I'm going to start sharing some ideas for alchemy in classic D&D, specifically Mystara, from the perspective of Crossandra, the name of an alchemist in my campaign. She's based in the city if Alchemos on Bellisaria. This is going to be another of my slow-burn things, maybe building towards a submission for Threshold.
Aim is to provide details of how alchemy can be used in game, that being mundane, old-school materials that would be available in Mystara. I'm not going full Anarchists Cookbook here, but I want to present it as if from the notes of Crossandra, with a short passage on the in-game effects after each example, such that if PC's actually try to pull this off you've got guidance, or instead you can use this to turn a mundane or arcane alchemist into an interesting foe.
As ever, comments, thoughts, art, ideas, general mockery or sarcasm will be welcome.
Pages From the Notes of Crossandra, Professor of Alchemy
by Cab Davidson(Starting point, I'm trying to get a tone for Crossandra)
Correspondence from Crossandra, Professor of Arcane and Profane Applied Alchemy, University of Alchemos, to Colonel Gubbins of the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare Procurement Program, Cockatrice, Floating Ar.
Sir,
I would like to present some recent observations made by myself, in my own laboratory, in the field of Applied Mundane Alchemy. While I do not wish to be in any way dismissive of the field of magical alchemy, being also an acknowledged specialist also in that field, it is evident to me that many Alphatian alchemists ignore the possibilities of mundane alchemy and all too rapidly resort to the use of magic to attain their goals. While this may be the “Alphatian Way”, this frequently proves to be more time consuming and far more expensive. And indeed, it is in many ways far less efficient, and one may also, on occasion, attain such effect by exploiting simple, mundane alchemical processes that the very thought of employing magic at all should be dismissed until mundane processes have been exhausted.
At your request, I provide copies of pages from my own laboratory notes such that the information may be of some use to you. I do so free of charge, for the interest of the Ministry, such that defensive applications may be effectively explored in throwing a shield of knowledge and fear around of our great Empire, protecting us from sundry invaders. I only ask in return that in future programs, professionals skilled in the practices of mundane alchemy may be forefront in the minds of ministry procurement officers.
Why use Alchemy?
Crossandra's plea that Alphatia might benefit from using more mundane rather than magical alchemy raises an obvious question - why? What are the advantages to a PC or NPC employing physical rather than arcane alchemical practices to achieve a goal? Simply put, there are four key advantages to non magical alchemy. Firstly, it is cheap and fast. The initial enchantment cost of a magical effect is 1,000gp per spell level, and takes at least 8 days, making the manufacture of even relatively simple items expensive - even the most expensive mundane ingredients come nowhere near this cost. Secondly, being non-magical it is difficult to prevent. Dispel Magic will not stop it, Anti Magic Shell cannot block it, and even creatures with magical resistances may be impacted by environmental hazards that a mixture of mundane alchemical substances can create. Thirdly, once the formulation has been perfected it may be possible for a relatively unskilled individual to use it. From "mix the contents of these three bottles together and run like hell!" to "sprinkle the powder on the floor and wait for the water to hit it", a character given even minimal instruction may create quite extraordinary effects thus. Lastly, such knowledge provides an edge. Whether as the basis for further magical exploitation (forming the components needed for extraordinary magical items) or just as a wildcard to use to confound a foe or impress a suitor, the use of such knowledge may be the difference between success and failure.
Excerpt from Crossandras notes – A Method for the Production of Improved After Damp
After damp, the poisonous gaseous residue of subterranean explosions, has been observed to be a deadly hazard of caves, cellars and poorly ventilated rooms in which combustion has taken place. Indeed so deadly is this colourless and odourless gas that it production thereof should not be undertaken lightly in any circumstances.
Our improved method for producing after damp creates a clean, lethally toxic form of the gas in controllable volume, for any use to which the user may wish to put it.
Equal volumes of ant-acid (the acid extracted from the giant ant Formica gargantua) and oil of oleum are used. A bottle with two tight fitting openings should be used, one of which having a glass tube protruding to allow collection of the gas over water. To the ant-acid, add the oil of oleum in a single aliquot, and immediately tightly stopper this hole. Gas is produced first rapidly and increasingly slowly, and can be readily collected by displacement of water.
While if allowed to go to completion many times the initial volume of acid used may be released, the rate of reaction slows very rapidly after a few minutes. Thus, from half a pint of ant-acid, in the region of 300 pints of improved after-damp may be produced.
If the stream of after-damp is directed into a chamber containing mice or birds, rather than collected over water, it is noted that the mice expire almost instantly. This gas is known to be rapidly lethal at high concentration, and slowly lethal if mixed into a larger volume of air.
We have developed a simple double-orb system for the rapid production of after-damp in an enclosed space. A robust glass jar with a fine glass septum separating the two fluids is used, this central divider being broken to initiate the reaction. If this is employed within an enclosed space, such as a well insulated dungeon room or a fuggy, warm bar then death of those therein is assured, providing enough of both acids are used. As an assassination tool used in rooms containing sleeping or unaware enemies, we believe this will prove to be highly effective.
A table listing the size of vessel needed for various sized rooms is provided below.
(Note - don't do this at home, kids. I'll work out some in-game effects for carbon monoxide at different concentrations when I get round to it)
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
While the method mentioned by Crossandra will work, it is not a faultless means for producing the toxic gas ‘after damp’, or carbon monoxide. The mixture of 1 part of ant-acid (formic acid) and 1 part oleum is not optimal (and perhaps further work by Crossandra and her colleagues may reveal this), and does fill a space with a concentration of near lethal gas, but this is only efficacious if there is little ventilation. Nonetheless, this has been adopted as a difficult to prevent assassination tool by the Ministry, who use dimension door to get in and out, leaving the reactants in situ in chambers of assassination victims.
Crudely, 1 fl oz of each acid mixed in the twin-glass chamber method described by Crossandra makes a 10’ x 10’ x 10’ space dangerous. A well ventilated space cannot be made hazardous thus, but an enclosed space with poor ventilation (a typical room with closed windows) becomes dangerous within 2 rounds, and any character remaining therein for 6 rounds any must make a saving throw vs. poison with a +5 bonus to the throw or pass out, and will remain unconscious until they are no longer exposed to the gas. The space remains toxic for up to 3 turns, and any character therein must make a saving throw once per turn (initially at +4, then +3, etc.) to remain conscious. Any character that has passed out will perish once they have failed 4 saving throws.
Larger spaces can be affected by using larger volumes of gas, for example a 30’x30x10’ room requires 9 fl oz of each acid. For each doubling of volume of the acids used, the time that the space remains toxic is doubled. In the example of a 30’x30’x10’ room, the 36 fl oz of gas is therefore toxic for 2 hours.
Any character who is awake, and who makes a save vs. poison, is aware that something is wrong. They will start to yawn and feel drowsy, and will likely feel an urge to seek ventilation. Note that each subsequent saving throw made until doors or windows are opened is made with a -1 relative to the last roll – this can take the save well below unmodified, and negative modifiers to the save are not limited.
This can be, with the correct application of magic to get assassins in and out unobserved, an incredibly valuable tool to dispatch sleeping enemies with little risk that they may wake.