So this is an alchemist racial archetype for the ifrit. It combines their love of fire with their skill with poisons along with some love for one of my favorite weapons the battle poi. I want to run this idea by everyone to see the gaps I have missed in it.
Dancer of flame -- Replaces throw anything. You gain Exotic weapon proficiency(Battle Poi). In addition when fighting with two battle poi you take attack penalties as if using a light weapon in your off hand instead of an one handed weapon. Perform(Dance) is a class skill for you.
Inhaled Poison Use -- Replaces poison use. You may put inhaled poisons on your battle poi so that they create a cloud while the battle poi is on fire, doing so is a full round action. Creatures struck by two or more of your battle poi attacks are exposed to the poison on the battle poi. Inhaled poisons applied to a battle poi with this ability last a number of rounds equal to 1/2 your class level.
Smoking Poi -- Replaces swift alchemy. On any round you make a full attack while using two battle poi your square and all adjacent squares are treated as if under the effects of a smoke stick.
Poisonous Cloud -- Replaces swift poison. Those in squares affected by your smoking poi ability are also affected by any poison that is on your battle poi.
I am considering granting the ifrit racial feat that allows you to ignore the concealment granted by smoke but I'm unsure if I should or not. I am aware that this archetype stacks with the vivisectionist and that is on purpose.
Standard disclaimer here about not taking any harshness personally. I assure you that I'm a thousand times more harsh on the works of people who publish my stuff :)
My concerns:
* Throw anything means no more Int to damage on bombs or other splash weapons.
* TWF means no throwing bombs, or using extracts, etc. I suppose weapon chords could fix that, but...that's a bit weird to rely on a non-weapon item for your class features. Might be fine though.
* Inhaled Poison Use: This of course means there's a chance of poisoning themselves during their full-round action? Due to replacing the poison use. Do you apply this to just one battle poi? The poison lasts, on the poi, for a number of rounds equal to half your class level?
* Poisonous Cloud: You're going to poison yourself?
The whole "mobile sneak attack cloud of poison, flames, and doom" worries me quite a bit, as you are dual-wielding, and there's really no resource being depleted to get the sneak attacks, like the vivisectionist would normally have if they weren't in flanking position. This is easily the type of ability that could marginalize allies due to the easy boost to damage output, as well as the issue of blocking line of sight for your allies.
In addition, making the poison last for a while makes me uneasy. Although, at level 6, they can get a discovery to make it last for Int mod rounds, which would probably be higher than this ability, so it might be fine.
I really, really like the flavor of this though. I'll probably make another post later with suggestions for how to make it a bit better.
Hey criticism is what I'm looking for so thanks!
On the first point: Throw anything means no more Int damage to splash weapons, but the bombs have the int damage added into them separately in the bomb section so I think that part will stand.
On the inhaled poison use -- no the standard language of not risking poisoning yourself with poison use should apply, that was lazy of me and I should have included the appropriate language.
Part of the balance of the smoking cloud of doom is the fact that you aren't going to have an easy time of using extracts and such -- the combat potential is fairly strong here due to the cloud of poison and miss chance provided by the cloud so I felt the tactical problems that go with having your hands full were a nice offset. This and the fact that an alchemist could easily have an extra hand, tentacle, or possibly familiar to hold things with squared it up to me quite nicely if such options were considered of high importance to the alchemist.
On poison cloud -- yeah that's one part I'm not quite fully conformable with... however on the other hand the alchemist has a good fortitude save in addition to the poison resistance meaning at level 6 he'll have a +9 on his fortitude save against poisons before accounting for his constitution or a cloak of resistance or such -- in all likelihood he'll have a +11~+13 on his save versus poisons meaning all but the most potent of poisons aren't likely to affect him.
I am torn -- a large poisonous cloud is a rather potent ability and an offset seems appropriate but at the same time having a class feature that could result in poisoning yourself isn't going to be fun for a lot of people. Perhaps inhaled poison use should prevent 'accidental' poisoning yourself with the poison cloud ability?
The smoking poi ability only affects the square you are in and those squares adjacent and won't provide sneak attack since concealment doesn't make you flat footed (indeed by itself it will deny sneak attack unless you have a means to see through the smoke yourself... again making the ifrit feat that allows you to see through smoke more appealing), the fact that it requires a full attack was a balancing factor to me with the smoking poi ability.
I suppose I could limit the smoking poi ability to just the square the alchemist is in, and then change the poisonous cloud ability to work only in any square you attack into that round. This would mean that even if you miss the creature would be possibly affected by the poison and only the dancer would gain concealment from the smoking poi.
Don't have time for everything, but the throw anything class feature says its bonus was included in the bombs feature. So that's where the +int damage came from.
The sneak attack cloud I mentioned was because if you have concealment, you can make a stealth check to be unnoticed, which will grant the sneak attack. It's a hazy (hah!) section of the rules though. Even just your square being concealed means you get sneak attack (so technically a rogue with Mistmail could have a field day).
I wasn't hit by the inspiration bus about this last night; maybe later today.
In order to get the concealment though you have to full attack... which means you don't have the move action to stealth with. If you had a feat or trait to allow you to stealth as a swift action or free action then it could be an issue... but then we have more investment in that trick so I'm inclined to leave it be in that case (or at least leave it up to the GM).
I suppose this is a discussion for another thread, but if that's the way it'll be played, I'll keep that in mind :)
No, it's completely pertient -- if you are right then the ability is more powerful than I thought it was and needs revising.
I'm going off of the following line:
Usually none. Normally, you make a Stealth check as part of movement, so it doesn't take a separate action. However, using Stealth immediately after a ranged attack (see Sniping, above) is a move action.
For my position as it states you make a stealth check as part of movement... however it doesn't state that a five foot step doesn't could for this so that could be an issue. Certainly worth clearing up... but I do remember the other rules threads on stealth and those are ugly.
If they stealth with the concealment that gives them one attack with sneak attack... that is something to consider.
The way I figure it, if it's just going to be you playing this, or your the GM running it, you're going to enforce it in the way you see it, which means it isn't a huge issue. It's only when others use it that it could get funky :)