Hello all and thx in advance for any help rendered. I searched the forums for help with alchemist build but the one in the class guide is older and I am not sure of the relevance of it now.
My GM is making all players take their 1st level as Bard. So I will be starting at 2nd level as a Bard/Alchemist.
I have chosen Goblin as my race due to the interesting archetype "Fire Bomber". My GM is really generous with letting us roll stats so I ended up with Str: 10, Int: 18 Wis: 16, Dex: 22, Con: 16, Chs: 10.
I obviously want to concentrate on fire and lobbing bombs. I am extremely open to any advice, using the actual books and no 3rd party publishers.
Using ultimate campaign retraining rules you can drop the level of bard.
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As an alchemist you have boundless possibilities one reason why i love the class and find it difficult to not choose it. I agree with most of these suggestions mind chemist will give you +2 Bomb damage +2 natural armor (and ability damage though very flavorful for a goblin)where as a Dex mutagen will give you +2 Ranged attack +2 Dex AC +2 natural armor (+4 AC) so more accurate at hitting and more resilient in general combat.. with weapon finesse you will be able to contribute when you run out of bombs (which as a goblin I expect quickly) get a magical weapon with the "agile" feature and you get Dex bonus to damage of my Favorited Amulet of mighty fists "agile" combined with "feral mutagen" 3 attacks (claw, claw bite) if you intend on throwing bombs selective bombs is most important so you don't hurt your friends.
so my feat opinion is weapon finesse at 1st level, point blank shot at 3rd and precise shot at 5th this allows you to contribute in melee and at ranged as you are throwing bombs point blank and precise are less important than if you were firing arrows as you are dealing with touch attacks rather than full AC. so the -4 for into combat is slightly mitigated.
an alchemist main disadvantage is usually saving throws specifically will saves. so make sure you look to boost that at some point or you will find fear spells are going to get you.
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First of all: You're a Goblin Bard/Alchemist - what in the world are YOU doing with a Wisdom of 16? "That Sounds Like A Bad Idea, We Should Totally Do It" is practically your middle name! I'd move that 16 over to Charisma (unless your DM will let you retrain out of your first Bard level), and later on, I'd invest in a Goblin Fire Drum.
Anyways: Becoming a "mad bomber" Alchemist is very easy, given the abundance of Discoveries that support it. Weapon Finesse is a reasonable 1st-level feat, but beyond that, I would not be afraid, if I were you, to devote more than a few of my feat slots to Extra Discovery (as well as Extra Bombs), both because there are so many Discoveries that are specifically about bombs, and because I think you'll want to be able to do at least a couple of the many other things Alchemists can do. To start with, even if this is far removed from your focus, I would take Infusion just so you can help out your party members when and where advantageous. Better yet, since it's a home game, I would petition your DM to allow alchemical "infusions" to be inherent rather than require a Discovery - the idea that Alchemists need to leap an extra hurdle just to feed their little potionettes to others is completely stupid, and I thought so ever since I first opened up the book and read the class description.
I would say "no" to Humphrey B ManWitch's suggestion of Point-Blank Shot and Precise Shot, since the damage bonus only applies to the target of the direct hit and not the splash damage (I'd been making that mistake for a long time), and your Dexterity rivals that of some demigods, so an extra +1 to attack rolls is, under the circumstances, superfluous. You don't need the Precise Shot feat - yes, you'll take a -4 penalty to your attack roll when tossing into melee, but it's a touch attack, and between size and Dexterity, you'll still be getting a +3 bonus at character level 2 anyways. What you might want, however, is the Precise Bombs Discovery.
Even if your one true love is fire, if your focus as an Alchemist is bombs, I suggest learning to make one or two other varieties (Acid, Force, Frost, the choices are yours) along the way - some enemies won't burn, and some buildings shouldn't *pats the goblin's hand kindly*.
Now, with regards to what your character REALLY wants ('*' = maybe, maybe not; bold = "this is YOUR COLOR, darling!"; anything else = in between):
Blinding Bomb
Breath Weapon Bomb
Concussive Bomb*
Confusion Bomb*
Delayed Bomb*
Dispelling Bomb*
Explosive Bomb
Explosive Missile*
Fast Bombs
Immolation Bomb
Inferno Bomb
Madness Bomb*
Nauseating Flesh
Parasitic Twin*
Plague Bomb
Poison Bomb
Smoke Bomb
Sticky Bomb
Stink Bomb
Strafe Bomb
Tentacle*
Vestigial Arm
Fire Brand
Rag Doll Mutagen*
Rocket Bomb
Scrap Bomb
Awesome and thx all. Would I need vestigial arms to keep pounding that drum because that creates one funny looking 4 armed, fire resistant goblin pounding a drum while everything around him goes ... Boom!!!
I can put the stats wherever I want, thought I would want the wisdom for the save and perception.
I will post what I think is a possible build in the morning and hopefully you will take the time to critique it.
I forgot that I had been putzing around with this concept already. Here is a build. I am not committed to any certain direction, feats or traits. I also forgot since we are starting at 2nd I don't have to take bard at 1st it could be at 2nd.
1st level: Alchemist – Fire bomber archetype. Traits are Reactionary and Balloon head. Alternate racial trait is Oversized ears. Feat is Two weapon fighting.
2nd level: Bard: Detective archetype.
3rd level: Alchemist: Discovery is Precise bomb. Feat is Extra discovery – Vestigial arm.
4th level: Alchemist:
5th level: Alchemist: Discovery is Vestigial arm. Feat is Fire heart.
6th level: Alchemist:
7th level: Alchemist: Discovery is Rocket bomb. Feat is Improved initiative.
8th level: Alchemist:
9th level: Alchemist: Discovery is Fast bombs. Feat is Extra discovery of Precise bombs.
10th level: Alchemist:
I don't think Vestigial Arms are really doing much for you in this build. I think you'd be better off taking a feat like Splash Weapon Mastery, or discoveries like Wings (this is just massively useful, and I wouldn't build an alchemist without it), or Force Bombs to get past energy resistances.
Does this look better? Took your advice and tried to incorporate what I could.
1st level: Alchemist – Fire bomber/Mindchemist archetype. Traits are Reactionary and Balloon head. Alternate racial trait is Oversized ears. Feat is Weapon Finesse and the class feat of Throw Anything.
2nd level: Bard: Detective archetype.
3rd level: Alchemist: Discovery is Smoke bomb. Feat is Extra discovery - Stink bomb.
5th level: Alchemist: Discovery is Fire Tamer. Feat is Fire heart.
7th level: Alchemist: Discovery is Rocket bomb. Feat is Extra discovery - Explosive bomb.
9th level: Alchemist: Discovery is Fast bombs. Feat is Extra discovery - Wings.
I laughed out loud with the Ride of the Valkyries comment. I like the changes. I generally don't take a character concept to level 20. My group either gets bored, we finish whatever we started or my GM (who happens to be my brother) kills me off and I start a new character.
I should have been nicer to him as a kid maybe I wouldn't get killed so often :) . Any other ideas you have keep firing at me I will be starting this character soon after the new year so I want to be ready.
I found N.Jollys guide to Alchemist builds extremely helper with my 1st Alchemist.
I agree, it is really difficult now not to play an Alchemist! Have fun!