I love the smell of khemistry in the morning

Players spending money on explosives/incendiary  research.

What could go wrong?


Well letting "you can have cheap, safe and effective. Pick 2" be my guide, here is how I'm resolve this.

Currently available options are:

Flaming oil (1d6 dmg, keeps burning on 6 on the damage die), full round action to prepare and throw.

Fire Lance 1d10 dmg in a 10 by 5 feet cone, dex safe for half. One shot.

Bomb , classic blackball with wick. Cut wick length to control delay. Well, "control". The size of wick is represented by a number from zero and 4. On the moment it's lit roll a d4 , add that number to it. 6 or higher it explodes immediately. Immediately upon its landing and at the start of every round roll a d6 and add that number. 6 or more and it explodes.
Explodes for 2d8 (fire/concussive) damage, dex save for half. (10 foot blast radius)



 SO what happens when you pay a bunch of madmen/geniuses to invent something worse/better?

Choose what you are paying them to work on. Then a die is rolled and compared  the difficulty of the item.
A 1000 gold gets you a d8
2000 gets you a d10
4000 gets you a d12
10,000 gets you a d20

In addition if you hire a risk taking visionary , roll a d8
1:they die in an explostion, money and research wasted.
2: they attempt to make something else instead, randomly determine what
3: Add 3 to the roll, but if the device is successful , it will catastrophic fail when a  1, 2 or 3 is rolled to attack.
4: If the roll is succeeded the device is more sturdy and reliable than usual.
5-8 add this number unto to the roll.

Flamethrower :More in the style of a weed sprayer.  Requires 2 rounds pumping to build the pressure required to propel the fluid. Will maintain the pressure for an hour. When tank has pressure any violent jolting will ( explosively) rupture the tank. 1d10 ranged touch attack (10 feet). Sets people on fire if does 6 or more points of damage. Has enough fuel for 12 shots.


DIFFICULTY 8 (1 will be made)

Cluster Bomb : like the bomb , but after the intial explosion 1d6 bomblets (1d8 damage) are scattered around the area. Explode as per Bomb rules

DIFFICULTY: 6, 6 will be made

Dragons blood:
basically petrol.  As burning oil but 1d10 damage and keeps burning if it does 6 or more damage.

DIFFICULTY: 4  6 vials will  be made

Rockets
Like fireworks but more explodey. Use int/savvy bonus to hit with  , do 1d8 damage and set things on fire if they do 6 or more damage.
DIFFICULTY: 4   10 rockets will be made

Dainty Bomb as a bomb but does not have fuse, has a pin , after removing pin , any impact will set it off.

DIFFICULTY :10 6 dainty bombs will be made

Sticky Bomb
as bomb but glues itself to the first thing it hits. Requiring a successful strength and then dexterity check to remove it (as in you pull it off your head but then it sticks to your hand unless you are careful)
DIFFICULTLY :5  4 sticky bombs will be made


Sunkiss
an incendiary bomb. Pull a pin then throw it. Breaks on impact, releasing  expanding cloud of flame Everything within 30 feet takes a d6 damage and is on fire (taking a d6 damage each round

DIFFICULTY 10 2 will be made


Incendiary Rounds
as per normal shot, bolts or arrows , but target is ablaze as well as damaged. (1d6 damage each round)
DIFFICULT: 4 for sling shot 5 for bolts and arrows, 10 for shot.
Makes 10.

Now I could get more complicated and set up a research tree style system, but I needed something from tomorrows game, and this should do.

A research tree would be good , as alchemists don't share research and so if a sponsored alchemist blows themselves up, poof goes all the items they have discovered.
Note: Might half the gold cost for repeat requests.

Note: If this is going to be regular thing in the campaign, I will have to come up with some weirdo creepy research trees that have more in common with this http://middenmurk.blogspot.co.nz/2013/05/alchemy.html
than is happening right now.


 EDIT: I'm going to need this
Random alchemists:
name , title, quirk, pet project
1Zues |the shining | mumbles| animating erotic statues
2 Gizzard| the Stinky| Smokes toad skins | discovering additional dimensions
3 Mad Jill| the Mad| Calm, methodical, tidy| destroying all life
4 Zimmer| the chromatic| absurdly dressed| impossible pigments
5 Zug| the fool hardy| looks like a pit fighter| platonic solids
6 Zhuck| the lucky| blind, seeing eye squid | crisis theory
7 Zhillidale| the drunk| made of liquid| destructive resonance
8 Zwan| the unwieldy| arm coming out of his forehead| transhumanism
9 Kieser| The lobotomizer| cruel| eugenics 
10 Prussian | "old smokey"| part bear| talking to insects
11 Jacksticks| "monkey"| paranoid| flying machines
12  Quasar | "shakey"| bipolar| restoring the dead to life