Society Play Alchemist Build

[Esquin]

So I'm making a society play alchemist. I've already had my hand at one and he .... well there was an incident and a golem killed him. Now his son shall have vengeance!

Lava Gnome - Alchemist Grenadier 1

Str 8
Dex 14
Con 12
Int 18
Wis 12
Cha 9

Point Blank Shot as his feat.
Long bow as his grenadier martial weapon.

Any tips on traits or other areas I can improve on? I'm thinking that my will save could use some booting but beyond that i'm not sure. Obviously his primary role is a bomber, not quite sure on what discovery roads i'll take him down.

I've chosen long bow over cross bows because I feel the quicker reload is worth the -1 to damage. I'll be looking at precise shot and rapid shot as the first few feats, then splash weapon mastery.

So any tips or advice?

[N. Jolly]

I'd suggest checking out my alchemist guide, but just off the bat for traits I'd go with Focused Burn if you're looking to increase your damage, and any +2 initiative trait to make sure you're landing them ASAP.

Depending on how much you like using your bow, consider Explosive Missile as combining Alchemical Weapon with a Bomb can be pretty brutal, especially at the range you'd have to do it.

Seems like you're dedicated to high bomb damage though, so I'd go with some utility bombs like Frost early to help control the battlefield a bit more for the rest of your party.

[FLite]

I assume you are taking explosive missle discovery as soon as you can?

So, here are my observations on gnomes.

gnome means you have 20 ft move
Str 8 means you have 26 carry capacity before that drops to 15
Armor is half weight, but even studded leather is still 10 lbs. And your long bow is another 1.5, plus the weight of the arrows, +5 lbs for your alchemical crafting kit. That leaves you like 9 lbs for everything else you need.

Each Alchemical item you make is 1 lb. You won't have a whole lot you can carry. I suggest you get a mount and a handy haversack as soon as you can. Also, as mentioned on the other thread, a darkleaf masterwork small back pack costs 237 gp, and gets you 4 lbs more or light encumbrance for only 1/2 lp of weight.

I favor giant geckos for small character mounts / pack animals, because they can go pretty much anywhere the character can go.

[Psion-Psycho]

Hmm id up ur Dex a bit more mate. Also are you sure you want to go gnome? You will be using small instead of medium weapons so that lovely d8 bow is now a d6. Also if you focus Dex then you can pick up the normal 2 weapon fighting feats along with quick draw to toss butt loads of bombs at once if you need to nova a target down. Awesome thing is other than the TWF chain and quick draw its a standard ranged build so you will have the bow to fall back on for static damage.

[Furious Kender]

FLite wrote:

I assume you are taking explosive missle discovery as soon as you can?

So, here are my observations on gnomes.

gnome means you have 20 ft move
Str 8 means you have 26 carry capacity before that drops to 15
Armor is half weight, but even studded leather is still 10 lbs. And your long bow is another 1.5, plus the weight of the arrows, +5 lbs for your alchemical crafting kit. That leaves you like 9 lbs for everything else you need.

Each Alchemical item you make is 1 lb. You won't have a whole lot you can carry. I suggest you get a mount and a handy haversack as soon as you can. Also, as mentioned on the other thread, a darkleaf masterwork small back pack costs 237 gp, and gets you 4 lbs more or light encumbrance for only 1/2 lp of weight.

I favor giant geckos for small character mounts / pack animals, because they can go pretty much anywhere the character can go.

Ant haul is also useful. You can be a str 5 gnome and wear plate and tower and still be at medium encumbrance.

[Esquin]

A gecko mount sounds like crazy amounts of fun. Thanks, i'll pick one up!

I've certainly thought about upping my dex a bit but no idea what to dump to do it. Maybe wisdom down to 10? I want to be gnome for the backstory, plus I like role playing gnomes. I'll be picking up mithril chain as soon as possible and yeah, the handy haversack is a given. I know gnomes aren't ideal and they have a lot of draw backs. But it's not enough to ruin the character, plus pyro gnomes get all the bomb upgrades a level early.

Any other tips on bombs? I'll likely get explosive missile at some point, possibly explosive bomb too. I do like frost also, Jolly I don't think i've actually seen your guide before. I'll take a look through now.

I'm considering taking a few crowd control options in the higher levels rather then going full nova.

[FLite]

Psion, he wants the gnome because it means his bombs will do +1 level more damage. (Lava gnome racial bonus)

Also remember that if you are playing pfs, gnome magic qualifies you for arcane strike, which means you can give your bombs (and any other magic) +1 damage & they count as magic for passing DR. (not an issue for bombs, but helps for bow. This goes up to +2 at 4th level (lava gnome means your CL is 5 at level 4 for your produce flame.)

If you do this, consider taking a trait that gives you riding as a class skill. (I wish I had done this.)

[gossamar4]

Does explosive missile target:

touch - because it's using the bomb feature

or

ac - because it's a ranged basic attack (bow)

[Psion-Psycho]

gossamar4 wrote:

Does explosive missile target:

touch - because it's using the bomb feature

or

ac - because it's a ranged basic attack (bow)

Explosive Missile uses your weapons stats for to hit and what not so it hits ac unless you are using a one handed gun in which case its touch in 1st increment.

[MiniGM]

i have a Grenadier4/Bard (Detective)3/Sleepless Detective1 PFS char and I have Explosive Bomb (just great especially since they NEVER go out unless they waste a round doing it. I have gotten amazing use out of that

Also Stink Bomb is awesome! take a couple discoveries to get it but totally worth it.

Also I would leave your dex alone. You already get +1 to hit. I had a 14 dex, until I bought a belt and I have rearely missed with bombs, I have even attacked at 5 range increments several times before when I won init. Poor baddie burned to death before we got to him :)

[Esquin]

I think I'll go with frost bomb for lol 2. I also picked up a dog to carry all my stuff. Then force and confusion to cover the other saves.

I'm considering getting infusion too for party buffing. Thoughts?

[MiniGM]

it depends on how you play. As a grenadier I probably would not take it. As a different kind of alch I would take it.

[Esquin]

Thanks for all your help everyone:)

I've decided to go with the infusion idea if I can find the feat/discovery for it. I'm not gonna use all my extracts any other way so why not. I've also got a riding dog to carry my things and items. 1 question about that though, do I still take ranged penalties while riding if me and the dog stay stationary?