Energist (Alchemist Archetype)
(art by Jensn Trevino on Artstation)
For alchemists, perhaps one of the two most vexing forms of energy in the multiverse is both positive energy and negative energy.
The first is the source of all life and generative force, the intrinsic core of vitality and motive force itself, while the other is something of an oxymoron, a metaphysical void that demands to be filled, entropy itself, yet also its own substance.
This vexation only deepens when you take into account the physical roots of alchemy. How does one reconcile how there can be both metabolic energy and a “life force”, let alone it’s polar opposite which exists to snuff it out yet can also be twisted to become it’s own strange motivator, creating the undead.
Despite this confusion, or perhaps because of it, some alchemists devote themselves to studying one or the other, in hopes of comprehending these metaphysical energies through the lens of alchemy and science.
While it’s easy to assume that those that focus on positive energy must be good, and those that handle negative energy must be evil, the lines aren’t so easily drawn. Negative energy isn’t inherently evil, though it creates destructive and consumptive undead and suits the interests of evil deities and their followers, it just is, and some utilize it to goodly ends such as a weapon against monsters and villains.
Conversely, the wicked might use positive energy to bolster villainous allies, heal their victims up just enough to prolong their suffering, and so on.
Regardless of what they use and how they use it, this archetype offers unique abilities not seen with other alchemists.
As mentioned, these alchemists choose to focus on one energy type or the other. Those that focus on positive energy have no changes to the extracts they can learn, but those that focus on the negative learn how to concoct inflict extracts and even harm extracts instead of cures and heal. Such extracts are useless for drinking for most living alchemists (though dhampirs and the undead can make use of them), though they can be given to undead allies or injected into living foes if they learn how to infuse them.
Rather than use traditional bombs, these alchemists learn how to make destructive charges of their chosen energy, which deal less damage and do not splash unless they miss, but they cannot be resisted by creatures vulnerable to them (undead for positive, living beings for negative). What’s more, they eventually improve them so that positive energists can drive undead away, while their negative counterparts weaken the living with such bombs. Either way, the destructive nature of these bombs mean that they cannot be used to heal.
However, by expending twice as much reagents, they can create a throwable healing ampoule of that energy type, letting them heal with positive or negative energy at range.
Later on, both versions of this specialization develop a natural resistance to whatever energy would normally harm them, even resisting the destructive overhealing of the positive energy plane should they travel there.
In a way, these alchemists can act sort of like pseudo-clerics, targeting the undead and healing their allies, or harming the living and/or bolstering the undead. The lack of power in their bombs means they’re not as good at ranged support as other alchemists, though their damage is reliable in most cases. I would recommend a build focused primarily on buffing your allies and healing them up close or from afar, or withering foes with deadly injections. Alternatively, you might focus on self-buffing, saving your many healing methods for yourself.
While mastering positive energy is plenty rewarding for alchemists seeking to be healers, the mysteries of negative energy very likely attract odd folk among the living. Such eccentricities probably don’t help dissuade assumptions that they are necromancers or at the very least dubious scientists. Consider why they seek to understand the essence of entropy. Is it purely out of academic interest? Do they wish to utilize it in some way, or perhaps find ways to ward against it?
Deeply invested into research into negative energy, Doctor MacGannan has discovered a potent recreational drug infused with a trace amount of negative energy which induces a pleasant numbness. Calling the substance “Wither”, he hopes to use it to fund further research. However, he does not realize his discovery is not his own. It was truly the creation of a zohanil sahkil in hopes of spreading the addictive substance about… and watching as those who perish from it rise again as horrific undead.
Verina Koromik has been tasked with creating invincible soldiers, ones that can heal from any wound. To that end she has invested in troll biology and the positive energy plane. However, thus far her research has yielded only monsters, some of which had to be sealed within the lower levels of her laboratory.
Humans are known for their curiosity and daring, and those traits are on full display with an upcoming expedition to the Positive Energy Plane. However, such an expedition is sure to be fraught with peril. Truly they could use the help of an expert, but most holy men consider the birthplace of souls to be taboo.