Rules for Promethean Disciple state
Benefit: "An alchemist with this discovery learns how to craft constructs by way of alchemical research rather than arcane magic. The alchemist gains Craft Construct as a bonus feat without needing to meet its requirements. The alchemist substitutes his number of ranks in Craft (alchemy) for his total caster level and must use Craft (alchemy) to create the construct. The DC to create the construct still increases for any necessary spells that the alchemist does not have access to. However, the alchemist can use extracts in place of spells as spell prerequisites."
There are many feats, traits and abilities that only grant bonuses when creating "alchemical items" and I know usually constructs are considered magic items as per the "craft construct" Item Creation feat.
So, I was curious if constructs in this instance are considered "alchemical items" or if I should go for feats and traits that just give flat increases to "craft alchemy" instead of the special abilities with the "for the purposes of creating alchemical items only" specification.
an example I have is listed here of such a feat:
Master Alchemist
Benefit: "You receive a +2 bonus on Craft (alchemy) checks, and you may create mundane alchemical items much more quickly than normal. When making poisons, you can create a number of doses equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum 1) at one time. These additional doses do not increase the time required, but they do increase the raw material cost.
In addition, whenever you make alchemical items or poisons using Craft (alchemy), use the item’s gp value as its sp value when determining your progress (do not multiply the item’s gp cost by 10 to determine its sp cost)."
I just want to know if effects like this apply to the process of creating a construct usuing said Discovery.
Best Answer
No, constructs are not mundane alchemical items:
They are creatures. Mundane alchemical items would be Acid Flask, Alchemist Fire, Tanglefoot Bags, Sunrods and several other alchemical items.
The benefits of Promethean Disciple is to allow alchemists, who are normally not spellcasters (see this FAQ) to craft constructs, which requires levels on a spellcaster class:
And this last part that should reduce the time spent creating a construct does not apply at all, as they use a different rule for crafting them (see magical item creation) that is already much faster than mundane crafting.