D&D5e Alchemy Recipes 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.

Cosmetics

• 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.
• 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.

Ejectives

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

Household

• 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.
• Campstone: 1 gp per stone. These small disks of alchemically refined flint are used to start fires quickly. By placing the disk down and placing something flammable atop it, all it takes is striking the item with something made of steel. The alchemy refines the flint's natural spark-creating trait, causing it to flare a small fire to life, catching whatever is set on it afire immediately. Each stone has ten uses before it shatters.
• Cleansewater: 5 gp per bottle (5 doses). Originally developed by alchemists as a quick and easy way of purifying water for drinking, just a small amount of cleansewater can cleanse a bucketful of water. When applied, the water swirls into a blackish hue, killing the sorts of tiny life that can harm one, purifying even the most stagnant swamp water. A single dose is enough to cleanse a full tenday worth of consumable water. Adventurers of course quickly learned that larger amounts of cleansewater can have a devastating effect on aquatic and amphibious creatures. When a dose is added to a body of water, everything within a 20 foot radius must make an immediate DC 16 Constitution save or take 2d8 poison damage and the Poisoned condition for one minute. Many druids and those of nature-loving faiths look ill on those who use this tactic, for such large doses of cleansewater can all but destroy the delicate balance of life in some bodies of water.
• Gruel Pellet: 20 gp per pouch (30 doses). Proving that alchemy is often effective if not particularly aesthetically pleasing, a single gruel pellet dropped into a bowl of hot water quickly dissolves and then congeals that water into a mass of lumpy goo of an unappetizing grey-green color. Though it tastes of three-day-old socks, the resulting gruel is very nourishing. These pellets are sold in small pouches with thirty pellets apiece - a full tenday's worth of meals.
• Sunrod: 2 gp each. Thin bars of hollow alchemically treated metal, when the end of a sunrod is twisted, it drops a catalyst in the chemicals within the bar, triggering an alchemical reaction that causes the entire rod to glow, illuminating an area out to 20 feet, with dim lighting out another 20 feet. This illumination lasts for 3 hours, and the color of the illumination is determined by the alchemist when the sunrod is created. Creation of this item requires a metallurgical crucible.

Inks

• 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).
• 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).

Ointments & Oils

• 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)
• Darkeye Oil: 15 gp per bottle (5 doses). Sold in small glass bottles with thin glass applicator wands, darkeye oil is dropped directly into the eyes. After one round of blindness, the user's sensitivity to light is reversed: they can see in complete darkness, while areas of dim light are considered lightly obscured, and areas of full light are heavily obscured. Exposure to full daylight while these drops are in effect can inflict the Blinded condition if the user fails a DC 16 Dexterity save. The drops last for one hour, and if the character is blinded during that time, the blindness lasts for the full duration of the drops. Some alchemists also sell an oil that will counteract these drops, for 20 gp per bottle.
• 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).
• Softfoot Treatment: 12 gp per bottle (5 doses). This oil is rubbed into the soles of boots or shoes, softening the material and muffling any sounds it might normally make. This inflicts a -1d4 penalty to all Wisdom (Perception) checks to hear the one sneaking about. Unfortunately, continual use of this oil can rapidly degrade the soles of a pair of footwear.