Salutations,

I loved Spelljammer when it first came out.  Hopefully, the “new” Version will be better than some recent items.

In 5E, artificers seem to be the class I keep coming back to.  I love steampunk and this fits right into that background. 

Inventions, mechanical contraptions, and all the other mechanical marvels just scream to be to be involved in space.

Spelljammer ships have a weakness in, during long voyages, especially after several encounters, will need repairs.   A damaged ship could mean slower travel, meaning longer time in space, meaning more encounters, meaning more damage.

For a ship to have a way to repair while underway was a huge advantage and extremely rare. 

Enter the Artificer.  Able to effect repairs as well as upgrade things on the ship. 

I’m not great at making homebrew templates, but would like to make a subclass and flesh this out more.    

Any input for this template would be appreciated.  

While it's a fun thing to think about, the main difficulty for creating a sub-class from it is that "ship repair" feels a bit thin as a concept, as all artificers (even alchemists) already have a lot of tools to help with this.

Your Armorers and Battle Smiths already get smith's tools proficiency on top of tinker's tools, thieves' tools and the free extra choice (woodcarver's tools?). All artificers have infusions that can help, such as homunculus servant to fly to those hard to reach places, and so-on.

And of course D&D doesn't really have a proper repair mechanic for vehicles, unless Spelljammer includes one, so technically they can just long rest themselves back to full health like any other "creature". It would feel weird to me to limit repair skill/mastery to a single sub-class though; spellcasters with some relevant tool proficiencies (or a crew that has them) who is familiar with the mechanisms should also be able to fix a Spelljammer IMO.

So really if you're building an Artificer for a Spelljammer the question is whether you want a combat pet, power armour, to be a one-person broadside, or to also be the ship's surgeon.

Beyond that, the first question for a new sub-class should be "what can you on in addition to being a steampunk inventor?" Maybe if the sub-class were specifically themed around some kind of arcane mechanism of some kind, that might make sense why it would be ideal for Spelljammer repair? I've no specific ideas on how something like that might operate though.

Quote from Haravikk >>

While it's a fun thing to think about, the main difficulty for creating a sub-class from it is that "ship repair" feels a bit thin as a concept, as all artificers (even alchemists) already have a lot of tools to help with this.

Your Armorers and Battle Smiths already get smith's tools proficiency on top of tinker's tools, thieves' tools and the free extra choice (woodcarver's tools?). All artificers have infusions that can help, such as homunculus servant to fly to those hard to reach places, and so-on.

And of course D&D doesn't really have a proper repair mechanic for vehicles, unless Spelljammer includes one, so technically they can just long rest themselves back to full health like any other "creature". It would feel weird to me to limit repair skill/mastery to a single sub-class though; spellcasters with some relevant tool proficiencies (or a crew that has them) who is familiar with the mechanisms should also be able to fix a Spelljammer IMO.

So really if you're building an Artificer for a Spelljammer the question is whether you want a combat pet, power armour, to be a one-person broadside, or to also be the ship's surgeon.

Beyond that, the first question for a new sub-class should be "what can you on in addition to being a steampunk inventor?" Maybe if the sub-class were specifically themed around some kind of arcane mechanism of some kind, that might make sense why it would be ideal for Spelljammer repair? I've no specific ideas on how something like that might operate though.

 Salutations Haravikk,  

Thanks for the input / insight.    

In the original Spelljammer, any repairs of significance had to have a shipwright, specifically a shipwright with knowledge of Spelljammer ships.   On Oerth (Greyhawk) there were only 2.   There were many other shipwrights on the planet, but for spelljammer repairs it was only those two.     The modules etc, alluded to the exotic nature of most of the ships.   If your ship was of a “normal” sea going vessel type, any shipwright would do, but for a hammer ship or another similarly exotic ship, it was harder to repair.

Also, it wasn’t only about the design of the ship.   It had a lot to do with the type of materials in some cases. 

True, artificers already have a lot of options, on the ground.    What I’m attempting to come up with is something with a more space-centric vibe.   Attributes, skills, etc specifically for space.

I have everything printed for spelljammer, including books, so I’m re-reading the material looking for specifics.

The idea of a broadsider got my attention as well as ships surgeon.  Will definitely be exploring those more.

Thanks again for the input, much appreciated. 

I would suggest a shipwright/pilot, an artificer specialized in building and piloting  vehicles.  Their main schtick could be the ability to animate and enhance size L and smaller vehicles with a focus on movement and defense.  These vehicles could be anything from landing craft to small walker mechs.

If you don't want to build an entire new subclass you can always re-flavour what the artificers already can do. Let the battle smiths arcane jolt allow repairs on ships or have the potion of the Alchemist help improve the performance of the ship in a suitable manner. Artillerist can easily boost the offensive capabilities of a ship, armorers could perhaps connect their armour to the ship allowing for better steering?

Quote from Xamiel>>

The idea of a broadsider got my attention as well as ships surgeon.  Will definitely be exploring those more.

Just to clarify, as I realise I probably didn't make my point very well, but by broadsider and ship's surgeon here I was referring to reflavouring Artillerist and Alchemist. My overall point, that I don't think I was very clear on either is that specialising in Spelljammers is something that could probably come mostly from your background/backstory. Like you say, there are very few specialists, so that's probably decades of training in their history to do it.

In that respect actually "Spelljammer Technician" or such might make more sense as a background, with a background feature that gives you some boost to repairing Spelljammers specifically (or gives you the specialist knowledge required to even attempt it). This way you don't need the complexity of a full sub-class, and other classes can become technicians (or whatever) as well. This would even open it up to non-casters, if you assume that it's possible to repair one using spare parts on top of the highly specialist knowledge of how to do so properly; that might conflict with the old lore, but it would open it up to more players which is usually a good thing.

I really like waddingsly's idea of a vehicle oriented Artificer sub-class though; again, not 100% sure what the specific features might look like, but it seems like the right kind of angle to take, i.e- you want an Artificer sub-class that can used to build an ace Spelljammer engineer as well as other character ideas, rather than a sub-class where that's all it can do.

I wouldn't necessarily even limit it to Large or smaller vehicles, it could maybe focus on something like additive bonuses; for example, maybe if you spend a short or long rest working on a vehicle you give it a class level scaled buffer of temporary hit-points to increase durability? Maybe you could grant advantage on checks to control/operate it (representing some kind of enhancements you are able to make for the chosen pilot/driver). That kind of thing?

It's a fool's errand trying to do this before we have any rules for Spelljamming ships, but even once we do, I suspect the low-hanging fruit won't be a new subclass, it'll be infusions and spells specifically for aiding the ship.  Ghosts of Saltmarsh and Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus suggest we'll be given models and upgrades to use as a baseline for homebrew.

Here are some sample made-up Artificer infusions for you infuse the ship with (remember, once it's a magic item, it has resistance to all damage types in addition to the immunity to poison and psychic all objects have) emphasizing that we have no idea how Spelljammer ships will work:

• Vigilant: All creatures and objects within 120' of the ship are immune to the invisible condition.  Assuming we have rules for a ship's air and heat supplies, reduce both by an appropriate amount to fuel the magic lanterns doing this.
• Adamant: Increase the ship's base AC to 21 if lower and it turns critical hits into normal hits.  Assuming we have rules for ship speed, apply an appropriate modifier slowing the ship down (and, if possible, making it harder to turn).
• Living: At Initiative count 0, losing all ties, the ship regenerates 1 hit point unless it suffered necrotic damage this round.  The ship now consumes food and water (it needs as much per day as a gargantuan creature would).

Quote from quindraco >>

It's a fool's errand trying to do this before we have any rules for Spelljamming ships, but even once we do, I suspect the low-hanging fruit won't be a new subclass, it'll be infusions and spells specifically for aiding the ship.  Ghosts of Saltmarsh and Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus suggest we'll be given models and upgrades to use as a baseline for homebrew.

Here are some sample made-up Artificer infusions for you infuse the ship with (remember, once it's a magic item, it has resistance to all damage types in addition to the immunity to poison and psychic all objects have) emphasizing that we have no idea how Spelljammer ships will work:

• Vigilant: All creatures and objects within 120' of the ship are immune to the invisible condition.  Assuming we have rules for a ship's air and heat supplies, reduce both by an appropriate amount to fuel the magic lanterns doing this.
• Adamant: Increase the ship's base AC to 21 if lower and it turns critical hits into normal hits.  Assuming we have rules for ship speed, apply an appropriate modifier slowing the ship down (and, if possible, making it harder to turn).
• Living: At Initiative count 0, losing all ties, the ship regenerates 1 hit point unless it suffered necrotic damage this round.  The ship now consumes food and water (it needs as much per day as a gargantuan creature would).

 Salutations quindraco.

Interesting input.   Granted, I’m old to D&D, but new to 5E, so I’m not sure how large of an object infusions can affect.   Spelljammer ships weigh into the tons and the smallest crewed by 1 but typically 3+.  (Now I have to re read all the things about infusions).   Where is the reference located regarding magic items being: “…resistance to all damage types ….etc.”

Here is where my “old” kicks in.   Typically, magic items would have saving throws vs whatever was thrown at them, but a hammer would still break a wand, staff, bow, etc.   Artifacts were the only ones impervious to “normal” types of damage and had very specific ways they could be destroyed.   So, I’m curious where that comes from.  <adding to the research list>

There are rules for ships air envelope, speed, movement classification.    How these rules will change remains to be seen, but they do exist.

In regards to your “Living” infusion.   Even back in the late 80’s, we were working on a living ship idea.  Then Farscape came out and we got excited all over again.   Alas, none ever made it to the table.   The closest they had in the first printing of Spelljammer were the elven ships and later the Bat ship. (Look that up for scary evil).

Thank you for your input and for the infusion ideas.   Much appreciated. 

Greetings all.

So far, I’m getting great ideas and feedback.   Your input is very much appreciated. 

Ive been trying to narrow down what I’m actually aiming to do here.    Based on a few of your ideas, I have a bit better idea of where I’m heading.

Though, at first, I was thinking of the engineer aspect, keeping inline with the steampunk inventor/experimenter idea.   Scotty meets steampunk type engineer.  Primary function, keep the ship running at optimum and make repairs when in deep space or the Phlo’. 

Adding to the existing subs of artificer, a list of new skills, sounds like a better, easier way to do it.

The original has so many space-specific items, skills and character kits.  I guess, refitting them into 5E would be simpler as the templates are already in existence.

Keep the ideas coming though, like I said, I’m new to this 5E thing and still learning.

Your patience and ideas are very much welcome and appreciated. 

Thank you.