A few rules clarifications and a little advice needed for my junkie Druid

[Xiviar]

Hello to everyone!

After many years it appears I will get to play Pathfinder 1e once again. Yay!
I need to create a Character though..

I am a bit rusty with the rules, so I would like to get a few tips from anyone who has the kindness and patience to read my post.

My Character 's concept is basically a fantasy version of a New Age hippie /punk junkie. A person who will talk you for hours about esoteric nonsense (though the point is that in a fantasy world it DOES make sense), a person that one day will lecture you about harmony and peace in the universe, but the very next day you'll find them lobbing molotov cocktails at police officers (or in this case Alchemical Bombs at town's guards)

In the game he will likely be the secondary healer and mostly a support character, though he might occasionally attack with magically enhanced claws and bites.

We will start at level 5 and our GM told us we are allowed to choose magic items up to 5000 gp as starting equipment. (Was thinking about Amulet of Mighty fists, but I am undecided)

A few key outline about my character (may be subject to change after feedback ;-) ):

Human (alignment N or CN, still to decide)
Alchemist 2/Druid 3

Str: 14
Dex: 8
Con: 12
Int: 14
Wis:17
Cha: 10

Druid bond: smoke domain.

Alchemist's formulae:
Enlarge Person, Cure light Wounds, Poly purpose Panacea, Comprehend Languages. Heightened Awareness.

Traits:
[Lucid Dreamer] [Addict][Pantheist]

(custom) Drawbacks:
[Slow reactions] (-2 to Initiative checks)

Skills at full rank:
Knowledge Nature, Survival, Craft ( Alchemy), Sense motive.

Sparse skill points:
Appraise, Knowledge Planes, Knowledge Religion
Bluff, Swim, Spellcraft

Feats:
[Power Attack] [Nature Soul] [Toughness] [Animal Ally (dog)]

Alchemical Discoveries:
[Feral Mutagen]

First of all, I would like to ask a few clarification on some rules:

If I cast Greater Magic Fang and I choose to get +1 on all natural attacks BEFORE snorting the feral mutagen, will the natural attacks acquired with the mutagen be still affected?

Since primary natural attacks get 3/2 of the strength bonus, like two-handed weapons, do they also get +3 from Power Attack feat instead of +2?

If due to mutagen effects my key Ability for spells/formulae gets temporarily lower than the minimum required to cast above a certain spell level, can I still resume casting when my ability recovers or those spell slots are erased, meaning that I have to memorize the spells again?

Then a bit of advice will be welcomed

I get a lot of abilities involving smoke, any way to make good use of them? Or any item/feat/ feature that might enhance them?

One of the reasons why I chose a Character with low Dex is that our dear GM is very fond of playing enemies that stifle your movement (sleep, hold person, improved grab, grappling, etc..) at the point that during last campaign back in the days I had bonus to Dex negated half of the time at minimum. Still, having +0 Reflex saves at level 5 is quite a gamble. I didn't come up with any obvious solution except having more HP. I am also worried about my Animal Companion, he is only level 2 (I guess Druid levels don't stack if I take dominion bond) and he is used to just sitting while I beg for some spare copper coin.

My Alchemical Bombs right now are pretty useless, should I tweak my character a bit to gain a few bonuses or better just neglect them (like I am currently oriented to?)

Any good or funny ideas for adding flavor to the character without altering mechanics significantly? So far I thought:

"Goodberry" spell will be changed to "Magic mushroom", it will use mushrooms instead of berries and it will give a cosmetic feeling of "enhanced vision" (no actual effect on gameplay)

Material component for "Stinking Cloud" (which my character can't cast as of now) will only be leaves. The plant will not be a cabbage.

Mutagen will not be imbibed but inhaled.

Thank you for whoever read this and any advice will be appreciated

[Pizza Lord]

1.

Xiviar wrote:

If I cast Greater Magic Fang and I choose to get +1 on all natural attacks BEFORE snorting the feral mutagen, will the natural attacks acquired with the mutagen be still affected?

Yes.

2.

Xiviar wrote:

Since primary natural attacks get 3/2 of the strength bonus, like two-handed weapons, do they also get +3 from Power Attack feat instead of +2?

Primary attacks get full Strength bonus, not Strength and half, unless it's the only natural attack they possess (or in specific cases, like a dragon's bite doing 1 1/2 times Strength).

Natural Attacks wrote:

These attacks fall into one of two categories, primary and secondary attacks. Primary attacks are made using the creature’s full base attack bonus and add the creature’s full Strength bonus on damage rolls. Secondary attacks are made using the creature’s base attack bonus –5 and add only 1/2 the creature’s Strength bonus on damage rolls. If a creature has only one natural attack, it is always made using the creature’s full base attack bonus and adds 1-1/2 times the creature’s Strength bonus on damage rolls. This increase does not apply if the creature has multiple attacks but only takes one. If a creature has only one type of attack, but has multiple attacks per round, that attack is treated as a primary attack, regardless of its type.

...
Some creatures treat one or more of their attacks differently, such as Dragons, which always receive 1-1/2 times their Strength bonus on damage rolls with their bite attack. These exceptions are noted in the creature’s description.

In answer to your question, if your attack does Strength and a half, then yes, Power Attack treats it as a two-handed weapon for damage bonus purposes. But most primary attacks do not unless noted (or are the only natural attack possessed). A primary natural attack will deal an extra 2 damage per –1 to attack, a secondary natural attack will deal 1 extra damage per –1 to attacks, and a primary natural attack that deals Str and a half will deal 3 extra damage per –1 to attack.

Power Attack wrote:

Benefit: You can choose to take a –1 penalty on all melee attack rolls and combat maneuver checks to gain a +2 bonus on all melee damage rolls. This bonus to damage is increased by half (+50%) if you are making an attack with a two-handed weapon, a one handed weapon using two hands, or a primary natural weapon that adds 1-1/2 times your Strength modifier on damage rolls. This bonus to damage is halved (–50%) if you are making an attack with an off-hand weapon or secondary natural weapon.

3.

Xiviar wrote:

If due to mutagen effects my key Ability for spells/formulae gets temporarily lower than the minimum required to cast above a certain spell level, can I still resume casting when my ability recovers or those spell slots are erased, meaning that I have to memorize the spells again?

You do not lose prepared spells or slots (you may not be able to cast or access them). Unless an ability says that you lose spells or slots, they will still be there and if you regain access you won't need to refresh the slot or spell.

4.

Xiviar wrote:

I get a lot of abilities involving smoke, any way to make good use of them? Or any item/feat/ feature that might enhance them?

Smokesight and firesight allow seeing through smoke, but those are mostly creature and racial abilities (ifrit). Several items, like the ghost mask (mask of Goz), cloak of smoke, rod of spellsight, and navigator's eye can see through smoke. Fogcutting lenses probably do as well. Otherwise, you can get Blindsense or Blindsight, or use spells that don't require targeting.

[Mysterious Stranger]

Multiclassing is usually a mistake, especially for a spell caster or classes with lots of level dependent abilities. The end result is usually a weak character. Each of your classes has a different casting stat so that makes it even worse.

[Tim Emrick]

How open is your GM to feedback from players? It might be worth talking with them about why they used mobility-countering tactics so frequently, and about your frustration with being shut down so regularly.

Without knowing more about that dynamic, and the reasons for it, all I can say is that taking a Dex penalty seems like an extremely risky solution to the problem. Low Dex severely hurts pretty much every character build, unless you have heavy armor. With your current build, you'll be taking penalties to AC, Ref, Init, and throwing your bombs. And increasing HP only helps so much; better AC is a far more efficient way to avoid death (both in the number of hits you'll take, and in how many resources you'll need to expend to heal damage).

[Joynt Jezebel]

Xiviar wrote:

One of the reasons why I chose a Character with low Dex is that our dear GM is very fond of playing enemies that stifle your movement (sleep, hold person, improved grab, grappling, etc..) at the point that during last campaign back in the days I had bonus to Dex negated half of the time at minimum.

To expand on a valid point made by Tim Emrick, maybe you should talk to the GM.

This is an example of the GM putting the party up against opponents who have the Kryptonite for one or more PCs character/s. Other examples of Kryptonite are opponents immune to precision damage for characters with sneak attack or opponents immune to magic or with good SR for spellcasters.

It is good GMing to have opponents with the Kryptonite rarely and they should have Kryptonite for different PCs. That gives the other PCs a moment to shine and challenges the players.

Your GM was giving them Kryptonite against high dex characters more than half the time. That just makes high dex characters weak and leaves the player wondering what they can possibly do to succeed. If you switch to a spellcaster and suddenly you find all your opponents have good SR you can talk to your GM and if that does not work [and it probably won't] find another GM.

But consider this. You cite 4 examples of of Kryptonite for high dex characters. Two of them, the spells sleep and hold person, are effective against any kind of PC high dex or not. What you need against the spells in a high will save. So make sure you are right about the problem.

[Name Violation]

have you thought about taking druid herbalism instead of the domain?
gets you free potions everyday

[Valandil Ancalime]

Mysterious Stranger wrote:

Multiclassing is usually a mistake, especially for a spell caster or classes with lots of level dependent abilities. The end result is usually a weak character. Each of your classes has a different casting stat so that makes it even worse.

1st rule of character creation, "thou shalt not give up caster levels". 2nd rule of character creation, "thou shalt not give up caster levels". It's so important its listed twice.

How long/how high of level do you expect this game to go?

What do you want to get out of Alc/Dru?

What are your future plans, Alc or dru or other?

[Azothath]

I think there is a little confusion between characterization and a class build. The two are not closely linked.
Secondly, Alchemist and Druid is not a good mix though it can be stylistic.
Multiclassing can be effective but you have to be careful and the campaign has to support it.

Druid with a dip in Wizard 1. Druid with Bard 1... or Alchemist with Cleric 1.

[Azothath]

→Items that can save you, 2019 has a lot of stuff and the 2nd-3rd posts have character building links.

[Azothath]

Thalevoh@5"PFS" male human Clr-VPlgrm(Chaldira NG Dom: Luck, Trickery; Wpn: sht sword) 1 Wiz-Divnr 4 and change prof:herbalist to herbalist(fungal). There's a longbow and bastard sword using versions later in the thread.

[Azothath]

there's Druid-Fungal Pilgrim, -Green Faith, -Leshy Warden, -Supernaturalist, -Toxicologist

[Xiviar]

Thank you everyone, the rules explanations were impeccable!

And thank you for all the advice.. I should have probably provided a little more context.. The campaigns with my GM are usually more on the narrative side... With fewer than average encounters, although the few fights are usually pretty tough.

I know my character is suboptimal, but I mostly wanted to be fun to play. I am mostly relying on other players doing the heavy lift :)

However, as some of you suggest, I should probably find a way to create the same character concept without multiclassing to not lose caster levels. The aim I have for my character will mostly be secondary healer/ support/ disrupting enemies' tactics with smoke and dispel magic. (I am assuming I will usually get a low initiative roll)

[Mysterious Stranger]

If you want a way for a similar build without multiclassing the druid herbalism gives you the potion part of the alchemist. VMC will add in some of the other class abilities but takes a bit longer for the abilities to come online.

VMC trades away feats for some class abilities of the other class, without sacrificing the class abilities of the first class.

[Spidercat]

Xiviar wrote:

The aim I have for my character will mostly be secondary healer/ support/ disrupting enemies' tactics with smoke and dispel magic. (I am assuming I will usually get a low initiative roll)

You could do those things with a pure alchemist.

- Alchemists get a decent amount of healing spells: all the cure spells, lesser restoration and restoration, heal, netralize poison, etc. With the Infusion discovery, you can use extracts on your allies.
- With the Smoke Bomb discovery, you can "cast" Fog Cloud. You can further improve this tactic with additionnal discoveries: Inferno Bomb for Incendiary Cloud, Plague Bomb to add Contagion to your smoke, Poison Bomb for Cloudkill, Stink Bomb for Stinking Cloud.
- For Dispel Magic, there's the Dispelling Bomb discovery.
- There's other usful debuff bombs in addition to smoky ones, like Blinding Bomb and Grease Bomb.
- Finally, for general support, if you have Infusion the alchemist has a ton of great buff spells. You can even give out buffs that are normally only personal, like all the shape spells (giving Beast Shape IV or Monstrous Physique IV to a barbarian or fighter can be devastating in the right battle).

[Azothath]

your ability scores [14,8,12,14,17,10] is 23 points.
you could do [12,14,10,14,16,11] to [12,14,10,13,17,10] for a wisdom based character. The higher dexterity aids your AC and reflex save as defense is more the priority. With Alchemist throwing bombs Dex is more important.
Humans will get +1 HP & Skill point per level so the higher Con is nice but you can buy a magic item later to boost it as you are not normally in melee.

[Mysterious Stranger]

The 17 WIS probably includes the level 4 stat increase.