Alchemist choices

[CountMRVHS]

For fun, I'm creating a 1st-level Alchemist. The concept would be a guy with a bow, eventually shooting poison arrows, who uses bombs, mutagens, extracts, and skills as a sort of problem solver / jack of all trades. Sort of a freedom-fighter for a potentially urban campaign, not the "typical" research-intensive alchemist.

OK, Batman. But with alchemy.

Anyway, I'm trying to decide on stats and race. I'm choosing between Elf, Half-Orc, and Human races.

Here's what I rolled for stats: 17, 17, 14, 13, 13, 9.

If Elf:

Str 13 (or 17)
Dex 19
Con 11
Int 19 (or 16)
Wis 14 (or 13)
Cha 9

The big advantage with Elf is the free Bow proficiency, which is a key part of the concept. Of course the other stuff is nice too: low-light vision, +2 Per, elven magic, etc.

If Human (or Half-Orc):

Str 14 (or 16)
Dex 19 (or 17)
Con 13
Int 17
Wis 13
Cha 9

Human is nice for the skills, but I'd need to spend a feat to get Bow proficiency, putting me on par with the Elf in terms of feats.

Half-Orc has a certain charm, too (mostly the free Falchion proficiency, in which case I'd probably go w/ a 16 Str), but I'd need to spend my lvl 1 feat on Bow proficiency, and I'd be "behind" in terms of feats relative to choosing the Elf or Human. Darkvision is a nice compensation, but I'm not sure if it's enough.

Thoughts?

[Scipion del Ferro]

I made a character exactly like that for Council of Thieves. His name was The Claw, and he was an elf. It worked out rather nicely. The range feats I took to bolster his bombs aided his longbow when bombs were not an option.

[Darkthorne68]

Half-orc is excellent for both darkvision & alternate favored class ability. Also They can have the sacred tattoo and get +1 to all saves. Dex of 17 is perfectly fine, going for touch ac is excellent. Also most of ranged feats work with bombs as well except for deadly aim. You need to remember your bombs hit multiple targets and can get pass DR/resistances rather well.

Also you'll want to focus kinda on one aspect, mutagen, poisoner or bomber. I'm playing a human (plot reasons) Feral mutagen based Alchemist eventually going Master Chemyst (only a couple of level) and I am melee based, dex mutagen and weapon finesse. Feral allows several multiple attacks as early as level 2. I have combat reflexes and occassionally under the effects of enlarge, rather good at keep bad guys at range. I am doing a bit of jack of all trades as well.

Remember you are only going to be able to poison 1 arrow in a round, your're better off going melee and getting sticky poison at level 6.

Alchemist is pretty good for a batman type, extra discovery will help as well.
Also look for Ogre's guide he did an awesome job

[Blueluck]

I think this is a great character concept. Elf is perfect, since it gets Dex (for shooting, throwing, initiative, and AC) and Int (For class abilities and skills), as well as proficiency with the best ranged weapon in the game. If you find yourself spending too much time in melee, you can pick up weapon finesse for the free elven rapier, but between archery and bombs, you might just stand back consistently enough not to need it.

Darkthorne68 wrote:

Also most of ranged feats work with bombs as well except for deadly aim.

Nice! I didn't think about that synergy at first, but it's going to give you excellent use out of your feats.

Darkthorne68 wrote:

Remember you are only going to be able to poison 1 arrow in a round, you're better off going melee and getting sticky poison at level 6.

Poison is great on ammunition exactly because you don't have to spend time in combat applying it. Just poison a ton of arrows, put them all in your efficient quiver, and draw them as a free action whenever needed.

[CountMRVHS]

Thanks for the replies, all.

Half-Orc seems like it would just be too feat-intensive, I've decided, given that I'd need to use my lvl 1 feat just to use a bow.

Also, I think a decent Str score is in order. Eventually, it will help with bow damage (from composite bows) or thrown weapon damage.

That leads me more toward a Human race, and the extra skill point is attractive, as I could put it into Stealth (not an Alchemist class skill) to round out the concept.

I think I would focus on the bombs as primarily crowd control or utility - the smoke bomb discovery and its tree of options seem very cool, and the frost or shock bomb's ability to incapacitate foes seems nice as well.

Of course, some of those abilities allow for saves. If I go Human, my Int will likely be 17 (I want that 19 Dex for initiative, ranged attacks, and AC).

Which brings up the question: Is a 17 Int ok for an Alchemist? Obviously I'd boost it to 18 at lvl 4. But until then, my save DCs for bombs & other effects will be 13. Too low?