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<blockquote data-quote="Ancalagon" data-source="post: 6932376" data-attributes="member: 23">I am not an ENsider (maybe I should be - EN world really deserves a few of my dollars).&nbsp; So I can't comment directly on this class as I haven't seen it.&nbsp; BUT I can comment on alchemist in general.1:&nbsp; Alchemists are *really hard* to do right.&nbsp; See an alchemist is almost like some guy with a box of magical bombs, elixirs, solvents etc.&nbsp;&nbsp; It doesn't lend itself well to &quot;X times per day&quot; balance.&nbsp; Can we accept that the sorceress &quot;ran out of magic&quot; because she's mentally exhausted?&nbsp; Sure, and it makes sense that a high level sorceress has more mental fortitude (and can cast more spells).&nbsp; With the alchemists... not so much.&nbsp; The intuitive &quot;no more magic&quot; limit is not mental exaustion or some arcane inner resources being exhausted, but rather &quot;my box of tricks is empty&quot;. I had a *huuge* thread about this a while ago (but alas, it vanished with the database crash) and no one really managed to find a suitable alternative to &quot;X times per day&quot; as a balancing tool. We discussed having some rare resources that alchemists could use to power their spells, but even then we couldn't agreed on how to balance this special resource.&nbsp; So unless you bite the bullet and go &quot;ok fine, X times per day&quot;, it's very hard to balance the alchemist.&nbsp; But if you do take the &quot;X times per day&quot; approach, then your differentiation from the wizards etc is not so good.2:&nbsp; The pathfinder alchemist class was brilliant.&nbsp; It took that restriction and did the most possible with it.&nbsp; I played one for over a year and was *very* satisfied with my character.&nbsp;&nbsp; It had 3 branches of magical power - the mutagen, bombs and potions/spells.&nbsp; None of those, by itself, was great, but having access to all of them gave you a lot of variety and reasonable power.&nbsp; So the ENsider 5e version has big shoes to fill *and* several obstacles.&nbsp; First it can't be too much like the pathfinder version.&nbsp; First of all that would be plagiarism, and while it's perfectly fine for one's home campaign (mental note: do this for NPCs...) it's not ok to do so for a publication like ENsider.&nbsp;&nbsp; Second of all it may be too complex for 5e with its 3 branches.&nbsp; Lastly, some of its power - buff everyone with potions! - isn't really in the spirit of 5e, which has a lot less buffing magic in general.3:&nbsp; I'm not sure your tone will result in constructive discussions.&nbsp; Many people will simply choose not to engage.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ancalagon, post: 6932376, member: 23"] I am not an ENsider (maybe I should be - EN world really deserves a few of my dollars). So I can't comment directly on this class as I haven't seen it. BUT I can comment on alchemist in general. 1: Alchemists are *really hard* to do right. See an alchemist is almost like some guy with a box of magical bombs, elixirs, solvents etc. It doesn't lend itself well to "X times per day" balance. Can we accept that the sorceress "ran out of magic" because she's mentally exhausted? Sure, and it makes sense that a high level sorceress has more mental fortitude (and can cast more spells). With the alchemists... not so much. The intuitive "no more magic" limit is not mental exaustion or some arcane inner resources being exhausted, but rather "my box of tricks is empty". I had a *huuge* thread about this a while ago (but alas, it vanished with the database crash) and no one really managed to find a suitable alternative to "X times per day" as a balancing tool. We discussed having some rare resources that alchemists could use to power their spells, but even then we couldn't agreed on how to balance this special resource. So unless you bite the bullet and go "ok fine, X times per day", it's very hard to balance the alchemist. But if you do take the "X times per day" approach, then your differentiation from the wizards etc is not so good. 2: The pathfinder alchemist class was brilliant. It took that restriction and did the most possible with it. I played one for over a year and was *very* satisfied with my character. It had 3 branches of magical power - the mutagen, bombs and potions/spells. None of those, by itself, was great, but having access to all of them gave you a lot of variety and reasonable power. So the ENsider 5e version has big shoes to fill *and* several obstacles. First it can't be too much like the pathfinder version. First of all that would be plagiarism, and while it's perfectly fine for one's home campaign (mental note: do this for NPCs...) it's not ok to do so for a publication like ENsider. Second of all it may be too complex for 5e with its 3 branches. Lastly, some of its power - buff everyone with potions! - isn't really in the spirit of 5e, which has a lot less buffing magic in general. 3: I'm not sure your tone will result in constructive discussions. Many people will simply choose not to engage. [/QUOTE]

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