Paraformaldehyde and NHCl4? WOuld a fume hood take care of it, or is it like a megaton stink bomb?
Depends on the equipment that you are using. If you are trying to do this by heating the mixture in a beaker then the smell of formaldehyde would likely be a bit much if done outside a fume hood. If you are doing the reaction in an rb flask with a condenser fitted for downward distillation then no fume hood is necessary. I have done this a number of times in a room using a box fan in a window for ventilation.