Alchemist
There’s no sight more beautiful to you than a strange brew bubbling in your laboratory’s beakers, and you consume your various creations with abandon. Perhaps you’re fascinated with uncovering the secrets of magic and science, or perhaps you simply like to watch volatile chemical reactions. Regardless, you’re constantly experimenting in your lab or on the go with inventive concoctions tweaked for any eventuality. With your fearlessness in the face of risk, your unique path toward greatness is lined with alchemical brews that push your mind and body to their limits.
| Key Ability | INT |
|---|---|
| Hit Points | 8 + CON mod |
| Skills | 2 + INT mod |
| Special Proficiencies |
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| Combat Proficiencies |
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| Signature Skills |
Playing an Alchemist
Players of alchemist characters might approach gameplay in the following ways:
- During combat, you lob bombs at your foes and harry your enemies while supporting the rest of your party with your potent elixirs. At higher levels, you toughen your body using mutagens.
- During social encounters, you provide knowledge and experience about alchemical items and related secrets, like poisons and diseases.
- In exploration mode, you keep an eye out for trouble with your bombs at the ready while giving advice on all things alchemical and mysterious.
- In downtime mode, you spend time in an alchemical lab brewing elixirs, making bombs, and furthering your alchemical knowledge.
Roleplaying an Alchemist
Alchemists pursue scientific innovation above all else, combining incredible powers from the natural world through the force of their keen intellect and insatiable curiosity.
If you’re an alchemist, you’ll likely…
- Enjoy tinkering with strange formulas and alchemical reagents, often with single-minded dedication and recklessness that give others pause.
- Get a kick out of wreaking havoc with the alchemical concoctions you’ve made, and enjoy watching things burn, dissolve, freeze, and jolt.
- Endlessly experiment toward the discovery of new, more potent alchemical and magical tools.
Others probably…
- Think you’re at least a bit strange and don’t understand your zeal for alchemy, creativity, and invention.
- Fear that your creations are dangerous or volatile - or both.
- Assume that if you haven’t caused a catastrophe with your experiments, you inevitably will.
- Think that you’re some kind of sorcerer or an eccentric wizard and don’t understand that you’re not a spellcaster. Real spellcasters clumsily dabbling in alchemy only heighten this misconception.
Class Features
You gain these abilities as an alchemist. Abilities gained at higher levels list the requisite levels next to the features’ names.
Advanced Alchemy
You gain the Alchemical Crafting feat, even if you don’t meet that feat’s prerequisites, and you gain the four additional common 1st-level alchemical formulas that feat grants. You can use this feat to create common alchemical items as long as you have their formulas in your formula book, though their power is fleeting. You can create these items in two different ways, as described below. An alchemical item you create this way has the infused trait.
First, during your daily preparations, you can create items for which you have the formulas. Creating items this way requires spending 1 Resonance Point to create a batch of alchemical items of that type with the infused trait. You select how many items are in the batch, up to half the normal maximum batch size (half a typical batch is two items, but see the Crafting Trained Activities section for more information). You don’t need to attempt a Crafting check to do this, and you ignore the number of days typically required to create the items and any requirements of alchemical reagents. You can’t overspend Resonance Points to create infused items in this way during your daily preparations.
Second, you can use the Quick Alchemy action to create alchemical items:
Quick Alchemy
Action, Alchemist
Cost: 1 Resonance Point
Requirements: You must have alchemist’s tools, the formula of the alchemical item you’re creating, and a free hand.
You create a single common alchemical item that is of your level or lower without having to spend the normal monetary cost in alchemical reagents or needing to attempt a Crafting check. This item has the infused trait, but it remains potent only until the start of your next turn. After this period, the item becomes inert and grants no effects. If you overspend Resonance Points to use this ability and fail the flat check, you can’t use the Quick Alchemy action again until the next time you undertake your daily preparations.
Formula Book
You start with a standard formula book (worth 10sp or less) for free. The formula book contains formulas for 4 common 1st-level alchemical items. Each time you level up, you can add the formulas for two alchemical items to the book, as long as they are of a level you can create. You learn these automatically, but it’s also possible to find or buy other formulas, or to invent them with the Inventor feat.
Editor’s Note: Alchemists start with 8 formulas: 4 from the Alchemical Crafting feat, and 4 from the formula book.
Studied Resonance
Knowledge, rather than personality, fuels your interactions with alchemical and magical substances and devices. Your maximum number of Resonance Points is equal to your character level plus your Intelligence modifier, rather than your Charisma modifier.
Alchemist Feats 1+
At 1st level and every even-numbered level thereafter, you gain an alchemist class feat.
Skill Feats 2+
At 2nd level and every 2 levels thereafter, you gain a skill feat (that is, feats with the Skill trait). You must be trained or better in the corresponding skill in order to select a skill feat.
Empower Bombs 3+
When you craft an alchemical item with the bomb and infused traits, you can empower it. You can empower only a 1st-level bomb, increasing its level and causing it to deal more damage. This also increases any persistent damage dealt by the bomb, but not its splash damage.
- At 3rd level, you can create 3rd-level bombs that deal double the bomb’s listed damage.
- At 7th level, you can create 7th-level bombs that deal three times the bomb’s listed damage.
- At 11th level, you can create 11th-level bombs that deal four times the bomb’s listed damage.
- At 15th level, you can create 15th-level bombs that deal five times the bomb’s listed damage, and that get a +1 to attack rolls.
- At 19th level, you can create 15th-level bombs that deal six times the bomb’s listed damage, and that get a +2 to attack rolls.
General Feats 3+
At 3rd level and every 4 levels thereafter, you gain a general feat.
Skill Increases 3+
At 3rd level and every 2 levels thereafter, you gain a skill increase. You can use this increase to either become trained in one skill you’re untrained in or become an expert in one skill in which you’re already trained.
If you are at least 7th level, you can use this increase to become a master in a signature skill in which you’re already an expert. If you are at least 15th level, you can use this increase to become legendary in a signature skill in which you’re already a master.
Mutagen Crafting 5
You learn the secret of mutagens. When you gain a new level and add new formulas to your book, you can select formulas for uncommon alchemical items with the mutagen trait.
Ability Boosts 5+
At 5th level and every 5 levels thereafter, you boost four different ability scores. You can use these ability boosts to increase your ability scores above 18. Boosting an ability score increases it by 1 if it’s already 18 or above, or by 2 if it starts out below 18.
Ancestry Feats 5+
In addition to the ancestry feat you started with, you gain an ancestry feat at 5th level and every 4 levels thereafter. The ancestry feats available to you can be found in your ancestry’s entry.
Expanded Resonance 9
You gain a number of bonus Resonance Points equal to half your level. You can use these bonus Resonance Points only when using the Quick Alchemy action.
Double Elixir 13
When using the Quick Alchemy action, instead of spending 1 Resonance Point to create a single item, you can spend up to 2 Resonance Points to make up to two alchemical items as described in that action. These items need not be the same.
Editor’s Note: Despite the name, it appears that this ability can be used to create alchemical items that are not elixirs.
Alchemical Alacrity 17
When using the Quick Alchemy action, you can spend up to 3 Resonance Points to make up to three alchemical items as described in that action (that is, one Resonance Point per item). These items need not be the same.