Tricks of the Trade: Alchemist

“Yeah, baby! 'Cause I'm the Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight!” Ah ha ha ha ha ha!

 Alchemists are fun. At least for me. I have a fun time with mine, both of them. I have a Gunslinger/Alchemist and a straight up Alchemist, both of whom are grenadiers. (Alright I got a weakness for the archetype). Warning: I ramble and wander. My train of thought goes over many hills and valleys. :-D

Alchemist Roles:
-Bomber: A guy who can blow $h!t up. With lots of discoveries to aid it (Force, Explosive, Ice, Acid, and on and on), feats (Point Blank, Precise Bombs) and extracts. He can literally be johnny on the spot with the right bomb for the right situation.
-Buffer: The discoveries of combine extract and infusion make for an unique buffing mix in a lot of ways. Infusion let's you give others some spells no other caster can give another person..AND let the person you give them to to pick the time to 'cast' them by drinking.  Monstrous Form X. Giving a person the physical attacks of say..a gargoyle. 5 natural attacks, natural armor, darksight, size bonus to str. Shield/Enlarge Person for the monk.
-Melee Monster: You got access to Bull's Strength, Mutagen and multiple polymorph style extracts. You add in a level (or two) of something mean.. like say.. Barbarian (adding another source of buffing) and you got a guy who can hit SCARRY levels of physical power. Pop a few potions, pull on your purple pants, and get angry; they won't like you when you're angry. Cause you rip people apart.

Class Features:
-Bombs: Bombs are one of the two features that everyone know about Alchemists in pathfinder. They stage up as the character levels up, both in damage dice and DC. It is important to note one thing I see in new alchemist players, only the FIRST die of the bomb crits. Then there are the 'modifiers' that effect the bombs: spells, feats, and discoveries.  Feats like Precise Bombs, Fast Bombs, and Extra Bombs are a few examples. Spells and Discoveries can alter the bombs in a variety of ways by altering the damage type and delivery methods.
-Mutagen: The other point of distinction of the alchemist; mutagen, the Mr. Hyde potion, that can physically augment the alchemist's physical stats at the cost of his mental stats. There are several other versions of mutagen that do other things. One of the notable ones is Cognatogen, which boosts mental stats at the cost of ability damage to a physical stat (stock up on lesser restorations). Fun note: Mutagen grants an alchemical bonus to the stats, which allows for the stacking of enhancement and size bonuses for some truly epic bonuses if you stack them right.
-Poison Use: This is the one I'm admittedly weak on .  Poison is potent if used properly but can be pricey for them. So, I tend to not use them that much, and given that my favorite archetype eschews Poison Use for a new class feature, I don't use them that much. There are several discoveries that enhance the poison use in ways that no one else can.
-Alchemy: The alchemy skill itself is a potent point for the class; so much so that you get a mssive bonus based your your class level. You can use it to ID potions, create alchemical items and (for PFS) make some serious coin as a day job skill check. Note: You can create 3 items for the cost of one with a craft (alchemy) check. Which can make for some serious savings when you're paying 1/3rd the cost for an item.

Alchemical Items:
-Remedies: Antiplague/antitoxin are the first two big ones. Definitely for the weak fort save guys when facing disease or poison users; a useful pair of items if you playing backup healer/buffer. Other remedies of note are alchemist's kindness (drunkenness), meditation tea (mind-affecting),  smelling salts (sleep), soothe syrup (nauseated/sickened), troll oil (stabilize) and twitch tonic (sleep, paralysis and staggered)
-Tools:  Tools are typically a quick thing to help out when you're not sure you got enough skill to pull something off or just hedging your bets. or doing something fast and quick. Lots of things here to use for a variety of purposes; you can add to saves/skill rolls (bloodblock, chill cream), making/unmaking things (Alchemical cement/glue/solvent, casting plaster, defoliant are but a few) or adding to the item in question (Weapon Blanches). It is a fun section of alchemical items that typically doesn't get a lot of attention. Which is a shame that beside a few items (blanches) most get ignored; you could go total James Bond with things like smoke pellets, glowing/invisible ink, impact foam, scent cloak, smoke sticks and lots of other items.
-Weapons: the best known category if alchemical items. EVERYONE knows about alchemist fire, particularly after their first encounter with goblins, and it's a very excellent back up for the Alchemist. You get to add your int bonus to the damage, which is helpful and can turn measely 1 point of splash damage to something nastier (assuming a decent Int score). Then there are the secondary effects; you got continuing fire damage (alchemist fire), disabling abilities of/hindering the target (slime slow and tanglefoot bags) or both (tangleburn). It seems everytime I get a new supplement there is a new toy in this category to get (best example of this is Artokus's Fire (alchemists fire on steroids..even the mundane stuff). Another fun thing alchemical arrows, courtesy of the Elves of Goloarian and the Alchemy Manual, which can bring a lot of fun to the table. Not high DC stuff, but extras like being able to attack swarms with an arrow (spintercloud arrow), holy water (raining arrow), and durable arrows (no more losses to breakage.. to fire elementals yes... breakage no)
-Reagents: Using alchemical items and chemicals to supplement/enhance spells, courtesy of the Adventure's Armory and Alchemy Manual, for a variety of reasons. Alchemist fire to add it's continuing burn to a fire spell (1 flash per victim) or a focus item to a +1 to ranged touch for fire spells (like scorching ray). The Alchemy Manual adds even more to the mix with spontaneous alchemy, which in the hands of a skilled player, makes for the ability to literally whip up things on the fly with materials on hand.

Magic Items:
-Potions & Oils: D'uh. Pretty much self explanatory.  A lot of folks miss out one of the BEST 2nd level extracts, Alchemical Allocation. This doubles up your potion purchases effective use; which means you'll get twice the bang for your fly/shield of faith/whatever potion.
-Wondrous Items: Sweet Baby Bomber in a basket, there a LOT of items out there that supplement the alchemist and his tools/extracts. For example right off the bat, you have boro beads and preserving flasks to start with; the first lets you recover an extract you've already used for the day and the second lets you STORE an extract that you don't get to use on one day (I had my grenadier store an enlarge person in one as a back up..frees up one enlarge for something else. )  A staple EVERY (and I mean EVERY) Alchemist should get right off is a hybridization funnel, a vital tool that works GREAT with the class. You get a bonus to your craft (alchemy) skill, which shoehorns with this item quite well, you can combine two alchemical items together (gleeful note INCLUDING holy water) for some really really interesting combinations. (More of this later). There are a lot of things that aren't work as well for non-alchemists such as focusing flask, winged bottle and vial of efficacious medicine among just a few. Another fun one, if a bit pricy, is volatile vaporizer which lets you turn a single person potion into a 10 foot cloud that effects everyone in it. Nice for things like haste potions or such when you have need of them.

Tricks of a successful Grenadier:
-Hybridization Funnel: Mixing and matching alchemical weapons for fun and profit. Mix ghast stench flask and itching powder and you got something no caster will like to get. Or one of my favorites Artokus's Fire + Holy Water, two types of mayhem for an undead critter. It does require a skill check to pull off and only lasts a day, afterwards going inert, so be cautious in what you use. Warning: Table Variance can occur. Some GMs are saying you can only do alchemical weapons this way.
-Sipping Jacket: While I haven't as yet used it, it's a great back up for putting potions into play when needed. For instantaneous potions, like cures, as a swift action that can literally save your ass at the moment. For potions that are measured in rounds, you can use them a round at a time. Again, you will lose the potion if not used that day. Good back up though.
-Durable arrows. Don't leave home with out them; you cut back a lot on breakage and lost arrows. Granted shooting that critter with burning blood..yeah that arrow is destroyed but you get most of them back.
-Mutagen (Str)+Bull's Strength+ Enlarge Person: Just these alone add +12 to your strength (or more with greater mutagen). Add in things like Rage or spells with a funky strength bonus like Eaglesoul, and your guy can hit mythic levels of strength from the 'puny' strength he normally has. Example: Runt, a grenadier with a 'low' 14 strength pops a Bull's Strength/Enlarge Person Extract (combine extract discovery) and between it and the mutagen already rocking in his system he rockets to a 24. Which when combined with his +1 adaptive longbow and the handful of large durable cold iron arrows he has on hand means he does 2d6+9, without deadly aim or any of the nasty alchemical weapons AND/OR bombs he can toss on to that (or the bane arrows he might be carrying for that special target). Adding in a bomb and hydridized artokus's flame/holy water the damage starts to get surreal. That is 2d6+9 (Arrow) plus 2d6(fire)/2d4 (holy water) plus 4d6+4 (bomb, takes int hit for mutagen) A crit does 6d6+27 (arrow) plus 2d6/2d4 (alchemical weapons don't crit) plus 5d6+8 (crit range for bomb is x2, and only first die counts)  or more easily summed up13d6+35 PLUS 2d4. Add in a rage extract (morale bonus to strength) and eaglesoul (sacred bonus) and you can see Runt topping out at 30 (assuming he makes his UMD roll for the scroll of eaglesoul)

More to come as I hear/see/discover new things to say about the alchemist