Hi there, today a quick video all about an item we all know and love, alchemists fire;
this is just a taste really of what is about to come as I am putting together a complete
guide to alchemy in Dungeons & Dragons, but I have some handy things you can use in your
game right away and I just wanted to let everyone know I am still alive and I'm back to work
making vids for you.
Alchemist's fire is the substance formerly known as Greek fire; even in the Greyhawk
and Forgotten realms settings it was known as greek fire, even though no such place exists
on those worlds, so, logically, it became Alchemist's fire instead.
Interestingly, the earliest flamethrowers didn't even spray a combustible mixture; instead,
they just spewed flames along with sparks and burning coals.
The devices were fairly simple mechanisms with a charcoal-loaded brazier, a bellows
pumped air into the brazier and this projected fire out of the mouth of a fire pipe with
a terrible roar, which was very dragon-like.
It is believed that the range of such devices did not exceed 5-15 meters.
But for the capture of wooden fortifications or use in a naval battle, when the ships converged
closely for boarding battles, such a range was enough.
The use of a special flammable mixture at sea was described in his work "On the Art
of the Commander" in 350 BC by the Greek author Aeneas the Tactician.
Who, most likely, was a politician or military leader, one of the first to write about combat
tactics and the art of war.
In his writings, a mixture that could not be extinguished using traditional methods
was described as follows: "To burn enemy ships, a special mixture is used, consisting of lighted
resin, sulfur, sawdust of resinous wood, incense and tow.
" Drawing on an excellent article from dragon
magazine issue 334 published in August 2005 written by Paul Leach, it states that the
appellation Greek Fire actually refers to several different volatile mixtures that evolved
between the 7th and 12th centuries in the Middle East, and is not really restricted
to those employed by the Byzantine Empire.
Other names include wet fire, artificial fire, and molten fire.
A Syrian architect named Kallinikos is credited with creating the original formula around
the year 673.
The formulas for various types of Greek fire usually involve substances such as the petroleum
derivative liquid named Naptha, a bit similar to modern gasoline, also pitch, a sticky tar
substance, quicklime which combusts on contact with water, and saltpetre, which may have
caused some compounds to abruptly combust.
These formulas were considered to be state secrets and fleets of Byzantine ships used
tactics such as sheering off all the oars of an enemy ship, surrounding the crippled
vessel with their own ships and then jetting Greek fire out of specially equipped ships
called Siphonophores, which basically had a pump turret mounted on a platform at the
prow of the ship, high enough to rain the fire down on the enemy ships with absolutely
horrific results.
Even most of the smaller ships in the Byzantine imperial fleets were equipped with sealed
ceramic pots of Greek fire that they could throw or catapult at enemy ships.
In first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, characters hurled flaming oil flasks at the
enemy, and an unlit flask of oil has a thousand and one uses aside from being a great non-magical
incendiary weapon, the Greek fire was treated just as a stickier and nastier version of
the flask of oil and made for an expedient substitute for spells such as burning hands,
flaming sphere and pyrotechnics, since wizards really, really had to conserve those precious
spell slots.
By third edition, Greek fire became Alchemists fire, and it exploded on contact with air.
A cart-mounted siphon projector appeared in the first edition adventure module titled
'Slave pits of the Undercity', which seems rather high tech, it is basically a flame
thrower, but real-world examples from Earth's past existed in the same sort of technology
level, so it was perfectly legit and often worth the hassle of lugging the thing down
into dungeons to clear out masses of vermin, oozes, nasty plants and such, which are not
very good at avoiding lots and lots of flames.
In 5th edition the Alchemists fire has the following properties, it is a type of adventuring
gear, not a wondrous item, a flask (no properties of the flask are listed) of the substance
weighs one pound and costs 50 gold coins.
The description text says "This sticky, adhesive fluid ignites when exposed to air.
As an action, you can throw this flask up to 20 feet, shattering it on impact.
Make a ranged attack against a creature or object, treating the alchemist's fire as an
improvised weapon.
On a hit, the target takes 1d4 fire damage at the start of each of its turns.
A creature can end this damage by using its action to make a DC 10 Dexterity check to
extinguish the flames."
That's nice, but what happens when a person skilled in combining magic and alchemy makes
some improvements to that sort of item?
Well, I just happen to have a couple of examples for you!
First, lets give some stats for the Siphonophore ship projector, which can just as easily be
a cart drawn weapon of war that devastates tight formations of soldiers using large shields
to protect each other from hurled missiles.
An Alchemists fire projector on a ship or land requires the same space as a weapon like
the catapult, it can be configured to either fire in a 60-foot line, or a 30-foot cone
by having one crew member spend one round adjusting the nozzle.
Any creature caught in that line or cone takes 4d6 fire damage (DC 15 Dexterity save to only
get half damage and not be set on fire, which requires a DC 10 Dexterity save to put out,
just like the Alchemist fire flask), each subsequent round that a creature or object
is on fire, roll an additional 2d6 fire damage.
Personally, I treat ship-mounted weapons attacking structures such as other ships or fortifications
as a Seige weapon, so the flames inflict double damage to any objects that can be damaged
by fire.
Great against wooden walls, not so great against rock walls.
The ship-mounted fire projector is vulnerable to fire attacks itself of course, any fire
damage it receives, add ten to it and that becomes the save DC to avoid the fire projector
exploding in a 20-foot radius, inflicting a varying amount of damage depending on how
much fuel is left in the tank, somewhere between 2d6 and 8d6 fire damage, DC 15 saving dexterity
saving throw to avoid half that damage and being set on fire (taking a further 2d6 fire
damage each round until they are extinguished).
Keep in mind also that the fuel for those things is heavy and it is limited.
Moving on, how about some enhanced flasks of alchemical fire that have been turned into
wondrous items?
It doesn't take magic to make alchemist fire that is very effective against aquatic creatures,
just spend another 20 gold per flask to add some quicklime to it and it will ignite on
contact with water, and water will not extinguish the flames.
Here is a picture of historically accurate sling bullets, by the way, in case you ever
wondered, but how about incendiary bullets?
Alchemist fire sling bullets are twice as large as regular sling bullets and using them
inflicts disadvantage on the attack roll, but there are no reductions to the range of
the weapon.
These glass bullets are filled with alchemists fire, so they inflict normal sling damage
on impact, plus splash liquid fire on the target, inflicting an additional 1d4 fire
damage each round after, until the target makes a DC 10 dexterity saving throw to put
the fire out on the end of their turn.
Simple enough, but hard to find, expensive at 20 gold coins each, and heavy, weighing
fully half a pound in their protective tubes used to safely carry them around.
Silken fire looks like ordinary alchemists fire in a ceramic flask, but there are usually
web or spider motifs on the container, the substance inside has been magically combined
with a web spell to terrifying effect.
Upon impact a flask of silken fire immediately explodes in a large web-like pattern, splattering
the area in burning sticky goo.
This substance covers a 20-foot circle around the point of impact and any creature caught
in it takes 2d4 points of fire damage immediately unless they make a DC 13 Dexterity saving
throw, in which case they only take half damage.
For that round, that area is considered difficult terrain, but, the flames quickly burn away
the web strands, and the next round they burn away to nothing, leaving only whatever objects
the goo set on fire.
The price for just one of these flasks is 500 gold coins, but they only weigh a single
pound and any hedge wizard worth their pointy hat can craft it since web is only a second-level
spell (most hedge wizards are limited to spells of level 3 and lower due to their lack of
formal training in the art by a decent wizards school).
Making a flask that explodes as per usual but releases a 20-foot thick spherical cloud
of thick black smoke only requires the combination of the 1st-level fog cloud spell.
The sphere spreads around corners, and its area is heavily obscured.
It lasts for the duration or until a wind of moderate or greater speed (at least 10
miles per hour) disperses it; plus, it totally blocks darkvision.
I leave it up to you as to whether this wondrous substance can be enhanced with the use of
higher level spell slots to cast the fog cloud spell, in which case, increase the area of
the smoke cloud by 20 feet per level higher the spell is cast.
Again, this type of flask is expensive at 500 gold coins, but they are easy enough for
any mage able to cast the spell and who has proficiency in the Alchemical supplies tool
set.
finally, a favourite of both me and Cadderly Bonaduce is the Flask of Thunderous Fire,
which combines the effects of a flask of alchemist's fire with the thunderwave spell.
On impact, each creature in a 15-foot cube originating from the impact point must make
a DC 13 Constitution saving throw.
On a failed save, a creature takes 1d4 fire damage and an additional 2d8 thunder damage
and is pushed 10 feet away from the impact point.
On a successful save, the creature takes half as much damage and isn't pushed.
In addition, unsecured objects that are completely within the area of effect are automatically
pushed 10 feet away, and the spell emits a thunderous boom audible out to 300 feet, along
with a flash of fire which just as quickly gets extinguished by the intense blast of
sound.
You may want to add some deafening or stunning effect for a much higher price, but lower
the constitution saving throw DC to 10, and the victims get to roll each round to restore
their senses; otherwise, the effect can last up to five rounds maximum.
Again, it's about 500 gold coins for one of these ceramic flasks.
Have fun thinking up simple combinations of spells with alchemical fire flasks of your
own; meanwhile, my name is AJ Pickett; I make videos about Dungeons & Dragons lore, so I
will get back to work on that complete guide to alchemy, and as always, I will be back
with more for you very soon.