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Does anybody know any good ways to make the Promethean Alchemist's Homunculus more useful, and more sturdy? I did some rough comparison with the eidolon and an animal companion (a horse in this case), and it seems like it's actually very fragile.
At level 1: a homunculus gets 15 Hit Points (5.5 per Hit Dice, and 10 for being a Small sized Construct) and has an Armour Class of 15 (+1 from size, +2 from dexterity, and +2 from Natural Armour), a bipedal eidolon has 6 Hit Points (5.5 per it Dice, and 1 from Constitution) and has an Armour Class of 13 (+0 from Medium size, +2 from Natural Armour, and +1 from Dexterity), and a horse has 13 ([4.5 per Hit Dice] times 2, and [2 from Constitution] times 2) with an Armour Class of 14 (-1 from Large size, +4 from Natural Armour, and +1 from Dexterity).
At level 5: a homunculus gets 47 Hit Points ([5.5 per Hit Dice] times 5, and 20 for being a Medium sized Construct) and has an Armour Class of 14 (+2 from dexterity, and +2 from Natural Armour), a bipedal eidolon has 32 Hit Points ([5.5 per it Dice] times 5, and [1 from Constitution] times 5) and has an Armour Class of 18 (+0 from Medium size, +6 from Natural Armour, and +2 from Dexterity), and a horse has 37 ([4.5 per Hit Dice] times 5, and [3 from Constitution] times 5) with an Armour Class of 17 (-1 from Large size, +6 from Natural Armour, and +2 from Dexterity).
At level 10: a homunculus gets 64 Hit Points ([5.5 per Hit Dice] times 8, and 20 for being a Medium sized Construct) and has an Armour Class of 15 (+3 from dexterity, and +2 from Natural Armour), a bipedal eidolon has 52 Hit Points ([5.5 per it Dice] times 8, and [1 from Constitution] times 8) and has an Armour Class of 23 (+0 from Medium size, +10 from Natural Armour, and +3 from Dexterity), and a horse has 60 ([4.5 per Hit Dice] times 8, and [3 from Constitution] times 8) with an Armour Class of 20 (-1 from Large size, +8 from Natural Armour, and +3 from Dexterity).
At level 15: a homunculus gets 86 Hit Points ([5.5 per Hit Dice] times 15, and 20 for being a Medium sized Construct) and has an Armour Class of 16 (+4 from dexterity, and +2 from Natural Armour), a bipedal eidolon has 78 Hit Points ([5.5 per it Dice] times 12, and [1 from Constitution] times 12) and has an Armour Class of 28 (+0 from Medium size, +14 from Natural Armour, and +4 from Dexterity), and a horse has 90 ([4.5 per Hit Dice] times 8, and [3 from Constitution] times 12) with an Armour Class of 23 (-1 from Large size, +10 from Natural Armour, and +4 from Dexterity).
At level 20: a homunculus gets 102 Hit Points ([5.5 per Hit Dice] times 12, and 20 for being a Medium sized Construct) and has an Armour Class of 17 (+5 from dexterity, and +2 from Natural Armour), a bipedal eidolon has 97 Hit Points ([5.5 per it Dice] times 15, and [1 from Constitution] times 15) and has an Armour Class of 33 (+0 from Medium size, +18 from Natural Armour, and +5 from Dexterity), and a horse has 120 ([4.5 per Hit Dice] times 16, and [3 from Constitution] times 16) with an Armour Class of 25 (-1 from Large size, +12 from Natural Armour, and +4 from Dexterity).
The homunculus, in comparison to the other two, is definitely weaker. It starts off with an initial Hit Point total above the other two, but it loses that advantage due to the bonus not scaling, and it's armour class is pathetic compared to the other two. The eidolon gets a whole bunch of evolution points in addition to it's respectable health and excellent armour, and all the classes with access to an animal companion also have access to ways to buff up their animal companion (meaning animal companion specific feats, gear and spells, not general buffs).
Spell resistance at 11+ master's alchemist level is pretty good, as it adds up to almost 50% spell failure chance, and evasion/improved evasion help make up for the homunculi's s%+*ty Reflex saving throw, but neither of those help stave off normal everyday damage, which is the biggest threat to the homunculus with it's dreck armour class and lack of access to healing.
I already know how to play a normal alchemist, and the Promethean alchemist itself is actually easier than the standard ones, since they lose access to the two things that most alchemist's choose between, but I don't really have any idea how to get the most of the homonculus.
Anyways, so far, the best options I can see for the homunculus (at least at level 1) are the longspear and sling, with bog standard leather armour, although I'm wondering whether it would be worth using up the precious feat slot for Light Armour Proficiency. Any ideas, folks?
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Offense wise, the homonculus gets a primary bite and later two secondary claws, which isn't bad, although not particularity amazing, with a sleep based poison which is useful, but not likely to actually be effective, particularly at higher levels, as it's DC is only 10+2+half HD. I gets Simple Weapon Proficiency, which does add some options (flying around with a longspear and javelins).
It can use your extracts on itself, and it counts as a construct or a humanoid for them, which is useful, but you don't get any more uses, so you have to ration them out carefully.
Telepathic link, flight, and stealth as a class skill is really useful for scouting, although eidolons can do just about as well or better, and animal companions only slightly worse with empathic link.
The ability to bring it back from the dead for 100 gold/HD seems useful, but animal companions can just be replaced, and eidolons can just be resummoned, neither of which (usually) cost anything at all.
It just seems to me like the homonculus is missing somethings. I really want to use this archetype, but it just seems like I would be a drag on the party if I played it, and that I should go for one of the more mechanically effective companion based classes/archetypes. Does anybody have any experience playing this archetype they could volunteer to give em a better sense of things?