Min/Max Boards

I'm building a soul manifester for a campaign slated to start in January. The campaign is a premade (Nightfang Spire) being run by a newbie DM. She's run a few one shots before, but his is her first full length campaign. I will be covering the arcanist role together with a warlock. Other party members include a druid, cleric (was going archer, but now looking into radiant servant/knight of the raven), and tashalatora monk.

The campaign starts at level 8 and is expected to run until 12, but may arc from there if things go well. All officially published material is allowed, including web enhancements, plus Hyperconcious and stuff from Dreamscarred Press. A note on house rules: we don't generally allow alterself/polymorph/metamorphosis, that's why you don't see it here.

I have the majority of the build done, I'm just having a bit of trouble polishing it off. As awesome as Inertial Armor is, I plan on just using armor/shield since I have proficiency through Incarnate. I've considered Boost Construct, but I will probably leave that to the tashalatora, since her plan is to summon a construct and flank with it. I'm also considering dumping Improved Essentia Capacity in favor of Expanded Soulmeld Capacity. I've also looked into Extend Power, Burrowing Power, and Linked Power, but I don't have any specific combos in mind. Note that for Linked Power, the power still takes its full manifestation time/cost.

Overall, I'm really looking forward to playing this character. I just feel that it needs a little bit of tweaking to make it whole.

Thoughts? Criticisms? What can I do to bring this build together?

Well, not Nu Mou, but the concept is the same. I'm looking to play a Final Fantasy style chemist for this game. I'd like to "have a potion for every occasion" and focus on buffing/debuffing. The basis is simple: Artificer (ECS 30), Alchemist Savant (MoE 55), and Master Alchemist (MoF 34). Cross-setting material, artificer entry into Master Alchemist, and Master Alchemist advancing spellvials have all been cleared by the DM.

I want Alchemist Savant 2 asap, since that gets me spellvials. I'd also like to get the 6th level of Artificer in, but that isn't strictly necessary. So I'm thinking of a build stub like:
Artificer 5 / Alchemist Savant  2 / Artificer 1 / Master Alchemist ...

Prerequisite feats are: Favored in House, Brew Potion [free from Artificer], Magical Artisan (potions), and Skill Focus (alchemy).

Beyond those feats, I would also like Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, and possibly Two Weapon Fighting (house ruled to grant equal iterative attacks in off-hand).

My first thought for race was a standard halfling, since that basically gives me a +3 to potion chucking from level 1. However, I fear that might be a bit underpowered for this group, so I'm open to suggestions.

With these things in mind, I would love to hear your thoughts on how to best assemble this character (class ordering, feats, etc). In addition, how does a character covered in potions/spellvials protect himself from the likes of sonic attacks? It's one thing to lose all of my potions, but it's another altogether to have all my spellvials activate on me simultaneously.

The most recent build can be found here.

Thanks in advanced!