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Greetings all, I've been playing a Cleric in a local Ages of Ashes campaign and he took the Alchemist dedication to supplement his healing by handing out Elixirs of Life and antitoxin/plagues to the frontliners.
That said, since taking the primary "Alchemist Dedication" feat- he has not learned any new Formulas, we're lvl 7 now [nearing the end of Book 2], and has not taken any other feats in the Dedication chain... So, my question is- would he still have learned formulas as he leveled up, like an alchemist?
If the case is yes, then i may need to consider taking more feats in the dedication. Thanks
No. The Dedication Feat gives you the formulas for 8 first level alchemical items (4 from Alchemical Crafting and 4 from the Dedication feat itself). And that's it. Neither the Dedication not any other feat of the Archetype grants any additional formulas.
If you got the dedication mostly for healing, maybe switch to Herbalist, if possible. It takes only 2 feats to get all Elixir of Life formulas this way AND it scales much better.
If you stick with Alchemist, you might want to consider the Inventor skill Feat and/or disassemble any Alchemical items you com across to reverse engeneer the formula.
Formulas are also available for purchase. I would think that the formulae for higher level Elixir of Life versions ought to be readily available, assuming you are in an appropriately high level settlement.
But do pay attention to how Advanced Alchemy scales as a Multiclass alchemist. You need to be 10th level, have the formula, and take Expert Alchemy before you can upgrade your Minor Elixer of Life (measly 1d6 HP restored) to a Lesser Elixer of Life for 3d6 HP restored. And by 10th level your 2 action Heal spell from your Divine Font will be going off for 5d8+40.
All that to say, I'm not convinced that Alchemy Dedication is ultimately a great way to go about getting more healing IF you go directly at it. I think you can use Alchemy Dedication for more healing if you go *sideways* at it.
Instead of brewing pitiful little Elixers of Life, use them to brew low level but useful utility elixers... instead of casting a spell to increase speed, use an Elixer. etc. then use your lower level spell slots that would otherwise get a utility spell for downranked Heal spells.
That's how I'd do it at any rate.
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Most of the Alchemical Items are Common Items, so you could just buy some formulas. You probably just need a few, so it wouldn't be hugely expensive.
If you do decide to take more feats, these tables might help you plan things out. I assumed that the feats were taken at the earliest possible levels, so you should use the Advanced Alchemy Level at the bottom of the tables and ignore the Character Level at the top.
For Hobgoblins, there is the 1st-level-only Alchemical Scholar feat that can help with this issue.
if he only cares about healing elixirs and anti-X elixirs (there are 2 new ones now) he should really go for Herbalist instead of Alchemist.
With just 2 feats, as early as level 6 you can have All healing alchemical items at max level-3, as opposed to Alchemist dedication needing 3 feats, level 12, and still lag behind at max level-5.
The "pro" of alchemist is that he will always have ingredients= level, while herbalist needs natural terrain for that, but even when he has less ingredients, having more potent elixirs should cover the deficit and it's much more important (imo) to heal as much as you can with as less actions as you can while in combat, rather than having a few extra weak heals that will cost you a ton of actions to output the same amount of healing.
plus, "poultices" as a herbalist are really attractive for offering free assisted checks to remove most persistent damage types.
Not needing 14 Int is also nice for a Cleric.
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Retraining into Herbalist will take a lot of effort. my cleric isn't even trained in Nature; he is an expert in Medicine.
I agree it may be easier to buy the formulas and craft them that way. As i read it, characters with the alchemist dedication can't use Advanced Alchemy to make infusions higher than 1.
At this level, my infusions are just for supplemental healing.
It would be funny for me to get Healing Bombs and chuck them at people; though i do 4d10+32 with my 2-action ranged Heal.
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At this point, retraining into Herbalist may not be an option; Chosen One for Lay on Hands, or even Medic may be an option at this point.
Retraining into Herbalist will take a lot of effort. my cleric isn't even trained in Nature; he is an expert in Medicine.
I agree it may be easier to buy the formulas and craft them that way. As i read it, characters with the alchemist dedication can't use Advanced Alchemy to make infusions higher than 1.
At this level, my infusions are just for supplemental healing.
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Yes, Alchemist MC progression is really slow until you get to Master Alchemy. As you can see on the charts that I linked, you can't get any improvement in those three 'health' elixirs until you are at least 10th level and Expert Alchemy kicks you up to an Advanced Alchemy level of 5. So there isn't much reason for you to take Expert Alchemy before then.