The Apothecary (SNS)

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: Martia walked down the street, stepping carefully to avoid refuse and waste. Soon, she spotted a wooden sign hanging over one door. It was battered and worn, and the paint on the sign, which depicted a glass vial frothing with some greenish liquid, had faded away almost entirely.
: The store front was Lodged between a couple of residences far away from the city center. One would not simply wander by this place and stop in on impulse, as the shop was sufficiently hidden from the casual eye. Only those with specific business would ever know its exact location.
: Not that this was a particularly pleasant part of town; in fact, it was definitely not an area that curious travellers would Likely frequent. Many of the buildings stood abandoned, and those few remaining ones had their windows chipped or holed by the urchins that Martia saw constantly under everyone's feet.
: The shop with the sign was different, though. Its windows were glazed, unbroken, and even clean. In fact, it Looked like the owner had recently polished the shop's windows to let in what little light dared crawl out of the sky. There were no dark alleys adjacent to it, at least not like those nearby cracks used by thieves and cutpurses . All in all, the shop was clean, solid, and almost... confident.
: Martia reminded herself that she was not there to observe tlze scenery. Steeling her nerve, she stepped forward and opened the door. Unlike most buildings on the block, tire door was not locked tight.
: The inside of the shop was dark, and it took a moment for Martin's eyes to adjust to the gloom. When they did, size saw that she was in a small room fronted by a short counter behind which was the room's only other doorway. There was a bell on the counter. Throwing caution to the wind, Martia picked it up and rang it.
: She waited for a moment. Nothing happened. She considered leaving, but decided against it. Martia had gone to a lot of trouble to get this man's address, and she wasn't leaving without talking to him. She leaned over the counter and banged on the door. When no one answered, she banged again.
: She was still banging when the door swung wide. A time-ravaged face replaced the worn wooden planks of the door. The man before her stood lwnched and Looked very tired. Large foldsof skin hung limply under his eyes. Wisps of white hair clung to his scalp in a half-ring around his head, the top of which was criss -crossed with broken purple veins that were visible through thinly stretched skin.
: The old man looked up at her with his good eye-the other was milky white-and said, "May I help you, my lady?" Unlike the rest of this ugly man, his voice was smooth and clean. The incongruity startled Martia, but only for a moment.
: She nodded. "My name is Martia, and I am in need of a potion."
: The white eyebrows raised, and the old one's entire head seemed to wrinkle with the effort. "A potion, you say?" He swung the counter up and away and beckoned her to follow him into the room behind him. "Well, young lady, I'd say that you've come to the right place."
: Martia stepped into the room; her senses reeled from the barrage of sights, sounds, and smells. The room was easily four times as large as the foyer and filled with candles, tables covered with bubbling liquids, and glass bowls and spheres connected with lengths of copper tubing. The shelves were congested with all manner of what Martia presumed were ingredients: dried insects, wings from bats and other creatures, et;eballs from a number of different sources-one looked large enough to have belonged to a giant-herbs, leaves, roots, and other less identifiable things.
: "Just what is it you're looking for, my dear?"
: Martia described what it was that she needed.
: The old man's grin split wide, exposing his straight, white teeth. "Well, you certainly have come to the right place. You certainly have, indeed."
﻿An apothecary is a medieval version of a pharmacist. Members of this NPC class devote their lives to the creation of tried and true medicines, and the research and development of new kinds of drugs. They have some small magical ability, but they use it only to supplement their body of knowledge. Apothecaries rarely venture forth from their laboratories to travel in the vastness of the world. Apothecaries make medicines, drugs, poisons-just about anything chemical in nature. They can also identify such compounds and mixtures, making apothecaries indispensable when faced, for instance, with a mysterious potion.
They sell their services to those who have need of their wares, but for the most part, they are more interested in research than profit. However, many apothecaries still search for the secret formula that will transform lead into gold.
Just as with fighters, mages, or any of the other more traditional classes, apothecaries come in many different styles. These range from the village druggist to the shaman herbalist to the legendary alchemist,
==Experience, THAC0, and Hit Dice==
Apothecaries have their own level advancement as shown on Table 1: Apothecary Experience Levels. These studious chemists do not possess many combat skills, as they spend most of their time researching concoctions. For this reason, they use the wizard's THAC0 table and saving throw chart.
Apothecaries gain one four-sided Hit Die per level up to the 7th level. After that, they gain a single hit point per level and do not gain any extra hit points from high Constitution scores.
 ﻿Table 1: Apothecary Experience Levels
Level	XPs 	Hit Dice (d4)
1 	0 	1
2 	2,500 	2
3 	5,000 	3
4 	10,000 	4
5 	20,000 	5
6 	40,000 	6
7 	60,000 	7
8 	80,000 	7+1
9 	125,000 	7+2
10 	200,000 	7+3
11 	350,000 	7+4
12 	650,000 	7+5
13 	950,000 	7+6
14 	1,250,000	7+7
15 	1,550,000	7+8
16 	1,850,000	7+9
17 	2,150,000	7+10
18 	2,450,000	7+11
19 	2,750,000	7+12
20 	3,050,000	7+13
==Ability Scores==
Not everyone can become an apothecary. These NPCs must spend long hours sequestered away from others while they work on new chemical concoctions and improve existing formulas. Apothecaries face long hours of study and need to cultivate the ability to identify and use thousands of different chemical compounds. In addition, the apothecary must devote some of his precious time to the study of magic spells. For this reason, all apothecaries must have a minimum Intelligence score of 12 and a minimum Constitution score of 10. Intelligence is the apothecary's prime requisite.
==Magical Abilities==
In many ways, apothecaries are simply wizards that concentrate their abilities on manufacturing various magical and non- magical medicines and poisons. They can cast wizard spells, although they gain them at a substantially slower rate than traditional wizards. This is due to the fact that Apothecaries concentrate their efforts on the construction of potions rather than the study of new spells. See #Table 2: Apothecary Spell Progression for full details. 
In fact, many apothecaries eschew the open use of spells. These curious wizards believe that magic should only occur under carefully monitored conditions-most often in a laboratory or similarly controlled area.
 Table 2: Apothecary Spell Progression
Level	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
1 	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2 	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
3 	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4 	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
5 	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
6 	3	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
7 	3	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
8 	3	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
9 	4	3	1	—	—	—	—	—	—
10 	4	3	2	1	—	—	—	—	—
11 	4	3	3	2	—	—	—	—	—
12 	4	3	3	2	1	—	—	—	—
13 	4	4	3	2	2	—	—	—	—
14 	4	4	4	3	3	—	—	—	—
15 	4	4	4	4	3	1	—	—	—
16 	5	5	4	4	4	2	—	—	—
17 	5	5	5	4	4	2	1	—	—
18 	5	5	5	5	4	3	2	—	—
19 	5	5	5	5	5	4	2	1	—
20 	5	5	5	5	5	5	3	2	—
==Spell Failure==
Apothecaries do not use traveling spell books, n or do they practice casting their spells under combat conditions. For this reason, apothecaries suffer a penalty whenever they try to cast a spell under pressure. Whenever the apothecary is in combat or any other pressure situation, there is a chance for his spells to fail. This chance of failure depends upon the apothecary's Intelligence score. The apothecary loses the failed spell from his memory and must study it again before he can make another casting attempt.
 Table 3: Apothecary Spell Failure
IntelligenceScore	Chance of SpellFailure
1 	100%
2 	90%
3 	80%
4 	75%
5 	70%
6 	65%
7 	60%
8 	55%
9 	50%
10 	45%
11 	40%
12 	35%
13 	30%
14 	25%
15 	20%
16 	15%
17 	10%
18 	5%
19 	0%
20 	0%
===Optional Spell Failure Rule===
The more proficient an apothecary becomes in his chosen field (the higher his level), the less chance he h as of miscasting a spell during a high-tension situation. The DM should subtract 2 percentage points from the apothecary's chance of spell failure for every level of the spellcaster above the third. In this way, a 7th-level apothecary with a Wisdom of 10 would only have a 37% (base chance of 45%-8 percentage points for the apothecary's level) chance of spell failure.
==Specialization==
Unlike normal wizards, apothecaries can specialize in only the Alteration school of magic. This school lies at the core of an apothecary's work-changing matter from one form into another. The transmuter apothecary possesses the same limitations as transmuter wizards: they must be human or half-elf, have a minimum Dexterity of 15, and cannot cast spells from the opposition schools of Abjuration and Necromancy. In addition, they receive a -15% penalty to learn spells from other magical schools.
Despite this, the transmuter apothecary receives an additional spell per level from the school of Alteration. In addition, he adds +1 to any saving throws against Alteration spells, and his opponents suffer a -1 penalty to their saving throws against his Alteration spells. These specialists also add + 15% to their chance to learn Alteration spells. Finally, transmuter apothecaries automatically learn one Alteration spell (DM's choice) with each new level they reach.
==Permissible Armor and Weapons==
Apothecaries cannot wear any armor. In addition, their limited training in weapons permits them to wield only a dagger, dart, staff, or sling.
==Individual Experience Awards==
Although they are spellcasters, apothecaries concentrate their skills on research rather than on spellcasting, and their individual class awards reflect this preference. Use Table 4: Apothecary Experience Awards to determine how many experience points an apothecary deserves when you hand them out.
 Table 4: Apothecary Experience Awards
Action 	Award
Concoction used to overcome foe or problem	potion's XP
Successfully created a concoction 	concoction's XP
Created new concoction 	2 potion's XP
==Proficiencies==
An apothecary receives one weapon proficiency slot at 1s t level and gets a new one every six levels (at the 6th level, 12th level, and so on). If an apothecary uses a weapon with which he is not proficient, he does so with a -5 penalty.
An apothecary also receives four nonweapon proficiency slots at 1st level and gains a new proficiency slot every three levels after that (at the 3rd level, 6th level, and so on). The NPC can choose from the wizard and general proficiencies without any additional slot costs.
===New Proficiencies===
The apothecary's main calling is the concocting of new mixtures. He creates these things through use of the new Concocting proficiency. An apothecary must use one of his 1st level nonweapon proficiency slots to select the Concocting proficiency. Some apothecaries choose to spend nearly all of their slots on this proficiency. Note that this proficiency is available to members of the apothecary NPC class only. No other class may choose this nonweapon proficiency.
* Concocting (Proficiency)