We are going to be playing in Eberron settings all the way up to level 20. I am planning to play an Armorer, and being our party tank. I am wondering if it worth taking a 1 level dip into wizard, so I can gain Shield spell, but losing the level 20 feature "Soul of Artifice".
Also if I do go with wizard dip, would it be better to go 2 levels and get Arcane Deflection from War Magic school?
From personal experience with this combination, I can say that a single-level dip in wizard is immensely useful if one is a more utility-focused player who enjoys having options. Even just a first-level spellbook can cart around a ton of high-utility rituals; you can displace more situational spells into the wizard book or gain damaging spells not normally available to artificers, you get extra cantrips, and you get a jump start on your spell slot progression. The first level is cash money. The second level can be good, but generally doesn't offer the same bang for your buck as the first level of wizard does. War Magic can give you a lot, and the opportunity to pick up two more 'free' spells isn't wasted, but anything you could pick up for free, you could add to the book for two hundred gold as well. It comes down to how often you can't afford to fail a save and whether Arcane Deflection is worth the price.
Because there is a price. Artificers get awesome excellent shit every level, much like rogues and monks. Every level you take of Not-Artificer slows down your gaining of critical artificer features, such as your armor's Extra Attack, Flash of Genius, Magic Item Adept/Savant/Master, and delaying your Infusion progression. If you're anything like me, every level you take you'll look at what you would've gotten had you not taken the wizard level and cry into your soda just a little. Especially if your DM is particularly stingy with lewtz and your infusions are the only items you're ever likely to see.
If you're playing to 20, first of all, I'd suggest being prepared to not reach 20. Many people intend to play to 20 and never get there. But also? Even as powerful as Soul of Artifice is, I recommend weighing it lightly. Capstone features are phenomenal for the few hours of playtime you get to use them, but unless your DM is planning on playing for many sessions at 20, Soul of Artifice is basically a one-time deal. A one-level wizard dip gives you benefits all campaign long. The sacrifice is worth it in my opinion, but it will be painful. if you're one of those players that likes to focus extra-hard on doing one job well, as opposed to ghost *****es like me that want to be able to perform at least adequately in as many jobs as possible, you may want to reconsider.
Also worth noting: you can get a lot of the same mileage by taking the Magic Initiate feat (if you just want the Shield spell), or similar from taking things like Ritual Caster. And, I know that "why doesn't Armorer get Shield?" is/was kinda a meme around here, but they are plenty-good tanks without it, given Mirror Image and a potentially very high AC.
Ugh. Artificers are such nicely contained packages. But the utility is undeniably awesome. I probably wouldn't, but I don't think there is anything wrong with it mechanically. Just depends on what you want.
Yurei, if one were to dip, what do you think the best level to do it would be?
I started at 5, with a 4/1 split. That set me back some, I'll say - Battlesmith with no second attack sucks. Though that was before the Defender could hit what it punched more than one time in six, so maybe less of an issue now.
That said? It honestly might depend on the game. If the intent is to get Shield as a readily-available, cast-with-slots spell for better defense? You might consider it after Artificer 2, at character level 3. Get your utility up as early as realistically possible, gain the benefit of those extra spells and spell slots for shoring up your Shielding. Elsewise, probably character level 6 if the armor is a main frontliner and expected to be Big Boi Tanky McDamageman. Get your second punch, then take a wizard level.
Frankly, I'd likely favor the 3 thing. Get it over with as quickly as possible, suck up the loss and take your extra utility boosts as early as you can. If one is entertaining a second wizard level, I wouldn't take it until after Artificer 9 at the very least, and there's an argument for waiting until Artificer 11. But it depends in large part on party composition and what the player can afford to wait for the least. If he needs Shield, he needs Shield - waiting until T2 for it doesn't fly.
I came from the opposite side - Wizard with a 3 level dip into Artificer. Didn't matter much to me - the module we are playing is pretty easy and mostly played for the company etc, not the puzzle/challenge. The dip got me medium armor and the eldrich cannon as well as cure wounds and a few other "always known" spells (which is not to be underestimated - prepared spells for a wizard are quite low).
The main thing I am facing though, is that even though the spell slots are the same, he is still a 3-levels-lower wizard caster. Meaning he has 5th level spell slots, but no 5th level spells. In this game, no huge deal, but it is quite a power hit to the wizard and I am not sure the level dip was worth it in this case.
Coming from the Artificer side, Yurei knows more, but I agree with them. Artificer gets a lot of neat stuff each level. Might be interesting to think about why you wanted the wizard levels (ie/ rituals etc) and see if there are ways around it. Detect magic can be a wand for example. Of course this depends a lot on the game, but generally speaking I don't find multiclassing worth it.
We will be playing through Eberron: Oracle of War, I believe this goes from 1 to 20.
With 1 level dip I will gain arcane recovery, 2 cantrips 2 extra spell slots level 1 and access to additional level 1 spells, but will loose the up to 8 to all saving throws and up to 8 chances instead of being reduced to 0 to be reduced to 1 HP.
While saving throws and HP are very powerful I would gain these only at level 20, which I expect would be small % of total campaign, while extra spells and catnips could be used pretty much throughout the whole campaign...
Catnips are only useful if you're playing a leonid or a tabaxi. ;) And it's just +6 to your saving throws. Still, you're giving up something that will be useful pretty much all the time (+6 to saving throws) for something that might be useful sometimes at some point. You'll only gain a 6th level spell slot that you can only use to upcast spells with and that's at level 20. Arcane recovery only allows you to regain a first level spell slot. If that's what you're after you are better off taking the Magic Initiate feat which basically gives you the same thing but also two more cantrips.
The most important thing you lose though is your artificer level progression. You will always be one level worse than you could be. That's the bigges loss in my book.
The issue with taking Magic Initiate is that it destroys your ASI. If the character's stats are terrible and it needs fixing, delaying the ASI by one level to get a Wizard dip so you can do your +2 Intelligence may produce a better character faster than waiting until 8, 12, or 16 to patch up one's numbers.
It's all a game of tradeoffs and balances. Losing artificer progression sucks, I absolutely know that pain, but the extra utility Star has via her single wizard level has also saved my party's ass on multiple occasions. Would we have pulled through if I had two cantrips instead of 7+ (Story Shit), no ritual casting ability, and far fewer total spells in exchange for whatever feature I get from Artificer next? Who knows - but having those things has saved my carcass many a time.
Thinking about what you said Yurei, I'm actually quite fond of the idea of picking up the wizard level even sooner, at character level 2. Just go all in on getting it out of the way fast without sacrificing con proficiency.
@smerch: I don't think shield is necessary for you to build a successful tank out of the armorer. Definitely take the dip if the total package of what you get is appealing to you, but don't feel pressure to do it because of the role you want to play.
The issue with taking Magic Initiate is that it destroys your ASI. If the character's stats are terrible and it needs fixing, delaying the ASI by one level to get a Wizard dip so you can do your +2 Intelligence may produce a better character faster than waiting until 8, 12, or 16 to patch up one's numbers.
Artificer is the most SAD class there is and if you have crappy stats there are infusions that fix that. Multiclassing alsi delays ASIs so there's really no difference.
It's all a game of tradeoffs and balances. Losing artificer progression sucks, I absolutely know that pain, but the extra utility Star has via her single wizard level has also saved my party's ass on multiple occasions. Would we have pulled through if I had two cantrips instead of 7+ (Story Shit), no ritual casting ability, and far fewer total spells in exchange for whatever feature I get from Artificer next? Who knows - but having those things has saved my carcass many a time.
Artificers already have ritual casting. Or was there a specific situation where you needed to ritually cast a first level wizard spell? But yeah, if you have the wizard level you are probably going to make sure you use it. :)
Heh. To be fair, Lost, artificers need to have a ritual spell prepared to ritual-cast it. Wizards only need to have it in their book, which makes a single level of Wizard equivalent to about seventy percent of the Ritual Caster feat. Offloading all those rituals into the wizard book and then leaving them unprepared when I don't need to instacast them allows me to have a much wider array of options available to me . Heh, I always prefer more options to better options, but then I know and recognize that I vastly prefer to be that jack-of-all-trades gal with a tool in her pocket for every situation. It may not be the perfect tool, but I've got something that will help pretty much no matter what.
It is, however, absolutely valid to go straight Arty with no dips. If I had no Wizard level right now I'd be able to Arcane Jolt, and Arcane Jolt is real dang gud. It's a really flexible ability that helps out a lot and I'm super looking forward to it...at tenth level instead of ninth, because I went with a level of Magic Nerd. That stings, especially when the ninth-level palladalladingdong is Hasting his horse and getting ~5 attacks a round because our DM is super generous with Find Steed...
Heh. To be fair, Lost, artificers need to have a ritual spell prepared to ritual-cast it. Wizards only need to have it in their book, which makes a single level of Wizard equivalent to about seventy percent of the Ritual Caster feat.
Well, you can still only get level 1 spells in your wizard spell book so I honestly don't see it as that useful. Sure, there are some useful level 1 spells that can be cast ritually but I just think the utility of the artificer is a lot better and more useful.
There are actually a plethora of useful level 1 ritual spells. Having access to a bunch of them without having to prepare them is really nice for someone that wants to expand their on demand utility. The dip has good value.
A straight artificer will generally not have first-level (or anyth-level) rituals prepared, and thus will not typically have access to dungeon essentials like Detect Magic, Comprehend Languages, or Identify. Few artificers have room in their limited daily spell selection for such spells, and fewer still have room in their infusions for a Wand of Magic Detection. If your party does not have a wizard in it, taking a single level of wizard to broaden your options and handle the basic ritual needs of the party can be an excellent way to cover the gap. You can also do so with Ritual Caster, of course, but we've covered the ways Ritual Caster may or may not be better than a Wizard level.
Side note:
I actually quite like Ritual Caster for artificers, with the ritual book being less a Secret Tome of Arcane Lore and more of an Operator's Manual for devices the artificer needs to set up in the field to function properly. If ever you've wanted your artificer to be the crotchety, grumpy old grampa service mechanic who's fixed everything on the planet at least twice and can get your car, washing machine, TV, toaster, and/or marriage back into ship shape with a few hours' work, twenty pounds of muttered swearing, and copious plumber's crack? Ritual Caster and a satchel of one-shot 'Ritual Cast' equipment is a great way to get that sort of vibe.
Alternatively, if the party does have a wizard in it, and/or another character that already has ritual casting, the most party-useful piece of kit is already covered and there's less reason for the artificer to slow their progression to obtain things the party's already got. There's not no reason, plenty of times your group may benefit from being able to spend the same ten minutes on two rituals instead of one, and you still get all the same goodness from the Wizard dip you usually do. But like virtually all character building decisions in D&D, the answer is not a black and white "YES, MULTICLASS" or "NO, NEVER MULTICLASS", but rather "what sort of environment is this character in? Who are their companions? What's covered, and where is the party weak? What's the best way for me to help the team while also fulfilling my own goals in the adventure?"
For some folks, the answer is multiclassing. For others, the answer is reaching as deeply into artificer as they can. Neither answer is wrong, both are simply situational.
For me the answer was obvious, as my artificer's party does not contain one single full caster. We have a palladalladingdong, we have a monk, we have a fighter/wizard with emphasis on fighter, we have a half-rogue, half-ranger who's thinking of also being half-monk, and we have me - the artificer with a single level of wizard. I am the party's only real utility caster, with a bit of help from the fighter's wizard dip, so for me having the extra cantrips, the extra ritual capacity, and the broader daily selection of spells were all very worthwhile as I'm basically carrying the entire party's Utility Mage needs while the literally-everyone-else handles martial combat as well or better than my battlesmith.
If you're in the opposite situation - an artificer in a party with multiple full-progression spellcasters and only one, or even none, martial combatants? It would make more sense to focus on ways to improve the artificer's ability to bring da whuppin'. That's a question for an individual player to answer, though. Not Internet Randos.
There are actually a plethora of useful level 1 ritual spells. Having access to a bunch of them without having to prepare them is really nice for someone that wants to expand their on demand utility. The dip has good value.
I completely agree that there are numerous useful level 1 spells, I just don't agree that it would be worth it to lose on the Artificer progression. But it's all a matter of opinion. :)
A straight artificer will generally not have first-level (or anyth-level) rituals prepared, and thus will not typically have access to dungeon essentials like Detect Magic, Comprehend Languages, or Identify. Few artificers have room in their limited daily spell selection for such spells, and fewer still have room in their infusions for a Wand of Magic Detection. If your party does not have a wizard in it, taking a single level of wizard to broaden your options and handle the basic ritual needs of the party can be an excellent way to cover the gap. You can also do so with Ritual Caster, of course, but we've covered the ways Ritual Caster may or may not be better than a Wizard level.
Side note:
I actually quite like Ritual Caster for artificers, with the ritual book being less a Secret Tome of Arcane Lore and more of an Operator's Manual for devices the artificer needs to set up in the field to function properly. If ever you've wanted your artificer to be the crotchety, grumpy old grampa service mechanic who's fixed everything on the planet at least twice and can get your car, washing machine, TV, toaster, and/or marriage back into ship shape with a few hours' work, twenty pounds of muttered swearing, and copious plumber's crack? Ritual Caster and a satchel of one-shot 'Ritual Cast' equipment is a great way to get that sort of vibe.
Alternatively, if the party does have a wizard in it, and/or another character that already has ritual casting, the most party-useful piece of kit is already covered and there's less reason for the artificer to slow their progression to obtain things the party's already got. There's not no reason, plenty of times your group may benefit from being able to spend the same ten minutes on two rituals instead of one, and you still get all the same goodness from the Wizard dip you usually do. But like virtually all character building decisions in D&D, the answer is not a black and white "YES, MULTICLASS" or "NO, NEVER MULTICLASS", but rather "what sort of environment is this character in? Who are their companions? What's covered, and where is the party weak? What's the best way for me to help the team while also fulfilling my own goals in the adventure?"
Yeah, 5E is geared much more towards party optimization rather than character optimization.
For some folks, the answer is multiclassing. For others, the answer is reaching as deeply into artificer as they can. Neither answer is wrong, both are simply situational.
Of course it's situational. Never said it wasn't. I was just curious as to what, in your opinion, made ritual casting of 1st level spells valuable enough to give up so much of the artificer.
That's a question for an individual player to answer, though. Not Internet Randos.
Heh. Well to the answer of "what, in my opinion, makes ritual casting of first-level spells valuable enough to give up so much of the artificer", which is a valid point worthy of discussion.
It's not just the rituals. The wizard level also allows me to prepare six additional spells every day, including staples like Absorb Elements that don't need to clutter up my artificer spell preparations. The first-level spellbook lets me trend heavier on higher-level spells with the artificer, since my wizard level covers most of my first-level casting needs, and grants me greater freedom to take more esoteric artificer picks. It'd be even more important if I wasn't a Battlesmith and didn't have Shield auto-prepared, a'la Armorers. The ritual casting only augments that, since Dungeon Staple Rituals don't need to be prepared for me to use if they're in my spellbook. In effect, the wizard spellbook gives me access to ~10 spells (depending on how many rituals are in my book, and how many of them I prepare for quick-cast over another non-ritual spell) on the daily that I wouldn't otherwise have, in addition to three extra cantrips and technically qualifying for anything that requires attunement by a "sorcerer, wizard, or warlock" without having to wait until Artificer 14 to do it. The other ancillary benefits are good, but that huge heap of extra spells is what tipped it for me. Magic Initiate is good, but it's not between six to tennish extra daily spell selections in my repertoire.
It's also why I'm probably not going to take the second wizard level I was originally planning on until very late, if at all. The second level only nets me one additional daily spell, two more choices of first-level spell I could just scribe for 200gp instead, and a School feature that generally isn't nearly as impactful as the huge expansion of my spellcasting. Even the good schools like War Magic or Conjuration (my artificer's DM has ruled that items such as hand grenades or loaded pistols fulfill the requirements of the 'Minor Conjuration' feature, which makes that feature significantly more attractive). Any levels of wizard beyond the second steal my sixth attunement slot, on top of the increasing slowdown of artificer progression.
That's more the kind of deep dive I recommend for anyone thinking of multiclassing - what does it get you, is there another way to get it, what are you giving up, and is what you're gaining worth it?
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Hi all,
We are going to be playing in Eberron settings all the way up to level 20. I am planning to play an Armorer, and being our party tank. I am wondering if it worth taking a 1 level dip into wizard, so I can gain Shield spell, but losing the level 20 feature "Soul of Artifice".
Also if I do go with wizard dip, would it be better to go 2 levels and get Arcane Deflection from War Magic school?
Thanks!
From personal experience with this combination, I can say that a single-level dip in wizard is immensely useful if one is a more utility-focused player who enjoys having options. Even just a first-level spellbook can cart around a ton of high-utility rituals; you can displace more situational spells into the wizard book or gain damaging spells not normally available to artificers, you get extra cantrips, and you get a jump start on your spell slot progression. The first level is cash money. The second level can be good, but generally doesn't offer the same bang for your buck as the first level of wizard does. War Magic can give you a lot, and the opportunity to pick up two more 'free' spells isn't wasted, but anything you could pick up for free, you could add to the book for two hundred gold as well. It comes down to how often you can't afford to fail a save and whether Arcane Deflection is worth the price.
Because there is a price. Artificers get awesome excellent shit every level, much like rogues and monks. Every level you take of Not-Artificer slows down your gaining of critical artificer features, such as your armor's Extra Attack, Flash of Genius, Magic Item Adept/Savant/Master, and delaying your Infusion progression. If you're anything like me, every level you take you'll look at what you would've gotten had you not taken the wizard level and cry into your soda just a little. Especially if your DM is particularly stingy with lewtz and your infusions are the only items you're ever likely to see.
If you're playing to 20, first of all, I'd suggest being prepared to not reach 20. Many people intend to play to 20 and never get there. But also? Even as powerful as Soul of Artifice is, I recommend weighing it lightly. Capstone features are phenomenal for the few hours of playtime you get to use them, but unless your DM is planning on playing for many sessions at 20, Soul of Artifice is basically a one-time deal. A one-level wizard dip gives you benefits all campaign long. The sacrifice is worth it in my opinion, but it will be painful. if you're one of those players that likes to focus extra-hard on doing one job well, as opposed to ghost *****es like me that want to be able to perform at least adequately in as many jobs as possible, you may want to reconsider.
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Also worth noting: you can get a lot of the same mileage by taking the Magic Initiate feat (if you just want the Shield spell), or similar from taking things like Ritual Caster. And, I know that "why doesn't Armorer get Shield?" is/was kinda a meme around here, but they are plenty-good tanks without it, given Mirror Image and a potentially very high AC.
Ugh. Artificers are such nicely contained packages. But the utility is undeniably awesome. I probably wouldn't, but I don't think there is anything wrong with it mechanically. Just depends on what you want.
Yurei, if one were to dip, what do you think the best level to do it would be?
I started at 5, with a 4/1 split. That set me back some, I'll say - Battlesmith with no second attack sucks. Though that was before the Defender could hit what it punched more than one time in six, so maybe less of an issue now.
That said? It honestly might depend on the game. If the intent is to get Shield as a readily-available, cast-with-slots spell for better defense? You might consider it after Artificer 2, at character level 3. Get your utility up as early as realistically possible, gain the benefit of those extra spells and spell slots for shoring up your Shielding. Elsewise, probably character level 6 if the armor is a main frontliner and expected to be Big Boi Tanky McDamageman. Get your second punch, then take a wizard level.
Frankly, I'd likely favor the 3 thing. Get it over with as quickly as possible, suck up the loss and take your extra utility boosts as early as you can. If one is entertaining a second wizard level, I wouldn't take it until after Artificer 9 at the very least, and there's an argument for waiting until Artificer 11. But it depends in large part on party composition and what the player can afford to wait for the least. If he needs Shield, he needs Shield - waiting until T2 for it doesn't fly.
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I came from the opposite side - Wizard with a 3 level dip into Artificer. Didn't matter much to me - the module we are playing is pretty easy and mostly played for the company etc, not the puzzle/challenge. The dip got me medium armor and the eldrich cannon as well as cure wounds and a few other "always known" spells (which is not to be underestimated - prepared spells for a wizard are quite low).
The main thing I am facing though, is that even though the spell slots are the same, he is still a 3-levels-lower wizard caster. Meaning he has 5th level spell slots, but no 5th level spells. In this game, no huge deal, but it is quite a power hit to the wizard and I am not sure the level dip was worth it in this case.
Coming from the Artificer side, Yurei knows more, but I agree with them. Artificer gets a lot of neat stuff each level. Might be interesting to think about why you wanted the wizard levels (ie/ rituals etc) and see if there are ways around it. Detect magic can be a wand for example. Of course this depends a lot on the game, but generally speaking I don't find multiclassing worth it.
Just 2cp to give a different perspective.
Thank you all for these great points!
I think i'll just go with 1 level dip in wizard. Seems that gives most benefit!
Well, that depends entirely on if you go to level 20 or not. A few extra cantrips and spell levels really isn't worth everything you're giving up.
We will be playing through Eberron: Oracle of War, I believe this goes from 1 to 20.
With 1 level dip I will gain arcane recovery, 2 cantrips 2 extra spell slots level 1 and access to additional level 1 spells, but will loose the up to 8 to all saving throws and up to 8 chances instead of being reduced to 0 to be reduced to 1 HP.
While saving throws and HP are very powerful I would gain these only at level 20, which I expect would be small % of total campaign, while extra spells and catnips could be used pretty much throughout the whole campaign...
Catnips are only useful if you're playing a leonid or a tabaxi. ;) And it's just +6 to your saving throws. Still, you're giving up something that will be useful pretty much all the time (+6 to saving throws) for something that might be useful sometimes at some point. You'll only gain a 6th level spell slot that you can only use to upcast spells with and that's at level 20. Arcane recovery only allows you to regain a first level spell slot. If that's what you're after you are better off taking the Magic Initiate feat which basically gives you the same thing but also two more cantrips.
The most important thing you lose though is your artificer level progression. You will always be one level worse than you could be. That's the bigges loss in my book.
The issue with taking Magic Initiate is that it destroys your ASI. If the character's stats are terrible and it needs fixing, delaying the ASI by one level to get a Wizard dip so you can do your +2 Intelligence may produce a better character faster than waiting until 8, 12, or 16 to patch up one's numbers.
It's all a game of tradeoffs and balances. Losing artificer progression sucks, I absolutely know that pain, but the extra utility Star has via her single wizard level has also saved my party's ass on multiple occasions. Would we have pulled through if I had two cantrips instead of 7+ (Story Shit), no ritual casting ability, and far fewer total spells in exchange for whatever feature I get from Artificer next? Who knows - but having those things has saved my carcass many a time.
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Artificer is the most SAD class there is and if you have crappy stats there are infusions that fix that. Multiclassing alsi delays ASIs so there's really no difference.
Artificers already have ritual casting. Or was there a specific situation where you needed to ritually cast a first level wizard spell? But yeah, if you have the wizard level you are probably going to make sure you use it. :)
Thank you all!
I think for now I'll go pure artificer and if it proves that I need shield then I'll dip into wizard.
Heh. To be fair, Lost, artificers need to have a ritual spell prepared to ritual-cast it. Wizards only need to have it in their book, which makes a single level of Wizard equivalent to about seventy percent of the Ritual Caster feat. Offloading all those rituals into the wizard book and then leaving them unprepared when I don't need to instacast them allows me to have a much wider array of options available to me . Heh, I always prefer more options to better options, but then I know and recognize that I vastly prefer to be that jack-of-all-trades gal with a tool in her pocket for every situation. It may not be the perfect tool, but I've got something that will help pretty much no matter what.
It is, however, absolutely valid to go straight Arty with no dips. If I had no Wizard level right now I'd be able to Arcane Jolt, and Arcane Jolt is real dang gud. It's a really flexible ability that helps out a lot and I'm super looking forward to it...at tenth level instead of ninth, because I went with a level of Magic Nerd. That stings, especially when the ninth-level palladalladingdong is Hasting his horse and getting ~5 attacks a round because our DM is super generous with Find Steed...
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Well, you can still only get level 1 spells in your wizard spell book so I honestly don't see it as that useful. Sure, there are some useful level 1 spells that can be cast ritually but I just think the utility of the artificer is a lot better and more useful.
There are actually a plethora of useful level 1 ritual spells. Having access to a bunch of them without having to prepare them is really nice for someone that wants to expand their on demand utility. The dip has good value.
A straight artificer will generally not have first-level (or anyth-level) rituals prepared, and thus will not typically have access to dungeon essentials like Detect Magic, Comprehend Languages, or Identify. Few artificers have room in their limited daily spell selection for such spells, and fewer still have room in their infusions for a Wand of Magic Detection. If your party does not have a wizard in it, taking a single level of wizard to broaden your options and handle the basic ritual needs of the party can be an excellent way to cover the gap. You can also do so with Ritual Caster, of course, but we've covered the ways Ritual Caster may or may not be better than a Wizard level.
Side note:
I actually quite like Ritual Caster for artificers, with the ritual book being less a Secret Tome of Arcane Lore and more of an Operator's Manual for devices the artificer needs to set up in the field to function properly. If ever you've wanted your artificer to be the crotchety, grumpy old grampa service mechanic who's fixed everything on the planet at least twice and can get your car, washing machine, TV, toaster, and/or marriage back into ship shape with a few hours' work, twenty pounds of muttered swearing, and copious plumber's crack? Ritual Caster and a satchel of one-shot 'Ritual Cast' equipment is a great way to get that sort of vibe.
Alternatively, if the party does have a wizard in it, and/or another character that already has ritual casting, the most party-useful piece of kit is already covered and there's less reason for the artificer to slow their progression to obtain things the party's already got. There's not no reason, plenty of times your group may benefit from being able to spend the same ten minutes on two rituals instead of one, and you still get all the same goodness from the Wizard dip you usually do. But like virtually all character building decisions in D&D, the answer is not a black and white "YES, MULTICLASS" or "NO, NEVER MULTICLASS", but rather "what sort of environment is this character in? Who are their companions? What's covered, and where is the party weak? What's the best way for me to help the team while also fulfilling my own goals in the adventure?"
For some folks, the answer is multiclassing. For others, the answer is reaching as deeply into artificer as they can. Neither answer is wrong, both are simply situational.
For me the answer was obvious, as my artificer's party does not contain one single full caster. We have a palladalladingdong, we have a monk, we have a fighter/wizard with emphasis on fighter, we have a half-rogue, half-ranger who's thinking of also being half-monk, and we have me - the artificer with a single level of wizard. I am the party's only real utility caster, with a bit of help from the fighter's wizard dip, so for me having the extra cantrips, the extra ritual capacity, and the broader daily selection of spells were all very worthwhile as I'm basically carrying the entire party's Utility Mage needs while the literally-everyone-else handles martial combat as well or better than my battlesmith.
If you're in the opposite situation - an artificer in a party with multiple full-progression spellcasters and only one, or even none, martial combatants? It would make more sense to focus on ways to improve the artificer's ability to bring da whuppin'. That's a question for an individual player to answer, though. Not Internet Randos.
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I completely agree that there are numerous useful level 1 spells, I just don't agree that it would be worth it to lose on the Artificer progression. But it's all a matter of opinion. :)
Yeah, 5E is geared much more towards party optimization rather than character optimization.
Of course it's situational. Never said it wasn't. I was just curious as to what, in your opinion, made ritual casting of 1st level spells valuable enough to give up so much of the artificer.
Couldn't have said it better myself. :)
Heh. Well to the answer of "what, in my opinion, makes ritual casting of first-level spells valuable enough to give up so much of the artificer", which is a valid point worthy of discussion.
It's not just the rituals. The wizard level also allows me to prepare six additional spells every day, including staples like Absorb Elements that don't need to clutter up my artificer spell preparations. The first-level spellbook lets me trend heavier on higher-level spells with the artificer, since my wizard level covers most of my first-level casting needs, and grants me greater freedom to take more esoteric artificer picks. It'd be even more important if I wasn't a Battlesmith and didn't have Shield auto-prepared, a'la Armorers. The ritual casting only augments that, since Dungeon Staple Rituals don't need to be prepared for me to use if they're in my spellbook. In effect, the wizard spellbook gives me access to ~10 spells (depending on how many rituals are in my book, and how many of them I prepare for quick-cast over another non-ritual spell) on the daily that I wouldn't otherwise have, in addition to three extra cantrips and technically qualifying for anything that requires attunement by a "sorcerer, wizard, or warlock" without having to wait until Artificer 14 to do it. The other ancillary benefits are good, but that huge heap of extra spells is what tipped it for me. Magic Initiate is good, but it's not between six to tennish extra daily spell selections in my repertoire.
It's also why I'm probably not going to take the second wizard level I was originally planning on until very late, if at all. The second level only nets me one additional daily spell, two more choices of first-level spell I could just scribe for 200gp instead, and a School feature that generally isn't nearly as impactful as the huge expansion of my spellcasting. Even the good schools like War Magic or Conjuration (my artificer's DM has ruled that items such as hand grenades or loaded pistols fulfill the requirements of the 'Minor Conjuration' feature, which makes that feature significantly more attractive). Any levels of wizard beyond the second steal my sixth attunement slot, on top of the increasing slowdown of artificer progression.
That's more the kind of deep dive I recommend for anyone thinking of multiclassing - what does it get you, is there another way to get it, what are you giving up, and is what you're gaining worth it?
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