Rand Costu, Mutagenist

[Valentius]

Hey guys, so I created an Alchemist for a (now defunct) Age of Ashes game and though I’d post it here to see if you guys think he is actually viable. Please note he is not ultra-optimized, because I’m not that much of a system master.

The concept: Rand Costu is a Varisian by way of Ustalav. Son of an alchemical doctor who used dragon’s blood in his treatments, Rand had always been fascinated by the power of dragons; not just their magic but their physical power as well. Turning to what he knew; what his father taught him, he began to experiment with mutagenic compounds, that could alter his body to give him the traits he desired, or as close as he could achieve with his current knowledge at any rate. After learning everything he could from his father, Rand left to travel the world, looking for any opportunity to improve his skills.

Character Creation: I chose Human for Ancestry, Dragon Scholar (from the A0A Player’s Guide) for Background, and Alchemist (naturally) for Class.

For Heritage I took Versatile and chose the Armor Proficiency general Feat.
My Ancestry Feat is Arcane Tattoos. I chose Abjuration to gain the Shield spell.
My background gives me the Intimidating Glare Feat for free
For my class choices I took Mutagenist as my Research Field and Alchemical Familiar as my class Feat. The Familiar (named Gustav) has Manual Dexterity and Lab Assistant

After choosing my Ability Boosts I end up with the Following stats. Str: 14, Dex: 12, Con: 12, Int: 18, Wis: 10, Cha: 12

My trained skills are: Arcana, Athletics, Crafting, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Lore: Dragons, Nature, Society, Stealth, and Survival

My Formula Book includes: Bestial Mutation, Bottled Lightning, Cheetah Elixir, Cognative Mutagen, Juggernaut Mutagen, Serene Mutagen, Silvertongue Mutagen; all Lesser. He also has Minor Elixir of Life.

Gear includes: an Alchemist Kit, his Formula Book, Scale Mail, Steel Shield, Dagger and Mace. I also bought 3 more Formulas (Lesser Antidote, Lesser Eagle Eye Elixir, and Giant Centipede Venom).

His basic approach to combat is to spend the first round deciding whether his opponents are going to use attacks that require saves and have his Gustav feed him the appropriate Mutagen while hitting things with his Mace. If appropriate he may have Gustav apply the poison to his weapon if the situation warrants it. If an opponent is particularly lucky or difficult, he’ll try to demoralize it with his intimidating glare or hit it with a bottled lightning to make it flat-footed. Another tactic I considered was having Gustav throw the bomb, but I don’t know if Familiars can attack like that. Also, do physical shields and the shield spell stack?

Anyways, I think he could be a lot of fun. I realize Mutagenists aren’t as “good” as bombers but I still think he can be effective and contribute to the group. Naturally I’ll take any advice on how to tweak him to improve him or answer any questions about him. I’ve also mapped out Attribute, Skill Raises and Feat choices up to level 10 if anyone is interested.

[Lanathar]

What is it you mean by “viable”

Most will say to you that the tighter maths of 2E and the cap on weapon proficiency for the alchemist makes it the weakest class in the game and the mutagenist arguably the weakest of the 3 options

You need more than a 14 in your attacking stat. Lots say you must have 18 to be “viable” - this is debatable but not possible for mutagenist anyway

So step 1 would be to go 16 strength and 16 intelligence.
If you can (not sure about whether it is a legal stat spread) potentially look at boosting con in favour of charisma is you are going to be in combat

What is he playing in? If PFS is anything like 1E it should be more forgiving for “less effective” builds (and by this I mean 18 strength fighter vs. What you have suggested here)

If it is a home game you might want to see what house rules people might consider (although it is rather early in lifecycle for houserule)

[Valentius]

Viable to me mean that the character can survive without being too much of a drain on party resources and that the character is able to meaningfully contribute to the party goals both in and out of combat.

The Character was initially designed to be part of a Age of Ashes home game that fell apart before it even got started. So right now he's just a character in my back pocket for a rainy day.

I can adjust strength and intelligence to both be 16. It feels.... unintuitive, but I understand what you are saying. When it comes to Constitution, will 1 extra Hit Point be that much more valuable to me over that extra +1 to Demoralize? Odds are I am going to be using the Juggernaut Mutagen for a lot of fights which is already giving me +1 to Fort saves and 5 Temp hp. I could also lower Dexterity to 10. that would put me at 16 AC (18 w. shield or shield spell, still don't know if they can stack) but it also means my 1 ranged attack is that much worse too...

I feel like if I can just survive to level 2 I will have a bit more freedom thanks to Revivifying Mutagen to play around with other Mutagens in combat.

One mistake I realized I made last night was taking a Mace over a Morningstar. Injury poisons don't work with blunt weapons. Damage needs to be piercing or slashing, so I made that change.

[Gisher]

Valentius wrote:

Another tactic I considered was having Gustav throw the bomb, but I don’t know if Familiars can attack like that.

They can't. Familiars don't have any ability to attack.

Valentius wrote:

Also, do physical shields and the shield spell stack?

They both grant circumstance bonuses to AC so they don't stack.

[Valentius]

Yeah, I forgot about circumstance bonuses. Okay so I can ditch the steel shield. that actually frees up 1 bulk. Plus boosting my strength to 16 I am no longer hovering at the cusp of encumbered. perhaps I won't need to take Hefty Hauler at level 2?

I'm not too upset about the familiar either. I only thought of it because Pathbuilder adds in an unarmed attack bonus to familiars. That is probably an oversight on the designer's part.

Just so you have an idea of where I'm going as I level, At level 2 I planned on taking Hefty Hauler as my skill feat, and Revivifying Mutagen as my class feat. I grabbed Lesser Bravo Brew and Infiltrator's Elixir as my 2 freebie formulas

At level 3 I increased my Crafting skill to Expert and took Canny Acumen-Will as my general feat. Formula choices are Moderate Bestial Mutagen, and Moderate Juggernaut Mutagen, which will probably become my go-to Mutagens for combat

I can go on if people are interested?

[dmerceless]

Valentius wrote:

I'm not too upset about the familiar either. I only thought of it because Pathbuilder adds in an unarmed attack bonus to familiars. That is probably an oversight on the designer's part

The unarmed attack modifier is relevant even for creatures that don't have any attacks, as it interacts with some specific mechanics of the game (for example, you can use your unarmed attack modifier to try to Escape being grabbed or restrained).

[Valentius]

Ah! well that makes sense. Although I don't expect to be sending Gustav into a lot of situations where he could get grabbed.

[Seisho]

You might still want to consider steel shield (and later others)

the spell shield has less ac bonus and after a block is useless for the rest of (most) battles while you can use the shield again and again

which you might want to consider with 12 dex and the bestial mutagen further dragging down your ac, even with medium armor

[Valentius]

That is a fair consideration, i could always start with the spell shield and let it absorb an attack at some point before using a physical shield.

I am unsure how serious an impact loosing 1 (and then later 2) AC actually have

[Seisho]

Not sure about that yet myself - but it is also 1 point against enemy crits

also you have the action for casting the shield and the other action to draw your actual shield freed up to do other stuff