Alchemist

The Magical Scientist

Alchemists are students of the natural sciences, the laws that govern the physical world, and the arcane mysteries that pervade them both. They learn through careful study how to combine various material components, rare ingredients, and special reagents to create Extracts, which are like spells in liquid form, similar to potions but unique to the Alchemist.

Creating an Alchemist

The path of the Alchemist is one of dedicated study and hard work. What attracted your character to the natural sciences? When did you get your first set of alchemist's supplies? Were you perhaps apprenticed to a wizard or potionmaker?

Class Features

As an Alchemist, you gain the following class features

Your Formulaebook

The spells that you add to your Formulaebook as you gain levels reflect the alchemical research you conduct on your own, as well as intellectual breakthroughs you have had about the nature of the physical world. You might find other spells during your adventures. You could discover a spell recorded on a scroll in an evil wizard's chest, for example, or in a dusty tome in an ancient library.

Copying a Spell into the Book. When you find an Alchemist spell of 1st level or higher, you can add it to your Formulaebook if it is of a level for which you can prepare extracts and if you can spare the time to decipher and copy it.

Copying a spell into your Formulaebook involves reproducing the basic form of the spell, then deciphering the unique system of notation used by the spellcaster who wrote it. You must practice the formula until you understand the steps and ingredients required, then transcribe it into your Formulaebook using your own notation.

For each level of the spell, the process takes 2 hours and costs 50 gp. The cost represents material components you expend as you experiment with the formula to master it, as well as the fine inks you need to record it. Once you have spent this time and money, you can prepare the extract just like your other spells.

You can follow this same process to reverse engineer a potion you find, spending the same amount of time and gold to reverse engineer the formula for preparing that potion as an extract, assuming it has an equivalent Alchemist spell.

Replacing the Book. You can copy a spell from your own Formulaebook into another book - for example, if you want to make a backup copy of your Formulaebook. This is just like copying a new spell into your Formulaebook, but faster and easier, since you understand your own notation and already know how to brew the extract. You need spend only 1 hour and 10 gp for each level of the copied spell.

If you lose your Formulaebook, you can use the same procedure to transcribe the extracts that you have prepared into a new Formulaebook. Filling out the remainder of your Formulaebook requires you to find new spells to do so, as normal. For this reason, many Alchemists keep backup Formulaebooks in a safe place.

The Book's Appearance. Your Formulaebook is a unique compilation of alchemical formulae, with its own decorative flourishes and margin notes. It might be a plain, functional leather volume that you received as a gift from your master, a finely bound gilt-edged tome you found in an ancient library, or even a loose collection of notes scrounged together after you lost your previous Formulaebook in a mishap.

Spellcasting Ability

Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for your Alchemist spells, since you learn your spells through dedicated study and memorization. You use your Intelligence whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Intelligence modifier when setting the saving throw DC for an extract you prepare or cantrip you cast.

Bombardier

Bombardiers focus on turning their acid splash cantrip into dangerous chemical bombs.

Wild Metamagic

At 3rd level, choose two Metamagic options from those available to a Sorcerer. At 6th and 14th levels, choose an additional option. Whenever you use an extract, you can apply one of your Metamagic options to it. Once you do, you must finish a long rest before you can use this feature again.

Any time before you regain the use of this feature, the DM can have you roll on the Wild Magic Surge table immediately after one of your extracts of 1st-level or higher is used. You then regain the use of this feature.

Wild Discoveries

At 6th and 14th levels, the DM chooses a bonus Discovery for you, either specifically or at random. The DM can re-choose this Discovery whenever you finish a short or long rest.

Mutagen

You add enhance ability to your Formulaebook. When you prepare extracts, you can prepare a special extract of enhance ability called a Mutagen, which does not count against your prepared extracts.

Your Mutagen must be prepared as Bear's Endurance, Bull's Strength, or Cat's Grace, gives advantage on saving throws as well as ability checks, and does not require concentration (you can end it early as a bonus action). It gains additional properties as you gain levels in this class. Your Mutagen has no effect if consumed by a creature other than yourself, except to cause them to vomit it up immediately.

You can only have one Mutagen prepared at a time.

Bonus Discoveries

At 3rd, 6th, 10th, 14th, and 18th levels, you gain a Bonus Discovery. This must be a Discovery marked with an (M). Bonus Discoveries do not count against your number of Discoveries, but only take effect during your Mutagen.

Improved Mutagen

At 6th level, your Mutagen gains the following effects:

Bear's Endurance: Once per round, you can give yourself resistance to all damage from a single attack.

Bull's Strength: Once per round, you can give yourself Advantage on one Strength-based attack.

Cat's Grace: Once per round, you can give yourself Advantage on one Dexterity-based attack.

Greater Mutagen

Starting at 10th level, you can use your Improved Mutagen feature twice per round, and your Mutagen gains the following effects:

Bear's Endurance: If you drop to 0 hit points and don't die outright, you can make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. If you succeed, you drop to 1 hit point instead. Each time you use this effect after the first, the DC increases by 5. Each time you drink a Bear's Endurance Mutagen, the DC resets to 10.

Bull's Strength: Add 1d6 to all damage rolls with Strength-based attacks.

Cat's Grace: You can make one Dexterity-based attack as a bonus action.

Additional Mutagen

Starting at 14th level, you can prepare and keep up to two Mutagens at once. Starting at 18th level, you can prepare and keep up to three Mutagens at once.

Ultimate Mutagen

At 18th level, your Mutagen gains the following effects:

Bear's Endurance: Roll your maximum hit dice and add the results. You gain that many temporary hit points.

Bull's Strength: You gain the effects of an enlarge spell, which can stack with up to one additional instance of enlarge.

Cat's Grace: You gain the effects of a haste spell, which can stack with up to one additional instance of haste.

Alchemist Discoveries

(B): Can be taken as a Bombardier Bonus Discovery.
(M): Can be taken as a Mutagenic Bonus Discovery. If you take one of these as a normal Discovery, you can choose for it to count as a Mutagenic Bonus Discovery for the purpose of meeting prerequisites. If you do, it only takes effect during your Mutagen.

Each Discovery can be taken only once unless noted otherwise. Each time you gain a level in this class, you can replace one of your Discoveries with a new Discovery you could learn at that level.

Long Range Thrower (B)

Thrown weapons with a range of (20/60) and Alchemist extracts with the throw method have a range of (30/120) instead of (20/60) when you throw them.

Masked Draught

Prerequisite: 5th level

You can prepare a special 3rd-level extract that, when mixed with another one of your extracts, prevents both from being detected. Nonmagical detection (such as taste or smell) and magical detection of 3rd-level or lower automatically fails. Magical detection of 4th-level or higher must succeed on a spellcasting ability check against your Alchemist Spell Save DC to detect.

Mixed Drink

Prerequisite: 9th level

You can prepare a special Mixed Extract, which combines two different extracts in one. Both extracts must have the drink method and be prepared at the same level (maximum 5th), and neither can be a Mutagen. This counts as a single extract for determining how many levels of extracts you have prepared, but you can only have one Mixed Extract prepared at a time. Drinking this Mixed Extract casts and targets the drinker with both spells at once.

Mutant Rage (M)

Prerequisite: Mutagenic Focus of Study

When you drink your Mutagen, you enter a Rage as the Barbarian feature. If you have the Rage feature from another source, any effects that apply to that rage also apply here.

Permanency

Prerequisite: 18th level

When you prepare an extract with a duration longer than instantaneous that does not require concentration, you can replace its duration with "Until dispelled". After you use this feature, you must complete a long rest before you can do so again. You cannot apply this feature to a Mutagen.

Philosopher's Stone

Prerequisite: 18th level

You create a Philosopher's Stone, which looks like a rough-cut blood-red gemstone about the size of a chicken egg.

Once per day during a short rest, you can use a Philosopher's Stone and Alchemist's Supplies and 1,000 gp worth of rare ingredients and special reagents (which the process consumes) to brew 8 ounces of a liquid called the Elixir of Life, which looks like softly glowing liquid gold and tastes like celestial honey. Drinking 8 ounces of this liquid halts all aging, including magical aging, for one week. There is no benefit to drinking the Elixir of Life in greater quantities or frequency than 8 ounces per week.

In addition, once per day during a short rest you can use a Philosopher's Stone and Alchemist's Supplies to transmute up to 1,000 gp worth of solid gold from the same weight of lesser metals.

If you lose your Philosopher's Stone, you can create a new one over the course of a year, during which you must spend at least 1,000 cumulative hours of concerted effort and 100,000 gp of rare ingredients and special reagents. You can also create another Philosopher's Stone by taking this Discovery a second time. (This does not allow you to use a Philosopher's Stone more often, but it gives you a backup in case you lose one.)

Practiced Digestion

Prerequisite: 5th level

When you consume a potion, poison, extract, etc. that rolls dice to determine its effects (such as healing or damage), you can roll for the effects twice and choose either result.

Quick Quaff

Prerequisite: 5th level

You can drink a potion or extract as a bonus action. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a short or long rest.

Regeneration (M)

Drink

Spells with the drink method are cast when the extract is consumed by a creature, and target the creature who consumes it. Such an extract can be mixed into food or drink without changing its effectiveness, but if mixed into a potion or another extract, both become inert (or explode or have other effects, at DM discretion).

Smear

Spells with the smear method are cast when the extract is applied to a creature, object, or surface, and target the creature or object or point on the surface it is applied to, depending on the spell. If the target is unwilling, you must hit it with a melee attack (you can use Strength or Dexterity for this attack; Alchemists are proficient with this attack, others generally are not). If you miss, the extract is spilled and lost.

Spray

Spells with the spray method are cast by opening the extract's container, and the effect is pointed in the direction of the container's opening. If the extract's container is being held by a creature, that creature chooses the direction to point the extract's opening. If the extract's container is held by an object (such as a trap), the creature who set the extract in the object set the direction of the opening when they did so. If the extract is not held when it is opened, or if it is opened in such a way that it has no specific opening (such as the container being destroyed), its effect is pointed in a random direction.

If a spell with the spray method would normally make a spell attack, it uses a Dexterity saving throw instead.

If a spell with the spray method has only one target, the creature holding the extract's container chooses the target. If the extract's container is not being held by a creature, the closest target in range is targeted.

Throw

Spells with the throw method are cast by throwing the extract at a target, which can be a creature or object or a point in space within range, depending on the spell.

Spells with the throw method that use a spell attack or that automatically hit a target have a range of (20/60) regardless of the spell's listed range, and are delivered with a Dexterity-based ranged attack (Alchemists are proficient with this attack, others generally are not). A willing target can cause their Dexterity modifier to be subtracted from, rather than added to, their AC for the purpose of this attack.

Spells with the throw method that use a saving throw and do not target an area have their range altered as above; after the first range increment, the targets have advantage on their saving throw.

Spells with the throw method that target an area have a maximum range as the second range increment above.