I'm quite giddy as this tickles my FMA fancy, but wanted to clear up how it works. The circle reads as such: Blood Alchemist.
"At 1st (level, the blood alchemist can spend an unused extract slot to charge the circle with alchemical energy. He chooses one of the spells listed of equal or lower level to the extract slot he spent, and until he refreshes his extract slots, as long as his body is in physical contact with the circle, he can produce the effect of the spell he chose as a spell-like ability."
1. If I let go of a circle/step out, can I return and continue casting the spell within it.
2. Can I cast a spell in the circle just once, or repeatedly as needed?
Ooh that is an interesting archetype. It's not as clear as I'd like it to be but I'd go with yes to the first and maybe repeatedly for the second.
until he refreshes his extract slots, as long as his body is in physical contact with the circle, he can produce the effect of the spell he chose as a spell-like ability.
The circle only loses power once the alchemist's extracts are refreshed. It doesn't say anything about the circle losing power if you break contact with it. I would go with repeated use but keep in mind that the spell target must be in contact with the circle and a number of those spells would destroy the circle upon casting e.g.Move Earth.
I'm also getting a strong FMA vibe from this which is cool. It's interesting that a non-evil alignment prevents you using one archetype's abilities. I like it thematically but is it worth losing mutagens and bombs?
Also, homebrew territory. I'm not a big fan of more spells or spellcasting, but this trait removes mutagen which I'm a fan of, old' Jackyl and Hyde aesthetics are one of the reasons I really like Alchemist. Would it be too unbalancing to count this as altered for purposes of mixing with archetypes, but keeping mutagens rather than Lifeblood?
Lifeblood (Su)
When a blood alchemist performs a coup de grace that kills an intelligent humanoid creature (though, not a summoned intelligent humanoid creature), he can gather its lifeblood into a vial; this is a death effect.
He can use this lifeblood any time within the next 24 hours to create an extract of a spell level he can cast that is no higher than 1/2 the creature’s CR, without spending a daily extract slot. He can use this ability once for each spell level each day (for example, a 13th-level blood alchemist can use lifeblood to gain additional 1st-, 2nd-, 3rd-, 4th-, and 5thlevel extracts). A blood alchemist can’t take the mutagen or cognatogen discoveries.
This ability replaces mutagen.
@Decimus Drake
I honestly don't care for bombs, never did, if not taking this Archetype, I'd likely take Vivisectionist, poisons, mutagens and slicing them up.
As I understood it, the circle can affect a surface it is on, so potentially wrecking buildings FMA style with earth and wood manipulation!
As a GM I'd be fine with not swapping out mutagen for Lifeblood and I know my GM would say the same. Especially since you can't use the ability if you're not evil. I don't see how keeping mutagens could unbalance other aspects of this class. I suppose the answer here is 'talk to your GM'.
As a GM I'd be fine with not swapping out mutagen for Lifeblood and I know my GM would say the same. Especially since you can't use the ability if you're not evil. I don't see how keeping mutagens could unbalance other aspects of this class. I suppose the answer here is 'talk to your GM'.
"Talk to your gm and bring lotsa candy" is what you mean. I get you. -wink wonk-
I'll ask around the table and make sure the rest are okay with it. Free spells are nice, especially since they could end up powering the circle all day, so this should be a fair loss to get mutagens back.
I suppose it doesn't have to be the immediate surface upon which the circle is drawn but any part of the surface within range of the spell. I could see these circles being useful for a 'defend the keep' scenario or an ambush.
I suppose it doesn't have to be the immediate surface upon which the circle is drawn but any part of the surface within range of the spell. I could see these circles being useful for a 'defend the keep' scenario or an ambush.
It's kind of funny because in 3.5 we homebrewed such circles to allow our Artificers casting crafting and weapon enchancing spells in Eberron setting, so this is a nice, familiar thing.
I think if any part of this will be particularly contentious it'll be whether or not the circles allow repeat castings. I think it could be argued they do since you can "produce the effect of the spell he chose as a spell-like ability" for "as long as his body is in physical contact with the circle" "until he refreshes his extract slots".
If you were given an item and all you were told was that so long as you held the item you could cast Magic Missile, then without a clear limitation on how many times you could cast the spell it doesn't seem unreasonable to me to think it's unlimited.
I think if any part of this will be particularly contentious it'll be whether or not the circles allow repeat castings. I think it could be argued they do since you can "produce the effect of the spell he chose as a spell-like ability" for "as long as his body is in physical contact with the circle" "until he refreshes his extract slots".
If you were given an item and all you were told was that so long as you held the item you could cast Magic Missile, then without a clear limitation on how many times you could cast the spell it doesn't seem unreasonable to me to think it's unlimited.
Yeah that part is odd. It seems most of the spells are FMA themed, creation, altering some surface or minor buffs to items.
I was puzzled since they didn't write something like "produce the effect of the spell he chose as a spell-like ability once per circle" or some such. Then again we're trading potentially high damage bombs for a min of prep to create/fix/manipulate items/surfaces.
Hmmmm.
Random idea.
With expeditious excavation,what if you use it to dig 5 ft holes under something like a tavern or a general house?
I need to look at the other circle powers and shenanigans that might follow. But for most part I'm glad that this allows more item creation for the class, especially with masterwork transformation and fabrication.