Having fun with alchemy in 3.5!

[Jesterface]

Ahoy, Playgrounders!

In an IRL game using Savage Tide that I'm running, one player has rolled a transmuter, who works as part of the alchemist's guild. The initial idea was have him go into Alchemist Savant (tweaked so as to be less Eberron-centric), but he's dropped that idea as he feels brewing potions and the likes will be resource intensive, but has kept the concept of a professional alchemist.

He's asked if there's a resource somewhere that is something of an 'alchemist's cookbook', listing alchemical mixtures and the likes and how to craft them.

Is there also some kind of ruling for foraging for, scavenging and/or sourcing alchemical reagents or ingredients and the likes?

Thanks in advance for any help that you can give!

[Zaq]

I've been exploring this exact topic here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?477410-3-5-Easy-and-cheap-ways-to-self-generate-alchemical-flasks), though I haven't gotten a whole ton of great new answers yet.

If nothing else, if you can get access to 3rd level Sor/Wiz spells, Water to Acid (Stormwrack) is basically the best way to get access to throwing acid. If you want anything beyond acid, though, I haven't been able to scrounge up that much without homebrewing something. The way Water to Acid is worded, Energy Substitution will let you make acid that does a different kind of damage, but you need to use Snowcasting to hack the [Cold] keyword onto it before it's a valid target for Energy Substitution, which might be annoying depending on how many feats you need for the rest of your build and how easily you can gain access to bonus feats.

Quick Potion is a 2nd level spell from the SpC that lets you cast a (potion-legal) spell into a flask of water and turn it into a potion that lasts . . . I think hours/level? That can let you get potions without spending all the time/XP/gold that they normally cost (spending spell slots instead, though there's nothing saying a wand of Quick Potion wouldn't work). Wouldn't work with spellvials or other PrC-specific stuff unless your GM makes a favorable ruling, but it's still worth mentioning. Combine with Delay Potion (feat from CMag) for fun.

Beyond that, I haven't come up with many 3.5-legal ways to get around the massive gold costs associated with being an alchemist. To paraphrase Heliomance's comments about an Iron Chef alchemist a few rounds back, D&D alchemists don't so much turn lead into gold as they do turn gold into less gold. (This is really frustrating, because I absolutely love the character archetype of the mad alchemist/walking potion shop, but you're basically stuck unless your GM is willing to work with you.)

[Âmesang]

I love Craft (alchemy), especially a lot of the goofier stuff found in DRAGON, like ice crystals, soupstones, and alchemist's mercy. :smallbiggrin:

Unfortunately the most I've been able to get out of it has been mass crafting with the fabricate spell and crafting poisons at a penalty (Book of Vile Darkness, p.45). Couldn't really afford to spend any feats or class levels to improve it; it's less of a focus and more of an addition, something to give the character some extra versatility.

…though that makes me wonder, if Eschew Materials lets you ignore components worth 1 gp or less, and the materials needed to craft something is equal to ⅓ the market price, could you use fabricate to create 3 gp from nothing? :smallconfused: I mean, it's not the best use of a 5th-level spell, but just an odd thought.

[Zaq]

I love Craft (alchemy), especially a lot of the goofier stuff found in DRAGON, like ice crystals, soupstones, and alchemist's mercy. :smallbiggrin:

Unfortunately the most I've been able to get out of it has been mass crafting with the fabricate spell and crafting poisons at a penalty (Book of Vile Darkness, p.45). Couldn't really afford to spend any feats or class levels to improve it; it's less of a focus and more of an addition, something to give the character some extra versatility.

…though that makes me wonder, if Eschew Materials lets you ignore components worth 1 gp or less, and the materials needed to craft something is equal to ⅓ the market price, could you use fabricate to create 3 gp from nothing? :smallconfused: I mean, it's not the best use of a 5th-level spell, but just an odd thought.

I'm with you on loving alchemical items. The problem is that they just plain aren't cost-effective at all, and there's no good way to speed up their horrendously slow crafting process. Okay, Fabricate can probably do it, but once Fabricate is on the table, you've officially got enough magic that you don't really need to worry about alchemical items. And I guess technically the first level of Alchemist Savant does speed up crafting times quite a bit (though that's a pretty high cost of entry). But for common folk, you're going to spend a long time crafting if you want to use alchemical toys with abandon. And that's terrible.

In other words, I agree with you about loving alchemical items. I disagree with you about loving Craft (Alchemy).

In my thread I linked to earlier, someone mentioned Unseen Crafter as a way to help lessen the time costs of crafting alchemical stuff, but for the life of me, I can't remember which book that spell's from. Does anyone happen to know?

[sleepyphoenixx]

In my thread I linked to earlier, someone mentioned Unseen Crafter as a way to help lessen the time costs of crafting alchemical stuff, but for the life of me, I can't remember which book that spell's from. Does anyone happen to know?

It's from Races of Eberron.

[Arcanist]

As has been stated in the thread consider taking Hidden Talent at first level and take the power "Psionic Minor Creation (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/minorCreationPsionic.htm)". In addition to this, consider using Craft (Alchemy) to make jugs of Shapesand (Sandstorm, page 99; Craft (Alchemy) DC 25). The material is highly flexible, re-usable, and cheap to produce. Unfortunately it requires a Wisdom check (DC 16) to function, however you technically convert the Shapesand into a Chaos Flask to reduce the DC by 2 for the foreseeable future (but you don't really need to).

Craft (Alchemy) is a fun 'specialization'. Especially if you go in for the Mad Alchemist skill feat.

[daremetoidareyo]

Oriental adventures has eggshell grenades which are awesome. They have a flat craft dc. Be wary, levels 1-3 they can be a bit OP. I forget the source, but I think bloodspikes from Eberron are pure alchemy.

https://sites.google.com/site/eberronpathfinder/conversion-info/equipment-and-services/alchemical-items-poisons

[Jesterface]

Thanks for the input everyone! Thread has been linked to the player in question, who also passes on his thanks.