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I am looking at making a heavy crossbow using alchemist that uses the explosive missile discovery and a true strike extract. I would like to stay full alchemist but i want sneak attack to use snipers goggles with. Any archetypes or ammunition or weapon abilities that would be useful for this?
I am thinking from a fluff perspective a cold blooded sniper firing his crossbow from as far away as possible (preferably against flat footed touch ac) And hitting with bomb damage and sneak attack. Then moving off to reposition.
I am not set on a particular race or class but i would like a long ranged bombing sniper.
Good build idea.
A few rules to keep in mind that will help you-
There are distance penalties to Perception checks.
You can take a -20 penalty on a Stealth check to try to re-stealth after firing.
The combination of those two abilities (plus a high stealth score) will mean you'll be able to pretty consistently get your sneak attack.
Keep in mind that after 6th level your damage in comparison to the rest of the party will drop off a lot. Full Attacks matter, and from the sound of things you won't be taking them.
Consider being an Elf and using a Longbow rather than a Crossbow. That will give you the extra shots you need to stay competitive at higher levels.
That sounds like a character which works poorly with the usual party. YMMV.
If you can use variant multiclassing from Pathfinder Unchained then you can get some sneak attack from VMC rogue. Another d6 can come from the accomplished sneak attacker feat once you have any sneak attack.
You'll want seeking as a weapon or ammunition ability to avoid losing sneak attack to concealment.
Just vivisectionist and that archetype loses bombs.
Any alchemist archetypes that grant sneak attack?
The only one that does won't help you. Vivisectionist grants sneak attack by trading away bombs.
Having just played an Explosive Missile (Grenadier-Archetype) Alchemist, I think you'll find that most of the time, a True Strike won't be necessary; at least it won't be if you switch to a Longbow instead of a Heavy Crossbow.
Reason being? Tangleshot arrows and dye arrows. Both alchemical arrows, they deal no damage on their own, but are functional as delivery devices for the grenadier's alchemical weapon and/or explosive missile while retaining an attack versus Touch AC. Tangleshot arrows, while expensive, also apply a fantastic debuff that will only make your enemies even easier to hit on iterative attacks.
Once your bombs per day get high enough (I recommend once you get to the 20+/day mark), invest in the Conductive weapon property so that you can apply an extra bomb on your shots.
I also highly recommend regular use of the Targeted Bomb Admixture extract (rather than True Strike) should you go this route.
Best of luck!
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Would a grenadier alchemist with explosive missile be able to chuck targeted explosions using directed blast because then that is essentially playing as an arcane archer earlier.
I am thinking a straight Half Orc grenadier alchemist with a trait that gives stealth as a class skill seems good. Maybe trap spotter to be a semirogue niche with better nova damage.
I think there was a divine related feat somewhere that gave a flat bonus to all nonspell damage but i cant find it. Any idea what im thinking of? Ehh It will be fine without it. Thanks for the help.