I was thinking of making an Alchemist, using alchemic items when I noticed, that frankly alchemy sucks at mid - higher levels.
Does anyone know of any homebrew or varient rules that make alchemy more useful?
Thanks
I've always wanted a good rules set to allow alchemy to be used to brew potions without having the spell on your spell list (or even ability as a caster at all). The reason is that this has been a major feature of my homebrew campaign since 1e, so that I've always assumed NPC's had this ability, but have never gotten around to formalizing it for higher levels.
Of the cuff, to brew a potion with alchemy:
You don't need the 'Brew Potion' or 'Brew Elixer' Feat.
The DC is 10 + 5/spell level. You can't take either 10 or 20. Failure ruins the ingredients. Failure by
5 or less is a critical failure that results in an accident (a little knowledge is a dangerous thing). An accident produces a hazard (explosion, poisonous gas cloud, an ochre jelly, looks real but its a poison, etc.) with a CR equal to the spell level, if the alchemist fails a DC 10 Wisdom check and otherwise produces an annoying (possibly comical) effect - goop explosion, fills room with soap bubbles, creates a lingering foul stench, ruins clothing, stains skin, etc.
Cost is 150% 'Brew Potion', and time to produce the potion is 1 day + 1 day/spell level. On the bright side, XP cost is only 50% - typically paid in drops of the Alchemist's own blood. The XP cost is only paid if the potion is successful. You still must make choices as if you were casting the spell as with the Brew Potion feat.
You can brew large batches: +2 DC per additional does in a brew batch. This is also hazardous and reckless, increase CR of hazards by 1 and apply a circumstance penalty to your the wisdom check of -2 for each portion of 4 doses in the batch beyond the first.
You can brew quickly: +5 DC to brew in a like number of hours, +10 DC to brew in a like number of
minutes. This is also hazardous and reckless, increase CR of hazards by 1 for brewing in rounds and by 2 if brewing in minutes. Apply a circumstance penalty of -2 to the wisdom check if brewing in hours, and of -5 if brewing in minutes.
You must have a recipe in order to brew a potion without a spell. Recipe's are closely guarded secrets. You must be on friendly or better relations with someone who has one to even be allowed to buy a recipe. Cost is generally 100 gp/level of spell (50 gp for a cantrip recipe). Recipes may also be obtained as treasure in rare and forgotten tomes, written in spellbooks, etc.
All recipes contains a small amount of ingredients from at least 1 hazard with a CR equal to the spell level. In larger towns, such ingredients are usually obtainable from dealers in arcane paraphenalia and may be bought along side the herbs and chemicals required to brew the potion. However, your DM may rule that there is a shortage in this good (particularly if the PC brews large batches of higher level spells regularly) and may have to find his own supply. An idependent supply of the main ingredient properly procured and stored reduces the cost of the potion by 50%. Storage is usually a matter of a Craft (herbalism), Craft (taxidermy), or Alchemy skill check with a DC of 15, depending if the material is animal, vegetable or mineral (including organic poisons and other extracts).
A recipe takes up one page plus one page per spell level. You can recall from memory any recipe you've previously completed without looking at a book with an Intelligence check equal to the DC of brewing the potion, or automatically if you have the Eidetic Memory or similar feat. You must be trained in Alchemy to read a recipe.
That looks ok to start with. All other rules as per creating an alchemical good. No warranty implied, as this isn't tested. However, it has been floating around in my 'to do list' for years.
