Tunak Turel's page

I've been going through the final playtest versions of the advanced player's guide classes this week and may have stumbled across some extreme burst damage from the alchemist. Basically it goes something like this at 10th level, assuming my assumptions are true (rapid shot works for thrown weapons, fast bombs lets you full attack with bombs just like a ranged weapon, and two-weapon fighting lets you throw extra bombs with your off-hand)

int 18 (reasonable, many would probably have higher) and dex 17+ (I'll call it an 18 for this)
feats: point blank shot, precise shot, rapid shot, two weapon fighting, improved two-weapon fighting

discoveries: fast bombs, precise bombs, and potent bombs x3

drink a haste extract or receive haste from a party member (not necessary but amusing) and/or drink an improved invisibility extract/have it cast on you by another (not necessary but again helpful as it turns all these attacks into flat-footed touch attacks)

So you've got primary attack/rapid shot/offhand primary/haste attack/secondary/secondary offhand attacks within 30 feet
So with haste/invis it's +7 BAB, +1 throw anything, +1 point blank, +1 haste, +2 striking from invis, +4 dex, -2 rapid shot, -2 TWF
+12/+12/+12/+12/+7/+7 all going for flat-footed touch AC. A good party will have other buffs riding as well.
damage: 8d6+5 each, and the likelihood of them all hitting is fairly good, for a total of 48d6+30 or 198 average. Even if they all miss that's 6 reflex saves for up to 78 damage, and this splash damage affects any enemies adjacent to your target but not your allies (up to 4.)
Things like fire resistance obviously help a lot, but the majority of monsters you encounter probably don't have that. The fact that you can only do this twice per day helps mitigate things somewhat, but as long as you develop some other combat skills for routine things then you should be fine. The ability to just dump onto some boss monster is very handy. I'd go hunting white dragons if I were this guy.

It's not as if I would actually use this build. It's just something to keep an eye on. Personally I'd houserule against letting you take anything but natural iterative attacks with your bombs just to keep them sane. 16d6+10 (66) is plenty for a level 10 character to deal in one round.

Basically, as is, deadly performance kills a creature with sorrow or joy inspired by the music. I propose that instead, deadly performance prevents the target from attempting to damage the bard as long as the bard doesn't attack the target (max 5 or so rounds) as the target cannot bear to destroy the source of such moving music. Then, when the bard stops playing (min 1 round of playing), is when the creature must find the will to move on in a world that isn't filled with such extraordinary beauty and either their body shuts down, no longer willing to live in such a world at the cellular level, or their stunned for several rounds in trying to deal with the fact that the music is gone.

Hopefully this will fit with whatever changes they decide to do to bring deadly performance into balance. Balancing the base ability is a discussion for another thread (though it really needs some balance and taking an extra round to pull of the deadly performance helps that department).

Another way to implement this would be to have the music prevent the target from attacking the bard for the duration of their playing (leading to some really cool endurance performances mayhaps) and reducing the death/stun effects to compensate (to stun if failed the save or dazed if passed perhaps).

Regardless, we've been enjoying pathfinder. Keep up the good work!