Alchemist - the new Oradin-like Healer? (Optimization)

[Serafina]

So the Healers Handbooks contains some good things, in my opinion most notably the Wasteland Blightbreaker Archetype.
I was wondering whether you could build an effective healer out of that, one which bypasses both the action-economy and touch-range deficiencies of healing.

It's not on the PFSRD yet, but at 6th level, the archetype can use Touch Injection (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/t/touch-injection) an unlimited amount of times per day, but only on infusions of the healing subschool. Better yet, these can be delivered as a swift action.
To my knowledge there is no limit on the number of Touch Injections you can have available at any one time. If this is not true, then the whole thing doesn't work well.

The idea is now to prepare a good amount of healing extracts in advance, and absorb them. Swift-action self-healing is already very effective, but we can improve this in two ways:
- use Combine Extracts (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/alchemist/discoveries/paizo---alchemist-discoveries/combine-extracts) to also deliver buffs we want with this. Say, a combination of Cure Light Wounds and Enlarge Person, or Curative Distillation (a new spell) and Aid.
- increase the range at which touch-attacks can be delivered, so that we can also benefit allies with it.

It's the latter part on which I am a bit stuck, or rather could use more options.
What options does an Alchemist have to get as much reach as possible? What other options are there to increase the range at which a touch spell can be delivered?
Reasonably short dips and variant multiclassing are fine too.

I've found a bunch of options through spells. Enlarge Person (http://archivesofnethys.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Enlarge%20Person) sets reach to 10 feet, Long Arm (http://archivesofnethys.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Long%20Arm) increases it by 5 feet, and Fluid Form (http://archivesofnethys.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Fluid%20Form) by 10 feet. 25 feet reach is pretty respectable, and should be enough to cover most of ones group - but it also takes three spells with only a minute/level duration, so that's not a great option.
Lunge (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/lunge-combat---final) also works well as far as I can tell. It'd also stack with Lunging Spell Touch (http://archivesofnethys.com/FeatDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Lunging%20Spell%20Touch) .
The Aberrant Bloodline (http://archivesofnethys.com/BloodlineDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Aberrant) works very well too, giving between 5 and 15 feet reach increase. It either takes three feats and Charisma 15, or Variant Multiclassing. The Ectoplasm Bloodline (http://archivesofnethys.com/BloodlineDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Ectoplasm) works too.
Reaching Vines (http://archivesofnethys.com/FungalGrafts.aspx) fungal grafts give a secondary attack with a reach of 10 feet, which ought to be able to deliver touch spells too.

A Tumor Familiar can obviously do delivery too, but it won't benefit from the ability to deliver as a swift action.

As mentioned, if anyone knows extra options that would be great, just for the variety and potentially getting better combinations.
This goes especially if anyone is aware of some trick to get delivery of Touch Injection by some means other than touch.



With all the options above, we can get really impressive coverage.
Just combining Enlarge Person, Lunge, Lunging Spell Touch and Reaching Vines would give us a reach of 25 feet. Thanks to healing being a swift action, and potentially being combined with a buff, this actually ought to be pretty effective.
If you really want to use everything for extra reach, adding in the Aberrant Bloodline, Fluid Form and Long Arm, you could get a total reach of 55 feet. Use that to deliver Heal as a swift-action, and you've probably reached combat healing that's as-good-as-possible. Granted, whether that extra reach is worth it depends on your group, and it'd be resource-intensive.

[Knight Magenta]

That's pretty neat. I'm looking forward to when I can actually read the class. Some early thoughts:

pros
+ Fills a differ niche, variety is good!
+ You get to play a spell caster :) The alchemist is a cool class
+ Am I reading it correctly that you can swift action touch an ally as well? That's pretty neato, and if so you can skip the oracle entirely.

cons
- comes online at level 7 (alch 6 + oracle 1) when you get unlimited use touch injection
- less value from Fey foundling since you get more of your heal scaling from flat bonuses. Compare, level 7 paladin heals 3d6+6 (avg. 16.5) per lay on hands, the alchemist gets 1d8+7 (avg. 9.5) for a level one spell slot. Though he gets 2d8+11 (avg. 20) from level 2 slots.
- does not get charisma scaling, so it does not get as much value from getting the oracle channel revelation.
- Demands you spend spellslots on healing, though the alchemist has lots of other things. What does the archetype trade for this?

[Serafina]

Right, I should have been more clear.
Yes, you can swift-action touch-heal allies. That's why I placed so much focus on getting more reach, and listed options that just increased touch-reach.
So really, despite the "Oradin" in the title, this is supposed to take neither Paladin- nor Oracle-levels or VMC.

I actually see the major pro as being more reactive than Life Link against some types of threats.
Life link is great when multiple party members are getting hurt, since it allows you to centralize your healing. But it can have issues if someone is getting focussed a lot, since it'll only heal 5 HP/turn. The Oradin can't react to that with healing - at least not with a swift action or at range.
The Injectionist (or whatever name you want to use) can. As long as your ally is in (whatever range you achieve), you can heal them with whatever healing spell you choose, as a swift action. That ought to be more than 5 HP at once, which can be great.

The second major advantage is that you can provide swift-action buffs this way.
Well, only if you use Combine Extracts - and while the two-level increase is steep, compared to quickened spell it's a good deal.
I think this would be especially valuable on protection-effects, especially considering that this character would be build around protecting allies anyway.


Either way, since I didn't find any new options, I'll post a build or two tomorrow.

[Coretron03]

A tumor famliar has fast healing when attached to its master (and using the protector famliar archetype to a gain a sheild other like effect) could give the alchemist a extra HP battery from the famliar equal to half his normal health, plus what fast healing heals the tumor for. Just a small detail I noticed.