alchemist's flunkies

[Idea Man]

Looking for a few ideas on the hapless fools who'll get chewed up by my PCs when they go hunting down an alchemist. Looking for disposable minions in a CR 3 to 5 range, and solo (or duo, if a bit lower) guardians of CR 9 to 11.

Alchemical golem is an obvious fit, but that seems so... direct. What humanoids would be good with a large supply of thrown weapons (I suppose halflings would be the first thought). Are there any templates I've forgotten that would essentially be an alchemical treatment?

Hmm, other than the PHB, which other books have alchemical items? Might as well stir things up a bit.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Halfling Expert 1.
Lots of Alchemy-based traps.
Oozes.

[Rei_Jin]

Hmmm...

How about a few Gnomish Factotums with the Mad Alchemist and Grenadier feats?

[kpenguin]

The Packmate from Magic of Eberron seems like a good minion for an alchemist. Its essentially a walking treasure chest that can throw alchemical grenade-like weapons or quickly provide potions to those on the front lines.

[sigurd]

Who gets the alchemist his\her more unsavory ingredients?

Halfling Merchants - who are natural middle men. If they can steal to order that just raises the profit margin doesn't it.

Rat Lycanthropes - who in return want control potions and knock out drops

Diseased so and so(s) - who need disease control potions

Wealthy ugly people who need beauty stuff

[Inhuman Bot]

What book are the Mad Alchemist and Grenadier feats in?

[Hal]

There's alchemical stuff in nearly every supplement. Some options:

CAd - Alchemical items that boost a skill by 1, or vessels held in the mouth that can be activated and used at their discretion. Some useful ones include +5' land speed, and +1 to str checks/melee damage. There are also weapon capsules that can deal extra elemental damage or coat the weapon in silver.

CM - Screaming Flasks, which deal 1d8 sonic damage in a 15' cone.

CS - Nerv, which grants +2 bonus on saves against fear; rust cubes, which can be thrown and damage metal equipment (1d6 immediately, 1d6 for two more rounds, move action to remove); Toxic teeth, which let you spit poison at an adjacent creature (pick your favorite poison, blasphemix is good if you have a cleric in the party, also fun is salvo, which deals damage to a random ability score).

RoS - Blasting pellets, which cover the ground and burst when stepped on, dealing 1d6 sonic damage (a useful alarm system). Blister oil, which can be applied to door knobs and cause a penalty to dex checks.


There's some stuff in Sandstorm and Frostburn, but that's situationally useful, unless you know your players are in the right environment.

So, consider your options. Depending on the level of your players, some of these can make for great tools for your minions. Feel free to come up with creations of your own, since the alchemy system is already quite weak compared to other options.

[Drascin]

For flunkies that benefit from the alchemist...

Get Halflings.

Get the Halflings some slings.

Get the slinged halflings to take that Halfling PrC that turned a sling into an actually pretty acceptable weapon.

Replace the ordinary stones with explosive and/or venomous mixtures of your choice.

Laugh

[Idea Man]

Yeah, I was thinking halfling slingers. I was also thinking of a giant that could hurl bigger projectiles.

Traps are a must, preferably battlefield mines of one sort ore another ("Hey, my foot fell into some hole with some kind of... goo... crap."). Exploding, flaming, or gaseous mines would be effective, too. Hmm...

Thanks for the ideas, all. This should be a new experience for my party.

[chronoplasm]

Homunculi are a must.

Look into the alchemical works of Paracelsus. He lists four types of elemental spirits:
Gnomes (earth)
Undines (water)
Sylphs (air)
Salamandars (fire)

[sonofzeal]

Use the Magewright NPC class from ECS?

[FoE]

Is this 4E? If so, how about Corruption Corpses? You could flavour them as alchemically-altered zombies that spit stomach acids at the PCs (or use the rotted chunks of flesh that they normally throw).