[Pathfinder] Ratfolk Alchemist with Ratfolk Inquisitor Optimization

[Ricter]

Okay, so I'm not so good with coming up with clever names for things.

I'm entering a PF campaign at level 7 with standard wealth, however, since I'm planning on playing a pair of characters via the Leadership, I'm going to plan my character to level 9 just to make sure I have all my ducks in a row. The party consists of mostly un-optimized characters, however, two of them are tier 1. I prefer to optimize, so I feel like choosing tier 3 classes is a reasonable starting point. The party requested a character that is able to handle traps and locks, but I want to be able to do a lot more than that. Stats are rolled, and due to method are significantly higher than point buy would allow. Bombs/gunpowder don't exist. Master Chymist does not give sneak attack instead, but still may be worth taking anyways.

My primary character will be a Ratfolk Alchemist (Vivisectionist, Beastmorph) that's melee-focused with a Ratfolk Inquisitor (Infiltrator) cohort. Here's what I have so far.

STR: 12-2 = 10
DEX: 18+2+2 = 22
CON: 16
INT: 18+2 = 20
WIS: 15
CHA: 10

Traits: Unnatural (alternative racial), Group Fighter[regional], Trap Finder[campaign]

1: F: Weapon Finesse
2: D: Feral Mutagen
3: F: Precise Strike
4: D: Infusion
5: F:
6: D:, D:
7: F: Leadership
8: D: Alchemical Simulacrum
9: F: Outflank

Skills (4+INT): Craft:Alchemy, Disable Device, Disguise (CC), Fly, Know(arcana), Know(nature), Perception, Sleight of Hand, Spellcraft, UMD (Some juggling would be required as I have 9 points and 10 skills)

Gear: Tailblade, Agile Amulet of Mighty Fists, +5 Potion of GMF (What other key items should I look for here?)

Mutagen Bonuses: Scent, Fly, Climb (Do I get the stat bonuses from alter self here? I think I just get the abilities)

Attack Bonus: +23 (+6 BAB +6 Dex +5 GMF +1 size + 5 flanking)

Attack routine: +23 Claw x2 (1d4+5d6+11) and +23 Bite (1d6+5d6+11) and +18 Tailblade (1d2+5d6+11)

I wouldn't get too hung up on these numbers since they're without gear being fully-fleshed out, but they seem promising.

Ratfolk Inquisitor Cohort
STR: 11-2 = 9
DEX: 17+2+2 = 21
CON: 15
INT: 13+2 = 15
WIS: 17
CHA: 17

Traits: Unnatural (alternative racial), Group Fighter, Serpent Runner

Domain: Travel/Trade

1: F: Weapon Finesse
2:
3: F: Combat Reflexes
4 (GW1):
5 (GW2): F: TWF, TF: Outflank
6 (GW3):
7 (GW4): F: Sap Adept, F: Enforcer

Skills (6+INT): Bluff, Disguise, Intimidate, Know (dungeoneering), Know (planes), Know (religion), Perception, Sense Motive, Stealth
(again splitting 8 skill points over 9 skills, or use favored class bonus here)

Gear: Tailblade, Merciful Cestus x2 (What other key items should I look for here?)

Attack Bonus: +16 (+6 BAB +6 Dex +1 size + 5 flanking -2 TWF)

Attack routine: +16 Cestus x2 (1d4+2d6+6) and +13 Tailblade (1d2+2d6+6)

The basic idea between this tag team is to stick in the same square and shred any target in a full-round attack. Once the alchemist hits 10 I can start doing it on a charge, and soon after both of them can charge together, killing 2 targets a round. Free Intimidate makes retribution weaker. Outside of combat the pair will be using their disguise skill to pretend to be a more acceptable race (gnomes) and use their suite of skills to establish a merchant/trading community.

I'll be adding Crippling Strike, Pounce, and Coordinated Charge to the Alchemist in the future. Maybe the Teamwork crit feats as well. The Inquisitor will likely go into Gray Warden (Inq 10/GW 10) and pick up Improved Critical, Sap Master, ITWF, GTWF, Precise Strike, and look at sharing his Bane.

I'm really not sure what to do with my 3 extra discoveries. Mindchemist and get back mutagen? Vestigal arms? Wings? Tumor Familiar? I feel like getting wings would be redundant with mutagen's flight.

I was considering Plague Bringer to pair with Shake, but I feel Beastmorph is the stronger choice. Thoughts?

The damage output of the Inquisitor is obviously much lower, but I'm not sure what changes I can make to up that without dramatically changing the flavor.

My weapon choice for the Inquisitor seems to be a struggle. Whip seems superior, but chews up 3 extra feats (EWP, Weapon Focus, Whip Mastery). Bladed Scarf is another option that takes only one extra feat but isn't as good as the whip.

[Spore]

For the Alchemist:

- Infusion Discovery is important then I would get Enhance Potion (to use with Alchemical Allocation and a potion of Greater Magic Fang for hours/day magic natural attacks, so a CL 3 Barkskin and a CL 5 GMF potion will suffice). By the way you should ask your DM if he allows you to buy a CL 20 GMF potion. You would need to find a Druid 20 with the talent for that.
- for feats on 5th and 7th I'd suggest Master Craftsman and Craft Wondrous Item to justify personalized items as well as increase the budget (we houseruled that a item creator can get up to 25% of his starting wealth in half priced created items)
- Switch Charisma and Wisdom around, your will save is going to suck badly this way

I would go for the Master Chymist tbh. It's the smart decision for every mutagen build.

For the Inquisitor:

- Skill Focus Stealth: Being discovered is not to be joked with, get Nondetection and Invisibility as well
- Other than that I am at a loss of words since I really never played an Inquisitor.

I don't know Grey Warden either so I can't help.

[NightbringerGGZ]

Your Alchemist shows you picking up Leadership at level 9 and an empty feat at level 7. Why not just pick it up at level 7 and start off with both characters?

For your Inquisitor, with a 9 Strength you can't pick up Power Attack. You'll need to either boost it or go with a Light weapon and Piranha strike. I would suggest two weapon fighting as well, since Judgement bonuses apply to all attacks you make. You can also pick up a feat to make Bane apply to both weapons.

I'd probably drop the fighter levels to be honest. Spell progression and boosting your class features would be more beneficial in the long run.

For your lock-picking abilities, I would make sure one the characters grabs the Trap Finder trait if allowd.

[Ricter]

For the Alchemist:
- Infusion Discovery is important then I would get Enhance Potion (to use with Alchemical Allocation and a potion of Greater Magic Fang for hours/day magic natural attacks, so a CL 3 Barkskin and a CL 5 GMF potion will suffice). By the way you should ask your DM if he allows you to buy a CL 20 GMF potion. You would need to find a Druid 20 with the talent for that.
- for feats on 5th and 7th I'd suggest Master Craftsman and Craft Wondrous Item to justify personalized items as well as increase the budget (we houseruled that a item creator can get up to 25% of his starting wealth in half priced created items)
- Switch Charisma and Wisdom around, your will save is going to suck badly this way

I would go for the Master Chymist tbh. It's the smart decision for every mutagen build.

For the Inquisitor: Skill Focus Stealth: Being discovered is not to be joked with, get Nondetection and Invisibility as well


Enhance Potion is a good catch. I expected that discovery to be lame and didn't even look at it. But having Enhance Potion would allow me to use much lower level potions which would be much easier to find.

I thought that Alchemist's didn't have a caster level, and thus couldn't craft magical items. Is there a ruling somewhere that clarifies this?

Yeah, even without Master Chymist granting SA, I think it still may be worth it for a dip to get the 2 extra mutagen activations.

The Inquisitor is packed for feats already, I'm not sure I can find room for SF on what's more of a secondary or even tertiary role for him.


Your Alchemist shows you picking up Leadership at level 9 and an empty feat at level 7. Why not just pick it up at level 7 and start off with both characters?

For your Inquisitor, with a 9 Strength you can't pick up Power Attack. You'll need to either boost it or go with a Light weapon and Piranha strike. I would suggest two weapon fighting as well, since Judgement bonuses apply to all attacks you make. You can also pick up a feat to make Bane apply to both weapons.

I'd probably drop the fighter levels to be honest. Spell progression and boosting your class features would be more beneficial in the long run.

For your lock-picking abilities, I would make sure one the characters grabs the Trap Finder trait if allowd.

Because I forgot Pathfinder feats were every 2 levels instead of every 3. Thanks for the catch!

More complications with the Inquisitor... if I go with Piranha Strike then I lose C Smash. Any weapon suggestions with Piranha Strike? I guess I could go Blade of Mercy route instead. TWF is nice and something I had considered, but that eats up even more feats. I really want to drop the fighter levels. Then again with the extra feats from gaining feats every 2 levels instead of 3 I may have the slots.

Trap Finder trait is something I had kept in mind, I think I'll have to put it on the Alchemist though.

[NightbringerGGZ]

The Master Craftsman (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/master-craftsman---final) feat that Sporeegg mentioned lets you treat your ranks in a Craft or Profession skill as your Caster Level when qualifying for some of the magical crafting feats.

As for for taking Master Chymist, remember that you don't have a use per day limitation on Mutagens. You have a 1 hour craft time, which can effectively be a limit if the campaign is very fast paced. However, if you have any travel time between destinations, you can brew up a new Mutagen after having consumed one. Traveling around in a covered wagon stocked with a an Alchemy station (and letting your cohort drive the wagon) could give you extra Mutagen uses per day.

Back to the Inquisitor, if you want to go with a Power Attack > Cornugon Smash build on the Inquisitor then you need to have a 13 Strength is all. The build is pretty effective. I would recommend picking up your 2-Handed weapon via a deities's favored weapons rather than spending a feat if possible. That free's up a feat slot too.

With a TWF build, go for a light weapon with a decent crit range via your deity. Kukri, Wakisashi, ect. You can't pick up Improved TWF until you have BAB 8 anyway, so you're looking at a feat chain of Weapon Finesse > TWF > Piranha Strike with a 5th level Inquisitor. This leaves your 7th level feat slot free (and you get your teamwork feats via bonus feats).

ALso take a look at the 2nd level Inquisitor spell, Tactical Acumen (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/t/tactical-acumen). This gives you a further boost to your attack rolls due to battlefield position, staking with your normal flanking bonus. This bonus applies to all allies within 30 feet too!

[Ricter]

I made some changes to the OP based on feedback. Still have a few loose discoveries. Probably taking magic item creation with my extra feats.

I know I can craft extra mutagen, but the 1 hour craft time concerns me.

Inquisitor is going the Enforcer route instead with as big of a crit range as he can get. Cestus allows for 19-20 crit range and Sap Adept for bonus damage, which pairs nicely with Grey Warden and flavor I was going for with the character (kind of a bounty hunter). The Cestus is also simple, so I don't have to pick a diety for a favored weapon.

Infiltrator actually loses a lot of features I want so it's probably getting cut.