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I rolled in order for abilities and got 13, 16, 12, 13, 15, 10, we are however allowed to switch out two abilities, so for this build I switched out wisdom and intelligence, intelligence gets a +2 from race features.
Half Elf (Paragon Surge, Elven Branched Staff as martial, multitalented)
DM allows for finessable Weapons to be wielded with DEX bonus on attack without Weapon Finesse Feat and also allows archetype stacking even if both archetypes add something to the same thing, so long as it doesn't get in the way of each other.
In this example, I'm allowed to take these two archetypes even though Bleeding Attack and Crippling Strike change discoveries, but since it's "only" adding an additional feat you "may" pick, it doesn't matter.
Final abilities array: STR 13, DEX 16, CON 12, INT 17, WIS 13, CHA 10
1. Vivisectionist/Bramble Brewer 1
1.level feat: Additional Traits
Traits: Bifurcated Magic (Alchemist/x), Heirloom Weapon (Elven Branched Staff), Magical Lineage (possibly Scorching Ray), Student of Philosophy, Strength of the Sun, Warded Against Nature
Route Arcanist
Favored Classes Arcanist (+1 Arcane Pool/Elf) and Alchemist (+1hp)
2. Brown-Fur-Transmuter 1
1. level exploit armored caster (maybe not, the dex gains could be huge)
3. Brown-Fur-Transmuter 2
3. level feat: Extra Arcanist Exploit: Familiar
4. Brown-Fur-Transmuter 3
5. Brown-Fur-Transmuter 4
5. level feat ???, most likely Extra Arcanist Exploit for Potent Magic or Dimensional Slide or Empower Spell
6. Sleepless Detective 1 (Alertness from Familiar)
Great synergy with Student of Philosophy
7. Arcane Trickster (x)
7. level feat: Multitalented Mastery, Accomplished Sneak Attacker, Metamagic Feats for Spell Perfection
Basically, this can be extremely buffed. Long Arm potion for better reach and touch spell sneak attacks without incurring AoO, Dendric Mutagen for +4 natural AC and fast healing 1, additional dexterity +2 at the cost of 2 wisdom. I don't suppose a mutagen is a transmuter spell, still, good enough.
There are some other nice transmutation spells though, like Cats Grace, Foxes Cunning...oh and of course Paragon surge, now with +2 +4 +trait. Probably to pick up School Understanding > Admixture if you don't want these fire elementals soaking up your damage.
Wizard Route
Wizard, Admixture, opposition schools Enchantment and Necromancy
2. Wizard 1
3. Wizard 2
3. Level Feat: Accomplished Sneak Attacker
4. Wizard 3
5. Arcane Trickster 1
5. Level Feat Empower Spell
6. Sleepless Detective 1 (Alertness from Familiar)
7. Arcane Trickster x
7. Level Feat Multitalented Mastery
More spells, earlier access to Arcane Trickster.
What do you think is better?
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Wizard is, by far, better. It's earlier access, which is always better. When you go into AT, you're gonna lose class features, and the ones you have won't scale. Wizard loses less, in this case. There's also a spell, Sense Vitals, you'll want to look into.
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Wizard. You don't have cha or levels to make arcane pool worth anything. Arcanist is a great class but you need levels in it to make it great. Wizard on the other hand you only need to keep advancing caster level to make it relevant. Also wizard is much more frontloaded for class abilities. What are you using for your 1st level of sneak attack for wizard though?
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Actually, I shouldn't take Empower Spell on 5th since I won't have 3rd level spells...
@darkerthought7
Not planning to take any of the exploits that depend on Arcanist level (Though I guess the familiar will be gimped, still, +4 initiative and a free and the Dimensional slide has a limited range, but should be enough to get out of trouble or into favorable positions).
@Dastis
The same as with the Arcanist, the Vivisectionist 1st level class feature.
Thanks to the Elf favored class bonus, by level 4 Arcanist he'd have an Arcane Reservoir of 9, but the lack of exploits really puts a damper in this. Though I think it can be somewhat mitigated by Paragon Surge, picking just the right exploit for this battle (well, for the whole day really).
Let's say he were to cast Eagle's splendor, for +6 charisma (thanks to Brown Fur Transmuter) just before casting Paragon Surge and picking up a some charisma based exploit, he'd get those at 16 charisma, not spectacular but still decent, right?
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I was more speaking to a) Your Arcane Reservoir is capped by your level, and B) The little bonuses you get from Wizard are largely forgettable, even as a single-classed Wizard. There are exceptions (Foresight probably being the biggest).
The Pros of Arcanist are: flexible casting, customizable palette of class features. The Cons are: less spells per day, less spells prepared per day, fewer Reservoir points, delayed access to higher level spells (which will also affect entry into the class). The last Con is probably the biggest symbol of danger in this route. A one level delay, followed by another delay when you first take the prestige class will hamstring you if you intend to play during those levels. Falling behind the sorcerer in terms of spell level is not a good thing, especially when you don't have at least a 3/4 BAB chassis to back you up. Tack on a lack of spell casting endurance, and you'd honestly be better off just BEING a sorcerer.
If you could get the DM to let you use the Variant BAB calculations from Unchained, you'll hurt less. Nonetheless, you'll still run into BAB problems on a 1/2 BAB base class. You'll be fine against larger creatures (though not all) and heavily armored opponents, but God(s) forbid you encounter something like a Quickling or a high-level monoRogue. You simply can't afford to miss with your highly limited number of spells as an Arcanist.
Side Note: The Charisma based exploits are all terrible. The damage just doesn't scale.
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Don't forget: the spells per day problem gets worse for you as you level. The Wizard can use Pearls of Power to regain spell slots. As written, nothing can regenerate Arcanist slots. Sensible DMs will house rule Runestones of Power to work instead. Though you are not technically a Spontaneous Caster, you do have Spell Slots that function similarly. Meanwhile, PoP are functionally useless, as you don't expend prepared spells when cast. The difference in cost is 1000gp (PoP) to 2000gp (RoP), and the ratio gets worse from there.
Yes, we do fractional BAB. At level 7 that'd be 4. Still pretty weak. But at least I should be able to get DEX up to 32, 6 from Cat's Grace, 4 from Paragon Surge, 4 from Reduce Person and 2 from Mutagen. That's another +11 to hit.
By the Charisma based exploit I meant mostly School Understanding, since it changes that number of uses based on CHA, rather than INT.
For example Reveal Weakness (Void), (with Eagle Splendor) that'd be 6 uses of a reduction of CL/2 to AC and and saving throws. At level 7 (CL6) that'd be 3. Or Iron Skin (Metal) which is luckily also based on caster level, at CL 6 that'd be another 3 AC.
Foresight (Divination) doesn't even have a level.
Maybe I'll be able to convince the DM to make all of these abilities caster level. It seems weird to me that some are while others aren't (most aren't).