Is this too much for the Chirurgeon?

[Mortimer Houghton]

The following changes:
1. Chirurgeon can use alchemist's tools instead of healer's tools for medicine
2. Expanded formula list for research field to any elixir that does not have the poly/morph traits
3. Limit application of elixir of life to only once per round
4. Change Quick Bomber to something more generic and allow elixirs of life to be drawn in the same action as whatever you do next with it
5. Change Healing Bomb to use one elixir of life and one reagent, but also have splash healing equal to the number of healing die
6. Change Combine Elixir to allow one elixir of life and one reagent to create a double strength elixir of life

4-6 can create the following combinations:
1. Single action application of elixir of life to self or adjacent allies
2. Two action ranged elixir of life (healing bomb) with splash as the incentivizer
3. Two action double strength elixirs of life (one action to create, one to administer to self/adjacent allies)
4. Three action double strength ranged elixir of life (one to make double strength, one to make bomb, one to throw). This would require two reagents, one for each change.

Outside of combat, I would keep Paizo's 10 minute limitation to Perpetual Infusion elixirs of life.

Is this too much? How can I fix it while still making chirurgeon an attractive option for healing?

[Mortimer Houghton]

Clarification:

3. Limit the CONSUMPTION of elixir of life to only once per round per character. The alchemist can give out three elixirs of life, but can only do so by giving them to three separate allies

[Trip.H]

I love me some Chiurgeon homebrew, happy to see it.

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I think #6 might need to be deleted. 2x healing might become too much, and without that, the once per turn restriction is not so needed.

IMO the main balancing core of Elix O Lf is that they have lowish healing each, and I'd try to buff the Chiurgeon in any way that does not go beyond their current numbers.

I think allowing the L7 inf minor Elix O Lf to combine for 0 Reagent cost w/ any Quick Alch might be a nice small reward. Not as an Additive, due to the only 1 per Quick Alch limit, but as a free rider / incentive for using Quick Alch, which is kinda usually a bad idea.

You could also give an early lesser version of the L13 class unlock, which auto-max rolls every Elix O Lf.
Could have that be an Additive that takes 1 reagent+action to max roll an Elix o Lf, instead of actually increasing the healing.

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For action savers for Draw, I'm partial to the idea of Knuckle Pinch, letting hands hold more than 1 L item to greatly increase the value of that Draw.

https://paizo.com/threads/rzs43wa2?Letting-Alchs-use-all-their-items-Fine-M otor

IMO action cost deleters like Quick Bomber are bad design crutches. While fine if out of ideas, they are boring and non-interactive.

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For Healing Bomb, I think just tweaking it to become Elixir Bomb would be fine, still having some restriction on what's compatible, but dramatically opening it up. Mutagens are elixirs, btw.

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Alternatively, I might also let a Chiurgeon daily prep Healing/Elixir Bombs, w/ the caveat that they cannot be drunk, and can miss even when thrown at themself.

By keeping the Additive 2 on those prep bombs, it helps w/ balance to make sure the actual healing #s are not at the highest possible, while not wrecking the Chiurgeon's Reagents by forcing Quick Alch.

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I might have a Feat be needed to increase the x per daily prep items, as that's a big change, and you could make it even better if it needed a Feat. Unlock the 3x for everything off-subclass, 4x for anything w/ the Healing tag. (and maybe add the healing tag to Numbing Tonics, though the item is already very strong).

[Mortimer Houghton]

My concern is that if I get rid of the restriction, the chirurgeon can give someone three elixirs of life, and that would be significantly more powerful than 2x healing.

I eliminated mutagens for the chirurgeon by excluding elixirs with the polymorph/morph trait.

[Trip.H]

Mortimer Houghton wrote:

My concern is that if I get rid of the restriction, the chirurgeon can give someone three elixirs of life, and that would be significantly more powerful than 2x healing.

I eliminated mutagens for the chirurgeon by excluding elixirs with the polymorph/morph trait.

I think it would be balanced around consuming 3x the resources to feed 3 elixirs. Even with action-saving homebrew, it also cannot be less than a 3-action activity to feed 3 elixirs.

The issue of daily budget and rationing is core to the Alchemist concept, and it's always a better idea to use a MAP action each turn than to triple heal if one can.

Letting an Alch burn their resources in an emergency is a healthy thing, IMO, and a reason to pick the class. It's the closest thing Alchemist has to a "nova" moment, like a caster burning multiple max R slots in the same combat.

Like w/ all daily resources, it is campaign dependent. If your table only fights once or twice per day, then you def may feel the need for that restriction.

Oh, and idk why mutagens would need to be excluded. They can't stack, their downsides are pretty dang serious, and are less of a balance risk than stuff like Numbing Tonics, IMO.

All I/anyone else can do is explain the logic behind our views which you can agree/disagree with.

I do think the potential doubling of 1 elixir's potency is more balance risky than letting them use 2-3 reg elixirs, but that's just me.