Using the Arcane Alchemist

Copyright Rich Kirkland ©2001

Edited by Rich Kirkland for The Guild Companion

Since December 2000, I've slowly introduced all of the base lists for the Arcane Alchemist. While each list provides the alchemist with some significant abilities, the most interesting is the ability to combine any base list with any other Arcane Alchemist Base list. By combining the qualities of matter with energy, you can make superior fossil fuels. By combining life, energy and sentience, you can create a fire elemental. By combining various animals, you can create any of the composite creatures in Creatures & Monsters. In fact, this was the original premise behind this profession. After looking at entry after entry of strange creature supposedly crafted by long gone wizards, I decided to create the profession that could explain all of these strange creations. From there it didn't take me long to decide that the same profession would likely modify all other aspects of reality to fit their needs. So Arcane Alchemists were formed to explain all of the unexplained phenomena of most fantasy worlds.

Below I've included a quick breakdown of spell combinations that may help spark ideas for your own game. While I have not included some of the more complex combinations (like those needed for Treeherds, or Air elementals), these should give you a good starting point. Also, while the emphasis of this article is on the creation aspect of the Arcane Alchemist, he is not limited to just creation. Many of his spells can have powerful effects if used creatively.

Another point, none of the spells can be used to create a +5 magic anything. If the GM wants to assign a bonus for a sword imbued with magic energies and given a diamond hard, razor sharp edge, then it's up to him to decide how good it should be. The only caution I would suggest, is that creating a bonus item of that nature should take the arcane alchemist longer than the equivalent item would for a normal alchemist. The normal alchemy lists are very focused, while these lists are very broad. It is important for the GM to be sure that all of these limitations are observed to maintain game balance. Furthermore, Arcane Alchemists make great explanations of how things happen or as NPCs, but as PCs they can be quite daunting. Be sure you are ready for a master or reality before you let one loose in your campaign.