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i like that u can throw bombs as a alchemist plus take a mutagen when you are out of bombs to get physical but does it seem like, the splash damage is a bit much? after the first round or so basically your melee allies will be right up next to them so if u toss a bomb on enemy it will splash allies and enemies alike. unless u target a square behind enemies and do splash damage.
Precise Bombs Discovery ftw!
Being mad as a hatter is also an option, don't worry I'm sure they will forgive you.
There's an alchemist in my current party who hasn't yet seen the value of precise bombs. My cavalier is going to kill her if she sets him on fire one more time....
Isn't that that fun of being the MAD BOMBER!
btw if you used that mutagen to give yourself a DEX bonus you bombs will also be more accurate.
Also, I didnt see it in the book, I may be wrong too. Does the direct hit target of a bomb get a reflex save for half as well or just those in the splash zone?
Also, I was reading that you can find spells from a wizard's spellbook that you can make into formulae (am I reading that right) but they cant do the same back, And that you can make spells that normally wouldnt be able to be made into potions into extracts. What spells as examples would be able to be taken from a spellbook (assuming not spells normally on your list)?
How do you miss? The last game I was running in the GM was saying you have to hit the square, not the target, so it was like vs AC5 most of the time (he was also doing the splash damage wrong - full damage not minimum damage).
57-Psionics-Maenad avatarThe low level alchemist in our party was so destructive we threatened to start hitting him with disarm attempts when he lobbed bombs. He has precise shot but he misses often enough that his bombs wind up tearing the party up.
Direct hit takes full damage. It's a touch attack, not an area attack.
The spell has to be on your spell list if you want it to be in your Formula Book, no matter where the spell came from. For Example, you could pull Giant Form 1 from a wizards book, but you couldn't pull Magic Missile from it because it's not on your list.
As to your last part, splash damage is minimum damage. For an Alchemist 2 with an Int of 18, the bomb damage is 1d6+4. Splash damage is 5. It's always minimum damage. You can choose to hit the square the person is in, and that AC is 5 for the square, but the creature still only takes splash damage. To deal (possibly) full damage, you have to actually hit the creature.
To get the direct hit, you have to hit the touch ac.
Personally instead of Precision and Precise bombs, I prefer the feat from Adventures armory to prevent my ally from being bombed by myself..
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How do you miss? The last game I was running in the GM was saying you have to hit the square, not the target, so it was like vs AC5 most of the time (he was also doing the splash damage wrong - full damage not minimum damage).
You have to hit the creature's touch AC which is usually pretty low (10-15 in most cases) but then if you don't have precise shot it's at -4 due to being in melee. Additionally, if one of your allies is between you and the creature he can use your ally as soft cover for another -4.
Touch AC is ridiculously easy past 6th-7th level or so but at lower levels it's a bit tougher. Add in a player with notoriously bad rolling and you get lots of collateral splash damage.
Not to mention a 1 is still a fumble even on touch attacks so you are going to miss every few fights at least once as you go up in level and start getting the ability to throw two or three bombs a round.
And while attacking the square is an option you will only ever get targets with the splash damage if you do that. To do full damage and effects you have to hit the target and not the square.
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also, Gnome Alchemist says you "add 1/2 to the number of bombs you can create in a day" is that a mistype? Is it supposed to say 1/2 level or do you add half the total number of bombs you can make to the total number? IE I can make 6 bombs but as a Gnome I can make 9 instead (6 / 2 = 3 so add 3 to the number of bombs)?
You get one extra bomb for every two levels you advance.
How do you miss someone's touch defense? You almost don't have to roll at that point. Touch AC is a joke and if your Alchemist can't hit that then he needs new dice!
Hey where does it say that a bomb hits the Touch AC of the target? I have been looking in both my book, the errata, and the SFD. None of them mention that unless I missed it somewhere.
It is because they are Splash Weapons
Just started playing an alchemist in a PbP game here and I'm honestly starting to feel guilty about precise bombs. We've only been in one combat so far (not even done with it yet to be honest), but I'm wondering if the ability to ignore six squares (Ridley has a 22 int) with the bombs is too much. Granted, limited number of bombs, the off chance she misses, yadda yadda...I'm still hopping to look at it from the other side of the coin (have a campaign currently on hold where one of my players is running a 1st level alchemist) before I form my opinion...just posting initial observations.
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See that would have been much clearer to put instead of +1/2 lolalso, Gnome Alchemist says you "add 1/2 to the number of bombs you can create in a day" is that a mistype? Is it supposed to say 1/2 level or do you add half the total number of bombs you can make to the total number? IE I can make 6 bombs but as a Gnome I can make 9 instead (6 / 2 = 3 so add 3 to the number of bombs)?You get one extra bomb for every two levels you advance.
It fall under:
Favored Class Options
Instead of receiving an additional skill rank or hit point whenever she gains a level in a favored class, gnomes have the option of choosing from a number of other bonuses, depending upon their favored class. The following options are available to all gnomes who have the listed favored class, and unless otherwise stated, the bonus applies each time you select the listed favored class reward.
Alchemist: Add +1/2 to the number of bombs per day the alchemist can create.
It is not 1/2 bomb*level, it is 1/2 bomb every time you choose to get 1/2 bomb as a favoured class bonus. The bonus stack up, so every 2 times you chose that option you get 1 extra bomb.
Just started playing an alchemist in a PbP game here and I'm honestly starting to feel guilty about precise bombs. We've only been in one combat so far (not even done with it yet to be honest), but I'm wondering if the ability to ignore six squares (Ridley has a 22 int) with the bombs is too much. Granted, limited number of bombs, the off chance she misses, yadda yadda...I'm still hopping to look at it from the other side of the coin (have a campaign currently on hold where one of my players is running a 1st level alchemist) before I form my opinion...just posting initial observations.
I had the exact opposite experience. Tried out a bomb-focused alchemist, really high int and dex, and found that I was missing way more than I felt comfortable with. The character was level 8, so with rapid shot and fast bombs I could throw 3/round, and I found at least one of those was likely to miss. Since I was a half-orc, my splash damage was something in the realm of 14 - a few unlucky rolls, and that damage could add up quick. It really turned me off a bomb-focused build.
Just started playing an alchemist in a PbP game here and I'm honestly starting to feel guilty about precise bombs. We've only been in one combat so far (not even done with it yet to be honest), but I'm wondering if the ability to ignore six squares (Ridley has a 22 int) with the bombs is too much. Granted, limited number of bombs, the off chance she misses, yadda yadda...I'm still hopping to look at it from the other side of the coin (have a campaign currently on hold where one of my players is running a 1st level alchemist) before I form my opinion...just posting initial observations.
Considering that someone with 22 Int is probably one of the smartest humans on the planet, I don't really have a problem with him being able to create an accurate "shaped charge" magical explosive that excludes exactly who he wants it to.
(The general rule for d20 is that a +5 improvement to an ability score is roughly double the ability of the unmodified score. Thus, a person with 15 Str can lift 2x as much as a person with 10 Str, and a person with 20 Str can lift 2x as much as a person with 15 Str. So Int 15 puts you in the 90th percentile--you're smarter than 90% of the other people. Int 20 is even higher [I'm too lazy to look up the exact statistical value, so I'll just say 99%], and Int 22 is even higher than that. If Einstein were presented in d20 terms, rolled an 18, had +2 Int for his human racial bonus, and by level 20 had spent all 5 ability score bumps from leveling on Int, he'd be Int 25. Your character is Int 22 at low level....)
And you think he could modify an explosive in the field so that when thrown would exclude a specific number of individuals from all of said explosive's effects? Including gasses? Me, I chalked it up to it's a magic ability and wrote off the worries as no one has yet to complain about it...
Anyways, my point isn't to justify it in the real world, my point is that if feels unbalanced as far as the game goes.
Qik...out of curiosity, what were you missing against? The only battle I've been in has been large sized monstrous scorpions, so I doubt they have the highest touch AC.
And you think he could modify an explosive in the field so that when thrown would exclude a specific number of individuals from all of said explosive's effects?
If it's an Int-based class ability for a class based on high Int, then yes. :)
Like I said, I can swallow it with that fantasy staple "it's magic", but the ability to do it just because he's book smart doesn't work for me. Agree to disagree then I guess?
In other news...those giant scorpions...well I missed the last one, and the bomb landed next to it, the splash damage killing it.
Like I said, I can swallow it with that fantasy staple "it's magic", but the ability to do it just because he's book smart doesn't work for me. Agree to disagree then I guess?
In other news...those giant scorpions...well I missed the last one, and the bomb landed next to it, the splash damage killing it.
Those have to be the weakest scorpions I've ever fought against.
Our bomb-focused Alchemist is usually quite effective and a significant threat to the badguys. The only issue that's really cropped up with the bombs is the occasional lapse in the middle of combat where she forgets to declare that she's using Precise Bombs. It hasn't done a whole lot of damage to the party, but unfortunately may have offed an NPC by mistake last session. Oops.
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And you think he could modify an explosive in the field so that when thrown would exclude a specific number of individuals from all of said explosive's effects? Including gasses? Me, I chalked it up to it's a magic ability and wrote off the worries as no one has yet to complain about it...
Except that Precise Bombs doesn't affect the smoke/gas portion of the bombs.
Precise bombs: Whenever the alchemist throws a
bomb, he can select a number of squares equal to his
Intelligence modifier that are not affected by the splash
damage from his bombs. If the bomb misses, this
discovery has no effect.
Smoke bomb*: When the alchemist creates a bomb, he
can choose to have it create a cloud of thick smoke when
it detonates. The cloud functions as fog cloud, filling an
area equal to twice the bomb’s splash radius for 1 round
per level.
It specifies they aren't affected by the splash damage, the fog/gas would still fill the radius, nothing in precise bombs would prevent that from happening.
Good to know. Looks like I need to confess my sin in my next PbP post...