Quintessentially Me's page

I do not like familiars. I don't actually like pets/minions/animal companions, in PF2 or even in PF1.

Which is why Alchemical Familiar sticks out so much to me.

I see how Alchemical Familiar, when configured for Manual Dexterity/Lab Assistant, helps overcome some action economy issues as well as possibly elixir delivery, but I continually find myself wishing an alternative had been chosen or at least made available.

What are your opinions regarding your little alchemical buddy? Given that the Mutagenist has been what has caught my eye the most, I've resigned myself to having one but I mostly intend to have him in a little satchel slung on my back, injecting me with what I tell him to.

What has your mini-you been up to and do you approve?

Spellcasters and Alchemists both have an automatic acquisition method, obtaining additional spells or alchemical formulae as they gain levels.

I assume that it is expected that these will not be the only spells/formulae gained, however, and I wonder what the community uses as a rule of thumb to plan for how many/which spells/formulae you will obtain as you level up.

Do you only make use of the class-granted ones? Do you use a percentage of WBL to "shop" for common ones? Do you just toss in things a few levels below max each time you level up, to simulate discovery while adventuring?

For context, I'm looking at the Mutagenist Alchemist and the Mistform Elixir.

If I had to guess, I'd guess that the Mistform Elixir is what is intended to help offset the -1 AC for using Bestial Mutagen as well as being a light armor using class.

That said, it's only a flat DC 5 check to beat it. While on the whole, that represents a 25% reduction in damage, what it also means is that 75% of the time you are still a light armor wearing melee combatant with a -1 AC penalty.

Am I undervaluing the Concealed effect?

I apologize in advance for the formatting. I would have preferred to do this as an anonymous Google doc link but that is apparently beyond my abilities at the moment. :)

I'm dissatisfied with how the Mutagenist plays out. I'm not experienced at wholesale class design so I'm not sure I'm on the mark here but it's where I'm leaning to try to make the Mutagenist more exciting to play as a slinger of mutagens.

EDIT I *just* sat down to read the APG playtest... tinctures... *sigh*... yeah... tinctures here are apparently... OTHERTINCTURES... just... whatever... I'm tired... :)

...

Mutagenist changes

Research Field changes

• Grants Medium armor proficiency. When your Light armor proficiency would advance, your Medium armor proficiency will too.
  
• Mutagen Flashback now provides 1 + INT uses per day.
  
• Grants new Free Action, Mutagen Tolerance
  
• At levels 7, 11, and 17, the Mutagenist selects a Tincture to learn. They may select any Tincture with a level equal to or less than their Advanced Alchemy level.
  

Mutagen Tolerance
Free Action, once per turn
You may ignore the drawbacks of a mutagen you have consumed. You may only ignore the drawback of a single mutagen at a time; if you were already ignoring the drawback of a different mutagen, that mutagen's drawbacks begin to take effect.

Mutagen changes

• Bestial mutagen's claws now also gain the FINESSE trait. (Claws for DEX, Jaws for STR)

Alchemist Feat changes

• FEAT 01 - Alchemical Familiar: remove
  
• FEAT 01 - Absorptive Alchemy: new feat (replaces Alchemical Familiar); Grants new Free Action, Absorptive Alchemy
  
• FEAT 01 - Quick Bomber: remove
  
• FEAT 01 - Nimble Chemist: same as Quick Bomber but affects Bombs and Elixirs (i.e. including Mutagens)
  
• FEAT 02 - Revivifying Mutagen: add “At level 7, you can target any willing participant under the effects of a mutagen, ending the chosen mutagen early and providing the indicated healing to the target.”
  
• FEAT 06 - Combine Elixirs: move to FEAT 08
  
• FEAT 06 - Mutagen Tincture: learn a Tincture (see below) available to you based on your Advanced Alchemy level; you may choose this Feat more than once (makes Tinctures available to non-mutagenists)
  
• FEAT 08 - Combine Elixirs: moved from FEAT 06
  
• FEAT 08 - Feral Mutagen: remove
  
• FEAT 10 - Elastic Mutagen: remove
  
• FEAT 10 -
  
• FEAT 12 - Invincible Mutagen: remove
  
• FEAT 12 - Elixir Splash: Additive 5 (yes, 5), You may add the SPLASH and THROWN traits to an elixir you have created using Quick Alchemy. The elixir affects any valid target hit by the splash.
  
• FEAT 14 - Glib Mutagen: remove
  
• FEAT 14 -
  
• FEAT 16 - Genius Mutagen: remove
  
• FEAT 16 - Generous Tincture: Tinctures can affect targets other than the alchemist who created the mutagen
  
• FEAT 18 - Mindblank Mutagen: remove
  
• FEAT 18 - Universal Tinctures: A Tincture may be applied to any mutagen you create
  

FEAT 01
Absorptive Alchemy
Free Action, once per turn
You may, as a free action, consume any one alchemical item you create with the INFUSED and ELIXIR traits through your skin as part of the process of creating the item. Creating more than one alchemical item (for example, using Double Brew), does not increase the number of alchemical items that can be consumed at one time through Absorptive Alchemy.

Mutagen feats become Tinctures
Once an Alchemist learns a Tincture, it means they may freely add it to the mutagen which it enhances when they craft that mutagen. A Tincture, however, has a level value, indicating the minimum required Advanced Alchemy level needed to learn that Tincture. A Tincture will only affect the alchemist who created the mutagen; adding a Tincture and allowing another to consume it will not confer the Tincture’s benefits. You may not add a Tincture after the mutagen is created. Only one Tincture may be applied to a mutagen. Tinctures also take effect as a result of Mutagenic Flashback.

The Tinctures for the initial 6 available mutagens in the CRB all have the same effects as the individual feats to which they currently are assigned. The Feral Tincture differs from Feral Mutagen and reads as follows:

Feral Tincture
ALCHEMIST TINCTURE
Whenever you apply this tincture to a bestial mutagen you created, you gain the mutagen’s item bonus to your Indtimidation checks. In addition, your unarmed attacks, including claws and jaws, gain the deadly d10 trait. Finally, you can apply a -1 circumstance penalty to AC and, in exchange, increase the die size of your unarmed attacks, including claws and jaws, by one step.

The following chart shows the Tincture progression:

Level / Affected Mutagen / Tincture Name / Effects
06 / Any / Hyperfocus Tincture / As True Strike; during round mutagen imbibed
06 / Any / Insight Tincture / Until end of current round, you may apply INT bonus as circumstance bonus to one skill check, chosen before the roll
08 / Bestial / Feral Tincture / See Feral Tincture below
10 / Quicksilver / Elastic Tincture / As Elastic Mutagen
12 / Juggernaut / Invincible Tincture / As Invincible Mutagen
14 / Silvertongue / Glib Tincture / As Glib Mutagen
16 / Cognitive / Genius Tincture / As Genius Mutagen
18 / Serene / Mindblank Tincture / As Mindblank Mutagen

Hyperfocus Tincture and Insight Tincture are examples of tinctures that can be applied with any mutagen automatically. More powerful tinctures require specific mutagens. Unversal Tincture (FEAT 18) allows all tinctures to be applied to any mutagen.

The Tincture availability is on the same schedule as the original feats. This split, however, allows for additional knobs to tweak in future and opens up more interesting Feat options for Mutagenists.

The downtime rules seem like an interesting take on the non-adventuring bits.. how to adult in Golarion 2.0.

That said, it also appears to be more or less optional. A campaign might have zero downtime, rushing from one encounter to the next, or it could be laden with it, with significant breaks between adventures.

The Alchemist is, as far as I can tell, the only class with a class feat, Efficient Alchemy (Feat 4), that depends on use of Downtime, enabling the Alchemist in question to create two batches of consumables at a time (8 instead of 4) when using the Craft skill during Downtime. This could allow creation of additional non-infused copies of various items to augment the infused versions during Encounter mode.

If, however, an Alchemist takes this feat at level 4, the campaign may very well evolve into something that lacks Downtime to take advantage of. Of course, you can attempt to retrain (though again that requires Downtime) but it really feels like a feat that comes with not a lot of upside and a great deal of ambiguity regarding potential usefulness in the future. This differs from most other class feats across all classes in that the abilities they open up stay generally applicable in most scenarios.

What are you plans for using Downtime in your campaigns? Do you feel it is something you should try to work in more? Are you planning not to plan for it (i.e. no real change, just take it as it comes in the campaign)? Would you feel obligated to include it if someone's character was built to make use of it (i.e. Alchemist or just generally a Crafter)?

Does the die increase from Feral Mutagen when you elect for the extra AC penalty stack with any die increase from a Striking rune on Handwraps of Mighty Blows?

Once a Mutagen Alchemist reaches 7th level and if they chose the 2nd level feat, Revivifying Mutagen, it would seem that they could create an unending supply of whichever lesser mutagen they selected for their Perpetual Infusions feature, consuming them and immediately revivifying with them in order to heal themselves. That would be a two action 1d6 heal every 6 seconds while out of combat. How does this compare with healing via skills or other avenues available for between combat heals?

At 13th level, a Mutagen Alchemist gains their Greater Field Discovery:

If you imbibe anotyher mu7tagen while you are under the effects of a mutagen that you created, you can gain the benefits and the drawbacks of both mutagens at once, despite the fact that they both have the polymorph trait and would not normally function together. If you come under the effects of any further mutagens while benfiting from two mutagens, you lose the benfit of one of the former mutagens of your choice, while retaining thge drawbacks of all the mutagens. If you are under the effects of two mutagens and you come under the effect of a non-mutagen polymorph effect, you lose the benfits of the mutagens while retaining the drawbacks of both.

While back at level 2, an Alchemist may gain the feat Revivifying Mutagen:

While under the effect of a mutagen, you can metabolize that mutagen's power to heal yourself. This uses a single action, which has the concentrate and manipulate traits. Once the action is complete, you regain 1d6 Hit Points for every 2 item levels of the mutagen (minimum 1d6), but the mutagen's duration immediately ends, even if you are under the effect of Persistent Mutagen.

If I am under the effect of two mutagens using Greater Field Discovery, and use Revivifying Mutagen, do I get to pick one of the two mutagens to metabolize? Or must I metabolize both? Do I get the healing from both?

At the moment, I would rule that you may choose, but figured it would be good to codify.

As the subject line states, I'm wondering can a Mutagen Alchemist apply one of their poisons while employing the claws from the Bestial Mutagen?

Can they directly apply a Contact poison (by smashing it onto the target)?

Can they somehow apply an Injury poison via their claws?

One of my players has a Cloak of Resistance +1 and wishes to upgrade that to a Cloak of Resistance +2.

The crafting cost of +1 is 500gp and of +2 is 2000gp. The difference is 1500gp.

But the item is slotted (shoulders) which, as far as I can tell incurs an additional 50% cost, making the upgrade cost now 2250gp, more than the cost of just crafting a +2 outright.

Is this correct? I'm looking at the section of the rules in CRB, page 553, 'Adding New Abilities' that reads:

If the item is one that occupies a specific place on a character’s body, the cost of adding any additional ability to that item increases by 50%. For example, if a character adds the power to confer invisibility to her ring of protection +2, the cost of adding this ability is the same as for creating a ring of invisibility multiplied by 1.5.

I'm running a monk and just hit 5th level, gaining the High Jump class feature. I've been putting a rank into Acrobatics each level and combined with that fact, my DEX bonus and the bonus from 40' base movement, I get a +20 on Acrobatics checks to jump and can do so from a standstill. Yay me.

What I'm trying to figure out is what this gains me. I had assumed that it was partly to go with the mobile combatant that monk seems directed to be. But, although my gut tells me that combat jumps ought to be useful, I can't see any official justification for this.

I had hoped that I would be able to, for example, jump over an enemy combatant or two and land to provide (and gain) flanking advantages, to alter or disrupt the flow of combat on the battlefield. But it would seem that the combination of the very high DC's for gaining any vertical distance, necessary to clear an enemy sufficiently to avoid jumping through a threatened zone, would make such jumps difficult even with the high monk bonuses.

Aside from contrived scenarios like fighting on 5'x5' platforms on poles or something like that, in just a normal straight up fight, is there ever a reason where jumping in combat would make sense? Moreso than simply moving and using Acrobatics to avoid Attacks of Opportunity? After all, with a jump, wouldn't you not only need to make the jump check but also still need to make AoO Acrobatics checks if you also jumped through the same threatened zones?

In short, is combat jumping justifiable in typical combats?

I'm currently running a Golarion based campaign for a group of 5 (wizard, sorcerer, cleric, barbarian, fighter). Pretty much CRB only as this was the first time in PF for all of us. Also, while I did GM some games ages ago, it was 1E AD&D and therefore anything I knew is pretty much outdated at this point.

I'm having problems creating properly challenging encounters for my group. What I mean is that when I start to put together an encounter, I pull some creatures out of the Bestiary, looking for a creature or group of creatures to match the CR vs. APL, and try to work with that. My BBEG encounters have been more gimicky, trying to avoid a simple "stand up and beat him down" fight.

I know the nature of some of my problems:

- I have a plot laid out (trying to be careful not to run things on rails) and really want to the players to make it through all of it. Problem is, I think I'd rather see the characters live to see it through, to the point of possibly erring too far on the side of caution.

- I made a big in-game mistake in an early adventure and didn't explain the "gimmick" on a BBEG encounter, which resulted in a TPK. I unwound the encounter, handed them the explanation, and we went through it "properly". This has caused me to back off if anything seems like it even remotely might be too much for them, to the point that I think I'm eliminating the chance for them to figure out how to circumvent threats.

- Lacking any PF experience of my own, I find it hard sometimes to judge the toughness of an encounter appropriately.

- The wizard has less than half the hp of any other character, even the sorcerer (who took toughness and has a high CON). I've tried to work around this by avoiding too many area effect abilities and so on.

- I haven't set up encounters with good tactical effect, though I'm improving on this. Still, it's been an annoying learning process.

All of that said, I would appreciate any thoughts or feedback on how y'all approach setting up encounter challenges. I'm looking more for philosophy or technique as opposed to numbers, which is partly why I haven't mentioned the levels of the characters for example. For example, I've seen it suggested to use larger numbers of weaker opponents as opposed to smaller numbers of strong opponents. Use range and terrain to good effect. Alarms and so on.

But is there any other guidance to be had?

I'm trying to figure out how to create/cost out enchanting a weapon such that it can penetrate any DR but untyped (i.e. equivalent of +5 enchantment bonus, capable of overcoming DR/magic,cold iron,adamantine,alignment), but also that has zero or at least minimal bonuses.

For example, enchanting a weapon to +5 adds 50,000 gp, but you not only get the ability to pierce DR, you are also getting the +5 hit/damage. I'm curious what the relative weight of the DR penetration vs the hit/damage bonuses are in that mix and what, if any, spells could be used to generate that weapon.

Thoughts?