D&D 5E Uses for Minor Alchemy

[Plaguescarred]

You could for exemple transform up to 1 cubic foot of copper from a large statue into silver for each 10 minutes spent performing the procedure. Or an iron weapon into silver to fight creatures specifically vulnerable to it.

I don't think it necessarily last up to 1 hour though, its not worded like a spell duration of ''concentration, up to 1 hour'', but instead says;

''After 1 hour, or until you lose your concentration (as if you w ere concentrating on a spell), the material reverts to its original substance.''

 

[Stalker0]

Given that most of the 2nd level wizard features are very useful on a regular basis, it definitely needs either a bit of a boost or the most liberal interpretation possible of each element.
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Minor Alchemy is definately weaker than Minor Conjuration...but I think the 6th level transmuter stone makes up for it. That is a damn handy power.

 

[MarkB]

I don't think it necessarily last up to 1 hour though, its not worded like a spell duration of ''concentration, up to 1 hour'', but instead says;

''After 1 hour, or until you lose your concentration (as if you w ere concentrating on a spell), the material reverts to its original substance.''

I agree - I tend to interpret that as meaning that the material will revert as soon as you stop concentrating on it. It parses poorly, though - take out the "after 1 hour" part, and the statement reads "Until you lose your concentration (as if you were concentrating on a spell), the material reverts to its original substance" - which makes no sense at all. Presumably, it's supposed to mean that it remains transformed until you lose concentration, to a maximum duration of 1 hour.

What I'm not so sure of is when to start the clock on the duration - if you concentrate for 10 minutes, in order to transmute 1 cubic foot of material, I presume the timer starts the moment you succeed at the transformation, not the moment you start concentrating.

But what if you concentrate for 30 minutes, transforming 3 cubic feet of material. Does the transformation begin at the end of those 30 minutes, and then last for an hour - or does the first cubic foot transform after 10 minutes, and then revert an hour later, with the rest of the material following at 10-minute intervals?

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Minor Alchemy is definately weaker than Minor Conjuration...but I think the 6th level transmuter stone makes up for it. That is a damn handy power.

All of the rest of the transmuter powers are definitely pretty nice. I just would hate to be dissatisfied with a 2nd level ability that is only occasionally useful, compared to all of the other schools with 2nd level abilities that get put to good use frequently.

 

[thomp102]

Is Sand considered Stone? I could think of a few times turning something a solid something like a weapon or door or drawbridge panel into sand could be a real useful activity.

And while the wording says for every 10 minutes you spend performing the procedure, you can convert 'up to 1 cubic foot of material'. What it doesn't say is that you have to perform the procedure for the full 10 minutes to get the result, just that 10 minutes of procedure will get you 1 cubic foot of converted material. 1 cubic foot of material is 1,728 cubic inches of converted material. If I'm working on a door, or a pillar, or a drawbridge, I'll probably need those 10 minutes, but what if I'm working on a weapon, or something small? There are 600 seconds, or 100 combat rounds, in 10 minutes. Broken down, that means I could convert 17.28 cubic inches of material per combat round. That's not a lot, but it's enough to mess with a weapon (say that approaching longbow arrow or crossbow bolt or javelin), or possibly the footing under an approaching enemy. Or the hinges or lock on a door (no more picking locks...).

What's not clear is what the 'alchemical procedure' is. Is this similar to throwing a spell? Is there apparatus involved? Are there specific materials required? If it's similar to throwing a spell, and you're just repeating the spell over and over to get a larger result field for the length of time you want, why not be able to 'throw' a quick one for a small result, particularly if you only need to transmute it for a short period of time? Once whatever it is has fallen apart, who cares if it goes back to the original materials?

 

[Savage Wombat]

No Critical Role references?

Caleb and Nott demonstrated a magic bowl, that could turn copper pieces into silver on command. Caleb (the transmuter) put a copper coin into the bowl, and then activated it to turn the copper instantly to silver. The con, of course, is that Caleb used his power to turn a silver coin to copper, so that he could dispel it at will. He then offers to sell the magic bowl to a mark for a few gold pieces.

 

[not-so-newguy]

Turn the business ends of the party's weapons to silver when you encounter a lycanthrope.

Probably not around, but this is good. Here's a seven-year-belated "like" for ya.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

A sacred icon of the trader deity in the shop would be enough to avoid that type of scams. With transmuter magic you could create a coin, but the drawning would be too bad to can trick.

Other thing would be to use transmuter for other things without a neccesary previous shape, for example salt, pearls, mineral crystals or even jewels. Here the trader would pay, but really he would be buying the "residium" in that objects, to be used later to craft other magic objects, for example magic healing bandages (cheaper than potions but slower effect).

 

[EroKun]

my DM allowed me to change iron cuffs into stone and iron cage bars into stone bars as long as it was 1 Sq foot. makes it allot easier to escape. and in same game made the mast of a ship brake cos stone apparently is not as malleable as wood, and a strong wind just make it go Crack..
oh and pro tip.. dont turn the barbarian axe into wood for kindling got me killed. poor Gob TeaMaster was was to young.. lvl 5 R.I.P

 

[Vaalingrade]

Locks are single items made of (usually) iron.