So I’m at 17 dex currently with studded enchanted with +2 totaling 17 AC, With skill expert feat bringing it to 18 AC by knocking the dex from 17 to 18 AND I get an expertise/proficiency
OR
Dropping studded for half plate and picking up medium armor master 15 +3 from dex + infused with +2 like the studded was totaling 20 AC
So as an alchemist which feels the best? I know AC is really worth considering in the later levels but those skill boons are great as well for tinkering and what not
I'd say it somewhat depends on how much your DM attacks the party with saving throws as opposed to attack rolls. Is being 10% harder to hit worth not having the extra proficiencies from the feats at your table?
Skill Expert is probably my favorite feat... it's just so great for rounding out stats, and really customizing your character. Especially if you have a specific Expertise in mind that you know will come up regularly in your game, I think you'll get more use out of that than you will higher AC. you're not a frontline fighter, so you shouldn't be getting attacked too frequently if you and your allies use smart battle tactics. I think the amount you've invested in your studded leather armor is already a huge boon, and if there is concern about AC remember that you can also equip a shield to still get to 20AC... aside from aesthetics, I can't really think of a reason why an Alchemist wouldn't want a shield. Your Alchemical Savant feature means you'll be wanting to pretty much exclusively use your spells to attack, since even simple Cantrips become much more viable attack options when you can add your INT modifier to the damage.
I think the only thing you're missing out on is that you won't really have any good options if an Attack of Opportunity comes up for you, but that's hardly something you should expect your character to excel at anyway. If nothing else maybe you can convince your DM to let you craft a spiked shield so you can at least use it to deal some damage as an emergency-use melee weapon.
Thanks everyone, for additional context she just lost an arm but she’s the inventor of devices and explosives. One example being the below so reconsidering all that, yea the skill feels best
This spinning whorl of concentrated energy holds the aspect of many lives and uncharted technology. It's power seems malignant, enigmatic, untested, and incomplete. Ten iridescent gems swirl around a small cylindric device with a knob that seems begging to be twisted.
As an action, you can twist the device, setting it to one of three settings:
Restorative. Unleashes the gemstones around you to swirl and illuminate a 30 feet area around you with bright light. Creatures of your choosing within this area can choose to use a bonus action to take and activate a single gemstone, healing them (and only them) for 1d4 hit points. The last gemstone activated will heal the creature for 2d8 hit points and gain resistance to all damage types until the beginning of it's next turn.
Destructive. Unleashes the gemstones to swirl around you. As a bonus action, you can choose to activate a gemstone and allow a creature of your choosing to bypass metallic defenses, rendering creatures with metallic armor that are immune to damage to now be resistant and creatures with metallic armor that are resistant to damage to now have normal defenses. This does not work on all forms of damage however (i.e., poison if applicable). You can spend a single bonus action to do this on as many creatures as you wish. As a bonus action, you can also choose to activate a gemstone and cast Magic Missile at first level. Activating additional gemstones can increase the level of the spell, but cannot go higher than 9th level. You can choose to change the elemental property of the spell to an element of your choice.
Mana Burst. Unleashes the gemstones to swirl around you in a 5 feet area and shrouding the area in magical essence. Any creature that casts a spell within the area automatically activates the gemstones when casting. Each level of a chosen spell will activate and consume two gemstones instead of that creature's spell slot (i.e., 1st level = 2 gems, 2nd level = 4 gems, 5th level = 10 gems). As long as a gemstone is activated in this method, the caster can choose to use the wielder of the Maelstrom Maker's casting modifier instead of their own. This feature only works for casters who are casting innately and not via magical items, feats, or class abilities. As a bonus action, you can also choose to activate a gemstone, igniting and imploding it to deal psychic damage equal to your base level to any creature of your choosing within 5 feet of you.
Gemstones have 1 hit point and must be targeted directly to take damage. They are immune to all effects and area of effect damage. Once the gemstones are all activated and consumed, all other effects that were activated alongside them end and the stones return to the device to recharge. Gemstones only linger for up to 1 hour, upon which the rest will return to the device to recharge as if they were used. All gemstones recharge after a Long Rest.
The Maelstrom Maker is an unfinished device, lacking a proper ignition component to access it's other potential features. The small cylindric portion of the device seems able to fit objects of some kind, but without any method of activating it, it seems worthless for now.
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So I’m at 17 dex currently with studded enchanted with +2 totaling 17 AC, With skill expert feat bringing it to 18 AC by knocking the dex from 17 to 18 AND I get an expertise/proficiency
OR
Dropping studded for half plate and picking up medium armor master 15 +3 from dex + infused with +2 like the studded was totaling 20 AC
So as an alchemist which feels the best? I know AC is really worth considering in the later levels but those skill boons are great as well for tinkering and what not
18 AC + skill expertise + skill proficiency
or
20 AC
I'd say it somewhat depends on how much your DM attacks the party with saving throws as opposed to attack rolls. Is being 10% harder to hit worth not having the extra proficiencies from the feats at your table?
Skill Expert is probably my favorite feat... it's just so great for rounding out stats, and really customizing your character. Especially if you have a specific Expertise in mind that you know will come up regularly in your game, I think you'll get more use out of that than you will higher AC. you're not a frontline fighter, so you shouldn't be getting attacked too frequently if you and your allies use smart battle tactics. I think the amount you've invested in your studded leather armor is already a huge boon, and if there is concern about AC remember that you can also equip a shield to still get to 20AC... aside from aesthetics, I can't really think of a reason why an Alchemist wouldn't want a shield. Your Alchemical Savant feature means you'll be wanting to pretty much exclusively use your spells to attack, since even simple Cantrips become much more viable attack options when you can add your INT modifier to the damage.
I think the only thing you're missing out on is that you won't really have any good options if an Attack of Opportunity comes up for you, but that's hardly something you should expect your character to excel at anyway. If nothing else maybe you can convince your DM to let you craft a spiked shield so you can at least use it to deal some damage as an emergency-use melee weapon.
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Skill Expert every day. As an Alchemist, you won't be near the frontline and your AC only needs to be high enough to not make you a tempting target.
Grabbing an extra skill proficiency and expertise in Investigation (for example) for a support character is too good to pass up.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile.
Thanks everyone, for additional context she just lost an arm but she’s the inventor of devices and explosives. One example being the below so reconsidering all that, yea the skill feels best
This spinning whorl of concentrated energy holds the aspect of many lives and uncharted technology. It's power seems malignant, enigmatic, untested, and incomplete. Ten iridescent gems swirl around a small cylindric device with a knob that seems begging to be twisted.
As an action, you can twist the device, setting it to one of three settings:
Gemstones have 1 hit point and must be targeted directly to take damage. They are immune to all effects and area of effect damage. Once the gemstones are all activated and consumed, all other effects that were activated alongside them end and the stones return to the device to recharge. Gemstones only linger for up to 1 hour, upon which the rest will return to the device to recharge as if they were used. All gemstones recharge after a Long Rest.
The Maelstrom Maker is an unfinished device, lacking a proper ignition component to access it's other potential features. The small cylindric portion of the device seems able to fit objects of some kind, but without any method of activating it, it seems worthless for now.