Alchemical tools are adventuring items that can prove extremely useful in a variety of situations, including battles, dungeon-delving, or crafting other alchemical items. All of these tools can be made by a character with the Craft (alchemy) skill; the DC to craft each item is listed in Table 5–3: Alchemical Tools.
Bloodvine Rope
Price 200 gp; Weight 5 lbs.
This 50-foot length of tough, lightweight rope is made from alchemically treated bloodvine, a rare scarlet-colored vine that grows only in warm jungle environments. Though prized by climbers for its durability, bloodvine can also be used to bind creatures. Bloodvine rope has a hardness of 5 and 10 hit points, and can be broken with a DC 30 Strength check. A creature bound by bloodvine rope can escape with a DC 35 Escape Artist check or a DC 30 Strength check.
Gravelly Tonic
Price 50 gp; Weight —
This tonic is sludgy, and its scent resembles the tang of iron shavings. Drinking gravelly tonic causes your voice to deepen and become more grating for 1 hour, granting you a +5 alchemical bonus on Intimidate checks.
Light Fire Ink
Price 40 gp; Weight —
This alchemically infused ink ensures secret messages destroy themselves after being read. If light strikes the ink after it has dried, chemicals cause it to spontaneously combust within about a minute. The combustion is small—not significant enough to ignite anything but paper. Ink used on other materials such as stone or wood simply vanishes, leaving no trace of the writing. A vial of this ink holds enough to write 10 brief messages of no more than 50 words each.
Liquid Traction
Price 25 gp; Weight 1 lb.
This glass bottle is filled with sticky goo prized by sailors for the additional traction it grants on ship decks. When applied to the soles of footwear and allowed to dry for 1 hour, liquid traction grants a +2 alchemical bonus on Acrobatics checks to keep your balance and a +2 bonus to CMD against bull rush. Liquid traction has no effect when it comes into contact with very slick or unnaturally slick surfaces such as ice or grease.
Lozenge of the Songbird
Price 50 gp; Weight —
This honey-coated candy is made of soothing reagents. If eaten, it takes 1 round to begin working, then grants a +2 alchemical bonus on all Perform (sing) checks for 1 hour.
Masking Scent
Price varies; Weight —
Animal 25 GP; Humanoid 50 GP; Magical beast 100 gp
This item comes in a variety of scents (matching any one animal, humanoid, or magical beast). One vial applied to a single Medium-sized creature changes its scent to that of the masking scent's creature for 8 hours.
Oil of the Masters
Price 50 gp; Weight ½ lb.
This gold-tinted oil smells of wood shavings. When you apply it to the strings of a stringed instrument or the body of a woodwind, it improves the quality of the instrument's sound. For 1 hour, anyone playing the instrument gains a +2 alchemical bonus on the appropriate Perform check.
Pathstones
Price 50 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Similar to sunrods, these small white pebbles are alchemically treated so that they shed a soft light once activated by striking them together. The glow is faint—just barely enough to illuminate the stone. Though not bright enough to serve as an effective light source, they can be placed in patterns to create messages or laid out in a path, marking it for others to follow.
Reagent Paper
Price 1 gp; Weight —
This slip of paper can aid in the identifying of liquids. Its color changes in accordance to basic traits such as acidity, salinity, or magic. This confers a +2 alchemical bonus on any Craft (alchemy) or Spellcraft check made to identify potions or other liquids.
Tracker's Snuff
Price 200 gp; Weight —
When inhaled, this finely ground, alchemically treated tobacco greatly enhances your senses, especially your sense of smell. It grants the scent ability and a +2 alchemical bonus on Perception checks for 1 hour. However, once the effect wears off your body is wracked with terrible pain as your joints begin to stiffen and seize, dealing 1d2 points of Dexterity damage to you.
Tracking Powder
Price 30 gp; Weight —
When you scatter this very fine pale blue powder on the ground, it reveals the tracks of any creatures or individuals that have passed through the area within the last 48 hours. The powder also grants you a +10 alchemical bonus on Survival checks to follow tracks or, if you aren't trained in Survival, instead allows you to track creatures whose prints are revealed by the powder for up to 1 mile using Perception instead of Survival. A single application can cover an area of up to 60 square feet. Tracking powder is sold in small leather pouches that hold 10 applications each.
Vomit Capsule
Price 12 gp; Weight —
These small capsules consist of a concentrated mix of nausea-inducing herbs. To use a capsule, you bite down and ingest its contents, which almost immediately cause you to projectile vomit. The vomiting lasts 1 full round, during which you can take no other actions. The following round you recover fully, and suffer no other ill effects. These capsules are most often used by rogues working in teams to create distractions and spectacles in order to draw people's attention away from their activities, as well as by those interested in faking illness, such as pugilists trying to throw fights or criminals seeking to create chaos during an arrest.
Woad Painting Kit
Price 300 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Though associated with the woad plant, the alchemical ingredients of this blue paste can vary considerably. When preparing a spell, you can grind the spell’s material components and mix them into this paste to paint the components directly onto your flesh, allowing you to cast that spell as if you had applied Eschew Materials. Additionally, by painting complex woad designs that symbolize gestures for 10 minutes and succeeding at a Spellcraft check with a DC equal to 15 + the spell level, you can also cast the spell as if you had applied Still Spell. You can have only one spell painted on you in this way at a time, and if you cast the prepared spell or the paint is removed for any reason, the effects of the woad paint are spent.
Woad paint is sold in small, concentrated blocks (costing 60 gp each) that must be ground into paste on a wooden or stone pallet with a small amount of water and material spell components. A typical kit contains a pallet and 5 small blocks of paint. One block produces enough paint for 10 component designs or one stilled spell design. Woad paint has no benefit for a non-spellcaster.
