Mach5RR's page

While playtesting an elven alchemist, I ended up using my bow most of the fights, switching to alchemy only when I needed something which is not direct dps (healing elixirs, tanglefoot bags for crowd control etc). Even this way, the character ended up at 0 RP pretty fast.

But ... how does that work? I get the appeal of wanting to flip between the two, only doing quick alchemy as needed. But the Alchemists Toolkit necessary to do QA is a two-handed item, described as those "beakers and chemicals ... used to set up a mobile alchemical laboratory". In other words, you're dropping one to use the other when you're flipping back and forth between the bow. That's a lot of wasted actions when picking up and readying you're weapon vs toolkit.

don't worry!

when you get higher level (and thus need more bulk because you make more items) you can buy a bag of holding and for JUST 1 EXTRA RP PER ITEM you can draw them from there!

neat huh?!

Sadly, you are wrong. You have to spend JUST 2 EXTRA RP PER ITEM. One to put it into the bag, and 1 to pull it out. And since you have to build out your bombs everyday, you can't even save on RP by prestaging them a day earlier.

OK, made (and played) a Goblin Alchemist yesterday. Call me ... underwhelmed.

First things first, Quick Alchemy (THE feat that makes alchemists "alchemists") cannot be used RAW. The requirements for Quick Alchemy are the formula, alchemists toolkit, and one free hand. But the alchemists toolkit requires two hands. So unless the alchemist has a mutagen growing him a third arm, you cannot use Quick Alchemy.

Alchemists require strength. If I want to get the most bang for my buck in resonance costs, I have to pre-make my items everyday. Every resonance I spend gets me two L bulk items (half my downtime crafting). At 4th level I can make four L bulk items, which is better. And if I'm carrying around alchemist's toolkit (ignoring the hand requirements) to make use of Quick Alchemy, that's two bulk. With the leather armor (1 bulk) plus the L items, I was starting operate near the 6 max I was alloted for Bulk (12 STR). So in a sense, I operate like a wizard, with pre-learned (pre-made in my case) magic - except my stuff takes up bulk AND resonance.

So I have to buff my strength to add to Bulk allowance. Except I REALLY need Dexterity which competes with Strength (Con is always nice, but Strength really is more important for an Alchemist)

No, you don't need the Weapon Familiarity (Goblin) feat to unlock the weapons for a Goblin Fighter. On p. 181 Dogslicers and Horsechoppers are Uncommon Martial Melee weapons with the Goblin trait. P. 182 defines the trait as:
Goblin People of the goblin ancestry craft and use these weapons.

The weapon familiarity feat goes further by stating that all Goblin Martial weapons are treated as Simple weapons when you possess the feat, meaning Goblin Alchemists with the feat can use those (formerly) martial weapons, but Goblin Wizards (no simple weapon feat) cannot. IF this feat was required to unlock those weapons, then why bother listing them as martial and then reducing them to simple? Why wouldn't you just list them as simple weapons, and require the feat to unlock them?

However, for any goblin with martial training, this turns Weapon Familiarity into a feat tax. If you are already martially trained, you get NO bonus from taking Weapon Familiarity. Except that it is a requirement for Weapon Frenzy which IS useful.