First life drow alchemist - can it work?

[ArtOfCombat]

What it says on the tin. I need some theorycrafting help looking at a drow alchemist. All are welcome!

[C-Dog]

can it work?
Yes, of course it can.

The question is "Can it work well?"

Alchemist is Int-based, and Drow are +2 Int, so there's +1 to DC's there. +2 Dex is always handy (esp if going the Inquisitive route), altho' otoh the -2 Con is equally unwelcome. +2 Cha is free help w/ UMD. And "+2 saving throw bonus against enchantment spells or effects" is a nice bump.

If you wanted to multi (w/ some Arti or Rog) for Trapping, Drow has +2 racial bonus on Search, and Spot checks, so there's that.

That said, there's no particularly great synergy w/ Drow Racial tree - nothing there screams "Here's help with what you're doing!" (or much of what anyone does, sadly. :p ) Drow can get you (expensive) +1/2 Int, if you have 3/6 AP that aren't better spent elsewhere. I suppose if you could get Light armor proficiency, the Drow Arcane Fluidity (https://ddowiki.com/page/Drow_Elf_enhancements#Arcane_Fluidity) can get you into Light Armor for a bit more defense. And you can pick up a short sword, slight improvement if you ever get a need to melee.

Here's a similar question: https://forums.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/512370-Drow-Alchemist-Question?p=6296331&viewfull=1#post6296331

So, yes - it can certainly work, but I'd have to think there are others* that would be better suited (e.g. Gnome (+Color Spray), Dragonborn (+elemental spellpower) or Tiefling (Fire boosts) all jump to mind). Or just go Human for the +Feat and skill point and stick to class trees.


(* Before all these races were made F2P, Drow was the F2P player 28 point go-to for a +Int build (and for Pali's) - now, and esp if you have a 32 pt build, its attractions are harder to defend.)


But beyond all that, there's nothing uniquely "custom" about this (or not that any "build request" can't claim), so I'd look in the nearby "Alchemist" subforum, and either ask or spin off what you find there.

o https://forums.ddo.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/311-Alchemist
o https://forums.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/514532-The-Child-Prodigy-Three-thematic-reaper-solo-alchemist-builds?p=6318871&viewfull=1#post6318871
o https://forums.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/512544-DC-Casting-Alchemist-Apothecary?p=6298228&viewfull=1#post6298228
o https://forums.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/521207-Realistic-Pleb-Icy-Bomber-Boy-Build-Help?p=6395730&viewfull=1#post6395730

[Tangoro]

I recommend doing something like this: https://forums.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/530287-A-First-Life-Alchemist-Build-To-Get-You-Started

I tried it out, and just as described it works really well from lvl 6. Swapping to drow should not make a huge difference.