D&D 5E [Updated 2019] Fralex's Expanded Alchemy: Ingredient-foraging rules, extra items, and more
Fralex
Explorer
Thank you, it's great to know so many people are interested in this thing I started. Unfortunately I still haven't managed to get any playtesting data. Getting playtesters is harder than I thought it would be! Last game I DMed, I finally found someone who wanted to try out my alchemy system, but she ultimately declined because of some problems she had with another player. I'm joining another game as a PC, but the DM has never done 5e before and is hesitant about homebrew in a system he's not familiar with. Maybe I can convince him to let me squeeze in a couple minor things...
[MENTION=25818]Liane the Wayfarer[/MENTION] actually made a simple PDF of what I had so far, though I think I tweaked a couple things since then. It should still mostly be accurate:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1gbLqXS723cM3gwNHFKLWJZNFU/view
Angelistra
First Post
Hiya! I'm going to start using this system - sounds super cool! So I just wanted to share this sheet with you and others who might be interested! 
I hope a few people will find it usefull ^^
I hope a few people will find it usefull ^^
I was looking on a herbalism/alchemy system for D&D 5 for a while. It was either too complicated or too simple, and I get sick of remembering dozens of ingredients.
With your system, I can just imagine a plant/flover/anything from scratch related to its essence, it's so great.
I will test it very soon !
With your system, I can just imagine a plant/flover/anything from scratch related to its essence, it's so great.
I will test it very soon !
Fralex
Explorer
I really should. I think I'll have to stop just hoping for the perfect opportunity to playtest this in an actual adventure and just do my best attempts at simulating different parts of one by myself. It's really hard to playtest RPG things if I'm always waiting for players to try them.
I've been doing a lot of work on this in my spare time, though! I was working on tweaking the crafting mechanics so it's something that a player can more-easily weave into an adventuring day without relying exclusively on downtime. Once I've got my bearings back on where I was here, I'll update it. In the meantime, here's one small but fun alchemical item to play withm and a variant rock gnome rule that replaces tinkering with alchem...izing.
Alchemist’s Guile. 5 gp. A tiny vial of colorful fluid that novice alchemists use for practice. To use it, you must be proficient with alchemist’s supplies or make a successful DC 11 Intelligence check (failure wastes the item). When you pull out the stopper and release the contents, you create one of the following alchemical effects within 5 feet:
Alchemist's Guile is essentially an alchemical prestidigitation. Unlike the other items I listed, this one does not take any Essence to craft; just half its price in raw materials like standard crafting rules.
And the rock gnome variant:
If you are playing as a rock gnome, you may forgo the Tinker trait and replace it with the following trait:
Concoct. You have proficiency with artisan’s tools (alchemist’s supplies). Using those tools, you may spend 1 hour and 25 sp worth of alchemical reagents to brew up to 4 vials of alchemist’s guile (each vial after the first costs an additional 25 sp but doesn’t take any extra time). These concoctions are unstable, and become inert after 24 hours.
I've been doing a lot of work on this in my spare time, though! I was working on tweaking the crafting mechanics so it's something that a player can more-easily weave into an adventuring day without relying exclusively on downtime. Once I've got my bearings back on where I was here, I'll update it. In the meantime, here's one small but fun alchemical item to play withm and a variant rock gnome rule that replaces tinkering with alchem...izing.
Alchemist’s Guile. 5 gp. A tiny vial of colorful fluid that novice alchemists use for practice. To use it, you must be proficient with alchemist’s supplies or make a successful DC 11 Intelligence check (failure wastes the item). When you pull out the stopper and release the contents, you create one of the following alchemical effects within 5 feet:
- You create an instantaneous, harmless sensory effect, such as a shower of sparks, a faint itch, a soft bubbling, or an odd odor.
- You instantaneously light or snuff out a candle, a torch, or a small campfire.
- You cause flames to change color for 1 hour.
- You make up to a pint of liquid change color, bubble harmlessly, or both. The change lasts for 1 hour.
- You instantaneously clean or soil an object no larger than 1 cubic foot.
- You chill, warm, flavor, and/or color up to 1 cubic foot of nonliving material for up to 1 hour.
- You make a color, a small mark, or a symbol appear on an object or a surface for 1 hour.
- You create a nonmagical object that fits in your hand. It appears to be made of the same material as whatever solid surface the vial was emptied onto, but physical interaction with the object reveals it to have the physical traits of slightly brittle, hardened clay.
Alchemist's Guile is essentially an alchemical prestidigitation. Unlike the other items I listed, this one does not take any Essence to craft; just half its price in raw materials like standard crafting rules.
And the rock gnome variant:
If you are playing as a rock gnome, you may forgo the Tinker trait and replace it with the following trait:
Concoct. You have proficiency with artisan’s tools (alchemist’s supplies). Using those tools, you may spend 1 hour and 25 sp worth of alchemical reagents to brew up to 4 vials of alchemist’s guile (each vial after the first costs an additional 25 sp but doesn’t take any extra time). These concoctions are unstable, and become inert after 24 hours.
Lee Carlson
First Post
So when I attempted to find the PDF on GoogleDocs, I was told that no such page existed. So I created my own WPD and PDF Files, as for those rules, and the tracking sheet and look forward to sharing them with my Eberron Group.
Ancalagon
Dusty Dragon
I'm probably waaay to late here but here are some comments:
1: Neat system, looks nice. Good work really
2: The REAL challenge in alchemy is balancing it. A wizard (cleric, sorcerer etc) can cast X many spells per day, then they have exhausted their magical resources. An alchemist can create how many magical effects per day? It could be zero, it could be 500! It all depends how much time and how much money they have. And that's... rough.
If the main balancing factor is money, that's iffy. In a low money game the alchemist is weak, in a high money game he is potent. And what happens if the rest of the party donates their gold to the alchemist? It is *far* better to use a special resourse(s) that are specific to alchemy than use gold as a limiting factor. But then how much of this special resource(s) is sufficient?
The main balancing factor cannot be encumbrance, because that can be side stepped with henchmen, mules, bags of holding...
If the main balancing factor is "these alchemist concoctions lose potency quickly and must be refreshed every day" well that's the same as spell slots isn't it?
If the main balancing factor is time to prepare this stuff, it can get weird because the power of a character becomes tided to the pace of an adventure, and to the amount of time between adventures the alchemist has.
In conclusion, I've been searching for an alternate to "At will/per short rest/per day" way to balance alchemical powers and I have not found a suitable replacement. The artificer, which has an alchemist subclass, uses a spell slot system... and that is telling.
See this thread: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...ive&p=7323842&highlight=bloodroot#post7323842
1: Neat system, looks nice. Good work really
2: The REAL challenge in alchemy is balancing it. A wizard (cleric, sorcerer etc) can cast X many spells per day, then they have exhausted their magical resources. An alchemist can create how many magical effects per day? It could be zero, it could be 500! It all depends how much time and how much money they have. And that's... rough.
If the main balancing factor is money, that's iffy. In a low money game the alchemist is weak, in a high money game he is potent. And what happens if the rest of the party donates their gold to the alchemist? It is *far* better to use a special resourse(s) that are specific to alchemy than use gold as a limiting factor. But then how much of this special resource(s) is sufficient?
The main balancing factor cannot be encumbrance, because that can be side stepped with henchmen, mules, bags of holding...
If the main balancing factor is "these alchemist concoctions lose potency quickly and must be refreshed every day" well that's the same as spell slots isn't it?
If the main balancing factor is time to prepare this stuff, it can get weird because the power of a character becomes tided to the pace of an adventure, and to the amount of time between adventures the alchemist has.
In conclusion, I've been searching for an alternate to "At will/per short rest/per day" way to balance alchemical powers and I have not found a suitable replacement. The artificer, which has an alchemist subclass, uses a spell slot system... and that is telling.
See this thread: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...ive&p=7323842&highlight=bloodroot#post7323842
Fralex
Explorer
I am continually surprised and delighted people are still coming across this thing I made like four years ago and commenting on it. I've finished a PDF of a newer version, I'm hoping to put it up for sale on the GM's guild once I work out the kinks. But man, finding playtesters is hard. If anyone reading this tries it out, let me know how it goes!
You bring up an interesting dilemma. The best answer I can think of is to have it be limited by the amount of ingredients a player can take from a given area. Either they'll have found all the mature herbs/the checks to locate more get too high, or the local herbalist shop runs out of their current stock because the player bought it all. I don't know what the hard numbers on those limits should be, and it may be different for different campaigns (some feature more travel than others), but that's essentially a more realistic way to put a cap on the maximum number of items a player can stockpile without relying on encumbrance.
I'm probably waaay to late here but here are some comments:
1: Neat system, looks nice. Good work really
2: The REAL challenge in alchemy is balancing it. A wizard (cleric, sorcerer etc) can cast X many spells per day, then they have exhausted their magical resources. An alchemist can create how many magical effects per day? It could be zero, it could be 500! It all depends how much time and how much money they have. And that's... rough.
If the main balancing factor is money, that's iffy. In a low money game the alchemist is weak, in a high money game he is potent. And what happens if the rest of the party donates their gold to the alchemist? It is *far* better to use a special resourse(s) that are specific to alchemy than use gold as a limiting factor. But then how much of this special resource(s) is sufficient?
The main balancing factor cannot be encumbrance, because that can be side stepped with henchmen, mules, bags of holding...
If the main balancing factor is "these alchemist concoctions lose potency quickly and must be refreshed every day" well that's the same as spell slots isn't it?
If the main balancing factor is time to prepare this stuff, it can get weird because the power of a character becomes tided to the pace of an adventure, and to the amount of time between adventures the alchemist has.
In conclusion, I've been searching for an alternate to "At will/per short rest/per day" way to balance alchemical powers and I have not found a suitable replacement. The artificer, which has an alchemist subclass, uses a spell slot system... and that is telling.
See this thread: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...ive&p=7323842&highlight=bloodroot#post7323842
You bring up an interesting dilemma. The best answer I can think of is to have it be limited by the amount of ingredients a player can take from a given area. Either they'll have found all the mature herbs/the checks to locate more get too high, or the local herbalist shop runs out of their current stock because the player bought it all. I don't know what the hard numbers on those limits should be, and it may be different for different campaigns (some feature more travel than others), but that's essentially a more realistic way to put a cap on the maximum number of items a player can stockpile without relying on encumbrance.
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