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I don't think there's a rule for it (or if it is, I've missed it) but what do you people think is the order of operation if:

you are using an Incapacitation ability but you also have something that increases success to critical success and you roll a success vs a higher level enemy?

Would the order of operation be:
success->failure due to incap-> you don't improve anything since you no longer have a success
or
success->critical success->back to success due to incap

it is very fringe scenario, for my case, it only came up in theorycrafting a fan dancer+talisman dabbler, but maybe there are more cases for it.

That's more of a theoretical question, but what's your take on those 2 interaction.

If you're on the Ethereal plane, say using Ethereal Jaunt or something, you can see in the material (albeit with concealment) and even use your spells, but only Force Effects affect each other plane.

But if you're using Familiar Conduit, the point of origin of the spell is not you, but the familiar, which can be in the material.

So, what's your take?
1. You can use all spells normall through the familiar
2. You still can only use Force effects through the familiar
3. You cannot use Familiar Conduit while you are on the ethereal and your familiar is on the material.

Relevant spell text:

You grant the target insight on things to come, guiding them toward a fate they find most fitting and encouraging them to continue this journey. The creature rolls a d20 at the start of each of its turns. The creature can use the result of the roll instead of rolling for any check before the start of their next turn. If the creature does substitute the roll in this way, they gain a +1 status bonus to whatever check they substitute on the following turn. Repeated substitutions increase the status bonus by 1, up to a total of +2. If the creature begins their turn without having substituted a roll in the previous round, the spell ends.

Bolded for emphasis.

I have trouble parsing if you can only replace 1 roll/turn or multiple (using the same prerolled result).

Any input?

Either way it is very powerful, but being able to turn all your rolls into 18s or something kinda seems tgtbt to me.

Is there any way to get a weapon that autorepairs itself when broken?

Either rune, specific magic weapon, Archetype feats, etc.

Ty.

Is it just me, or does animist have an insane amount of bookkeeping?

Like, you have your normal bookkeeping for your Prepared slots.

BUT

You get to change your Apparitions daily. Meaning changing also your spontaneous spells.

BUT

That also changes your skills (Lores) while doing so. Maybe you are going to the Mountains, so you'd rather have that Master Mountain Lore!

BUT

Now you also have too change your wandering feats as well.

All those while also juggling which is your Primary Apparition to also change your Focus spells while you refocus (or even faster with feats).

And that's not counting feats that remove Apparitions in the middle of the day!

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Basically, in morning prep you not only have to do prepared casting, you also have to choose your Lores, your spontaneous spells, your wandering feats, and which focus spells you'll have (which you can change, depending on feats, mid combat). And (again, depending on feats) lose some of those choices mid day.

Was going over the new(er) options, and ofc Spirit Warrior caught my eye.

Leaving aside the general issues that already have discussions about them (mostly regarding "fist", open hands, and etc) it was the feat that allows you to sacrifice your weapon to block an attack that led to my "wait a minute!" moment.

Instead of the great Combination Strike, I want to focus on another aspect of said archetype.

Specifically, the ability to basically transfer your runes from handwraps to any weapon you draw is amazing for Toxicologist who often has action economy issues to poison weapons mid combat.

Simply have half a dozen poisoned blades and draw them as needed, without any worry about their runes or lack therefore.

Having access to some great reactions later on doesn't hurt either since natively Alchemist lacks reaction abilities.

Versatile Vials state that:

You can store all your versatile vials within your alchemist’s toolkit, with no increase to its Bulk. Though versatile vials are physical objects, they can’t be duplicated or preserved in any way.

Alchemist toolkit states that:

This mobile collection of vials and chemicals can be used for simple alchemical tasks. If you wear your alchemist's toolkit, you can draw and replace them as part of the action that uses them

We know that for Quick Alchemy, because the requirements are just to be wearing a toolkit, have an empty hand, and be able to "expend" a Versatile Vial, you don't first need to spend an action to "draw" the Vial itself.

BUT

Aren't you able, according to the toolkit and Versatile Vial descriptions and mechanics, vials stored in your toolkit, and drawing them is part of the Action that uses them?

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So, by RaW (and maybe even RaI seeing how weak Field Vials are), isn't drawing them part of the Action that uses them in general?

So, straight up throwing them as bombs, drinking them as field vials, and etc, should be incorporating the draw action for them by default, no?

Can't wait until we can have Shield/Claw/Bite Fighters with D12 deadly d10 main attacks at +3 accuracy while they're wielding shields and able to self-heal in a pinch!

For that matter, Starlit maguses with Quicksilver sound almost as scary ^^

So, a few tidbits have been revealed from people getting their early copies.

I'm not sure if discussing those breaks forum TOS, feel free to remove the thread if so.

So, big things first:
Long gone are the days of a gadzillion elixirs at later levels.

Now you only make 4+Int Elixirs (not batches of elixirs) with Advanced.

On the flipside, you get renewable 2+Int vials (renewed at 2/10min) that can always work like bombs+Unique ability based on sub, and can be used for Quick alchemy (which hasn't been revealed, but I assume it's the same as old Quick)

2nd big thing:
Master with simple, unarmed, and bombs at 15. Yay!

3rd thing:
"Underperforming" (I assume basic) mutagens are buffed.
Bestial as an example comes with Striking upgrades and doesn't impact your AC.

4th thing:
Subs buffed. Basically more abilities.
Mutagenist now is
1st level, temp hp when drinking mutagen.
Unique vial thingy: drink and suppress mutagen negatives until end of next round.
5th level, end mutagen and reroll Fort save.
11th level half level physical resistance.
13 level, double mutagen.

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First impressions?

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Sidenote, with so few Advanced alchemy (can be buffed a bit with feats, like 6+Int) familiar stonks also go down no? since most of your elixirs bombs will be via Quick Alchemy that familiar doesn't really help with.

How would Martial Performance interact with feats like dual Onslaught (and others who do damage on a miss)?

Martial Performance:

Your muse has taught you how to handle a wider variety of weapons than most bards, empowering you to effortlessly blend your performance into combat tools. When you have a courageous anthem composition cantrip active, and you damage an enemy with a Strike, the spell’s duration is extended by 1 round. You can extend an individual casting only once in this way.

Dual Onslaught:

When you lash out with both weapons, you leave no room for the target to escape your attack. When you use Double Slice, if you miss with both Strikes, choose one of the two weapons and apply the effects of a hit with that weapon. You can't choose a weapon if your attack roll with that weapon was a critical failure, meaning you still miss entirely if both attack rolls were critical failures.

Am I correct to read it as: "since it only requires damage to be dealt, and not a "successful Strike" that means it triggers normally."?

Are there in your opinion character concepts that can't be covered by the existing (and announced) classes?

For me, the one that comes into mind is something like a wordsmith, utilizing Words of power to invoke his magic.

I'd love a class where you have "words" that signify effects, area/targets, ancillary effects, metamagic, and etc and then you get to combine those as you form your Words each turn.

Like having a word for Fire and another for Lightning, that each deals X damage, a word for "arrows" and another for "burst", and then another for something like dazzle and another for misfortune, and each turn you go:

"I'll use 3 actions to chant "area, fire, dazzle" and throw a dazzling fireball, and next turn say "1 action to move and then two actions for a bolt of thunder with arrow+lightning " and etc

Mechanics wise I see it similar to kineticist picking up extra Words with class abilities+feats.

What are your ideas for character concepts not yet covered?

There are a lot of feats, from low to high level, that are "you raise your shield and do X"

on the flipside, at level 12 you have access to paragon guard, your only Stance available through your Class feats, that make half of those feats obsolete, and the other half just bad, due to the fact that now you don't need to keep raising your shield every time.

The way I see this playing out, is a lot of guardians simply having to take a lot of downtime as soon as they reach level 12 to start retraining out of the lower level feats, and then never picking the higher level feats.

Which is a problem imo.

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A possible solution would be to change the generic Paragon guard to a Guardian unique stance that has the clause "Whenever you would raise your shield, if the shield is already Raised, you can instead do X (where X is something simple like "stride half of your speed" or "Step" or something of that nature").

I want to preface the thread by saying that this is mostly a joke.

BUT

Is Speaking an Auditory effect?

I had this funny thought while catching up on some Bard feats for a martial bard, and reread Courageous Opportunity:

A creature within your reach uses an auditory effect, manipulate action, or move action; makes a ranged attack; or leaves a square during its move action.

And ofc the first thing that popped into my mind was the Big Bad starting his evil monologue and a Bard sucker punching him...

:D

So, if you heighten the Protection spell:

You can target any willing creature, including youself, to get the bonus, and the bonus extends to all OF YOUR* allies 10ft from the aura.

so, if you target yourself, everyone gets the buff, if you target the fighter next to you, you won't get the buff, since you are neither the target, nor do you consider youself an "ally".

Wonder if that's intended or oversight of the fact that you are not your own ally when they wrote the heighten effect...

*I feel like it should have said to all of the target's allies instead of all of your allies to function properly.

What defines when someone is an "enemy"?

Is it a conscious decision from the "caster" to define who is an enemy?
If so, can he decide that in an instance a party member (or even himself) is an enemy, and in the next instance that it isn't?

Is it something vague that makes the effect target things?
If so, does it even target if a caster is unaware of them being hostile?

(on my phone so forgive me for not having the names)

Isn't it kinda overtuned or am I missing something?

2d4+1 aoe scaling at 2d4+1 every 2 ranks, for 1 action is already strong, but when you factor in the fact that you can keep it going for the whole battle, and that you can reposition it every turn as you want, it comes out kinda overshadowing most other blasts.

Level 5 as an example, stance+2 focus is already 8d4+8 (counting that persistent doesn't stack already and only 1 tick of it), next turn you can move twice and increase that to 12d4+11 and from then on you simply have 3 steps/leaps per turn and keep repeating 12d4+11 every turn as you dance across the battlefield.

Is it a typo that it has the Spellshape tag?

unlike every other spellshape, it's not an action you do "Before casting a spell" that alters the spell somehow.

The implication of the spellshape tag here is with the 16th level Stance which reduces Spellshape actions by 1, so that basically means that you can use it every time as a quickened free spell/hour as opposed to simply a free spell/hour, since now you can reduce the action cost by 1.

On a completly unrelated topic... any ways to mitigate the Confused condition pops in anyone's mind?

there are several Impulses that make attack rolls but do not have the Attack trait.

i'm not sure if this is a plain up omission or if this intended.

this has some extremely weird complications like:

if you do the Impulse and then a Blast, then the Blast will be at full MAP, but if you do the Blast and then the impulse, the Impulse will be at -5.

There are even some straight up Impulses that do not make sense without the attack trait, as an example Pinions: the Impulse lacks the Attack trait, but in the description it mentions how you progress MAP after all three attacks are made... well, if the attacks don't have the Attack trait to begin with, then it sorts of contradicts itself.

Now with everything kineticist wise revealed in the various reveals we can start planning our characters!

My own take, and first kineticist, on air/earth:

Aasimar Dwarf. 14/12/18/10/10/14

Urash was born in a nomadic desert tribe in old Osirian. He keeps his hair tied in a tight ponytail, but his sunburnt beard is left long and unkempt. Despite his younger age, his skin is wrinkled and scarred from the harsh sunrays he travelled beneath daily.

His golden eyes betray his origin, as the blood of Khepri runs in his veins, urging him to be constantly on the move, eventually forcing him to leave his beloved desert to explore the world outside.

Level 1:
Weapon infusion, Boomerang, earth armor, unburdened iron

Urash commands the essence of the desert itself. He can summon a thick sand skin to cover him, he can throw blasts of sand, the scorching blades of the desert winds, and even the lightning of the desert storms.

Level 2: champion dedication (liberator)
Level 3: adopted human
Level 4: lay on hands

Seeing the outside society, and the shackles on the common people wakes the blood of Khepri inside him as he vows to end all forms of slavery and tyranny and have people be as free as the desert winds.

Level 5: lightning dash, Four winds, air impulse junction
Level 6: champion reaction
Level 8: Desert Winds
Level 9: Fly, earth aura junction

His mastery of the desert increases as he now commands the desert winds themselves. They carry his allies in a warm breeze, while for his enemies they appear as a desert storm with him in its eye, pulling everyone towards him and making it difficult for them to go against its currents and walk away. His winds are strong enough that they can even fully carry him up the skies, cover his allies beneath a curtain of sand, or even sear his enemies with blades of winds.

Level 10: aura mastery
Level 12: earthquake
Level 13: spikes, air aura junction
Level 14: wall of stone

Having already mastered the desert winds, now he commands the ground beneath the sands. Able to break it, make it rise, or even making impenetrable, spiked, carapaces out of it for him and his allies.

Level 16:free sustain
Level 17:Invisibility, earth skill junction
Level 18: infinite expanse
Level 20: quicken

At the pinnacle of his mastery he finally has control of the desert mirages and hallucinations, allowing him to disappear from sight or even capture his enemies into infinite mirages.

So I made this ring for my abp campaign, but I don't really know what level I should make it to calculate a price in case my players want to sell it instead (or to have a DC for reverse engineering it).

All opinions welcomed (also you can tell me if you like it or not).

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Ring of stars:
This platinum ring has tiny gemstones set into it depicting 3 different constellations.

As a 3 action activity with the manipulate trait one can point his hand on an enemy and try to trace any of the three constellation in the air.

If successful, tiny motes of starlight descent on that enemy.

The 3 constellations have different difficulty in trying to trace them:

Easy: DC 20 Occult check, has the effect of a 3 action cast of 2nd rank magic missiles.
Medium: DC 30 Occult check, has the effect of a 3 action cast of 3rd rank magic missiles.
Hard: DC 40 Occult check, has the effect of a 3 action cast of 4th rank magic missiles.

The user can instead of Occult use Lore(astrology) with a -2 on the check DC.
The DC increases by 3 if not under the open sky.

After the ring has expanded its power, it automatically recharges after 10 minutes under the open sky or 30 minutes while indoors.

---

I was thinking like level 8ish or 9is?but maybe that's too low?

Valet familiar:

You can command your familiar to deliver you items more efficiently. Your familiar doesn't use its 2 actions immediately upon your command. Instead, up to twice before the end of your turn, you can have your familiar Interact to retrieve an item of light or negligible Bulk you are wearing and place it into one of your free hands. The familiar can't use this ability to retrieve stowed items. If the familiar has a different number of actions, it can retrieve one item for each action it has when commanded this way.

So, when you use the command action to command a familiar with the Valet ability, two times in your turn, at any point during it, it can fetch and give you one item.

Activities/Simultaneous Actions:

You can use only one single action, activity, or free action that doesn’t have a trigger at a time. You must complete one before beginning another. For example, the Sudden Charge activity states you must Stride twice and then Strike, so you couldn’t use an Interact action to open a door in the middle of the movement, nor could you perform part of the move, make your attack, and then finish the move.

Free actions with triggers and reactions work differently. You can use these whenever the trigger occurs, even if the trigger occurs in the middle of another action.

The question is simple:

Can that fall under the free action clause of the simultaneous action rule? (as an example if you command your familiar to "give me X when i do Y", thus giving it a trigger)

Meaning, can the familiar give you the item while you are already performing an action/activity?

Am I missing something here?

Every class with focus powers got an item that gives back a focus point once per day.
Those items also give +2 to the relevant skill.
They also give a secondary benefit. Either a once per day ability, or an ability that happens when you use your focus points, or some secondary skill bonuses.

Except witch...

She got the only item without a secondary benefit.
Same item level, same cost, same restrictions, but it's just flat out worse.

So, one of the weakest spellcasting classes got shafted, why?

Or is this an AoN problem and they simply forgot to put in the secondary benefit?

Because frankly it makes 0 sense to not have one.

regular camouphlage dye:

Camouflage dye uses a variety of alchemically treated paints and crushed crystals to make the user particularly hard to distinguish from their surroundings. When you Activate the dye by sprinkling it on yourself or a creature within reach, the target and its clothing change colors, blending into their surroundings until the target makes a sudden movement. The target can Hide or Sneak without cover or concealment for 10 minutes. If the target uses a hostile action or moves at more than half its Speed, after that action is completed, the effects of camouflage powder end and the creature ceases to be hidden or undetected.

greater:

The dye lasts 1 minute, and the effects don't end if the target uses a hostile action or moves at more than half its Speed.

durations and effects seem to be parallel with invisibility (2nd) and invisibility (4th), with the obvious downside of it requiring stealth as well.

but my main question is about the "effect" and in turn what doesn't end in the greater version.

is this like imp invisibility where once you are hidden you don't become visible, or is the "effect" refering to the ability to keep stealthing after the hostile action?

in short, is the effect just "you can hide" or does it include the hide as well?

normally i would have read that as the effect is just the fact you can hide, but what i've bolded in the main camouphlage dye makes me wonder if the hide effect is included in there as well.

Simple question, but I can't find the rules for it:

Can you reload a combination weapon that you are currently holding as a melee weapon, or do you have to switch first?

(I assume yes, but I'm not 100% sure)

Your regalia implement makes you seem more confident and inspiring with each success. Whenever you successfully Strike the target of your Exploit Vulnerability, choose an ally that you can see. That ally gains a +1 circumstance bonus to its attack rolls against the creature until the beginning of your next turn. If the attack roll was a critical hit, the circumstance bonus increases to +2.

For the longest time I thought that this was simple:

But now that I'm rereading it a bit better... is that really how it works, OR:

you first need to Intensify, then you strike, and on EACH succesful strike you pick a different ally to give that +1?

The second way seems to fit more inline with the actual text, it makes it a gamble (you may spend the action and actually miss on the Strike) but on the other hand if you do 2 strikes, you can buff 2 allies.

... so which one of the two ways does this actually work?

One comment here grabbed my interest.

Basically all impulses and blasts are really one handed weapons.

And that got me thinking:
What if we could gather in both hands? (each using a separate action to gather)

It could be that if you've gathered in both hands you get your Con as damage on blasts, which could alleviate some damage complains.

You could form two handed weapons by using both energies. Which would alleviate some theme complains(mostly from earth).

You could use two overflow abilities before you had to start gathering once more. Which would alleviate some action economy complains.

It would also be a bit more tactical for when you start blowing them off in overflow compared to keeping both for the passive boosts. Unlike now that they are more like an on/off switch.

Opinions?

I get that it is suppossed to be a limiter on how much we can use Overflow abilities.

But given that overflow abilities seems to be a staple of the class, and not something like an emergency thing, Gather Element feels... bad.

I think there should be feats that actually add things to that "reload" action even if it's just to make it more interesting. Even simple things like gather+stride and etc.

We already have 1 such feat, Cycle Elements, that does help with, well, cycling elements for dual element kineticists, but apart from that there's nothing until level 19 when suddenly it's free to do so.

A lot of the level 1 Impulse feats seem to be able to be molded into this idea (even if they have to be raised in level for balance reason)

As an example:
Take the level 1 stone shield feat. Would it be unreasonable for an earth kineticist to have that actually be his Gather element action? Basically instea of gathering it floating around his fist, he gathers it floating around his body, so he gets a raise shield action INSTEAD od "drawing a weapon" for his Blasts.

Or the water movement feat, aalow Water kineticists to basically "ride the wave" and stride as they gather their element.

And etc.

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Basically:

give options for more interesting Gather element actions through feats.

I thought that there was an active attempt to move away from individual "ability timers". Or at least as much as posible.

Using universal systems like focus points and etc to tie in all those "once per 10 minutes" abilities.

Once per day abilities I can see bcause they represent something very powerful that can be done once per adventuring day. Also, their bookeeping is pretty straightforward.

But... All those "can only be affected by X every 10 minutes" that exist in the playtest is (in my opinion always) a huge step backwards towards the "less bookkeeping" core design of pf2.

Couldn't there be a universal way to track those instead of having 5 (as an example) 5 different abilitites that each can be used 1/10min to each different target?

I can easily see bookepping confusion going on if you start to go "i have use this healing ability on party member 1,2,4 this period, and that healing ability on member 3,2,5. I've also used this one timed ability only on 1 and 5. So now that I am in this element, I can use... which ability on whom again?"

I really like the concept and execution of the Thaumaturge, you can bring so many themes out of the base chassis of this class.

As far as gameplay goes, I do though find them action starved. Between moving, finding weaknesses, striking, using Implement empowerment, other common miscellaneous actions that they might want to do like an Implement action, or a feat, or shareing weaknesses, and etc there's only so much you can fit within your 3 actions of a round.

I also love the general premise of frontline support characters. Someone being in the thick of it and assisting his allies from there.

So, here we go (this is a free archetype build trying to eek as much out of the action economy and support while staying relatively sturdy enough to dish it out in melee):

Halim was a lizardfolk shaman from deep within the jungle. From birth he was drilled with the esoteric knowledge of his tribe, the myths, the legends, the knowhow. The spirits guide him and whisper to him the weaknesses of his foes, the ancient traditions taught to him about the underlying principles of the world and everything within it. Using the raw materials of the land itself he can even create small shamanistic trinkets for him and his allies.
Alas, his tribe has fallen. At the last moment before disaster, the elder shaman, following his visions, entrusted the two most important items of the tribe to him, and urged him to leave. Clutching the amulet of the tribe shaman and the shield of the tribe warleader, he rode on his trusty mount companion away from the carnage.

Initial implement: amulet

Level 1: diverse lore
Level 2: talisman esoterica / Free archetype: Beastmaster
Level 4: heal companion / Free archetype: mature companion
LEvel 5: Regalia implement (the tribe shield)
Level 6: Sympathetic Vulnerabilities / Free archetype: Marshal dedication (diplomacy)
Level 8: Inspiring marshal stance / Free archetype: incredible companion
Level 10: Topple foe / Free archetype: Sentinel
Level 12: share weakness / Free archetype: Imp bullwark
Level 14: extra reaction / Free archetype: specialized companion
Level 15: chalice implement
Level 16: flight / Free archetype: specialized companion
Level 18: intense implement / Free archetype: specialized companion
Level 20: Ubiquitous weakness / Free archetype: second companion? (could also pick up that earlier alongside the multiple command feat instead of going all in the specialized companion)

implemets:
amulet of chief shaman
regalia: shield of the warleader
chalice: whatever, b level 15 you should have found something in your travels that should be of importance.

We use our beastmaster companion as a trusty mount to get us around the battlefield, freeing one of our actions. So we are mostly interested in something with high dex to get as much AC out of it as we can.
As a lizardfolk we have our big effing teeth as a weapon, it's not spectacular, just a d8 without any traits, but we also do not have to worry about hand issues.

Other ancestry feats can be thematic like the astrology based ones.

We have a free stride with the mount, and we don't have (at least early and mid levels) action implements, so we can strike, use our Intensify (regalia if we hit, amulet if we miss or if we are about to get a beating), and then either use a second strike (if we are pushing damage) or raise our shield (if we expect a thrashing). Ofc, third action should be our stance on the first round and afterwards could very well be a share weakness if we have that, or a chalice if we have that, or even a command (especially if you have multiple companions), a heal companion if needed, and etc. Options do exist.

Out of amulet and regalia, which one gets to adept first depends on the party.
If we have a lot of melee/close range characters, we pick up Regalia for the damage buff aura. If we need to have more sustain, we pick up amulet. Usually though I would go for Regalia first and then amulet. But for sure the paragon should go to Amulet to give party wide resistances.

We have inspiring stance for the attack buff for our allies and the regalia for the damage buff. We can negate some of the damage that the enemy do through our reaction. We can further increase attack buff through Intensify with the regalia.

We start with medium armor but upgrade to heavy at 3 with heavy armor proficiency, grab full plate at 5 when we hit our 18 strength. We retrain out of heavy armor proficiency after level 10 and pick something else instead.

I think that chalice as a third implement suppliments the build quite well, increasing the sustain/support a bit. We are also at a level that we should have ample access to haste/quicken so the action economy using that is actually managable.

So, one of the cantrips modified by Infinite Eye is Detect Magic.

More specifically:

When you cast detect magic you are aware of any creature in the emanation affected by a spell or carrying a magical item, and you determine the main location of magic within a magical hazard in the emanation (with the normal restrictions on detecting illusions). This typically manifests as an alteration to your vision, such as seeing a soft aura around the creature or hazard.

So unlike the normal detect magic which is a simple yes/no switch, this makes magic basically radiate a detectable aura if I'm reading it correctly.

Does that "awareness" work like an imprecise sense then? ("There's a creature affected by magic there!")

Would that reveal the location of (as an example) someone that has casted Invisibility as an example?

I'm not sure if that has been clarified anywhere, or what is the concencus.

Relevant traits/actions:

Attack trait (from Grapple action)

An ability with this trait involves an attack. For each attack you make beyond the first on your turn, you take a multiple attack penalty.

Grapple trait:

You can use this weapon to Grapple with the Athletics skill even if you don't have a free hand.

Forceful trait:

When you attack with it more than once on your turn, the second attack gains a circumstance bonus to damage equal to the number of weapon damage dice, and each subsequent attack gains a circumstance bonus to damage equal to double the number of weapon damage dice.

Backswing trait:

You can use the momentum from a missed attack with this weapon to lead into your next attack. After missing with this weapon on your turn, you gain a +1 circumstance bonus to your next attack with this weapon before the end of your turn.

Agile trait:

The multiple attack penalty you take with this weapon on the second attack on your turn is –4 instead of –5, and –8 instead of –10 on the third and subsequent attacks in the turn.

So, overall, the way i see it:

Unlike finesse, all those traits only mention "attack" not "attack roll". And grapple action is an Attack as described in the attack trait.

So, if you are using a Grapple weapon, which specifically uses the weapon for the attack, then do the rest of the traits activate?

As an example, if you first do a grapple check, and then you swing with the weapon, does the swing gets the bonus from the Forcefull since it's the "second attack with the weapon"?

How about if you miss the grapple, does the attack gets the bonus from the Backswing trait?

Same thing with Agile, does it means that if you swing first and then go for a grapple, does the grapple gets a -4 MAP instead of a -5?

This magnetized suit is strapped to your body over your armor or clothes. When you Activate it, you must choose whether to set it to attract or repel.

While set to attract, you take a –1 item penalty to your AC against attacks made by metal weapons, while creatures within a 5-foot emanation other than you gain a +1 item bonus to their AC. If set to repel, you gain a +1 item bonus to AC against attacks made with metal weapons. While attracting metal, you gain a +1 item bonus to Athletics checks to Climb metal objects and Grapple metal creatures and a –1 item penalty to Athletics checks to Shove metal creatures. While repelling metal, you gain a +1 item bonus to Athletics checks to Shove metal creatures, but you take a –1 item penalty to Climb metal objects and Grapple metal creatures.

a)what is the duration? You can activate it for 2 actions and then it stays on until the end of times?

b)am i correct to assume that as wwritten (seems weird if that was also the intention) the majority of what it does do nothing for the average adventurer? Item bonuses to AC, for you or you rallies (depedning on which mode you have it set) do not stack with the normal item bonuses from your armor (and at +1 bonus, as an 8th level itm, that's less than even explorer's clothing+rune), even though it can be specifically be worn "over armor".

I would assume the intention was to have the attract function to give you a penalty while providing bonus for your allies nearby, and the repel function to be to give you an added defense vs metallic weapons , but RAW, I do not see that working if it stays as an item bonus.

It seems to me that the class *can* be designed around min-maxing way more than any other class atm. In fact, it seems to have abilities that stack merely for the purpose of stacking, and thus leading to builds that seem.. questionable.

Let's see this particular example:

A human, emotional acceptance, silent whiseprs psychic:

As a human we start with our level 1 class feat, which obviously is Unleash Self defence because the default Unleash is terrible for us.

Little fact about this particular Unleash, read with me:

Requirements: You’ve cast two beneficial spells on yourself

or an ally this encounter, each on a different round.

So, if you cast on 1st round, and then you cast on the second round, you can actually use this action on the second round, since by then you have used 2 beneficial effects on 2 different rounds.

So, we can enter our "stance" at round 2 with 1 action. After we used another 1 action first... hmm... that leaves 1 action left doesnt it?

BUT WAIT!

While your psyche is unleashed, in addition to its other

effects, you’re constantly surrounded by the manifestation
of your psychic magic. This allows you to amp one psi
cantrip each round without spending the Focus Point cost
to do so.

AHA!

So that basically means we can go with something like :
round 1: spell+1action amped cantrip
round 2: amped cantrip, unleash, "free" amped cantrip

Now, let's continue to minmax a bit:

I don't like that "spell" word in round 1. we only have so few of them, i prefer to keep them for when really needed!

But we can always pick up Mental Rapport on level 2, we are already Cha based, so getting "circumstance" bonuses on Intimidation sounds fun!

We pick up Strain mind on 4, since we do have the ability to basically power through our focus points in literally 1 round if we want, so that's always helpful for double the fun on round 2 as well!

Level 6 we poach Mental scan with Parallel breakthrough

Level 8 we pick up 5 round Unleashes since we enter our own at round 2 and we want to fight longer than round 4.

Level 9-10 we get Inspire courage because we love 1 action party wide buffs that stack with our 1 action party wide buffs!

level 12 probably something like Inertia barrier
level 14 is meh, probably something like mesmerising gaze, just because this way we start Stacking things that arent cantrips as well
Level 16 we fly
level 18 more amps
level 20 even more amps.

---

obviously, if we skip the +1 to intimidate we can get inspire at level 8 instead of 10, and get the 5 round unleash at 10 instead of 8 then.

we lose a bit of "early" game but gain inspire shenanigans earlier

----

recap:

level 1: self-defence
level 2: rapport/bard dedication
level 4: strain mind
level 6: Parallel breakthrough: mental scan
level 8: lingering psyche/ inspire courage
(level 9 bard dedication)/ -
level 10: inspire courage/ lingering psyche
level 12: Inertia barrier
Level 14: Gaze? (really anything you want, maybe pick up level 1-3 spells from bard and etc)
Level 16: Fly
Level 18: 3 focus points
level 20: double amps

----

end effect:

we can start our unleash AND get a free amp from as early as round 2.
we can give party wide +2/+2 on attack and damage from level 8-10 and onwards, for the whole combat, and even give one member +3/+3 instead.
For 2 actions. That's like Spamming Inspire heroics each round for the whole combat but with a free seek on top!.
And since the above leaves us 1 free action that we can use to intimidate the enemy at +1 bonus to make the "effective" group wide buff vs this enemy +3.

Alternatively, we can use this 1 action to move one of our allies in range, or to allow one of our allies to trip the enemy so as to also provide "flat-footed" to the enemy.

Alternatively we can boost the damage mitigration of our tank, and since all the above are pretty much at-will powers, in the case we need to spend resources and not sit on our bottoms, we do have some of the highest DCs for our enchantments due to the +1 on the DC (or the enemy loses their reaction) AND the +1 on the intimidate before the actual spell.

---

To me, being able to constantly provide all allies a +2/+2, an ally a +3/+3, and keeping the enemy prone or intimidated, while getting passive bonuses to your skills and spell DCs seem kinda.... Pathfinder 1e instead of Pathfinder 2e.

I would love if all those amps/unleashes/etc were actual mechanics (like the extra action on message or the damage reduction) rather than pure math-fixers like "give allies +1/+1 but it's a different kind of +1/+1" "get +1 to your intimidate" "get +1 to your DC" "get +1 to your damage" "get +1 to your AC" and etc.

There will always be problems with abilities that allow you to "guess" ahead of time what will happen.

In this case, the target has to "guess" that he will be able to do/try said action *by the end of his turn*.

What i mean with this is that the spell asks you in the beginning of your turn if you will take X action by the end of turn, but realistically you cannot know if something will happen before the end of the turn that will stop that from happenning.

So, let's say that we cast that at someone in the back and ask him to strike. He accepts that he will do so, and then moves towards a target to punch him. While moving he gets tripped/trapped/interrupted/etc

Now he is on the floor, with no one around him, and one action left.

he has already said he was going to "strike" though.

Does he punch the air losing his last action, or does he stands up normally since at that point he is unable to take said action (even though he was able to take that action in the beginning of his turn when he declared so)?

---

You ask someone to cast a spell. He has shocking grasp, so he accepts. He starts moving closer to get in touch range and he is interrupted by a critical AoO.

Now what? He cant move for a second time and still have enough actions to cast the spell although he already accepted that this would be what he will be doing by the end of his turn.

Is he forced to cast it on himself? Are the rest of the actions lost (cast into nothing)? Is Nudge Intent suddenly "unable to comply so disreagard"?

Normally, Ghost Touch property is reserved for Melee weapons. But if something "grants them the effect of a ghost touch property" does that means that they do apply even if they are ranged weapons?

Feat references:

Level 9 Duskwalker feat Spirit Strikes:

Your connection to the Boneyard empowers you to bring death to all forms of life and unlife, exploiting their weaknesses. All your weapon and unarmed Strikes are magical and deal 1 additional negative damage to living creatures and 1 additional positive damage to undead.

Level 1 Duskwalker feat Ghost Hunter:

Your connection to the Boneyard ensures that your blows strike true against spectral beings. Your weapon and unarmed attack Strikes against incorporeal creatures become magical. If they are already magical, they instead gain the effects of a ghost touch property rune.

important stipulations:

a)you are playing with Bonus Archetype variant rules (we need to steal a boatload of feats from other classes/archetypes since our own are meh)
b)your GM doesn't automatically gives you access to Dragon disciple (if he does, then it's much simpler)
c)you have access to energy mutagen (not build defining, but certainly nice to have)
d)the official books have for some reason misspelled most of the thing we will be using. I'll be using those false names for ease, but you are obligated to switch them in your formula book:
Our Draconic Presence mutagen is named Silverotngue.
Dragon breath Mutagen is called Energy mutagen.
Dragon Inheritance is called Cognitive mutagen.
Dragon Might is called Bestial.
and etc

---

What good is science if you cannot (slowly) tranform yourself to a dragon with it?!

In combat we simply rage and smack things with a long stick, having worse attack bonus than martials but at least keeping pace with the damage. We should be also keeping up on the HP front and have a great AC (like, REALLY great).

Out of combat we rely on cognitive + high int + a lot of trained skills for doing research/recalls/etc. We are also dispensing mutagens/elixirs to our fellow party members to shore up weaknesses/boost strengths, as needed.

---

We start as a humble hobgoblin mutagenist with a dragon fetish/fascination. Heritage wise, both elfbane (to get a reaction) and smokeworker (just because it offers something unique) can work.

we go for a more frontloaded stat array since early levels alchemist is where he's hurting the most:
16/14/14/16/10/10

Boost, Str, Con, Int, Wis with level ups. Apex Strength.

You should be like 20/14/19/20/16/10 at 15th level.

---

as normal, we will ignore every class feat we can until like level 12:

1st level we pick up our potion dispencer... err Familiar (manual dexterity/indipendent is nice)
Ancestry wise, i like Scholar because more recipes are neat. But you can easily pick up Weapon familiarity at this point as well.

At this level we aren't doing much. We have our medioum armor, maybe a longspear or twohanding a staff (each with it's own pros and cons) or a halberd if we picked up weapon familiarity.

Our alchemical stuff are mostly a few healing elixirs to bring back to life the actual healers, maybe a few juggernaut potions for a bit of extra padding of our hp, maybe smokesticks if we went smokeworker, a poison or two on the fighter's weapon, and etc minor things that aren't of much importance. Keep in mind that we can always spent an action to command our familiar to draw and feed us a potion even if we're twohanding.

---

2nd level we pick up Barbarian (dragon instinct) dedication and revivifying (not because of the healing, the healing is terrible, 1d6 till level 11, instead we pick it up because it's the only known way to man to stop a mutagen)

We're starting on the path to the ultimate mutation -Dragon.

Rage gives us about as much HP as Juggernaut, so we should be probably be switching to something like Drakeheart, both because it's appropriate and also because it counteracts the -1 to AC from the rage.

Keep in mind that you can not command your familiar while raging, so command it before raging to feed you your mutagens and then rage. After that, leave it on his own (indipendent) to do draw and feed you whatever it feels like (probably health elixirs).

----

3rd level general feat will probably be either weapon familiarity through ancestral paragon (glaive and halberd are both great options) or we will be picking more streamlined options like toughness/fleet if we picked the other one at level 1.

---

4th level we're going to be picking both barbarian resiliency (as a d8 class we need as much HP as we can get) and draconic arrogance (because our will saves are terrible) or No escape (to get a reaction).

---

5th level i would personally retrain ancestral paragon to toughness and pick up the weapon familiarity manually. But you can delay toughness if you want and pick up something else. The free draw may be useful depending on how you adventure. (especially if your GM allows "draw a weapon" to also include "switch from carrying your twohanded to proper grip. It does sound reasonable if you're able to draw a twohander to both hands to also be able to simply grip it with both hands.)

---

6th level. Now we're talking. Like a lot of alchemist builds, the first few levels were a PITA since you couldn't do much. Now you can finally take Dragon Disciple (since you are also a dragon instanct barbarian) and Dragon Skin. Throw your armor away and go commando with your drakeheart mutagens for a pretty good AC while raging.

---

8th level, we finally get our instanct ability, that more or less covers the fact that we don't have specialiazation like every other martial. So we're keeping up in damage. Due to resiliency, while we don't have barbarian level's of HP, we should still be good.

Dragon breath can also give us an AoE, but i'm not sure about the DC, since it doesn't actually specifies tradition. If the GM rules that it's Arcane (like the bloodline) then don't pick it up, if he rules that it's Class DC, pick it up. Other wise, there are a bunch of usefull level 1-4 barbarian feats to pick from.

---

10th level follows the tradition of not picking alchemist feats. Instead pick up a few more barbarian feats or some more senses through Dragon disciple.

Going Mauler from here on is also a possibility to grab some nice twohanded feats (may need to pick up scent or breath from Dragon Discpile on the previous level).

---

12th level... we can now start picking up alchemist feats! yay! Extend elixir is very good. As is Attack of opportunity from barbarian, as is Flight as is Dragon breath (from barbarian).
Invinsible would be neat, but we're not using Juggernaut since the HP don't stack with rage and our Will is abysmal even without tanking it even more.

---
(sidenote: we can now use a 2nd mutagen. I'll probably be using Energy mutagen since it's the only one that helps with the build. A tiny bit extra damage (1d6) and a second breath weapon for more AoE coverage.
---

14th... Glib is questinable. Being able to talk to everyone is neat, but not sure what it achieves if you dont understand what they are telling back yo you. Plus, at this level, having a scroll of comrehend and a caster solves any such problems. So i would skip that and pick up the two feats that you didn't pick in the previous level (or more Mauler stuff).

---

16th. Persistent mutagen is a trap. Your mutagens last 2 hours each and as a mutagenist you have way more than enough of them to last you and your party for the whole day. Eternal on the other hand can save you some real action economy and reagents in the form of various small utility or combat buffs like Mistform, leaper's, speed, etc. Similarly, Genus is also a cool alternative finally giving you an all-in-one out of combat utility mutagen. 8th level Barbarian feats or Mauler stuff.

I think I've seen in the past rules that said something akin to "if the attack deals fire damage it gains the fire trait" but I can't seem to find anything of that sort now that I search for it.

Do weapons and attacks with things like fire pois and lit torches really don't have the fire trait (as an example)?

Gunslingers being tied to Reload, and how to make that mechanic "less annoying" is everpresent in this forum.

My own take on this issue:

Reload basically "wastes" actions per turn.

It is less impactful in short encounters and more impactful in longr encounters (akin to the old, fire the loaded crossbow and drop it)

So in effect, in an encounter where you need to spent a lot of rounds, you end up spending a lot of actions on reload.

Introducing "Grit":

Grit is your perseverence, the longer you hold out, the longer it takes for you to down your enemies, Grit builds up:

Actual mechanic:

Every time you reload you gain 1 Grit point.

You then have "grit point" spender abilities:

example baseline ability:

Determined Shot:
Free actionn:
Spent 3 Grit points. In your next Strike with a firearm of crossbow this turn you deal 3 additional Presision damage.

And then you can add mopre feats/abilities that work of spending Grit points. Temp HP, extra distance moved on strides, circumstance bonuses on skills, and etc.

Holdscarred Orc
Str 16
Dex 14
Con 12
Int 18
Wis 8
Cha 8

Raise Str/Con/Int/Wisdom. Item bonus should probably be for Strength though and not Int.

Ancestry feats:
1: Ferocity
5: Bloody blows
3 or 7: Superstition (ancestral paragon)
9: Pervasive superstition
13: Incredible ferocity
17: Rampaging ferocity/Devouring Superstition

General feats: the usual toughness, fleet, etc plus ancestral paragon at 3 or 7. You can probably fit Shield Block as well.

Class feats:
1: Tamper
2: Monk Multiclass
4: Gorilla stance
6: Celerity
8: Gigavolt/Searing/Overdrive Ally (you probably want to retrain to overdrive either way after you pick up negate damage)
10: Flurry
12: Boost modulation/Shared overdrive/Manifold
14: Unstable redundancies
16: Soaring armor
18: Negate damage
20: Full automation

For Winston you probably want Gigavolt+Explosive Leap)

Armor path:
fire/cold resist
Slashing or piercing Resist
(acid+lighning resist if manifold)
Physical resist

-----------

The idea behind it:

You are basically a juggernaut wearing massive armor, jumping into the fray and pummeling stuff with your knuckles, and Explode when you are surrounded.

Inventor has flat damage boosts (+1d6 elemental +Int) so it benefits from increase number of attacks. Flurry is a nice way to capitalise on that, Gorilla stance is a nice boost to d8 backswing+forceful+grapple that allows you to still wear armor. You can also have a shield ready to be raised if needed for extra protection.

Tamper allows you to move, tamper for flat-footed+slow, and still get 2 strikes in. Raise Shield if you don't need to move, or you are Hasted or you use Celerity, and etc.

Worst case, you grab someone (using your unarmed +item bonus) to protect the team while you rely on your resistances, ferocity, and later on Negate, to survive.

You have an aoe around you in Explode, you can pick up a second Aoe if you want in gigavolt.

scarhold orc gives great vitality plus some reactions that the class lacks until higher levels (plus if you picked shield block that's another Reaction).

Level 1 probably use any martial weapon you want (would still use shield+one handed)
Level 2 your punches do d6 lethal and are Agile so they are ok already.

We all know the greatest gnomish invention to date... Gnomish Flickmaces and the No1 reason that so many people have "adopted" the gnomish culture (especially champions for some reason^^)

So, now, it's time to unveil the natural evolution of this magnificent weapon:

Introducing Entangling Flickmace!

one handed, reach, trip and grapple at level 1, so yu can now not only strike at range, but also keep things immobilised in your reach and out of theirs!

and ofc, as every good gnomish invention, it only gets better with time!

Entagling Flick-Bastard Sword! (second form of Segmented Bastard Sword at level4! (note: Segmented modification is personal choice, you can get YOUR favorite option in your nearest gnomish inventor all across Absalom!)

Because there are time you just need to do damage instead of control, or simply hide it away (so that folks do not get jealous).

And it only gets better from there!

with amazing technologies like "Flick-er Mace" to enhance the reach, or "Flick Gauntlet" to have a free hand for those juicy selfies with your fav orite new beatstick!

There are vaious abilities in the game that have this text.

notably breath weapons, some fear effects, and etc.

usually it's "for 1d4 rounds"

My question is when do you start counting.

So, let's say you are a kobolt that just used your brath weapon as the first action of the round and rolled a 1 on the 1d4 rounds.

so "you can't use it again for 1 round"

does that mean that next round you can use it? or do you skip your next round and can use it on the following one?

Spell Delivery (Core Rulebook pg. 218 1.1): If your familiar is in your space, you can cast a spell with a range of touch, transfer its power to your familiar, and command the familiar to deliver the spell. If you do, the familiar uses its 2 actions for the round to move to a target of your choice and touch that target. If it doesn’t reach the target to touch it this turn, the spell has no effect.

Are the "2 actions" of the familiar a Stride and the Touch.

Or does the Touch follows normal spell rules in that it doesn't require a seperate action and so the familiar "uses its 2 actions to move and touch" means that he can move with 2 Strides and then touch?

For all i know, there isn't a "touch" action in PF2, and the ability doesn't say "stide and Touch, but instead "use two actions to move and then touch" so the 2nd interpetation makes more sense to me, but I've heard the first one as well.

Leaving apart the general issues of the class, I feel that one of the major reasons for Alchemist being so far behind the other classes is the quality of his feats (especially pre-level 12 ones), that a lot of them resemble PF1 rather than PF2 philosophy.

One by one:

Level 1:
Alchemical Familiar (4/5) A solid feat, especially since the extra abilities for familiars in APG
Alchemical Savant (0/5) This feat needs to be updated with the Skill tag. It's nothing more than a level 1 skill feat in the likes of quick identification
Far lobber (3/5) First feat-tax for bomber builds. It's ok, but it could have been more than just +10ft range. At least give it the ranger treatment doubling their range or something
Quick Bomber (3/5) Just get a valet-indipendent familiar, or let us use it on othr items than just bombs. As written it's just a bad version of Quick Draw
Subtle Delivery (joke/5) Use the worst weapon in the entire game... so that when and if you crit and the enemy fails his save, you get to do a bit of extra poison damage (that you would have done either way if you used a real weapon). For reference: Blowgun is a weapon that does *1* nonlethal damage (not even 1d4), with 20ft range, and a reload. Really, this feat could have read "any weapon" and still be balanced for a level 1 feat ("on a critical hit with a poisoned weapon, if the enemy also fails his poison saving throw, he critically fials instead" doesnt seem out of line)

Level 2:
Demolition charge (2/5) If you want to play a trapper, just grab trapper archetype at the same level. 1 minute setup should really have been 3 action activity setup.
Poison resistance (2/5) "ok". Personally never seen anyone pick this feat, either an alchemist or a druid...
Revivifying Mutagen (3/5) Extremely low healing, you just take it if you want to end your mutagen debuffs early.
Smoke Bomb (3/5) Has some useful applications, but not something that you will be using consistently across encounters.

Level 4:
Calculated Splash (feat tax/5) 2nd feat tax if you are a bomber
Efficient Alchemy (0/5) Needs the Skill tag added. Nothing more than a skill feat applying only to skill use.
Enduring Alchemy (2/5) Feat tax if you want to use your core ability "alacrity". That's assuming you find a way to grow a 3rd hand to even use alacrity. In short, just skip this and alacrity...
Healing Bomb (3/5) Very expensive to use, but it gives range
Tenacious Toxins (joke/5) If the enemy fails 6 saving throws in a row, there's now a chance for him to fail a 7th...

Level 6:
Combine Elixir (3/5) Speaking of expensive to use abilities... At least it does give some action economy if you happen to simultaneously need to drink 2 elixirs that you have prepared neither of. Circumstantial, but circumstantial good.
Debilitating Bombs (4/5) Good array of debuffs to add to bombs. Sadly, only to Quick bombs because reasons. This and/or Sticky Bombs are the 3rd feat tax of bomber
Directional Bombs (3/5) if you want to do aoe damage as a bomber after the 1st/2nd round, you need this.
Sticky poison (1/5) save 20% of your poisons, that you use yourself, if you use melee attacks to deliver them. Only toxicologist should bother, but then again, with just 1-2 more ingredients you get more poisons than what you save from this feat.

Level 8:
Feral mutagen (3/5) The rating is mostly for the intimidation bonus and the deadly trait. That said, since it's personal use only, dont expect to be critting a lot with an alchemist. The second part is a trap. getting +1 damage/die is not worth an additional -1 to AC.
Perpetual Breath (4/5) As a mutagenist or a chirurgeon, you really dont have anything great to use your perpetual feature without this feat.
Pinpoint poisoner (4/5) if you are a toxicologist, you need this as a mathfixer. Why is this a feat and not an automatic feature of them?
Powerful Alchemy (joke/5) Every other class in game gets a better version of this, for free, at level 1.
Sticky bomb (4/5) 3rd feat tax (shared with debilitating) for bombers. Great damage boost that bombs sorely needed.

Level 10:
Elastic mutagen (2/5) if you are under a specific mutagen and only then (also only you), you step 10ft instead of 5. Also a niche circumstantial use for squeezing.
Expanded splash (feat tax/5) the 4th feat tax for bombers. More damage and more radius. A pure mathfixer.
Greater debilitating bomb (1/5) i personally find the debuffs from debilitating bomb to be better than those given from greater debilitating bomb...
Merciful Elixir (3/5) condition removal for chirurgeons, kina late, but better late than never.
Potent poisoner (1/5) Every other class in game gets a better version of this, for free, at level 1.
Unstable concoction (1/5) doesnt everyone want to waste action and a lot of resources to do damage to themselves?! But wait, if you spend 4 times the amount of Ingredients compared to a normal Quick Alchemy, you get a whooping ~1d8+1 more damage, 1d6+3 more healing, or something along those lines. If you somehow have a higher level recipe. And you still only do so 85% of the time, the rest 15% of the time you still explode yourself

Level 12:
Extend elixir (5/5) Amazing feat. The definition of "mathfixer" though. A lot of your stuff, including mutagens, will benefit from having double duration.
Invicible mutagen (4/5) good solid DR on a defensive mutagen
Uncanny bombs (4/5) Because everyone loves mathfixers. Especially bombers apparently. Here's some range and some concelment negation.

Level 14:
Glib mutagen (2/5) Tongues is a 5th level spell, and you can use it on anyone, this is self only and 5 levels later. This negates some penalties, but tongues actually allow you to communicate (something that's extremely hard when you dont understand what the others are saying)
Greater Merciful (3/5) More condition removal, "ok"
True debilitating bomb (3/5) if only it didnt have the previous feat as a requirement...

Level 16:
Chemical contagion (0/5) IF you are close. And IF the enemy CRIT fails a Fort save. And IF that enemy is adjacent to another enmy. And IF that other enemy fails his save. Then this reaction actually does something! I counted 4 IFs and a Critical Fail for it to work...
Eternal elixir (5/5) Permannet stuff are great, even if they are lower level ones.
Exploitive Bombs (1/5) Just use another type of bomb? That's the whole bonus of alchemist, multiple elemental types.
Genious Mutagen (2/5) Kinda late to switch to "mindchemist". Unfortunately, because you arent a rogue or an Investigator, all those skills will be stuck at Trained, and you cant give that bonus to the actual skill users.

Level 18:
Improbable elixirs (6/5) imo the true capstone of the Alchemist, finally having access to some core support stuff like fly, resists, haste, etc. The extra point pushing it above 5/5 is because you can combine it with eternal elixir for permanent such bonuses on yourself
Mindblank (2/5) Great ability on a terrible mutagen
Miracle Worker (2-4/5) Resses are good, it does have some strict use requirements, and it's at the point where 9th level spells exist, but it's also common and so it may be the only option for the group (heavily GM dependent).
Perfect Debilitation (3/5) I would prefer if it followed the paradgm of True debilitation, so access to -3 debuffs and making the -2 debuffs land on a success, instead of only having the second part, but it's still good.

Level 20:
Capstones.

Let's say we use Batle medicine on the Summoner. The shared HP pool gets healed by X and Summoner is now immune to battle medicine for a day.

But can you use then Battle medicine on the Eidolon, and heal the same pool again?

Same with stuff that grant immunity for a period of time, like a Hex and etc.

The magus was always a Crit-fisher, and this hasn't really changed in PF2

His Attack bonus (for the physical attack) is actually decently high, especially when using Magus Potency which after level 7 is ahead of the curve as far as Potency runes go (+2 at level 7 instead of average level 11, +3 at level 13 instead of average level 17) (that doesnt mean you shouldnt invest in your weapon though. Fights where you cant recover Focus do happen often)

Add the best crit-fishing spell in the game via True strike, and we have something going.

And when we're talking about critfishing in Pf2, we're talking about Picks.

So here we go:

Half-elf Magus

18/12/12/16/10/10
19/12/12/18/12/12
20/12/14/19/14/12
21/12/16/20/16/12
24(apex)/12/18/20/18/14

(you can go for a higher Cha instead of Wis if you want to maximise your Marshal Aura but i don't see the need, proficiency and items should give you more than 60% of activating the Aura, at most you lose 1 more action per combat)

Heritage: Half-Elf
Ancestry feats:
1)Natural Ambition
5)Nimble Elf
9)Pinch Time (<-one of the reasons we went with Half-elf)
13)Otherworldly magic
17)Heroic Presence

General feats:
3)Toughness
7)Probably Fleet, but really whatever you want after this point

Class feats:
1)Familiar (After level 9 this is +1 Haste/Day from Innate, Also an additional spell at max level-3)
2)Marshal
4)Inspiring Marshal Stance
6)Martial Caster
8)Spell Parry/AoO
10)Portal Slide
12)Overwhelming Spellstrike/Coordinated Charge
14)Hasted Assault/Pretenatural Parry
16)Pretenatural Parry/Hasted Assault
18)Second Chance
20)Both are pretty good, but since we already have plenty of Hastes we go with Whirlwind

For most of your carrer you will be using a Divination Staff with Shifting Rune to switch it to a Pick

Your offensive spells should be mostly Save DC based rather than spell attack based.

The build really comes together at level 9

Sample level 15:
1 Round to buff with Haste+Potency, 2nd Round is usually Aura+StrikingSpell+Strike, 3rd+ Round you can start weaving in StrikingSpell+True Strike+Strike

Spellparry for the rounds when you dont use True Strike (or second Strike if you missed)

Overwhelming Spellstrike obviously instead of Strike when there are resistances involved.

Portal teleporting to gain flank on the rounds you go for True Strike is what you're looking for.

Optimally you will be using your Focus for Potency as long as you have your 2 Innate Haste+the 1 prepared one, but if it drags for more than 3 battles you sacrifice Potency for Hasted Assault.

Attack: +21(proficiency)+5(str)+3(Magus Potency)+1(Marshal Aura)= +29
Pick: 3d6+11+1d6 flaming, critical 7d10+22+2d6

Spells: 1st: 8xTrue Strike, 2nd: 1, 3rd: 3xHaste, 4th: Fly, 5th: 1, 7th:2, 8th:2

(Don't forget that as a Prepared caster you can sacrifice a spellslot for equal number of charges, so losing the 5th as an example for 5xTrue Strikes)

Average AC for level 15 monsters seems to be around 37.
So, with Flank you Hit with a 6 and Crit at 16
With True strike that makes it about 44% to Crit, which is not shabby at all.

I don't get this evolution.

Actions between the Summoner and the Eidolon are interchangable, there's no practical difference is an Eidolon Action and a Summoner Action barring a very very niche occasion that you literally have nothing to do with your Eidolon actions and you want to capitalize on Act together.

So, "spend an action to get +2 circumstantial AC" with positional requirements that are generally hazardous to you.
Costs a 6th level Class Feat.

vs
"spend an action to get +2 circumstantial AC" without positional requirements, requires an empty hand (but really would you be holding twohanded weapons as a summoner?)
Costs 5sp to buy a steel shield.

Since there is a lot of discusion about the shared HP pool, an interesting application of it is that whatever heals you, is basically healing your Eidolon as well.

So, Potions/Elixirs have the inherent problem of basiclaly "touch range", something that you can bypass, since you can be 100ft away drinking your Elixirs of Health and Condition removals and casting Boosts, and keeping the HP pool of the Eidolon up while you are safely away.

I highlighted this issue in another thread, but i think it merits one of it's own to see if it's intended or not:

That said, i would love some clarification on their usability:

Staves:

Quote:

You can Cast a Spell from a staff only if you have that spell on your spell list, are able to cast spells of the appropriate level, and expend a number of charges from the staff equal to the spell’s level.

So, let's say at level 5, you have 2nd and 3rd level slots as Magus. So, you actually you don't have a 1st level slot and a 1st level spell from a staff is no longer something of an "appropraite level" you can cast.

So, if you have a Staff of Divination (as an example), at level 1,2,3,4 you can use it to cast True strike. At level 5 somehow you are stop being able to use the staff since it only has 1st level spells.

That seems... weird, to me.

That said, all this weirdness goes away with multiclass, but that seems more like a bandaid from the general rule that somehow an item stops working for you when your magic becomes stronger.

And the problem is that "get a higher level staff" doesnt solve it either.

Simple staffs have level 1 spells and are level 4 items.
So, at level 5 when you usually get them, you have 2nd and 3rd level slots.

Greater staffs have up to level 3 spells, but are level 8 items.
So at level 9 when you usually get them you have only 4th and 5th level slots.

Major staves have up to 5th level spells, but are level 12 items.
So at level 13 you have only 6th and 7th level slots.

and etc

but it does seems unintended seeing the Summoner picture is actually holding a staff though^^

Initial Impressions:

i)I like the general mechanics of the class as far as controling a summoned entity is concerned. Tandem seems perfect, i have no issue with the shared HP pool, etc.

ii)The focus cantrips are something that i generall like in this edition, and the initial focus power seems impactful enough.

iii)The alternative spellcasting progression seems on point (although the *specific* amount of spells might need a slight tweak upwards, like 3/2 instead of 2/2, but that requires playtesting to figure out)

iv)the summoning side of the summoner seems... weak. While summoning X as a focus power may be too much, a seperate pool of summoning spells like the Healing Font may be good enough. The exact amount of how many of said free summonings would be good enough is a matter of playtesting though.

v)Evolutions. I'd like it if there were more of them. Apart from movement types and cosmetics (that are free) there doesnt seem to be much customization for the eidolon.

vi)Eidolon strength. I dont think the eidolons are balanced with each other. Dragon and Beast seem stronger than Angel and Phantom. Action economy enhancers are king in PF2 and both Dragon and Beast get them for free, the Dragon picking an AoE ranged attack as well, while the other 2 get some weak (comperatively) effects instead.
As an example, Phantoms could get the Flickering Evolution at 7 in addition to their level 7 power, and Angels could get the Shield evolution at 7 in addition to their Aura.

vii)Disadvantage to AoE. I feel that this is slightly too harsh of a penalty, as an initial impression. Wanting to play as someone riding your Eidolon seems like a suicide. Level 10 feat turning disadvantage to advantage is nice, but that's halfway throught your career.

-----

Initial Changes:

i)Remove some of the build in powers and put them back old school evolution wise:
As an example, every Eidolon has a Primary d8 attack and a secondary d4 agile attack. Every Eidolon has Darkvision (making me scratch my head on "sensory evolution text). Every Eidolon has 25 speed. Every Eidolon knows 1 language.

You can codify those to evolution points and let us distribute as we wish (with some additional powers applicable to your vision of a 1st level Eidolon)

ii)AoE disadvantage: I would simply change it so that if BOTH are inside an AoE, only the Summoner rolls (and the level 10 feat then adds the advantage effect as normal if you pick it up). If only one of them is in the AoE, then use that one's saving throw as normal.

iii)Synthesis: Allow focus spells. Add later on feats that make the Synthesis more cobmat oriented.

iv)Shared HP seems nice, but i don't know if they are enough. A normal Druid+companion have in between them 8+con+6+con, so 14+2xCon HPs. Maybe increasing HD to 12+Con would be better. But that one is something that i'm willing to give it a try with 10+Con and see how it plays out.

v)minor specific gripe: I absolutely dislike how "Summoner Shield Evolution" doesnt allow the Eidolon to "Raise Shield" for itself but only for the Summoner.

-----

Sample Build:

The Dark Knight

Level 15 Human Phantom Summoner.

A massive blackened animated full plate. Throught the gaps of it one can swear he can see nothing but the Void. Wisps of black energy dance along it surface, following intricate, long faded, carvings, as they flicker like having a mind of their own outwards. A Large longsword in one of it's hands and a massive Shield strapped on the other, both seemingly crafted from the same material as the armor and sharing the same insidious energy.

And, in the shieldhand, safely behind the black steel, one can see the armor... gently cradling a similarly armored human. If someone was to look closer, he could even notice how the black armor of the human almost perfectly matches the large animated one that's holding him.

When a young occultist found a suit of rusted armor brimming with otherworldy energies he couldn't contain himself from immediately trying to examine the faded carvings. A relic of ages long past, after all this time all the enchantments have faded from this once-legendary piece of gear. The only thing that kept it even together was the will and the regret of the sentient magic item. A will that has long since evolved to a full fledged phantom and a regret that it failed to protect its master. Feeling a sentient's life force, the phantom leapt out of it's old husk and immediately bonded with it. Vowing to never again let its master die under his protection.

Heritage: versatile Human: Light Armor
12/10/16/12/10/18
18/10/20/18/10/21

Level 1: Ancestry: Medium armor
Level 2: Sentinel Dedication
Level 3: Ancestry: Synthesis
Level 4: Alacritous Evolution
Level 6: Hulking Evolution, Armor Specialist
Level 8: Summoner Shield Evolution
Level 10: Protective Bond
Level 12: Mighty Bulwark
Level 14: Resilient Eidolon

(basic equip: +2 flaming holy greater striking handwraps, +2 greater resilient full plate, staff of providence, probably something for +Intimidation)

AC: 32 (34 when shielded)
HP: 247 (with Toughness)
F/R/W: +27/+24/+26

Eidolon:
20/20/20/10/16/10
Longsword attack: +27 3d8+11(+17 With Boost), +1d6 fire, +1d6 Good, Slashing
Shield Bash : +27 3d4+11(+17 with Boost), +1d6 fire, +1d6 Good, Bludgeoning

Ac: 35
F/R/W: +27/+25/+25 (+2 vs mental)

Typical rounds you are "riding" your Eidolon and have 4 actions due to Act together. You want Boost and/or Intimidate from you, you want Stride +2 Strikes from the Eidolon, Shield is nice but not mandatory. If you are targeted your Eidolon gets an extra Strike, if you are targeted with AoE use your reaction for Protection Bond instead.

Typical Buffs are Haste, Boost, Bless (you should have 8 charges of it from the Staff)
Typical debuffs are synesthesia, Dance

Haste, Dissapearence, Uncontrollable Dance, Synesthesia, maybe True target, and etc are all good spells to have, so choose the best 4 for you and go from there. Remember your Offensive casting is weak so dont rely on attack spells too much.

If you hit with a melee Strike using the receptacle for the

spell, the spell is discharged, affecting only the target you hit.
The spell still requires its normal spell attack roll or saving
throw, but you don’t increase your multiple attack penalty
until after attempting both the discharging Strike and the spell
attack roll.

So... as long as you keep missing the attack, you dont roll the spell attack.

As long as you dont roll the spell attack, you dont increase MAP.

So, let's say you missed the first round.

Second round you attack, and you miss again.
2nd attack.. you still attack at +0 MAP since you still havent attempted an attack roll for the discharging spell.
let's say you are unlucky and you still miss.

3rd attack, you still roll with full MAP.

So, basically, you get up to 4 attacks at full MAP to release the spell?