Alchemist

Description:

The puttering, scientifically-minded wizard who enjoys working with various material components is likely to find the School of Alchemy to be a welcome source of inspiration and magical might. Alchemists are inventors and experimenters, always striving for a way to create new and greater effects through the use of magical powders, reagents, and potions.

The exact nature of the alchemist’s materials is not very important for game play, although it is good role-playing for a player to note which substances and minerals are vital to his character’s spells. Unlike most wizards, who define the world by the four classic elements of earth, air, fire, and water, the alchemist believes that each subtle combination of these elements is a new element of its own. Gold may be nothing more than a rare type of earth with a small glimmer of fire in it, but the alchemist considers the properties of gold as a unique substance with no other components. In other words, alchemists describe their world in the modern terms of a Periodic Table of Elements, even though notions such as atoms, electrons, or atomic weight have no meaning in their universe.

As scientific characters, alchemists will always maintain a large and well-equipped laboratory to pursue their experiments. The laboratory must be well-stocked with all kinds of materials, including samples of every metal or alloy imaginable, equipment such as burners, beakers and bottles, and natural curiosities like magnets, incendiaries, and other such things. An alchemist is assumed to begin play with an appropriate laboratory in his home town or base of operations, but building and outfitting a new laboratory costs at least 1,000 gp per character level, and existing laboratories require at least 50 gp of materials a level per month to be functional. An alchemist without access to his laboratory loses the bonus alchemy spell he could normally memorize at each spell level, and can’t conduct research, make potions, or add new spells to his spellbook.

Once an alchemist knows the potion’s formula, he can produce one dose by investing in 300–1800 gp worth of materials and spending one uninterrupted week in his laboratory. Again, a learn spells roll applies to see if he followed the directions carefully, or if he ruined the batch instead. If the DM finds that a player is abusing this ability, he can insist on specific adventures to acquire rare and unusual materials such as a griffon’s heart, a beholder’s eye, and other such hard-to-get items.

Ability Requirements:

Intelligence (Knowledge) 15; Dexterity (Aim 14)

Saving Throw Modifiers:

Alchemists have no modifiers to their saving throws or their victims’ saving throws, but instead they have the special ability to create potions, starting at 6th level. The alchemist must first research the potion’s formula, as if conducting normal spell research; consider the potion’s level to be equal to its XP value divided by 100, so a potion of clairaudience (XP value 250) is considered a 3rd-level spell, and a potion of longevity (XP value 500) is a 5th-level spell. The research time is two weeks per effective level, and the cost is 500 gp per effective level. The alchemist must pass a learn spells check to successfully research the formula. Just like spells, the number of potion formulae the alchemist can ever understand is limited by his Intelligence score Maximum Number of Spells per Level, except that all potions are counted together for this purpose. A character with an Intelligence of 12 can never know how to make more than seven types of potions.

Bonus Spells and Acquired Powers:

An alchemist can memorize an extra spell at each spell level, providing that at least one of the memorized spells is from the school of alchemy; thus, a 1st-level alchemistr can memorize two spells.

Oppositional Schools:

The school of alchemy is opposed by the Schools of Illusion/Phantasm (things that aren’t real are of no interest to alchemists) and Necromancy (similarly, life forces and spirits are too intangible for alchemy.) All the spells in the school of alchemy are considered to have no verbal component when employed by an alchemist, which means that an alchemist has little to fear from a silence spell or any other magic that prevents speaking.

Spell Analysis:

The alchemist has access to a small number of attack and defense spells, but he excels in enchantments that alter or analyze materials. Note that the spells of the school of alchemy are considered to have no verbal component when cast by an alchemist, since they consist of combinations of reagents prepared by the wizard—an alchemist has little to fear from a silence 15’ radius spell.

Six Common Alchemical Processes

While the creation of potions and other magical substances often involves a complex series of laboratory techniques, there are a number of basic processes common to most experiments.

1. Calcination This is the process of reducing substances (usually minerals and metals) to ash by first crushing or grinding them to powder, then subjecting them to high heat.

2. Sublimation This is the process of heating a solid substance until it is vaporized, then quickly cooling the vapor to return it to a solid form.

3. Distillation This is the process of boiling a liquid until it turns to vapor, then cooling the vapor until it condenses back into a liquid, thus purifying the liquid.

4. Absorption/Adsorption This is a method for purifying gases or liquids by exposing them to charcoal particles or other filtering substances; the impurities are attracted to the particles, thus purifying the gas or liquid. If the impurities are actually taken inside the particles, then absorption has taken place. If the impurities remain on the surface of the particles, then adsorption has occurred.

5. Flame Test This is a method of identifying unknown substances by holding them in a hot flame. The color of the flame indicates the nature of the substance; for instance, a green flame indicates the presence of copper.

6. Chromatography This is a simple method for analyzing certain types of unknown substances. The substance is first dissolved in water or other liquid. A sample of the liquid then is poured into a glass tube lined with filter paper, and a solvent is added. Because the components of the substance move through the filter at different speeds, each will appear as a different colored band in the tube.

Ethos:

Many wizards with a flair for research and laboratory technique become successful alchemists. Most of their work is non-magical in nature, creating fertilizers, perfumes, cough medicines, tooth powders, and food coloring for modest fees. Magical potions, while requiring more skill and effort, are also sold, although few commoners can afford such expensive creations.