Hello, awhile back (almost a year ago, in fact) I created a non-magical version of an Alchemist for 5th Edition. Most of the responses were positive to the idea and the class' presentation, however, I've found myself going back and looking at the class and in terms of balance and complexity, I do not enjoy what I created in the past. It was very fun back in the day and I don't regret it at all, but as I look at the numbers and compare it to other classes, I've since understood that my class, as fun and different as it is, it doesn't seem very good compared to other classes. So I want to give a second go at revising my original version of the Alchemist, and would like to ask for some feedback or advice from people. First, I'll link my original final draft of my original Alchemist:
My biggest concerns from the first iteration were that alloting Concoctions AND Augmenting them used the same resource, which not only made a player have to plan each day in a complex manner, but also resulted in only a few useful concoctions, or a lot of boring/less useful ones, unlike Wizards who simply get all sorts of things. So I want to change how Concoctions and Discoveries work mainly. I do want to keep my Archetypes mostly the same, barring any changes to how augmenting Concoctions works, but I'm open to any ideas for improving them. Grenadier especially is the one I was never fully committed to.
Before I propose MY ideas for feedback, I'll just ask some simple questions: What direction do you think I should take the Alchemist in with concoctions? Should the Alchemist be able to use all types of concoctions (poisons, bombs, and potions) but only specialize in one, or should I limit how much they can use the other 2 in favor of their specialization? (For example: infinite poisons a day for poisoner, limited bombs/potions) Should they even be able to create the other types, or should they gain an archetype at level 1 that decides which they will use for the rest of their levels? (I'm not keen on that last point but if people want that more I'm willing to try it)
So my idea at the moment before actually writing it up, which is always a dangerous game, is making it so the Alchemist can use his action to make a poison/bomb, but make healing tied to his Hit Dice. The Hit Dice during a short rest could be used to heal either the Alchemist OR an ally. Then, if an Alchemist chose the Doctor archetype, they would get a feature similar to Lay on Hands (except they could make physical potions to use, most likely with a dice roll instead of flat healing). Then as an action on each turn, the Alchemist could make a poison/bomb as if it were a type of cantrip, but of course the effectiveness is limited if not choosing the Poisoner/Grenadier archetypes. Lastly with Discoveries, I was thinking giving a resource similar to Reagent Points where you could use 1 point to augment bomb/poison or create a potion, but you could only limit yourself each turn to using a number of Reagent Points equal to or less than your Proficiency Bonus.
Sorry for the longwindedness of this post, but I've been in a slump with revising my Alchemist despite wanting to, so I'm hoping getting some feedback or advice will reinvigorate my homebrewing. I look forward to any and all criticism/advice. :)
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It's time for this age of fire to end. We will reap the humanity from our foes and usher in an age of darkness.
I'm glad there's an update to this class, I currently have the older version of the class.
Firstly I enjoy the concept of the class, however, my character has died a whopping total of 4 times, luckily our paladin had revivified me multiple times.
This class is lacking a survivability reaction that I believe all classes have in the PHB.
I'm currently doing an errata and appending the class so that the class cannot be an easy target.
What I've read spellcasters have reactions spells to help them, while melee/ranged classes have an ability. My anwser to this would be a smoke bomb.
There are some errata and appends I'm currently making to the class and would be happy to show you once I'm done.
Most changes will be to the core and doctor path since i have yet to test the other two paths.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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Hello, awhile back (almost a year ago, in fact) I created a non-magical version of an Alchemist for 5th Edition. Most of the responses were positive to the idea and the class' presentation, however, I've found myself going back and looking at the class and in terms of balance and complexity, I do not enjoy what I created in the past. It was very fun back in the day and I don't regret it at all, but as I look at the numbers and compare it to other classes, I've since understood that my class, as fun and different as it is, it doesn't seem very good compared to other classes. So I want to give a second go at revising my original version of the Alchemist, and would like to ask for some feedback or advice from people. First, I'll link my original final draft of my original Alchemist:
5th Edition Alchemist
My biggest concerns from the first iteration were that alloting Concoctions AND Augmenting them used the same resource, which not only made a player have to plan each day in a complex manner, but also resulted in only a few useful concoctions, or a lot of boring/less useful ones, unlike Wizards who simply get all sorts of things. So I want to change how Concoctions and Discoveries work mainly. I do want to keep my Archetypes mostly the same, barring any changes to how augmenting Concoctions works, but I'm open to any ideas for improving them. Grenadier especially is the one I was never fully committed to.
Before I propose MY ideas for feedback, I'll just ask some simple questions: What direction do you think I should take the Alchemist in with concoctions? Should the Alchemist be able to use all types of concoctions (poisons, bombs, and potions) but only specialize in one, or should I limit how much they can use the other 2 in favor of their specialization? (For example: infinite poisons a day for poisoner, limited bombs/potions) Should they even be able to create the other types, or should they gain an archetype at level 1 that decides which they will use for the rest of their levels? (I'm not keen on that last point but if people want that more I'm willing to try it)
So my idea at the moment before actually writing it up, which is always a dangerous game, is making it so the Alchemist can use his action to make a poison/bomb, but make healing tied to his Hit Dice. The Hit Dice during a short rest could be used to heal either the Alchemist OR an ally. Then, if an Alchemist chose the Doctor archetype, they would get a feature similar to Lay on Hands (except they could make physical potions to use, most likely with a dice roll instead of flat healing). Then as an action on each turn, the Alchemist could make a poison/bomb as if it were a type of cantrip, but of course the effectiveness is limited if not choosing the Poisoner/Grenadier archetypes. Lastly with Discoveries, I was thinking giving a resource similar to Reagent Points where you could use 1 point to augment bomb/poison or create a potion, but you could only limit yourself each turn to using a number of Reagent Points equal to or less than your Proficiency Bonus.
Sorry for the longwindedness of this post, but I've been in a slump with revising my Alchemist despite wanting to, so I'm hoping getting some feedback or advice will reinvigorate my homebrewing. I look forward to any and all criticism/advice. :)
It's time for this age of fire to end. We will reap the humanity from our foes and usher in an age of darkness.
I'm glad there's an update to this class, I currently have the older version of the class.
Firstly I enjoy the concept of the class, however, my character has died a whopping total of 4 times, luckily our paladin had revivified me multiple times.
This class is lacking a survivability reaction that I believe all classes have in the PHB.
I'm currently doing an errata and appending the class so that the class cannot be an easy target.
What I've read spellcasters have reactions spells to help them, while melee/ranged classes have an ability. My anwser to this would be a smoke bomb.
There are some errata and appends I'm currently making to the class and would be happy to show you once I'm done.
Most changes will be to the core and doctor path since i have yet to test the other two paths.