My character in Amb Vlts is behind the curve in regards to damage, and needs to keep an eye out for consumables that might be a big help.
The Imp Shot magical munition seems exactly like something I'd pull out for a boss encounter, but the unwritten details are rather serious here.
Full relevant text c/ped for convenience:
Ammunition any;
Bulk —
Activate [one-action] commandThis black-and-red ammunition contains an egg-shaped capsule. When an activated imp shot hits, the capsule cracks open and releases a manifestation that resembles a Tiny imp that can't act in any way or provide benefits outside those described here. If the Strike misses the target, the imp appears, makes a rude gesture at you, and vanishes in a puff of sulfuric smoke.
On a hit, though, the imp harries the target for up to 1 minute, remaining in the target's space, slapping, nipping, hurling insults, and moving with the target as it moves. A creature harried by the imp is flat-footed and takes a –2 circumstance penalty to attack rolls and skill checks.
At the start of your turn on each round while the imp is active, you must attempt a DC 11 flat check. On a failure, the imp makes a final vulgar gesture at the target and vanishes in a cloud of brimstone.
It seems safe to say this only costs 1-Action to use initially, then just invokes checks to persist, needing no actions.
I also think it's a pretty easy "yes" that aside from hitting the AC, there's 0 defense of the targeted creature involved in this effect, making it great for high-save foes.
Where I'm at a loss is that while some ammo lists means by which an enemy can proactively ~"Escape the sticky foam" w/ a listed Escape DC, this Imp Shot has only the flat check coin flip to end the imp.
The effect is "a manifestation that resembles a Tiny imp" and is not a real creature. Is it correct to say that the shot target cannot kill the imp, nor do anything to remove it?
Another smaller detail, it seems that the Strike that fired the munition still lands normally, including Strike damage, but I'm not 100% on that either.
Even at L8, that 24gp cost is equivalent of my Alchemist getting permanent access to another formula, so I could only afford 1 or 2.
It's the first time I've seen a 1-Action Activate ammo and genuinely thought it would be worth the price. I guess you could say I'm suspicious that I've actually found a combat consumable clearly worth the gp, aside from those Necklace of Fireballs.
Just keep in mind for ammunition that the activation action is separate and in addition to the Striking action, I see often the mistake, especially in newer tables, that forget that.
Yup, it's why I gave up on even the Ooze Ammunition, despite being able to make them via Advanced Alch, it is simply that hard to justify the action cost.
Meanwhile, injury poisons just add a save or suck effect to the Strike.
I might give the ooze another shot now that undead are back on the menu.
They dodge the potential piercing resist, add a bit of persistent acid dmg, and -10 spd; all of which are viable in a fight w/ a high number of minor zombie-like enemies. (though that generally means a lower threat level, and therefore less pressure to spend resources)
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Just keep in mind for ammunition that the activation action is separate and in addition to the Striking action, I see often the mistake, especially in newer tables, that forget that.Yup, it's why I gave up on even the Ooze Ammunition, despite being able to make them via Advanced Alch, it is simply that hard to justify the action cost.
shroudb's point being that Imp Shot also has a 1 action activate cost.
So one action to activate the ammunition and then a second action to shoot it at the target.
It takes 2 actions to fire the activated ammo, then you need to actually hit, then it had a 50/50 chance on each of your rounds to end. I don't see the need for a save as well.
It takes one additional action to prime the ammo, which cannot be done between turns.
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Imp Shot is just blatantly better than anything I've ever used before. Even a single turn -2 is a real debuff against a boss.
Every form of enhanced ammo is also worthless on a miss, and many have additional means to remove effects.
You have Glue Bullets and Vine arrows only offering a -10 speed penalty for 2d4 rounds with 18 & 19 Escape checks.
Elemental Ammo offering 2d4 persistent & 2 splash at L5
Life Shot downgrading the already subpar d6 of Elixir of Life into d4 , while still needing more actions to deliver.
Even Blister Ammunition doesn't inflict a real Stupefy to be an anti-caster tool, it specifies a flat check for Concentrate, has the spend an action to ignore the effect clauses, and all that still needs a failed Fort save.
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Meanwhile, Imp Shot gets to just work for at least a turn, w/ coin flips to keep going.
Aside from that, on-level Injury Poisons feel like the (only) way to go. No action cost, and simply adds a save or suck effect to your shots. W/ a Reload 0 bow, you don't need to faff about with loading the special bolt, you can just option select when you're firing on a target that's not immune to poison.
Are you just hoping to hear someone agree with you that it's good? Sure, though my personal choice is bola shot to inflict prone and maybe stun instead.
But you're still an alchemist with lower accuracy than a martial and you're still low enough a level that you can't just buy a bunch with pocket change.
It won't magically fix your problems. Only player core 2 might manage that.
Just mentioning that the enemy having to spend an action to remove vine/glue as opposed to having 50% chance to automatically remove it is a major upside of vine/glue over Imp shot.
Lightning Bombs also inflict automatic off guard without a save, are cheaper, and don't require any priming at all.
The off-guard half is important for everyone at ranged, but the -2 to their offense is the main appeal. +L enemies like the bosses that justify spending consumables upon, will often get crits from the +10 rule, and when you're in the range where missing and +10 critting are both possible for an enemy, turning 10% of hits into misses and 10% of crits into hits is a life saving difference. Worth more than an elixir healing less than 1-hit of damage, at the least.
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The issue w/ the "spend an action to remove the effect" items is that they loose their ability to hinder the target across turns. If the effect is a serious enough debuff that they want it gone, they will clear it for a single action. If the effect is minor enough for them to ride it out, then you're not getting much value.
If you are explicitly looking to steal actions, there's a whole menagerie of ways to do it, not just consumable Ammo. For said Ammo to be a good tool for that job worth preparing/using, the imposed debuff needs to be conditionally debilitating enough across turns that you will be safe in the assumption they will cleanse it. More so the earlier in the fight it lands, and the longer the expected effect will linger.
It needs to be serious enough along the lines of Stupefy on hit for casters.
Options like Vine Arrow or Glue Bullet just work on a hit, which is a big, big difference from any Ammo that needs to land the shot, and STILL offers a save to dodge the effects, like Blister Ammo.
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For additional context, I'm an L8 Alchemist w/ a Shortbow. Having a 1-action arrow thwip is amazing no-cost option while I'm feeding elixirs/ect, but if I'm prepping items for the day, they need to be better than L3 bombs. As mentioned, that means things like _d6 + Off-Guard on hit via Lightning Bottle.
The notion that as late as L8, I can't find anything better than those L3 bombs is more than a little absurd. And this is with a reload-0 shortbow, not a crossbow.
There's also the bugbear of Necklace of Fireballs, which is 44gp L5, and 115gp L7. Two action pluck and throw, no attack to whiff, AoE, save still means 1/2 dmg, ect. As damage consumables are THAT good, it takes something like Imp Shot (24gp) to even think about using over the necklace.
If anyone reading this has ever found alchemical ammo useful, please chime in. That at least can be made via Advanced Alchemy, so the gp cost is less relevant to the "is this useless?" equation.