Oops, All Alchemists

[Dr. Aspects]

I’m not sure if this is the right place for asking about this, but I don’t think it really cleanly fits anywhere else, and I’m curious.

So to me one of the biggest advantages of pathfinder 2e is that you could play multiple characters of the same class and still manage to make two wildly different characters.

And as I have been attempting to make a solo game for myself for some time now, I wonder if I might be able to take this to its logical extreme and make an entire party off one class.

And I think I want to do so using what is generally thought of to be one of the weakest classes in PF2e. So I have a question that I may post on the subreddit as well.

How would you make an entire party of alchemists? I’ll be playing with the rules my group nearly always play with since that’s just how I like playing, so the rules are you can use ancestry paragon, free archetype, and gradual ability boost. Each member should use any of the different subclasses, but no duplicates. And they should fill a different role for the party. I don’t want a bunch of bombers or mutagenists. Oh and remaster rules only.

And before I get comments, I do understand this is ridiculous and unbalanced. That’s the point to an extent. I want to see how far this can be pushed with one of the most underpowered classes in the game.

If this fits somewhere else, please let me know. I’m new to the forum and I’m not entirely certain where this should go.

Thank you in advance for your replies!

[ObsessiveCompulsiveWolf]

There is a subforum called Advice, this should probably go there. I have flagged as being in the wrong forum, and a moderator should be able to move it for you. Folks should be able to see it and respond there - I hope your all-alchemist party is a….blast!

[Driftbourne]

Sounds fun to me, but I like playing goblin merchant sorcerers that don't cast spells in combat, so this doesn't sound ridiculous or unbalanced to me.

I think using Ancestry Paragon is a great idea to help out. I like free archetypes, but for a challenge like this I'd only use free archetypes as a last resort to keep the Oops, All Alchemists feel to it.

With a party of 4 you can cover all the alchemist research fields, but I wonder if a second bomber would be better than having a Toxicologist. Or you could have a party of 5 to have all the research fields and a second bomber.

Another big question is what ancestries to use. All goblins sounds fun to me, but mixing ancestries could be a good way to fill gaps in class abilities or skills, or maybe even pick up a few spells.

[Teridax]

Single-class parties I don't think are entirely about raw power so much as a class's versatility to cover multiple roles, and not only is the Alchemist a lot stronger following the remaster, they are and have always been one of the most versatile classes in the game. You'd certainly have more bases covered in my opinion than a party of all Fighters or all Barbarians, who'd be severely lacking in utility and out-of-combat skills.

If I were to devise an all-Alchemist party, I'd probably do something along these lines:

Let's just go with one of each subclass. Your Bomber will give your party raw damage, your Chirurgeon will provide healing, your Mutagenist will be able to hold the front line, and your Toxicologist... will also be there.

With each of your Alchs having 7 trained skills to choose from, you can cover literally all of your bases when it comes to skills. Have one invest in party face skills, your Mutagenist invest in Athletics most likely, and at least one in magic skills for Trick Magic Item (we'll come to that later).

If Recalling Knowledge about various esoteric topics is important to your campaign, have one of your Alchs pick up Loremaster Dedication at level 2 and you'll have that covered. I suggest having your Bomber do this so that they can also easily identify which damage types a monster's weak to, if any, for them to exploit that with bombs.

Don't forget to pick up Thievery for traps! Several hazards can also be disarmed with Crafting checks, and others, like haunts, will require a magic skill, so make sure you've got that covered. Hazards and traps will also often have a minimum proficiency requirement for these checks, so you'll need to invest some skill increases.

Trick Magic Item is your friend. Alchemy lets you produce an incredible variety of effects, and what you can't produce with alchemy, you can trick some scrolls into doing it for you. Having one of your party members take and increase lots of magic skills with this feat (say, the Chirurgeon, who can use Crafting for their Medicine checks) means you'll have utility on tap, particularly as a high Intelligence modifier and good Wisdom means you'll do well on the feat's checks.

And beyond that, the rest is pretty much up to you. The remaster gives every research field plenty of feats worth picking that'll enhance their roles: your Bomber will become more versatile and hit harder and wider, your Chirurgeon will be able to counteract debuffs and buff your party, your Mutagenist will be able to buff themselves even more, and your Toxicologist... will still also be there. The result would be an extremely versatile party that would cover most of the bases you'd expect in Pathfinder, as well as shore up their weaknesses more easily thanks to alchemical items, so I'd argue that the Alchemist would in fact be one of the better choices for a single-class party.

[shroudb]

Alchemist, Bard, and Druid I think are the best classes for such an experiment.

All 3 have versatile enough builds to cover the main bases that a party needs to function.

In case of Alchemist, a mutagenist can be build defensively enough to cover the frontline, probably snagging Champion Dedication for the reactions.
Bomber for the aoe, ranged damage and conditions.
Chirurgeon for the healing.
And Toxicologist or Bestial Mutagenist for the single target damage.

[kaid]

Dr. Aspects wrote:

I’m not sure if this is the right place for asking about this, but I don’t think it really cleanly fits anywhere else, and I’m curious.

So to me one of the biggest advantages of pathfinder 2e is that you could play multiple characters of the same class and still manage to make two wildly different characters.

And as I have been attempting to make a solo game for myself for some time now, I wonder if I might be able to take this to its logical extreme and make an entire party off one class.

And I think I want to do so using what is generally thought of to be one of the weakest classes in PF2e. So I have a question that I may post on the subreddit as well.

How would you make an entire party of alchemists? I’ll be playing with the rules my group nearly always play with since that’s just how I like playing, so the rules are you can use ancestry paragon, free archetype, and gradual ability boost. Each member should use any of the different subclasses, but no duplicates. And they should fill a different role for the party. I don’t want a bunch of bombers or mutagenists. Oh and remaster rules only.

And before I get comments, I do understand this is ridiculous and unbalanced. That’s the point to an extent. I want to see how far this can be pushed with one of the most underpowered classes in the game.

If this fits somewhere else, please let me know. I’m new to the forum and I’m not entirely certain where this should go.

Thank you in advance for your replies!

I would think it would work fine. Have a mutagenist or two for people who can hold up in melee, a bomber or two. You could go with a churigeon but honestly if you have a group of four or more alchemists the amount of on demand healing you have available would be WAY more than sufficient for most situations. Lots of utility buffs decent enough damage.