Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="77IM" data-source="post: 6574355" data-attributes="member: 12377">I had to check to be sure, but the potion of healing is specifically called magical in the PHB.Another thing that seems legit to build with an alchemist's tools is the Renaissance bomb in the DMG (p.268). 3d6 damage in a 5-foot radius, for 150 gp, sounds entirely balanced to me. Plus it is very much in-line with the popular image of medieval alchemy. (&quot;How can fire undo stone?&quot;) Also the presence of such bombs is unlikely to change medieval warfare much, at 150 gold a pop. They might find some use in siege defense or ship-to-ship combat but it seems like there would always be MUCH cheaper options available if you don't need your 3d6 fire damage to be small and portable. It might impact how assassinations are carried out, though; but of course magic will do that too.Now one problem is if you don't mind bombs in your setting but don't want firearms, some player (you know the type) is going to want to use their knowledge of alchemy to invent gunpowder and guns. There are many ways to deal with that player, but I'd run with it, and make it part of an epic quest. Even if you think up the design for a gun or cannon, developing powder and barrels and fuses of all just the right quality, and the techniques for producing them, takes years of experimentation and research. It may require consulting expert dwarven metallurgists and plumbing the tomb of an ancient alchemist and that sort of thing. Plus a lot of Intelligence (alchemist's tools) checks. And on a failure, you lose 1d4 fingers. ;}</blockquote>

[QUOTE="77IM, post: 6574355, member: 12377"] I had to check to be sure, but the [i]potion of healing[/i] is specifically called magical in the PHB. Another thing that seems legit to build with an alchemist's tools is the [b]Renaissance bomb[/b] in the DMG (p.268). 3d6 damage in a 5-foot radius, for 150 gp, sounds entirely balanced to me. Plus it is very much in-line with the popular image of medieval alchemy. ("How can fire undo stone?") Also the presence of such bombs is unlikely to change medieval warfare much, at 150 gold a pop. They might find some use in siege defense or ship-to-ship combat but it seems like there would always be MUCH cheaper options available if you don't need your 3d6 fire damage to be small and portable. It might impact how assassinations are carried out, though; but of course magic will do that too. Now one problem is if you don't mind bombs in your setting but don't want firearms, some player (you know the type) is going to want to use their knowledge of alchemy to invent gunpowder and guns. There are many ways to deal with that player, but I'd run with it, and make it part of an epic quest. Even if you think up the design for a gun or cannon, developing powder and barrels and fuses of all just the right quality, and the techniques for producing them, takes years of experimentation and research. It may require consulting expert dwarven metallurgists and plumbing the tomb of an ancient alchemist and that sort of thing. Plus a lot of Intelligence (alchemist's tools) checks. And on a failure, you lose 1d4 fingers. ;} [/QUOTE]

Verification