ok, so you're a 20th level alchemist, and you have the eternal potion discovery. what's your potion of choice? some strong contenders are:
Haste
Displacement
Acute Senses (+30 to perception. not shabby)
Stoneskin (summoner list, buy the potion from one of them. not too good due to running out of protection eventually, but it's nice to have up at all times)
Magic circle against whatever (protection from mind effecting, buff your allies when they're nearby, ecetera. not too good due to the fact you can have it up most of the time anyway with a couple of extracts anyway)
at the moment i'm leaning towards haste, but if anyone can point something else awesome out then that would be great!
starting at level 20, high power campaign.
I think you need to get a summoner to make you a potion of greater invisibility. It is a third level spell for them, so it should be eligible to be brewed (you can't do it for yourself, since it says you have to have the spell)
Then just take it and be the invisible man.
it has merit, but also the same problem as displcacement: too much blindsight/true seeing at high levels.
displacement is good, but has no utility ouside of combat. haste gives you faster movement for running away and improved invisibility give you all sorts of sneaking bonuses. displacement just does one thing very very well.
blink might be worth looking into as it has the same miss chance as displacement without auto-losing to true seeing and the like. plus you can walk through walls. i'm just not a fan of 20% chance of failing everything.
Strongjaw is a level 3 Ranger spell and thus possible as a potion. You could only have it on one natual attack, though.
Haste seems pretty solid, though.
Invis is great if your a vivisectionist. Does your GM allow 3.5 material?
no 3.5 material. also, i'm a mindchemist not a vivisectionist.
Fly?
overland flight is too easily available to make fly worth your while.
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Haste
At 20th level some one will probably be dropping this in the first round of combat, every combat
Displacement
can only be foiled by true sight
Acute Senses (+30 to perception. not shabby)
Indeed not to shabby, max out ranks in perception and you're looking at a 50+ mod on perception.
Stoneskin (summoner list, buy the potion from one of them. not too good due to running out of protection eventually, but it's nice to have up at all times)
will wear off, after 20th level i'd expect everything to be hitting you for more than 10 damage, meaning it's going to fall off after 15 hits, no thanks.
Magic circle against whatever (protection from mind effecting, buff your allies when they're nearby, ecetera. not too good due to the fact you can have it up most of the time anyway with a couple of extracts anyway)
A little to specific for my liking, Protection from Evil? oh these guys are Neutral, bad luck.
Fly?
Actually, damn, that's a good choice
I'm with Pyrrhic Victory though, displacement looks like a winner
What about Good Hope? You'd have to get a bard to make it for you, but it's +2 morale to saves, attack, damage, skill checks, and ability checks.
you can get most of that with heroism, which by the time you've got eternal potion is lasting for several hours, and if in potion form (and assuming you have both alchemical allocation and enhance potion) will cost you a second level slot to get 5-6 hours out of it, leaving you free to have a different eternal potion and have similar benifits for most of the working day.
EDIT: just realised that i've been shooting at ideas and suggestions left and right, which is a very negative outlook on things. pretty much every suggestion here is a solid choice, but the problem is generally that with things like fly it becomes a waste of a unique item slot as you can have a similar effect up for almost 24/7 in the form of overland flight, which alchemists get by the time they've got eternal potion. likewise good hope is an excellent choice except that heroism does most of it without using up that unique slot, and with minimal effort can be kept up for most of your adventuring day anyway.
greater invisibility from a summoner
Edit: just saw sunbeam already mentioned it (it's also good for a bomber, and everyone else), carry on.
For sheer fun, glibness.
no dice, can't be potioned. otherwise...
also, in my (admittedly older) core rulebook glibness gives an untyped bonus. in theory that means it stacks with itself. *Evil smirk* just think of what a bluff-focused bard could get up to with a couple of castings.
the alchemist in question is a mindchemist who's using a shortbow (Elf for free proficiency) and the explosive missile discovery for most of her battles (along with bomb enhancing discoveries and some more mundane splash ammo for good measure). with my cognogen up i'm running int 42 (20 base 5 levelup 3 venerable (eternal youth grand discovery) 6 headband 8 greater cognogen). i know it's not anything like an optimal build, but i love the perks that go with an insanly high int (my knowledge skills are all above 40, with my favored ones in the high fifties).
Seek Thoughts? I think that one would work for your concept, and I think that it works as a potion, I just haven't seen one. I don't know if the concentration limitation would stop the effect or not.
If for some weird reason you have decent Cha (and are good-aligned), Bestow Grace is pretty nice. Good saves are very valuable at high levels, and BG stacks with most other sources of saves.
As for Haste vs. Displacement, I think Displacement may be a little better. Simply because Haste is usually something the party arcanist will throw on everyone during the first round of combat, as it is such a powerful buff.
Bestow grace wins. rolled an 11 for Cha, which gives me (11 + 3 age +6 headband +4 cognogen) 24 cha. +7 on all saves? count me in!
I know this is a bit of a necro, but aside from Bestow Grace, I think Channel Vigor is one of the better options available. The flexibility alone as a permanent benefit is well worth it. Haste when you need it, knowledge boosts when you don't, and if something is throwing really nasty fortitude/will saves at you, +6 bonus to one of those.
Bestow Grace is fantastic though...
Deadly Juggernaut seems potentially overpowering. A cumulative +1 to hit and damage for everything you kill with no expiration? Given enough time, you can one-shot anything with +5000 to hit and damage.
maximum +5 bonus and DR 10/—
If not for that, I'd love the idea for an evil Alchemist end boss.
Edit - ninja'd. So crose...
You can still make a unique monster that does something like that.
Deadly Juggernaut caps at +5/DR 10/-.
Still worth it though.
A better Stoneskin and +5 attack and damage.
I know this is a bit of a necro, but aside from Bestow Grace, I think Channel Vigor is one of the better options available. The flexibility alone as a permanent benefit is well worth it. Haste when you need it, knowledge boosts when you don't, and if something is throwing really nasty fortitude/will saves at you, +6 bonus to one of those.
Bestow Grace is fantastic though...
Channel Vigor is personal, no dice.
Deadly Juggernaut...also personal. :(
Dang, you're right. I completely forgot about that. Guess Bestow Grace is best after all, hands down.