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gomipile
2010-10-05, 08:11 AM
A friend told me of his enthusiasm for the Pathfinder Alchemist class. I've been looking at it, and at first glance it seems on par with the Bard and Factotum, power wise, but with a unique flavor.

Does anyone have any opinions or experiences with this class that they would like to share?

Starbuck_II
2010-10-05, 09:14 AM
Well, without the sharing discovery it can only buff/heal itself with its infusiuon potions.

It has a decent grenade-splash weapon.
You can use Mutagen to buff Dex, Str, or Con. If you are going throwing dude Buff Dex.

gomipile
2010-10-05, 10:02 AM
Still, does it seem like a solid tier 3 class to you?

Sipex
2010-10-05, 10:02 AM
I played one for a session, I was definitely one of the more useful characters at the time but it was a level 1 session. I don't know how it holds up in the long run after casters start getting a lot of spells.

It was fun flavour wise though.

Vin Robinson
2010-10-06, 02:17 AM
I would say very solid tier 3. It only takes a minute to whip up an infusion, so you have a lot of flexibility leaving slots open. Also with the sharing infusion you still buff, but it uses your allies' actions, and not yours.

It's a fun, flavorful class that can really shine in a lot of areas, but doesn't really completely take over the spotlight.

Definitely one of my favorite classes anywhere. It's in the sweet spot of design. Extremely satisfying to play, without making my inner munchkin come out to say "why would I ever play anything else?"

Kulture
2010-10-06, 04:48 PM
Take the gnomish calculus from arms and equipment for an extra 30ft of range per increment and the ability to augment the bombs.
Better yet, try and convince your DM to let you take the master tinkerer racial ability as a feat.
Now you can wield whatever you craft.
This saves you EWP fo the calculus and with the right skills means that you can wear better armour and wield a better back-up melee weapon.
Alternately, just play a gnomish Alchemist.
You get the bonus of playing a class that your race regards with reverance as well as mater tinkerer as a racial ability.
Seriously, the calculus is essentially a grenade launcher.
With the right skill and gear choices you can make an alchemist into a perfect candidate for special operations, such as demolition (sunder bomb, concussive bomb), assassination (poison smoke bomb, mutagens and a decent crafted melee weapon) and even anti-air with the force bomb.
If you factor in some of the very nice mundane alchemical items like rock solvent (disolves a cubic foot of rock a flask(!)) and noxious smoke sticks then you have Sam Fisher as an option, assuming you took a trait to make stealth a class skill.

Crasical
2010-10-06, 07:15 PM
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=159282

A previous discussion about alchemists an their merits.

Dakaar
2010-10-06, 09:45 PM
Strength based orc barb1/alchX can get some pretty outrageous str scores with buffs, mutagen, and rage. My friend made one and took extra rage at level 1. It worked out pretty well. Took accelerated drinker trait to pop 2 potions at once

Low levels i think they are pretty good (if you are core PF game without lots of extra books), and with decent int you can throw a mundane acid flask and get 1d6+5 target and 5 splash dmg, which is pretty great for mundane items at level 1