Ragechemist Build and Advice

[Knuckles Jarvis]

Thinking about starting a Ragechemist Alchemist for a PFS group I go to. So far, here's what I've come up with:

Human
Alchemist - Ragechemist

Str 20 (+2 Human bonus)
Dex 12
Con 14
Int 12
Wis 8
Cha 7

Feats: Martial Weapon Proficiency / Power Attack

Weapon: Greataxe 1d12 / +5 to hit / +7 dmg (or 8? What's the rule on rounding Strength damage bonuses?)

The good part IMO:

Mutagen: +4 Str +2AC -2Int
Extract: Enlarge Person
Power Attack +2dmg -1Att

Together to get 26 Str / +7 to hit / 3d6 +14 dmg

I feel like this is a bit TOO strong to be a level 1 character. Am I doing my math wrong, missing some rules, or anything else?

[Alexander_Damocles]

Mechanically, it all looks valid. Keep in mind, tho, that your character will rapidly hurting on the stats penalized by the mutagen. Also, IMO, a wis 8 cha 7 character offers little outside combat. Also, dex 12? You are going to get hit, and often. So, your character is a melee glass cannon, with a dangerous chance to go comatose from mental stat loss.

[KestlerGunner]

Just because you *can* make this character doesn't mean you *should* make this character. You've dumped everything except for physical damage. Your actual glass cannon melee strikes requires burning two rounds (and per day resources) before it actually works.

Can you deal a lot of damage? Yes.
Does that make it cool? No.

[Josh Spies]

Psst.... the Drunken Brute barbarian archetype allows you to drink potions (or alcoholic beverages) as a move action. If you want smash things with a 30ish Str, that's where I'd go next.

Also, as others say, you'll be doing great in combat situations, but trying to convince the town guard not to arrest you, or a vital NPC to work with you? Well, that's what the Charisma-stacking face character is for.

[MasterMinMaxer]

Hmm...

PFS,once you hit the higher levels you WILL get mind-controlled.Your will saves SUCK,even more so when you dump Wisdom.Seriously,either keep a normal alchemist,go beastmorph+vivisectionist alchemist,or become a barbarian.

You will be killed,especially with such a low Dexterity and Constitution.If you still want to play this character,lower your Strength a bit and put more points into Dexterity.

Also,be a half-orc.You can take the Grenadier archetype to gain proficiency with one martial weapon at 1st level,and then you can take the alternate racial trait Toothy for an extra attack.That means a lot more damage.

[StreamOfTheSky]

Don't play a Comatose...err..."Rage"Chemist. They are utterly horrible, by the end of the second combat you'll probably be out cold, every day. Seriously, they're godawful, I cannot unrecommend them enough, it's possibly the worst archetype in all of Pathfinder.

Spoiler:

At the end of each turn that he takes hit point damage, the ragechemist must succeed at a Will saving throw (DC 15, or DC 20 if any of the damage came from a critical hit that turn) or take a –2 penalty on Will saving throws and to Intelligence. These penalties end 1 hour after the mutagen ends and stack with themselves. If the penalty lowers the ragechemist’s Intelligence score to 0, the ragechemist is comatose until 1 hour after the mutagen expires.

Fun fact: There's no way I'm aware of to end a mutagen early.

Just don't do it. Friends don't let friends play ComatoseChemists.

[Jak the Looney Alchemist]

If you're going to do this consider switching over to half elf. You can switch out adaptability for +2 will and snag indomitable faith for another +1 will. You cannot grab power attack at level 1 anyway because you are missing the bab component. This will give you a fighting chance.

I'd still seriously considering dropping str some and boosting up some of the lower stats namely wisdom and int. The ability to cast higher level spells is going to be much more useful than str and if you're just going to pump up str with your ability score increases then there isn't a logical reason you couldn't do that with str instead and keep the higher int now in case you get hit.

[Quantum Steve]

StreamOfTheSky wrote:

Fun fact: There's no way I'm aware of to end a mutagen early.

Lesser Restoration dispels any magical effects reducing one of the subject's ability scores. Since (Su) effects are magical, the entire effect is dispelled.

[theonetruetom]

I'm wondering what my Half-Orc Drunken Brute would be like with two levels of ragechemist. +4 AC (with a potion of shield, that puts him at, like, almost 30 AC), 28 str during a mutagen- and booze-fueled rage, and an absurdly low intelligence (5 during a mutagen binge). That... would be a fun character to play. His name is already Dumb Smash, but he'd be incapable of pronouncing it some of the time.

edit: With a Lucerne Hammer. 1d12+10 dmg as he stands with no alchemist levels, while raging. I did 39 as a crit to the portal at the end of Voice in the Void because I was RPing a character with 3 intelligence.