Chasing the Philosopher's Stone: N. Jolly's guide to the Pathfinder Alchemist

[N. Jolly]

You rated Mutagenic Touch on the assumption it needs to be used on an ally: It doesn't.

Inflicting a very long duration confusion or disabling casting with just a touch attack is not terrible (plus how many creatures are immune to ability score "penalties"?).

Well ducks on strike, you're right! I'll admit I was a little tired while doing extracts since they went on FOREVER, so I'll be sure to change the rating based on that info. Alchemist and saving throws seem to have a very odd relationship.

I think you missed out on one great option when you mostly wrote of the Master Chymist's advanced mutagen options: furious mutagen. It increases your natural weapons by a die step. On its own, of course, it's just worse than growth mutagen, which gives you that die step and all the other bonuses of increased size. But where furious mutagen really shines is that you can still throw an Enlarge on top of it, and then you're dishing out 2d6 claws and a 2d8 bite. Growth, on the other hand, is ultimately only saving you the action to drink a level 1 extract (and occasionally makes like difficult for you in situations where you don't want to be enlarged).

The guide is excellent, though. As someone who's not currently playing an Alchemist, but is playing with one, the alchemical items section was really helpful. Our Alchemist is always asking during downtime if we want anything made, now I'll finally have some things to ask for. And suggest that a couple of us pick up Preserving Flasks for infusions. It doesn't take that many uses for one of those things to pay for itself, even ignoring the benefits of an extract over a min-level potion.

Yeah, I guess I did overlook that. It's just that most of the discoveries for the M.C. are so freaking boring. God, if the class just let you take your normal discoveries in addition, it wouldn't be that bad.

Thanks though, I've been trying to keep this guide as complete as possible without bogging it down. I'm starting to think that this wasn't the best place to do it, because I'm hitting some space restrictions. I don't want to go through all of the work of bringing it over to google docs though.

Still, I'm glad you found some toys to enjoy, and the thought of people buying their own Preserving Flask as an alternative to potions actually seems really cool, so that's something I might have to add!

Just about to put down misc mundane items, although Generalist Alchemist probably won't be up for a while.

[N. Jolly]

Mundane items are done, as is the Generalist Alchemist. I decided to move Kallen up to the Generalist Build (Giving her Feral Mutagen), and created a goblin bomber to take up the Mad Bomber slot.

With that, the guide is again officially complete. While there's still some touching up to do, and other such things, I'm willing to consider this guide officially complete.

I'll be working on a new project soon, possibly either Bard (I haven't seen a lot of recent Bard guides), Summoner (I really like Saph's guide, but I also love the class), or maybe the Barbarian (The least complex of the group, and my favorite mundane) if I get the itch.

[Sephoris]

One other little fun fact (which I've stolen from one of the broken rules threads): you've already warned people off Defoliant Bomb, so this shouldn't affect the guide, but you missed the full impact of how terrible it is. As you pointed out, being a poison effect means many creature types are resistant or immune to it. It just happens that one of those creature types is plants. Yes, whoever designed the hyper-focused anti-plant bomb didn't take the time to look over the plant traits and make sure they weren't completely immune to it.

[Gikamoth]

On Dhampir, with the Blood of the Night vampire book, they have alternate racial modifiers/skill bonuses/SLAs/Weaknesses based on the other vampire archetypes. Some of the other non-standard Dhampirs might be useful for alchemist. Example: Jiang-shi Born (Ru-shi) get +2 Dex, +2 Int, -2 Wis; get erase as a SLA and lose light sensitivity for -1 vs Sonic.

Also worth noting: Tattoos use a different set of magic item slots than regular magic items "Magic tattoos must be placed on a part of the body normally able to hold a magic item slot, but they do not count against or interfere with magic items worn on those slots." Tattoo Potion is sliiiightly less useless.

And Lingering Spirit is 4th level, Lingering Plague is 8th

[N. Jolly]

One other little fun fact (which I've stolen from one of the broken rules threads): you've already warned people off Defoliant Bomb, so this shouldn't affect the guide, but you missed the full impact of how terrible it is. As you pointed out, being a poison effect means many creature types are resistant or immune to it. It just happens that one of those creature types is plants. Yes, whoever designed the hyper-focused anti-plant bomb didn't take the time to look over the plant traits and make sure they weren't completely immune to it.

That's just...wow...

On Dhampir, with the Blood of the Night vampire book, they have alternate racial modifiers/skill bonuses/SLAs/Weaknesses based on the other vampire archetypes. Some of the other non-standard Dhampirs might be useful for alchemist. Example: Jiang-shi Born (Ru-shi) get +2 Dex, +2 Int, -2 Wis; get erase as a SLA and lose light sensitivity for -1 vs Sonic.

Also worth noting: Tattoos use a different set of magic item slots than regular magic items "Magic tattoos must be placed on a part of the body normally able to hold a magic item slot, but they do not count against or interfere with magic items worn on those slots." Tattoo Potion is sliiiightly less useless.

And Lingering Spirit is 4th level, Lingering Plague is 8th

Changed the Dhamp ruling for those ones, although I still don't like the negative energy affinity a whole hell of a lot.

And slightly less useless is still not useful.

Did change the Spirit thing though, nice catch on that.

Starting the Barbarian guide later today, since I don't see a lot of guides for them actually finished. It'll probably be done in a fashion similar to this one, and I'm looking forward to having it done in about 3 weeks to help out another player of mine.

I'll still be updating this one with new content whenever it comes out, since this was still my first guide, and my baby though. I'll always love the Alchemist to death.

[Raven777]

So. Lizardfolk. Vivisectionist. If you can convince your DM to let Feral Mutagen apply the claws to your feet, that would mean an attack routine of [Claw -2/Claw -2/Claw -2/Claw -2/Bite -2/Stab -2/Stab -2] by 5th level. Is there a way to add a tail lash to the mix?

[N. Jolly]

So. Lizardfolk. Vivisectionist. If you can convince your DM to let Feral Mutagen apply the claws to your feet, that would mean an attack routine of [Claw -2/Claw -2/Claw -2/Claw -2/Bite -2/Stab -2/Stab -2] by 5th level. Is there a way to add a tail lash to the mix?

To be honest, I'd rather do this with a Tiefling or other clawed race since you don't have a bite attack naturally, which gives Feral Mutagen more use. And since I'm a jerk, it'd technically be stab/stab-2/claw-2/claw-2/claw-2/claw-2/bite-2.

Although technically with Helm of the Mammoth Lord, you could add a gore attack in as well, putting you up to 8 attacks. By level 5 you could buy this, but it'd be pretty expensive.

Sadly adding a tentacle doesn't help, and tentacle is just a dumb discovery, and I can't think of a way off the top of my head to add a tail whip to all that, which is crazy, because Lizardfolk even have a tail in their description. Still, 8 attacks by level 5, possibly all getting sneak attack, is definitely a TO strategy, since nothing is going to be able to take 24d6 plus evertyhing else by that point. Still, it's fun to dream...

[MightyPirate]

Just played my first witch a few days ago and I feel compelled to mention your Tumor Familiar seems a might undervalued to me. Far as I can tell the Witch has the most useless familiar in terms of options (harder to get a bonded item instead) and losing it loses your spellbook.

By contrast the Alchemist gets to pass on better saves, bab, and hit points. Easy access to alchemical items for your cancerous pal to toss around is golden, as is UMD. Even without improved familiar you have double dipping on knowledges and perception rolls.

The valet is crazy awesome. Even discounting everything else he does the teammate screams for Hyde builds. Escape route senanigans are great for brutal hyde to stroll into flanking and if a tiny critter can threaten 5ft with a reach weapon then controller hyde will love tandem trip.

I also am thinking the Preservationist becomes one of the best summoners available with Infusion and a familiar buddy. Let the wart monkey release your summons for you so you can use your actions to throw a bomb, rip someone's face off, or take a nap.

[Raven777]

wart monkey

Now there's coffee in my keyboard.

Also, the paizo forums community seem to have a different take on our Vestigial Arms shenanigans, though I tend to believe their interpretation of the rules is lunatic raving.

[MightyPirate]

Meh, even if vestigial arm doesn't work with multiweapon fighting it doesn't really change much. Natural attacks probably are just the best way to got on a vivisectionist, even if you have multiweapon fighting and multiattack you have to eat a -2 to your attacks.

You're already at reduced BaB and while this combo could debatably net you an extra two attack I don't know that it's worth it for the two discoveries and two feats on top of a -10% to hit on all your attacks.

That being said one arm is still useful for buckler use (masterwork and then enchant to negate penalties and actually make it useful) and pulling out alchemical items, extracts, or what have you. Most of the things you might want the arm for don't make attacks anyway so you don't lose your buckler's bonus anyway. This is just one nice perk extractions have over spells.

I do admit however that if you can't give the arms extra attacks somehow I'm a bit baffled as to why you would ever need more than three arms.

It's a bit discouraging that the two classes (Alchemist and Summoner) that can make use of multiweapon fighting generally don't because it's just not a good option for them next to natural attacks. This is discouraging partially because Multiweapon fighting is bounds better than two weapon fighting, and partially because the rogue (a pet favorite of mine no matter how badly he sucks) would kill for this option and it's only available as a Kasatha.

[N. Jolly]

Just played my first witch a few days ago and I feel compelled to mention your Tumor Familiar seems a might undervalued to me. Far as I can tell the Witch has the most useless familiar in terms of options (harder to get a bonded item instead) and losing it loses your spellbook.

By contrast the Alchemist gets to pass on better saves, bab, and hit points. Easy access to alchemical items for your cancerous pal to toss around is golden, as is UMD. Even without improved familiar you have double dipping on knowledges and perception rolls.

The valet is crazy awesome. Even discounting everything else he does the teammate screams for Hyde builds. Escape route senanigans are great for brutal hyde to stroll into flanking and if a tiny critter can threaten 5ft with a reach weapon then controller hyde will love tandem trip.

I also am thinking the Preservationist becomes one of the best summoners available with Infusion and a familiar buddy. Let the wart monkey release your summons for you so you can use your actions to throw a bomb, rip someone's face off, or take a nap.

After you brought this up, I did a bit of searching on familiars and such, and sadly T. Familiars can only be small. It seems according to the official rules, monkeys cannot throw items or manipulate wands (the latter being because of a lack of ability to speak, which I'm okay with), making them less than useful for this task. Since they're not able to wield weapons (and there's still an argument as to if wielding a spear lets a monkey attack out to 5ft and threaten, or if doubling its reach still leaves it at 0ft), it also fails at that role.

I'l admit giving a monkey a spear seems awesome myself, and that it should be able to throw, but at least by official rules, the thing can't throw items, so that reason is out. Even if it wasn't, it'd really only work for a preservationist. It's just a huge circle of stupid, really.

Now there's coffee in my keyboard.

Also, the paizo forums community seem to have a different take on our Vestigial Arms shenanigans, though I tend to believe their interpretation of the rules is lunatic raving.

The Paizo boards are more infamous for people who don't know how to think outside the box, and view anything other than a Sword and Board Fighter as "too broken" for the game, so I'm not taking much stock in what they're saying until I get an official response about this.

I'd rather not let such craziness lead people to make a worse character, although it's not like the vivisectionist needs much help.

Hey guys, let's just all be jerks and throw on two Boot Blades, a Dwarven Boulder Helmet (bonus points if you can make it into a Helm of the Mammoth Lords to give you a gore attack too), a Barbazu Beard, Armor Spikes, and two Thorn Bracers (they state they'll let you make an offhand attack if you aren't wielding a weapon or shield in them, which you're not.) I think since we're losing the daggers, that'd make that helmet/-2 claw/-2 claw/-2 gore/ -2 bite/-2 boot/-2 boot/-2 beard/-2 spikes/-2 bracer/-2 bracer. If we were lucky, we'd be able to throw the two daggers onto that and make this the best day ever. Anyone have any other kind of attack we could throw on him, maybe a Tentacle Cloak for 2 more attacks for one minute a day?

Just make sure to have Quick Learner and Adopted: Arms Master and you won't be taking a non proficient penalty with any of those weapons too.

[Raven777]

You know, putting Thorn Bracers on your two Claw arms is not a bad idea at all, even without proficiency. That's two extra attacks for 60gp, who cares if they're at -4?

EDIT 2014-11-10 : It has come to my attention that Thorn Bracers do not add extra attacks. They are merely weapons one can wield with both hands free. Therefore, related attacks are made as part of one's regular routine, not additional ones.

[N. Jolly]

You know, putting Thorn Bracers on your two Claw arms is not a bad idea at all, even without proficiency. That's two extra attacks for 60gp, who cares if they're at -4?

Whoa, is this an idea that ISN'T strapping an ungodly amount of weapons to your body? That's just crazy!

I myself think you should be able to grow claws on your vestigial arms, although nothing says you can't use Thorn Bracers on those too. Thorn Bracers are pretty cheap. Still, being a massive spiked ball of death seems pretty damn fun.

[avr]

Even if you could get a monkey familiar to wield a spear, it's not going to be proficient or have a decent strength, and it's not a finesse or trip weapon, and familiars don't have feats to use on teamwork feats. How is this a good idea?

Throwing alchemical items, now that makes sense.

[N. Jolly]

Even if you could get a monkey familiar to wield a spear, it's not going to be proficient or have a decent strength, and it's not a finesse or trip weapon, and familiars don't have feats to use on teamwork feats. How is this a good idea?

Throwing alchemical items, now that makes sense.

Okay, I never thought Monkey Spear Fighting was going to be a big topic here. The reason for the spear is the Valet Template for familiars, which counts them as having any teamwork feats that you have. So unless they threaten, it doesn't help at all. Rules say a monkey can't throw anything, but nature cares to differ, so decide on how helpful a tumor monkey is for you.

[avr]

Gotcha, thanks.

[Raven777]

"Tumor Monkey" = totally a thing now?

[N. Jolly]

Okay, according to this FAQ, the monkey can't wield a weapon (which probably includes thrown items), or wands, which makes it a bit weaker. It makes sense, but it's still kind of lame. At best, you could go Eldritch Heritage and pick up a familiar, and later evolve it to a better one, but that's a 3 feat investment, which is no small task.

[MightyPirate]

Okay so we still have either a free reroll on perception and knowledges (not to mention a free intimidate at a -4 penalty) for a familiar that can talk.

Or a monkey to pop your imbued preserved animals.

Or just a compsognathus, scorpion or dodo for +4 initiative.

Improved Familiar opens up everything else from alchemical items, to UMD, to threatening for Tandem Trip. It would be a little pricey for a class that dumps charisma to grab Eldritch Heritage but fortunately we just need Improved Familiar because it works fine on the discovery all on its own.

Note that the pseudodragon, while largely passed over for the more popular faerie dragon, gets a free 5ft. range on his tail attack. There are also plenty of small sized options to pick from too but I prefer to stay tiny if possible.

Also it's interesting to note that one could pick up as many as 5 familiars with Witch 1, Alchemist 2, Magus 3, and Cross-Blooded Sorcerer (Arcane & Serpentine) 3. Your character would be bloody useless and he doesn't even have (Ex) Dodge Books as a class feature but the good news is you can upgrade all of your pets simultaneously with one Improved Familiar feat.

[Mr. Whatever]

I think you underrated the mutagen for the Mad Bomber. The Alchemy bonus can be applied to Dex instead of strength, which makes your bombs which are ranged touch attacks hit more often. Especially at later levels when you can basically keep it up all day without even trying.

Also I don't know how practical it is, but the Alchemical Zombie discovery clearly states "Zombies that are created in this manner count as undead created by animate dead for the purposes of determining how many undead the alchemist can control." which I think is pretty straightforward in letting you control your zombies. Plus you can probably convince you DM to let you count them as alchemical zombies variation.

Plus, while Breath Weapon bomb might not be ideal, it does mean you can get in some damage as a bomber without provoking attacks of opportunity, which can be great if you have an enemy up in your face.

[N. Jolly]

I think you underrated the mutagen for the Mad Bomber. The Alchemy bonus can be applied to Dex instead of strength, which makes your bombs which are ranged touch attacks hit more often. Especially at later levels when you can basically keep it up all day without even trying.

The thing is that for the most part, touch attacks aren't hard to hit. Bombers won't be investing in the higher mutagens, so they don't really ever get better than a +2 to attack roll for bombs. While that's a +2 to attack rolls, AC, and the normal +2 Natural Armor, +2 isn't a massive boost when by the mid-late levels you're probably hitting touch pretty easily. It's not worthless, but not the centerpiece that it is for the Hyde side.

Also I don't know how practical it is, but the Alchemical Zombie discovery clearly states "Zombies that are created in this manner count as undead created by animate dead for the purposes of determining how many undead the alchemist can control." which I think is pretty straightforward in letting you control your zombies. Plus you can probably convince you DM to let you count them as alchemical zombies variation.

I'd really like to get a direct quote on this myself. Also out of the two main undead templates, skeletal is generally the one you'd choose, since it doesn't destroy the natural attack routine of its target. Even Alchemical Zombies aren't anything to write home about. You're going to need them Fast before they start being a real threat, unless you're just bringing back T-Rexes. Zombies just aren't ideal as undead when skeletons are around. If you get auto control, I suppose this would go orange.

Plus, while Breath Weapon bomb might not be ideal, it does mean you can get in some damage as a bomber without provoking attacks of opportunity, which can be great if you have an enemy up in your face.

Not being able to combine it with other things really kinda kills it for me. If you could do this with a bomb and Alchemical Weapon from the Grenadier to manage to expand your alchemic weapon supply, I might like it. But for most games I've been in, swarms of smaller things are rarely the norm, so this falls short to me. It's situational to a point that I'm not comfortable recommending.

[Mr. Whatever]

Well I disagree about the others, but to each their own.

As for the zombie;

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base...ical-zombie-su

[Raven777]

Our friend, B. Hyde? I found him a portrait. And I found him a theme song.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

Our friend, B. Hyde? I found him a portrait. And I found him a theme song.

The new Spider Man movie had the Lizard as pretty much an alchemist; he even makes a bomb at one point.

The guide is really useful! However, I don't get why tentacle was rated red. It does pretty much everything a vestigial arm can do, and gives you an option to grapple without provoking.. I am also disappointed you covered barely a third of the Master Chymist; its a really fun PrC. Especially since it give you basically 2-5+1 uses of mutagen.

[Clegane]

This is a great guide. Thanks!

I am intrigued, though, about why you would rate Improved Initiative as a Blue and Tumor Familiar as only an Orange.

Using the Tumor Familiar as a Greensting Scorpion grants you a +4 to Initiative, as well as the Alertness feat, rerolls on some skill checks, and a possible scout. The Imp Init feat only grants you the same +4 to init without the extra benefits, but you ranked it substantially higher than the Tumor discovery.

What was your rationale for this? Or was it merely an oversight?

Whatever the case, I love the guide and appreciate you putting in the time and effort.

[Crasical]

Vivisectionist shenanigans.

Anthropomorphic Animal raises intelligence to 3, only works on Animals.
Awaken doesn't work on creatures with an int of 3 or greater, changes type to Magical Beast
Baleful Polymorph doesn't seem to change the creature's type at all.

I know the 'big selling point' of the archetype is sneak attack, but Moreau-esque evil biologist shenanigans is the theme of the day for vivisectionists. It makes me sad you can't turn someone you hate into a monkey and then anthropomorphize that monkey into your butler, or anthropomorphize and then awaken a Tyrannosaurus as a bodyguard.

EDIT:
I also feel I need to call you out on the Trench Fighter.

Spoiler

Show

That archetype is printed in the 'Rasputin Must Die' module of Reign of Winter, to represent 20th century soldiers. It's entirely inappropriate for most pathfinder games.

[masterjoda99]

How well would it work out to have a mostly B. Hyde style alchemist using the beastmorph archetype, but not vivisectionist archetype, so as to pick up some bombs for greater control? I say B. Hyde 'cuz it'd still be primarily ripping faces off with feral mutagen, but I'd want some control bombs like Frost Bomb and Confusion Bomb handy to supplement, but not using a longspear.

Also, recommended feats for a controlling B. Hyde?

[magotter]

How well would it work out to have a mostly B. Hyde style alchemist using the beastmorph archetype, but not vivisectionist archetype, so as to pick up some bombs for greater control? I say B. Hyde 'cuz it'd still be primarily ripping faces off with feral mutagen, but I'd want some control bombs like Frost Bomb and Confusion Bomb handy to supplement, but not using a longspear.

Also, recommended feats for a controlling B. Hyde?

This is pretty much what I did for my Hyde, Evander Signus.

Dex-based, and gear dependent only on his Agile Amulet of Mighty Fists, but I pump out tons of damage while utilizing my bombs for controll between Dispel and Confusion. Human for theming reasons (it's a Cheliax campaign), but almost any race could work here since I only used my bonus feat for Improved Initiative. It's a great feat, but not build-critical. I also dipped Urban Barb 1 for the Dex-based Rage. It doesn't bolster Con, but it also doesn't penalize AC, and I can still use normal rage too if I want.

For a quick breakdown of the character, see here:

Spoiler

Show

Base Stats (20-PB): Str 14, Dex 16+2, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 12,. Cha 7
Traits: Accelerated Drinker, Reactionary, Auspicious Tattoo
Drawback: Meticulous
Racial Feat: Improved Initiative
(1) Barb 1 (Urban Barbarian), Feat: Weapon Finesse
(2) Alch 1 (Beastmorph)
(3) Alch 2, Discovery: Feral Mutagen, Feat: Piranha Strike
(4) Alch 3
(5) Alch 4, Discovery: Tumor Familiar (Hedgehog), Feat: Extra Rage
(6) Alch 5
(7) Alch 6, Discovery: Dispelling Bomb, Feat: Extra Discovery (Wings)
(8) Alch 7
(9) Alch 8, Discovery: Fast Bombs, Feat: Extra Discovery (Confusion Bomb)
(10) Alch 9
(11) Alch 10, Discovery: Force Bombs, Feat: Arcane Strike
(12) Alch 11
(13) Alch 12, Discovery: Greater Mutagen, Feat: ????
Recommended Gear: Spring-loaded wrist sheaths, Iron vials, Agile Amulet of Mighty Fists, Item of INT+2, Item of Saves+X,

Now your mileage may vary; the game character is from started at level 6, so I didn't need to worry about the order of build as much. If starting low you might want to swap Tumor Familiar for Frost Bomb to gain some Field Control. I like Tumor Familiar for theming reasons, and because the combination of gaining +4 to Perception & Sense Motive and +2 to my milquetoast Will Save is a nice little package. I've also found that about 12-15 rounds of Rage is enough for each day. Every combat takes at least 1 round of buffing, as I quaff a mutagen and one other potion (Love those spring-loaded wrist sheaths), So between my current amount of 11 rounds of Rage available to me (4 Base, +1 Con, +6 Feat) I find that I can make that last. Rarely does combat last more than 4 or 5 rounds total. Again, your mileage may vary.

Also, in disregard to Jolly's advice, while Fly might be better than the Wings discovery overall, I don't like having to spend an action and a spell slot to activate it. Plus it, too, fits well with the character's theme.

AC is through the roof as well: It's good to remember that Shield enhancement bonuses and Armor enhancement bonuses stack in pathfinder, unlike 3.5, so I nabbed a Deflection Ring, mundane clothes with a +3 Enhancement (no Max Dex penalty), Bracers of Armor, and a Darkwood Buckler with an Enhancement Bonus too. You save money by spreading out the AC stacking. A +1 Deflection Ring, +1 Enhancement to Armor, +1 Natural AC ring, and +1 Shield Enhancement gives +4 AC and costs significantly less than a +4 Bonus on any one AC type.

I spend my combat by quaffing a mutagen and one other potion. To start it was Reduce Person, but I ended up getting that Permanent-ized. At the moment (Level 1) it's Barkskin. Next Level, it'll start being Haste. After that, I either fast-lob some Confusion Bombs or rush up and turn on the blender. Lather, Rinse, Repeat. Being small might have reduced my Natural Attacks from 1d6->1d4 and 1d4->1d3, but the bonus Dex not only makes up the damage (guarantees it, in fact, since its not dice based), but gives me +1 to Attack and +2 & +4 to Fly and Stealth, respectively. being a B. Hyde might have turned me into a 2-trick pony debuffing and killing machine, but I'm very, very good at what I do.

[N. Jolly]

Due to new FAQ rulings on vestigial limb, I'm going to have to change the B. Hyde build, as well as having to change my rating of confusion bomb since it now has a save and is considerably worse. I'm not at a point where I can alter it now since my comp died, but I'll try to get to it soon. Barb guide is still on the way, and as always, comments about this guide are welcomed.

I have a lot to respond to here so I'll try to get on that soon, and thanks to everyone who liked or responded to the guide.

[Raven777]

What new FAQ ruling?

EDIT : Oh, look at the obvious rules patch that reeks of MMO-style rebalancing. This coupled with last month's attempt at screwing with free actions is pretty disconcerting.

It's ok. I can still use bladed boots on my frigging feet and pretend nothing happened. Or just put these Thorn Bracers to use. Or just point out I already could Unarmed Strike/Unarmed Strike/Claw/Claw/Bite mixing feet and claws for 5 attacks and move on like nothing happened. Thank you Sean K. Reynolds :D