I have made alchemist where her third ability is where if you acquire a weapon item or armor you may banish it to draw a random item with the liquid trait from the box.
A friend of mine thinks it may be over powered. Thought? The thought behind it is that she can break down weapons and other things into a potion.
Alternate thought would to draw a random item from your discard pile with the liquid trait.
Well it really depends of your character other powers.
If you handle items like any other characters, then it is ok.
If you have a bonus when playing or holding items, then (depending if that special bonus) that may easily be overpowered.
Example: if your character can use potions or the like without banishing them, or if he can play an item on a combat check (that is not meant to be iesd that way), then there is a good risk of overpowering.
His other abilities are recharging alchemical traits instead of banish like other alch, and his other is discarding an item with the alchemical trait to add her craft skill to a combat check or non strength or non constitution check. I mean I first have to acquire the limited amount of booms in the scenarios
his other is discarding an item with the alchemical trait to add her craft skill to a combat check or non strength or non constitution check.
This is in fact the more imbalanced ability, imho. Craft will probably be your Alchemist's second-best skill, so I suspect for a single discard you'll be adding at least d8+2 or somesuch (and that's *before* the player puts any feats into it!). This is even more compounded by being able to apply it to 2 other types of check, and if you're able to add it to other people's checks - it's getting beyond ridiculous. Let;s not get into the fact that you'll probably have some healing on hand to cycle all those discards right back into you deck.
A proper balance for this would probably see the bonus reduced to something like "add 1d6", with an upgrade between "2d6" or "1d6+1" (depending how 'awesome' you want your hero;OR
you make the cost of the power "banish" (which seems like a negative, but starting with AD3 would allow you to both clean up Basic cards AND to 'shop' AD#-2 cards that you haven't somehow encountered yet).
In both cases, the base power should probably apply to Combat or Non-combat *only*, with the other option being presented as a power feat upgrade. (Versatility is one of the most 'expensive' commodities in the game)
For the power in OP: it's also overpowered, imho, as it both let's you get rid of crap you acquire AND lets you draw the cards you're most interested in, essentially shooting you deck upgrade speed through the roof (consider that 'draw a random card of type X' is a *scenario reward* in many scenarios from the early history of the game; you're talking about doing that multiple times in a single game, and again - for the negligible price of getting rid of crap you don't want anyway)
Your alternate thought however, is rather good: Liquids are the type of card that you hero will generally be recharging; hence, you're presented with a tactical dilemma when you want/need to discard cards - should you keep your precious Liquids, or should you prioritize discarding them, as you know you may be given the opportunity to regenerate them right back into your hand. I really like this, as I prefer powers that make you think and take decisions, as opposed to static bonuses.
The discard for craft came from an idea for one of the alchemists already made by paizo, I believe SnS alchemist. He gets his Intelligent Die plus but can also apply it to a third NON- COMBAT "skill ability". So to balance mine I took out the third skill the other alch got and made it craft skill instead rather than intelligent die. So in the end its a buffer of Plus 2 yet I lose the amount of checks it helps.
I think I like the alternate third ability myself as well and my friend agreed it was solid and balanced. You get to heal in a way but you have to give up something you just found.
And citing you talking about the combat or Non-combat only that is the way the power is. it reads " Add it to combat ([] or Non -combat strength or non combat Constitution check.)
So it can only help you in your own fights or your own non str non con check. Something for her her roles later are becoming more battle proficient or helping her friends so maybe a later check box could be to apply it to someone elses check at my location.
Also I am not to worried about overpowering combat checks ever since Mummy masks came out with the slayer and allowing him to rechard and discard a card to add buffs to combat checks, mind you if they invoke undead or poison trait. My buddy played him and I thought it was nuts how many extra dice he could add to his check.
Thank you longshot for the advice it helped out a lot. Let me know what more you think to my thoughts in this reply!
You're welcome :)
I can't remember exactly the S&S Alchemist, but I think you're maybe quoting a Role power? At any rate, there is a significant difference between adding just 1 die and adding (1 die + a bunch of flat points modifier). Note that many powers that grant an extra die, then have incremental upgrades for adding just +1, +2, etc. The moment your Alchemist uses not his Int die, but his Craft skill - his power gets upgraded each time he puts a skill feat into Int. It is this double-dipping that makes it really strong. That being said, it is your homebrew character - you can always give it a try, and if you see that this power trivializes a bunch of checks - you can just nerf him.
As for Zadim... I'm currently playing him in a 6-party MM, and I'm... whelmed. Not quite *under*whelmed, but he definitely doesn't feel like a "fighter" type. His starting Melee skill is quite average, so his practically *required* to use one of his boost powers to perform decently. And those powers are very ...particular. The "recharge to add Int" is awfully circumstantial before you upgrade it and/or you acquire some specific weapons; the "discard to add Stealth" makes me throw away very specific cards, of which I don't have too much to spare - and I usually keep them to assis other characters at my location.
So, yes, Zadim is very good Boss-killer, when he know he won't need his cards anymore and/or can add the appropriate trait to his check, but -strictly in my experience- he cannot (or would not optimally) add both skills to his combat.
Somewhat relevant to the point about the alchemist's Craft - note that Zadim can be extra-powerful (when needed) not so much because of adding 2d8, but because of the ton of flat points he adds through his Stealth/Int skills.
Its damiel from the class deck. He discards a alchemical card or 2 cards, to add intelligence skill. then a power feat to add it to Non combat strength, constitution, or dexterity check.
So my character is losing the extra check but get a buffer of +2 since craft is +2.
my buddies zadim was pretty nuts since he had a good amount of poison weapons so he was always invoking and such. I just got done playing the magus ahmotep. and I felt her ability recharge a card to add or subtract to the check equal to the adventure deck number of the card recharged was nuts.
I agree though that I could just try her out and if it feels a little over powered I can change it.
I really want to dive into the roles but I need to get this down first haha.
Again thanks for the feedback!