Hey all, I'm working on an Alchemist build and when I checked out the guides, they looked like they seem to only go up to Ultimate Magic, so I wanted to see if there was anything newer I should keep an eye out for.
The character is for Hell's Rebels and we've played one session so the first level stuff is already locked. But I rolled pretty good for stats (4d6 drop the lowest reroll 1s)
Tiefling Vanilla Alchemist 1
Attributes post racial adjustment
STR 11
DEX 16
Con 16
Int 22
Wis 16
Cha 10
The dm let me trade out the SLA to roll on the variant chart and I got the +2 to int explaining the 22. I know I could have put the 18 to something else like Dex to have 2 18's but it just felt fun to go with int.
My plan is currently to go the bomber route, so I expect my first discovery will be precise bombs so I don't kill any party members (I can 1 shot the wizard with splash damage), and my first level feat is improved initiative.
Favored class bonus at level 1 was hp.
The dm is probably okay with me reworking somethings like archetype or my first feat, but race and attributes are pretty much dead set.
So besides precise bombs, any suggestions for where I should go with this?
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I'm looking at making a bomb throwing alchemist right now, too. Your stats are much better than mine (20 point buy), but I'm also prioritizing int first, then dex.
I was also looking at Precise Bombs for my first discovery. I was thinking Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot for my 1st and 3rd level feats. Between those three things, I should be able to hit consistently, and avoid splashing my allies.
I was also figuring I'd craft some acid flasks and buy holy water early and often, so I'd have plenty to throw without running out of bombs at low levels. I'll see if I have room for the Extra Bombs feat by level 5 or something, but I may have other priorities.
You'll probably want some discoveries to change the damage type and add conditions to your bombs. The tanglefoot bombs look good. Force Bombs is another top priority, since that's the one damage type that almost nothing is immune to. I considered Smoke Bombs and related discoveries, but I've played with Obscuring Mist and Fog Cloud before, and they usually get in the way of my own party more often than the bad guys, so I was going to avoid them this time.
Fast Bombs at level 8 is a must, to full attack with bombs. Combine with Rapid Shot and/or Two Weapon Fighting, and you can unload your bombs almost too quickly. Once again, you may want to consider Extra Bombs if you have feats to spare.
Other than bombs, what do you want to do? I was thinking Infusion discovery, so I could pass out buffs to my allies. Remember that it only takes 1 minute to create your extracts, so leaving half (or more) of your "spell slots" open at the start of the day, and filling them in later as you see what you need that day, is a good strategy.
I'm a fan of the Tumor Discovery for a hedgehog with protector Archetype. It gives +2 to will and shield other + fast healing ability while fused. It's a very strong option that most builds benefit from. Why take iron will when the tumor familiar is better than iron will.
The problem I have with Grenadier is that it trades out brew potion, and iirc I can't just pick it back up with a feat since I don't have a caster level. Then again I could just take infusion, so maybe not such a loss, especially since we don't often take the time to craft.
I sorta convinced myself mid post, so yeah Grenadier sounds pretty good.
Edit: As for what I want to do, I guess being useful in and out of combat. I've got some good combat things down, plus I have 10 skill points a level so that should be useful.
I took most of the knowledge skills along with perception, and craft alchemy.
I was considering going into the Brewkeeper prestige class, but can't do that if I am trading out brew potion.
So I guess most of the advice I'm looking for is feats discoveries and extracts at this point. I am going to probably take the Hellfire bomb since I like playing up the Tiefling aspect of the character
Mind Chemist and Grenadier are both great for a bomber type alchemist.
I usually favor the Mind Chemist for its insane bonus to knowledge checks. Abd with the cognatagen and high Int, you impose very high DC on your bombs, making debufing a very atractive route.
As a grenadier a hybridization funnel is even better than usual. With 11 Str you won't get that much use out of the martial weapon, but a longbow gives you a long range backup weapon at least, especially when loaded with an infused alchemical weapon and/or the explosive missile discovery.
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Grenadier is very good, especially as a tiefling. You can use the Alchemical Weapon ability with items retrieved with your tail (swift), attach to arrow as Move, attach bomb to arrow as well with Explosive Missile discovery and fire (standard). obviously you took proficiency with the bow.
Meaning you shoot arrows with both a bomb and a flask of acid/fire/holy water for even more damage. And you now have a range of 110 feet instead of taking penalties beyond 20 feet.
Then you start using tangleshot arrows to be hitting at touch AC and entangling, or dye arrows with marker dye/glowing ink payload, to highlight enemies who might want to become invisible. If you also have a Seeking bow, all you need is to know where enemies are once, you tag them, and you can easily keep following them.
The nice thing about this whole construction is that it lets you do a lot without using many bombs at a time, and it's only from level 4 onwards.
It's still worth taking Fast and Force bombs, because sometimes you just want to unleash massive fury on something that's come too close. But having a "slow burn" option helps to get through long dungeon crawls.