Something I just realized about 3.X Alchemy

[Libertad]

So I was participating in an rpg.net thread about game rules you didn't use (while not realizing it).

I brought up the rule that only spellcasters can craft alchemical items in 3rd Edition.  Another poster brought up that this wasn't true in 3.0, saying that non-casters could take it as a cross-class skill (Alchemy was its own skill back then).

I checked the 3.0 books, and the Alchemy skill and equipment section.  Nowhere did it say in the descriptions that only spellcasters could craft alchemical items.  This was a 3.5 concept.

So, what's up with that?

[dipolartech]

"Mundanes" have to be mundane and therefor can't have nice things? So far as I can tell other than a few edge cases where you are using the product in a Rule 0 fashion alchemy is underpowered vs THF and of course Spellcasting.

[kitep]

Where's it say in 3.5 that only spellcasters can craft alchemical items?  I just reread the Craft rules and didn't see it, so I'm wondering what I'm missing.

[Bozwevial]

Where's it say in 3.5 that only spellcasters can craft alchemical items?  I just reread the Craft rules and didn't see it, so I'm wondering what I'm missing.

The SRD has this:

To make an item using Craft (alchemy), you must have alchemical equipment and be a spellcaster.

[kitep]

Thanks.  I see it now in the PHB too.

[Agrippa]

I found a blog post a few years ago with an alchemy fix that might work for 3.X in general. It still favors casters quite a bit and assumes that all classes have Craft (alchemy) as at least a cross-class skill. I think it's worth checking out.

[awaken_D_M_golem]

(googles a 3.0e srd) ... Bingo.
Nothing about spellcasting pre-req.



Alchemy (INT)

TRAINED ONLY

Check: The character can make alchemical items. Some items the character can make are found in the item descriptions. To determine how much time and material it takes to make an alchemical item, use the DCs listed below and the rules for making things found in the Craft skill description.

The DM may allow an alchemist to perform other tasks related to alchemy, such as identifying an unknown substance or a poison. Doing so takes 1 hour.
Task    DC    Notes
Identify substance    25    Costs 1 gp per attempt (or 20 gp to take 20)
Identify potion    25    Costs 1 gp per attempt (or 20 gp to take 20)
Make acid    15    See Craft skill
Identify poison    20    
Make alchemist's fire, smokestick, or tindertwig    20    See Craft skill
Make antitoxin, sunrod, tanglefoot bag, or thunderstone    25    See Craft skill

Retry: Yes, but in the case of making items, each failure ruins the half the raw materials needed, and the character has to pay half the raw material cost again. For identifying substances or potions, each failure consumes the cost per attempt.

Special: The character must have alchemical equipment to make an item or identify it. For identifying items, the cost represents additional supplies the character must buy. Purchasing and maintaining an alchemist's lab grants a +2 circumstance bonus to Alchemy checks (from the favorable condition of having the perfect tools for the job) but does not affect the cost of any items made using the skill.

[ksbsnowowl]

Being a chemist, that 3.5 rule always bothered the hell out of me.  If that were true, where the hell are my daily spells?   

[Maat Mons]

Perhaps you qualify by virtue of the magical training feat (Player's Guide to Faerun).  If your spells known are detect magic and read magic, how would you ever notice? 

[Bozwevial]

Alternatively, as a somewhat less flattering alternative, you could be a spellcaster without the requisite ability scores to cast your spells.

[phaedrusxy]

Alternatively, as a somewhat less flattering alternative, you could be a spellcaster without the requisite ability scores to cast your spells.

So... I'm a wis 8 cleric. That explains so much...