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

[SamsDisciple]

I was just reading up on familiars and there is a feat that the familiar must take to be able to wear magic items but it is able to be switched out with any of the familiars starting feats as long as you choose to do so at the beginning. There are enough other feats specifically for familiars that while it is still unoptimized it sounds like a fun idea to make a touch attack sorc/wiz that sends out his familiar to deliver everything. Back on the alchemist familiars though I think it might be RAW that the familiar must take the "Extra Item Slot" familiar feat in order to wear magic equipment. Wait I just re-read it, it allows familiars to wear magic equipment not usually available to familiars with that shape... SO LETS BUFF UP THAT FAMILIAR SO IT CAN SAVE YOU OODLES OF ACTIONS!

[mackaber]

Hey thanks for the guide it's been very useful in building an Alchemist a class I wish I hadn't overlooked for so long.

That right there should mean that our monkey can drink an extract and have it effect our Alchemist, making sure they don't have to burn their own actions to buff themselves, which is Tex Mex Sexy. With Empathetic Link, you can let your 6+ int familiar know when to down an extract (as long as the familiar is on your person) to feed you the effects, which even works fluff wise due to it being a part of you. I'll need confirmation on this second part, but even without it, an injector Monkey would be pretty damn incredible.

I might have to look up how an injection spear would interact with this to really amp up the buff potential.

However referring to your above quote I totally don't get how share spell is supposed to allow your monkey to buff you. For convenience sake here's the rules text for share spell.

Share Spells: The wizard may cast a spell with a target of “You” on his familiar (as a touch spell) instead of on himself. A wizard may cast spells on his familiar even if the spells do not normally affect creatures of the familiar's type (magical beast).

Everything I read says the Wizard (replace with Alchemist) may cast personal buffs on his familiar. Why should the familiar in turn be able to buff the Alchemist?

However with the preservationist and the Infusion Discovery we are in business. Swift action summoning once per round? Slap on Vivisectionist and flanky friends are going on a rampage...

[N. Jolly]

Hey thanks for the guide it's been very useful in building an Alchemist a class I wish I hadn't overlooked for so long.

However referring to your above quote I totally don't get how share spell is supposed to allow your monkey to buff you. For convenience sake here's the rules text for share spell.

Share Spells: The wizard may cast a spell with a target of “You” on his familiar (as a touch spell) instead of on himself. A wizard may cast spells on his familiar even if the spells do not normally affect creatures of the familiar's type (magical beast).

Everything I read says the Wizard (replace with Alchemist) may cast personal buffs on his familiar. Why should the familiar in turn be able to buff the Alchemist?

However with the preservationist and the Infusion Discovery we are in business. Swift action summoning once per round? Slap on Vivisectionist and flanky friends are going on a rampage...

Actually, the relevant text I'm thinking of is here, in deliver touch spell.

Deliver Touch Spells (Su): If the master is 3rd level or higher, a familiar can deliver touch spells for him. If the master and the familiar are in contact at the time the master casts a touch spell, he can designate his familiar as the “toucher.” The familiar can then deliver the touch spell just as the master would. As usual, if the master casts another spell before the touch is delivered, the touch spell dissipates.

And this

An alchemist’s extracts and mutagens are considered spells for the purposes of familiar abilities like share spells and deliver touch spells.

Now the idea behind this is that the monkey is delivering the extract through touching the Alchemist, which by rulings seems like it should work. Also it states that the Mutagen is considered in this as well, which would allow you to buff up through your monkey.

If this interpretation ends up failing (it seems like it's quite up to debate), the Vivi/Preservationist still works, which is still perfect.

Glad you liked the guide, I'm doing my best to maintain it as new information comes out that could possibly be of use, so let me know if you find anything that you think I should include (Lengthy issues with Skinsend aside)

[N. Jolly]

I was just reading up on familiars and there is a feat that the familiar must take to be able to wear magic items but it is able to be switched out with any of the familiars starting feats as long as you choose to do so at the beginning. There are enough other feats specifically for familiars that while it is still unoptimized it sounds like a fun idea to make a touch attack sorc/wiz that sends out his familiar to deliver everything. Back on the alchemist familiars though I think it might be RAW that the familiar must take the "Extra Item Slot" familiar feat in order to wear magic equipment. Wait I just re-read it, it allows familiars to wear magic equipment not usually available to familiars with that shape... SO LETS BUFF UP THAT FAMILIAR SO IT CAN SAVE YOU OODLES OF ACTIONS!

I actually looked that up, and the feat itself states

Benefit: Choose one magic item slot not normally available to creatures with your shape. You can now use magic items in that slot.

And it seems as of the Animal Archives that was brought up earlier, Monkeys have a hand slot, so that feat isn't even needed. And let's not forget the Valet Archetype we could throw on to help make us more of a potion/alchemical item factory. Tumor Familiar is seriously sounding better all the time.

[mackaber]

Now the idea behind this is that the monkey is delivering the extract through touching the Alchemist, which by rulings seems like it should work. Also it states that the Mutagen is considered in this as well, which would allow you to buff up through your monkey.

I'm still a noob in regards to the Alchemist so no further suggestions for the moment.

Honestly I'm still not seeing it. Mainly for the bolded part:

Deliver Touch Spells (Su): If the master is 3rd level or higher, a familiar can deliver touch spells for him. If the master and the familiar are in contact at the time the master casts a touch spell, he can designate his familiar as the “toucher.”

This assumes that a spell has to be cast by the Alchemist.

I guess you're assuming in some form of odd circular logic that imbibing an infusion is equivalent to the Alchemist casting a spell... Okay, while I'm not buying that part I can follow.

Now where is the touch coming from? It says in the familiar ability extracts are considered spells, nowhere does it say they are considered touch spells...

[N. Jolly]

I'm still a noob in regards to the Alchemist so no further suggestions for the moment.

Honestly I'm still not seeing it. Mainly for the bolded part:

Deliver Touch Spells (Su): If the master is 3rd level or higher, a familiar can deliver touch spells for him. If the master and the familiar are in contact at the time the master casts a touch spell, he can designate his familiar as the “toucher.”

This assumes that a spell has to be cast by the Alchemist.

I guess you're assuming in some form of odd circular logic that imbibing an infusion is equivalent to the Alchemist casting a spell... Okay, while I'm not buying that part I can follow.

Now where is the touch coming from? It says in the familiar ability extracts are considered spells, nowhere does it say they are considered touch spells...

Like I said, it's very muddy due to the Alchemist having such a different "casting mechanic", so it's hard to say if it's

-Alchemist drinks, and then his familiar hold's the drink's charge to discharge it later, netting him one quickened extract (totally worth it)

-Familiar drinks, considered the toucher, discharges it into the Alchemist for one quickened extract a round (double totally worth it)

Both of these are hard to call because of the fact that the Alchemist "cast" so oddly. But I find it odd myself that the bit about the shared spells and deliver touch extract are carried over with the tumor familiar, and specifically called out, meaning that there SHOULD be some form of interaction between them.

Maybe interpretation 2 is a bit too generous, I'd be fine with interpretation 1, since it's still baller for my action economy. The problem here is that there needs to be a clarification on how the whole "deliver touch spell/extract" works. Odder still is that the mutagen is also called out in this, which just seems even more confusion.

Perhaps the intention was to buff the nuggets out of your Tumor Familiar, to give it the chance to fight (it is a 3/4ths BAB familiar at the very least), and knowing Paizo, I could see that as their goal. But for now, it's very hard to see what exactly they had in mind when listing those parts to the Tumor Familiar ability.

EDIT: Just found the relevant text from the Alchemist Class feature

In effect, an alchemist prepares his spells by mixing ingredients into a number of extracts, and then “casts” his spells by drinking the extract

Thus, drinking is casting.

[mackaber]

Like I said, it's very muddy due to the Alchemist having such a different "casting mechanic", so it's hard to say if it's

-Alchemist drinks, and then his familiar hold's the drink's charge to discharge it later, netting him one quickened extract (totally worth it)

-Familiar drinks, considered the toucher, discharges it into the Alchemist for one quickened extract a round (double totally worth it)

Both of these are hard to call because of the fact that the Alchemist "cast" so oddly. But I find it odd myself that the bit about the shared spells and deliver touch extract are carried over with the tumor familiar, and specifically called out, meaning that there SHOULD be some form of interaction between them.

Maybe interpretation 2 is a bit too generous, I'd be fine with interpretation 1, since it's still baller for my action economy. The problem here is that there needs to be a clarification on how the whole "deliver touch spell/extract" works. Odder still is that the mutagen is also called out in this, which just seems even more confusion.

Perhaps the intention was to buff the nuggets out of your Tumor Familiar, to give it the chance to fight (it is a 3/4ths BAB familiar at the very least), and knowing Paizo, I could see that as their goal. But for now, it's very hard to see what exactly they had in mind when listing those parts to the Tumor Familiar ability.

I don't see an issue with interpretation 1. However I'm not sure how long you can hold a touch if indefinetly then it's quite nice.

I actually think the point was for the familiar to be you're buff and heal slave. But the intention clearly was that you expend the standard action for casting and the familiar saves you moving to the target.

Ultimately the Valet Tumor monkey is a great deal for 1 discovery anyway you slice it. Also improved Familiar is sure to be worth it, also there are some rather definite statements on the Paizo board by developers that Imp. Tumors are fair game.

Also there's a way to give you're tiny familiar reach however it requires a 13 charisma. Get the evolved familiar feat and apply it to your familiar by applying the evolution that increases range by 5 feet. Now you have a potentially life threatening tumor...

[N. Jolly]

I don't see an issue with interpretation 1. However I'm not sure how long you can hold a touch if indefinetly then it's quite nice.

I actually think the point was for the familiar to be you're buff and heal slave. But the intention clearly was that you expend the standard action for casting and the familiar saves you moving to the target.

Ultimately the Valet Tumor monkey is a great deal for 1 discovery anyway you slice it. Also improved Familiar is sure to be worth it, also there are some rather definite statements on the Paizo board by developers that Imp. Tumors are fair game.

Also there's a way to give you're tiny familiar reach however it requires a 13 charisma. Get the evolved familiar feat and apply it to your familiar by applying the evolution that increases range by 5 feet. Now you have a potentially life threatening tumor...

Yeah, the rules are far too muddy to make a defined call on things. Honestly Tumor Familiar is pretty insane, although I'll admit I rated it under the assumption that you couldn't improve it. If you have any relevant links to discussion of an improved tumor familiar, I'd love to see them to have some valid proof to throw in my guide.

Sadly from what we've found out, the monkey can't wield a weapon, although having it be able to threaten at all would be nice due to the team work feat ability (Not great, but meh) since we had someone earlier trying to build a team monkey tripper set up.

The idea of a tumor Imp sounds impractical to me, but it would also be amazing, and with hands, it brings up the argument of could the familiar itself simply feed you the extract. The only relevant text I'm seeing about that is taking a full round action to apply it to an unconscious target, so I might ask later on the boards is an imp on your shoulder could full round feed you an extract, which would solve the issue of Deliver Touch Spell to break the action economy (as familiars have ALWAYS been known to do)

I will admit, I've enjoyed this conversation.

[mackaber]

Yeah, the rules are far too muddy to make a defined call on things. Honestly Tumor Familiar is pretty insane, although I'll admit I rated it under the assumption that you couldn't improve it. If you have any relevant links to discussion of an improved tumor familiar, I'd love to see them to have some valid proof to throw in my guide.

Sadly from what we've found out, the monkey can't wield a weapon, although having it be able to threaten at all would be nice due to the team work feat ability (Not great, but meh) since we had someone earlier trying to build a team monkey tripper set up.

The idea of a tumor Imp sounds impractical to me, but it would also be amazing, and with hands, it brings up the argument of could the familiar itself simply feed you the extract. The only relevant text I'm seeing about that is taking a full round action to apply it to an unconscious target, so I might ask later on the boards is an imp on your shoulder could full round feed you an extract, which would solve the issue of Deliver Touch Spell to break the action economy (as familiars have ALWAYS been known to do)

I will admit, I've enjoyed this conversation.

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2nana?Ul...at-Alchemist#4

SKR confirming tumor familiar counts as a familiar.

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2l7ns&pa...ons-Here#11198

JJ stating that the Alchemists Class level is equal to his Caster level (a prerequisite for improved familiar).

I missed your edit on the the casting part but I'd like to weigh in on that see bolded:

In effect, an alchemist prepares his spells by mixing ingredients into a number of extracts, and then “casts” his spells by drinking the extract.

So according to this the Alchemist has to drink himself to be casting. You're argument was while familiar drinks extract the Alchemist is casting and here I disagree. If I drink a potion is the person who made the potion casting? I don't think so...

Edit: Fun fact regarding the Tumor Imp...just play a Tiefling and watch your abyssal blood finally doing some good!

[N. Jolly]

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2nana?Ul...at-Alchemist#4

SKR confirming tumor familiar counts as a familiar.

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2l7ns&pa...ons-Here#11198

JJ stating that the Alchemists Class level is equal to his Caster level (a prerequisite for improved familiar).

I missed your edit on the the casting part but I'd like to weigh in on that see bolded:

In effect, an alchemist prepares his spells by mixing ingredients into a number of extracts, and then “casts” his spells by drinking the extract.

So according to this the Alchemist has to drink himself to be casting. You're argument was while familiar drinks extract the Alchemist is casting and here I disagree. If I drink a potion is the person who made the potion casting? I don't think so...

Edit: Fun fact regarding the Tumor Imp...just play a Tiefling and watch your abyssal blood finally doing some good!

The problem is how unique the casting mechanic is. The potion example really doesn't work since the potion is an item, there's no "casting" involved with it. It's consumed, no casting required. For the extract, the act of drinking it is casting it. It's getting late now but I might look up the wording for the "Infusion" discovery to get a better estimation of things...okay, just checked it,and all it says is others can imbibe the extract to full effect. I believe you'd still be the "caster" even if they drank it, as you are the source of it, and it is pulling from your reserves. The interaction here is still cloudy.

And thanks for the links, it also proved my suspicions about Internal Alchemist STILL being horrible. Guess I'm going to have to add Improved Familiar to the guide now since it's been made relevant.

[N. Jolly]

Just came to report a death in the family. With the errata to Crane Wing, it has been removed as a viable suggestion from my guide, and made RED so that no one mistakes it for a real feat. I'll be keeping it unerrata'd in my games, but in official play, this feat is dead to me.

[N. Jolly]

Added a new update to the guide espousing the value of Tumor Familiars and the necessary evil of Infusion.

[deuxhero]

Brew Fleshcrafting on d20pfsrd is very incomplete. It's actually mostly meh (the changes all carry heavy penalties)

edit: Crane Wing is still recomended under archetypes (sohei/master of many styles)

One of the nice part of familiars for alchemists you didn't mention is that they share your skill ranks and, unlike every other familiar getting class (besides an inquisitor of a rare domain), you are skill based. This is effectively a +2 to a lot of skills (via aid another), the option to roll again for some skills (though missing out on various bonuses), the ability to work double duty for some task (disable device) and a bunch of stuff

[N. Jolly]

Brew Fleshcrafting on d20pfsrd is very incomplete. It's actually mostly meh (the changes all carry heavy penalties)

edit: Crane Wing is still recomended under archetypes (sohei/master of many styles)

One of the nice part of familiars for alchemists you didn't mention is that they share your skill ranks and, unlike every other familiar getting class (besides an inquisitor of a rare domain), you are skill based. This is effectively a +2 to a lot of skills (via aid another), the option to roll again for some skills (though missing out on various bonuses), the ability to work double duty for some task (disable device) and a bunch of stuff

Yikes, thanks for the tip on Fleshcrafting, that's gone from the guide (it was on thin ice as was due to technically being 3.5)

Removed the Crane, replaced it with Snake (RIP Crane Wing)

I didn't talk about the skills because that's a pretty standard familiar thing, so I felt the information was out there already. I will admit that you're making a better skill monkey (quite literally if you want), it's still standard familiar fare, so it's not worth calling out except for the bonuses the Valet Familiar gives to you.

I wonder if a Greensting Scorpion given the Extra Item Slot feat could put Poisoner's Gloves on its claws though...I doubt it, but it'd give me the +4 to init that I've been craving as well as the abuse of said gloves...this is worth looking into...

[deuxhero]

You listed Hunter's Eye but not Weapon Style from the same source?

Most are just variants of martial weapons (many of which weren't that good anyways) with an extra, generally useless, property but you don't get martial weapons. Kusarigama (which you recommend) is an option and Sansetsukon (heavy flail with an extra useless property) is prob your best bet if you just want a beat stick (though I'd stick with the longspear's reach).

[grarrrg]

GOOD NEWS! There's a NEW Alchemist PrC!
BAD NEWS! It's HORRIBLE-RIFFIC!

Please discuss in NEW THREAD! to avoid over-cluttering this one!


Also, N. Jolly, you're probably going to want to include a blurb in the PrC section about "stay away at all costs".

[Sayt]

Rules question!

Focused Shot, Explosive Missile, and targeted bomb admixture. Do they all stack neatly?

I'm fairly sure that a fighter 1/Mindchemist 9 with focused shot can get 1d10+5d6+(Int*2) with explosive missiles, and preload his bombs as explosive missiles, but my main question is, can he active targeted bomb admixture, then while that is up, pour his daily allotment of bombs into his crossbow bolts and start plinking for 1d10+5d6+(Int*3)?

[N. Jolly]

You listed Hunter's Eye but not Weapon Style from the same source?

Most are just variants of martial weapons (many of which weren't that good anyways) with an extra, generally useless, property but you don't get martial weapons. Kusarigama (which you recommend) is an option and Sansetsukon (heavy flail with an extra useless property) is prob your best bet if you just want a beat stick (though I'd stick with the longspear's reach).

I don't know why I overlooked that. I've seen it before when I was hunting how to get EWP as a trait. I'm not sure if I want to include that, but there's a good chance I will (it'd be auto in if Kusari-gama was confirmed as Reach/Adjacent), although most monk weapons are just weird/worse martial weapons.

GOOD NEWS! There's a NEW Alchemist PrC!
BAD NEWS! It's HORRIBLE-RIFFIC!

Please discuss in NEW THREAD! to avoid over-cluttering this one!


Also, N. Jolly, you're probably going to want to include a blurb in the PrC section about "stay away at all costs".

Yeah, I saw that...what a horrible, horrible class. I'll make sure to leave a section simply to say "don't take this!", since it destroys so much and gives so little in return.

Rules question!

Focused Shot, Explosive Missile, and targeted bomb admixture. Do they all stack neatly?

I'm fairly sure that a fighter 1/Mindchemist 9 with focused shot can get 1d10+5d6+(Int*2) with explosive missiles, and preload his bombs as explosive missiles, but my main question is, can he active targeted bomb admixture, then while that is up, pour his daily allotment of bombs into his crossbow bolts and start plinking for 1d10+5d6+(Int*3)?

They would, but the issue here is that I don't think you can Focused Shot and Explosive Missile in the same round. The text from Focused Shot seems to say that it is its own standard action, just like Explosive Missile, which means they can't be used together.

I also don't think you can 'pre load' Explosive Missiles, although if you have any text that proves me wrong, I'd love to see it to tool around with that as an offensive strategy. I suppose if you could 'pre load' them this strategy would work however since Targeted Bomb Admixture would provide the extra kick.

What you could do if you were hoping to pull this off more completely is to go Grenadier, drink your TB Admixture, Explosive Missile with an Alchemical Weapon addition of Acid to the mix. If it can be effected by Holy Water (or your GM is cool with substitutions), consider throwing that on a Raining Arrow for 4x Int (Bomb+TBA+Alchemical Weapon+Raining Arrow), although this will get a bit more expensive, and requires specific gear.

You could just break the bank on Raining Arrows (hopefully filled with Acid) for your 3x Int shenanigans though.

[Sayt]

With the wording on bombs on the alchemist, I think I was wrong in saying that you can preload them, as they're volatile and decay in the round they're created if not used, which is somewhat sad.

Ah well, damn oversights.

[N. Jolly]

With the wording on bombs on the alchemist, I think I was wrong in saying that you can preload them, as they're volatile and decay in the round they're created if not used, which is somewhat sad.

Ah well, damn oversights.

It's all good, I've learned a lot of stuff doing this guide, and proper reading can sometimes be difficult with a vaguely worded ability.

And a minor change, now that I've become SLIGHTLY more Google Doc literate, I might be moving this guide over there due to the increased space and such. It would also allow me more pictures (probably taking the place of quotes, possibly in addition to them), better formatting of some information that right now is misplaced due to the space constraints that I had doing this on a forum post (kicking myself now for those), and a few other things that I think will greatly enhance this guide.

[deuxhero]

Pictures eh? I nominate this one.

Spoiler

Show

[N. Jolly]

Pictures eh? I nominate this one.

Spoiler

Show

I would use that, but I'm sticking to a more solid FMA theme for this guide.

Speaking of which, the guide is LIVE!

Technically there's some more additions I need to make to it (advancing the sample characters), but it's got everything the old guide did including a crapton more organization and ease of use through links and such.

[deuxhero]

You mention hellknight plate a few times. It doesn't work. Hellknight Plate is already masterwork

These distinctive suits of armor are a special type of masterwork full plate

You COULD add Comfort to normal full plate to get it down to 0 ACP alongside the rest of the (still legal) shenanigans though.

One of the sample builds mentions a trait called "tiger's charge". Given his race and fact that it's the only trait with "Tiger" in the name I can find, I assume you mean "Tiger's Claw".

Also on the subject of armor: Kikko armor from UE is medium armor that doesn't require proficiency when mithiral (I'd have just said it's one of the armor types that falls under the status of "chain shirt", but UE didn't really care about consolidating stuff). 1 less armor than the breast plate, but 1 higher dex and (more importantly), lower ACP. Plus you can explicitly conceal it easily, not even light armor can do that.

[N. Jolly]

You mention hellknight plate a few times. It doesn't work. Hellknight Plate is already masterwork

You COULD add Comfort to normal full plate to get it down to 0 ACP alongside the rest of the (still legal) shenanigans though.

One of the sample builds mentions a trait called "tiger's charge". Given his race and fact that it's the only trait with "Tiger" in the name I can find, I assume you mean "Tiger's Claw".

Also on the subject of armor: Kikko armor from UE is medium armor that doesn't require proficiency when mithiral (I'd have just said it's one of the armor types that falls under the status of "chain shirt", but UE didn't really care about consolidating stuff). 1 less armor than the breast plate, but 1 higher dex and (more importantly), lower ACP. Plus you can explicitly conceal it easily, not even light armor can do that.

It was wishful thinking, and now it's changed...so long Hellknight plate...

And yeah, I was tired editing him, the trait has been fixed, and some of the other Zahhak traits were changed too. Probably would just go Comfort Armor with him, which I guess I missed in my first sweep.

Kikko armor is now added, so everything is up to date, thanks for looking it all over. And Weapon Style is also added too since I finally remembered to.

And no comments on the new formatting? I think it's crazy easy to navigate with all the book marks and such. But thanks for the insight, a few other things got changed too (any mention of crane wing), and some minor formatting issues.

[deuxhero]

Journal of the Beast Within is an interesting item for both types of alchemist, boosting a mutagen's power by +2, but making its penalty effect all metal scores. For brutes the use is obvious, but for others, it makes Mutagenic Touch even more painful to get hit by (useful for casters if you can hit them).

[grarrrg]

Journal of the Beast Within is an interesting item for both types of alchemist, boosting a mutagen's power by +2, but making its penalty effect all metal scores.

Going by the wording used, this would be worthless for anyone with Greater Mutagen, as it says "chosen score increases to +6" instead of "chosen score gets an extra +2".
So it's still good for someone who doesn't plan on using Mutagen enough to grab Greater, but pointless for anyone who does.

[Sayt]

Well, it's also an extra formula book which, I believe, comes out cheaper than buying the book, scrolls and scribing them, if I recall correctly.

[N. Jolly]

Journal of the Beast Within is an interesting item for both types of alchemist, boosting a mutagen's power by +2, but making its penalty effect all metal scores. For brutes the use is obvious, but for others, it makes Mutagenic Touch even more painful to get hit by (useful for casters if you can hit them).

That's a hard call, seeing as you're either getting -1 to your will save that you weren't before or -1 to your bomb damage, which isn't as bad. It's a trade off that I'm not too incredibly happy with, but I can see it being useful to some people, so I'll probably include it once I finish with a few other things.

Also on the topic of the Tumor Monkey + Reach Weapon, I found some evidence that it'd work to give it a 5 foot reach , so in case you want to arm the little guy, here you go.

Finally getting more work done on my Barb guide too, and might do mythic feats for Alchs later, as well as a Path Dabbler mini guide. I'm already considering an Alchemical Weapon Primer, since it's such a cool ability.

[grarrrg]

Well, it's also an extra formula book which, I believe, comes out cheaper than buying the book, scrolls and scribing them, if I recall correctly.

While true, the books with "specials" have TWO prices listed. One for the book+spells/formulae, another for the book+spells+"Special".

Beast Within is 915 for book, 2165 for book+Bonus. So you're paying an extra 1250 for _just_ the bonus.
RAW it just isn't worth it for a dedicated Mutagen user.

[deuxhero]

It combos well with the Minor Ring of Inner Fortitude which is the vest of stable mutagen 1: at a lower cost 2: protects against other stuff.

Not sure if it only reduces your total penalties by 2, or takes 2 off each effect .