experimental elixir table

Alchemist Artificer 5e D&D Guide

By: Author Sarah King

Posted on Last updated: September 18, 2023

The Alchemist Artificer is one of the four Artificer classes officially available. It has you act as a magical alchemist, imbuing elixirs with powerful magical abilities or flinging powerful buffed spells at your enemies.

In a sense, Alchemists are traditional supports, being able to heal, buff, or cast utility spells to help their party. 

Alchemists can even pick up some low-level spells and turn them into powerful damage spells, meaning they have a little more freedom than you think.

All in all, Alchemists make a great round-off to a party looking for a decent supportive character.

Tool Proficiency

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Alchemists are experts at combining reagents to produce all sorts of magical effects. In many cases, these buff, heal, deteriorate, or debuff anyone who comes in contact with them.

You might’ve guessed already, but since Alchemists primarily use supportive tools in their playstyle, they aren’t very competent when engaged in melee combat.

An Alchemist truly shines out of battle as they prepare powerful chemicals for their party members to use or to harm enemies.

When the Alchemist reaches level 3, they gain proficiency with the Alchemist’s Supplies, making it easier to whip up their potent concoctions.

Note: If you’ve already gained proficiency with Alchemist’s Supplies, you can choose to gain proficiency with one other type of Artisan’s Tools.

When you reach level 3, you’ll always have certain spells prepared and continuously unlock more as you level up. 

All the spells in the Alchemist Spell List count as Artificer Spells. However, these spells don’t count against the Artificer Spells you have prepared, giving you more spells to choose from.

Note: Spells are essential for Alchemists, so don’t throw away the fact that you basically unlock the abovementioned spells for free!

Experimental Elixir

Reaching level 3 means you can now concoct Experimental Elixirs after a long rest. 

To do this, you simply touch an empty flask and roll to see what effect you get on the Experimental Elixir table when someone drinks the flask’s contents.

Note: A creature can use an action and either drink the elixir or administer it to an incapacitated creature.

If a singular vial of the elixir isn’t enough, you can always brew more by expending a spell slot of the 1st level or higher for each elixir made.  

When doing this, you would use an action to brew the elixir and put it into an empty flask you touch. All you need to do now is determine the elixir’s effect by rolling on the Experimental Elixir table.

As you gain levels as an Alchemist, you’ll also be able to brew more elixirs at the end of your long rest:

• Two elixirs at level 6
• Three elixirs at level 15

You’ll have to roll separately for each elixir’s effect, and each elixir will still require its own flask.

Note: Be aware that brewing an Experimental Elixir requires you to have Alchemist Supplies on your person. Any elixir you brew using this feature will last until the end of your next long rest or until someone drinks it.

You already know there are 6 potential effects an elixir can have when being brewed, but you should also remember that not every elixir is brewed equally!

While each elixir is situational, some are exceptional in most situations, and others are pretty underwhelming for the most part.

• Healing – You can think of the Healing elixir as a Potion of Healing. It’s not fancy, but it provides much-needed healing for any situation.

It also works well with Restorative Reagents, as you’ll restore lost HP while gaining some temporary HP.

Note: You can equate the effect of the Healing elixir to Cure Wounds being cast with a 1st-level spell slot.

The great thing is you can give the elixir to an ally as well, and when used in combination with Restorative Reagents, it becomes more powerful than any 1st-level spell slot can reproduce.

Result: It’s not the best elixir, but you definitely won’t go wrong using it, as it’ll come in handy throughout the game.

• Swiftness – The Swiftness elixir doesn’t provide any consistent value in most scenarios, as it works best with spells or features like Longstrider.

Result: It’s situational at best, as you’ll need similar spells or class features for the elixir to unlock its full potential. That means if you don’t have a member/spell that uses movement speed, then the Swiftness elixir is even worse.

• Resilience – You can compare the Resilience elixir to Shield of Faith . The only difference with the elixir is that it’s pretty costly to start.

While Shield of Faith only needs a Bonus Action to be cast, the Resilience elixir requires you to use a normal action.

Nonetheless, the Resilience elixir can be given to an ally beforehand, lasting for the same time as Shield of Faith (10 minutes).

It also provides a good buff to melee characters with poor armor, like Barbarians or other two-handed weapon users.

Note: Since it lasts 10 minutes and doesn’t need Concentration, you can use the elixir quite a while before a battle to give you extra AC, as they generally won’t last longer than 1 minute.

Result: Resilience might seem weak, but remember how powerful even a +1 bonus to AC is and how much value it gives a party.

• Boldness – The Boldness elixir is like Bless, but only for a single target.

Unfortunately, the elixir only lasts 1 minute, meaning if you want it to last for the full battle and don’t want to use an action in combat, you should use it right before entering combat.

Note: Boldness stacks with Bless, so if you want, you can give someone on your team two d4 attack roll/saving throw increases.

Using the elixir, it’s advised that you buff a melee character, specifically something that does a lot of damage, like a Barbarian or Fighter.

Result: Since you can stack it with Bless, Boldness is one of the best Experimental Elixirs available, especially if your party has a high-damage melee character.

• Flight – Having the option to fly, whether it’s at 10 feet or 50 feet, can make many situations easy to solve. 

Result: Flight competes with Boldness for the spot of Top Experimental Elixir, so be sure to pick it up!

• Transformation – The Transformation elixir is basically Alter Self, but without the Concentration, making it quite useful. 

The only issue is that Alter Self lasts 1 hour, and the elixir lasts 10 minutes, so you’ll get value, just not as much as with Alter Self.

Result: Transformation is in a similar boat to Swiftness, as it’s very situational, so even if you can get quite a lot of value from it, you won’t get a chance to unleash its full potential.

Alchemical Savant

Leveling up to the 5th level means you’ve developed expert command of mystic chemicals, as you can now enhance the damage and healing you create through them.

Casting a spell using your Alchemist’s supplies as the spellcasting focus means you gain a bonus to one roll of that spell.

The roll must deal damage (Acid, Fire, Necrotic, or Poison damage) or restore HP, and the bonus equal your Intelligence modifier (which is always a minimum of +1).

There are many spells that work well with Alchemical Savant.

HP restoring spells like Healing Word and offensive spells like Acid Splash, Poison Spray , and Fire Bolt fit perfectly with Alchemical Savant.

Note: Acid Splash is great since it targets multiple targets, while Fire Bolt is better against single targets due to its high single-target damage.

Character level 9 greets you with the ability to incorporate reagents into your alchemical brews.

With the Restorative Reagents feature, you’ll gain two new bonuses which affect what your alchemy does and which spells you can cast:

• Creatures who drink your brewed Experimental Elixir will gain temporary HP equal to 2d6 + your Intelligence modifier (they’ll always receive a minimum of 1 temporary HP).
• You may cast Lesser Restoration without preparing it and without spending a spell slot – only if you use Alchemist’s supplies as the spellcasting focus.

You’ll be able to do this quite a few times, numbering to equal your Intelligence modifier (which must be a minimum of once). 

Upon finishing a long rest, you’ll regain all the uses you spent.

Note: Having access to a free spell with your limited spell slots is extremely powerful, and the temporary HP is great as it makes even the weakest elixirs provide a worthwhile benefit.

Reaching level 15 as an Alchemist means you’ve been exposed to so many chemicals that now pose little to no threat to you, meaning you can use them to quickly end specific ailments.

• You gain resistance to both Poison and Acid damage, and you become immune to the poisoned condition.
• You obtain the ability to cast Heal and Greater Restoration without spending a spell slot, providing material components, or preparing the spell – if you use Alchemist’s supplies as the spellcasting focus.

Once you’ve cast either spell using this feature, you won’t be able to cast that spell with this feature again until after finishing a long rest.

Note: Having two damage resistances, and being able to cast two powerful healing spells for free each day without needing material components, is absolutely fantastic.

Building an Alchemist Artificer

Building an Alchemist Artificer, much like any other subclass, means you’ll have to keep everything your character needs to be a powerful Alchemist in mind.

You’ll also need to keep in mind how well everything flows, as certain ability scores, races, skills, feats, weapons, armor, and multiclassing, works best with the Alchemist.

I know this might seem a bit daunting, but depending on how much you know about D&D, you can always use the Player’s Handbook to guide you through these decisions or get some tips.

You can even ask an experienced player for help, as they usually know a lot about D&D (sometimes more than the book itself).

After all, you’re making your own character, so you can add anything. It doesn’t necessarily have to be meta or OP to be an option, just go with the flow and try to have as much fun with your character as possible.

Alchemists will primarily use their spells and buffing elixirs to support allies while blasting through enemy lines.

In other words, you’ll need to focus on a select few ability scores to make your Alchemist as powerful as can be:

• Intelligence – It is by far your most important ability score, as the potency of your elixirs, healing from your spells, and damage output from offensive spells will be affected by Intelligence.

You need to get this stat up, as, without it, your character won’t be useful at all!

• Dexterity – You don’t desperately need Dexterity, but in the early game, you’ll want to invest some points into it to increase your AC, just to be certain that your Alchemist will make it to the higher levels.

Remember that when you reach 14 Dexterity, you won’t need more, so unless you have a special build or are trying something new, just cap your Dex at 14.

• Constitution – While Constitution doesn’t play a role in your features or spells, you’ll always want to invest some points into it now and then. 

Having extra HP won’t hurt, so don’t be shy to drop a few extra points into Constitution throughout your campaign.

• Wisdom – You won’t use Wisdom for most of your spells but for skills like Perception (which is the most rolled skill in D&D), you’ll want to allocate some points to it.
• Strength – The only reason you’ll put points into Strength is if you get a feat that gives you proficiency in heavy armor.

The problem is that your elixirs and Infusions give you so many AC buffs it’s not really necessary to wear heavy armor for increased AC.

• Charisma – You don’t need Charisma for any of your skills or features, so you can just dump it. There’s no need to focus on an ability score that gives you nothing in return.

Even though choosing ability scores also depends on what race you choose, the following table is to give an idea of what an average Alchemist’s ability scores will look like.

Depending on your race, you might be able to increase Intelligence by two more points, then opt into increasing either your Dex or Con. 

In the end, it’ll also depend on your campaign, so think about the campaign you’ll be playing.

To be honest, you can choose to play any race with any class (even if it doesn’t make sense) and still be able to play through a campaign. 

The only job an ideal race fills is that it makes things easier for you, giving you better ability scores, skills, or features that work well with your class.

There are many options, but since you’ll mainly be using spells, certain options stand out:

Rock Gnomes will have Alchemists feel more like Wizards, given their tendency to spellcasting.

High Elves and Fairies make great ranged Alchemists, so they’re great if you want to sling damaging spells from afar.

Note: These are some common races associated with Alchemists, so if you want to optimize your character, try picking one of these.

Alchemist Background and Skills

When creating your Alchemist, you’ll want to keep their background and skills in mind, as these play quite a big role in what your character will be able to do in the campaign as well as the bonuses they start with.

There are a ton of backgrounds out there, but a few examples that’ll work well for an Alchemist are Sage, Clan Crafter, and Cloistered Scholar.

Clan Crafter is quite similar to Guild Artisan, only better as it gives you proficiency with Artisan’s tools while unlocking the History and Insight skill for your character.

Cloistered Scholar is one of my favorites, especially among spellcasters, as it gives you the option of choosing two more languages and unlocking the History skill and one other skill of your choosing (pick between Arcana, Nature, and Religion).

Sage is similar to Cloistered Scholar, allowing you to choose two languages while unlocking the Arcana and History skills. You’ll receive a specialty, opening even more doors for character customization!

Note: Backgrounds are extremely interesting pieces of information, so it can take you some time to pick one, but when you find one that fits your character, you’ll feel like your life is complete (in a weird D&D sense, that is)!

As an Alchemist, you’ll have access to seven skills; Arcana, History, Investigation, Medicine, Nature, Perception, and Sleight of Hand.

Out of these seven, Perception is great, as it is one of the most used skills in D&D. Arcana is also another first place contended as it works great with your Intelligence and provides some very important information.

Even though Investigation is also very good for an Alchemist, it gets overshadowed by Perception and Arcana in most campaigns. 

Note: The other four skills are either not that important or situational, except Nature, as you have high Intelligence for it, and it can prove to be quite a good knowledge skill if you are constantly in the wilderness.

While Backgrounds are more for character customization, Feats are important elements of a character’s gameplay.

There are an abundance of Feats to choose from, which puts you in a similar predicament to choosing your Background. Luckily below are three examples of Feats that could work well for an Alchemist:

Elemental Adept – You can choose a damage type (from Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Thunder), allowing you to ignore resistances if the spell is the chosen element.

Note: You can choose the Elemental Adept Feat more than once, and any 1 you roll (for a damage roll with that same element you chose) can be treated as a 2.

Healer – Using a Healer’s kit on a creature allows you to restore 1d6 + 4 HP, plus additional HP equal to the creature’s maximum number of Hit Dice. Creatures you stabilize using a Healer’s kit will regain 1 HP.

Spell Sniper – Casting spells that require an attack roll doubles the range of the spell. Ranged spell attacks will also ignore three-quarters and half cover.

You also unlock one Cantrip requiring an attack roll, choosing it from the Bard, Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard spell ist. 

The spellcasting ability modifier will depend on which spell ist you chose it from; Intelligence (Wizard), Wisdom (Cleric or Druid), and Charisma (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock).

Note: This Feat is great for a spellcaster like the Alchemist. Just be sure you choose which Cantrip you choose wisely, as your highest ability score will be Intelligence!

Since Alchemists are a subclass of the Artificer, they’ll get the same equipment they do. 

Also, remember that they receive proficiencies in Simple weapons, Light armor, Medium armor, and Shields, so if you want to use armor or weapons, you’ll be best off using one.

Note: Alchemists don’t really rely on their armor or weapons as much as, say, the Battlesmith Artificer, so you don’t really have to worry about things like that. Rather, you should worry about spellcasting, as that’s what you’re good at and will be using throughout your campaign.

Multiclassing is a broad section that is only briefly touched, as there are so many combinations that only a few suitable options will be given.

Cleric – Death Domain is good to use in combination with Alchemical Savant, as your Intelligence can be added to spells like Chill Touch and Toll the Dead .

You can even go for the Peace Domain if you’re focusing more on alchemy, as the Embolding Bond works well with Bless and Boldness (elixir), giving an insane 3d4 bonus to saving throws and attack rolls.

Sorcerer – You get quite a lot of spell slots as a Sorcerer, so using them to create extra Experimental Elixirs can help your party quite a bit.

Warlock – Warlocks have their spell slots recharged after a short rest, meaning you can make more Experimental Elixirs than normal. You’ll basically be making elixirs, taking a short nap, and making more elixirs afterward!

Alchemist Artificer 5e FAQs

Unfortunately, the Alchemist subclass isn’t really that good. In fact, it’s probably the worst-performing Artificer subclass you can choose. The Alchemist is weak in combat, as they rely mostly on low-level spells and randomly brewed elixirs.

Out of combat, it’s actually surprisingly good – but actually being an alchemist (brewing potions and creating alchemical objects) isn’t all too reliable as you have to roll for its outcomes.

Alchemists are primarily back-row supports, as they focus on buffs, healing, and utility. 

Even though they primarily act as supports, this doesn’t mean they can’t dish out some good damage with their spells, so you can also play them as a spellcasting-focused damage dealer/support.

It works even better when coupled with the Elemental Adept feat!

Alchemists might not be the most popular D&D classes, but they are quite fun when you start to understand the role they play and how good they can actually be.

While I don’t recommend running an Alchemist as a new player or when you have less than a handful of players, beyond that, Alchemists can be pretty valuable.

The most fun part of an Alchemist will probably find a balance between spells and alchemy, as both play quite a significant role in your kit’s utilization. So you’ll have plenty of time to think and customize what you want your character to do.

In the end, even if you aren’t too confident about whether you want to play an Alchemist, at least give it a try, as you might be pleasantly surprised or even discover your new favorite class!

You might also be interested in:

• Armorer Artificer
• Artillerist Artificer
• Battle Smith Artificer

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An Alchemist is an expert at combining reagents to produce mystical effects. Alchemists use their creations to give life and to leech it away. Alchemy is the oldest of artificer traditions, and its versatility has long been valued during times of war and peace.

Tool Proficiency

When you adopt this specialization at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with alchemist’s supplies. If you already have this proficiency, you gain proficiency with one other type of artisan’s tools of your choice.

Alchemist Spells

Starting at 3rd level, you always have certain spells prepared after you reach particular levels in this class, as shown in the Alchemist Spells table. These spells count as artificer spells for you, but they don’t count against the number of artificer spells you prepare.

Experimental Elixir

Beginning at 3rd level, whenever you finish a long rest, you can magically produce an  experimental elixir  in an empty flask you touch. Roll on the Experimental Elixir table for the elixir’s effect, which is triggered when someone drinks the elixir. As an action, a creature can drink the elixir or administer it to an incapacitated creature.

You can create additional  experimental elixirs  by expending a spell slot of 1st level or higher for each one. When you do so, you use your action to create the elixir in an empty flask you touch, and you choose the elixir’s effect from the Experimental Elixir table.

Creating an  experimental elixir  requires you to have alchemist supplies on your person, and any elixir you create with this feature lasts until it is drunk or until the end of your next long rest.

When you reach certain levels in this class, you can make more elixirs at the end of a long rest: two at 6th level and three at 15th level. Roll for each elixir’s effect separately. Each elixir requires its own flask.

Alchemical Savant

At 5th level, you’ve developed masterful command of magical chemicals, enhancing the healing and damage you create through them. Whenever you cast a spell using your alchemist’s supplies as the spellcasting focus, you gain a bonus to one roll of the spell. That roll must restore hit points or be a damage roll that deals acid, fire, necrotic, or poison damage, and the bonus equals your Intelligence modifier (minimum of +1).

Restorative Reagents

Starting at 9th level, you can incorporate restorative reagents into some of your works:

• Whenever a creature drinks an  experimental elixir  you created, the creature gains temporary hit points equal to 2d6 + your Intelligence modifier (minimum of 1 temporary hit point).
• You can cast  Lesser Restoration  without expending a spell slot and without preparing the spell, provided you use alchemist’s supplies as the spellcasting focus. You can do so a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Chemical Mastery

By 15th level, you have been exposed to so many chemicals that they pose little risk to you, and you can use them to quickly end certain ailments:

• You gain resistance to acid damage and poison damage, and you are now immune to the poisoned condition.
• You can cast  Greater Restoration  and  Heal  without expending a spell slot, without preparing the spell, and without providing the material component, provided you use alchemist’s supplies as the spellcasting focus. Once you cast either spell with this feature, you can’t cast that spell with it again until you finish a long rest.

System Reference Document 5.1 Copyright 2016, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Chris Perkins, Rodney Thompson, Peter Lee, James Wyatt, Robert J. Schwalb, Bruce R. Cordell, Chris Sims, and Steve Townshend, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.

OGL Content Source: https://5e.tools/

This is not the complete license attribution - see the full license for this page

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Alchemist Artificer 5e Guide

Published on June 5, 2023, Last modified on July 14th, 2023

Master the craft of alchemy with our comprehensive Alchemist 5e build guide for D&D’s artificer!

Cristi Balanescu - Wizards of the Coast - Alchemist’s Gift

What is the Alchemist Artificer?

The Alchemist takes the artificer’s propensity for creating and infusing magic items and adds another layer to it: magical elixirs. Alchemists are experts at creating potent elixirs, which allow them to imbue properties upon themselves and their party members.

They are also masters of elemental and healing magic, gaining multiple features that increase the potency of their support and damage spells.

• Versatility: Alchemist artificers are the masters of flexibility. Thanks to their Experimental Elixir, Restorative Reagents, and Alchemical Savant features, they excel in both supportive and offensive roles.
• Expertise with magic items: As an artificer subclass, they have access to infusions, allowing them to craft and modify magical items, on top of the Experimental Elixirs that they can brew.
• Lack of specialization: While Alchemist artificers are versatile, they may not be as strong as classes that focus on one specific aspect, such as healing or damage output.
• Dependency on preparation: As an Alchemist, preparation is crucial because you can only create potions without having to expend spell slots after a long rest. Also, seeing as the effect of your Experimental Elixir is decided beforehand, you’ll need to figure out what you’re planning on doing with it.
• Random class feature: Because you can’t dictate the results of your Experimental Elixir roll, you might be left with something that doesn’t apply to what you’ll be getting up to during your adventuring day.
• Half caster:  Depending on the party composition, Alchemist artificers will have to strike a balance between using their resources for healing and damage. If they are the dedicated healer, they’ll use a lot of their limited spell slots keeping their party members alive.

Alchemist 5e Guide Rating Scheme

This guide is meant as a deep dive into the Alchemist Artificer subclass. For a full overview of the Artificer class, check out our artificer 5e Guide .

For our full class guides, we use the following color rating scheme:

• Red isn’t going to contribute to the effectiveness of your character build at all
• Orange Situationally good, but a below-average option otherwise
• Green is a good option
• Blue is a great option, you should strongly consider this option for your character
• Sky Blue is an amazing option. If you do not take this option your character would not be optimized

For our subclass guides, we focus mainly on the Blue and Sky Blue options, because the other options are discussed in the parent guide or other subclass guides. We also discuss options that normally would be good for a typical build, but underperform when used in a subclass.

Alchemist Artificer Features

5e Alchemists  unlock several unique class features as they level up, which accentuate their abilities in concocting and wielding alchemical brews. Here are the key features you’ll gain:

Tool Proficency : You gain proficiency with alchemists supplies. Unfortunately, the most useful thing you can do with alchemist supplies is your brew elixirs and use it as a spell focus, so this proficiency doesn’t mean much beyond enabling subclass features.

Alchemist Spells : At 3rd level, the Alchemist Artificer gains access to a unique list of spells that reflects their focus on elemental and healing spells.

• Healing Word : Great option even if you have a dedicated healer as it can be useful for resetting death saving throws from a distance and only requires a bonus action.
• Ray of Sickness : Damage isn’t great but Poisoned is a nasty condition. Unfortunately, the save targets CON, a common proficient saving throw, and immunity to the Poisoned condition is also fairly common. Don’t try to cast this at Constructs, Fiends, or Undead at the very least.
• Flaming Sphere : Not the best damage, but AoE and the ability to move the sphere as a bonus action are useful if up against a horde of weak enemies.
• Melf’s Acid Arrow : If you compare this with  magic missile , this spell is just not worth it for a 2nd-level spell slot. A 2nd-level magic missile will do guaranteed 4d4 + 4 which is the same damage that melf’s acid arrow does after a successful attack roll and a full turn.  Magic missile also has a better range, is better for targetting casters who are concentrating, and a less resisted damage type. Pass this spell all day long.
• Gaseous Form : This spell can honestly vie for the top “infiltration” spell over invisibility. Being able to fly and move through tiny cracks as an inconspicuous cloud can make getting into any heavily defended fortress a cinch.
• Mass Healing Word : Like regular healing word this is used as a bonus action. This, combined with its low healing potential, means its primary use is also to revive downed teammates, but having multiple downed allies at once is quite rare.
• Blight : 4th-level single-target spell that targets a common save. It barely out damages 4th-level fireball and flat-out doesn’t work on some common creature types. SKIP.
• Death Ward : Has an 8-hour duration and doesn’t require concentration so it could be a good spell to cast pre-emptively if you have the ability to regain spell slots during a short rest.
• Cloudkill : Not great in an open field but if you can get the drop on an enemy or contain a group of enemies within the spell it can be very effective because it deals damage turn after turn, as long as the caster keeps concentration. It can also be effective to block off a vantage point used by ranged enemies.
• Raise Dead : A more powerful resurrection spell than revivify because it has a 10 day time span and can cure Poisons and Diseases. Unfortunately, if you resurrectee is missing their head or other body parts, you’ll have to wait until you get resurrection .

Experimental Elixir : Starting at 3rd level, you can create a experimental elixir whenever you finish a long rest. These elixirs produce a variety of effects when consumed, ranging from healing, granting a bonus to AC or speed, or even letting the consumer fly. Which effect you’ll produce is random, and as you level up, you can make up to three of them at the end of a long rest. These elixirs are all solid and this feature would have been sky blue  if you could choose the effect.

One interesting part of this feature is you can use a spell slot to create more elixirs as an action. This can be useful when you need more for an upcoming adventuring day, but seeing as they are randomly determined, it’s not usually the best use of your action in combat. Also, seeing as the effects only last to the end of your next long rest, you can’t spam these potions before a rest to have more the next day.

Alchemical Savant : At 5th level, you gain the ability to add your Intelligence modifier to any spell you cast that uses alchemical tools as its spellcasting focus that deals acid, fire, necrotic, or poison damage or heals the target. Seeing as this criteria reflect a wide variety of your spells, this is essentially a +5 to any of your damage spells or heals. This is an amazing pick up for your fire bolt which could easily be doing 2d10 + 4 each turn by this point.

Restorative Reagents : Upon reaching 9th level, your alchemical prowess lets you bolster healing and resilience. Whenever a creature drinks one of your experimental elixirs, they gain temporary hit points 2d6 + your Intelligence modifier, and you can cast lesser restoration for free a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier.

Turning all of your elixirs into buffed healing potions is a great way to keep them relevant throughout the campaign. As they average out to about 12 hit points of healing and you can create two potions to hand out, it can definitely take a bit of the burden of healing off you or other support casters in your party. Free lesser restoration  is always worthwhile to have stocked and will certainly be of use in higher tier encounters.

Chemical Mastery: At 15th level, you gain resistance to acid and poison damage, and immunity to the poisoned condition. More importantly, you can now cast greater restoration or heal without expending a spell slot.  Heal  in particular is amazing in this case, because artificers don’t normally get access to spell slots higher than 5th level.

The Basics of Playing an Alchemist Artificer

Playing an Alchemist artificer is a fun, non-linear build that combines strategic thinking, careful preparation, and a creative approach to problem-solving. Here’s an in-depth look at the essentials of playing this class:

Role in the Party

Alchemist artificers are fundamentally versatile, capable of filling several roles in an adventuring party. With their potent healing capabilities, they can serve as the primary healers, keeping the party in top fighting condition. Simultaneously, their buffed elemental spells and infused weapons can let them unleash some potent damage when required.

Preparation and Tactics

One crucial aspect of playing an Alchemist artificer effectively lies in preparation. Before each day, carefully consider the spells and infusions you wish to prepare. Think about the challenges you may encounter and the ways your character can address them. It’s always a good idea to maintain a balance of healing, damage, and utility spells to respond to diverse situations.

During combat, remember that the Alchemist artificer is not typically a front-line class. Even though you’ll have access to medium armor and shields, you’ll want to stay back from the heat of battle, supporting your allies with healing and buffs while hindering your enemies with your damage spells.

Alchemist Artificer Playstyles

Given the versatility of the Alchemist artificer, a couple different playstyles can be considered:

Supportive Healer: One of the most common playstyles for Alchemist artificers is as a primary support and healer. With access to healing spells and the ability to create healing elixirs, you can keep your allies in the fight for longer. The Alchemical Savant and Restorative Reagents features enhance your healing capabilities, making it so you don’t have to rely solely on your limited spell slots for healing. Beyond just healing, this playstyle also includes using your abilities to bolster your allies, such as by using your infusions to enhance their equipment or casting buff spells like aid, enhance ability, and haste .

Alchemical Grenadier: This playstyle emphasizes using your alchemical abilities to deal damage from a distance. You can use your Experimental Elixirs on yourself to give you an edge in combat, while damage staple spells like fire bolt , ray of sickness , and heat metal get buffed by Alchemical Savant. If you’re really wanting to lean into damage, consider taking the Elemental Adept feat to boost your element of choice’s damage (with the exception of necrotic and poison, unfortunately).

Ability Scores

Alchemist artificers gain Ability Score Increases (ASI) at 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level. Because their class and subclass features rely on INT, they will want to pump this first.

• Intelligence : As an artificer, your spellcasting ability is Intelligence. It determines the power of your spells, the number of spells you can prepare each day, the saving throw DCs for your artificer spells, and your Flash of Genius feature. It also boosts the benefits of several Alchemist subclass features, such as Alchemical Savant. Therefore, Intelligence should be your highest priority.
• Constitution : Constitution is important for all classes due to it determining your hit points. This is especially important if you’re the party’s dedicated healer, as you’ll need to be able to stay on your feet during the fight. Additionally, Constitution helps with concentration checks for maintaining spells.
• Dexterity : Dexterity impacts your Armor Class, your initiative in combat, Dexterity saving throws, and is the key ability for several useful skills. While not as crucial as Intelligence or Constitution, a good Dexterity score can be very beneficial for an Alchemist artificer.
• Wisdom : Wisdom is used for several important saving throws and skills. While it’s not a primary ability for artificers, having a decent Wisdom score can still be beneficial.
• Charisma and Strength : These abilities are generally of lower priority for Alchemist artificers, unless you have specific multiclassing considerations.

Best Races for Alchemist Artificers 5e

Standard races.

If you’re using the Player’s Handbook to create your Alchemist artificer, consider the following options:

• High : A +2 bonus to Dexterity and a +1 to Intelligence cater to artificer's primary needs. The bonus cantrip and extra language also add to their versatility.
• Rock : Perfect ASIs, darkvision, and the Artificer’s Lore and Tinker are almost purpose made for an artificer.
• Forest : The +2 to Intelligence is great and the +1 to Dexterity can help your AC. Plus, you get a free useful cantrip.

Tiefling : Tieflings get a +1 to Intelligence and +2 to Charisma. Their Infernal Legacy trait provides some useful spellcasting to help with the artificer's limited casting, and their resistance to fire damage is a nice perk.

Non-Standard Races

If you’re looking for more options for your Alchemist artificer outside of the standard ones offered in the Player’s Handbook , or if you’re using the Customize Your Origins optional rule from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything , here are some solid options:

Aarakocra : Seeing as the updated aarakocra’s ASI array can be whatever you want, this option is much more attractive over the original aarakocra. 1st level flight is the main reason you’d be going with an aarakocra but doesn’t change the fact that you’re giving up your medium armor for evasion + movement options.

Astral Elf :  Sacred flame  and  misty step  are both great spells to add to your repertoire, as is the extra skill/tool proficiency.

Eladrin : Artificer’s don’t normally get  misty step , so this is a solid baseline improvement.

Fire Genasi : Fire genasi provide artificers a great damage resistance and a couple solid offensive spells normally not on the artificers spell list, which makes a solid start for just about any artificer build.

Hobgoblins : A +2 to Constitution and a +1 to Intelligence align with an Alchemist Artificer’s key abilities. Their “Saving Face” feature can be beneficial in clutch situations.

Vedalken : Artificers are happy as long as they see a +2 INT bonus. Vedalken Dispassion helps when fighting other spellcasters, and Tireless Protection offers you the chance to get some skill or tool proficiencies you may not normally have access to.

Warforged : Warforged receive a +2 to Constitution and a +1 to a stat of choice. Their resilience and Integrated Protection feature are handy for any Artificer.

Yuan-ti Pureblood : +2 INT would of course be better here, but Magic Resistance is just so good that +1 will do. Once you hit 7th level, you can add your INT modifier to any saving throw with the Flash of Genius trait, ensuring that you will hardly ever succumb to negative magical effects.

Best Backgrounds for Alchemist Artificers

Seeing as the artificer’s skill list is lacking some important options like Stealth or social skills, choosing your background is a great time to fill these gaps:

• Charlatan : Proficiency with Deception and Sleight of Hand, as well as  forgery and disguise kits, will add a lot of tricksy utility to your Alchemist artificer.
• Criminal : Proficiency with Stealth and Deception can help your ability to sneak around and lie, which can further extend the Alchemist artificer’s usefulness. Proficiency with thieves’ tools is a big plus because it allows you to pick locks if you’re lacking for a rogue.
• Guild Artisan/Guild Merchant : Both of these are flavorful pickups, provide some good skill proficiencies, and useful tool proficiencies.
• Knight/Noble : History is a decent INT skill, and Persuasion is a great social skill for when you want to be the face of the party.
• Urchin : Sleight of Hand, Stealth, disguise kits, and thieves’ tools are all solid proficiencies that will easily pay off in a typical campaign.

Best Spells for Alchemist Artificers 5e

We cover all of the artificer’s spells over at our artificer guide. The Alchemist subclass’ main change to these spells is damage spells that do acid, posion, necrotic, or fire—or healing spells if you’re going that route—are going to be a higher priority when you get Alchemical Savant at 5th level.

We already discussed the spells you get at 3rd level as part of your Alchemist Spells , but here are some spells you’re going to want to keep an eye on as you prepare for your day:

• Acid Splash : If you can hit two creatures with this, it can end up doing more damage than  firebolt , especially once you get access to Alchemical Savant.
• Fire Bolt : Your go-to damage cantrip. With Alchemical Savant this will be outputting great damage.
• Cure Wounds : You already get access to healing through  healing word and your elixirs, so only pick this up if you're going to be the party's dedicated healer.
• Heat Metal : Amazing single target damage (as long as that target is wearing metal). Seeing as there's no save and you get boosted damage through Alchemical Savant, this will be potent turn-after-turn damage.

Best Feats for Alchemist Artificers 5e

• Elemental Adept : Because Alchemical Savant can net you +5 to elemental damage spells, fire bolt or  acid splash will likely be your bread and butter. Fire is probably the better route to go, because you also get access to  heat metal and  flaming sphere .
• Fey Touched : An amazing half-feat that allows you to pump your INT and get a free cast of misty step once per long rest. For the 1st-level spell,  hex  is probably your best bet as it provides a debuff on top of added damage.
• Shadow Touched : A free casting of invisibility and picking up a damage spell like that works with your Alchemical Savant feature, like inflict wounds,  can help your Alchemist artificer diversify.
• Resilient : Providing +1 CON can help with boosting your hit points because of your lackluster hit dice. Proficiency in CON saving throws will help with maintaining concentration on your spells.
• War Caster : You don't need this for the somatic components ability and likely won't be making a ton of Opportunity Attacks. That said, the advantage on CON saves to maintain concentration will go a long way to help keep your spells up when you get hit.

Multiclass Options for Alchemist Artificer

Depending on your preferred playstyle, there are a couple interesting multiclass options for the Alchemist artificer. Unfortunately, the biggest downside here is Alchemical Savant only works with spells cast using your alchemist’s tools, so any spells you pickup from these other classes won’t work.

That said, there are some options that can net you spells that will be useful in other situations and class features that are synergistic.

Dipping one level into wizard gives you some spells that you can cast with your INT. The most common pickup here is find familiar . Dipping two levels into wizard gives you a subclass of your choice. Divination gives you Portent, making it by far the best option.

A one-level dip gives you a domain and some additional spells. This is really best for the healer/support playstyle as you could dip into the Life Domain, get heavy armor proficiency, some extra healing spells, and Disciple of Life for extra potent healing spells.

Alchemist Artificer 5e Build Example

In this build, we’re going to play an Alchemist artificer that balances the line between elemental blaster and healer. We’ll prepare spells that allow us to output as much damage as possible with our limited slots while also hanging on to a couple healing staples for when our party is looking beat up

Seeing as we have an odd INT score after character creation, we’ll take Fey Touched at 4th level to drive some more value. Not only do we get to +1 our INT modifier, but we also get a free casting of misty step each day and the hex spell which can help boost our damage output. From there, we’re going to max INT and then pick up Elemental Adept for higher tier adventures where we’ll be running into fire resistance more often.

Last, we’ll focus on getting our CON to a respectable level.

With spells, you can prepare from the artificier’s spell list after each long rest, but we’ll provide a baseline of what to choose to be a well-rounded build. All spells with * are permanently prepared because of features we pick up along the way.

You’ll see that we’re focusing on fire spells for our daily-driver damage-dealers. With the addition of Alchemical Savant and Elemental Adept, we should be able to get some solid value from  fire bolt while holding onto spell slots for healing, buffs, or potent damage spells like heat metal .

To view the character on D&D Beyond, click the button below:

View Character Sheet

Sources Used in This Guide

• BR: Basic Rules
• GotG: Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants
• SotDQ: Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen
• ERLW: Eberron: Rising from the Last War
• EEPC: Elemental Evil Player’s Companion
• EGtW: Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount
• FToD: Fizban's Treasury of Dragon
• GGtR: Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica
• MotM: Monsters of the Multiverse
• MToF: Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes
• MOoT: Mythic Odyessys of Theros
• PAitM: Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse
• PHB: Player's Handbook
• SAiS: Spelljammer: Adventures in Space
• SCoC: Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos
• SCAG: Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide
• TCoE: Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
• TTP: The Tortle Package
• WBtW: The Wild Beyond The Witchlight
• VRGtR: Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft
• VGtM: Volo's Guide to Monsters
• XGtE: Xanathar’s Guide to Everything

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Alchemist Artificer Handbook: DnD 5e Subclass Guide – RPGBOT

Introduction.

The Alchemist is the back-row support option for artificers, focusing on healing, buffs, and utility. It fills a role somewhere between a cleric-equivalent and a wizard-equivalent, making it a good option in small parties, but it will often be outshined in parties with multiple full casters.

The Alchemist adds a number of excellent healing and support options to the Artificer, but doesn’t fundamentally change how the core class functions. You won’t be able to match the healing power of a full caster like the Cleric, but you’ll be able to cover those capabilities well enough to replace a cleric in most parties, and Experimental Elixir expands your magical options to help support and protect your allies with temporary elixirs which are consumed like potions.

However, the unpredictable nature of your free Experimental Elixirs and the heavy resource constraints mean that you’ll face constant resource strain.

Table of Contents

Alchemist artificer features, alchemist artificer ability scores.

No different from a typical artificer .

Alchemist Artificer Races

Alchemist artificer feats, alchemist artificer weapons.

Alchemists are built to rely on spellcasting. Do that.

Alchemist Artificer Armor

Multiclassing.

This section briefly details some obvious and enticing multiclass options, but doesn’t fully explore the broad range of multiclassing combinations. For more on multiclassing, see our Practical Guide to Multiclassing .

Example Build – Here, Drink This

Our staple build is also an alchemist, but this build goes further afield, embracing the full range of available options rather than sticking to the SRD and Basic Rules.

Ability Scores

Fairy. Flight is awesome, and saves us an infusion which we couldn’t get until level 10 anyway. The innate spellcasting is mostly redundant, but it gives us effectively two extra spells slots and two additional prepared spells per day, both of which are welcome since our spell slots will be under additional pressure and since artificers get to prepare so few spells.

Skills and Tools

Our level 16 and 19 ASI’s are open. We could take Elemental Adept to help mitigate common fire resistance and still lean into one of our favorite damage types, but Elemental Bane solves the same problem. We could take Chef and pass out the snacks for when the temporary hp from Experimental Elixir are expended. We could skip the +2 Intelligence at level 8 and pick up more hybrid feats like Shadow Touched and Gift of the Gem Dragon. Use what makes sense after playing for a few levels.

About The Author

T.e. "rpgbot" kamstra.

Better Elixirs! (for the 5e Alchemist Artificer)

by Arizonaranger

Update Last: 1667587448724

(Optional) Subclass feature: Better Elixir's

This 3rd level alchemist feature feature replaces the alchemist artificer's Experimental Elixir, any reference towards Elixirs in the subclass now refer's to their "Better Elixir's" counterpart:

Beginning at 3rd level, whenever you finish a long rest, you can magically produce an experimental elixir in an empty flask you touch. Roll on the Experimental Elixir table for the elixir's effect, which is triggered when someone drinks the elixir. When you create the Elixir without expending a spell slot you can create one corresponding to a spell slot equal to half your proficiency bonus. As an action a creature can drink the elixir or administer it to another creature that it can see.

(Optional) Subclass Feature: Skilled Practitioner

Starting at 5th level in addition to your Alchemical Savant feature you gain the ability to on your turn to drink or administer an Experimental Elixir to a creature (including yourself) as a bonus action in addition to your normal action however when you do this you cannot administer more than one potion to a single creature in a given turn.

Written by: Mjoyze/Anunqualifiedhuman

Criticism/Suggestions/Edits:

Special Thanks to: Raspilicious .

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