1. First and foremost, is the tree worth taking?
Not at all. Grab a Bird Animal Companion and you'll be able to debilitate at level 2 with 95% chance of success.
Debilitating Bomb is just a waste of feats.
since thta build tends to spam a lot of bombs to begin with, the ability to throw simultaneously both a debilitating and a sticky bomb at level 9+ as a no-resource is very strong (and that's from actual experience with said build).
That's GM-dependent. You can't use 2 free actions with the same trigger and using Double Brew is a single trigger. You need a nice GM to allow it.
The trigger for the free action is "making an item with quick alchemy" not "using quick alchemy action [only]". And double brew makes 2 items with quick alchemy. So I see 2 different triggers happening. The way I see it, it's worded in such a way that you are supposed to put additives into both items. It seems to make double brew not worth it otherwise.
The trigger is "You use Quick Alchemy [to produce a specific item]". If it was "You produce a specific item with Quick Alchemy", I could agree with you. But how it is worded, it's quite clear the trigger is met only once, because you use Quick Alchemy only once.
I had a feeling you would say that. I know that you like it but it is a Archetype suggestion, not a feat discussion. And a rather cumbersome one at that. The alchemist already has much on its plate already.
Debilitating Bomb costs the same number of feats, and higher level ones. So I hardly see how the Animal Companion is more cumbersome.
The Debilitating Bomb tree is somewhat unreliable, as until 14th level a simple save negates the effects. Still, it can be quite strong. At level 7 it's possible to use Debilitating Bomb with a Lesser Skunk Bomb to make a target both Sickened *and* flat-footed.If you get really lucky, maybe even Sickened 2 and flat-footed.
I haven't played with it myself (I prefer Persistent Damage) but I can definitely see the appeal. It's good on Bombs that Debuff anyways. Throw in a speed penalty with your Bottled Lightning. Or, go with Clumsy at L10. Enemy is weak to cold? Add flat-footed to your Frost Vial. That sort of thing.
The part I am focusing on is "an item." The quick alchemy part is just to clarify what crafting action you are using.
Using Quick Alchemy to produce 2 items is not equivalent to using Quick Alchemy twice. The trigger is "You use Quick Alchemy". The prepositional phrase is there to explain the situations when you can use the feat, it doesn't change the trigger.
And I am still trying to figure out how a bird is going to give ALL of the debuffs this tree offers
Debilitating Bomb has roughly 20% chance to inflict a condition for one round. The Bird has 95% chance to inflict one of the strongest conditions Debilitating Bombs can inflict + Bleeding for an average of 3 rounds. It's nice to have the choice but it's better to actually inflict a condition.
On top of it, the Bird is extremely useful at low level when you lack reagents.Now, if you don't want to handle a companion, don't take one. But it's hard to consider Debilitating Bomb good when there's another ability with 5 times more chances to work and 3 times the duration that cost lower level feats and bring a companion on the table.
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Using Quick Alchemy to produce 2 items is not equivalent to using Quick Alchemy twice. The trigger is "You use Quick Alchemy". The prepositional phrase is there to explain the situations when you can use the feat, it doesn't change the trigger.Agree to disagree? Because I don't think we are going to change each other's minds.
Sure. At least, it's a point that should be raised with the GM if you don't want to face an unpleasant surprise.
That's GM-dependent. You can't use 2 free actions with the same trigger and using Double Brew is a single trigger. You need a nice GM to allow it.
since thta build tends to spam a lot of bombs to begin with, the ability to throw simultaneously both a debilitating and a sticky bomb at level 9+ as a no-resource is very strong (and that's from actual experience with said build).
True the trigger is singular but Debilitating Bomb does say Your Bombs plural.
SuperBidi:
Just found this issue. Constancy.
Heal bomb and smoke/sticky/debilitating bomb.
All are additives that work off of quick alchemy but are written differently.
Considering that only heal bomb is from APG. It could be a rework.
Healing Bomb definitely opens your interpretation. I still don't consider that it becomes the sole possible interpretation, as the question of the number of triggers is unclear. But in case of unclear rules I tend to err on the player side so I'd be with you.
If it's the actual intent, let's hope the remaster will solve the issue. Anyway, the Alchemist is supposed to be reworked, and I expect Debilitating Bomb to get a significant buff as, even without the comparison with Bird Companion, I still find it quite bad. 4 high level feats to apply a choice of weak debuffs is not really strong, many feats give you much more bang for your bucks.