So, I've been thinking, and it seems to me like an alchemist should have an option to spend gold to create a bomb decoupled from his daily uses (which at high levels is only a limitation if he has the fast bombs discovery). Think of this option as making a 'scroll' of a bomb. In fact, that's such a good analogy that my concept for this option has crystallized from typing it.
A persistent bomb is a stoppered vial containing liquid and dissolved solid and/or gas reagents, with an airtight leather bladder tied to the neck that contains the catalyst. Unsealing the bladder or the vial results in their being rendered inert at the end of the next round if not used.
Identifying the effects of a persistent bomb (including damage dice and secondary discoveries) requires a DC 25 Craft (alchemy) skill check and 1 minute of study (1 round if the character has the alchemy class feature). Once it has been identified, it can be used. Using an unidentified bomb has a 90% of a mishap, a 9% of wasting it to no effect, and a 1% of success. If the user of the bomb is the creator, this step can be skipped in all but the most unusual circumstances.
Activating the bomb is automatically successful if the user has the alchemy class feature, the bomb's damage dice are equal to or less than her bomb class feature damage dice, and she knows the discoveries applied to the bomb. If these are not the case, a Craft (alchemy) skill check is required, with a base DC of 15 + the bomb's damage dice + 1/2 the minimum alchemist level prerequisite of the highest-level discovery. If this check is successful, the character may throw the bomb as if it were a flask of alchemist's fire, or as if it were a bomb if the user is an alchemist (allowing persistent bombs to be used with the Fast Bombs discovery). The damage dice and applied discovery are set at the bomb's creation, but Throw Anything damage, range, and discoveries such as fast bombs or delayed bomb are applied by the user.
Bomb mishap: if the activation check fails by 5 or more, or the bomb is otherwise misused, it goes off, automatically hitting whoever is holding the bomb.
Now, the big question: what should these bombs be priced at?
I just straight allow unlimited uses per day of bombs. The alchemist is already tracking extracts, mutagens, and the inevitable potions and alchemical items he's got a stash of; having to track bombs on top of all that was just enough to make me not want to play one. And, really, 1d6/2 levels isn't likely to break the game.
It's not the bomb damage itself that is the issue so much as the nifty side effects that bombs can get. Unlimited Cloud Kill all day long? Ok! :-)
Which would be why I'm asking for opinions on pricing.
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I just straight allow unlimited uses per day of bombs. The alchemist is already tracking extracts, mutagens, and the inevitable potions and alchemical items he's got a stash of; having to track bombs on top of all that was just enough to make me not want to play one. And, really, 1d6/2 levels isn't likely to break the game.
Eh... it's not the 1d6/2 that makes the alchemist powerful.
It's after 8th level when you are delivering that three - five times a round in whatever flavor you want and often with some nasty side effects.
By 10th level you can do all the following in one round*:
With haste you can get another bomb in there to add more effects or target more enemies with specific effects.
If they were limited to one bomb per round, or if they couldn't apply effects when they used fast bomb then I'd agree the bombs/ day limits could go.
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It's not the bomb damage itself that is the issue so much as the nifty side effects that bombs can get. Unlimited Cloud Kill all day long? Ok! :-)Which would be why I'm asking for opinions on pricing.
My suggestions is... allow your alchemist to mix normal alchemical items in with his full attacks.
Another possibility is a discovery that lets the alchemist craft infinite bombs that do less damage (maybe 2d6 less?) than normal and can only deliver energy damage.
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Sorry. Mmmm... well, base lvl Alch Fire and a base lvl bomb are mostly equivalent with the fire outpacing the bomb a bit do to catching the target on fire. So maybe start with a base price of 10gp for a 1d6 bomb as that is half the price of Alch Fire then perhaps multiply the base price by the number of damage dice to achieve a price for a basic damage bomb.
So, a 3d6 dmg bomb would cost 30gp.
The biggest problem in pricing, I imagine, would be when adding spell-like effects. In that case I would simply add the price of an equivalent lvl scroll to the bomb price as you are duplicating the effects of a scroll. In the case of cloudkill this would add 1,625 gp to the cost of the bomb using this method. The cost for the scroll was calculated using the bard/alch/magus table.
So, using this method a Cloudkill Bomb would cost 1,685gp (60gp for the 6d6 bomb -the earliest you could access this effect- and the rest based on scroll cost).
I can't think of another way to price these things based off of any other precedent.
If I may suggest another approach to allowing more bombs at a price? Maybe allow a feat that would let you sacrifice formula for bombs? This would give you access to more bombs and keep it from being "unlimited" without hurting the PC's pocket book.
Just my 2 cp.
I share Ogre's concerns with fast bombs
greater two weapon fighting will net you 3 main an 3 offhand attacks throw in +1 attack for haste for 7 bombs
7 x 1d6/2 is pretty damn strong.
the only tempering fact is the limited nature of bombs and if the alchemist goes "Nova" they will run out of bombs.
Here's an example
Level 16 Alchemist 26INT
Each bomb does 8d6+8dmg
being touch attacks chances are your going to hit with all, maybe lose 1 to a natural 1
6 x 8 = 48d6+48dmg = 216dmg average (336max) , 96 splash damage.
unlimited bombs means you can do that every round all day for the cost of gold of which you'll have bucketloads at that level.
dmg on these purchased bombs needs to be significantly limited if they can be used with fast bombs
OR
Can only add 1 paid bomb in a fast bomb attack routine
OR
simply make it so they can't be used with fast bombs, they are single attack items which are backups
Or, fast bombs just doesn't apply to persistent bombs? Like, they're always a standard action to activate (like a scroll).
EDIT: I totally failed to read the last two sentences of the above post. I apologize.