Cartographer Builds?

I really only just saw the new UA, and it looks really cool! Especially the ability to charge magic items, I thought that was a necessity. Of course there are other "okay" or "poor" changes with it. However, I am definitely more interested in putting the new Cartographer subclass to good use and optimization (my DMs are generally pretty lax when it comes to using UA). A caster-leaning subclass that, if given the right proficiencies via other measures, could actually make a pretty good warrior. Does anyone have any ideas on how to use it effectively? Optimized or flavorful character builds?

My take is that it has a couple interesting tricks but nothing that another class couldn't do far better.  Could have a bit of potential as a dip for another class, but only if you are planning a heist or something.  Otherwise most of the tricks a cartographer brings to the table are REALLY situational.  And pretty much regardless of feats, without multiclassing, you are not going to make a competent caster or basher out of it.  Less of a gish, more of a gishn't.

I like the subclass but it needs a bit of tweaking to play into the stealth/scouting aspects it lends itself to. The Faerie Fire ability it awesome but it should be invisible Faerie Fire so that it can be used as an radar of sorts when cast a head or an alarm when cast behind.

For builds I think a Scribes Wizard with the Cartographer would be pretty lethal. The map could be given to your spellbook which can act as a drone exploring 600ft in front of the party. Then you can modify your spells and yadda yadda. The two classes sort of just fit.

Quote from heydanseegil >>

I like the subclass but it needs a bit of tweaking to play into the stealth/scouting aspects it lends itself to. The Faerie Fire ability it awesome but it should be invisible Faerie Fire so that it can be used as an radar of sorts when cast a head or an alarm when cast behind.

For builds I think a Scribes Wizard with the Cartographer would be pretty lethal. The map could be given to your spellbook which can act as a drone exploring 600ft in front of the party. Then you can modify your spells and yadda yadda. The two classes sort of just fit.

 
Agreed. The whole point of radar is that you can see enemies before they can see you, and act on that knowledge. But if they can see Faerie Fire being cast, they are bound to know something is amiss and/or that they are being targeted.

That would be a really cool build, especially since you can cast spells targeting allies with your maps without seeing them, and from your Manifest Mind's position. Fitting indeed.

But the true question, Does the Cartographer's level 3 feature to cut scribing time in half stack with the scribes wizards feature that does the same thing? , essentially scribing scrolls in 1/4 of the normal time?

Yes it does. And then you add in a helper to cut that in half again for even faster crafting of scrolls.

Just remember, that any helper needs to also have the spell being scribed prepared the same as the main crafter

I am playing with an all Artificer party and wanted to have a Cartographer (for the Initiative Advantage) and as a Skirmisher since the teleport seems really nice and Fairie Fire seems like a great support spell. However, after Level 3 the Cartographer kind of petered out so I wanted to multi-class.

As I fleshed out the build I first added Rogue-Thief to maximize scroll and magic item use - and I realized the power of Sneak Attack.

As I continued to explore, I developed our party strategy whcih is mainly control-focused with push and pull into AoEs. I wanted to use Fog Cloud or Darkness to provide cover and protect the Cartographer (rogue bonus action hide) since he was squishy.

I wound up adding Warlock(5) to get a bunch of useful invocations and spells (getting Hunger of Hadar for the party is really critical but Devil's Sight and other invocations really powered-up the character as well).

In the end I wondered what was left of the Cartographer (and when to take Artificer levels) but the teleport and Fairie Fire features are still quite powerful but I need to get them added to the character before levels get too high. 

Unless you play with the alternative lvl 20 capstone, cartographer only realy has power from halfling scroll crafting, the only other power spike, comes from artificer itself, with base class features.

And mostly in combat, is the lvl 11 spell storing item, where you abuse it with call lightning with a familiar + homunculus + domestic wonder + flying wonder, stacking 5 call lightnings at the same time to rain down lightning.

All off which is completely reliant on spell storing item.

other than the lvl 3 cartographer features, the lvl 5 feature ads int damage, but unless you are abusing mechanics, it's shit all the way after.

Cartographer is one of the only subclasses that you never want to lvl past lvl 3, unless you REALY want spell storing item, and the base class is enough. Every other subclass has at least something that is cool in a combat or thematic way, but cartographer in 99% only a thing for halfling the speed of crafting unfortunately, it's shit compared to the rest

Sounds like some sort of cartographer + rogue multiclass might be the best option!

Cartographer offers a few important power ups:
Mobility is excellent for the Cartographer.  You have the ability to get to different places with minimal action economy impact.  Ingenius movement and safe haven extend those to the rest of the map holders.  How is this valuable?  Really difficult to quantify but mobility is a very underrated area of play.

Working with players in darkness/full obscurement.  Darkness bubble warlocks and blind fighters can be terrible to play with.  You can't help them in their bubble.  This allows you to do so and allows those players to lean into those playstyles with better coordination.

Scroll crafting.  Just excellent.  Half time is a big change.  If your campaign supports crafting this can be big.

On tap Faerie Fire if leaned into supports the DPR of the rest of the party while keeping your slots clean for use in other ways.

What can't you do?  Its not great for damage.  You will do relatively bad damage.  FF will eat your first turn in a lot of combats and you don't get a damage bump that ever really puts you on par with martials.  As a caster you are limited by your half caster slot progression and you don't get anything of the significant power of fireball/lightning bolt/conjure barrage to give you a boost at 9th level or with the spell storing item at 11th.  I

Its a fun subclass for a creative player, but a creative player will probably enjoy something else more.

I started playing an armorer when the first UA came out. When the new ua with the cartographer came out, it seemed like a really cool class, but it kinda peters out in the middle a bjt.

I think this might add some oomph: At some mid level (artificer 7?), they get 1 free casting of the Scatter spell per long rest. And the number of free casting goes up at artificer level 14 and 17. Or so.

I dont think that would be too op. It would be one of those oof, we need a battle formation, go! Moments. Most times a nice additoon. Once in a blue moon it saves the party from tpk.

Playing something like a wizard, i never felt like Scatter was powerful enough to prepare, but if you give it to a half-caster artificer, i think a player could do some really cool things with it

Rogue is a great class, and the level 3 Fast Hands from the Thief Rogue is pretty good, letting you activate powerful items with a bonus action, especially in a setting with a lot of access to magic items. But giving up three levels of Artificer for it is pretty expensive. I have a straight Cartographer build with some extra magic from feats and an All-Purpose Tool and I'm super happy with it so far.

I realized that Echo Knight Fighter has very similar movement / teleport capabilities as Cartographer.