So I'm creating a level one artificer and let me first say: holy moly there are so many different directions to take this class in. I haven't played D&D in almost 10 years and coming back to see this class in 5e is awesome. So here is what I'm thinking, and let it be said I haven't done much planning past level 3 when I get my steel defender, so I haven't come up with a ton of ideas for spells besides for the cantrips and spells I have to begin with.
When I created my miniature for Altor Tinkerbottom on Heroforge, I found the item "Mechano-Orb" and it reminded me of a pokeball which got me thinking. With having a homunculus servant and a steel defender I could use the orbs as pokeballs that I could throw out and them turn into whatever defender/servant I pleased. The homunculus servant has a gem that is kind of the source of its being (from what I understand) so I figured I could do the same thing with my steel defender and that would explain the colored part of the orb and help me identify what I was throwing to use.
The orbs originally was going to be for just the SD and the HS but I was like you know what, I could really commit to this idea and make it for my spells and cantrips as well! For these I have to admit I had drew inspiration from another thread (it's been really fun reading the ways others are roleplaying this class). I haven't decided whether or not I want to fully commit and to having an actual pokemon represent what I'm doing, or just an animal that comes out, but here's what I'm thinking so far:
Ray of Frost: articuno frost breath (I currently have it said up as a wrist device that sprays liquid nitrogen)
Thorn Whip: a bulbasaur coming out and vine whipping and pulling them closer then disappearing (currently have a grappling hook satisfying this spell)
Detect Magic: mew uses detect (right now my goggles and the tool Tinkerbottom is holding are tuned to be a magical reader)
Faerie Fire: clefairy uses spotlight, any flying type could poop, and octillery could ink
Longstrider: maybe a rotom or pikachu surges you up with helping hand. (I had imagine using my wrench to tuneup my steel defender to make him go into battle faster but I won't have one until level 3 so I'll likely use it on myself or the monk in my party so I need something applicable to living beings (not warforged lol))
These are some cantrips and spells that I'm not using but coming up with ideas for off the hip.
Acid Splash: Any pokemon that can use the move acid
Booming Blade: An electric pokemon that uses thunderwave or a pokemon that uses lick/body slam
Create Bonfire: any fire pokemon could use ember or something
Dancing Lights: litwicks appear around the room
Firebolt: any fire pokemon could do this
Frostbite: any ice pokemon
Greenblade flame: I imagine scyther coming out doing a hit one person then leaping to another for more damage but with the fire it could be Infernape or Rapidash (someone fast/bursty)
Guidance: I imagine a helping hand type of spell again
Light: numerous ways this could be played out
Lightning Lure: any electric type
Mage Hand: I imagine a psychic pokemon like Alakazam using a move to manipulate people
Magic Stone: maybe the television meowth comes out and says something idk lol
Mending: Good old Chansey comes out in her Pokecenter outfit or because this will mainly be used on your steel servant maybe you use klinks, klangs, or klinklangs to repair it
Message: meowth again? idk maybe chatot for this or magic stone
Posion spray: any poison type
Prestidigation: there's a lot of choices to do here
Resistance: a pokemon that knows aurora veil, crafty shield, flower shield, light screen, safeguard
Shocking Grasp: any electric type
Spare The Dying: not sure about this one tbh
Sword Burst: any pokemon attack for you
Thunderclap: any electric pokemon
For my homunculus servant and steel defender I'm really digging the idea of a Togetic flying around with the cure wounds spell that they could channel and I'd want to run my childhood favorite Rhyhorn to be my steel defender but Lairon feels more appropriate being steel and all. There's so many options for the HS/SD/Cantrips/Spells and what's great is you can change the appearance of how it's done whenever you please as long as you can sleep. I like the idea that the first two levels of my character I have these great ideas to have creatures come out and do my biddings, but that I can't get them to work for more than one use. They keep destroying/returning to orb form and I have to recast it again or rebuild it from the parts. At level 2 I have figured out how to keep a tiny homunculus servant around for longer than just one use. At level 3 I can make a bigger construct that is my steel servant.
What pokemon would you use for HS/SD/Cantrips/Spells if you made an artificer like this?
(Pls don't flame me for combining two things I love, I thought it would be fun and all the people in my group are Pokemon lovers too <3)
(I might abandon this idea because it is a little bit much I'll agree and I don't want it to feel like I'm playing a whole different game than everyone else at the table or that roleplaying classic D&D isn't enough and I need to add another universe into it. I think with good narration and explanation of what's going on I could make it seem less like me throwing a colorful, cartoony pokemon out and more of Tinkerbottom using steampunk-esque pokemon to do his work like the class leans so much towards.)
Hi, I'm a little confused on what exactly you're looking for here, you mention not being sure whether to commit to it fully then go on to name a heap of spells and suitable Pokemon. I am a massive Pokemon fan but having Pokemon arbitrarily appearing in my D&D world as a fellow player would be a real immersion breaker and as a DM I'd wonder how well it matches the world I'm painting.
That said I don't think this is strictly a 'wrong' way to play the class so much as just needs a bit of debranding. Your flying homonculus, why not just make that a Togetic-esque creature of your imagination rather than just a straight copy of Togetic, same goes for Steel Defender you wanted Rhyhorn but picked Lairon to match the Steel part, why not just have a Steel Defender reminiscent of a Rhyhorn rather than hamstringing yourself into an arbritrary choice of Lairon. There is no spell in D&D I can think of which I can't think of some kind of Pokemon analogue to, but thinking of different creatures using each of these spells and describing them each time when you use them in real d&d play could fall anywhere from wasting a bit of time to self-indulgence. If your table is fine with it then it could be fine, but even as someone who flavours my spells and abilities in roleplay describing each spell as different creatures appearing each time (especially if you use the actual Pokemon names) sounds like it would get tiresome. Now if you had your two companions (HS/SD) using the appropriate spells at the appropriate times and use them like Pokemon would (out the mouth/wing etc) then you're Pokemon trainer adjacent and its not a huge twist to the game.
Also on an entirely side note, how did you decide on Frost Breath as Ray of Frost when Ice Beam is basically 1:1 synonym of the spell name ha.
Dabs led to me typing out a full list, happened before I knew lol. Which is also why that post doesn't quite say/ask what I wanted it to. Part of the original post was to just share "hey here's this idea for the battlesmith class that you could do if you wanted" and part of this was me saying "I am aware that this is going to detract from the game probably more so than it adds, someone tell me they think the same and tell me they wouldn't want it in their session."
So yeah I honestly 100% agree with you. One of the main reasons I went down this thought path is that my DM told me I needed to have names for my HM and SD because he was going to get confused. I already had the orbs for my figurine and I was like hmm I could just make them straight up pokemon. But like you said, it's gonna kinda mess up the immersion and I don't wanna do that.
I still think I'll keep the concept of having some of the cantrips/spells be creatures (that aren't pokemon) come out of the orbs and perform tasks for me. Some things just make more sense not being creatures though, like the grappling hook is a no brainer over having bulbasaur popping out or my goggles and magic reading device.
If you want to get real silly with it, you could say you are a trainer that got isekai'd... Replicate Magic Item: Bag of Holding can function as the PC to retrieve what you need.
And who doesn't like a game of "who's that pokemon?"
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So I'm creating a level one artificer and let me first say: holy moly there are so many different directions to take this class in. I haven't played D&D in almost 10 years and coming back to see this class in 5e is awesome. So here is what I'm thinking, and let it be said I haven't done much planning past level 3 when I get my steel defender, so I haven't come up with a ton of ideas for spells besides for the cantrips and spells I have to begin with.
When I created my miniature for Altor Tinkerbottom on Heroforge, I found the item "Mechano-Orb" and it reminded me of a pokeball which got me thinking. With having a homunculus servant and a steel defender I could use the orbs as pokeballs that I could throw out and them turn into whatever defender/servant I pleased. The homunculus servant has a gem that is kind of the source of its being (from what I understand) so I figured I could do the same thing with my steel defender and that would explain the colored part of the orb and help me identify what I was throwing to use.
The orbs originally was going to be for just the SD and the HS but I was like you know what, I could really commit to this idea and make it for my spells and cantrips as well! For these I have to admit I had drew inspiration from another thread (it's been really fun reading the ways others are roleplaying this class). I haven't decided whether or not I want to fully commit and to having an actual pokemon represent what I'm doing, or just an animal that comes out, but here's what I'm thinking so far:
Ray of Frost: articuno frost breath (I currently have it said up as a wrist device that sprays liquid nitrogen)
Thorn Whip: a bulbasaur coming out and vine whipping and pulling them closer then disappearing (currently have a grappling hook satisfying this spell)
Detect Magic: mew uses detect (right now my goggles and the tool Tinkerbottom is holding are tuned to be a magical reader)
Faerie Fire: clefairy uses spotlight, any flying type could poop, and octillery could ink
Longstrider: maybe a rotom or pikachu surges you up with helping hand. (I had imagine using my wrench to tuneup my steel defender to make him go into battle faster but I won't have one until level 3 so I'll likely use it on myself or the monk in my party so I need something applicable to living beings (not warforged lol))
These are some cantrips and spells that I'm not using but coming up with ideas for off the hip.
Acid Splash: Any pokemon that can use the move acid
Booming Blade: An electric pokemon that uses thunderwave or a pokemon that uses lick/body slam
Create Bonfire: any fire pokemon could use ember or something
Dancing Lights: litwicks appear around the room
Firebolt: any fire pokemon could do this
Frostbite: any ice pokemon
Greenblade flame: I imagine scyther coming out doing a hit one person then leaping to another for more damage but with the fire it could be Infernape or Rapidash (someone fast/bursty)
Guidance: I imagine a helping hand type of spell again
Light: numerous ways this could be played out
Lightning Lure: any electric type
Mage Hand: I imagine a psychic pokemon like Alakazam using a move to manipulate people
Magic Stone: maybe the television meowth comes out and says something idk lol
Mending: Good old Chansey comes out in her Pokecenter outfit or because this will mainly be used on your steel servant maybe you use klinks, klangs, or klinklangs to repair it
Message: meowth again? idk maybe chatot for this or magic stone
Posion spray: any poison type
Prestidigation: there's a lot of choices to do here
Resistance: a pokemon that knows aurora veil, crafty shield, flower shield, light screen, safeguard
Shocking Grasp: any electric type
Spare The Dying: not sure about this one tbh
Sword Burst: any pokemon attack for you
Thunderclap: any electric pokemon
For my homunculus servant and steel defender I'm really digging the idea of a Togetic flying around with the cure wounds spell that they could channel and I'd want to run my childhood favorite Rhyhorn to be my steel defender but Lairon feels more appropriate being steel and all. There's so many options for the HS/SD/Cantrips/Spells and what's great is you can change the appearance of how it's done whenever you please as long as you can sleep. I like the idea that the first two levels of my character I have these great ideas to have creatures come out and do my biddings, but that I can't get them to work for more than one use. They keep destroying/returning to orb form and I have to recast it again or rebuild it from the parts. At level 2 I have figured out how to keep a tiny homunculus servant around for longer than just one use. At level 3 I can make a bigger construct that is my steel servant.
What pokemon would you use for HS/SD/Cantrips/Spells if you made an artificer like this?
(Pls don't flame me for combining two things I love, I thought it would be fun and all the people in my group are Pokemon lovers too <3)
(I might abandon this idea because it is a little bit much I'll agree and I don't want it to feel like I'm playing a whole different game than everyone else at the table or that roleplaying classic D&D isn't enough and I need to add another universe into it. I think with good narration and explanation of what's going on I could make it seem less like me throwing a colorful, cartoony pokemon out and more of Tinkerbottom using steampunk-esque pokemon to do his work like the class leans so much towards.)
Would love feedback, hope y'all enjoyed reading!
Hi, I'm a little confused on what exactly you're looking for here, you mention not being sure whether to commit to it fully then go on to name a heap of spells and suitable Pokemon. I am a massive Pokemon fan but having Pokemon arbitrarily appearing in my D&D world as a fellow player would be a real immersion breaker and as a DM I'd wonder how well it matches the world I'm painting.
That said I don't think this is strictly a 'wrong' way to play the class so much as just needs a bit of debranding. Your flying homonculus, why not just make that a Togetic-esque creature of your imagination rather than just a straight copy of Togetic, same goes for Steel Defender you wanted Rhyhorn but picked Lairon to match the Steel part, why not just have a Steel Defender reminiscent of a Rhyhorn rather than hamstringing yourself into an arbritrary choice of Lairon. There is no spell in D&D I can think of which I can't think of some kind of Pokemon analogue to, but thinking of different creatures using each of these spells and describing them each time when you use them in real d&d play could fall anywhere from wasting a bit of time to self-indulgence. If your table is fine with it then it could be fine, but even as someone who flavours my spells and abilities in roleplay describing each spell as different creatures appearing each time (especially if you use the actual Pokemon names) sounds like it would get tiresome. Now if you had your two companions (HS/SD) using the appropriate spells at the appropriate times and use them like Pokemon would (out the mouth/wing etc) then you're Pokemon trainer adjacent and its not a huge twist to the game.
Also on an entirely side note, how did you decide on Frost Breath as Ray of Frost when Ice Beam is basically 1:1 synonym of the spell name ha.
Dabs led to me typing out a full list, happened before I knew lol. Which is also why that post doesn't quite say/ask what I wanted it to. Part of the original post was to just share "hey here's this idea for the battlesmith class that you could do if you wanted" and part of this was me saying "I am aware that this is going to detract from the game probably more so than it adds, someone tell me they think the same and tell me they wouldn't want it in their session."
So yeah I honestly 100% agree with you. One of the main reasons I went down this thought path is that my DM told me I needed to have names for my HM and SD because he was going to get confused. I already had the orbs for my figurine and I was like hmm I could just make them straight up pokemon. But like you said, it's gonna kinda mess up the immersion and I don't wanna do that.
I still think I'll keep the concept of having some of the cantrips/spells be creatures (that aren't pokemon) come out of the orbs and perform tasks for me. Some things just make more sense not being creatures though, like the grappling hook is a no brainer over having bulbasaur popping out or my goggles and magic reading device.
Thanks for the response! :)
If you want to get real silly with it, you could say you are a trainer that got isekai'd... Replicate Magic Item: Bag of Holding can function as the PC to retrieve what you need.
And who doesn't like a game of "who's that pokemon?"