Alchemical Items that act like cantrips


Homebrew and House Rules


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What do people thing about these as items to help alchemists?

These are alchemical laboratory items that can be repurposed as weapons by many a budding alchemist. These items are advanced weapons but can not have weapon runes etched on them. Alchemists treat these weapons as simple weapons, and may use their crafting skill modifiers instead of their ranged weapon attack modifiers with these weapons. These weapons cannot be used beyond their base maximimum range.

Greek Fire Dispenser
Bulk L; Hands 1; Range 20 ft.; Reload 0
Category Advanced
Group Alchemical (on a critical hit the target is blinded until they spend an action wiping their face).
Item 1. Price 5gp; Damage 1d8 fire damage
Item 3. Price 15gp; Damage 2d8 fire damage
Item 11. Price 80gp; Damage 3d8 fire damage
Item 17. Price 1625gp; Damage 4d8 fire damage

Acid Squeegee Bottle
Bulk L; Hands 1; Range 20 ft.; Reload 0
Category Advanced
Group Alchemical (on a critical hit the target is blinded until they spend an action wiping their face).
Item 1. Price 5gp; Damage 1d6 acid damage, and 1 point of splash damage to every creature in a line between the alchemist and the target.
Item 3. Price 15gp; Damage 2d6 acid damage, and 2 points of splash damage …
Item 11. Price 80gp; Damage 3d6 acid damage, and 3 points of splash damage …
Item 17. Price 1625gp; Damage 4d6 acid damage, and 4 points of splash damage …


Edit Reload 1 to make it more like a cantrip.


They already get "cantrips" at level 7. Honestly it should be sooner


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And when do casters most need cantrips? Early levels before they have enough spell slots. Alchemists have very similar daily power restrictions. They are in the same boat.

Not getting "cantrips" till level 7 is barely better than not getting "cantrips"


Gortle wrote:

And when do casters most need cantrips? Early levels before they have enough spell slots. Alchemists have very similar daily power restrictions. They are in the same boat.

Not getting "cantrips" till level 7 is barely better than not getting "cantrips"

Having up to 10 actual alchemical items is equal to 10 spell slots.qnd that's just at level 1. Goes up by 2 every level.

So maybe having a special "bomb" action, but they are also a martial class so they can use weapons like slings.


I feel like Treasure Vault had items like the ones above but they were Level 3 or higher.


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I like these!
Reusable damage options that dont out damage bombs with their reload 1 and also give alchemist a reason to use crafting! Sign me right up! I hope you dont mind me tossing a few of my own ideas in the ring.

I am not sure how getting master and legendary in crafting at 7 and 15 may affect their performance however.

Stasian Shock Pistol
Bulk L; Hands 1; Range 20 ft.; Reload 1
Category Advanced
Group Stasian (on a critical hit up to 2 targets in the weapon's range take electric damage equal to the number of weapon damage dice).
Item 1. Price 5gp; Damage 1d6 electricity plus 1 persistent electricity
Item 3. Price 15gp; Damage 2d6 electricity plus 2 persistent electricity
Item 11. Price 80gp; Damage 3d6 electricity plus 3 persistent electricity
Item 17. Price 1625gp; Damage 4d6 electricity plus 4 persistent electricity.

Snowball Launcher
Bulk L; Hands 2; Range 40 ft.; Reload 1
Category Advanced
Group Alchemical (on a critical hit the target is blinded until they spend an action wiping their face)
Item 1. Price 5gp; Damage 1d6 cold
Item 3. Price 15gp; Damage 2d6 cold
Item 11. Price 80gp; Damage 3d6 cold
Item 17. Price 1625gp; Damage 4d6 cold

Envoy's Alliance

Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

I'm of the same opinion that 1: there are items from the Treasure Vault that already do things like this (though they have to be reloaded with the corresponding bomb type)
and 2: They have enough alchemical items, and weapons proficiency to get by at earlier levels without these.
Now, to be supportive 3: Given your description of these, they sound like they would get the TECH trait from the Star Finder Field test 1 (which at this point just boils down to runes don't work on them) but they also fit the description.


I am absolutely on board w/ the idea of more bomb/item fueled Alchemist gear.

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I do have to say that I think leaning into buffing and debuffing may be more appropriate than swapping out generic attack options.

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What has been listed here is less of a cantrip, and more of a crossbow, not least of which due to the d6 and d8.

Right now, I might pick the Alchemist Xbow over one of those two. 3 shots per bomb, 1d8 base before bomb boost d6, range increment 30, ect.

I always happy to see homebrew that's not OP, but why not lean into "this is not a weapon attack" even more?

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Skunk Spray:
Fuel: 1 Skunk Bomb.
Reload 1 | 1-H | Bulk:L

Spray the contents of the Skunk Bomb to saturate a 15ft cone.

All non-immune targets invoke an immediate Fort save as if they were splash targets of the bomb, but at +2 to the DC.

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Specific gear aside, all of these can't really work super well, as they all take the precious 1-H away from the Alchemist.

Basically, we need to invent / rework the Alch to not *need* Quick Bomber, which is right now why Alch Bombs are at all functional.

IMO, the one needed bit of gear, more than anything for the Alch, is:

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The Alchemist's Grape:

1-H | Bulk: 1 | attack: N/A

This slightly-infused cluster of attach points can hold up to 8 Alchemical items of L bulk.

By holding the stem at the ready, if the Alchemist has a free hand, they are able to Activate or throw any of the attached items as if they were in hand.

Returning or attaching a single item to the Grape can be done w/ a 1-Action Interact.

The Grape cannot be stowed in a container without unloading it.

If the Grape is dropped or otherwise falls to the ground, make a DC 11 check. On failure, one attached item is harmlessly destroyed at random.

(un)loading the Grape is a 2-H, 3 action interact activity, and all items to be loaded must be within reach.

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Basically, the Alchemist *needs* to be able to commit to their bit, and there's no good way to enable that. Just doing the Familiar: Dex + Independent has been a *huge* breath of fresh air for my Alch, and that's something anyone can do.

Another key thing I'd do is (eventually) delete Quick Bomber. But first, offer Quick Draw straight up, and add this as the L1 replacement for QwkBmr:

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Knuckle Pinch:

With a bit of training, you have become able to hold items between your fingers for use at a moment's notice.

So long as they are items of L bulk that can be activated or used in 1-H, each of your hands can now carry two without issue.

When you become an Expert in Alchemy, this becomes 3, at Master it becomes 4, ect.

Any time you draw, pick up, or otherwise actively put such an item in your hand, you can fill the hand to its limit at no additional action cost.

This Feat is compatible with Quick Alchemy and it's variants.

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Basically, trash the "free" action save of Qwk Bmr, that has to go. Instead, give the Alch something unique that does help a whole lot with their item use, but does so in a way that prompts more decision making and fun interactions. (Note that the Grape is limited to Alch items, but the Feat is not)


Zoken44 wrote:

I'm of the same opinion that 1: there are items from the Treasure Vault that already do things like this (though they have to be reloaded with the corresponding bomb type)

That is the whole point. You don't have enough alchemical items at low level to have enough bombs for this. So you end up using weapons. I don't want weapons - I want to do alchemy!


Gortle wrote:
Zoken44 wrote:

I'm of the same opinion that 1: there are items from the Treasure Vault that already do things like this (though they have to be reloaded with the corresponding bomb type)

That is the whole point. You don't have enough alchemical items at low level to have enough bombs for this. So you end up using weapons. I don't want weapons - I want to do alchemy!

Oh.

Are these not fueled by bombs? That's an interesting angle I had not considered before. The pseudo-crossbow design makes a lot more sense in that case.

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Makes me think about adding an entire "alchemical" weapon group. That could finally put bombs where they belong, *and* allow for non-alchemical bombs to exist for other classes.

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