Vermin hunter?

[vashshadow]

ok so im in a game where we are based in a city the whole time i was made a alchemist 2 lvls but now im thinking going to become more like a pest controller for the city any thoughts on how i can do this? thanks for any help in advance.

[wraithstrike]

You mean kill swarms?

[vashshadow]

swarms and non swarms of vermin. anything a city would think of as vermin is wat this guy would go for so ya this would be the guy to go down in sewers to help cut vermin pop down.

[Mark Hoover]

I don't know alchemists all that well; I'd assume you'd want a lot of bombs grafted to caught vermin though. I don't know how realistic your GM is but in real life, once a rat or mouse or vole or whatever is caught then released it tends to make it's way back to the nest; if the rat had a bomb strapped to it...

What I DO know is wizard/sorcerers. Look at pyrotechnics, grease, and sleep to deal w/swarms of little beasties. For individuals you'll want touch attack spells, a high iniitiative and a lot of courage. Most every minor to mid level vermin has a natural attack primarily meaning that they'll be attacking you up close A LOT. Make sure you have a lot of disease curing alchemy or clerical potions.

Finally think about what modern day pest control outfits use: Traps (have your party ranger/rogue make some or put an NPC on retainer), fly paper (alchemy), and smoke/poison bombs.

Of course there's always the druid/bard method: modify your animal affecting and charm type spells/effects to affect vermin, play Pied Piper and just simply lead all the vermin out of the city. Sure, they'll return but this just ensures repeat business.

[vashshadow]

part of me wants to add ranger in with the alchemist of just makeing a pure ranger want do you guys think

[Mark Hoover]

Go four levels of Ranger or 1 level of Druid. Get an animal companion. Use the animal to locate nests for you to poison.

Name your character Bil-Ly the Exterminator and wear studded leather armor.

Rassle an aligator in a sewer.

Or go wizard. Then get a familiar. Either go vermin familiar like a rat or a bat, or else go the other extreme - owl or something that EATS vermin. Work out ways to utilize the familiar in vermin hunts, until it's intelligent enough to pick up a class level of it's own.

[Jesse Heinig]

You'll probably spend a lot of time dealing with swarms -- rat swarms, spider swarms, stinging fly swarms, whatever. The alchemist is great for this because bombs are area of effect weapons, which can inflict damage on swarms.

Another option is the verminous hunter archetype (which you can see here: http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advancedClassGuide/classOptions/hunter.h tml). The focus on vermin companions may be a little freaky but the 5th level ability to avoid damage and nausea from swarms may help. Plus, you get specialized animal empathy that works on vermin. If you take the Vermin Heart feat, you can even cast spells that normally work on animals on vermin instead (this is usually buffing spells, but potentially stuff that controls animals).