Alchemy
Alchemy is the craft of combining reagents, and sometimes a trace of Aethyr, into substances with remarkable properties: potions and elixirs, acids and antitoxins, oils and poisons. Where enchanting binds magic into a lasting object, alchemy makes something that is used up, so its work is quicker and cheaper but never permanent.
Alchemists
Section titled “Alchemists”Alchemy is done with Alchemist Tools, an Intelligence-based tool proficiency (see Crafts); a set of alchemist’s supplies costs 50 gp. Poisons use Poisoner Tools instead. Several features help:
- Potion Master, from the Alchemist vocation, lets you identify and brew basic potions given the right ingredients.
- Alchemical Tinkering, a heritage feature of the Skink, gives advantage on checks with alchemy supplies.
- Minor Alchemy temporarily changes one nonmagical substance into another.
- Experimental Elixir and the other Alchemist features produce elixirs without brewing at all.
The Alchemy Check
Section titled “The Alchemy Check”An alchemy check finishes a batch of a magical potion, elixir or oil. It is an Intelligence check using Alchemist Tools, made on the last day of brewing, with the DC and spell level for the item’s rarity given under the enchanting check. A potion that reproduces a spell uses that spell’s level if it is higher.
- Success: the batch is finished.
- Failure: the batch is spoiled, and half its raw materials are lost.
- Failure by 5 or more: the reagents’ Aethyr breaks loose as well. The GM calls for a surge check with a Surge Charge equal to the potion’s spell level, and decides whether the surge affects the brewer or lingers in the spoiled batch for whoever drinks it.
A character with the Potion Master feature brews basic potions, common ones of the GM’s choosing, without an alchemy check.
What Alchemists Make
Section titled “What Alchemists Make”- Potions of healing use the SRD rule below.
- Other magical potions, elixirs and oils use the rules for crafting magical items, with Alchemist Tools. As consumables, they take half the time and cost there, and they end with an alchemy check instead of an enchanting check.
- Mundane alchemical goods, such as acid, antitoxin and alchemist’s fire, use the ordinary crafting rules with Alchemist Tools.
Drinking a potion quickly changes what it does; see Drinking Potions.
| Name | Rarity | Value (gold) | Item Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Herbalism kit | Mundane | 5 | Crafting Kit |
| Acid (vial) | Mundane | 25 | Consumable |
| Antitoxin (vial) | Mundane | 50 | Consumable |
| Potion of Healing | Common | 50 | Consumable |
| Alchemist’s supplies | Mundane | 50 | Crafting Kit |
| Poisoner’s kit | Mundane | 50 | Crafting Kit |
From the SRD 5.2.1: brewing potions of healing
Section titled “From the SRD 5.2.1: brewing potions of healing”A character who has proficiency with Alchemist Tools can create a Potion of Healing. Doing so requires using those tools and 25 gp of raw material over the course of 1 day (8 hours of work).