Diligent Crafters

Studious and meticulous, alchemists are those who dedicate their entire lives to the craft of complex substances, be they poison, medicine, or something else entirely. Few are those that have the capacity to develop the strange talent of imbuing their own products with arcane power, however. Those who do are the true master alchemists.

Arcane Users

To manifest your own magic through that which you have crafted with your very own hands is the way of the alchemist, and is what separates them from wizards and sorcerers. They specialize in mixing the right chemicals and how to carefully enchant them to drastically alter or improve their effects, though to master this fine art typically takes countless years of theoretical study and a lifetime of practice.

Mysterious and Ambitious

Regardless of their goals, alchemy takes severe dedication to learn even the most basic aspects. Alchemists live and breathe their field of study, often putting their own lives on the line for the sake of discovery. They learn recipes from their past teachers, from intelligent otherworldly creatures (such as devils), or from their own trial and error.

Creating an Alchemist

Creating an alchemist demands a good reason for your character to pursue such an odd path. What was your character's first contact with alchemy? How did they eventually discover their own arcane prowess? Who taught you what you know? Was one of your parents an alchemist, or perhaps you were taught by a mysterious creature? Did you discover all that you know on your own after stumbling upon detailed instructions on how to craft your first potion?

What drives you to keep learning and practicing? What are your goals, and how does alchemy help you achieve them? Are you simply looking to make money, or do you have a loved one with a peculiar condition that you seek to cure?

Quick Build

You can make an alchemist quickly by following these suggestions. First, Intelligence should be your highest ability score, followed by Constitution. Second, choose the hermit background. Third, choose the enthalpy and acid splash cantrips, along with the 1st-level spells cure wounds, disguise self, longstrider, mage armor, tasha's caustic brew, and volatile substance.

Multiclassing

To multiclass into or out of the alchemist class, your Intelligence score must be 13 or higher.

Recipe Book

At 1st level, your gain a recipe book, which contains six recipes of spell-replicating potions. When you learn an alchemist spell, it is added as a potion recipe to your recipe book. It does not contain your cantrips, as those are minor alchemical reactions infused with minuscule amounts of magic that you have committed to memory. You learn more cantrips at certain levels, as shown on the Cantrips Known column of the Alchemist table.

Brewing Potions

You may leave potions brewing throughout the night. You cannot cast alchemist spells using spell slots. Instead, at the end of a long rest, you infuse concoctions with your magic, turning each of your spell slots into potions, provided that you have alchemist's supplies and an alchemist's bag in hands. The intensity of each potion is equal to the spell slot used to create it. Each individual potion replicates the effects of a spell of your choice that is in your recipe book. A potion can only replicate a spell you know whose level is equal to or lower than its intensity. Once you have brewed potions, using one is identical to casting the spell it replicates for any game effects and it takes the same time as casting the spell. They need no additional material components, only the vial itself and a free hand, thus requiring material and somatic, but not vocal components. The spell replicated is always cast at a level equal to the potion's intensity.

You must determine the spell that each potion is replicating when you brew them at the end of a long rest. So if a 3rd-level alchemist prepares four potions that replicate the Jump spell and two potions that replicate the Darkness spell, you cannot change which spells they replicate until you brew other potions. A potion that replicates a spell requiring costly components uses the costly components on its brewing process, and a potion that replicates a spell requiring concentration needs you to maintain a taxing connection to the magic or for you to constantly reapply the concoction, thus also requiring your concentration.

Potions remain viable until you use them or you finish a long rest. Alternatively, you can skip brewing any number of new potions to upkeep the same number of existing potions of equal intensities, keeping them viable until your next long rest.

Spellcasting Ability

Intelligence is the spellcasting ability for your alchemist potions. You use your Intelligence when a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Intelligence modifier when setting the saving throw DC for one of your potions or when making an attack roll with one.

Spell Save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus +

your Intelligence modifier

Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus +

your Intelligence modifier

Learning Spells of 1st Level and Higher

Each time you gain an alchemist level, you can add two alchemist spells of your choice to your recipe book. Each of these spells must be of a level equal to or lower than the highest intensity potion you can make, as shown on the Alchemist table. On your adventures, you might find other potion recipes that you can add to your recipe book. It follows the same rules as a wizard's spellbook - when you find another alchemist's recipe book, you may transfer their recipes to your own (2 hours of work per intensity level of the potion), and you can transcribe a loose recipe on a parchment to your own recipe book as well, though the latter requires 2 hours of work and 50 gp per intensity level of the potion.

Clarification on Minor Wonders Duration

A brew can be consumed as soon as it is finished and retains its magic for the duration, but its effects start counting down from the moment it is brewed. For instance, if an alchemist makes the Coldest Drink, a Minor Wonder with an effect that lasts for up to 8 hours, and waits 2 hours before consuming it, the effects will now only last for up to 6 hours.

Optional Rule: Batch Brew

At your DM's discretion, Minor Wonders can be brewed in batches by spending multiple uses of the feature. When you do so, simply multiply the Minor Wonder's maximum yield by the number of uses spent. If a brew calls for costly components, multiply the cost as well.

The Apothecary

Priding themselves in having a cure for every ailment and a potion for every occasion, the apothecaries are among the most sought after alchemists by the general populace.

Specializing in keeping others alive and enhancing their natural skills, they are just as coveted by adventurers, and those who have one amongst their ranks are often thankful for it.

Master Healer

At 14th level, you learn the Lesser Restoration, Remove Curse, and Greater Restoration spells, or up to other three alchemist spells of your choice if you already know them. You may brew an extra potion of intensity 5 every long rest, but it must replicate one of the three spells listed in this feature.

Siege Expert

When you choose this archetype at 3rd-level, whenever you deal fire or thunder damage to a structure, that damage is doubled and you ignore the structure's damage resistances.

Delayed Blast

Also at 3rd-level, you know how to make a simple mechanism, magical symbol, or chemical compound, such as a pressure plate or runes, that are able to hold and release magical energy. Once per long rest, you can use this feature to cast Glyph of Warding at its base level, requiring no costly material components and without expending a spell slot or potion of any kind.

When cast using this feature, you may only deal fire or thunder damage when using Explosive Runes. When using the Spell Glyph, you can only store a spell that deals fire or thunder damage.

You can have a number of glyphs made using this feature equal to your proficiency bonus. If you make a new glyph and exceed the limit, the oldest glyph fades.

Stable Eruption

At 6th-level, if a potion you make replicates a spell that deals acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage you can change the damage type to fire or thunder. This must be determined as soon as you brew the potion at the end of a long rest.

Master Blaster

At 14th level, at the end of a long rest, you imbue a single one of your potions made using your Potionmaking feature with extra magic or volatile ingredients.

The potion must deal fire or thunder damage and have a duration of instantaneous. When used, instead of rolling dice to determine the damage dealt, the creature using it can instead use the highest number possible for each die.

If the potion requires an attack roll, any dice roll lower than 10 is treated as a 10 instead.

Wild Brew

When you choose this specialization at 3rd level, upon finishing a long rest, you also finish brewing one of your side projects, a Wild Brew. You experiment with ingredients or magical enchantments that result in a new, unpredictable effect.

Whenever you finish a long rest, roll once on each of the Wild Brew Tables in the next page to see what effects your new brew has. You can use your brew as an action and you decide its appearance and how it is applied. If a wild brew works in an area, its effect applies to all creatures inside of it.

Any bonus to effect on Wild Brew Table 1 alters the damage, healing, or temporary hit points of effects on Table 2.

Your Bottled Magic feature applies to the Wild Brew as if it were a potion.

Scratch That!

Also at 3rd level, your mind fills with ideas on how to change your already known recipes to better suit your needs.

Whenever you finish a short or long rest, you can choose one of your spells in your recipe book and replace it with another spell from the alchemist spell list, so long as the new and the replaced spells meet at least one of the following criteria:

• Both spells are the same school of magic.
• Both spells cause damage in an area of effect.
• Both spells cause damage and call for the same type of attack roll (melee or ranged).
• Both spells heal hit points/grant temporary hit points.
• Both spells cause a condition.

Trouble Brewing

At 6th level, you gain a permanent +2d10 bonus to effect in addition to any regular bonus when rolling on Wild Brew Table 1. Additionally, at the end of a long rest, you can use level 3 or higher spell slots to make additional Wild Brews instead of brewing them into potions using the Potionmaking feature. You can have a maximum number of existing Wild Brews equal to your proficiency bonus.

Master Experimentalist

At 14th level, you've finally achieved perfection and consistency with one of your brews. Choose one result from each Wild Brew Table. That combination becomes your Perfect Brew. When you finish a long rest, you brew your Perfect Brew in addition to your Wild Brew.

Toxic Waste

When you finish a long rest and brew potions, you can take all the toxic residue left behind by the alchemical processes and turn it into a small vial of deadly poison. It remains viable until the end of your next long rest and then goes inert. When you do so, choose one of the following options:

• Ingestion. You choose a poison that needs to be orally consumed to take effect. You can mix it with any of your potions, with another liquid, with food, and other means typical of this kind of poison. When a creature ingests the poison, they must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, the creature takes 4d8 poison damage and is poisoned for 8 hours, or half as much damage and no conditions on a success.
• Injection. You choose a poison that takes effect when coursing through the target's veins. The toxin is oily and thick, and can be used as a bonus action to coat a weapon or a single piece of ammunition and has enough for up to 4 applications. Once applied, it lasts until the end of your next long rest or until the weapon hits a creature. The next hit with the weapon deals an extra 1d8 poison damage and forces the target to succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC or be poisoned for 1 minute. At the end of each of its turns, the target can make another Constitution saving throw, ending the poisoned condition on itself on a success.

Unsavory Knowledge

Also at 3rd level, you have earned knowledge on how to make a variety of concoctions that shady folks seek. You gain proficiency with the Poisoner's Kit, or expertise if you're already proficient with it.

Potent Poison

At 6th level, your Toxic Waste feature now uses d10's instead of d8's when rolling for damage. Additionally, any poison and potion that you make by any means, such as crafted items or potions made using your Potionmaking feature, now ignore resistance to poison damage, and you learn how to tailor your poison to affect any specific target.

Tailor Poison. When you craft a poison, use your toxic waste feature, or make a potion that deals poison damage using your Potionmaking feature, you can choose to tailor that poison to affect specific targets. Choose a creature type from the following: aberration, beast, celestial, dragon, elemental, fey, fiend, giant, humanoid, monstrosity, ooze, plant, or undead. That poison is specifically tailored to harm the chosen type of creature, ignoring any resistances or immunities to poison damage or the poisoned condition that creatures of that type possess. Creatures of a different type are unaffected by a tailored poison.

Master Poisoner

At 14th level, when you use your Toxic Waste feature, you can further process your poisons to change their effects:

• Ingestion. You can replace the poisoned condition by the blinded or deafened conditions, or apply 2 levels of exhaustion instead.
• Injection. You can replace the poisoned condition by the blinded, deafened, or stunned conditions, or deal an extra 2d10 poison damage instead.

Transpose Matter

When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you learn how to make a concoction capable of altering the physical properties of nonmagical objects. Over the course of 1 hour, you produce a brew capable of transforming objects composed entirely of a single material into a different material of equal or lower value of the same type, such as a rock into another rock, or a metal into another metal. More specific examples include turning clay into dirt, marble into limestone, silver into iron, gold into mercury, or mahogany wood into acacia wood.

Making said brew requires your alchemist's supplies or your alchemist's bag to be at your disposal. One batch is enough to alter up to 5 cubic feet of matter and retains its magic for up to 24 hours.

The brew needn't be used by you, but it requires magical prowess and alchemical knowledge. Any creature that is capable of casting a spell and is proficient with alchemist's supplies can use it.

Transmogrify

Also at 3rd level, altering the basic form of any creature becomes an easy task for you. You learn the Alter Self spell, and you can cast it as a ritual by quickly brewing a delicate potion that replicates its effects and must be consumed immediately after being finished. You may give it to another creature as if using your bottled magic feature, in which case the creature uses their own concentration.

Enhanced Transmutation

At 6th level, you may now transmute a material into a similar material of higher value. If you do so, it reverts back to its original form in a number of hours equal to your alchemist level.

Additionally, whenever you brew a potion that replicates the Alter Self spell with your Potionmaking or Transmogrify features, it no longer requires concentration, though a creature can only benefit from one of its effects at a time.

Master Transmuter

At 14th level, when you transmute a material into a different material of higher value, it reverts back to its original form after a number of days (instead of hours) equal to your alchemist level.

Additionally, if you transmute a Small or smaller object into a different material of higher value every day for one week, the transmutation becomes permanent. You can, for instance, turn a piece of lead into gold, or a steel sword into an adamantine sword. Doing so requires extra attention, effort, and magical prowess, and as such you may only do this to one object every week.

Alter Ego Elixir

• Crafting Time: 1 minute
• Duration: 24 hours from the moment this brew is finished
• Ingredients: 7 different powdered fruits, each having a different color of the rainbow, water or juice.
• Yields: Up to 1 drink

This drink constantly changes colors and emanates a different scent for each person, but is always perceived as something alluring. Each time a creature drinks this, they choose one ability score. For the duration, the creature takes on the physical appearance and/or behavior that they would have if that score was 10 points higher.

Their newfound confidence grants them a 1d8 bonus to a single ability check that uses the affected ability score.

Coldest Drink

• Crafting Time: 10 minutes
• Duration: 8 hours from the moment this brew is finished
• Ingredients: Dried limes and water that has been stored in a bottle kissed by a marid.
• Yields: Up to 5 drinks

This bluish drink glistens with strange melancholy. Any creature that consumes this bittersweet beverage feels a chill running through their body for the duration, suffering no ill effects from being exposed to harsh hot weather and gaining resistance to the first instance of fire damage they take.

Nullifies the effects of "Warmest Drink".

Goatgin

• Crafting Time: 1 minute
• Duration: 8 hours from the moment this brew is finished
• Ingredients: Dry juniper berries, fresh grass or shrub, gin or a neutral spirit, pieces of a goat's hoof or horn, pieces of salt lick, milk or another fluid from a caprine.
• Yields: Up to 5 drinks

This drink smells deliciously fresh and herbal, maybe slightly sour. A creature that consumes this has their feet turned into hooves, granting them advantage on Strength and Dexterity saving throws made against effects that would knock them prone and are unaffected by rock-based difficult terrain.

Side effects may include an intense urge to consume any objects within line of sight.

Jester's Nectar

• Crafting Time: 10 minutes
• Duration: 1 hour from the moment this brew is finished
• Ingredients: A single tarot card (The Fool), miscellaneous herbs, one strelitzia flower, sugar, water.
• Yields: Up to 5 drinks

This light blue effervescent brew bubbles uncontrollably when near a bold performance or when a joke is told within earshot of it, almost as if it were laughing by itself. Once within the duration of this brew, when a creature that has consumed this sweet liquid fails a Charisma or Dexterity check made to entertain others, they may re-roll the die and use the new result.

Enthalpy

Transmutation cantrip

• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: 30 feet
• Components: S
• Duration: Instantaneous

By waving your hand and pointing at a substance within range, you can make quick changes to the pressure, energy and temperature of it and its surroundings, changing its current state. You can turn up to 1 pint of liquid into a different state, such as water into ice or mercury into vapor.

Alternatively, you may change the substance's temperature so it's on the edge of changing states, such as making a cup of water instantly boiling hot or freezing cold.

True Alchemist's Fire

1st-level Evocation

• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: 60 feet
• Components: S, M (dangerous chemicals, flammable oil, one glass vial worth at least 1 cp that is consumed by the spell)
• Duration: 1 minute

You make a sticky, adhesive fluid that ignites when exposed to air, similar to the famous alchemist's fire that is readily available for purchase in many shops, but enhanced with your arcane magic or higher quality ingredients. As an action, you can throw this flask at a creature or object within range, making a ranged spell attack. On a hit, the target takes 2d4 fire damage on impact and 1d4 fire damage again at the start of each of its turns. A creature can use its action to make a Dexterity saving throw, extinguishing the flames on itself or on an adjacent ally and ending the spell on a success.

At higher levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the damage on impact increases by 2d4 per slot level above 1.

Volatile Substance

1st-level Evocation

• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: 60 feet
• Components: S, M (delicate chemicals prone to combusting)
• Duration: instantaneous

You toss a vial of highly volatile chemical substances enhanced with magic, which detonates in a point within range, causing it to explode and forcing each creature in a 5-foot-radius sphere centered on that point to make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, a target takes 2d8 fire damage and is knocked prone if they are Medium or smaller, or take half as much damage and no further effects on a successful one.

At higher levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the damage increases by 1d8 for each slot level above 1st. If you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, the area changes to a 10-foot-radius sphere.

Pill of Wondrous Agility

2nd-level Transmutation

• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: Touch
• Components: S, M (a plethora of herbs)
• Duration: 24 hours

You fuse the ingredients and shape them into 4 pills that retain their effects for the duration. A creature can take a pill in their turn, no action required, giving them a sudden burst of energy, increasing their movement speed by 20 feet until the start of their next turn.

A creature can take multiple pills to a maximum per turn equal to their Constitution modifier (minimum 1). If a creature exceeds that number, they take 1d4 poison damage for each pill taken beyond their limit and must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC or be poisoned until the end of the round.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, the movement speed increases by 5 feet for each slot level above 2.

Vitality Infusion

4th-level Transmutation

• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: Self
• Components: S, M (fruits and herbs used for medicinal tea)
• Duration: 1 hour

By consuming this sickly sweet potion, a creature regains 4d4+4 hit points and gains the same amount of temporary hit points that last for the duration. Additionally, their hit point maximum cannot be reduced, and any effects currently reducing their hit point maximum are ended.

At higher levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, the healing and temporary hit points increase by 1d4+1 per slot level above 4th.

Panacea

9th-level Evocation

• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: Touch
• Components: S, M (a drop of wyvern poison, one leaf from the world's rarest herb, and miscellaneous ingredients worth 750 gp, all consumed by the spell)
• Duration: Instantaneous

A creature that consumes this potion is cured of all magical and nonmagical poisons, curses, and diseases affecting it, and it removes all levels of exhaustion and cures any petrification. They are also restored to their full hit points.

The creature can also choose to regain youth, having their age reduced by 1d4 years, to a minimum of 13 years.

If the Panacea is administered to a creature that has died within the last 24 hours, the creature is brought back to life and immediately benefits from the other effects of this brew.

Cover: Fragged Kingdom: Kaltoran Alchemist, by clonerh on Deviantart

Pg 2: The Alchemist, by u/KibblesTasty on Reddit

Pg 3: Runaway Alchemist, by Aurore Folny on ArtStation

Pg 4: Apothecary, by Chris Cole on fineartamerica

Pg 5: Blindeye Apothecary, by Aleksandra Wojtas on ArtStation

Pg 7: The Alchemist, by Grafit-Art on Deviantart Mad Scietist, by BryanSyme on Deviantart

Pg 8: Madcap Experiment, by Joseph Meehan on ArtStation.

Pg 9: Mad Scietist, by BryanSyme on Deviantart

Pg 11: Mad Alchemist, by Tobias Rhein on https://www.tobias-rhein.de/mad-alchemist/

Pg 12: Thergan the alchemist, by AnthonyLM on CGSociety

Pg 15: Potion 3D Prop, by Abyss Santos on ArtStation

Pg 16: Antidote, by AlexanderKorolev on Deviantart

Pg 19: Healing Potion, by Tung Do Thanh on ArtStation