(Apologies in advance for a lengthy post, but as anyone that follows any of my posts knows, I am simply unable to say things without extensive background and explanations. I hate leaving things to inference.)
Greetings Blahness98,
As I have been trying to figure out how to do some of this kind of thing myself (i.e., merging/creating Class Archetypes), I was quite gratified to find that you had already done it!!! And seeing the quantity of data that you had to process, I regret not having sufficient wits about me to realize you could probably have used some mundane data-entry assistance. If there is still material that you intend to assimilate, and it turns out to be the case that data-entry is needed, just say the word.
But, for now, I just have a question. I'll couch my question, which actually applies generally, to the specific Class Archetypes I'm currently interested in: Brawler (Bouncer), and Alchemist (Mixologist). And, really, I can limit it even further to just Alchemist (Mixologist).
[edit: Part of this has just been answered for me in the context of a DM, but I'll leave it in, in case there is anything to add.]
I'm curious whether the Alchemist (Mixologist) Archetype appears anyplace other than where I encountered it, which was Inner Sea Taverns? If it does originate from some other document, Taverns appears to have the exact same wording. The only reason I ask that question, though, is because you also provided a Table, "Extracting Mixology Table", whose origin I can't figure, but which appears to be related. So... where did that come from?
But, that's not the real question. If you look at the material in Taverns that establishes the Mixology Archetype, you will find the introductory paragraph for the archetype:
Mixologist (Alchemist Archetype): Certain alchemists focus on mastering the chemical reactions between alcohol and the physical body. Though the powerful potions they brew can have drawbacks, they are at least pleasurable.
Next you find 4 special abilities (which I won't reproduce in their entirety, just the names, and the 'what to do with it' portion - capitalization and emphasis added for clarity):
Alcoholic Alchemy (Su): A mixologist ... blah, blahness, blah. This alters Alchemy and Brew Potion and replaces Mutagen.
Alcoholic Bombs (Su): ... This replaces the Discovery gained at 2nd level.
Alcoholic Resistance (Ex): ... This alters Poison Resistance.
Mixologist Master (Su): ... This replaces Persistent Mutagen.
Now, when I look in "PFRPG - Class and Archetype.mod", and compare and contrast Alchemist and Alchemist (Mixologist), I find that on the Main tab, Alchemy is identical between the two, as is Brew Potion, and Poison Resistance. However, the additional alteration wording, e.g., "This alters poison resistance." is included in the new version.
So, this is my first question: What does it mean for an Archetype to state that, "Special Ability So-and-So, alters [original] Special Ability XYZ"?
I was figuring that I would be changing the wording of the 'altered' Special Abilities to align with the New Special Abilities that 'alters' the originals. Not so?
One reason that this is so interesting to me is that, if the originals were actually 'altered', then they would cease to be what they were before, and would require new Names... right?
[I thought that I would have a couple of additional questions, as I imply above, but I find that the rest of this - specifically, the 'replace' portion - seems to align directly with the Archetype instructions. So, I'll leave it at One (1) question, which I am genuinely curious about.]
Ok, so that's it. One question about 'alters'.
Finally, thanks (!!) again for what must have been a massive amount of work!
- s.west