playing an alchemist ?

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>>44370992

gonna post some general character art/inspo in the meantime

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>>44370995

>>44370992
Depends on the game?

If the wizard buying bat-guano, the fighter sperging about swords, the rogue masturbating to his coins and the cleric flagellating himself for his god aren't boring for the players, I don't see why the alchemist doing alchemist stuff would be.

Also, while I loathe PF, their alchemist class ios actually really cool and versatile in the stuff it can do and can be built for.

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>>44371006

>>44370992
Fancy tea drinks that can be used as molotov cocktails.

>>44371013

desu, one reason I ask is because in my experience all those things are pretty boring for the players. I have yet to be in a game where shopping is handled well, and I feel like extended "ok lemme prep my bombs and potions" sessions wouldn't help with that

i'm gonna look up that alchemist class though

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>>44371015

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>>44371038

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>>44370992

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>>44371045
>>44371028
.... i don't remember typing desu...

>>44371028
Depends on how much character the shopkeeper has and frankly the best way to handle RP shopping is for player and GM to discuss what is bought OOC and RPing it out, if its done at all.

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>>44371047
>>44371051

i approve of this wholeheartedly

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>>44371052
that honestly hadn't occurred to me too much - most of the times I've played things the shopping was basically handled like Fallout (move things from this inventory into your inventory, repeat for other players for like half a god damn hour)

>>44371028
You usually are supposed to glance over it in the "you wake up and do your 1 hour preparation shit before the adventuring day starts" way I think.

You could make a minigame out of it if you want tho. Make a "resrouces" deck to see what resources are available to the players at current location, then have them spend time units on gathering them or some shit. Possiblky nab it from some other system. I generally dislike micromanagement like that, but it could be fun.

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>>44371077

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>>44371107

>>44371051
You may wanna step away from 4chan for a while.

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>>44371131

oh god what am i becoming

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>>44371154

Played a mad scientist alchemist, it was pretty fun. Doing all sorts of morally despicable things and horrible experiments to create the ultimate concoctions and pursuing the ability to turn metal to gold and immortality.

>>44370992
Well first i'd make them wizards studying transmutation.
Second i'd make them specialize in fire based magic and telekinesis for concocting purposes.
Less spell slots than a full wizard.
The int mod determines the level of the potion/pill/poltuce (a +1 healing potion recovering more Hp and a mana recovery potion recovering spell slots of a designated level - let's say an ordinary mana pill lets you recover all your level 1 spell slots and a +1 pill lets you recover all your level 2 and below.)
They can also create pills imbued with magic effects and are doubly proficient at making magic items.
The class should give them proficiency with the poisoners, herbalists and alchemists kit.

Bizarre non-magical(but still extraordinary as to not limit them to irl physics) and various options. Potions. Bombs. Personal Augmentation. Homunculus making. etc.

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>>44370992
I'd make better kabooms. I'd research gunpowder, thermite, basic nitrate based explosives. The materials shouldn't be terribly hard to get a hold of considering magic and shit is fucking everywhere and seeems to be a universal handwaving tool for literally anything else and alchemy, unless you meant chemistry, also runs on magic. Besides that i'd make better potions as well, mostly because alchemist making potions and shit was how gunpowder was made and i like traditionalism in my character paths somewhat. The better booms can keep me relevant compared to casters and better potions makes everyone happy, including my wallet.

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>>44371529

To be completely transparent, the reason I made the thread is because I'm making a shitty homebrew setting and I liked the idea of having less blatantly magical magic classes, if only because a bomb-throwing old man seemed more fun to me than a wizard.

That said, I'm almost definitely on some kind of list thanks to all the reading I've been doing on ... "explosive potions" to learn more about ingredients needed for this stuff :p

I also always love when I have friends who like the sort of... "figure out sketchy solutions by building shit" play style, which this sort of class seems like it'd lend itself to well. How it would work would basically be based on "what kind of shit do you figure out in your lab".

>>44371302

>pills

oh god imagine the party pharmacist making those pills from Jessica Jones and supplying them to the barbarian on a regular basis

I'd play it more akin to what actual alchemists were; philosopher-chemists. A lot of pursuits in alchemy, like the Philosopher's stone. alkahest, and chrysopoeia, all had spiritual qualities. It was about perfecting the mind, body, and soul.

They'd have a god, and they'd have a goal, wanting to create something specific in the end. The object in question would be significant to their deity, and most likely in their honor. Adventuring would be a means to acquire money and knowledge over time, allowing them to experience other perspectives and approaches to alchemy that they had not considered. They'd regard their equipment not holy, exactly, but treat it with a great deal of respect. Their desired magnum opus would dictate their area of expertise-- someone with an interest in creating an elixir of immortality would focus primarily on health potions and such.

>>44370992
Any and ever Mad Scientist type should be accomodated. Though personally I have a major hankering for potion brewing, explosives using, limb grafters.

>>44371589
Shit can get crazy

>dm is cool bro and helps me make characters just to see how i'll play
>make a research heavy alchemist
>mostly simple stuff
>house rule is i gotta be able to explain the process as if to a child
>he can place limiters relative to how unlikely processes are and how much handwaving is needed
>make a flask of liquid primed by some powder
>when the flask shatters it makes a 5x5x5' foam that sets into stone in a turn
>does 1d3 blunt damage if encased somewhat
>durability is half that of stone
>woefully weak for the encounters we were taking at the time
>carry 2 bags of holding of the shit and more on the mount
>make basic scaffolding to get places
>set up shooting platforms for the ranger and basic rockfall traps with it
>"fortified" a village with it making the bandits think we hired an army good enough to make stone walls in 3 days causing them to run off
>one day get smart
>shit weighs as much as granite to prevent me from moving my fuckup throws and forcing me to tear it down and start over
>166lbs per cubic foot, 20,750 pounds total
>start chucking bottles at ceilings during battle
>actually combat savvy now given the proper environment
>start using a big slingshot to make farther throws
>through trial, error, a jeweler, a clockmaker, and a lot of gold get a crossbow that can lob the shit 100 yards without cracking the flask

>>44371829
>start chucking bottles at ceilings during battle
Did it Magically gain extra mass?

My take on them is transmutation wizards who are also pyromancers.

As for what they can brew.

Look at what real life pharmacists can make and add fantasy elements to it.

So we get:
Magic pills - after consumption they exude a magic effect ( like giving the effect of ''Bears strenght'' for 1/4 Alchemist level + Int mod turns)
Magic Poultices - for out of combat use Heal wounds and injuries of increasing difficulty per int mod untill at some point applying it can regenerate most of your body (can also leave permanent effects after regular treatments over a long time).
Magic potions - In combat healing but mostly used for poisons and healing/mana potions.

If they are also a locksmith or something similar they could make proper grenades.

>>44371849
Thats the magical handwaving fluff. Flask weighs like 1.5lbs but when the foam sets its mass increases. This was a limiter we agreed on rather thn a moderately heavier flask but the stone weighs 15ish lbs. Per cubic foot like pumice making it easier to move around at only 1,875lbs, something me and a few others could move by hand rather than tear the shit down and start over.

I've wanted to play for the longest time a genasi alchemist obsessed with the nature and transmogrification of substances, in part due to a greater fascination with the nature of is own body.

Alas, I've yet to play a game where genasi were legal

>>44371006
How about a different approach to what an Alchemist's lab looks like instead of the traditional mess of tubes and glass?

I feel that the above, in spite of being cluttered still is too reasonable. It still boils down to liquids flowing from one place to another, sometimes being heated, getting filtered etc. but in principle understandable by everyone. But wizards are so great and mysterious because the chaos they call magic only makes sense to them, so Alchemy should too to some extent.

I'd imagine an alchemist to have an ancient-looking tree in the middle of his workshop, leafless with the branches ending in bowl-shaped extremities (like one of those bag-shaped flesh eating plants almost) filled with some kind of liquid or just powders, gems or even a tiny book inscribed with runes inside.

Throughout the tree glowing, colorful bands travel in streams from one branch to another, splitting, merging, dimming and brightening as they do in a cacaphony of color and movement. Every once in a while the top of the tree discharges some magical energy, the roof above being scorched, cracked, moist and splattered with splashes of undefinable liquids.

The alchemist is walking around all this, sometimes tapping some liquid from one of the bowls, sometimes just smelling it and throwing it over his shoulder with a frustrated look on his face, sometimes putting some in another bowl and sometimes taking a swig, continuing unperturbed as his hair turns purple or his ears start oozing blue smoke.

And after a while a discharge from the tree apparently like any other happens but the alchemist cheers, hurriedly hammers a faucet into the tree and taps several vials of a potion only he knows the function of.

>>44370992

One of my favorite characters ever was an alchemist. Sadly this was in Pathfinder so.. well, you know.

I did get to interrogate a captive by cutting his head open with a scalpel and then planting a petrified ooze on top of his brain while calmly explaining to him what it would do.

In a real game (not D&D) playing an Alchemist would be pretty cool. You can make smoke and fire, deal with locked doors and windows with acid, poison weapons, treat wounds. All kinds cool stuff, especially if your alchemist is kind of general scientist as well.

>>44371755
In addition to this, alchemists had to know about astrology and astronomy, metallurgy, mineralogy, and Kabbalism and Hermeticism; there's plenty of ideas to steal here. Work out a way for them to be able to get some kind of magical properties out of whatever they can find. For instance, in the middle of battle, they can roll to identify any plants in the area. If they succeed, they identify Plant X or whatever has properties related to the planet Mars or the equivalent. Some magic and wham, the can use Plant X to buff the party fighter, or send an enemy into a berserk rage preventing them from using magic, or whatever.

>>44370992
I did a potion crafter in the Dresden RPG once. Some of my hit potions were:
Pseudo-champagne that is sprayed from an authentic bottle when opened, magically adding an aspect of drunkenness to anyone hit by the spray.
A potion that was essentially a paint bomb. Once opened, the entire room would suddenly be coated in a thick blue paint. This blinded everyone in there for a short moment and also made them easily identifiable (since they're blue). Between a disguised PC, a hole sawed through the ceiling, and this potion, we had an extremely successful hostage rescue encounter that lasting 1 round.
Coffee of haste that when consumed would let the drinker sprint as far as an Athletics roll equal to the potion's number of shifts would let them go.

Sure, I could have had a splash potion of mind-draining, a flask of darkness, and an elixir of short range teleportation, but I believe that having interesting fluff on the potions is what makes such a class exciting. Disguising potions as mundane items was very enjoyable.

As far as procuring ingredients is concerned, that is assumed to be done in-between sessions and never came up. I did have a little potion shop, though. Never sold anything from it, but it did get attacked once.