A player of mine is playing a Mindchemist and he brought up a question to me that I could not answer so wanted to hit up people here. When he uses the Cognatogen he gains a +2 to Int and a -2 to Str when it wears off thought it states that the Strength loss turns to Stat Damage and must be healed in anyway that would heal Stats. This is different from the normal Mutagen which is not stat damage. So why the change to the Mindchemist? I couldn't see anything that should warrant that, so anyone have thoughts on this?
Mental attributes are generally more valuable to spellcasters than physical ones are; hence greater downsides.
The effects of a -2 on Strength are pretty negligible to a bomb-throwing alchemist; the effects of a higher Intelligence are substantial (if nothing else, Int determines bonus damage).
Maybe because Cognatogen, with it's wonderful +4 Alchemical (bonus that you get nowhere else) bonus, which you can then stack on-top of something like Fox's Cunning, basically acts as a supercharger for your Bombs. +2 damage and +2 to the bomb's save DCs. A -2 Str penalty is painful, but for a bomber (who I see as the main user of a Cognatogen anyways) that Str damage won't hurt too much.
Okay so I think see why the change if you stack that bonus with fox's cunning you are getting what base +4 to damage and Save DC on top of your normal intellect bonus. Does the Ragechemist get the same thing with theirs where it is a Al chemical Bonus or is it different?
I think you have a math error. It's +4 for the cognatogen and +2 for Fox's Cunning for a total of +6.
I didn't see a mention of the bonus type for the Ragechemist's bonus (specifically), but the general mutagen bonus is an alchemical bonus, and this is just a modifier to the general mutagen rules. So I would rule that, yes, it's another alchemical bonus and thus stacks with Bull's Strength.
Still trying to figure out why they made the Mindchemist suffer Ability Damage where the Ragechemist does not. And the Ragechemist can get up to +10 to dam at level 3 where the Mind can only get +6
Because a bonus to Int is more valuable to an Alchemist than is a bonus to Strength. And a penalty to Int is similarly more damaging than a penalty to strength..
Think of it this way : your alchemist is offered a choice of two elixirs. One will grant a +2 inherent bonus to Intelligence, at the cost of a -2 penalty to Strength. The other grants just the opposite.
Most alchemists would choose the first.
Still trying to figure out why they made the Mindchemist suffer Ability Damage where the Ragechemist does not. And the Ragechemist can get up to +10 to dam at level 3 where the Mind can only get +6
Maybe you should take a longer look at the Ragechemist. The Ragechemist can suffer a stacking -2 to both Will saves and Intelligence. Will saves are the Alchemists weak save to begin with, and for a Str based Alchemist, they're too MAD to invest much into Wisdom for a half decent save. Further, if the Ragechemist loses enough Intelligence by getting hit, he can end up helpless and CDG bait.
I'd much rather take the minor ability damage to Str after a fight than have an incredibly weak will save and the chance to become helpless in the middle of one.