Aberrant Mutagen & Aquatic Mutagen

The alchemist is one of the most versatile classes in Pathfinder, it has a lot of different class features that can be taken in many different directions. The discoveries I’ll be talking about today examplify this part of the class. They both alter the mutagen in different ways. The aquatic mutagen and deep diver discoveries in particular appear in both the Gothic Campaign Compendium, which is all about horror and eldritch dangers, and the Pirate Campaign Compendium, which is about swashbuckling adventures on the high seas. 

Aberrant Mutagen

The alchemist is no stranger to body horror, the basic mutagen can already be described that way. This mutagen variant takes it a step further, causing the imbiber to grow additional eyes and transforming arms into tentacles. This grants all around vision and primary tentacle attacks.
The greater aberrant mutagen extends the reach of your tentacles and provides critical hit negation chance that stacks with similar abilities. 

Aquatic Mutagen

This mutagen gives the alchemist scales, fins and fangs. While the mutagen is active you have a bite attack, swim speed, underwater darkvision, waterbreathing and the ability to tolerate cold temperatures as if using endure elements.
The deep diver discovery requires aquatic mutagen but is permanently active. It expands the alchemist’s ability to explore underwater by granting darkvision which doubles underwater, tremorsense, cold resistance 10 and immunity to crushing damage from the deep and damage reduction 10/- against grappling, constriction and other such crushing damage.
Together these option are excellent for anyone who wants to explore underwater, though the waterbreathing from a mutagen is probably to short to use outside of a fight.

When your alchemist uses a variant mutagen think about how that particular mutagen is made and what it ingredients go in. A pirate alchemist might end up with aquatic mutagen simply because he has to use fish for his craft on the ship. And the less said of what kind of ingredients are needed for an aberrant mutagen the better…
Though an aberrant mutagen could also be the result of an unstable or experimental mutagen made by a beginner.


Crazed mutated lifestock have been attacking people. Suspision quickly falls upon the local alchemist's guild who have been buying large amounts of suspect reagents. The actual perpetrators however are a group of atomie alchemists who believe they are bringing domesticated animals back to nature.

Yanni Chaconakis travels the Scattered Isles with her cheerful crew of salvagers. They use alchemical technologies to salvage sunken ships and ancient treasures of the many drowned civilizations that have inhabited the rising and sinking islands.

Paroziar Albezzor is an excentric alchemist who has a brilliant business idea! Selling walking airbreathing fish and octupi to wealthy dilettantes. It cannot possibly fail!

Gothic Campaign Compendium, 20
Pirate Campaign Compendium, 14