Barrel of Alchemist's Fire

[Shadow64]

Cool thread, I've been thinking about stuff like this for a homebrew i will run in the future.

I like the idea of the AF bomb, but the thing strikes me is the cost. 5000gp for this seems absurd - why not do something a little more "advanced" (because - hey, if wizards and alchemists are working on this they have some brain power). I think you want the AF because of the whole "burns when it hits the air" thing, which is good. Downside: Expensive. So why not mix oil (which is much cheaper if i recall, i don't have a PHB nearby) AND the AF? Huge barrel filled with oil, with small flasks of AF on the inside of the barrel that would break on impact.

Did you know that if you mix equal parts of gasoline and equal parts frozen orange juice concentrate, you can make napalm?
-Tyler Durden

The AF is also nice because of the extended burning time, but maybe by bending the rules a bit you could make a medival napalm. Maybe a DC15 or so Alchemy check to make the stuff, THEN stuff that into the barrel with the AF. Now you have something that burns for a while, can be self ignited when hurled AND it's fairly cheap. Get some cheap Stone Giant help with levels of Hulking Hurler from Complete Warrior and you have a mobile artillery platform that has a minimum range of 180 ft. Or just use some normal seige weaponry, but where is the flair in that?

The damage question I won't even touch, because for balance reasons you don't want something cheap but does 20d6 damage, but if you go to low it's not worth it. The best thing might be low damage but longer duration. If it's seige weaponry you want it to stick around to get stuff burning, it you decide to use it as an anti-personal weapon it still works because either a) it will kill low level grunts pretty fast and b) it will be a deterrent on the field (think of the scene in braveheart where they soak the field in oil then light it when the english try to cross). Maybe 5-6 round duration, 1d6 fire damage per round. After leaving the burning area you take damage for one more round unless you roll around to get rid of the fire.

 

[kigmatzomat]

From the PHB: "Alchemist's fire is a sticky, adhesive substance that ignites when exposed to air."
Question #1: If alchemist's fire burns upon contact with air, how does an alchemist get it into the flask?
Question #2: Given a typical barrel, how is anyone going to fill it with alchemist's fire in the first place.

Same way chemists would create & contain toxic/explosive gases/fluids; use a water bath. Take a bucket and stick it in a swimming pool. Submerge it so it's full. Invert the bucket. Now lift it so the bottom of the bucket is out of the pool but the mouth isn't. The bucket is now full of water. Now run your tubing into the bucket through the pool. You can now fill the bucket with a dangerous substance without exposing it to air. Seal tightly while underwater, possibly by using hot water and low-temperature wax.

If alchemist fire is denser than water fill your flasks with water and pump the AF into the bottom of the flask until *almost* all the water is out. Seal and breathe a sigh of relief.

On to more important things....

I generally disagree with the currrent design of the KoAF. Right now it's a direct target weapon. Bad idea. Plan it to be catapult/trebuchet ammo. Wrap a rope around it so that when fired at a certain distance the barrel's key linchpins come undone. A pint of oil can cover a 5' square and do d3 damage for 2 rounds. Oil is listed as doing the same as AF in direct mode, so we can assume AF does the same as oil in indirect mode.

That means the 50 gallon barrel covers 400 5' squares, inflicting d3 damage over 2 rounds. Being on fire, the units now have to run in circles to put out the flames. Poof, there's one cavalry charge that just dissolved and something on the order of 5% of an siege force that's at ~50% hp and thoroughly demoralized.

Of course I'd make it 49 gallons regular oil and 1 gallon AF, using the AF just to set the oil on fire. It's much cheaper and far less dangerous. Use the spare thousands of gold to buy silk rope so the barrel keeps a good range. Or find a clockmaker and build a centrifigul mechanism than kicks open the barrel after so many revolutions. Or just keep a low-grade cleric around with Shatter to blow up the barrel in mid-air.

 

[Quasqueton]

Is this for the bludgeoning damage, or the fire damgage?

Fire damage. For splash, use the same method.
1 flask of AF = 1 point splash damage
2 flasks (doubled size) = 1d2 splash damage
4 flasks (doubling again) = 1d3
8 flasks = 1d4
16 flasks = 1d6
32 flasks = 1d8
64 flasks = 2d6
128 flasks = 3d6

Quasqueton

 

[Elephant]

Also, you have to think- nobody, and I mean NOBODY, is going to be able to use a 400-lb barrel of a semi-viscous liquid as a weapon. Not only would the range increments be ridiculously short (in other words, you'd never be able to throw it without catching yourself in the splash area), but you'd take insane penalties just for using the dang thing as a weapon.

Theoretically, it could be a very powerful weapon- just not at once. Besides, being able to do 20d6 points of damage to something (or more) <i>without a save</i>, on a <b>TOUCH ATTACK</b>, for a measly 1,000 gp, would break the game. Reality or no reality, there's no possible way to use that much Alchemist's Fire effectively.

Catapult ammo?