Switch Hittery Alchemist Advice

[Snagglelock]

A bit verbose, but you can get the idea from the first two paragraphs :)

So I think I've finally narrowed down my character for an up-coming game. Originally I was going to do a witch, but I decided to make the same character as an alchemist. I wanted to keep the magic a little more low-key.

We rolled stats, and true to form I rolled pretty phenomenal. I like the crowd control aspects of things like Stink Bomb and Confusion Bomb, and I think I'd rather use my bombs for status effects than the damage. To help out in between debuffs I think I'd like to mix it up in melee a bit while my opponents are nauseated/blind/whatever, but I could use some help making that work. I could also use some discovery advice.

So far her stats look like this at level one:

Half-Orc

Str 17
Dex 16
Con 15
Int 19 (Racial)
Wis 13
Cha 13

I feel like I'd mainly save my mutagen for when I was low on bombs or maybe fighting undead or something that's immune to a lot of my schenanigans, taking strength as the stat. I was going to try and squeeze in feral mutagen for those occasions, but I feel like I'm short on discoveries and I'll probably want to melee a fair bit without my mutagen up, so I'm wondering if I should look for something I can use in either form. I was thinking of just doing some ranged combat instead, but honestly I just don't like the feel of it with the character.

My melee doesn't have to be chart topping, but I'd like to be able to contribute. Do I take two weapon fighting to also use with bombs? Power attack and staff/greataxe people?

On Discoveries, I'm pretty full on the ones I want, but there are a couple I'm questioning the worth of. Infusion is first. I have a fairly melee heavy party, so giving them some buffs they can save for combat seems nice, but I might just want to save them for myself, not sure. Explosive Bomb I'd never actually use, but adding extra range on my debuffs would be nice. I however worry that I might cover too MUCH area and make it hard for my party to fight around it. Feral mutagen I talked about a little, and it's another I'd like to cut if I can. I'll end on a list of the others I was thinking of taking in order, minus Extra Discoveries, in case that helps. Thanks for reading and replying!

Smoke Bomb
Stink Bomb
(Level 6, open)
Combine Extract
Confusion Bomb
Greater Mutagen
Tanglefoot Bomb
Grand Mutagen

[Phasics]

well you can pretty much do what you like with eqiv of a 49 point buy.

as far as mutagen goes if your going melee in any decent fight you should be using your mutagen, there is no limit on its use per day, you can brew a new mutagen with 1 hour work after using it during a fight.

[Tiny Coffee Golem]

Phasics wrote:

well you can pretty much do what you like with eqiv of a 49 point buy.

as far as mutagen goes if your going melee in any decent fight you should be using your mutagen, there is no limit on its use per day, you can brew a new mutagen with 1 hour work after using it during a fight.

WIth a 49 point buy you can do ANYTHING and do it really well. The god-kings of yesteryear weep at your approach.

[Breiti]

I think some big nasty two handed weapon works best for an orc ;-)

I would go reach weapon or greate sword/axt.

-2d6/1d12 become 3d6 when enlarged and thats a 1st level extract ;-) so you will have plenty of this even if you share some exctracts with party mates.

-Reach weapon is nice, too. You could throw bombs and still get an attack on anyone that closes in to stop you.

For a control/melee alchemist i would not overlook force bomb. It makes sure you can always use you bombs as damage output (against undead, fire imune monsters etc.) and you can trip at range. For example enemy is out of reach. Ready an action to throw a force bomb when he comes into range. Next round charge the prone opponent.

Breiti

[Phasics]

Breiti wrote:

I think some big nasty two handed weapon works best for an orc ;-)

I would go reach weapon or greate sword/axt.

-2d6/1d12 become 3d6 when enlarged and thats a 1st level extract ;-) so you will have plenty of this even if you share some exctracts with party mates.

-Reach weapon is nice, too. You could throw bombs and still get an attack on anyone that closes in to stop you.

For a control/melee alchemist i would not overlook force bomb. It makes sure you can always use you bombs as damage output (against undead, fire imune monsters etc.) and you can trip at range. For example enemy is out of reach. Ready an action to throw a force bomb when he comes into range. Next round charge the prone opponent.

Breiti

can't beat 3 full BAB attacks from ferral mutagen with a 2h weapon until the mid levels

[0gre]

Not sure why no-one has mentioned it but you should get the Precise Bomb Discovery in there somewhere early because at some point in time you will want to be lobbing bombs while your allies are in combat. Also, bombing alchemists pretty much require Fast Bombs at 8th level.

[Snagglelock]

Ah yes, I forgot precise bombs, I think that was going to fit in my level 6 spot. I could take my 9th level feat for combine extract and take fast bombs at 8 I suppose. I don't really feel the need to take rapid shot or anything to increase my nova, but throwing a stink bomb and tanglefoot bomb at the same spot in one round would be pretty damn funny.

I forgot mutagens aren't one per day! That does change things for our friend feral mutagen. Maybe I could take power attack at level one, and extra discovery at 3 and 9 to pick up feral mutagen and fast bombs in addition to my list, and stick precise bombs into my 6th level discovery. Still not sure what to take at 6 for a feat, though. Maybe I could fit splash weapon mastery in there.

I do still like the idea of using a great axe, but it's hard to say no to 3 attacks at full bab. I'm leaning towards picking up infusion instead to help out the party and avoid just stealing the show, but I'll have to think on it.

Thanks for the replies!

[0gre]

I love the idea of tanglefoot + stink. My favorite is force bomb and stink but tangle is better in lots of ways.

If you have a reliable source of haste then Rapid Shot is probably overkill. If you don't you might consider it or Two Weapon Fighting (which only requires a single feat instead of two for Rapid Shot).

For a switch hitter Power Attack with a great axe is a pretty solid way to go, particularly if you do have someone tossing haste into the mix frequently. I'm a big fan of Feral Mutagen with Power Attack but it can be expensive getting started with enhancing your attacks magically. It's also a big challenging dealing with DR.

[Phasics]

basically the bomber melee hybrid is difficult to pull off because your always sacrificing one side for the other, still with 49 point buy equiv you've got the stats for it.

[Snagglelock]

Yeah we have a pretty heavy melee party but there's a sorceror who I'd imagine will take haste early to buff the two handed weapon nutters.

Well thanks guys, I think I have a much better idea of what I'm doing now.