From a pure gp. comparison it would seem animate dead is far superior choise when compared to alchemical zombie. Is there some advantage that alchemical zombie has over animate dead that I am missing?
That alchemists don't normally gain animate dead?
That's a pretty huge advantage for alchemists.
Meh. Any alchemist can create an oil of Animate Dead anyways; it's only slightly more expensive, but it works instantly and you can make skeletons with it, too (including variant skeletons). I don't know why you'd waste a discovery on Alchemical Zombie.
Pure cool factor!!
Meh. Any alchemist can create an oil of Animate Dead anyways; it's only slightly more expensive, but it works instantly and you can make skeletons with it, too (including variant skeletons). I don't know why you'd waste a discovery on Alchemical Zombie.
How?
Pure cool factor!!
Well obviously !!
How?
How indeed? He could make a Cauldron of the Dead via the Master Craftsman feat (and Craft Wondrous Item) and probably save gp in the process.
Personally, while it's not RAW, I'd think that alchemical zombies would work a lot more like the ones oracles with the juju mystery create:
Spirit Vessels (Su): You can channel wendo spirits into lifeless bodies, reanimating them to aid you. Necromancy spells that create undead lose the evil descriptor when you cast them. Mindless undead created by your magic are of neutral alignment, while thinking undead possess your alignment. When using the animate dead spell, you can control 6 HD worth of undead creatures per caster level rather than 4 HD. In addition, any zombies or juju zombies you create using animate dead, create undead, or similar spells possess maximum hit points.
Of course an alchemist wouldn't be using Wendo spirits. I'd expect it would be more like Dr. Pipt's powders from The Patchwork Girl of Oz or Professor Weirdo's tinctures from Milton the Monster, with various talents and personality traits distilled into alchemical form, so your zombie shouldn't be Evil unless you put Evil powder in the reanimating draught. There would also be entertaining possibilities for unexpected results, like accidentally using Poetry powder for the Patchwork Girl's brains or using too much Tincture of Tenderness in creating Milton the Monster.
This is also not necessarily a bad thing. Every alchemist loves the fun of discovery, and while figuring out how to make a skeleton that plays the xylophone may not be as all-around useful as one that knows how to wield a sword, it's another discovery for the formulary.
Which is a long way round of saying that I'd let alchemical zombies be customizable so the discovery is worth a discovery.
The Patchwork Girl of Oz, god how long has it been since I last heard that story. That brought back some memories of childhood.
Speaking of which....
Meh. Any alchemist can create an oil of Animate Dead anyways; it's only slightly more expensive, but it works instantly and you can make skeletons with it, too (including variant skeletons). I don't know why you'd waste a discovery on Alchemical Zombie.How?
How does an Alchemist create a potion or oil? With Brew Potion, usually.
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Meh. Any alchemist can create an oil of Animate Dead anyways; it's only slightly more expensive, but it works instantly and you can make skeletons with it, too (including variant skeletons). I don't know why you'd waste a discovery on Alchemical Zombie.How?
Yeah I'm not seeing how this is an option either. Since animate dead is not on the extract list for the Alchemist, how would he be able to make an oil of it?
Yeah I'm not seeing how this is an option either. Since animate dead is not on the extract list for the Alchemist, how would he be able to make an oil of it?
My understanding is that you can ignore the spell prerequisite when making a potion (NOT a wand or scroll, however) by adding +5 to the crafting DC. This has been debated many times, though, so it's probably not worth rehashing again in this thread.
Check the FAQ. That was always against the intent, and now against RAW too.
Check the FAQ. That was always against the intent, and now against RAW too.
I stand corrected.
Reanimator archetype gets lesser animate dead and create (greater) undead extracts so he is capable of creating oil of lesser animate dead that could be used by anyone. He can also create zombies by injecting corpses with extract directly. That archetype seems to have no use for alchemical zombie discovery.
Is it possible for an none reanimator alchemist (in this case a vivisectionist) to learn these extraxts if they can some how obtain to the reanimator's formulae book?
Thread necromancy! How appropriate...
Per the discovery, "[t]he created zombie is a creature, not a supernatural effect." Which can be a relevant distinction from animate dead in some circumstances.
It requires a bit of investment, but a decent option IMO for a necromantic alchemist is to take both the preservationist and reanimator archetypes, along with Planar Preservationist, Spell Focus (Necromancy), and Skeleton Summoner. Not only are there several options for undead creation (including create greater undead), but Planar Preservationist + Skeleton Summoner allows instant skeletons in a bottle...