Disarm a component pouch?

[That Darn Rogue]

A question came up during my game today. We were fighting an alchemist who's been giving us a bit of trouble. My Swashbuckler was able to get up to her, and I proposed the idea of cutting off her component pouch to prevent her from creating more bombs to chuck our way.

There was some short debate over whether one could do that, and furthermore how it would be done.

So, there's the question. Can you disarm a component pouch from a caster/alchemist? And if so, would it be through disarm, sunder, or something else?

[wraithstrike]

I've always seen disarm as being meant to take something someone is holding. The steal combat maneuver is likely a better option if you want to take it and not destroy it.
If you don't care of the item survives I would suggest sunder.

[Andy Brown]

for casters that use spells with material components, you need to use Sleight of Hand, or the Steal combat manouver (from the APG) to take the component pouch.

Alchemists don't use spell components in the same way, so it's unlikely you could steal all the bomb components in one turn - that's a GM call.

[Saldiven]

Sunder would also work, too, for destroying a component pouch, but not sure if that's applicable to an Alchemist's bombs.

[wraithstrike]

The others are correct. There is no rule saying the bombs are in a pouch.

[That Darn Rogue]

Well, the bombs themselves aren't in a pouch, but it still requires the components--which would need to be in some sort of container.
I wasn't trying to steal the bombs--just prevent them from creating more on the fly.

Sunder is what I imagined in that scenario.

[Saldiven]

Hrm. The rules are unclear on it. It just says that the Alchemist creates a number of catalyst vials and that they function "similarly" to a spell component pouch. But, nowhere is it ever described whether they're in a single back, in straps on a bandolier, or in what fashion they are carried.

[wraithstrike]

The alchemist does have the catalyst somewhere so I guess it would be fair game to target that location. If I were the GM I see no problem with rewarding creativity, and those vials do have to exist somewhere, but at the same time if this becomes a common tactic then it makes sense that other alchemist would have run into this, and they might not having all of the catalyst in the same container(whatever that may be).

[Andy Brown]

I tend to think of the alchemists bombs as a bit like glow sticks.
Prepare a small vial with 2 separate components, when you're about to throw a bomb you break the divider so that the two parts mix.

This would mean that you'd either have to steal whatever item the alchemist kept the bombs in, or sunder each bomb.