Playing a bomber in one campaign, and watching a player struggle to play a Chirurgeon in another, has been a pretty interesting experience. Neither of us had event bothered considering the class before the remaster, since it looked like such a planning nightmare in the early levels and really set off the brain worms of the other player.
I think the class is really fun, and can be pretty effective given the right circumstances. Versatile Vials, when pacing allows recharge, feel pretty nice. It definitely feels like the class is very biased towards throwing bombs (and the Bomber subclass) and hoping your GM likes enemies with elemental weaknesses, and the ways to maximize the effectiveness (in a general sense) of most anything else the class wants to do seems to involve play and build habits that drive me and some friends absolutely mental. That's probably not as big a deal to do for some people, but it's definitely been a challenge my playgroup has had to tinker with to get satisfying.
Further thoughts:
I know built-in skill scaling is "only for classes who actually need the skill to function", but it's still inherently bizarre Alchemist doesn't auto-scale their crafting, to me.
Harassing my party to stop just before we jump into a fight so I can hand out quick alchemy buffs is a pace killer, but is objectively the correct way to do it because otherwise applying the buffs in combat is just absolute misery as I either force a fight to slow down, or spend turns chasing people down. Watching the Chirurgeon in our other campaign constantly scrambling around really drives home that there not being just a reliable FFT chemist style "hurl item at ally to activate it" ability on the alchemist of all classes, not even on just Chirurgeon, seems crazy. (No, Healing Bomb doesn't count, I actually kinda find it an outright offensively bad implementation of the idea?)
I utterly despise the "use an independent shoulder familiar perched on your shoulder to press your quick alchemy button for you" tech, and think at that point the Alchemist chassis should just be able to make and use an item at the same action cost as just activating the item. I could be making use of the tech since I do have witch free archetype, but I took that archetype almost entirely for the RP value (and to check the box of "had a game with a fairy familiar"-somehow not achieved for a decade prior to this), before knowing about the tech, and have felt too bullheaded in finding the tech asinine to change course.
I'm currently level 5 on my bomber, and really feel the proficiency lag, and I can already tell I'm going to start feeling the limitations of cantrip VV's not being allowed to use additives once I finally hit 6. The GM threw me a bone by dropping a few waves of enemies with fire weakness recently, and mostly that just made me realize how much hitting enemies with the cantrip vials feels like almost useless tickling when there isn't a weakness to hammer on.
I could probably yell about feats, but I don't think I could keep a coherent, useful train of thought going for that conversation right now.
I know it's a bit of a tangential, anecdotal skill issue, but there's something really funny to me about being an Int based PC investing in relevant knowledge skills, who got access to a Loremaster Lore, and my group has on multiple occasions lamented the fact the Thaumaturge I'm subbing in for (due to a player having to step away for a while due to IRL) isn't present on the scene. They've caught themselves after the fact and realized how silly that is in hindsight, but still.
To speak specifically to the at-will face change thing, I remain kind of annoyed by Astrazoan in SF2e given how... Oppressively limited most shapeshifting in PF2e is by comparison? Astrazoan is getting to just do nearly everything I might have wanted from something like Kitsune, plus a couple bags of chips and some soda, far earlier and for less investment. Sure, "Starfinder 2e has different balance assumptions" and "just homebrew it", but that feels like kind of a copout given how heavily compatibility is touted.
I'll admit a lot of my interest in Starfinder 2e once its full core is out stems very heavily from compatibility with Pathfinder 2e. Being able to combine both for a more tech-advanced fantasy setting, while adding in a ton of new classes, is a lot more interesting to me than a bespoke standalone thing the way SF1e turned out to be. I have waaaaay more interest on playing an Envoy or Solarian in a version of Golarion (or homebrew) that evokes second era mistborn, or one of the settings from the likes of Final Fantasy or Tales of that's full of magitech, than I do in trying to deal with a setting specifically focused on space sci-fi.
I did, however, still really enjoy reading stuff about Starfinder's setting and some of its ideas back during SF1e, even if I did not at all like playing in it. Corpo Culture Drow might be the first time I could say I actually just liked any Drow lore, for example. Maybe with SF2e's full release, I'll be more inclined to give playing in that setting a chance.
Yea, I'll echo again that as they're currently statted, I still do not fathom the two advanced repeating crossbows being... Well, advanced weapons at all, when compared to the likes of the shortbow. If you took both statblocks and made them martial firearms, would that truly cause any dramatic problems? Aside from maybe being better than some other existing niche martial weapons, but "there's a lot of bad weapons" is already I complaint I see even outside the discussion of firearms.
As far as gunslinger itself and the "issue" of needing to pay for running reload, it sorta feels like it suffers a similar problems some other classes do, where the budget for hardlocked class features seems to flat out not be large enough to actually encapsulate both fun situational nigh-ribbon abilities, as WELL as every foundational tool you'd assume them to get, just as a byproduct of trying to tie everyone to the class feat structure. It's not really something ruining the system, mostly minor inconveniences, but it's been a burr in my boot to have the (relatively rare, mind) times when looking at the feats at a given level for a class and you have one that is just so above and beyond the rest for what the class wants to be doing, that it just feels like a hard knowledge check on a new player.
By a similar token, it feels like Fake Out does an insane amount of heavy lifting for the idea of Gunslinger being a "support"
It's worth noting that Gunner's Bandolier exists, but explicitly does not work with quickdraw, which is a pretty crippling factor as it means it's not really any better than simply reloading normally, unless you're looking to save a feat on free-hand reloading, and don't want to just use a slide pistol or something instead.
I do often look at the Repeating Crossbow and Repeating Hand Crossbow and wonder why they're advanced weapons, especially when looking at the air repeaters. A Martial repeating firearm would by necessity likely need to lack fatal, but it would be nice for it to be there at all, for those classes who don't want to focus on crit-fishing, but still want to have it as an option.
My own experience with mutagens is that their drawbacks are all wildly different levels of severity, and that makes it just much easier to sell for some people than others. A War Blood or Silvertongue Mutagen are both practically free, and thus trivial to talk a party member into accepting. Drakeheart is unique and a strong situational case has gotten made for it, while a Fury Cocktail or Quicksilver all give intense pause or downright hostility to the idea for everyone I've played with. I've seen too many hits or saves be 1-2 points away from turning into dangerous fight swinging crits, or 4-12 hp from someone going down, to ever argue with them there.
The fallback shutdown of Drakeheart (and a few other mutagens, if memory serves?) was always kind of interesting to me, and I wish mutagens in general either all had something like that, or at the very least that the mutagen trait had a universal "one action to just cancel the mutagen, with no other effect". It'd not solve the bad taste the drawbacks give people I've played with, but it would be some peace of mind that it wouldn't be hard to back out if it's become too detrimental.
Naming aside, thrilled to have Zadim and Imrijka back, and attached to two options that I'm hotly anticipating, with mechanical/fluff niches I'm pretty into, for classes I'm already really fond of. Need Avenger and Vindicator rubbed all over my eyeballs, so waiting for it is gonna be tough.
It would create more space for someone who wants to go for a second mental score instead of just dumping every increase into STR/DEX/CON/WIS every 5 levels, which is maybe less optimal in the long run, but is a nice build variety enabler IMO. I've played with at least one person who'd have absolutely loved to have that as an option, given they wanted to play a monk with Cha secondary.
I think my only complaint with this feat is entirely that I would have expected it to be a level 2 or 4 monk class feat, rather than a feat tied to a specific heritage (even if it's one I personally really like and want to use). Even then, it... Doesn't really feel particularly like it's going to break anything?
Oh man, really wish I kept a running list of all the archetypes I actually liked of every class, because there are far too many to keep track of, and even more that end up being "cool idea mediocre execution". I don't think I could even give a real "top 5" in order of actual favorites, even just narrowing it down to core+alchemist classes. More just "the first ones that come to mind", except maybe one.
1. Promethean Alchemist (Alchemist): This archetype is the exception to "first to come to mind", because it is without a doubt my favorite IDEA for an archetype, to the point where I'm playing one right now despite a laundry list of complaints. Having a custom-built construct pal oozes flavor, and it has so much potential story for how the alchemist got to that point... If it didn't feel like it shot both your knees off with little to show for it. You lose your features that let you directly contribute and can't get a single one back, and the homunculus herself has a fixed progression, mediocre scaling, and dubious customizability. It's a narrow, narrow niche, but I hope it gets more love.
2. Gun Chemist (Alchemist): Y'know, aside from keeping Poison Use when it really shouldn't have, this feels like it's close to perfect for what it's intended to do. Cull some of the feature taxes on it (coughInfusioncough) and make some more alchemical cartridges and this would be a dandy addition.
3. Monk of the Empty Hand (Monk): You know, I heard about this a long time ago, and then again after I watched Thunderbolt Fantasy and got a taste of one of the last episodes. I got kind of excited by the idea of a monk who can beat down normally, or grab a branch and turn it into a deadly killing implement, but was let down by how expensive it was in Pathfinder to be far less effective than just punching someone normally. Hopefully with a rewrite it can turn into something better in 2e.
4. Tattooed Sorcerer (Sorcerer): With the personal discovery of Bloodline Familiars, the Advent of Bloodline Mutations, and Arcane Bloodline being "Just That Good", this one has fallen out of favor with me whenever I start making sorcerers, but a tattoo-covered mage is just so appealing on a conceptual level. Tattoo Familiars are still the coolest kind of familiar.
5. Dervish Dancer (Bard): I always come back to this one when it's time to roll characters even if I don't get to roll one out (darn groups, always having three other people clamoring to be charisma-based classes), because by golly if it isn't one of the coolest gishy-swordmaster-type archetypes out there... If only the wording on what was a passive and what was an actual active dance was a little clearer.
Honorable Mentions outside of core+alchemist classes goes to:
Silksworn, Haunt Collector, Panoply Savant (Occultist) - The first one is probably the coolest excuse for a caster to wear fancy clothes and is a really interesting casting-focused archetype, even if it lacks the raw power of a fullcaster. The latter two occupy a similar niche in my mind, but Haunt Collector wins out on cool factor. A warrior channeling the power of a ghost in his blade is absolutely radical.
Kensai, Bladebound (Magus) - Both have excellent flavors, and are absolute joys to use on their own or together, but feel like they suffer a bit from problems and limitations of the Magus and its options. Kensai, in particular, suffers from poor early features (Perfect Strike, getting Fighter Training twice), as well, which would hopefully get a little bit of a tweak if it gets a remake for 2e.
Mother of god, a good Alchemist archetype? Purchase instantly justified.
Sounds like you're enjoying the gun chemist? That section was fun to write.
I got a preview of Gun Chemist from a friend, and I have to say that of the last dozen or so alchemist archetypes that have been released, it's the BEST put together one I've seen. I saw the words "gun" and "alchemist" and had my heart sink, only to be met with something that defied expectations to go above and beyond. I personally feel like it will stand tall among the likes of Vivesectionist, Beastmorph, and Grenadier as a distinct, supported way to fashion your alchemist, and is something I am absolutely stoked to get my hands on when my group finally gets around to a fresh set of PCs. Albeit maybe with a couple minor tweaks I run by my GM, but it's still the first time anything has gotten me genuinely excited to try to use firearms in pathfinder.
The only actual gripe I feel I can weigh against the archetype itself, since I mention "tweaks", is the "quick-clear-alike" ability is more like a "slow clear", feeling a bit too costly for what it does, and like it's shoving "just take Amateur Gunslinger for the real thing!" at me. That's hardly a dealbreaker though, since it doesn't bring down the rest of the archetype enough to hurt it. Other gripes aren't archetype-specific, so they're not particularly relevant.
While I highly doubt it, I kinda hope that the book touches on and gives something nice to Alchemists who try dabbling in constructs. The lack of any way to use extracts to fix up constructs they build, and the lack of support for the construct-based archetypes, feels like a lost opportunity. If nothing else, I hope this book prompts someone to go back and think about it for a future release.
That out of the way I'm REALLY looking forward to this. The Poppets from AA2 were a nice tease, but didn't quite fill in my desire to just see more cool, new stuff. Hopefully the old construct modification stuff looked back over and updated/added to, in addition to new varieties of constructs for the roster.
So I got a chance to look at the catfolk section, and the Ravener Inquisitor archetype looked really cool and almost exactly the kind of thing I've been dying for the Inquisitor (or warpriest) to get... Except then I noticed an important, missing detail: It doesn't modify the Inquisitor's main mental score from Wisdom to Charisma for any class features. Catfolk have a wisdom penalty, and despite being "one of the most diverse races", they've yet to get a variant heritage. A lot of the Oracle revelations you could select (or that would be really fun to use) are also based off of Charisma, making the whole archetype feel kind of hastily slapped together. Granted, a race having a penalty in its casting doesn't mean it can't work in a game, it just ends up being unintuitive.
I know charisma-based stuff tends to get shoehorned with divine wisdom casters, but catfolk already got got the short straw (No alternate racial traits at all? At least that I saw.) from what I can tell, so even if the archetype isn't a racial one, this feels like an immense missed opportunity. I can't imagine this wasn't an intentional part of the design, but is there any particular reason WHY it didn't give us the opportunity to finally have a "half-casting oracle"-esque archetype?
