Alchemists and Detect Poison

[cadpat]

Given the Alchemist's abilities with poison and so on, how come the Alchemist doesn't have detect poison in its extract list? Especially since it has many more advanced poison related extracts.

Am I stupid? Did I miss something? I get RAW, no detect poison, but it doesn't really make sense to me. I feel like there is probably a reason I am missing (some ability or something that enables an Alchemist to detect poison) or maybe it is a sheer oversight?

Could an alchemist still add it/invent it as a spell?

Thought?

[Diego Rossi]

The alchemist spells are generally limited to self-enhancing or affecting an item. They don't have spells that detect stuff.

They can use craft (alchemy) or perception to notice and identify poisons.

[cadpat]

Sure, except as per Detect Poison:

----
You determine whether a creature, object, or area has been poisoned or is poisonous. You can determine the exact type of poison with a DC 20 Wisdom check. A character with the Craft (alchemy) skill may try a DC 20 Craft (alchemy) check
---

Detect poison is the mechanism to use Alchemy to identify poisons, so by that logic, it means you need that spell to use the Alchemy to identify it.

[Diego Rossi]

cadpat wrote:

Sure, except as per Detect Poison:

----
You determine whether a creature, object, or area has been poisoned or is poisonous. You can determine the exact type of poison with a DC 20 Wisdom check. A character with the Craft (alchemy) skill may try a DC 20 Craft (alchemy) check
---

Detect poison is the mechanism to use Alchemy to identify poisons, so by that logic, it means you need that spell to use the Alchemy to identify it.

There is a difference between an alchemical analysis of a substance and an instantaneous spell. An alchemist doesn't have a spell that allows him to identify a poison. And that kind of spell is decidedly outside the scope of the alchemist spells.

[2Zak]

Diego Rossi wrote:

that kind of spell is decidedly outside the scope of the alchemist spells.

They have Detect Metal, Detect Secret Doors and Detect Undead, of all things, and Identify, and a few other similar Divination spells. Detect Poison is decidedly not outside the scope of the Alchemist spells.

If anything, they just don't need it, or aren't supposed to. They can use Craft (alchemy) to identify poisons too, and they eventually become poison resistant and/or immune, so why bother developing a formula to do something they can do naturally (identifying) or that they end up not caring about (finding hidden poisons).

[Firebug]

Physician Spectacles, Dark Green Rhomboid, Eye of Crystalized Venom, Noble's Vigilant Pillbox, or level dip Medium channeling Champion with Two-World Magic to add Detect Poison to your Medium spell list. Couple birds with one stone on the last one, you get a damage bonus for everything you do: weapon/natural attacks, bombs, and useful cantrips like Detect Magic and now Detect Poison with Two World Magic.

[Mysterious Stranger]

The real reason alchemists don’t get detect poison is because it is a 0 level spell and alchemists don’t get those.