Hi All --
As I mentioned in the General Discussion thread, I think we should consider modifying the Alchemist's Swift Alchemy class ability to make it more useful in LPF. Here is the official version:
Swift Alchemy (Official): At 3rd level, an alchemist can create alchemical items with astounding speed. It takes an alchemist half the normal amount of time to create alchemical items, and he can apply poison to a weapon as a move action.
The problem with this in Living Pathfinder is that given that Alchemists have to pay full price for the item (which they should), the crafting time makes the feat useless. Unless I have misunderstood the crafting rules, even if a character maxes out his Craft (Alchemy) skill and rolls well, it is going to take at least a day to craft an item (1/2 time for Swift Alchemy, max 1/3 time for rolling well =1/6th of a week). The Move action to apply poison is nice, but there is no avoiding the fact that the feat loses value in translation.
Here is a modified version I would like to propose:
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Swift Alchemy (Proposed Living Pathfinder Version): The alchemist may apply poison to a weapon as a move action. Additionally, the alchemist gains the ability to purchase an alchemical reserve and use it to make alchemical items at an accelerated rate.
The alchemist's reserve represents a collection of reagents, and may be purchased at any town or larger urban setting. It may be purchased in smaller venues at the GM's discretion, based on whether a variety of reagents would be available for purchase (e.g. a PC traveling with a caravan might be able to find and purchase reagents from the traveling merchants).
The alchemist's reserve is a gold reserve that the alchemist can use to cover the cost of creating alchemical items, including poisons. When the alchemist creates alchemical items, the gp value of the item is deducted from the pool. If the alchemist's reserve is less than the value of the item in question, he cannot craft the item until he has increased the value of the reserve.
The reserve weighs 1 lb per 15 gp in value. It has no special properties with respect to volume, appearance or fragility, though players may attach any suitable description to the items carried for role-playing purposes.
To use Swift Alchemy, the alchemist makes a Craft(Alchemy) check against the DC of the item in question. The alchemist must have both an alchemical reserve sufficient to cover the cost of the item, and either an Alchemist's Kit or an Alchemist's Lab (portable or otherwise). All appropriate class and circumstance bonuses, such as those arising from the use of an Alchemist's Lab, apply to the roll. The alchemist cannot take 10 or take 20 when using Swift Alchemy. Failure means that gold piece value of the item is forfeited, and the alchemist cannot attempt to make that item again for at least 24 hours of in-game time (the character needs time to puzzle out his mistake).
The base time to create an item using Swift Alchemy is 2 hours. For every 5 points by which the roll exceeds the DC value of the item, this time is halved.
A character can make multiple copies of the same item more easily than making separate items. To allow for the creation of multiple items, add 20% of the base DC value for a single item (rounded up). The full cost of all of the items must still be deducted from the pool, and failure still results in both loss of the reserve and a 24 hour waiting period to craft even one copy of the item in question.
Example: Adric the Not as Mad as They Say I Am wants to make two vials of Alchemical Grease. The DC for a single copy of the item is 15, and the cost is 10 gp. The DC is 1.2 x 15 = 18, and Adric tNaMaTSIA must pay 20 gp whether the roll succeeds or not. Adric is using a Portable Lab (+1 Circumstance Bonus), and has other bonuses to bring his total Craft(Alchemy) roll to 12. He rolls a 13, for a total of 25. Since this exceeds his target number by more than 5 and less than 10, the time is reduced to 1 hour. So, one hour after he starts, Adric stands up holding two vials of Alchemical Grease, and his Alchemical Reserve is 20 gp lower (and 1 and 1/3 lbs lighter).
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This is something that is going to be highly situational, but is of comparable usefulness to the ability it replaces. And it does have some potential value. A lot of alchemical gear -- alchemists fire, tanglefoot bags, the various weapon blanches -- is situationally useful. If the party has some information and prep time, the Alchemist could cook up some useful gear. For example, if the party receives a warning from a cryptic old man that the ridge is populated by harpies with poisoned arrows, it might be a good idea to spend the morning making antivenom and tanglefoot bags.
The ability is really only going to be useful in the range 3-8 level range, after which alchemical items are mostly outclassed. Even within this range, alchemical items are not sufficiently useful to really unbalance the game.
Thoughts?
As I mentioned in the General Discussion thread, I think we should consider modifying the Alchemist's Swift Alchemy class ability to make it more useful in LPF. Here is the official version:
Swift Alchemy (Official): At 3rd level, an alchemist can create alchemical items with astounding speed. It takes an alchemist half the normal amount of time to create alchemical items, and he can apply poison to a weapon as a move action.
The problem with this in Living Pathfinder is that given that Alchemists have to pay full price for the item (which they should), the crafting time makes the feat useless. Unless I have misunderstood the crafting rules, even if a character maxes out his Craft (Alchemy) skill and rolls well, it is going to take at least a day to craft an item (1/2 time for Swift Alchemy, max 1/3 time for rolling well =1/6th of a week). The Move action to apply poison is nice, but there is no avoiding the fact that the feat loses value in translation.
Here is a modified version I would like to propose:
___
Swift Alchemy (Proposed Living Pathfinder Version): The alchemist may apply poison to a weapon as a move action. Additionally, the alchemist gains the ability to purchase an alchemical reserve and use it to make alchemical items at an accelerated rate.
The alchemist's reserve represents a collection of reagents, and may be purchased at any town or larger urban setting. It may be purchased in smaller venues at the GM's discretion, based on whether a variety of reagents would be available for purchase (e.g. a PC traveling with a caravan might be able to find and purchase reagents from the traveling merchants).
The alchemist's reserve is a gold reserve that the alchemist can use to cover the cost of creating alchemical items, including poisons. When the alchemist creates alchemical items, the gp value of the item is deducted from the pool. If the alchemist's reserve is less than the value of the item in question, he cannot craft the item until he has increased the value of the reserve.
The reserve weighs 1 lb per 15 gp in value. It has no special properties with respect to volume, appearance or fragility, though players may attach any suitable description to the items carried for role-playing purposes.
To use Swift Alchemy, the alchemist makes a Craft(Alchemy) check against the DC of the item in question. The alchemist must have both an alchemical reserve sufficient to cover the cost of the item, and either an Alchemist's Kit or an Alchemist's Lab (portable or otherwise). All appropriate class and circumstance bonuses, such as those arising from the use of an Alchemist's Lab, apply to the roll. The alchemist cannot take 10 or take 20 when using Swift Alchemy. Failure means that gold piece value of the item is forfeited, and the alchemist cannot attempt to make that item again for at least 24 hours of in-game time (the character needs time to puzzle out his mistake).
The base time to create an item using Swift Alchemy is 2 hours. For every 5 points by which the roll exceeds the DC value of the item, this time is halved.
A character can make multiple copies of the same item more easily than making separate items. To allow for the creation of multiple items, add 20% of the base DC value for a single item (rounded up). The full cost of all of the items must still be deducted from the pool, and failure still results in both loss of the reserve and a 24 hour waiting period to craft even one copy of the item in question.
Example: Adric the Not as Mad as They Say I Am wants to make two vials of Alchemical Grease. The DC for a single copy of the item is 15, and the cost is 10 gp. The DC is 1.2 x 15 = 18, and Adric tNaMaTSIA must pay 20 gp whether the roll succeeds or not. Adric is using a Portable Lab (+1 Circumstance Bonus), and has other bonuses to bring his total Craft(Alchemy) roll to 12. He rolls a 13, for a total of 25. Since this exceeds his target number by more than 5 and less than 10, the time is reduced to 1 hour. So, one hour after he starts, Adric stands up holding two vials of Alchemical Grease, and his Alchemical Reserve is 20 gp lower (and 1 and 1/3 lbs lighter).
____
This is something that is going to be highly situational, but is of comparable usefulness to the ability it replaces. And it does have some potential value. A lot of alchemical gear -- alchemists fire, tanglefoot bags, the various weapon blanches -- is situationally useful. If the party has some information and prep time, the Alchemist could cook up some useful gear. For example, if the party receives a warning from a cryptic old man that the ridge is populated by harpies with poisoned arrows, it might be a good idea to spend the morning making antivenom and tanglefoot bags.
The ability is really only going to be useful in the range 3-8 level range, after which alchemical items are mostly outclassed. Even within this range, alchemical items are not sufficiently useful to really unbalance the game.
Thoughts?
