Advice needed, making this grenadier alchemist viable in melee.

[Chyrone]

Good day.

My alchemist, currently lvl 7, grenadier archetype, has come to the point that they are mostly ineffective at defending/attacking in melee, push comes to shove, when enemies make their way past the occupied melee PCs. Short of flying away from them.

Their usual routine is bombs and/or arrows.
With the sake of needing to solve this, i'm looking for a way to have them somewhat able to defend themselves when it would matter.

Stats at lvl 7
Str 10 Dex 17 (+1 at lvl 8) Con 12 Int 20 Wis 12 Cha 7
No physical enhancement items on them as of yet.

Feats thus far have been spent on extra discoveries. (infusion, spontaneous healing, explosive bombs)

We are expected to reach lvl 8 soon, giving me another discovery.

[avr]

The breath weapon bomb discovery makes using bombs in melee easy. That doesn't help defence of course.

A single level dip in inspired blade swashbuckler, probably followed by the fencing grace feat gives both offence and defence but obviously losing a level in alchemist hurts.

[MrCharisma]

Or take Feral Mutagen and get an AGILE AMULET OF MIGHTY FISTS (4,000gp). Oh and I guess Weapon Finesse at level 9.

Also things like Heroism, Barkskin, Bull's Strength/Cat's Grace/Bear's Endurance and Displacement are all available to you and could help in various ways.

[PCScipio]

An extract of Fly works wonders.

[Chyrone]

The feral mutagen was indeed an option i was considering, and lvl cap is 12.

What number would make a reasonable target for the attack rolls at lvl 9, if i take that route?

[PCScipio]

Here's some guidelines:

Benchmark numbers table
Explanation

[MrCharisma]

Yeah those are the numbers I usually look at too.

I just did a quick run of the numbers (at level 9) and it looks like you'l probably want Heroism, Cat's Grace and the Mutagen up for this to be effective. You'll still be a "secondary" melee combatant, but you'll be functional in that role.

(Also remember that Heroism and your Mutagen are 10 minutes per level, so it's hopefully only Cat's Grace that you'd need to spend an action for in combat)

[Chyrone]

That table is straight for favs and bookmarks, thank you. :)

[Scott Wilhelm]

I love Alchemist + Grappling.

Level 8: Make your next level a level in Monk. Take Improved Grapple as your Bonus Feat. +1 Dex, BAB+5

Level 9: Cavalier, Order of the Penitent, Challenge, Tactician Constable, Bonus Feat Coordinated Maneuvers (+2 on all Combat Maneuvers), Greater Grapple, BAB +6

Level 10: C2: Expert Captor. This lets you Tie Up an opponent you have Grappled, not Pinned, and you don't take the -10 you normally do.

Greater Grapple lets you Grapple as a Move Action, and you will be able to make 2 checks/round. That means that if you begin your round adjacent to your opponent, you can Initiate a Grapple as a Standard Action, then Tie Up your opponent as a Move Action.

That's the skeleton of the build feature. For some more meat, I'd have you take

Agile Maneuvers (Dex to your Grapple Mod, and for you that's +4)
Tentacle Alchemal Discovery: +4
King Crab Tumor Familiar: +2

And don't forget your Mutagen!

You can play another trick with your Familiar. You can use Share Spells to empower your Familiar with Touch Injection. Then give your Familiar an Infusion of True Strike. Drink an Extract of True Strike yourself before closing in to melee. The next Round, you can Initiate your Grapple as a Standard Action with an extra +20 from True Strike, then your Familiar hits you with Touch Injection and True Strike as a Readied Action. Then, you Tie Up your opponent as a Move Action, again with the +20.

Some magic items to up your Grapple Mod:

Armbands of the Brawler: 500gp or less, +1 Competance
Gauntlets of the Skilled Maneuver: 4000gp, +2 on any 1 type of Combat Maneuver, untyped
Ioun Stone, Cracked Pale Green Prism: 4000gp +1 Competance on all Attack Rolls
Belt of Dexterity: 4000gp for +2 enhancement on Dex, +1
Adhesive Armor Enchantment: 7000gp, +2
Brawling Armor Enchantment: +3 equ, +2

I might consider retraining to get some of those Feats and Discoveries sooner than later such as the Tentacle and Familiar instead of Spontaneous Healing or Explosive Bomb.

In short order, you will go from melee meh to melee mighty with the ability to take out almost any single opponent in a single round. With the bonuses I laid out for you, your Grapple Mod will be +23 + whatever your BAB is. With that True Strike trick, it will be another +20. a Balor Demon has a CMD of 54! For multiple opponents, Great Cleave with your Tentacle, and Grapple every adjacent opponent! Consider a level in White Haired Witch: when you Grapple someone in your White Hair, they are Grappled, but you are not, and without that =20 you take with Grab. If you run into a creature that can't be Grappled, shoot them your exploding arrows!

A little off-topic, but do you have the Explosive Missile Discovery? With a Strength of 10, I don't think your character is a candidate for a Composite Bow or an Orc Hornbow: I think you'd do better with a Musket or Heavy Crossbow. Once you have taken Explosive Missile, your Rate of Fire goes back up to 1/round. Then maybe it's Vital Strike Feats for you.

[Chyrone]

@ Scott

Anything that heavy multiclass would be for another time/pc. Or even as a villain..

This alchemist does have explosive ammo, yes.
But the pc is support oriented, and a few discoveries to sustain themself.

We've two frontliners in the group, and the others (this pc included) are support who see almost no enemies up close. I should have a somewhat sufficient alternative.

[Scott Wilhelm]

Chyrone wrote:

@ Scott

This alchemist does have explosive ammo, yes.

Good

Chyrone wrote:

Anything that heavy multiclass would be for another time/pc. Or even as a villain..

It's only 3 levels. Maybe a 4th

Chyrone wrote:

But the pc is support oriented...

We've two frontliners in the group, and the others (this pc included) are support who see almost no enemies up close. I should have a somewhat sufficient alternative.

Yeah, it is fair to say I am not offering you a little boost to your melee capability. I'm showing you how to convert your support character into the premier front-liner with powerful ranged blasting ability.