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So, I'm introducing a friend to PFS. He wanted to play an alchemist. He was very studious and read through the PFS Roleplaying Guild Guide. He then showed me his character, and asked how he gets his discount items when using "Brew Potion". I told him that feat wasn't legal for PFS, and that he should take "Extra Bombs" instead. He asked me where it said that in the rules. A perfectly reasonable question. I searched through the guide, first by eye, then by text search... nothing.
Then I went down the rabbit hole...
It is mentioned numerous times on the forums, but nowhere officially. It's not on the FAQ (though the bit about crafting alchemical items is), neither is it in Additional Resources.
I finally found it in my old version 7.0 (year of the serpent) Guild Guide, under character creation Step 3: "Race and Class":
Alchemist: Alchemists receive the Extra Bombs feat at 1st level instead of Brew Potion.
So I checked version 10.0 (curent), under the same section:
For classes outside the Core Rulebook and for all archetypes, see the Additional Resources document regarding which are legal for play within the Roleplaying Guild, as well as the Campaign Clarifications document (paizo.com/pathfindersociety/rpg/clarifications) for alterations.
So, I went there (after manually typing the link, because the PDF has a broken link). It's not there either. Many, many Google searches with different parameters later and I can only conclude that the information has dropped off a cliff. An alchemist absolutely can't have Brew Potion, and for balance the feat needs to be replaced.
What hope does a new player have? Any chance this can be corrected on the website (and fix the link in the PDF)? I'm sure there are other omissions, too.
Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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It actually is in the Additional Resources. Remember, the Alchemist class is not from the Core Rulebook, so your first stop should always be the Additional Resources to see if it is allowed in PFS. This is what it says:
The following parts of the Advanced Player's Guide are NOT legal for play: craftsman alternate Dwarven racial trait, practicality alternate Halfling racial trait, heart of the fields alternate Human racial trait, Alchemist's Brew Potion class ability (he receives Extra Bombs instead as a bonus feat), Cavalier's Expert Trainer class ability (he receives Skill Focus [Handle Animal] instead as a bonus feat), Witch's Cauldron hex, Antipaladin alternate class, Cooperative Crafting feat, all cursed magic items and artifacts, the philter of love, and the Hero Point optional rule (and its associated feats, spells, and magic items).
I think you got thrown off the scent by the one URL in that paragraph pointing at the Clarifications, which is the companion document of the Additional Resources. Additional Resources didn't get an URL because they already get the URL on the left column of the same page in the Guide, in the first section. Someone reading the whole page would bump into it, someone jumping straight to "Classes" might miss it.
Looking through the whole Guild Guide, I do have to say that Additional Resources kinda suffers from being only explained in passing reference in a number of places. Since it's actually a pretty important concept of its own, it should have been given a more prominent section.