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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jraynack" data-source="post: 2460995" data-attributes="member: 13894">First of all - thanks for the review - it is the most thorough review I have sen on any one of our products.The subclass is indeed a new concept and will have a lot of questions such as yours (we will post answers to these question in our September issue of the Poor Gamer's Almanac - It's FREE)."After reading it I had a some questions about how things work like the bonus hitpoints (Can you go above your maximum for your level?) and skill points (Are they quadrupled for first level?). The text was not as clear as they could be."These are two good questions - 1st: These hit points you gain are actually bonus hit points and not hit die.  So you can go over your normal hit point total but not hit die (A 10th fighter/10th Alchemist subclass is still only a 10 hit die creature).  2nd: You do not actually gain the extra skill points at 1st level - he begin getting the extra skill points each following level beyond the first and that is why they are labled as "skill points at each additional level" just as it is labled for a core class.Your second concern was this: "When looking at the Alchemist Subclass there was one thought that really scared the hell out of me was.A 20th level fighter / 20th level Alchemist. Can we say Shapchange... "Look mommy, I'm a Balor!" "Look Mommy, I'm a Dragon." As a DM myself, that will scare the hell out of me as well.  But there are a few things to remember - 1st: The caster level of the potion is the minimum level of the caster to cast that spell.  For a 9th level shapechange spell - it would be then a caster level of 17.  Therefore, a 20th fighter/20th Alchemist subclass would be considered a 17th caster for brewing potions, thus he would not be able to change into a balor or a dragon that is older than Young adult (depending on the type of dragon in the core books).Lastly, you said ". . .  to add 1 ECL to the character for every 4 levels, so over 20 levels thats an increase of 5 levels.Assuming you do this, it will offset some of the craziness that is going on here (Potion Brewing)."This ECL is added to NPC characters only.  PCs do not add this but rather pay the 20% (or 10% is it a favored subclass).  However, if you are the DM in any game and you have control - so if you feel that a certain subclass is too powerful for your level of play, then simply dismiss the favored subclass or increase the cost to 30%.  Our rules, which we stand-by (though we have be known to make mistakes), are designed (and playtested - thanks to our number crunchers) to be balanced, but merely serve as guidelines.Thanks again for the review and for inviting me via e-mail to answer a few of these questions and concerns that you have.  Please feel free to e-mail us further if you have any other questions.Josh</blockquote>

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