So I'm playing a level 5 alchemist bomber with the Quick Bomber feat. This is a home campaign, not Organized Play, so sometimes we don't always get the rules right on the first go-round due to our group's inexperience and lack of really experienced players at the table.
I have thus far been playing it such that Quick Bomber can let me use Quick Alchemy to make a bomb and then strike with it. I have been using that to make any Formula from my Formula Book (mainly Alchemist's Fire but sometimes others like Blasting Stone). I have never consumed Versatile Vials for this function.
In our last session our DM said he felt this was incorrect and the use of Quick Bomber in conjunction with Quick Alchemy would let me throw a simple Versatile Vial for free without actually consuming one and then my Field Vials benefit would come into play. I disagreed and we mutually agreed to table the issue, look it up between sessions and make changes to play as needed.
From my research it appears he is correct. I have no problem playing the game this way, but my question is: why is it like this? I can believe I was wrong and do believe I've been playing wrong, but I can't for the life of me figure out the actual rules behind it.
I'm interpreting the rules (wrongly, it seems) as follows:
1. Quick Bomber states "You interact to draw a bomb, draw a versatile vial, or use Quick Alchemy to create a bomb, then strike with the bomb."
2. Quick Alchemy states "You can either use up a versatile vial to make another alchemical consumable at a moment's notice or create an especially short-lived versatile vial." Under "create consumable" it specifically states you expend a versatile vial. I took this to mean if I was creating mutagens or elixirs then yes, I expend a versatile vial, which is how I've played it when make Elixirs of Life. Under "quick vial" it states "You create a versatile vial that can be used only as a bomb or for the versatile vial option from your research field (it can't be used to create a consumable.)"
3. Formulas like Alchemist's Fire and Blasting Stone have the bomb trait, which makes them bombs.
My main sticking points come from the "or" in QA and the belief that if something has the "bomb" trait it is a bomb (like Alchemist's Fire.) With QA stating I can create "a versatile vial that can be used only as a bomb OR for the versatile vial option..." that leads me to believe the quick vials can be used to make things like Alchemist's Fire because otherwise why differentiate between the two?
If someone could help me see what I'm missing or where I've misinterpreted a rule that would be great.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
The part that I am seeing missing from the description of how you were playing is the consuming of a Versatile Vial to create the things from your formula book such as your bombs.
It gets confusing because there are two different meanings of "Versatile Vial".
1) Versatile Vial: The quantity of reagents that you get at your daily preparations to create alchemical items throughout the day. They recharge during exploration mode if you are less than your maximum.
2) Versatile Vial: The especially short-lived alchemical items that you create with option B of Quick Alchemy and can only be used as bombs or for the Field Vial usage of your Research Field.
You can use a Versatile Vial as a bomb, but I don't know if it is meaning Versatile Vial #2, or both meanings.
-----
Anyway, with Quick Alchemy, there are two options:
A) Use up one of your Versatile Vial #1 items to create any item in your formula book. You have to activate and use it by the end of the round. The effect won't last more than 10 minutes even if the item would normally last longer.
B) You create a Versatile Vial #2 from absolutely nothing. It can be used as a Versatile Vial bomb or used as the Field Vials option from your Research Field (for example a Mutagenist could drink the created vial to suppress the drawback effect of a mutagen). You still have to use the item before the end of your current turn.
-----
So for Quick Bomber, you are allowed to use Quick Alchemy to create bombs. In addition to drawing already created bombs or Versatile Vial #1 items. And you can use either option A or option B of Quick Alchemy when using that.
So you can use Quick Bomber, use Quick Alchemy option A to create any bomb you have in your formula book, and then throw it. However, doing so does use one of your Versatile Vial #1 items that you are carrying around. You can regain them after the fight is over.
You can also use Quick Bomber, use Quick Alchemy option B to create a Versatile Vial bomb, and then throw that. This costs no resources other than the action cost to use the ability. But you can't create other types of bombs in your formula book. Only the Versatile Vial bomb (which for Bomber or Toxicologist you have some choices for damage type that it does).