Maybe I am overlooking the obvious, but how many mutagens can an alchemist have or carry at one time?
From RAW, it appears like it is unlimited as long as an alchemist has the time to brew what he wants. If it is unlimited, why is there no weight or cost associated to creating a mutagen? I can see it being abused where a player can have his alchemist carrying like 20-30 mutagen vials at a time so his character is never missing his mutagen bonus throughout an entire dungeon crawl or game session.
As much as I wanted to storm in and shout "Noo!", reading the description again...you are right. With the exception that the alchemist probably has to give his mutagen to another PC before brewing a new one, he can apparently use it as soon as he takes it back.
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No, it does not work to pass off your mutagens to other people to brew more. The mutagen becomes inert when it's passed off, yes. The rules allow for the alchemist to take back his inert mutagen from someone making it usable; however, this does not mean that every inert mutagen that an alchemist picks up automatically becomes usable. If he's brewed another mutagen after handing off his first, that dose is not coming back.
As much as I wanted to storm in and shout "Noo!", reading the description again...you are right. With the exception that the alchemist probably has to give his mutagen to another PC before brewing a new one, he can apparently use it as soon as he takes it back.
An alchemist can only maintain one dose of mutagen at a time—if he brews a second dose, any existing mutagen becomes inert. As with an extract or bomb, a mutagen that is not in an alchemist’s possession becomes inert until an alchemist picks it up again."
Maybe I should have been more clear, but you got where my question was leading. An alchemist can continuously brew mutagens, pawn them off on his friends or drop them out of his possession until he is done creating the amount he wants, and then collecting them all up at the end where only one of them is active. As soon as he drinks the one he is maintaining, he can in essence make one of his inactive ones active to replace the one he just used.
If he spends a day or two making mutagens, he can have a big stash of them and carry them all with him for a dungeon crawl or game session and never be worried about losing his mutagen buff.
Well, that is how RAW is coming across to me anyways.
No, it does not work to pass off your mutagens to other people to brew more. The mutagen becomes inert when it's passed off, yes. The rules allow for the alchemist to take back his inert mutagen from someone making it usable; however, this does not mean that every inert mutagen that an alchemist picks up automatically becomes usable. If he's brewed another mutagen after handing off his first, that dose is not coming back.
So you are saying an alchemist can maintain 1 mutagen at a time regardless if it inert or not?
It takes 1 hour to brew a dose of mutagen, and once brewed, it remains potent until used.
That.
Apparently, inert is not the same as "never usable again".|
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No, it does not work to pass off your mutagens to other people to brew more. The mutagen becomes inert when it's passed off, yes. The rules allow for the alchemist to take back his inert mutagen from someone making it usable; however, this does not mean that every inert mutagen that an alchemist picks up automatically becomes usable. If he's brewed another mutagen after handing off his first, that dose is not coming back.So you are saying an alchemist can maintain 1 mutagen at a time regardless if it inert or not?
That is the design of the class, and the only reason for an ability like Infuse Mutagen. It is also the only major advantage of taking levels in the Master Chymist prestige class.
It takes 1 hour to brew a dose of mutagen, and once brewed, it remains potent until used.That.
Apparently, inert is not the same as "never usable again".
And you missed the very next sentence which says if he brews another one his first becomes inert. Inert means no more chemical reaction, so no more drinking it for buffs. Ever.
As it becomes inert when not in the alchemists posession, just to be used again when picked up.
RAW vs. RAI. As a DM I would say "One Mutagen at a time, thats all you get!".
following situation:
-Alchemist brews mutagen.
-Alchemsit gives mutagen to another PC > Mutagen becomes inert.
-Alchemist brews another mutagen > first mutagen becomes...double inert?
-After using secons mutagen, alchemist gets back the first mutagen. As per RAW, it becomes usable again. It was inert (double inert?), now its not.
Poor choice of wording, I would say.
Better:
At 1st level, an alchemist discovers how to create a mutagen that he can imbibe in order to heighten his physical prowess at the cost of his personality. It takes 1 hour to brew a dose of mutagen, and once brewed, it remains potent until used or the alchemist brews another mutagen. An alchemist can only maintain one dose of mutagen at a time—if he brews a second dose, any existing mutagen becomes unusable. As with an extract or bomb, a mutagen that is not in an alchemist’s possession becomes inert until an alchemist picks it up again.
That's not RAW. While it says that a mutagen that is inert from being given away will become usable again when picked up by the alchemist, that is overruled by the alchemist brewing another mutagen, which automatically renders his former mutagen permanently inert.
Thanks for the clarification Mergy & Floor Lava. That's what I thought and was in an argument with someone about this.
Nope. When an alchemist brews a mutagen, any existing mutagen she's brewed becomes inert.
There was some creative interpretation in this thread stating that the inert status was somehow temporary, but no justification whatsoever for that interpretation. This doesn't even get into the obvious intent of the rule, which was not to bypass the inert rule by doing Stupid Equipment Passing Tricks™.