D&D5e Alchemy

Alchemist's Supplies (Tool Proficiency)

Characters proficient in this Tool Proficiency are trained alchemists, capable of using the ingredients, tools, and techniques in the creation of alchemical goods. A set of alchemist's supplies (per the Player's Handbook) fits into a satchel of moderate size, and consists of a variety of alchemical tools: flasks, alembics, crucibles, and an octavo journal containing the alchemist's recipes.

• Alchemist's Formulary: This octavo-sized journal records the alchemical recipes known to the alchemist. Upon taking the alchemist's supplies proficiency, a character knows all Common recipes, plus four Uncommon recipes and one Rare recipe. The alchemist character may find or purchase other recipes as play progresses.
• Alchemical Harvesting: One of the things alchemists frequently go adventuring to do is to harvest the myriad occult principles and substances that can be found in some of the creatures adventurers frequently deal with. Once a creature has been killed, an alchemist can harvest alchemical materials from its body, abstracted as a certain value of "alchemical materials."
  • Each creature type provides a DC and a base cost. To harvest alchemical materials from the remains of a monster, an alchemist must make an Intelligence (Alchemist's Supplies) check, at the listed DC. If successful, they gain an amount of alchemical materials equal to the base cost for that creature type, multiplied by the creature's CR. Alchemist's supplies are assumed to come with the means of preserving and transporting such materials. Harvesting a creature for alchemical materials takes half an hour.
  • Creatures: Aberration (DC 12 • 15 gp), Celestial (DC 15 • 25 gp), Construct (DC 18 • 5 gp), Dragon (DC 12 • 25 gp), Elemental (DC 14 • 25 gp), Fey (DC 16 • 15 gp), Fiend (DC 12 • 15 gp), Monstrosity (DC 14 • 10 gp), Ooze (DC 18 • 10 gp), Plant (DC 14 • 5 gp), Undead (DC 14 • 5 gp).
  • Example: Once Gromand's group has finished killing the aboleth that has been tormenting the countryside, he takes a careful look at it, opens his alchemist's supply kit and goes to work. His Intelligence (Alchemist's Supplies) check comes up a 22, more than enough to harvest an aberration. Given that an aboleth is a DC 10 creature, the base value of harvesting an aboleth is 150 gp - giving him quite a good supply of raw materials for his work.

Alchemical Equipment

Alchemy Lab

500gp (3 slots) • +100 gp per additional slot
An alchemy lab is a much larger workspace than a simple set of supplies. Where alchemist's supplies can only be used to work on a single project at a time, the purpose of a lab is to allow multiple processes to work at the same time. Setting up an alchemical lab requires space to do so. If the character's Lifestyle does not provide multiple rooms for their living situation, the character must either find a space to do this or upgrade their Lifestyle so that it does. Generally speaking, a Comfortable Lifestyle is sufficient to provide the room needed for a lab setup.

Each slot allows an alchemist to tend to a single project, performing the standard 5gp worth of work towards the completion of that alchemical item for each slot. An alchemist can tend to a number of such slots equal to 1 + their proficiency bonus. Alchemists with large labs frequently employ apprentices to help tend to the extra projects "on the fire" (as it were).

Multiple slots can also be dedicated to a single project, devoting more resources to the project in question. For each slot dedicated to a given item, 5gp of work is done per day towards that item being completed. Thus, if an alchemist devotes three slots toward finishing a potion of climbing, they accomplish 15gp per day of crafting toward that end.

Athanor

30gp
An athanor is a specialized piece of equipment. An alchemist can use an athanor with his alchemist's supplies, or if set up in an alchemical lab, an athanor takes up a single slot. Each athanor is dedicated to a single alchemical item, and takes one day to set up and properly calibrate. Once this is done, though, each day of work using an athanor in the creation of the proper item provides 15gp worth of work per day, rather than the standard 5gp.

Alembic

Lesser: 50 gp • Greater: 75gp
An alembic allows an alchemist to work on larger amounts of alchemical goods at once - the amount of effort that goes into brewing a single batch can be doubled (with a lesser alembic) or even tripled (with a greater alembic). The standard materials cost must still be paid for all the items being created - work on one item is work on all of them thanks to the alembic's function.

An alembic takes up on alchemical lab slot, but it can be added to the same slot already occupied by an athanor, allowing the alchemist to not only work on two or three items at the same time, but to do so at the increased speed provided by the athanor. This process is fraught with peril, however, and requires a DC 15 alchemical supplies check, with failure ruining all of the work and wasting the materials invested.

Metallurgical Crucible

150 gp
Though smaller, less intense crucibles are used in every alchemist's kit and lab, the metallurgical crucible is particularly hefty, capable of generating and handling the prolonged heat necessary in the creation of alchemical alloys and refinements, such as orichalc, lunargent, and alchemist's steel. A metallurgical crucible can only be added to a lab, and provides an additional slot that can only be used for the creation of those metals whose description notes that they require one.

Alchemical Recipes

Like magical items, alchemical items are rated in terms of their rarity.

Common

Common recipes are known by virtually all alchemists as a standard part of the lore. All alchemists are assumed to know common rarity recipes.

• Alchemical Cosmetics Kit: 25 gp per kit (100 doses). Usually sold in a small leather case, this kit is made up of fine quality ointments to which are added small amounts of the accompanying pigments from small paper envelopes to create a bewildering variety of colors and tones of cosmetics. Such cosmetics do not come off without the application of the stinging liquid included with the kit (though they do smear after ten or so hours of wear sometimes).
• Alchemical Ink (black, non-fading): 8 gp per bottle. Though not all inks are wrought by alchemy, alchemy provides the finest inks that do not fade or flake over time. A single bottle is useful for the writing of hundreds of pages worth of writing, and unlike standard inks, will not dry out as long as the bottle is recapped after writing.
• Cleaning Agents: 1 gp per bottle (one season). These various alchemical agents are added to water to make cleaning easy, stripping away dirt, grime, grease, smoke, soot, and similar pollutants. Generally speaking, a single bottle lasts for about a season of regular cleaning.
• Drunkard's Head Remedy: 1 gp per packet (5 doses). A paper packet of powder that is added to hot water and drunk quickly (mostly because of the awful taste), a mug of drunkard's head remedy will stop the nausea, headache, and sensitivity to light and noise that comes from a long night of carousing. It does make the patient ravenously hungry afterwards, however.
• Emetic Elixir: 2 gp per bottle (10 doses). This emetic does one simple thing: it induces vomiting within two rounds of consuming it. It is a DC 10 Constitution save to avoid vomiting, which must be repeated at a +1 to the DC every two rounds until it finally takes effect. Induced vomiting can be helpful for treating certain illnesses, and to combat ingested poisons (providing advantage on the subsequent saves).
• Hair Dye: 1 gp per packet (5 doses). Though there are a variety of herbal and other natural means commonly used to change hair coloration, those with the coin to spend use alchemical means. Applied when the hair is wet and left in for half an hour, the colors the dye can change hair to cover the entire gamut of imaginable hues, from very natural to outlandishly improbable.
• Pain Relief Elixir: 5 gp per bottle (20 doses). A rich syrup that smells of acrid plant oils, pain relief elixir is used to reduce pain and inflammation. It also usually renders the one who drinks it unconscious. The pain reduction lasts for two hours, during which time the patient must make a DC 13 Constitution save or lapse into unconsciousness (patients can choose to forego the save and give in). It is possible to have pain reduced and stay conscious, but the save must be repeated every ten minutes in order to stay awake. The time unconscious increases by 1 hour and the DC to resist increases by 2 per additional dose consumed by the patient at the same time, and short of a few odd allergies, no one has ever been known to actually take harm from the syrup. The elixir is a very strong-tasting concoction, and a fair amount of it must be consumed to have an effect, which is why it is almost never used for nefarious purposes (as it is very difficult to hide it in food or the like). The unconsciousness fades at the end of the pain reduction period.
• Scar and Blemish Remover Ointment: 1 gp per jar (10 doses). A long-term treatment used to fade spots of discoloration and to break down scar tissue, leaving behind fresh unblemished skin. It is usually applied once a day before bed. It also has a short term use, however, causing bruises and similar signs of recent trauma to fade and heal quickly.
• Sleep Aid Elixir: 1 gp per bottle (20 doses). A simple, overly-sweet tasting syrup that tastes of citrus, this elixir is consumed by those who have trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep.
• Smoke Bomb: 25 gp each. This small clay sphere is filled with smooth powders that react to contact with open air. When the sphere is cracked (which can be accomplished by throwing or stomping on the sphere quite hard), it creates a cloud of acrid smoke in a 20 foot radius, causing the area to become heavily obscured. It lasts for 5 minutes or until a wind of moderate or greater speed (at least 10 miles per hour) disperses it.
• Smokestick: 5 gp per stick. A small dowel with an alchemical lacquer, when the smokestick's sandpapery end is struck against any rough surface, it ignites, generating a massive plume of smoke that fills a 10 foot by 10 foot area. This area is only lightly obscured, but the smoke rises quickly into the air, making smokesticks excellent for long-distance signalling or any other situation where a cloud of smoke without an actual fire is useful. The color of the smoke is determined by the alchemist at creation.

Uncommon

Uncommon recipes are usually plentiful for sale and trade. Most alchemists know of these recipes, and those with long experience in the field or who belong to long-standing guilds or traditions of alchemists know most of them.

• Acid: 25 gp per vial • Ranged Attack. A targeted creature or object struck by the contents of this vial takes 2d6 acid damage when it is struck.
• Alchemical Ink (colors, non-fading): 15 gp per bottle. Like black alchemical ink, these inks will not fade or flake away over time, and retain their bright luster for centuries. Each core color (white, blue, red, yellow, orange, purple, green, brown, and gray) is a different recipe, but an alchemist can mix up all manner of hues and shade variants of that color once they know the recipe.
• Alchemical Ink (metallics, non-fading): 25 gp per bottle. Like black alchemical ink, these inks will not fade or flake away over time. Each color of ink is a different recipe (gold, silver, copper, bronze being the most common).
• Alchemist's Fire: 50 gp per vial • Ranged Attack. A targeted creature or object struck by the contents of this vial bursts into flame, taking 1d4 fire damage at the start of each turn. A creature may end this damage by using an action to make a DC 10 Dexterity save to extinguish the flames.
• Anti-Rust Treatment: 20 gp per jar (5 doses). This waxy substance is rubbed into a metal object. For one tenday, it is immune to rust, including magical ones (however, such effects do eliminate the treatment entirely, rendering it vulnerable against a second strike). The treatment to apply it is fairly involved and must be applied during a short rest. A small jar comes with enough for 5 applications (1 for a weapon or light armor, 2 for medium or heavy armor, 4 for barding)
• Blazebane: 20 gp per vial. A milky white liquid, a vial of blazebane is shaken before use, causing it to effervesce. When thrown into a fire of Medium size or smaller, it explodes into an acrid foam that burns the lungs of those standing too close to the flame. Each round on initiative count 5, for three rounds, it reduces the size of a blaze by one size category. Larger fires often require multiple vials of blazebane to be effective. All that remains of blazebane after it run its course is a thin, sticky ash-grey substance.
• Hair Growth Tonic: 1 gp per bottle (10 doses). An effervescing liquid applied to hair once a day, hair growth tonic causes hair to grow at three times the normal rate. This still isn't sufficient to be noticeable with a single application, of course, but over a tenday or two, the difference is striking.
• Silver Treatment: 50 gp per jar (5 doses). This mercurial substance can be wiped over a weapon, causing it to inflict damage as though it were a silver weapon. This lasts for one encounter. The treatment must be applied during a short rest. A small jar comes with enough for 5 applications (1 for a weapon).
• Sleep Gas: 40 gp per vial • Area Attack. Creates a cloud of gas in a 10' radius of the point of impact that lingers for 3 rounds. Creatures within the area must make a DC 13 Constitution save or be affected by the gas. Creatures affected take the Stunned condition on the turn in which they are affected, and then fall asleep at the end of their next action. For one minute after, only damage or someone taking an action to wake them can rouse them; after that, the sleep is normal, and simple jostling or loud noises can wake them.
• Spark Gravel: 20 gp per pouch (5 doses). Spark gravel looks like small pieces of ashen-white gravel, though the individual pellets are of uniform size. On impact, spark gravel ignites into a flurry of very tiny bursts of white sparks with a small snapping sound. They are most often seen as "snaptwists," little bundles of the gravel twisted into tiny tissue-paper "bombs" favored by children at festivals, who wage "wars" with these bright flashing explosives that do no harm save a small singe-mark to skin or clothing (a single dose of spark gravel can be made into about a dozen snaptwists). Many adventurers use snap gravel as a sort of proximity alarm, spreading a single dose in a 5 foot by 5 foot area; if anything treads into the area, it sets off the snap gravel. While the snaps aren't terribly loud, they do echo decently, carrying through dungeon corridors up to two hundred feet away, and they are bright enough to be seen through the darkness for a similar distance.
• Tanglefoot: 35 gp per vial • Ranged Attack. A targeted creature that is hit with this vial of black, fibrous goo is coated in the stuff, which rapidly hardens into sticky strands that inhbit movement. Affected creatures take the Restrained condition. An affected creature may make a DC 12 Strength save to break free. The goo dries out and flakes away entirely in one minute.
• Vanishing Ink: 50 gp per bottle. Vanishing inks disappear from the page once they are completely dry, and can be brought back to the page only by treating them with a specific technique or ingredient. Each recipe has its own span of time (1d10 rounds, minutes, or hours after writing) and means of making the writing visible again (heat, citrus acid, cold, candle smoke, magical illumination, light of sun or moon, blood, or simply never).
• Wrinkle Remover Ointment: 2 gp per jar (30 doses). An acrid, stinging ointment that tightens the skin dramatically over the span of ten minutes after application. It lasts for six hours before its effects begin to wear off; by the twelve-hour mark, the skin has returned to normal.

Rare

Rare recipes are often considered either prizes worth a great deal of coin, or very strange examples of the alchemist's art.

• Armor Eater: 50 gp per vial • Ranged Attack. If a targeted creature wearing non-magical metal armor is struck by the contents of this vial, the armor rusts, reducing the AC it grants by 2 points (min 11). Metal creatures and objects are treated as though struck by a vial of acid instead.
• Alchemical Salt: 15 gp per pouch (10 doses). Standard salt that has been alchemically refined, alchemical salt is many times more potent. It can be used for every function that standard salt is - most notably the preservation of meats - by using one-tenth as much, with the added benefit of leaving almost no taste behind. One dose of alchemical salt can also completely dry out a 5 foot by 5 foot surface of wet ground; its drying principles are so intense that it causes 2d4 necrotic damage when a dose of alchemical salt is flung (as a standard melee attack with the Finesse quality) at creatures that must stay wet in order to survive (including water elementals of all kinds). A single dose will also cause snow and ice in a 5 foot by 5 foot area to melt completely. Shopkeeps often use multiple applications of alchemical salt to de-ice and completely dry out their front steps in harsh winter climes.
• Auril's Kiss: 50 gp per vial • Ranged Attack. A targeted creature struck by the white liquid contents of this vial immediately begins to freeze over, as shards of ice form at the point of impact and spread outward. This inflicts 1d6 cold damage and inflicts the Restrained condition. A creature may end this condition by using an action to make a DC 12 Strength check to break the ice.
• Dazzler: 5 gp per pellet. A small crystalline pellet (the color of which is up to the alchemist) easily disguised as a gem, a dazzler explodes into a bright but momentary flash of light the color of the pellet. Those not anticipating the flash must make a DC 15 Constitution save or be blinded for one round.
• Ratsbane Smokestick: 10 gp per stick. Similar to a regular smokestick (see above), the smoke from this kind of smokestick is nauseating and vile. All creatures within the area must make an immediate DC 14 Constitution save or take the Poisoned condition. This lasts for a number of rounds equal to 5 minus the creature's Constitution modifier after they leave the area of the smoke. Per its name, it is most often used to drive vermin from shops and homes.
• Merstone: 10 gp per stone. Small pellets of compounded alchemical ingredients, when a merstone is placed into the mouth and crushed with the teeth, it completely disintegrates, suddenly transmuting into a moderate volume of air. Typically used by those who must be submerged without the benefit of water breathing magics, the influx of air immediately resets the time that a character who uses it can hold their breath. Through the use of multiple stones, divers have been known to remain underwater for as long as an hour or so.
• Salamander Salve: 50 gp per jar (10 doses). This oily black tar-like substance is rubbed onto a metal surface. When fire is touched to it, it catches on fire for one minute or until the salve is rubbed away. If applied to a weapon, the weapon inflicts fire damage for a single strike; other items inflict 1d4 fire damage to those that come into contact with them. It takes an action to apply the salve, and the weapon cannot be resheathed without rubbing the salve away. It takes a bonus action to set alight the weapon, or an incidental if the wielder is adjacent to an open flame. A small jar comes with enough for 10 applications.
• Skin Dye Ointment: 10 gp per jar (5 doses). A spicy-smelling ointment that is rubbed into the skin, a single dose covers a Medium sized creature's body. Once applied, it goes to work over the next half-hour, accompanied by prickling, warming sensations, changing the hue of the user's skin. Most alchemists who know this recipe know the permutations to cover the majority of skin tones found in humans and demihumans, with the occasional craftsman that can make orcish or drow tones (for example). Some alchemists have also developed tones that are outlandish, such as brilliant cerulean or even a pearlescent tone. This dye lasts for twelve hours before beginning to fade over a two hour period. Significant sweating or full-body immersion reduces this time to about ten hours or so.
• Skunk Cloud: 50 gp per vial • Area Attack. Creates a cloud of foul smelling gas with a 10 foot radius, which lingers for 5 minutes unless a wind of some kind blows it away. Creatures beginning their turns in or entering the cloud must make a DC 12 Constitution save or take 1d4 poison damage and taking the Stunned condition which lasts until at least one round after the affected creature reaches fresh air.
• Spell Inks: 50 gp per unit. These are the rare and precious inks used to scribe spells into spellbooks. Scribing a spell into a spellbook takes on unit of spell inks per level of the spell to be copied.
• Storm Salve: 50 gp per jar (10 doses). This coppery substance is rubbed onto a metal surface. When it strikes metal, small arcs of electricity begin to arc around the object. Weapons inflict lightning damage for a single strike; other items inflict 1d4 lightning damage to those who come in contact with the salve-treated surface. It takes an action to apply the salve, and the weapon cannot be resheathed without rubbing the salve away. It takes a bonus action to set the weapon sparking, or an incidental if the wielder is adjacent to a large steel object. A small jar comes with enough for 10 applications.
• Thunderstone: 25 gp per stone • Area Attack. Creates a loud, sharp bang when this alchemically-altered crystal strikes a hard surface. Creatures within 10 feet of the point of impact must make a DC 12 Constitution save or take 1d6 sonic damage and gain the Deafened condition. The bang can be heard up to 500 feet away under normal conditions.
• xxx: x gp • x lb (x doses). xxx
• xxx: x gp • x lb (x doses). xxx

Very Rare

Very Rare recipes are usually the product of inventive alchemists hard at work pushing the boundaries of their art.

• xxx: x gp • x lb (x doses). xxx
• Faerie Burst: 40 gp per vial • Area Attack. Coats everything within 10 feet of its point of impact with a liquid that immediately bursts into harmless foxfire. Creatures may make a DC 12 Dexterity save to avoid being affected. This negates stealth and invisibility as well as granting advantage on attacks against the illuminated target. This effect lasts until the end of the wielder's next turn.
• xxx: x gp • x lb (x doses). xxx
• xxx: x gp • x lb (x doses). xxx

Legendary

There are very few legendary recipes of alchemical lore, and with good reason: no one even knows if these supposed recipes are even actually possible with the alchemist's art alone, and are all probably the province of magic proper.

• Philosopher's Stone: x

• xxx: x gp • x lb (x doses). xxx
• xxx: x gp • x lb (x doses). xxx
• xxx: x gp • x lb (x doses). xxx