The ranged alchemist everyone wants in their party


Advice


Okay everyone, get ready for a wall of text. This is gonna be a big one. And to say this in advance, any and all advice/suggestions are extremely welcome. I have NEVER played Pathfinder and my D&D experience is minimal. And I'm gonna be blunt, the barrier of entry is feeling pretty high/overwhelming. I don't mind min/maxing stuff. Go for purely optimal stuff so I have the least amount of slack as possible. I'm playing with strangers (at least at first) so even though I'm new I want to be as helpful as I can. If it matters, I was thinking "Chaotic Neutral" for my alignment.

To begin, these are the written instructions the other players and myself received: Google Doc

Something of note that I've been told is that this is a "super long term campaign" with a home-brew level cap of 50. This is obviously miles away. Lets focus on me even making it to 20 alive.

So here's what I had in mind for my character. As the title suggests, I want to be an Alchemist that is focused on ranged-style of play. I'm thinking Human for the race as a side-note. As for playstyle, I basically want to be the guy that makes encounters easier for the party, and can do somewhat well by themselves if they get caught. I adore control and making enemies wish they were dead instead of the misery they're currently stuck in. Probably a crossbow as my weapon (when I'm not throwing bombs and such).

I want to be basically pure alchemist. If I'm gonna multiclass it will be at level 20 when I don't have a choice (I assume).

So I'm looking for a build that will take me (hopefully) to level 20 and possibly beyond. And the best archetype while we're on-topic. Or choices. I was thinking Grenadier after looking into it, because I think it's basically exactly what I'm going for. But I could by all means be wrong. Let me know what's best.

Tl;dr, I want to be a team player alchemist that is pretty self-sufficient if the need arises. Ranged/bombs/etc. The least melee-oriented as possible but still effective. My goal is to be a person the players think about whenever they're in a difficult encounter and I'm not around.

Also, if any choices are available just list them. I do want to be as optimal as possible, but if there are some flavor choices I certainly don't mind.

My current mindset is: "Build the class first, character will come after." I have something in mind but that's unimportant right now because it is still vague.

Edit: This was much shorter than I thought it would be. And yes, I basically want my hand held for character creation. I figure I'll learn the game on a "pre-built" character and then my second character will be one of my own creation.

A sample build up to level say 3 or 4 would be nice, just so I can visualize the early choices better.


Personally I like the Grenadier archetype for range combat. Makes the bomb route a bit easier without really cutting yourself off from other areas.


I know this is going to be a bit of a stretch but here goes. Consider Hobgoblin over human. They have Darkvision and with some Trait trading they get martial weapon Proficiences. They get a +2 to Dex and a +2 Con no minuses. They as a favored class bonus get an extra bomb every other level. Now here's where it gets tricky. They are a goblin subtype which if your GM approves my group did he gains access to discoveries and a archtype. The discoveries all improve hos bombs. The archtype is called the Winged Marauder. You get as an animal companion a Dire Bat or a Giant Vulture. Take Undersize feat and you can ride both almost immediately.
In the Asian supplement the name I forget the Hobgoblins there have a full fledged nation and you don't have to be evil. It's something to start with. I have played Hobgoblin Alchemist base class and loved the way he played. The extra bombs every other level helps more then I anticipated. Figure two or three combats a day and you should especially with extra bombs feat have more then enough for the day. I never needed Mutagen but it helps to have that. There is a Prestige Class for Alchemists in Advanced Players Guide. Not my cup if tea but after level twenty it might appeal to you.


Seconding Grenadier. Precise Bombs makes your party much happier with you, and you can use a bow rather than a crossbow with that free martial weapon proficiency. Bows just have better stats in PF.

The main next choice is which alchemist discoveries you're aiming for. Tanglefoot bomb is the fastest way to get some control but not the only one; Smoke Bomb followed by Stink Bomb is very effective, as is Glassfoot Bomb + Frost Bomb. These are mostly incompatible by the way, you can only use one discovery with a star following the name on any given bomb.

Some later discoveries you may want are Explosive Missile to extend the range of your bombs when necessary, Fast Bombs to be able to nova against a dangerous foe, and maybe Dispelling Bomb. There are a number of useful non-bomb discoveries too such as Cognatogen, Spontaneous Healing, Tumor Familiar and Infusion which you may want too. Later on you'll get Greater/Grand Mutagen or Cognatogen.

On feats if you're going to be doing a lot of ranged combat that will probably use up most of your feats. Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot are essential, if you're going to use the bow a lot then Rapid Shot, Manyshot and Clustered Shots will be good, if you're going to use bombs a lot then Extra Bombs and Extra Discovery will be good. Later feats may include Weapon Focus, Far Shot, Improved Critical, Impact Critical Shot, Improved Precise Shot, and maybe the Overwatch Style chain considering you're aiming at going to a high level.


half elf is a good race. you can switch out their skil focus for a +2 to your will saves (aka- the mind control and curse preventing save; aka scariest save). on top of that, half elves also get another +2 against the mind controll stuff.

overall, this would patch up the alchemist's poor will save, and it would give you room to use dex mutagens (dex mutagens lower wisdom, which is the will save stat)

otherwise, yeah- bomb stuff. i wouldn't focus too much om fast bombs, since it eats up your bombs but doesn't do much else on its own. nova is nice as an option(sometimes you just want a dragon to be a scaly crater), but running out of bombs means your build loses its main fun thing. just using bombs as a different set of spells aimed at bringing misery to enemies throughout the entire day is fine.

Silver Crusade

Davia D wrote:
Personally I like the Grenadier archetype for range combat. Makes the bomb route a bit easier without really cutting yourself off from other areas.

Thirding Grenadier, it's the best for ranged debuffing when used with all of the proper tools.


I agree that Grenadier is a solid choice, but I also think you should look at the Mindchemist archetype as well. Extremely solid bomb damage, and the added bonus of doubling your INT bonus to Knowledge checks. Tiefling is a good choice for race with the Dex and INT bonus.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Fast bombs to Nova,
Force Bombs for unavoidable damage
Healing Bombs for healing utility (nice when combined w/ Fast Bombs)

I wouldn't spend a discovery on Precise bombs, actually. Just drink an extract of Targted Bomb Admixture so your bomb adds twice your INT to damage, but only targets a single person. Works especially well with Cognatogen active, which you can get for free with the Mindchemist Archetype (also gives you Perfect Recall for twice INT to knowledge checks--always a good thing).

Silver Crusade

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Oh, didn't notice you were looking for a sample character, there should be a 5th level sample NPC in my guide for grenadier, although it doesn't include all the bells and whistles that make it amazing.


Scroll down to Switch Blaster. It's a good start.


miscdebris wrote:
Scroll down to Switch Blaster. It's a good start.

Edit: Heck, just read the whole thing for a quick overview. Go to N. Jolly's for the bacon.


If your gm will let you be a small tiefling, you can trade their magic trait for a prehensile tail that can retrieve extracts as a swift, and their alternate favored class bonus is +1 bomb damage per 2 levels. Their racial stats are perfect for a grenadier +dex/int -cha. Plus you could be a literal wow imp hurling firebolts.

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / Advice / The ranged alchemist everyone wants in their party All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in Advice
Druid Gear