Oozemaster (Alchemist Archetype)
Whether they are colossal single-celled organisms, dangerous formless aggregates, alchemical runoff given unnatural life, or even a living embodiment of corruption, there is no denying that oozes are a bounty of rare reagents for the aspiring alchemist.
While many alchemists can make use of such reagents, it is those called oozemasters that specialize in the strange biology of oozes and their properties. They are always on the lookout for sign of ooze infestations, so that they can make use of them in their research. As such, they are experts as slaying such amorphous beings, and making use of their remains.
Of course, they also know better than most how dangerous such slimy creatures can be, so whatever their other goals are, they see the need to join forces with other adventurers.
Rather than bother with explosions (or any other element of bomb they could make) The bombs of an oozemaster are little more than a powerful concentrated acid, having no splash, but burning and corroding the foe afterwards.
Every ooze they defeat causes these alchemists to have a bevy of new resources for their experiments, but they can also derive more immediately useful benefits from those prey, extracting an essence of the ooze to utilize some of their properties, not just the corrosiveness, as a weapon. Things like the paralytic toxin of some oozes can be replicated by such a concoction in addition to the harm they can cause.
Through a specialized diet and/or an encyclopedic understanding of ooze behavior, these alchemists also prove incredibly resilient to the special abilities of oozes.
Naturally, the discoveries suited for these alchemists are those that better specialize them against oozes or allow them to utilize ooze properties against foes, such as creating their own temporary ooze minions, or a special mutagen that lets them split into copies.
Unless you’re facing a cult of Jubilex, ooze-focused campaigns are pretty much nonexistent, but oozes remain a popular way to break up the monotony of a dungeon run, and the sheer variety adds to the possibilities. As such, even a specialized archetype like this can find its uses in many adventuring parties. Since they lack splash damage or most bomb-altering discoveries, most builds will be less blasting focused and more on buffing and perhaps some melee, as well as damage over time. Obviously ooze creatures are their priority targets for the benefits they gain from killing them, be sure to use both the trophy rules from Monster Hunter’s Guide and the scavenging rules from Ultimate Wilderness as well to help them collect useful materials for potions or other magic items.
How exactly one becomes an oozemaster has the trappings of a very interesting story. Perhaps they developed a biologist’s fascination in such interesting creatures, or perhaps they live in a region where oozes are a common hazard. Some might have even encountered a particularly powerful ooze and desired to understand them so they could fight back against the faceless menace.
Supposedly reaching deeper than any other rift, The Black Wound is mostly filled with a black, viscous fluid which seems to attract, or perhaps birth out oozes of all shapes and forms. The quest to understand this substance and the amorphous denizens is why many settlements formed alongside the canyon, and it is one of the largest exporters of alchemical concoctions.
Natives as they are to the subterranean depths, it only makes sense that svirfneblin are some of the foremost experts on oozes, everything from gelatinous cubes to magma oozes to even rumors of the locations of at least one immortal ichor. Hiring one of their alchemists is actually quite easy as long as you sweeten the deal by offering the substance of any ooze slain as an additional payment.
Eagerly seeking anything to assuage their inhuman hunger, the gaki known as Faw has turned their gaze to their next target, the alchemical reagents of a local alchemist who specializes in brewing potions from oozes. After all, surely the distilled essence of gluttenous consumption might do the trick, right?
