Wow, I think this is the most posting I have done on this message board in one day ever. Anywho, I have a human character I will be making up for a friend's game who will be an alchemist. I want him to be like Robert Downey Jr's Sherlock Holmes but turn in to Hulk when he drinks his formula. Obviously alchemist is the way I am going and Master Chymist is a given but what would you guys recommend for things like feats, archtypes, magic items, etc. to make him the strongest there is?
For example, is Ragechemist all that useful at level 14? Etc.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Hmm...
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18 base Strength
+8 grand mutagen
+6 belt of giant strength
+6 size (giant form I)
+5 level bonuses
+6 strength of the abyss (abyssal bloodline via improved Eldritch Heritage)
+4 rage (via barbarian multiclass)
+2 race bonus
+2 rage mutagen (ragechemist archetype)
=57 so far. I've heard of people getting as high as 60.
All in all, not bad for emulating a big hulk monster. You end up looking like a large or huge humanoid (which means you keep all your class features) with enough strength to smash adamantine with your pinky.
how many tomes of Strength can you afford and read?
how many tomes of Strength can you afford and read?
Seeing as inherent bonuses don't stack, there is no point in ever buying more than one (and generally you want it to be the +5 tome).
Alternatively, spend a few feats on Eldritch Heritage and get Strength of the Abyss. Lord knows it will save you a crap ton of dough.
You could also use the orc bloodline instead of the abyss bloodline.
You get the same +6 inherent by lvl 19, but if you want to save a 6th lvl extract (Giant Form I), you can additionally take greater eldritch heritage to get this:
Power of Giants (Sp): At 15th level, you may grow to Large size as a standard action. At this size you gain a +6 size bonus to Strength, a –2 penalty to Dexterity, a +4 size bonus to Constitution, and a +4 natural armor bonus. You may return to your normal size as a standard action. You may remain in this size for up to 1 minute per character level per day; this duration does not need to be consecutive, but it must be used in 1 minute increments.
Save an extract but lose another feat? I dunno about that.
Sorry if I wasn't clear but we're starting at level 14. The Grand mutagen can only be taken at 16, so I will have to take the next one down. But otherwise those are all great ideas, thanks guys.
The Comatose Chemist is a trap. It is not worth a few more points of str and natural armor to go comatose after the first 5-8 rounds you're attacked in the day. Unless you play the 15 minute adventuring day where you only have one encounter before resting. Then I guess it's ok, but you'd be better off playing a caster.
As for max strength, Synthesist Summoner is probably the way to go. Start w/ Bipedal for initial Str 16, increase size at every opportunity via evolutions and cast enlarge person, and blow as many points as possible on +str evolutions. As an added bonus, you'll easily have the charisma for Eldritch Heritage for the Orc bloodline.
SotS is right about its dangers, but ragechemist does get some nice bonuses, and if you have high int you do have several rounds you can fail your will-save. So if you go for that one, take iron-will. A dual-ming half-elf also gets another +2 that stacks with iron will, and another +2 while raging is nice as well. The moral Con bonus from RC stacks with that from greater mutagen.
Just check with your gm to see if master chymist levels stack with alchemist levels to determine the goodies you get as a ragechemist before taking that class feature.
You also don't Have To make a rage-mutagen. It says "when you make a mutagen that enhances strength you may" make the rage version. But you don't have to. So with MC you should be able to pick if your transformation does it on the fly.
Also see if your gm is going to give you a bunch of long encounters, or a few intence short ones. But by lv14, a dc 15 willsave should be do-able if you don't dump wisdome
Also +1 to the orc EH tree, cause power of giants is bomb, and the touch of rage +lv/2 to attack and damage is great to use to surprise the enemy with
Touch of Rage does have the problem of lasting only 1 round, though.
Given, if you'd like some cheese on your nachos, you could take the Optimistic Gambler trait (from Second Darkness AP): "morale bonuses persist 1d4 rounds longer than they normally would". Want to guess what type of bonus Touch of Rage gives you?
Up until I found the FAQ clarifying that the bonuses don't stack, I thought Ragechemist was great.
Now not so much.
+10 might have been worth it in a niche build. +6 definitely not.