anyone got some general or specific guidlines for handling "inventors"?
This is something I would encourage, but to what extent? I have a player with a gnome alchemist. He asked about making "inventions", I told him, sounds like a "craft: engineering" skill. He came up with an idea to adhere an extract and a mutagen together with a "button" to open both lids and drink them together, effectivly reducing his "buff" time to 1 round instead of 2 (i.e. strength mutagen and enlarge person).
Seems to me this would be viable. He has no problem with allocating skill ranks, using "time" units to create the item, accepting whatever DC I come up with, even drafting a "schematic" which would use materials available found in the pathfinder world. As I understand it, an 8th lvl alchemist can take the "combine extracts" discovery and get the effects of 2 extracts at once. Should I tell him to wait till 8th lvl and "allow" 2 extracts to equal 1 extract AND a mutagen, or reward the "inventiveness"?
Does anyone see this as "broken"? Would you "allow" this? Any similar scenarios?
if he can only mix a mutagen and an extract together (not 2 extracts) it should be okay as an invention that costs money.
I would let him create wondrous item with craft: engineer, but they act as extraordinary abilities, so no dispel or thelike.
This would make them more expensive than the magic counterpart, probably heavier, but generally no "1 time per day" thing or so.
Base it upon wondrous items, make it a bit worse everywhere, and you should be fine.
For example:
Flame-thrower, like a wand of burning hands, however each "use" costs seperatly, and he doesn't have to craft the wand anew, just have a heavy container on his back with fuel that he has to craft.
anyone got some general or specific guidlines for handling "inventors"?
This is something I would encourage, but to what extent? I have a player with a gnome alchemist. He asked about making "inventions", I told him, sounds like a "craft: engineering" skill. He came up with an idea to adhere an extract and a mutagen together with a "button" to open both lids and drink them together, effectivly reducing his "buff" time to 1 round instead of 2 (i.e. strength mutagen and enlarge person).
Seems to me this would be viable. He has no problem with allocating skill ranks, using "time" units to create the item, accepting whatever DC I come up with, even drafting a "schematic" which would use materials available found in the pathfinder world. As I understand it, an 8th lvl alchemist can take the "combine extracts" discovery and get the effects of 2 extracts at once. Should I tell him to wait till 8th lvl and "allow" 2 extracts to equal 1 extract AND a mutagen, or reward the "inventiveness"?
Does anyone see this as "broken"? Would you "allow" this? Any similar scenarios?
Inventing is awesome, I've seen a whole lot of great inventions around my tables. Sometimes the player inventing goes on a bit of a rant, I had a 40 minute long explanation on a friggin hammock one day, so watch out for that.
Some of them can take months in the game world. I'd say this sounds like about a week of working to make a reliable one due to the fine parts required, three days for an unreliable one.
Also it sounds like you could just glue two flasks together and get the same result. A very important, "no one will buy this because they can't be one hundred percent sure it's safe," kind of clause is probablly a good one to come up with.
As is its a little broken..There was an item similar to this in the superstar competition. IIRC it sickened the drinker for a period of time but allowed two potions to be consumed at once.