My new pet peeve: Comprehension Elixir.

[QuidEst]

I was on a thread with some Alchemist complaints, and was writing up my positive experiences, but then I realized my coolest moment with the class was based on a mistake. It bugged me enough to make a thread.

At low levels, I snagged Comprehension Elixir. We ran into an air mephit and were able to use the elixir to understand it for the one-minute duration. This was my coolest moment as a stay-at-home GMPC Alchemist- I provided a useful utility ability that advanced the plot.

But looking back reveals Comprehension Elixir only works for written languages, so we couldn't have understood that character speaking. It also only works for common languages, so it wouldn't have worked on Auran. I feel like planar languages are the bulk of where translation abilities get their use in PF2.

So, let's look at the Comprehend Language spell. It's also Common, so there's no access issue. It's available one level later than Comprehension Elixir, and is on every list but Primal. In return, it works on both written and spoken languages, and it lasts for an hour instead of a minute. It's only one language per casting, but one minute isn't long enough to get any use out of reading multiple languages.

The elixir would cost 7gp. A scroll would cost 12gp. And, if you want to upgrade, a 30gp scroll lets you speak the language as well (5th level item). Meanwhile, the 7th level elixir for 54 gp keeps all its restrictions, and just extends the duration to 10 minutes, still shorter than the spell which now provides three significant upgrades to functionality.

I get that scrolls are more restricted, but comprehension elixir is just riddled with gotchas that make it feel like it will almost never be useful any time I think, "Oh, I have an elixir that lets me comprehend things!" I actually plan on keeping track- I'm going to homebrew the elixir to allow understanding any language, written or spoken. (Just by not telling the players that it doesn't work like we all thought it did.) There will be one preparation of it available every day, because the players like it. For as much of Extinction Curse as I run, I'll keep track of how often the players use it, and whether it could have been used under the actual rules.

[thenobledrake]

Seems like an elixir that suffers from we-can't-accurately-gauge-how-often-this-specific-thing-will-get-used-in-pl ay-itis.

That being one edge of the double-edged sword that is how the alchemist class functions by making hard to predict numbers of items which also exist in other ways. So there is a design 'danger' that if the item were very useful normally, an alchemist being able to make a bunch for 'free' could be too useful... and as a result the design steers the other way, and possibly over-corrects by doing so.

But if that is ruled to be a significant problem which they go in and change (by errata or by just adding a similar but better-performing option later), there is the benefit that people tend to generally view 'they buffed it so now it's balanced' more favorably than 'they had to nerf it'.