick, for that, without a magister's license, would be heresy, of course. Any alchemist worth their gold will keep any number of concoctions at the ready, fully or mostly mixed and ready to use on their person, in their pack or what have you, at all times. These are represented in the Concoctons/Day columns of the table.
Alchemical Focus: An alchemist will naturally develop their skills in the various fields and disciplines of alchemy at different rates over time. At 1st level, they must pick one of the four fields of alchemy to be their speciality. They will only be able to use these alchemical concoctions until they advance further into their class. At 5th level, and then again at 10th and 15th level, an alchemist will pick up another focus, another field of discipline within alchemy. The four fields are listed briefly here, to give you an idea what they do. If you wish to understand further, simply go look at each section under 'Alchemical Devices'
Bombs: As the simple name might suggest, these are various recipes and concoctions meant to cause explosions of various kinds. There is a further nuance to many of them, but the base point of large amounts of AOE damage with some crowd control factors is the sort of thing one should expect.
Mutagens: These power chemicals are used to grant people temporarily, of course, abilities they would otherwise never be capable of having, inspired by (and often using part of) various beasts and creatures one may meet in the wilds of Valerick. These chemicals are quite powerful, it is noted, and almost all of them risk poisoning the user unless they are of a particularly strong and hardy constitution. But they offer quite notable powers for those whom can injest such things.
Oils: These are toxins of a kind, meant to be applied to the blades of weapons, the tips of arrowheads, or carefully used in specially made bullets for firearms. They are generally targeted to a particular sort of beast, a family if you will.
Potions: The most versatile and flexible, potions may lack the punch of Oils, the impressive boosts offered by Mutagens, or the raw destructive force of Bombs, but they provide a wide ranging variety of notable, if middling benefits, and one will never find themselves out of business or without options if one decides to be a potion maker.
Poison Resistance: An alchemist works with chemicals, so it stands to reason they would eventually develop some level of resistance to worldly toxins, perhaps even immunities, though such an idea may seem ludicrious on its face. At 2nd level, an alchemist gains +2 to any save against poison. This increases to +4 at 5th level, +6 at 8th level, and does become flat out immunity at 10th level.
Advanced Formulae: At 2nd level, an alchemist may add one listed advanced trait to any alchemical concoctions of their first focus that they have decided is their prepared concoctions for the day. They must make this decision when picking their concoctions for the day, not on the fly. They gain this ability for their 2nd focus at 6th level, and for their 3rd focus at 11th level and for their final focus at 16th level.
Swift Alchemy: At third level, an alchemist may, if they can take but an hour to do so, replenish a number of concoctions in each focus they have equal to their Intelligence Modifier. They may only do this once per day, however. Besides this they need a full rest to replenish.
Master Formulae: At 4th level, an alchemist has truly come into their own in their primary focus. They may put two advanced traits on any concoction of their first focus when picking it. They gain this ability for their second focus at level 9, their third focus at level 14, and their final focus at level 19
Limited Bonus Feat: By fourth level an alchemist has been interacting with all manner of dangerous, volatile, toxic, and mind altering substances for so long that they will have developed some impressive resistance in some way. They choose to gain one of the Great Fortitude, Lightning Reflexes or Iron Will Feats as a bonus feat.
Skill Focus (Any Class Skill) Bonus Feat: At sixth level an alchemist may choose one skill focus feat for one of their class skills and they gain it as a free bonus feat.
Instant Alchemy: At level 18 an alchemist is so good at their craft, they can augment their concoctions on the fly, and are almost super human in their speed and skill in their craft. An alchemist only needs to an uninterrupted hour to recover all their concoctions (though they cannot swap any out, they merely can remake those theyd chosen during their last long rest) and they can add advanced traits to a concoction in the action of using it, for their mastery includes keeping prepared and ready to add mixtures and powders of those special ingredients stable and safe and ready to add in a pinch.
Grandmaster of Alchemy: At 20th level, an alchemist has reached a level of knowledge that is almost implausible. They no longer need to choose their concoctions, they simply on the fly, have the knowledge and skill to have their ingredients prepped and available in such a way that they may just add them into the base fluids for whichever discipline and almost seemingly as if magick, though it is not, it is merely raw nearly godlike skill, in an instant, mix whatever compound they need. They no longer function as a selective and prepared 'caster' but instead merely know their recipes and may utilize them as many times as they have concoctions for that focus.
Adrenal Root Extract: This heightens the ability to focus and the awakefulness of the person it is given to. It lasts a 10 minutes/alchemist level and grants them a boost equal to the dice rolled on all skill checks.
Hemlock Ichor: This substance, though many know hemlock as a toxin, when treated properly it is actually a powerful nerve medicine. The target gains temp hitpoints equal to the dice rolled, these last for 1 minute/alchemist level and are eaten through first, which means when they fade, unless the target took more damage than the temp hitpoints, they are at full hp.
Mugswort Powder: This compound, rubbed on cuts and wounds, can help provide some relief to bleeding and pain. Target you use this on immediately heals an amount of hp equal to your roll of the d4s.
Willow sap extract: This particular substance, if injected, once cured properly by a skilled alchemist, will provide a temporary boost to alertness, immune resistance, and reaction speed. It lasts for rounds=alchemist level and grants the target a bonus equal to the dice rolled to Initiative rolls and Saves.
Concoctions: An alchemist is a bit like a caster, though of course nothing they are doing is magick, for that, without a magister's license, would be heresy, of course. Any alchemist worth their gold will keep any number of concoctions at the ready, fully or mostly mixed and ready to use on their person, in their pack or what have you, at all times. These are represented in the Concoctons/Day columns of the table.
Alchemical Focus: An alchemist will naturally develop their skills in the various fields and disciplines of alchemy at different rates over time. At 1st level, they must pick one of the four fields of alchemy to be their speciality. They will only be able to use these alchemical concoctions until they advance further into their class. At 5th level, and then again at 10th and 15th level, an alchemist will pick up another focus, another field of discipline within alchemy. The four fields are listed briefly here, to give you an idea what they do. If you wish to understand further, simply go look at each section under 'Alchemical Devices'
Bombs: As the simple name might suggest, these are various recipes and concoctions meant to cause explosions of various kinds. There is a further nuance to many of them, but the base point of large amounts of AOE damage with some crowd control factors is the sort of thing one should expect.
Mutagens: These power chemicals are used to grant people temporarily, of course, abilities they would otherwise never be capable of having, inspired by (and often using part of) various beasts and creatures one may meet in the wilds of Valerick. These chemicals are quite powerful, it is noted, and almost all of them risk poisoning the user unless they are of a particularly strong and hardy constitution. But they offer quite notable powers for those whom can injest such things.
Oils: These are toxins of a kind, meant to be applied to the blades of weapons, the tips of arrowheads, or carefully used in specially made bullets for firearms. They are generally targeted to a particular sort of beast, a family if you will.
Potions: The most versatile and flexible, potions may lack the punch of Oils, the impressive boosts offered by Mutagens, or the raw destructive force of Bombs, but they provide a wide ranging variety of notable, if middling benefits, and one will never find themselves out of business or without options if one decides to be a potion maker.
Poison Resistance: An alchemist works with chemicals, so it stands to reason they would eventually develop some level of resistance to worldly toxins, perhaps even immunities, though such an idea may seem ludicrious on its face. At 2nd level, an alchemist gains +2 to any save against poison. This increases to +4 at 5th level, +6 at 8th level, and does become flat out immunity at 10th level.
Advanced Formulae: At 2nd level, an alchemist may add one listed advanced trait to any alchemical concoctions of their first focus that they have decided is their prepared concoctions for the day. They must make this decision when picking their concoctions for the day, not on the fly. They gain this ability for their 2nd focus at 6th level, and for their 3rd focus at 11th level and for their final focus at 16th level.
Swift Alchemy: At third level, an alchemist may, if they can take but an hour to do so, replenish a number of concoctions in each focus they have equal to their Intelligence Modifier. They may only do this once per day, however. Besides this they need a full rest to replenish.
Master Formulae: At 4th level, an alchemist has truly come into their own in their primary focus. They may put two advanced traits on any concoction of their first focus when picking it. They gain this ability for their second focus at level 9, their third focus at level 14, and their final focus at level 19
Limited Bonus Feat: By fourth level an alchemist has been interacting with all manner of dangerous, volatile, toxic, and mind altering substances for so long that they will have developed some impressive resistance in some way. They choose to gain one of the Great Fortitude, Lightning Reflexes or Iron Will Feats as a bonus feat.
Skill Focus (Any Class Skill) Bonus Feat: At sixth level an alchemist may choose one skill focus feat for one of their class skills and they gain it as a free bonus feat.
Instant Alchemy: At level 18 an alchemist is so good at their craft, they can augment their concoctions on the fly, and are almost super human in their speed and skill in their craft. An alchemist only needs to an uninterrupted hour to recover all their concoctions (though they cannot swap any out, they merely can remake those theyd chosen during their last long rest) and they can add advanced traits to a concoction in the action of using it, for their mastery includes keeping prepared and ready to add mixtures and powders of those special ingredients stable and safe and ready to add in a pinch.
Grandmaster of Alchemy: At 20th level, an alchemist has reached a level of knowledge that is almost implausible. They no longer need to choose their concoctions, they simply on the fly, have the knowledge and skill to have their ingredients prepped and available in such a way that they may just add them into the base fluids for whichever discipline and almost seemingly as if magick, though it is not, it is merely raw nearly godlike skill, in an instant, mix whatever compound they need. They no longer function as a selective and prepared 'caster' but instead merely know their recipes and may utilize them as many times as they have concoctions for that focus.
Type
Research / Scientific
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