#30 Alchemical Gadgets by Wendall Roy is a role playing game supplement published by Rite Publishing for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result.
This is a 14 page PDF that is available from DriveThruRPG for $2.95 but was purchased at a greatly reduced price as part of a special bundle. One page is the front cover, one the front matter, on the Open Game License and one an ad.
The supplement starts with some in-character prose about how alchemy can still be useful, when the powers of adventurers are insufficient or there are too many foes. The text then explains that alchemical gadgets are created through alchemy and engineering – both skills are needed and the one used to determine success is the one with the fewest ranks – and are comparatively inexpensive.
The gadgets then follow. Each follows a standard format; a paragraph of in-character prose, the description and then the manufacturing details. The first is a steel tank that straps on the back, contains ten shots of alchemical fire and has a projector for spraying the fire. Yes, this is an alchemical flamethrower.
Many of the devices are similarly inspired by modern items. There is a mister spray – of the type so often used to detect lasers in films – that detects magic. Small snaps that are used to distract spellcasters. Horns attuned to different animals – i.e., dog whistles. There are crossbow reloaders, lenses for forensic analysis, a light-emitting gadget that sounds like it belongs at a rave, what is effectively a portable window that only works on wood, vests (waistcoats) that propel the correct item into the wearer’s hand, nose clips and more.
#30 Alchemical Gadgets in Review
The PDF is reasonably bookmarked by the different letters of the alphabet – the items are arranged alphabetically. It would have been nice to have each item linked, but this is a fairly small PDF so navigation is decent. The text maintains a two column colour format and appeared to be free of errors. The illustrations are some appropriate public domain ones. Presentation is okay.
In the Pathfinder system, alchemy is a neglected and frankly not very interesting art – in the base rules anyway. It creates a few items of use to novice adventurers whose utility quickly fades. There are third party supplements that improve in the art and this is one of them. This is a nice collection of alchemical – and non magical, therefore not diluting magic with everyday uses – selection of items. Some will be of most use to novice adventurers, as with normal alchemical items, but others still have utility at higher levels. It can also be far easier to equip the party with scent protectors when going up against smelly monsters than try to negate such magically. #30 Alchemical Gadgets is an excellent collection of nice alchemical items and it can be found by clicking here.
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