The Alchemist's Lab

[Q. Flestrin]

Hello and welcome! Here is a place for discussion of Craft (alchemy) and alchemical items. I have two points off the bat.
CATHARSIS ALERT: Something that has always rankled me is that to make alchemical items you have to be a spellcaster. I think that you should just have to have the lab. I myself could theoretically buy the ingredients for a version of alchemists' fire and mix them up at home, and I don't even have class levels. Any thoughts on either whether this sounds reasonable or why WoTC didn't think of this?
New alchemical item: the harmonic stone. I've always been bugged at the fact that you can find all energy types except sonic in the alchemy department. (Eberron's alchemy department, at least.) The thunderstone uses sound but only deafens. The harmonic stone is a remedy: simply put, it deals the damage of alchemist's fire but with sonic energy. It works like a thunderstone but instead of a deafening sound, it sends out a harmonic pulse that disrupts materials, similar to the destrachan except nonspecialized. Thoughts?

[Madara]

I think my favorite Alchemical item has to be Shapesand. That said, Craft(Alchemy) is probably the best skill, especially in low-magic settings or E6. Shax's indespensible handback features a lot of really nice Alchemic items.

[Saidoro]

Use magic device is the best skill, followed somewhat distantly by iajutsu focus and autohypnosis. Craft(Alchemy) is a useful cost reducer at low levels but really looses its impact later on when those costs become trivial.

Craft alchemy requires you to be a spellcaster because back in 3.0 it wasn't part of craft but rather a separate skill called alchemy. And 3.0 had this terrible rule where only certain classes could take certain skills which got grandfathered in in this one specific case and absolutely no where else. You would be well within your rights as a DM to remove that restriction and, in fact, I would encourage you to do so.
The item seems fine, it would need to be priced a bit higher than the others due to sonic being a superior damage type but that's about it.

[Ranting Fool]

I don't remember spawning any other ranting creatures but then again you never know as I've been drunk more then once in my life :smallbiggrin:

I've often had NPC alchemists who have no spell casting, never been an issue in my games as all my players accept this as fact and go "So..... what bits of monsters do you buy":smallbiggrin:

[Saidoro]

I wasn't aware I needed anyone else's permission to rant.:smallwink:

And here I was thinking that nerdrage was a free, naturally accessible resource which belongs to no one and anyone could do with as they please. Like oxygen. Or copyrighted music. :smalltongue:

[White_Drake]

Have you looked at the Alchemist class in Pathfinder? <3

[Rejakor]

My favourite kind of alchemy is mad science.

I've always just been too lazy to put together a unified system for all the mad science stuff so that you could have mad science in DnD.

[Q. Flestrin]

Okay! Thanks for posting, everyone. There are a few things that I'd like to address:

I think my favorite Alchemical item has to be Shapesand.
I don't recognize this item. What is it?

Shax's indespensible handback features a lot of really nice Alchemic items.
Merely asking so I don't goof up Google looking for it... you meant "indispensable handbook", didn't you?

Craft alchemy requires you to be a spellcaster because back in 3.0 it wasn't part of craft but rather a separate skill called alchemy. And 3.0 had this terrible rule where only certain classes could take certain skills which got grandfathered in in this one specific case and absolutely no where else. You would be well within your rights as a DM to remove that restriction and, in fact, I would encourage you to do so.
The item seems fine, it would need to be priced a bit higher than the others due to sonic being a superior damage type but that's about it.
So, in sum, the Craft (alchemy) issue is a WoTC mixup, and my item is fine? Thanks. You have validated my humble existence. Also, sonic being a superior damage type reminds me of OOTS #345 ("But could you have predicted that I would be able to invoke - SONIC!").


Glad to hear it.
[QUOTE=Saidoro;14125695]I wasn't aware I needed anyone else's permission to rant.
I think Ranting Fool might have been talking about me, Ranting DM.

Have you looked at the Alchemist class in Pathfinder?
I have, but I don't have access to it any more and I'm fuzzy on what exactly it does, other than create "mutagens", "extracts", and bombs.

[White_Drake]

It's Shax's Indispensable Haversack. If you scroll through the haversacks, he gives his top 10 alchemical items. The alchemist is a great class. The extracts are basically buff spells, and the mutagens can be enhanced for Mr. Hyde, but my favorite thing to do is just boost my crafting and have a crapton of alchemical items for every situation. It's incredibly versatile.