I played a Pathfinder Society scenario last night in the 1-2 level range with a brand new Alchemist. In the interest of avoiding spoilers I won’t name the scenario.
Stats:
1st level Human Alchemist: 20 Int, 16 Dex, Improved Initiative, Point Blank Shot
Total attack bonus = 5 = 0 BAB + 3 Dex + 1 Throw Anything + 1 Point Blank Shot
I bought 6 vials of Acid in case I ran out of bombs during combat.
First combat: Our druid gets grappled by a large monster. I am 45 feet away with a PC in front of me. Due to the fact that prepping and throwing a bomb is a full round action I can’t move to a better position (a five foot step was not enough). Not wanting to hit the grappled PC my plan is to hit the monster with splash damage by aiming for a grid intersection with an AC of 5. My total bonus to hit was: 4 – 4 (soft cover) -8 (4 range increments) = -8. So I needed to roll a 13. If I didn’t, I would hit the PC. I dropped that idea and used a sling for 1d4-1 damage. Note that if I could have moved and attacked I would have been within 15’ with no cover and would have only needed to roll a 2 or better to succeed. The next round I decide to move into a better position. Although I only need to use a move action to get into position, I can’t bomb using a standard action so I take no action. The following round the combat is over.
Second Combat: Having learned my lesson I pull out an acid flask so I’ll be able to move and attack in the same round. The fighter opens a door and two Vargouilles are in the room. I won initiative (with my +8) and threw my acid vial at an intersection doing 7 points of splash damage (1 splash+ 5 Int + 1 Point Blank) killing both of them before anyone else acts. Nice.
Third Combat: The druid enters a room and is knocked below 0 with a sneak attack. Holding my vial of acid on one hand I move down the hall and into the room. I throw the acid at the rogue and hit for 11 damage. (Note that once again I could not have done this with my class bomb ability). A little later the rogue is surrounded by my allies such that I cannot throw a bomb without hitting an ally. One PC agrees to take splash damage thinking I could easily get the killing blow. I can’t aim for a direct hit without hitting even more allies so I aim for an intersection once again. I hit my ally and the rogue but it doesn’t kill the rogue. At this point I wish I had an effective non splash weapon. With an 8 Str and no offensive spells this isn’t going to happen.
Fourth combat: The fighter walking in front gets surprised by a wizard’s familiar delivering a touch spell and get knocked unconscious. I go next but can’t aim for a direct hit because the splash will hit my downed ally. I easily hit the intersection and do 7 points of splash. The other PCs kill the familiar before I act again. We all enter the room to find the wizard. I double move to get into range. The druid riding a tiger and the barbarian are able to reach the wizard ahead of me. I can’t get a direct hit (I’m noticing a pattern here) because my allies are adjacent to the wizard so I bomb the intersection using the class ability doing 7 points of splash damage finishing him off.
Fifth Combat: We get an opportunity to set up an ambush and so get a surprise round. Once again the class ability won’t let me bomb in the standard action I will get in the surprise round. Realizing this I arm my self with yet another acid flask. The druid beats me in initiative but agrees to delay so I can throw for a direct hit which I do for 8 damage on the main villain and 7 damage on a lackey. The rest of the party surrounds the villains and I never again get an open shot again without splashing my allies so I cheer from the sidelines (the 1d4-1 damage from the sling didn’t seem worth even rolling for).
Thoughts and Conclusions
At low levels, the 7 damage the Alchemist can do with splash is quite powerful. At fifth level the splash damage the Alchemist will be doing is only 9 points so it really doesn’t scale well. As noted above, in most cases I was forced to use splash damage so this becomes a concern.
I was somewhat surprised to see how frustrating it was not being able to throw and move. Considering that most fights end within three rounds, a round of inactivity is painful. The workaround of using acid or alchemist’s fire will only substitute well at lower levels. At higher levels not getting my 4d6+ of damage will seem quite a waste, not to mention losing the status effect of the discoveries. I hope that the class can be modified such that prepping the bomb is a swift action. This will still only allow a single bomb per round to be thrown, yet allow the Alchemist to move and throw in the same round.
The other issue I had was having a difficult time getting a clear shot due to the splash damage. I strongly believe there needs to be a mechanism such that the Alchemist can choose to forego the splash effect. This way he gets to attack when he otherwise couldn’t (due to collateral damage issues) and also get the benefits of discovery status effects. Without this ability the alchemist will often miss out on getting the higher damage and status effects the direct hits provide.
-Larry
