WotC GregB: Alchemy

[jtrowell]

what I would like to know is

how many recipe can a character know?

how many rituals?

will it be linked to stat or level or feat or all of them?

Might have changed since, but from what I understand, there is supposed to be no hard limit to the number of rituals that a character can learn.
Some rituals are one-shot (scrolls are no longer a normal spell charge, but allow to cast one ritual once), while books can allow you to learn fully the corresponding ritual (you can cast it as often os you wish, but of course each casting will probably require some times (maybe hours or days for some rituals) and components (gold cost, or maybe some rare component such as dragon scale that the DM could easily limit in game to prevent a ritual from being abused)))

 

[mmu1]

Eh. Making alchemical items scale with level (so that you have 1st level thunderstones, and 20th level thunderstones - it seems like every single thing in the game scales at the same rate of 1 / 2 levels, these days) is kind of lame and lazy - it'd be much better to gain access to new items at higher levels of skill that do new and better things, rather than simply up the attack bonus on the same old tired stuff.

It reminds me of NWN, with DC 35 blade traps and DC 40 locks popping up all over the place as your character gained levels - or in some PnP D&D modules, silly stuff like DC 25+ pit traps. (Are they magical spots of higher gravity so you fall in faster?)

 

[catsclaw227]

Eh. Making alchemical items scale with level (so that you have 1st level thunderstones, and 20th level thunderstones - it seems like every single thing in the game scales at the same rate of 1 / 2 levels, these days) is kind of lame and lazy - it'd be much better to gain access to new items at higher levels of skill that do new and better things, rather than simply up the attack bonus on the same old tired stuff.

It reminds me of NWN, with DC 35 blade traps and DC 40 locks popping up all over the place as your character gained levels - or in some PnP D&D modules, silly stuff like DC 25+ pit traps. (Are they magical spots of higher gravity so you fall in faster?)

This assumes that scaling alchemical items will work as you described. I like the idea of a 1st level thunderstone being different than a 20th level thunderstone in additional ways. Maybe it has a larger radius, more intense sonic clap, and has explosive shards as well.

 

[WotC_GregB]

This assumes that scaling alchemical items will work as you described. I like the idea of a 1st level thunderstone being different than a 20th level thunderstone in additional ways. Maybe it has a larger radius, more intense sonic clap, and has explosive shards as well.

Exactly.

Also, not every recipe is accessible at level 1.

 

[Drawback]

Exactly.

Also, not every recipe is accessible at level 1.

Okay, you'll get my subscription to DDI if you do a class based around alchemistry

 

[Fallen Seraph]

This will be awesome for my characters, since I love playing characters that don't use magical abilities, but instead use their talents and mind to create thing to help them.

So alchemical items will be great, I hope there will be something similar for mechanical items.

 

[Aeolius]

That sounds like an interesting way to build a proper witch for 4e; candle magic, love potions, control dolls, etc.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

I'm actually pretty excited about this. I always had a special place in my heart for Artificer, and had hoped it would make a good transition to 4e or have some equivilent of it. Hopefully this alchemy change will also reflect in other kinds of magical items, so my artificer will ride* again.


*On the chair he welded to the warforged juggernaut companion. Good times, good times.

 

[Irda Ranger]

I want the Alchemy rules to be good, but one thing I'm worried about is a "gamist" restriction on the ability to transfer alchemical items made by the Alchemist PC to his comrades. For instance, you can give any other class a big power-boost by sharing a significant number of Alchemy items with them. Depending on how much time and money you want to spend, you could have a PC with (effectively) 4x or more the number of daily powers you'd expect.

Moreover, how do you prevent the Alchemist PC from becoming just a resource to draw on for the other PC's. What to they contribute personally, rather than as a "supplier"?

I think good Alchemy rules would be a great edition to the game, but I would want satisfying (subjective, I know) answers to the above concerns before I agreed that it would make a good class.

 

[Mostlyjoe]

Yeah, the alchemist was an archetype that was never well represented in 3e. hopefully that will change in 4e.

Mmmm. A Alchemist PP would be nice. But what about a new controller class built with that in mind? Maybe not till say the Greyhawk setting book. But still.