[PF] Alchemist Guides and the lack thereof

[ArcanistSupreme]

A rough mock up of the first post of the guide:

Spoiler

Show

The Alchemist

Credits:

Spoiler

Show

This handbook is the result of the collaborative efforts of the following people (in order of appearance): Novawurmson, StreamOfTheSky, Squirrel_Dude, CockroachTeaParty, avr, The Random NPC, Arcanist Supreme, grarrrg, and Chained Birds.

Contents

Spoiler

Show

1 - Introduction

• Class Overview
• Color Coding
• Bomber vs. Melee
• Role Overview

2 - Race Selection

• Bomber Attribute Priorities
• Bomber Race Comparison
• Bomber Attribute Distribution
• Melee Attribute Priorities
• Melee Race Comparison
• Melee Attribute Distribution

3 - Class Features

• Class Feature Overview
• Bomber Discovery Overview
• Melee Discovery Overview

4 - Skills and Feats

• Skill Selection
• Bomber Feat Selection
• Melee Feat Selection

5 - Equipment

• Weapons and Armor
• Wondrous Items
• Wands and Consumables
• Potions and Poisons

6 - Extracts

• 1st Level Extracts
• 2nd Level Extracts
• 3rd Level Extracts
• 4th Level Extracts
• 5th Level Extracts
• 6th Level Extracts

7 - Archetypes

• Bomber Archetypes
• Melee Archetypes

8 - Multiclassing

• Bomber Multiclassing
• Bomber Prestige Classes
• Melee Multiclassing
• Melee Prestige Classes

9 - Sample Builds

Introduction

Class Overview
Insert literary-quality work of stunning brilliance here, eloquently describing what makes the alchemist unique and sets this class apart from every other class.

Color Coding
This guide uses the following rating system:
Turquoise: A must have. Simply one of the best available options.
Blue: Very good. Any of these will be strong picks.
Green: Good in the right circumstances, but often situational. Be careful when selecting these.
Orange: Niche choice. Will either come up very rarely or be unimpressive when it does come up.
Red: Bad. Just don't take these.


Bomber vs. Melee
The alchemist is an odd class; it seems to encourage wading into melee at the same time it encourages peppering enemies with bombs from afar. When it comes to building your alchemist, you have to decide if you want a Jekyll/Hyde melee brute or a mad bomber that debuffs and dissolves his foes. Otherwise, you will end up with a character that is capable of doing both, but fails to excel in the way a dedicated Bomber/Melee Alchemist would.

- The Bomber

Spoiler

Show

Pros:

• Lot's of debuff potential
• Decent damage
• Good utility
• More stuff I can't think of

Cons:

• Fragile
• Lacks the damage of a dedicated blaster
• AoE damage mediocre at best by mid-high levels
• More stuff I can't think of

- The Brute

Spoiler

Show

Pros:

• Potential to soak up damage
• Potential to dish out plenty of damage
• Self buffs offer utility that other fighters lack
• More stuff I can't think of

Cons:

• Poor will saves
• Lackluster bombs
• More stuff I can't think of

Role Overview
In the words of Chained Birds:

As an Alchemist, you are given several rolls to choose from,

Buffer: You can give yourself many of the common buffs used on the wizard's spell list + a few nifty Alchemist only buffs for your bombs. You also have a mutagen that is pretty much an awesome buff that does either 1 of the following: Make you Stronger but Dumber, Make you more Dexterous but crazy, or Make you Tougher but less Attractive.
If you take the right discoveries you can give these buffs, and even your mutagen to another guy. You can also change your mutagen to do pretty much the exact opposite of what it used to do, meaning it improves your mental stats by reducing your physical ones.

Fighter: If you focus on improving your mutagen, you can be a fairly competent warrior. Your improved strengths from the mutagen, coupled with your own buffs can make you quite the intimidating force, though your mental stats would probably drag behind. Think Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Monster.

Crowd Control: First few levels, a bomber Alchemist (Traditional Alchemist) will be the bane of all hordes as anything you throw that does splash damage does extra damage equal to your Int Mod! Your bombs are free alchemist's fire that get progressively stronger making your splash damage better. Splash starts to go unnoticed towards mid-to-late game, but your bombs now do more than just blow stuff up. They can freeze and stagger, poison and obscure, instant kill and maim, shock and awe, or whatever you are going for for your particular Bomber.

Crafter: They get brew potion as a bonus feat... So you can make cheap potions to share with your friends. You can also use your discoverys to make a caster lvl 1 potion into a caster lvl X potion when you drink it where X is your lvl; You can also extend the effect generated by the potion to double its usual duration. That's something more alchemists can do unless an archetype trades in the free feat for something a little more suited for your alchemist theme.

Utility: Not as good as a wizard by far, but really what is? Alchemists have a good extract list (spell list) and can get some good mileage out of it. Alchemist can make an extract on the spot (1 minute) if necessary as long as they have at least an unused "extract slot" (spell slot) available for the day, so that can be useful.

I'll have to ask Chained Birds if we can quote him, unless someone would like to rewrite that section.

Thoughts? Comments? Complete and utter disagreements?