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Alchemist (5E) $1.95
Average Rating:4.9 / 5
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Alchemist (5E)
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Alchemist (5E)
Publisher: Tribality Publishing
by Elijah W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/22/2021 13:14:26

Very cool, very fun, and well thought-out. It is pretty complicated, though. There's an awful lot going on at 1st level. I would definitely recommend this, but probably wouldn't recommend it to a new player.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Alchemist (5E)
Publisher: Tribality Publishing
by Derek N. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/05/2017 16:01:41

I have at this point played the Artificer, Irezumi, and Poisoner archetypes, all at varying levels which all independently feel different from one another. I have to say this class feels so much like full official 5e content, it is hard to ignore. The class makes fantastic use of existing mechanics and applies it forward in a very fun way. The use of flavor in the creation of your spells as an alchemist gives so much volume to your own personal story, as well as the flavor of the world. In doing so, the use of this class helps negotiate the meaning of the alchemist in the story as well as adding pieces of lore and material the DM may have not thought about, without risking violating the overall setting. For instance, the poisoner archetype actually uses basic poisons, and makes them fun and interesting. Statistically, I have not, since I started playing and DMing for 5e, seen the use of basic posions by players or have begun to see them take interest in doing so. On top of that, the available options do not interfere with a strict inclusion of magitech/magitek. An alchemist could via most of these archetypes, if not all, appear in any setting, from grimdark Sword and Sorcery style fantasy to high fantasy settings like the Forgotten Realms. That in itself is a testament in Mr. Howard's ability to find design space that exists in the system, work on it, make it fun to play, and make it universal. When I saw the Unearthed Arcana: Artificer, I tried it for two sessions and said, "No, I think I'll take the better one." and went back to this class. This is a must have for any DM or player who wants a crafting oriented class, and is looking for something balanced and unique.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Alchemist (5E)
Publisher: Tribality Publishing
by Andrew P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/02/2017 23:02:39

Another great product from Rich Howard and Tribality. Interesting new caster class that feels familiar yet distinct from the other offerings in the PHB. Theres a lot of variety in the type of alchemist you can be, with 7 unique archetypes including Artificer (skilled tinker), Herbwarden (apothecary/healer with a bit of plant affinity) , Irezumi (using ink and tattoos for magic), Metamorph (changing and enhancing the body), Poisoner (pretty self explantory), Pyromancer ( specializing in fireworks, explosives, etc), and Re-Animator (because everyone wants to be Frankenstein). Each subclass brings its own flavor and feeling to the class, granting interesting abilities and leading to interesting story opportunities. Rich does an especially great job of littering the text with helpful tips and suggestions to customize the various aspects of being an Alchemist to create a richer character, story, and gaming experience. And as with all of Tribality's offerings, the layout and design of this pdf is clean and easy to use. I cannot recommend this enough, 6 out of 5 stars, get these excellent options in your game.

UPDATE: one of my players has been playing a Poisoner in my new campaign and it has been an EXCELLENT and FUN time. this is the best 5e supplement out there and you need it.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Alchemist (5E)
Publisher: Tribality Publishing
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 07/21/2016 09:34:24

An Endzeitgeist.com review of the revised edition

This class for D&D 5e clocks in at 20 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 17 pages of content, so let's take a look!

This review is based on V.1 of the file.

The alchemist class comes with a sufficient array of introductory fluff, quick build rules and then proceeds to provide the respective crunch: The previously missing plusses have been added to the proficiency bonus and the notation of the HD, 1d8, now also 100% conforms to D&D 5e standards. Proficiency-wise, alchemists gain simple weapons, blowgun, hand crossbow and net as well as Aachemist supplies plus herbalism or poisoner kits. Saving throw proficiencies, fittingly, would be Con and Int and skill-wise, two from Arcana, History, Investigation, Medicine, Nature, perception and Religion are available. The starting equipment choices are sufficiently varied and allow for a nice array of customization and properly adhere to the standards established.

Alchemist spellcasting works a bit differently - while they gain cantrips, they refer to their spells as mixtures. While alchemists do gain 7th, 8th and 9th-level mixture slots, these only can be used to trigger or empower formulae from 1st to 6th level or utilize class features. Alchemist casting is a bit different: You expend a slot and then get the mixture's effects...but you may delay the onset/use of the mixture to a later date, with proficiency bonus denoting the cap of mixtures you can have ready to trigger at any given time. Here's the kick, though: Creatures with an Int of 4 or higher can spend their Action to trigger the mixture - you don't have to do so yourself! Attacks made by other characters with your mixture use their Intelligence modifier, but your proficiency bonus - this previously slightly wonky sentence is now streamlined and can't be misinterpreted anymore. Kudos!

You can prepare formula to turn into mixtures on a given day equal to Int-mod +alchemist level, minimum 1. Preparing a different formula does not require a short rest, only 1 minute of preparation per formula level. You need to succeed the concentration checks, if any, for your mixtures, even if someone else triggers them...unless you have reached 9th level and 15th level, at which point you may delegate the concentration of one or two mixtures simultaneously to other characters. The governing attribute for mixtures is Intelligence.

Some formulae can be prepared as rituals, provided they have the correct tag and alchemist formulae have Somatic and Material components, but no verbal components. At 1st level, you begin play with 6 1st level formulae, with each level providing +2 formulae of your choice. Formulae may be copied from spellbooks, scrolls, etc. and alchemists may attune magic items usually restricted to the sorceror and wizard classes as well as other, general spellcaster-exclusive items. 2nd level nets you more item preparation efficiency for alchemical items (proficiency modifier per day of downtime with your kit), excluding poisons or herbalism-based items. 4th level and every 4 levels thereafter (minus 20th, plus 19th) net you ability score increases. The capstone lets up to 3 creatures maintain concentration in your place.

The defining feature of the class, though, would certainly the alchemical tradition chosen at 3rd level, which truly defines the class - basically, these are the domains, the archetypes of the class. Each tradition sports bonus formulae, which are added to the formula-list of the alchemist in question, with the first such tradition being the artificer. At 3rd level, they get proficiency in three toolkits and at 6th level, the jack-of-all-traditions ability - which lets you add 3 formulae from other traditions, though these do not count as bonus formulae. 10th level lets you ignore class, race and alignment restrictions for item-attunement.

Additionally, you may choose to not regain mixture slots upon completion of a long rest, instead maintaining the functionality of those you already have created. 14th level becomes interesting: When you use a 7th level slot to prepare a mixture of 4th level or lower, it may be triggered twice before being expended. Long rests eliminate, as usual, both uses and rest the process. If the duration exceeds instantaneous, it can only be used a second time after the first use has elapsed. As soon as you have access to 8th level slots, you may do the same for this slot and mixtures of 5th level or lower.

At 18th level, 9th level and mixtures of 7th level or lower get a different upgrade - namely, duration: It increases to 10 days!!! If it is instantaneous, the mixture may be trigger your Intelligence modifier times per day. Effects that require concentration can be suspended as a bonus action and resumed as an action. Linked gates can be reopened by resuming concentration.

The second tradition would be the Herbwarden, who gains proficiency with Herbalism kits at 3rd level (which may be redundant if you haven't chosen poisoner kit at first level) and either Medicine or Nature, with Medicine being governed by Intelligence for you. Also at 3rd level, you may use field medicine to allow a target to expend HD as though he had completed a short rest, with higher levels increasing the number of HD a target can spend. Once a creature has thus been healed, it can't be healed again this way unless it has completed a short rest, providing a nice anti-abuse caveat. 6th level nets advantage on saves versus poison and versus effects generated by oozes, plants and plant creatures as well as increased item creation in downtime with herbalist kits, analogue to the previous archetype's crafting-enhancement.

10th level lets you double Int-mod when making Intelligence (Nature or Medicine) checks and when making healing mixtures. 14th level's ability has been revised and is rather cool: After a target has been healed or stripped of a negative condition or disease by you, it can choose, upon failing the next saving throw or ability check, to reroll one failed ability check or saving throw. 18th level nets the herbwarden the option to expend a 9th level slot to animate plants as a shambling mound that can be commanded via telepathy.

The third tradition would be the Irezumi, most of whose mixtures are intricate tattoos. As such, they gain proficiency with tattooing supplies at 3rd level -a new kit that now comes with a base price and weight.. Also at 3rd level, the irezumi gains two cantrips from any spellcasting class. At 6th level, irezumi can create mystic tattoos in an 8-hour process. Once the tattoo is created, you can charge a number of mystic tattoos equal to your proficiency bonus. You can charge the tattoos of other irezumi, if you want to. Tattoos can be triggered by the target as an action much like mixtures and the benefits last one hour.

The benefits depend upon the region: Arms grant resistance to one damage type chosen upon being tattooed, which imho could have used a finer restriction, since physical damage types and e.g. force or radiant are situationally more powerful and useful than others. Head can net you Advantage on Insight or Perception or Darkvision; Legs can provide these benefits to Athletics/Acrobatics or net +10 ft. movement and the torso nets advantage on one saving throw. 10th level allows the irezumi to grant a subject up to 2 mystic tattoos and 14th level allows you to charge a bonus formula of 4th level or lower into a mystic tattoo, allowing the user to trigger that formula.

Here's the thing, though: The formula is permanent. It is not expended upon being triggered, but any use beyond the first in a long-rest-interval incurs one level of exhaustion. I am a bit weary of this one in the long run - for as long as D&D 5e maintains the very high value of exhaustion, this is okay. As soon as a game has means of mitigating exhaustion, this may become problematic. This is just me being meta, though - so far, exhaustion remains one of the most crucial conditions in 5e and thus, this is solid. 18th level lets you create a master tattoo, which works analogue to the aforementioned tattoo, only with up to 6th level qualifying and two levels of exhaustion incurred upon repeated use.

The metamorph is pretty much the Dr Jekyll/Mr. Hyde alchemist - at 3rd level, expenditure of a 2nd level slot lets these guys trigger a combined alter self/enhance ability/mage armor with a duration of Concentration, up to 1 hour - but for the duration, you gain disadvantage on a mental ability's associated rolls. 6th level lets you use Int instead of Con to determine hit points, retroactive to 1st level, and 6th level further enhances the mutagen's effects. At 10th level, stoneskin is added to the fray and at 14th, regeneration is added alongside better natural weapons, advantage on concentration checks and an enhanced duration. Finally, at 18th level, the benefits are further expanded. Cool one!

The next one would be the poisoner, whose bonus formulae are considered to be poison effects. At 3rd level, you gain 6 doses of basic poison and now, also proficiency with the poisoner's kit. You also get proficiency in Sleight of Hand, Stealth and may apply poisons as a bonus action (3 for ammunition). You create proficiency bonus doses of poison per day in downtime and the may be ingested, inhaled or injury and deal 2d6 poison damage on a failed save- now properly used damage-type-wise. Kudos! After a long rest, you may refine poisons not crafted by you to apply benefits to them as though they were made by you - which now, in a didactically cleaner manner, directly points towards the respective abilities.

Well, yeah - at 6th level, you increase their save DC to your mixture save DC and when you harvest poison, you instead get proficiency modifier doses from a given creature. At 10th level, targets also acquire the poisoned condition when succumbing to your poisons and your poison creation quickens, now also for non-basic poisons. At 14th level, you may expend mixture slots to weaken targets versus poisons and diseases or even bypass poison immunity/resistance. At 18th level allows you to expend slots to make mixtures particularly lethal and poisons generated thus nigh impossible to negate.

The penultimate tradition would be the pyromancer, who can manipulate the damage-type of evocation-cantrips and spells by changing it to one of the classic energies or physical types. 6th level provides resistance to one of the classic energy damage types, though you can change the type after a short rest. 10th level adds Int-mod to the damage of evocation mixtures and 14th level provides an array of benefits that allow you to double the radius, range or make the AoE into cones or single squares by using a 7th level slot for a 5th level or lower evocation. The 18th level ability fails to specify the level it is gained, but imposes disadvantage on saves versus 7th level or lower evocations prepared via a 9th level slot.

The final tradition would the nod to ole' Herby West, the re-animator, who gets find familiar at 3rd level and may choose a crawling claw or homunculus . Any familiar is undead, though it gains advantage on saves versus effects specifically targeting the undead. Also at this level, you double your Int-mod for Medicine-checks and gain sneak attack progression of up to +5d6 at 18th level. At 6th level, undead you create also have the advantage of your familiar and at 10th level, you gain advantage on saves versus disease, poison and fear as well as the option to use a bonus action once per activity interval to temporarily gain resistance to damage from non-magical weapons and advantage on ability checks for 1 minute. At 14th level, you can use create undead to make (or assert control over) flesh golems and revenants and at 18th level, you can make either two flesh golems or two revenants...provided, for both abilities, that you expend the high-level slot.

It should also be noted that the pdf has a nod towards the intriguing Salt-in-Wounds-series (Think high, dark fantasy with a society based on the regenerating flesh of the subdued tarrasque) and advice on creating your own traditions.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting have been SIGNIFICANTLY improved and now are top-notch. Where the rules-language wasn't 100% perfect before, it now is. The sub-abilities no longer are italicized, which means you can easily see the now properly italicized spells. Even cosmetic and didactic complaints I nitpicked are fixed. Kudos indeed! Layout adheres to an elegant two-column, full-color standard with pretty big borders at the top and bottom and several pieces of thematically fitting art that has a photo-like-look. First, I considered it to be a bit jarring, but it rather grew on me.

Rich Howard and Tribality Publishing have taken an already good, evocative class and sanded off teh rough edges, showing that they care for their books, rendering the new alchemist superior in every way to its predecessor. The special casting of the class and its internal nomenclature are surprisingly consistent. While I wasn't blown away by all traditions and while I think they do vary slightly in power, I was particularly surprised by the poisoner and irezumi. While the latter can be considered to be perhaps one of the strongest options herein, it also is a class that requires the interaction with a group to prosper. And seeing unifying tattoos on a group by the same artist can be pretty cool roleplying material. If an irezumi dies and a survivor looks at the tattoo as someone asks how she got it...well, let's just say that I think the class and its modular traditions (of which we'll hopefully see more in the future) proved to be interesting to me. The level of care and detail that went into updating this pdf and the significant improvements make this revised edition now well worth 5 stars + seal of approval.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Alchemist (5E)
Publisher: Tribality Publishing
by Gaetan V. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/28/2016 01:59:06

A great variety of options for building Alchemists.

Alchemists kind of live in a nebulous space in current D&D (May 2016). The last Unearthed Arcana has them as a Wizard tradition, which serves well as a small twist on Wizard and kind of feels like 4e, but it's not very open in terms of options.

This book instead tackles the very hard problem of designing a whole new class and then dives into a several very different Archetypes within that class. There's a neat side effect from this design decision, the Alchemist could act as the Caster in your world. It's a full caster class with a reasonable selection of base spells as well as things specific to each Archetype. If you wanted to run an "old west" campaign or a "victorian steampunk" campaign, this is the perfect way to get magic into your world.

In fact a quick look at the Archetypes reveals a Dr. Frankenstein, a Jekyll/Hyde, a maker of clockwork trinkets, a Poisoner and an Herbwarden which covers a lot of ground. This provides a pretty clear flavour for the types of campaigns that would benefit from such a class.

The ovearll text editing was good, but the page layout of this (and all Tribality products) really annoys me. A page is 11" high and the top 2" are just a giant black stripe with a Tribality logo. They have not bothered to include the document title or even some type of useful contextual header, it's just 2" of black. The images are mostly just stock photography props pasted into the bottom right hand corner of the page. None of them contain actual people which means there's no real "face of the class". The whole layout is acceptable but not top-notch.

At the end of the day, this is definitely worth the money and it will likely be lots of fun for players.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Alchemist (5E)
Publisher: Tribality Publishing
by Justin M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/24/2016 10:33:02

Excellent class build for 5e. Loaded with options but so far it isn't unbalanced. Well written and could easily fit right into the PBH classes. This class has lots of opportunity for role playing and can be a little complex compared to simpler classes. Highly recomended for anyone looking for deep character options and a very story centric character!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Alchemist (5E)
Publisher: Tribality Publishing
by MEHMET F. K. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/09/2016 14:18:49

Rich Howard's Alchemist is a very solid contribution to the D&D 5E community. I strongly recommend it to the DMs and players out there.

It has a very clean and well thought design. The overall layout and the "art style" are what I look at first, whenever I open a book and they really have an impact on how attached I am. This one has it covered. I hope Tribality always keeps this look.

As I was reading through it, I got the feeling that the writer has a good understanding of 5E mechanics and has the ability produce content accordingly. Every single ability has a meaning and they are more or less balanced, though I don't care much about balance. Some are very imaginative too. It's packed with goodies. I was pleased with the amount of content I got. I wasn't expecting this much to be honest. I am looking forward to see those alchemists in my own campaign world.

Somethings I kind of didn't like were : • First few pages are somewhat repetetive. Perhaps on the first page, there could be a short story of an alchemist to incite my imagination and become more connected with the book. • The word "Mixture" leaves a sour taste in the mouth. I think there could be another word for it as it describes a wide variety of things and it doesn't feel natural. Maybe a completely new, unique word? • Concentration And Mixtures should have been added to the class table as it improves on a few levels and it shoud have been explained as such, to make it easier to keep track of. • I feel like the explanations of Irezumi's Empowered Tatoos and Master Inker abilities are rather lacking and a bit unclear to the end. Though I am not a native English speaker. It may well be my own lacking.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Alchemist (5E)
Publisher: Tribality Publishing
by A customer [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/01/2016 15:19:23

The Alchemist is a base class with 7 career path options-a great addition for any 5th ed game. The base class and each career are balanced, and each would easy fit into the style of Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk or homebrew campaign worlds, adding to the variety without dominating the game. The document is thorough while still being easy to read. If you are only going to use the PHB and one supplement, use this one!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Alchemist (5E)
Publisher: Tribality Publishing
by Neal P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/22/2016 14:36:28

Talk about Alchemistry! I think I'm in love! The class itself is great, but it isn't the real gem, or gems rather, in this document are the different alchemical traditions available. Any idea of an alchemist you can think of Rich Howard has already and fleshed it out with an amazing touch. Every table needs an alchemist, be that as a Player or the Dungeon Master. Grab this supplement as soon as you can, and get it onto your table! Nothing more really needs to be said, get this thing for yourself so you cans ee how great it is!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Alchemist (5E)
Publisher: Tribality Publishing
by Emmanouil T. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/04/2016 10:26:29

With the Alchemist (5E) we have an other top-quality product from the folks of Tribality.

First and foremost, the layout continues the trend of the previous publications, so you have nice lean design, with all the information where you need it and easy to read text.

But the best part is the content itself.

With Alchemist (5E), Rich Howard successes in redifigning the laws of magic in D&D 5e, without even altering the basic rules. You basically get the tools to produce the same effects as "normal" magic does. Brilliant and with tremendous RP potential.

And to add the icing on the cake, you get seven (!!!) subclasses to this new class, one to fit pretty much every role and flavor of your game. So, you get from Frankenstein-like lunatics (Re-animators) to tribal shamans (Herbwardens) and from Party Buffers (Irezumi) to hard-hitters (Pyromancers).

The core of the class is a classic Warlock-like PC with fairly decent hitpoints and starting equipment so as not to feel useless in low levels. Later on, you get to be the party primary magic equipment user, as fewer restrictions apply to you as also you will gradually become more potent with the items you produce.

The Alchemist is definately a balanced and fun class to play in D&D 5e. And in the price it is sold, it is an absolute bargain.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Alchemist (5E)
Publisher: Tribality Publishing
by Mark C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/01/2016 10:16:42

I support Rich Howard's Patreon and that is why I originally received a copy of this supplement. Rich is amazingly creative and that is why I follow him. Even so, when I originally received the notification for this supplement, my thoughts were dismissive: "Alchemists? How do you make alchemists a playable class? That wouldn't be fun." You might be thinking similar thoughts. Let me tell you how I was wrong, so very wrong. Alchemist for Fifth Edition created by Rich Howard and published by Tribality Publishing has made me a true believer in the power of alchemy.

Clean Design

First, the layout of the supplement is straight forward and the design is clean. Numerous artistic photos throughout the supplement add to the alchemist theme. No part of the design detracts from the information provided; page two is the table of contents and page three goes straight to the "meat".

Rich Content

Second, the content is simply amazing. Rich not only makes alchemists both a playable class and a whole lot of fun, but also provides 7 different traditions for the alchemist class. These traditions encompass different ways of using "the science of magic" and I found every one of them interesting. Because my main love is the sea and nautical adventures with a hard leaning towards pirates, I found the irezumi tradition the most interesting, but your mileage may vary. ;) As a DM, I am blown away by the potential for both friendly NPC's and future enemies of my Party. (Everybody loves to hate the sycophantic poisoner, right?) In my humble opinion, the "meat" in this book is delicious.

Amazing Value

Third, I just can't believe the price vs. value comparision on this supplement. This is a 20 page supplement with 18 (assuming you don't count the clean table-of-contents page as "wasted space") pages of solid information that you will return to again and again with 7 highly different traditions to work with. Whether you are a player looking for a new type of character to play or a DM who wants to expand your inventory of magical NPC's, this is the supplement for you. Just buy it already; you won't be disappointed.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Alchemist (5E)
Publisher: Tribality Publishing
by Chris T. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/22/2016 13:57:30

I have had the privelege of playing the ReAnimator archetype that is apart of the Alchemist class and I must say it was so much fun. I have seen a couple of these classes in action and their is never a dull moment. Rich Howard knocks it out of the park with this one. If you are looking for a class to get you out of the "normalalicy" that can become every other class pick these up! They are fantastic. Well worth the price!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Alchemist (5E)
Publisher: Tribality Publishing
by James I. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/22/2016 08:15:16

So great to have a balanced, playtested 5e class that uses Intelligence as a primary ability score in a cool, satisfying way. This alchemist works in a totally unique way that's all its own. This isn't just a reskin of the wizard. Rich Howard has created a new class deserving of the title. Also this is way better than the Unearthed Arcana Artificer. Eberron fans - give this one a shot. Totally a bargain for the price.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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