Preparing and Using Formula
The Alchemist table shows how many formula slots you have to cast your spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of those spells, you must expend a slot of the spell’s level or higher. You regain all expended formula slots when you finish a long rest.
You prepare the list of alchemist formula spells that are available for you to cast. To do so, choose a number of Formula from your Formula book equal to your Intelligence Modifier plus half your Alchemist level (minimum of one spell). The formula must be of a level for which you have formula slots.
You can change your list of prepared formula when you finish a long rest. Preparing a new list of formula requires time spent studying your formula book, gathering reagents, and brewing alchemical mixtures.
Formula Ability
Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for your alchemical formulas, since you learn your formula through dedicated study and experimentation. You use your Intelligence whenever a formula refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Intelligence modifier when setting the saving throw DC for an alchemist formula you use and 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
Formula Focus
You can use alchemist supplies (found in chapter 5) as a spellcasting focus for your alchemist formula.
Learning Formulas of 1st Level and Higher
Each time you gain an alchemist level you can add one alchemical formula of your choice to your formula book. This formula must be of a level for which you have formula slots, as shown on the Alchemist table. On your adventures, you might find other formula that you can add to your formula book.
Alchemical Discoveries_____________________
In your study of scientific pursuits you make an incredible alchemical discovery, theories and hypothesis that imbue you with extraordinary ability.
At 2nd level you gain two alchemical discoveries of your choice. Your discovery options are detailed at the end of the class description. When you gain certain alchemist levels you gain additional discoveries of your choice as shown in the Discoveries Known column of the Alchemist table.
Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the discoveries you know and replace it with another discovery that you could learn at that level.
Mithridatism_______________________________
At 3rd level your constant experimentation has given you a superhuman resistance to their dangers. You gain resistance to poison damage and advantage on saving throws against poison effects.
Ability Score Improvement_________________
When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16tth, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability score of your choice by 1. As normal you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.
Swift Alchemy_____________________________
At 11th level, you have learned to retain some of your formula’s potency by carefully processing spent formula. Once per day when you finish a short rest, you can choose expended formula slots to recover. The formula slots can have a combined level that is equal to or less than half your alchemist level (rounded up)
Alchemist
Whether secreted away in a smoky basement laboratory or gleefully experimenting in a well-respected school of magic, the alchemist is often regarded as being just as unstable, unpredictable, and dangerous as the concoctions he brews. While some creators of alchemical items content themselves with sedentary lives as merchants, providing alchemical fire and healing potions, the true alchemist answers a deeper calling. Rather than cast magic like a spellcaster, the alchemist captures his own magic potential within liquids and extracts he creates, infusing his chemicals with virulent power to grant him impressive skill with poisons, explosives, and all manner of self-transformative magic.
Quick Build
You can make an alchemist quickly by following these suggestions. First, make Intelligence your highest ability followed by Dexterity. Second, choose the Guild Artisan background.
Class Features
As an alchemist you gain the following class features.
Hit Points
Hit Dice: 1d8 per alchemist level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + your Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier per alchemist level after 1st
Proficiencies
Armor: Light Armor
Weapons: Simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, and shortswords
Tools: Alchemist’s Supplies
Saving Throws: Dexterity, Intelligence
Skills: Choose three from Acrobatics, Arcana, History, Investigation, Medicine, Nature, Perception, Survival
Equipment
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:
Scientific School
At 1st level you begin your research into a specific field of study. Choose a Scientific School from Grenadier, Investigator, or Mutagist, each of while is detailed at the end of the class description. Your choice grants you features at 1st level and again at 6th, 10th, 14th, and 20th level.
Alchemy____________________________________
Your scientific research has granted you a limited ability with spellcasting in the form of brewing and using a special type of potion called a Formula.
Formula Book
At 1st level you have a formula book containing two 1st-level alchemist formulas of your choice.
Cantrips
You know the bomb cantrip
Level | Proficiency Bonus | Features | Discoveries�Known | -- Formula Slots per Spell Level -- | ||||
1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | ||||
1st | +2 | Scientific School, Alchemy | - | 1 | - | - | - | - |
2nd | +2 | Alchemical Discoveries | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - |
3rd | +2 | Scientific School, Mithridatism | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - |
4th | +2 | Ability Score Improvement | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - |
5th | +3 | | 3 | 4 | 2 | - | - | - |
6th | +3 | Scientific School Feature | 3 | 4 | 2 | - | - | - |
7th | +3 | | 4 | 4 | 3 | - | - | - |
8th | +3 | Ability Score Improvement | 4 | 4 | 3 | - | - | - |
9th | +4 | | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | - | - |
10th | +4 | Scientific School Feature | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | - | - |
11th | +4 | Swift Alchemy | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | - | - |
12th | +4 | Ability Score Improvement | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | - | - |
13th | +5 | | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | - |
14th | +5 | Scientific School Feature | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | - |
15th | +5 | | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | - |
16th | +5 | Ability Score Improvement | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | - |
17th | +6 | | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
18th | +6 | | 8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
19th | +6 | Ability Score Improvement | 8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
20th | +6 | Scientific School Feature | 8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
Scientific Schools
Different alchemists follow various approaches towards their mastery of alchemy. A few different methods are detailed below.
Grenadier__________________________________
You have applied your alchemical talents towards things that go BOOM and are trained to exercise your talents even in the thick of battle.
Bonus Proficiency
You gain proficiency with medium armor.
Precision Strike
Beginning at 3rd level your bombs strike harder. Your bomb cantrip and any thrown alchemical items score a critical hit on a roll of 19-20.
Empower Bomb
Starting at 6th level you can imbue your bomb cantrip with your alchemical power. When you hit with your bomb cantrip you can expend one Formula slot to deal extra force damage to the target(s). The extra damage is 1d8 plus 1d8 per level of the spell slot.
Pyrotechnician
Upon reaching 10th level your constant exposure to explosives has dulled their effects on you. You are resistant to fire and force damage.
Smart Bomb
Starting at 14th level, Your bomb cantrip and any thrown alchemical items score a critical hit on a roll of 18-20.
Master Grenadier
At 20th level when you cast bomb you may target any number of creatures you can see within the range of the spell. Once you use this feature you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again.
Mutagist____________________________________
You have turned your alchemical skill inward to discover the limits of your own body.
Bonus Proficiencies
You gain proficiency with two martial weapons of your choice.
Mutagen
Upon reaching 3rd level, you can brew a potent formula called a mutagen that distorts and enhances your own abilities. Over the course of a short or long rest you can brew one dose of mutagen and it remains potent until consumed. You may have a number of doses brewed at a time equal to your intelligence modifier (minimum 1). As an action you may drink your mutagen and pick one of the following effects, which lasts for 1 minute.
Strength: Whenever you hit a creature with a weapon attack the creature takes an extra 1d8 damage. You may only deal this extra damage once per turn.
Dexterity: You may take the Dash and Disengage actions as bonus actions.
Constitution: You gain a +2 shield bonus to AC. You cannot wield a shield to gain this effect twice.
Extra Attack
Beginning at 6th level you attack twice instead of once when you take the Attack action.
Altered Psyche
When you reach 10th level your brain has been left permanently altered by your experiments. You are advantage on saving throws to be charmed or frightened.
Improved Mutagen
Starting at 14th level whenever you drink your mutagen pick one of the following features:
Strength: You may make a single weapon attack as a bonus action while under the effects of your mutagen.
Dexterity: When an attacker hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to half the attack’s damage against you.
Constitution: When you fail a saving throw against a spell with a duration longer than instantaneous, you may attempt the saving throw again on each of your subsequent turns until your mutagen expires, even if the spell would not normally allow it.
Master Mutagist
At 20th level, when you imbibe your mutagen, choose two abilities from the Mutagen and Improved Mutagen features.
Investigator________________________________
You apply your analytical mind to the people and world around you, finding hidden information wherever you look.
Bonus Proficiencies
When you join this school at 1st level you gain proficiency with one of the following skills: Deception, Intimidation, or Persuasion.
Discover Clue
Beginning at 3rd level, you can use your Reaction to give yourself advantage on a single ability check before the check is rolled. You may use this ability a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier. You regain expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Study Target
Starting at 3rd level, you can study a creature to find weaknesses, increasing the harm you inflict on it. As a bonus action, you designate one creature you can see within 60 feet of you as the target of this feature. The first time each turn that you hit that target with a weapon attack, it takes an extra 1d6 damage from the weapon. This benefit lasts until you finish a short or long rest. It ends early if you designate a different creature.
Studied Strike
Beginning at 6th level, when you hit the creature you studied with your Study Target feature with a weapon attack, you may make the damage roll an automatic critical. Doing so ends your Study Target on the creature after damage is rolled. You may only Studied Strike once per short rest.
Discombobulate
At 10th level, when you hit the creature targeted by your Study Target feature, they have disadvantage on attack rolls against you until the start of your next turn.
Enhanced Study
When you reach 14th level you regain expended uses of Discover Clue whenever you finish a short rest and your Study Target deals an additional 1d6 damage (for a total of 2d6).
Master Investigator
Pick one skill. You have advantage when rolling ability checks using that skill.
Alchemist Formula
1st Level Armor of Agathys Arms of Hadar Comprehend Languages Cure Wounds Detect Magic Detect Poison and Disease Disguise Self Expeditious Retreat False Life Feather Fall Find Familiar Fog Cloud Grease Heroism Identify Jump Longstrider Mage Armor Shield Snare | 2nd Level Alter Self Blur Darkvision Detect Thoughts Dragon’s Breath Enhance Ability Enlarge / Reduce Find Traps Invisibility Levitate Lesser Restoration Magic Weapon Mirror Image Misty Step Protection from Poison Shadow Blade Spider Climb Web | 3rd Level Blink Counterspell Dispel Magic Feign Death Fly Gaseous Form Glyph of Warding Haste Leomund’s Tiny Hut Nondetection Phantom Steed Protection from Energy Remove Curse Sending Stinking Cloud Thunder Step Tiny Servant Tongues Water Breathing | 4th Level Arcane Eye Dimension Door Fabricate Fire Shield Freedom of Movement Greater Invisibility Leomund’s Secret Chest Locate Creature Mordenkainen’s Private Sanctum Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere Polymorph Stoneskin 5th Level Contact Other Plane Creation Dream Legend Lore Mislead Rary’s Telepathic Bond Telekinesis Teleportation Circle |
Alchemical Discoveries
Alchemical Sight
Prerequisite: 15th level
You can see the true form of any shapechanger or
creature concealed by illusion or transmutation magic
while the creature is within 30 feet of you and within
line of sight.
Alchemical Weapons
Prerequisite: 5th level
You may prepare a weapon you are carrying with special compounds to increase it lethality. At the end of a short rest choose one weapon you are carrying or 20 rounds of ammunition. It gains a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls unless it is a magic weapon that already has a bonus to those rolls and it counts as magic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Battlefield Training
You can cast the Blade Ward and True Strike cantrips
Canny Defense
You may calculate your defense as 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Intelligence modifier
Enhanced Sight
You can see normally in darkness, both magical and non-magical, to a distance of 120 feet.
Experienced Scribe
You can read all writing.
Expert Craftsman
You can cast the light, mage hand, and mending cantrips.
Eye for Detail
Prerequisite: 12th level
You can cast see invisibility at will, without expending a formula slot or material components.
Lung Pumps
Prerequisite: 9th level
You can cast speak with dead at will, without expending a formula slot.
Potion of Many Faces
You can cast disguise self at will, without expending a formula slot.
Elixir of Myriad Forms
Prerequisite: 15th level
You can cast alter self at will, without expending a formula slot.
Miracle Worker
Prerequisite: 12th level
Over the course of a short rest you may prepare a small pill using 65g worth of components. The pill retains its potency for one week. Anyone may use the pill to cast revivify, substituting the pill for the normal component cost. You may only have one such pill prepared at a time. After using this ability you may not again until you finish a long rest.
Practiced Talent
Prerequisite: 5th level
Choose a skill or tool you are proficient with. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability checks you make that use the chosen proficiency.
Bomb
Conjuration cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 90 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous
You hurl a sphere of explosive. Make a ranged spell attack at one creature or object within range or choose two creatures within 5 feet of each other. On hit the target(s) take 1d6 fire damage. A flammable object hit by this spell ignites if it isn’t being worn or carried.
This spell’s damage increases by 1d6 when you reach 5th level (2d6), 11th level (3d6), and 17th level (4d6).
Your Formula Book
The formula that you add to your formula book as you gain levels reflect the scientific research you conduct on your own as well as intellectual breakthroughs you have had about the nature of the multiverse. You might find other formula during your adventures. You could discover a formula recorded on a scroll in an evil alchemist’s chest, for example, or in a dusty tome in an ancient library.
Copying a Formula into the Book. When you find an alchemical formula of 1st level or higher, you can add it to your formula book if it is of a level for which you have formula slots and if you can spare the time to decipher and copy it.
Copying a formula into your formula book involves reproducing the basic form of the formula, then deciphering the unique system of notation used by the alchemist who wrote it. You must practice the formula until you understand the reagents required, then transcribe it into your formula book using your own notation.
For each level of the formula, 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 formula just like your other formulas.
If you are tutored by the alchemist who wrote the formula you are attempting to copy the process instead takes 1 hour and costs 25 gp.
Replacing the Book. You can copy a formula from your own formula book into another book--for example, if you want to make a backup copy of your spellbook. This is just like copying a new spell into your spellbook, but faster and easier, since you understand your own notation and already know how to prepare the formula. You need spend only 1 hour and 10 gp for each level of the copied formula.
If you lose your spellbook, you can use the same procedure to transcribe the formulas that you have prepared into a new formula book. Filling out the remainder of your formula book required you to find new formulas to do so, as normal. For this reason, many alchemists keep backup formula books in a safe place.
The Book’s Appearance. Your formula book is a unique compilation of formulas, with its own decorative flourishes and margin notes. It might be a plain, functional leather volume, a finely bound gilt-edged tome, or even a loose collection of notes scrounged together.
Wizard Spells. You may copy wizard spells on the alchemist list into your formula book and wizards may copy formula from alchemist books into their own. Doing so takes twice the time and gold investment however.
Hulking Brute
Prerequisite: Mutagen feature
When under the effects of your mutagen your AC is 16 and you have disadvantage on Stealth skill checks as though you are wearing splint armor. At 5th level the AC bonus improves to 18.
Modified Limb
Prerequisite: Mutagen feature
While under the effects of your mutagen you gain a bite (piercing), claw (slashing), or enlarged fists (bludgeoning) melee weapon attack that deals 1d8 damage. At 6th level this attack counts as magic for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to non-magic attacks.
Skulk
Prerequisite: 5th level
When you are in an area of dim light or darkness, you can use your action to become invisible until you move or take an action or a reaction.
Third Eye
You can cast detect magic at will, without expending a formula slot.
Wetwork
You gain proficiency with Thieves Tools and the Stealth skill.
Bouncing Bomb
Prerequisite: bomb cantrip
The range of your bomb cantrip is 150 feet.
Napalm
Prerequisite: bomb cantrip
Add your Intelligence modifier to the damage dealt with your bomb cantrip.
Stink Bomb
Prerequisite: 9th level, bomb cantrip
When you hit a creature with your bomb cantrip, they must make a Constitution save or be poisoned until the end of your next turn.
Variable Charge
Prerequisite: 5th level, bomb cantrip
When you cast bomb, the damage is a type of your choice instead of fire.
Combat Study
Prerequisite: 7th level, Discover Clue feature
You may use your Reaction and spend a Clue to grant yourself advantage on a single attack roll or initiative check in addition to its regular usage.
Disorienting Strike
Prerequisite: 9th level, Studied Strike feature
When you use your Studied Strike feature, instead of making the attack an automatic critical, you may instead cause them to have disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks until the end of your next turn. A successful Intelligence save negates this effect.
Quick Strike
Prerequisite: 5th level, Study Target feature
You may attack twice instead of once when you use the
Attack action to attack the creature you have studied
using your Study Target feature.
Multiclassing
Ability Score Minimum: Intelligence 13
Proficiencies Gained: Light Armor, Alchemist Supplies
One skill from the alchemist list
Spell Slots: Add half your alchemist levels (rounded down)