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Alchemist Class
Description
The alchemist uses combinations of materials to produce magic-like or semi-magical
effects based on the substances and the philosophical essences of materials when combined in
potions. They are also the masters of poison, drugs, acids and caustics, being able to both
produce them and to treat their effects.
The alchemist holds themselves aloof from the moralization of the adherents of both Law
and Chaos, seeking rather the “untarnished” truth that is to be found in their philosophical studies
of physical materials and nature (where, they will point out, the use of poison and other chemical
defenses is common.) Likewise, they are resentful of any interferences in their work, though they
are willing to avoid direct confrontations with those with whom they associate closely so long as it
has no long-term effects on their researches.
The alchemist that chooses to become an adventurer will have some minor martial
training in addition to their alchemical training. They may use single-handed weapons, shields,
and armor up to armor class 5.

Requirements
Race:
Any race may play an alchemist.

Characteristics:
Characters must have a constitution of at least 12 and an intelligence of at least 12 to be
an alchemist. Constitution is the prime requisite of the alchemist.

Alignment:
An alchemist must be of neutral alignment.

Starting Conditions
A starting alchemist will have the following possessions:
• A worn studentʼs robe, of material appropriate to the climate where the alchemist received their
training.
• A worn studentʼs hood (a hood with a liripipe and cowl, the prototypical academic hood of the
bachelor or master.) Fur-lined if the alchemistʼs training occurred in a temperate or arctic
climate.
• A pair of leather shoes.
• One set of appropriate undergarments, including socks.
• A small leather neck pouch, of about 1 dry pint capacity.
• A thin leather apron (no armor value) and a pair of leather gloves (no armor value), used for
protection from the materials the alchemist uses in brewing. Both can be expected to be worn,
stained, and barely serviceable for perhaps the first level.
• 3D6x10 gold pieces.
• Three memorized potion recipes, one of which will be Potion of Delusion, and two others
selected from the list of first level potion recipes.
• A knowledge of the preparation of poisons, sleep drugs, acids and caustics.
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Alchemist Combat

Alchemist Combat Attack Matrix

To Hit on D20 Armor Class of Target
Level of Alch. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
1-4 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
5-8 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
9-12 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13-16 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
17+ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

A roll of a “natural 20” (the number 20 appears on the die when rolled, as opposed to a
20 as a result of modifiers to the die roll) results in a “critical hit.” A critical hit causes any damage
done to be double that rolled for the hit. If the to-hit roll requirement is 19 or higher, no critical hit
occurs.
A roll of a “natural 1” (the number 1 or 01 appears on the die when rolled, as opposed to
a 1 rolled as a result of modifiers to the die roll) results in a “fumble.” A fumble results in the
character losing the ability to act in the following combat round. If the to-hit roll is 2 or less, no
fumble occurs.

Weapons:
Alchemists are restricted to the use of single-handed weapons, or magic weapons of other types
which are specifically created as usable by alchemists.
Armor:
Alchemists may use any armor which provides protection up to armor class 5, and may use
shields as well.

Saving Throws
When struck by the following types of attacks, roll 1D20 to determine whether the full effect of the
attack is taken by the character, or whether the effect is nullified or reduced as noted. Rolling the
indicated number or higher results on no or reduced effects.

Death Ray/ Stoning/ Dragon Staves, Rods,

Level Poison Wands Paralysis Breath & Spells
1-3 10 13 12 15 16
4-6 8 11 10 13 14
7-9 6 9 8 10 12
10-12 4 7 6 8 10
13+ 2 5 3 5 8
On Save:
No Effect 1/2 No Effect 1/2 No Effect for
for Ray, 1/2 Damage Damage Spells, 1/2
Damage Damage for Staffs,
for Poison Rods

Resurrection:
When an attempt is made to resurrect a character, the given value or lower must be rolled on
percentile dice for the resurrection to be successful. A character can only be resurrected a
number of times equal to their constitution using normal resurrection spells.

Constitution: 3-6 7-10 11-12 13-14 15 16 17 18 19+

30% 50% 75% 85% 90% 95% 98% 99% 100%
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Poison, Sleep Drugs, and Acids and Caustics

An alchemist can brew poisons, sleep drugs, acids and caustics of a strength level equal
to their experience level. The cost to each is 100 G.P. and one day per strength level of the
poison, drug, or acid. Each may be produced in a liquid form or, after level 3, the alchemist may
prepare them in a form where they can be applied to weapons. The form which can be applied to
weapons will function as a poison applied to a weapon, though with effects appropriate to the
nature of the concoction (poisons act as poison, drugs as drugs, and so on.)
Sleep drugs cause unconsciousness if the victim fails a Saving Throw vs. Poison at -2. In
order to wake, the victim must make a successful resurrection roll, checked once each hour.
Acids cause 1D6 x Level points of damage if the victim fails a Saving Throw vs. Poison.
Caustics do the same, but are effective against creatures which are unaffected by acid.
Poisons kill the victim in 3 combat rounds if the victim can be affected by the
accumulated poison and the victim fails a Saving Throw vs. Poison. If the victimʼs level or hit dice
are equal to or less than the accumulated level of the poison, they must make a Saving Throw vs.
Poison or die in 3 roundsʼ time. If the accumulated level of the poison is less than the victimʼs
level or hit dice, but more than half the victimʼs level or hit dice then the victim must make a
Saving Throw vs. Poison or suffer the effects of a slow spell until a successful resurrection roll is
made, with one check per hour. A haste spell will counteract this effect while it is in duration, but
will not remove the effect, so the slow effect will resume when the haste spell wears off until a
successful resurrection roll is made. When the accumulated poison level is lower than half the
level or hit dice of the victim, there is no immediate effect, but the poison will continue to
accumulate.
Poison accumulates, adding the poison level of all poison strikes to the victim, until a
successful Constitution check is made (one check per hour, that is, one check every six turns) at
which point the poison accumulated is reduced to zero. For example, an eight hit die creature
struck by a level 1 poison will not make any checks until four such successful attacks with level 1
poison are made. At that point is must make a saving throw vs. poison or be slowed. For each
additional successful attack with the level 1 poison it must again make a saving throw vs. poison
or be slowed, if it has not already been slowed by poison. When a total of eight successful attacks
with the level 1 poison are made, the creature will die in three rounds if it has made any
unsuccessful saving throws vs. poison. If no unsuccessful saves have been made up to this point,
then it must save vs. poison or die on the eighth and any subsequent successful attacks with
poison, until it makes a successful hourly Constitution check (first check will be six turns after the
initial encounter.)

Other Alchemist Abilities

Read Languages: 80% chance, one attempt per week per item.
Detect Poison: the alchemist can identify poisonous creatures upon inspection, and can identify
the effects of poison upon inspection of the victim.
Neutralize Poison: Cancel the effects of poison up to twice the strength level of the alchemistʼs
level. Can be used once per victim per poisoning. Will not revive a victim once dead.
Neutralize Paralyzation: Cancel paralyzation by effect strength up to twice the alchemistʼs level,
does not affect paralyzation caused by devices (wands, staves, swords, etc.)
Identify Potion: The alchemist can identify a potion upon inspection. The ability to identify a
Potion of Delusion is twice the base chance to identify a potion. Also allows the identification of
acids or similar compounds.
Read Magic: At level 7 alchemists can read magic (and thus mage scrolls), with a 10% chance of
causing a reverse effect on mage spells of level 7 or higher.
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Alchemist Abilities:
Level/Title Neut. Detect I.D. Read
Poison/Para. Poison Potion Magic
1 Distiller 15% 20% 5%
2 Condensator 20% 25% 10%
3 Filtrator 25% 30% 20%
4 Compounder 35% 35% 25%
5 Spagyrist 40% 45% 35%
6 Transmuter 45% 55% 45%
7 Chymist 55% 60% 60% 75%
8 Philosopher 65% 65% 70% 80%
9 Alchemist 75% 75% 80% 85%
10 Mstr.Alch. 85% 85% 90% 90%
11 95% 95% 100%
12 100% 100%

Concocting Potions
An alchemist can brew potions at a cost of 200 G.P. per level of the potion and a time
investment of 1 week per level of the potion. The potions they will be able to make will be one for
which they have mastered the recipe. At each level an alchemist is able to master the following
number of recipes:

Level/Title Potion Recipes Masterable

Potion Level: 1 2 3 4 5 6
1 Distiller 3 . . . . .
2 Condensator 4 . . . . .
3 Filtrator 4 1 . . . .
4 Compounder 4 2 . . . .
5 Spagyrist 4 2 1 . . .
6 Transmuter 4 2 2 . . .
7 Chymist 4 3 2 1 . .
8 Philosopher 4 3 3 2 . .
9 Alchemist 5 3 3 2 1 . Able to assist mages
10 Mstr.Alch. 5 4 4 3 2 .
11 6 5 4 3 2 1
12 7 6 5 4 3 2
13 8 7 6 5 4 3
14 9 8 7 6 5 4
15 9 9 8 7 6 5
16+ no further potion advancement

(Levels past 11-12 are included primarily for use with non-player characters, most player
characters will not proceed far past Master Alchemist before “retirement.”)

If an alchemist is interrupted before finishing a potion that is in work, the potion and the
cost of the potion are both lost. The alchemist can not engage in any activities that occupy more
than two hours per day while brewing the potion (aside from minimal meal and sleep time.)
The hire of a lab assistant (minimum intelligence 9, cost between 25 and 100 g.p. per
month as a specialist at local going rates as provided by the D.M.) will increase the likelihood of
success by 5% or reduce the time to brew each potion by one day 50% of the time. Additional lab
assistants beyond the first will have no effect.
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Hiring a person to fetch meals and prevent interruptions to the work by keeping away
visitors, etc. will reduce the time to brew a potion by one day every week 50% of the time. They
must have a wisdom greater than 9 in order to be effective, and will gain an additional 5% chance
for providing the time reduction for every point of wisdom they have over 12 (i.e. a helper with a
Wis of 14 would have a 60% chance of reducing the brewing time by one day per week.) Also, the
alchemist must seclude themselves in the laboratory for the entire week to obtain the advantage
of the assistant for that week.
A Wizard (10th or higher level mage) can work with an Alchemist of level 9 or higher to
create potions with the effects of mage spells higher than level 4 that are of a level that the
Wizard can cast. These potions require a scroll of the spell to be made into a potion, and cost 600
G.P per level of spell. The chance of failure is:
Chance of Failure=Level of Potion/(Level of Mage+Level of Alchemist)
The scroll used is destroyed in the course of making the potion. Multiple effect potions cannot be
made for spells of fifth level or higher (as can be made by mages of spells of 4th level and lower.)

Potion Recipes
Potions that are created by alchemists are created according to recipes. Once an
alchemist has mastered a recipe, they will have that recipe memorized and will be able to use it
so long as they are in their right mind.
In the event that an alchemist wishes to write a recipe, the recipe will be written in that
alchemistsʼ secret code (which they will use for all their alchemical writings.) This code is
readable only by the alchemist that originally wrote it, unless the reader is of sufficient level to
master the recipe and makes both successful Read Language and Read Magic rolls at a single
attempt with a -20% modifier to both rolls. Once read, the reading alchemist must immediately
transcribe the recipe in order to have a copy of the recipe that they can reliably read in the future.
The cost of transcription is 20 gold pieces times the square of the level of the recipe, and will take
one week times the square of the level of the potion plus one additional week to transcribe.
Alchemists who wish to convey a recipe to another alchemist will do so using a standard
Hermetic Script that provides the appropriate symbology and nomenclature for doing so. The
alchemist who wishes to then master the recipe must then spend time and money as if
researching the recipe, but will receive a 60% bonus to their chances of successfully mastering
the recipe. If the alchemist who wrote the recipe assists them while they are attempting to master
it, they will receive an additional 20% bonus to their chance to master the recipe. The assisting
alchemist may not engage in any other activities (e.g. adventuring, concocting potions) during this
time.
At the DMʼs discretion, recipes may be present among the treasures of NPC alchemists
at a rate equal to that of scrolls for wizards of equal level, with a 5-15% chance of any given
recipe being written in Hermetic Script rather than in their personal secret code.

Potion Research
If an alchemist has not yet mastered the maximum number of recipes that they are able
to at their level, they may choose to research new recipes for their use. They may research any
potion recipe that is usable to them at their current level (when research is begun). The cost of
research is as follows:

Level Cost by Chance of Success in Gold Pieces

of Recipe 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
1 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000
2 4,000 8,000 12,000 16,000 20,000
3 8,000 16,000 24,000 32,000 40,000
4 16,000 32,000 48,000 64,000 80,000
5 32,000 64,000 96,000 128,000 160,000
6 64,000 128,000 192,000 256,000 320,000
(double cost for each additional level)
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If the alchemist has a sample of the potion for which they wish to create a recipe, their
chance of success is increased by 40% over the chance obtained through their monetary
expenditure. The sample must be enough of the potion that, if ingested, it would have the desired
effect. This sample will be destroyed through as a result of its use in research.

Alchemist Advancement
The prime requisite of an alchemist is constitution. Alchemists receive the following
bonuses for prime requisite scores above 12: 13-14: 5% Bonus; 15+: 15% Bonus. This means
that for all experience gained, an additional amount of experience equal to 5 or 10% of the
experience gained is added to that amount (there is no bonus on experience bonuses.)

Level Standard Title Experience Points Required Hit Points

1 Distiller 0 8 Hit Points
2 Condensator 1.5K +1D6 hit points per level
3 Filtrator 3K
4 Compounder 6K
5 Spagyrist 12K
6 Transmuter 25K
7 Chymist 50K
8 Philosopher 50K
9 Alchemist 100K
10 Mstr.Alch. 150K +1 hit point per level
11 300K each
12 450K level
13 600K
14 750K
15 1M
16 double each
17 level

Keeps and Retainers

At or above 10th level, the alchemist may establish a stronghold in the same way as a
fighter of ninth level. In some cases an alchemist may take over or establish a stronghold earlier
in their career, if they are sufficiently adept at managing the various monetary, political, and social
issues involved.
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Potion Recipes (Potions/Uses/Packets Produced Per Recipe)

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4
Flash Pellets (5) Heroism(1) Speed(1) Superheroism(1)
Dust of Sneezing (10) Giant Strength(1) Levitation(1) Polymorph(1)
Potion of Delusion(1) Animal Control(1) Growth(1) Extra-Healing(2)
Oil of Slipperiness(1) Healing(2) Dimunition(1) Fly(1)
Tanglefoot (2) Water Breathing (1) Human Control(1) Clairvoyance(1)
Oil of Adroitness (10) Oil of Strength(10) Plant Control(1) Clairaudience(1)
Oil of Beauty (10) Blade Sharp(10) Dust of Appearance(10) Dust of Sneezing and
Ointment of Tepidity(10) Oil of Silence(5) Dust of Paralyzation(10) Choking(15)
Purification Powder(10) Fire Resistance(1)

Level 5 Level 6 Level 6, cont.

Invulnerability(1) Dragon Control(1) Mind Damp(1)
Undead Control(1) Gaseous Form(1) Greek Fire(5)
Giant Control(1) Treasure Finding(1)
Immunization from Dust of Disappearance(20)
Lycanthrope(2) Oil of Etherealness(1)
Invisibility(1) Cloning Culture(1)
Homunculi Creation(1) Longevity(1)
Cure Disease(2) Regeneration(1)

Potions not Described Elsewhere:

Flash Pellets: Creates small paper-wrapped pellets which will give a small report and cause a
flash which blinds all within 30ʼ who are not expecting it 90% of the time for 2-8 melee rounds
when thrown against an unyielding surface. Creates 5 pellets.

Dust of Sneezing: Causes a coughing spell lasting 2-8 melee rounds if the victim fails to make a
saving throw vs. poison at -2. Makes 10 packets.

Oil of Adroitness: Raises Dexterity by 1 for 2 to 8 hours (2D8 hours.) Makes 10 applications.

Oil of Beauty: Raises Charisma by 1d4 (max 18) for 2 to 8 hours (2D4 hours.) Makes 10
applications.

Purification Powder: When sprinkled on food or water unfit for consumption will make them
edible and drinkable. Does not neutralize poison. Makes 10 packets.

Ointment of Tepidity: Gives a person who applies this to their hands a +10% chance to Pick
Pocket, or a +5% chance to hide in shadows against creatures with infravision when applied to all
exposed skin. Makes 5 applications.

Oil of Strength: Raises strength by 1D4 (max 18/00 or 19 if exceptional strength rules not used)
for 2D8 hours. Makes 10 applications.

Oil of Silence: Eliminates any noise from one object moving against another, either sliding or
scraping, or eliminates the sound of footfalls on a solid surface when walking. Can be applied to
up to one 10ʼ by 10ʼ area per application. Any use counts as an application (even a small hinge)
Makes 5 applications.
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Tanglefoot: Produces a fungus which, when released from its vial, rapidly expands to fill an area
10ʼ by 10ʼ. The fungus is covered with small sticky rubbery tentacles. If a man-sized creature
enters the area, it will be held for 3 turns, a giant one for one turn, a smaller than man sized
creature will be held until the tanglefoot dissipates. After one hour, the tanglefoot will die and
collapse into dust. Produces 2 vials of tanglefoot.

Blade Sharp: Increases the damage dealt by the edged weapon to which it is applied by 1.
Incompatible with any other applications to weapons, such as poisons, acids, or caustics.
Produces 10 applications.

Dust of Paralyzation: The victim must make a Saving Throw vs. Poison at -2. Failure causes the
victim to be paralyzed for 1 hour (6 turns.) Produces 10 packets of dust.

Immunization from Lycanthrope: The imbiber of this potion is protected from Lycanthrope for a
period of one month. There is a 0.1% chance of contracting Lycanthrope from using the potion.
Produces two potions.

Cure Disease: Has the same effect as the Clericʼs spell of the same name. Produces two
potions.

Regeneration: Provides the effects of a Ring of Regeneration for one day. Also allows revival of
dead bodies less than three days old, with a successful resurrection roll (per Greyhawk.) Can be
used to regenerate a lost limb if applied daily over a period of two weeks (using 14 potions.)
Produces one potion.

Mind Damp: The user becomes immune to and loses all psionic or supersensory powers, such
as ESP, Clairvoyance, etc., whether the result of natural ability, or spells or items or any other
such effect for a period of one week.

Greek Fire: Produces five gallons of a liquid of which each gallon has the same effect as the
breath weapon of a red dragon.