Tyroki's page

It just seems pointless to maintain the exotic weapon category.
Just an archaic concept at this point, and seldom ever worth the cost or bother.

It makes me laugh, honestly, because they said they've gotten better at writing these things. Yet rules are all over the place and in a fair few cases, horribly worded (and either ripe for abuse, or to be avoided like the plague as worded.)

This might not seem like a big deal... until you get a DM that takes the written word as gospel, and damn the obvious intention.

"Creating and throwing a bomb requires a standard
action that provokes an attack of opportunity. Thrown
bombs have a range of 20 feet and use the Throw Splash
Weapon special attack (see page 202 of the Pathfinder
RPG Core Rulebook). Bombs are considered weapons
and can be selected using feats such as Point-Blank
Shot and Weapon Focus."

Bombs are considered weapons.

However, you can't exactly mix with one hand. Not without making a mess and losing most of your mix that is. To mix a bomb in the field, you have to combine the vial of Liquid Catalyst with other 'volatile chemicals'. So I think it's common sense to presume that mixing a bomb as a standard action, requires both hands.

By the time you have "Fast Bombs", your Alchemist is skilled at grabbing what he needs to mix his bombs as well as mixing them. Thus, he is faster at doing it.

I don't think Rapid Shot would work though.

However, to say that one isn't holding the bomb they're mixing before you throw it, seems laughable

And the Bomb ability of the Alchemist does say that weapons are considered weapons, and can take the Point-Blank feat, which deals with the penalties of firing in to melee. Well, if Point-Blank works for throwing splash weapons, bombs especially, I'm fairly sure haste would work. Haste causes ones actions to be sped up, allowing more as well as faster speeds. Well, that's good, as the Alchemist is already fast at grabbing the components for his bombs and making them too. Though, a DM may rule that doing so causes a % chance that the Alchemist will spill some of his mix, resulting in a lower powered bomb.

The point is, Fast Bombs + Haste should work. Rapid Shot? I doubt it. You still have to mix those bombs. However, if Rapid Shot works for a Crossbow... which you have to pull back the string, lock it in to place, then set the bolt for... it could work.

Really, I'd say it's up to the DM. How many big, nasty explosives do they want you throwing per round?

I'd make it 2 evo points per head fullstop. I'd also drop the perception bonus. Multiple heads doesn't mean heightened perception. It just means you have more heads, and more eyes with the same skill at looking around and noticing things as the base creature.

So I was thinking about this earlier while looking at the Eidolon Evolutions. Sure, optimising it might get you far depending on what you do, but what's the fun in that? Instead, I noticed a few things.

You could easily make your own personal Zilla, and watch it grow :D

Think about that for a moment. Your own personal Godzilla.

Everything you need is in the evolutions. Now, granted, you have to give up a few things :\ For absolutely everything Zilla needs, you need about 30+ evolution points. We don't get that, so for Zilla to get big and strong, he's going to have to be a bit different.

Do you want your Zilla to be huge? Do you want your Zilla to have the good old Atomic Breath (Green Fire)?

Most of what he needs are actually in the 1 point evolutions. Climbing, swimming, having a tail, slamming, tail slaps. Zilla's not much for his claws. They're more for climbing. He needs a nasty bite. Improved Damage (Bite) and get him a second bite to bring out that extra damage. I mean, he's Zilla, he's got one hell of a set of jaws.

Use the Biped base. Zilla walks on two legs most of the time, using his tail to balance him out.

But think about it! Your own personal Zilla! How can you not?

Wait, really? Where does it say that?

Alrighty. Hopefully this'll convince him. Otherwise I'm stuck with learning from level ups and Wizard Spellbooks, if ever I can get a hold of some :\

Think of it this way.

You're doing damage, the melee is doing damage, and at the same time, you're boosting the melee's damage merely by doing damage. You don't waste any actions, and you were going to throw those bombs anyway if you're Strangelob.

So it's useful as you're buffing the melee by simply doing what you were going to do anyway, and they spent the action to drink it. Synergetic, no?

Mmm, trouble is, that last bit comes in after the Spellbook thing.

We're currently playing Kingmaker (I died so I'm making this Alchemist), and because of the long periods of time, he reckons I'll be able to get every single one of my spells learned quickly if I can learn from scrolls. One of our party members is an Artificer. Thing is, one of our other party members is a Witch :\ She can do the same and for a much, much bigger list.

So it'd be nice for them to add clarify that "Yes, it can be done via scrolls and research" for those who take things RAW, even if it's just in brackets.

Tyroki wrote:

How does the Alchemist gain new extracts?

Two parts are obvious.

1) 1 per level

2) From a Wizards book.

However, there is a clause which is causing me some confusion.

"An alchemist can also add formulae to his book just like a wizard adds spells to his spellbook, using the same costs and time requirements."

Does this mean scrolls and research? I mean, that's a really lazy clause that not all DM's will take as that, if that's what it means. Some DM's go by the way clauses like that are written. If it doesn't explicitely say something, then it isn't allowed :\

It functions exactly like it says it does... in the same way a wizard can add spells to his spellbook. I don't see any confusion here. Simply look up how a wizard can otherwise add spells to his spellbook. I doubt many seasoned DM's would have a hard time with this particular issue...

Mines taking it as read in the alchemist test, and stating no to both :\ It's beyond frustrating. And he's been playing D&D and DMing for ages.

How does the Alchemist gain new extracts?

Two parts are obvious.

1) 1 per level

2) From a Wizards book.

However, there is a clause which is causing me some confusion.

"An alchemist can also add formulae to his book just like a wizard adds spells to his spellbook, using the same costs and time requirements."

Does this mean scrolls and research? I mean, that's a really lazy clause that not all DM's will take as that, if that's what it means. Some DM's go by the way clauses like that are written. If it doesn't explicitely say something, then it isn't allowed :\

I was considering rolling up a Summoner for my DM's Kingmaker campaign, as my previous character met a rather early end due to my inattention at the time (Reading the APG while in combat don't mix :P)

Anyway. So he ruled that only one thing can be active at any one time. Eidolon, Summon Monster Ability, or Summon Monster Spell.

I immediately said "F*** that" and changed to Alchemist :\

Granted he said the same thing for all classes that can have multiple summons out, but I couldn't help but bring up the fact that if you limit the Summoner to one or the other or the other, the Summoner becomes a pointless class :\ May as well just play any other class that can Summon in that case.

Phasics wrote:

nice work ogre, you got that together quicker than i was expecting :)

Most of the time on this was during the end of the playtest. I had it ready about a week ago and was waiting for the final rules.

Quote:

a)that alchemical allocation looks pretty awsome if you can get your hands on a greater magic fang +5 potion for 3k your you can get it to last all day and you effectly getting the benefit of a +5 amulet of mighty fists

It's certainly quite nice, but considering it's roughly equal to a third level spell and takes 2 full rounds to cast.. *shrug*

Quote:

c)Dragonic Reservior (found the trick)

Heroism is the same level and a much better long term attack buff (unless you have a bard). Now if the spell let you turn the energy into the opposite form of energy then it would probably be green or blue.

What about:

Infuse Dragonic Reservior, give it to your melee, then hurl bombs at him and his opponent, allowing him to soak up the splash and whack his opponent for extra damage :P Either way, you both rape the opponent. So perhaps a blue infusion?

My DM was talking about an anchoring spell which was permanent, and brought it up as a potential problem I may have to face. Maybe it's not in pathfinders. If thats the case, I'll just ask him to not use it. Our last campaign was a mix of Pathfinders and original 3.5, so maybe he got muddled. I'm not sure, but I thought I'd ask anyways, as I don't want to find myself without my big nasty monster of nightmares guarding me for the rest of my career as a Summoner, just because it's been permanently barred from leaving it's home plane. It would be really dickish of a DM to do it, but the possibility is there, and it is nasty ._. Not saying mine'll do it, but if someones does, what then? Some DM's like to keep to the rules as they're written, even if that means pain and suffering. The Summoner class as I've seen it, does say that the Eidolon you have is all you get. No refunds. :P

Maybe making it so it can't be permanently anchored would be a good idea, to keep from some mean person utterly destroying the class.

Oh, and another question while I'm at it.

If the look of the Eidolon is entirely based on what the Summoner wants it to look like, does that mean that it can change in look in an instant so long as it keeps to it's base form? (Serpentine, Quad, Bi-ped + evolution add-ons)

If so, could it go from absolute nightmare fuel to all noble and nice looking in an instant? Walking around with an Eidolon made of pure nightmare fuel would get some really nasty looks from other people, and thus may get the group attacked, or most specifically, the summoner. We can only summon it once per day from it's home plane if it was forced home somehow (or told to go home)

Another thing. It doesn't heal while it's in the home plane unless it died? So it can only heal if healed by someone? Meaning each day you start with a gimped critter, depending on how much damage it took the previous day?

Saedar: I had that sort of thing happen when I finally managed to persuade my DM to let me be a psion. It took a few days of persuading, but he finally dropped the whole "You do not manifest, you cast exactly like a spell-caster" thing and instead added this epic chaos effect to every time I manifest, which to be honest, just made everything more fun. But I tell you what, that needs to be added to psionics aye. Having a team mate temporarily turn in to a duck and a random fireball go off in one encounter, and enemies killed by rain of gemstones (which persisted to be sold afterwards) just as we were going to get slaughtered, only to then on my next manifestation have an ally get a free Enlarge Person cast on them (while I still got my spells effect) to finish the enemies off in another encounter, was just plain awesome. XD So it does depend on the DM, but sometimes it takes a while.

I can't wait for this to come out, but I have a query.

What happens when your Eidolon gets permanently anchored to it's home plane somehow after it gets sent home by an enemy caster? ._. The Summoner is then seriously gimped. What do you do in that case?

I ask because I really want to play a summoner once the book hits, but I'm really worried about this. I don't want to end up summonless and thus tremendously gimped, especially at higher levels when, y'know, every man and their dog probably has a way to get rid of it, rendering you fairly weak. I mean, as weak as still having up to level 6 summoner spells, but still, it's one hell of a hit.