Alchemists Flamethrower

[Malapterus]

I am making a fighter/wizard gestalt who is supposed to make items for himself to use in direct combat.

I want something right out of the gate that is not too expensive, so I want him to engineer something.

I am picturing a modified crossbow; take off the arms, add a tube and a valve and a spring.

You load bottle of Alchemist's Fire, a move action, and fire it as a 30 foot ranged touch attack. Thus does 2d6 fire damage, and then 1d6 the following round if not put out. Keep in mind alchemist's fure technically does 1d6+8 with the splash squares, so 2d6 for a direct attack seems fair.

I would say the character needs to start with ranks in crafting weapons & alchemy, and the modifcation would cost 50 gp.

Other similar fluids would also work, but anything acidic would damge the weapon.

Bonus magic item:
For 500 gp, use Prestidigitation to make a pilot light so it can be loaded with flasks of oil instead. Pays for itself after 25 uses!

Does this sound reasonable to you guys?

[Jormengand]

I believe Pathfinder has a crossbow sorta like this, but it's just for launching the ranged splash weapons further.

A flamethrower wouldn't really be a single ranged touch attack anyway, so much as an area damage thing, possibly a line or a cone (depending on how the thrower was designed). And you'd need more alchemist's fire than it takes to light one person up.

[Mith]

Other similar fluids would also work, but anything acidic would damge the weapon.

Bonus magic item:


Why would an acid contained in a vessel that breaks on impact damage the launcher?

[Malapterus]

It's not launching the container; it's more like a squirt gun.

[Malapterus]

**of fiery doom

[Westhart]

adapt this (http://dmreference.com/MRD/Equipment/Weapons/Ranged_Weapons/Other_Ranged_Weapons.htm) maybe?

[jqavins]

Other similar fluids would also work, but anything acidic would damge the weapon.
You could fill it with liquor for parties.:smallbiggrin:

[Morphic tide]

...Have a statblock:

Alchemical Spraygun
This device is a clever work of engineering, using a modified Heavy Crossbow to provide pressure for a mechanical system that aerosolizes any fluids placed within it, providing a means for dousing large areas with a substance, allowing a single dose of an Alchemical substance, poison or other fluid to be applied to a 30 ft. cone. However, as the system is purely mechanical and mixes the substance with air, the effects of any substance placed within it are halved in potency. Duration is unaffected, but damage for substances is halved and any save DC above 10 has its value above 10 halved.

Any magical enhancements on the Heavy Crossbow that apply effects upon a successful hit are added to the effects of the substances launched from it, while Enhancement Bonuses increase the save DC of the alchemical substances. Due to these properties, a popular use of it among wealthy hunters of Undead and Fiends is to load it with Holy Water and sanctify the weapon, causing it to become an extremely potent weapon that is harmless to those who have not fallen to depravity.

The device shares the loading action requirement of a normal Heavy Crossbow and benefits from feats that would allow more rapid firing and reloading of a Heavy Crossbow.

100 gp+Heavy Crossbow, Craft(Mechanical) DC 20, Simple Weapon

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You know what comes next? ATTACHMENTS! Because this is mad science in action, and having a bundle of silly things added to it to make it have weird automatic functions and more nonsensical options, like being able to use Extracts and Potions with it, and a Hybridization Funnel variant that lets you mix in Inhaled Poisons on the spot to remove the deduction in potency of the effects. Of course, all these things would ideally come with chances to fail with an active detriment for doing so, with failure chance reduced by the skill of the creator of the part.