If my spell casting focus was my armor, would I still need to have an empty hand to wield it? Also, with replicate magic item, could I replicate plate mail armor By replicating say Cast off armor or smoldering armor and choosing the Plate mail variant? Would that armor become an arcane focus due to how artificer arcane focuses work? Can I use green flame blade with my thunder gauntlets if I’m using armourer artificer? Can I wield a shield if I’m using armorer artificer even though I’m technically also holding a simple melee weapon in the form of thunder gauntlets? Can I create infinite familiars with the spellwrought tattoo? Can I throw and break Oil flasks using catapult spell? Does enhances arcane focus increase spell damage? Can I cast shocking grasp through my familiar? For armorer, does my intelligence modifier apply also to the extra once per turn instance of damage? When I have unequipped armor, can I just drag it around instead of carrying it on me and using my push/drag power? Can I make others armor be arcane armor? Can I instead of carrying equipment , drag that equipment around in a sack to save on carrying encumberence. Can I **make** guns as an artificer? What tools would I need? What are your favorite tool proficiencies? I’m thinking cartographer or navigator but idk so I’m asking for opinions.
what is in your opinion the best feat to use with an artificer? I’m thinking of using the telepathic feat, I’ve heard good things about it from friends. Or even fey touched?
You never need to wield any focus, including focus armor. You need to "hold" it, but any GM telling you that when you're wearing a focus as a gauntlet you still need an extra step beyond clenching your fist to count as holding it is reading the rules abusively.
Yes, you can infuse plate, but just so we're clear, infusing cast-off armor into chain won't turn the chain into plate, it'll make cast-off chain. You'd need to target plate with the infusion to get plate with the infusion.
Yes, any and all of your infusions can be used as foci, including armor.
Green Flame Blade and Booming Blade cause a rules explosion when you attempt to use them with thunder gauntlets, because the cost/price/worth of the gauntlets is unknown - you're asking if they cost at least 1 silver, and the answer is ask your GM. Some GMs will rule that of course gauntlets cost at least a silver, some will rule that they cost less.
Yes, you can wear a shield while wearing a Defender suit.
You can create infinite familiars with Spellwrought Tattoo, one per recipient, as per the spell rules - that is, you can walk around a village, giving everyone a tat, and then everyone gets a familiar. The tat was the infusion, so when the tat is consumed to make the familiar, your infusion is "free" once more, and you can make a new tat without anything adverse happening to the pre-existing familiar(s).
The catapult spell will damage the oil flask, so it's a question of the hit points of the flask, which are up to your GM. Note that what happens to the oil if the flask is destroyed - e.g. splashing onto the spell target, falling to the ground, etc - is also up to your GM.
EAF does not increase spell damage.
You can cast shocking grasp through your familiar, which is particularly popular if you're also an elf with elven accuracy. EDIT: to be clear, when your familiar delivers it, the feat doesn't apply, but if you have the feat anyway, it's a good spell to have in your pocket for when you deliver it yourself.
Your intelligence modifier will apply to the Lightning attack regardless of whether or not you add the bonus damage - so, if you're int 20 and have extra attack, you make two shots. One deals 1d6+5 and one deals 1d6+1d6+5, and you can choose after hitting to add the bonus damage.
Yes, you can carry an unequipped armor suit. For armorer specifically, Arcane Armor ceases to be Arcane Armor when you put another suit on, not when you take the suit off.
You can make a suit of arcane armor without putting it on. The rules under Arcane Armor only apply to you while you're wearing it. My interpretation of the Armor Model rule is that using Int instead of Str or Dex is also you-only - it's a subclass ability you have that works with the suit, not a feature of the suit - but the rules text explaining Guardian and Infiltrator suit is item rules text, not subclass rules text, so the "you" is generic. Defensive Field is useless on a non-Artificer, but Thunder Gauntlets and all of Infiltrator should work ok. Remember, as soon as you put on any armor, the arcane armor will cease to be arcane armor. As always with armor rules, your GM will need to house rule whether or not a shield counts as armor in this context - the game breaks if shields are always armor or never armor.
You can drag anything around in a large enough sack, if you're strong enough. Your GM will determine at what rate you damage the sack.
You can make guns as an artificer, if you're playing with the optional firearms rules. Per Xanathar's, the general answer for weapons is smith's tools proficiency, smith's tools, raw resources equal to half the cost of the firearm, and "proper equipment", which in this case, if I were your GM, I'd rule as being a forge. If you also had woodcarver's tools (proficiency and item), as your GM I'd 100% let you add a wooden stock with custom engraving.
Don't forget, some tools, like navigator's tools, aren't artisan's tools, which may not interact with a rule you may have in mind as you want it to. My favorite non-artisan's tool proficiency is thieves tools, which you get for free from the class anyway. My favorite artisan's tool is probably alchemist's supplies, as without any feats spent, they're the only artisan's tool that lets you make things without any additional time spent (just a long rest you were taking anyway), so you can just buy certain things for half cost that have actual game rules - acid, fire, oil, and antitoxin. The only other tool I can think of that also lets you produce without extra time is cook's utensils, which let you make meals as part of a short rest, but the meals have no rules. You need to spend a feat on Chef to make something that has rules with that tool.
What feat is best depends a lot on the artificer - for example, I would very seriously consider Bountiful Luck if I were a Halfling Battlesmith, and I would also consider crossbow mastery; I would consider neither of those if I were a Tiefling Artillerist. I can't tell you what feat is best for artificers, although Lucky is good on everyone if you're really struggling to think of an interesting one.
You never need to wield any focus, including focus armor. You need to "hold" it, but any GM telling you that when you're wearing a focus as a gauntlet you still need an extra step beyond clenching your fist to count as holding it is reading the rules abusively.
That distinction is immaterial. If you are not holding a focus, you need to use the "interact with your environment" pseudo-action to start holding it. (But yes, you generally count as holding a gauntlet you are wearing on your hand. The same is not strictly true for the rest of your armor, e.g. a breastplate.)
You can create infinite familiars with Spellwrought Tattoo, one per recipient, as per the spell rules - that is, you can walk around a village, giving everyone a tat, and then everyone gets a familiar. The tat was the infusion, so when the tat is consumed to make the familiar, your infusion is "free" once more, and you can make a new tat without anything adverse happening to the pre-existing familiar(s).
If and only if your DM allows tattoos as infusions (this is debated, in part because of this exact use case). And it would still be, at best, one familiar per day, as you can only (re)make the infusion at the end of a long rest.
Don't forget, some tools, like navigator's tools, aren't artisan's tools, which may not interact with a rule you may have in mind as you want it to. My favorite non-artisan's tool proficiency is thieves tools, which you get for free from the class anyway. My favorite artisan's tool is probably alchemist's supplies, as without any feats spent, they're the only artisan's tool that lets you make things without any additional time spent (just a long rest you were taking anyway), so you can just buy certain things for half cost that have actual game rules - acid, fire, oil, and antitoxin. The only other tool I can think of that also lets you produce without extra time is cook's utensils, which let you make meals as part of a short rest, but the meals have no rules. You need to spend a feat on Chef to make something that has rules with that tool.
Per Xanathar's, you can do a similar cooking thing with Cook's Utensils, without the feat (basically, food that adds healing to short rests). If using those rules, I suggest they stack with the feat, as to not make the feat dumb. Also per Xanathar's, Woodcarver's Tools can be used to make arrows during rests.
You never need to wield any focus, including focus armor. You need to "hold" it, but any GM telling you that when you're wearing a focus as a gauntlet you still need an extra step beyond clenching your fist to count as holding it is reading the rules abusively.
That distinction is immaterial. If you are not holding a focus, you need to use the "interact with your environment" pseudo-action to start holding it. (But yes, you generally count as holding a gauntlet you are wearing on your hand. The same is not strictly true for the rest of your armor, e.g. a breastplate.)
You can create infinite familiars with Spellwrought Tattoo, one per recipient, as per the spell rules - that is, you can walk around a village, giving everyone a tat, and then everyone gets a familiar. The tat was the infusion, so when the tat is consumed to make the familiar, your infusion is "free" once more, and you can make a new tat without anything adverse happening to the pre-existing familiar(s).
If and only if your DM allows tattoos as infusions (this is debated, in part because of this exact use case). And it would still be, at best, one familiar per day, as you can only (re)make the infusion at the end of a long rest.
Don't forget, some tools, like navigator's tools, aren't artisan's tools, which may not interact with a rule you may have in mind as you want it to. My favorite non-artisan's tool proficiency is thieves tools, which you get for free from the class anyway. My favorite artisan's tool is probably alchemist's supplies, as without any feats spent, they're the only artisan's tool that lets you make things without any additional time spent (just a long rest you were taking anyway), so you can just buy certain things for half cost that have actual game rules - acid, fire, oil, and antitoxin. The only other tool I can think of that also lets you produce without extra time is cook's utensils, which let you make meals as part of a short rest, but the meals have no rules. You need to spend a feat on Chef to make something that has rules with that tool.
Per Xanathar's, you can do a similar cooking thing with Cook's Utensils, without the feat (basically, food that adds healing to short rests). If using those rules, I suggest they stack with the feat, as to not make the feat dumb. Also per Xanathar's, Woodcarver's Tools can be used to make arrows during rests.
Thanks for pointing that out about cook's utensils, I missed the text about the bonus point of healing! Yes, that makes cook's utensils one of the best artisan's tools, in my opinion. Most of the crafting rules are tragically bad.
There's no question the RAW supports Spellwrought Tattoo infusions - GMs may houserule against that, but of course I can't know the mind of this player's GM. Universally, for literally any rules question, the answer always has the caveat "your GM may override this". I'm playing in a campaign right now where my GM deliberately buffed foci to basically cease entirely to be a rules restriction, for example, in deliberate violation of the RAW. Same GM also has critical hits and failures on ability checks. It's always up to your GM.
You don't need to interact with your environment any more to hold something than to drop something. There is no explicit RAW for this, but I would look askance at any GM ruling that the two actions are meaningfully distinct. Here's the rules text in question:
A spellcaster must have a hand free to access a spell’s material components—or to hold a spell-casting focus—but it can be the same hand that he or she uses to perform somatic components.
Your GM can rule otherwise, but generally speaking, it's a nerf to tell casters they have to spend two actions (one of which is usually their one free Use Item) to cast a spell with an M component while they have a totally free hand.
There's no question the RAW supports Spellwrought Tattoo infusions
It's absolutely questioned, quite regularly. RAW doesn't say you can't, but it's (widely) considered that this might be an error, and it hasn't been clarified by SA. Especially considering that the (non-existant) rules for making tattoos as infusions fail to describe necessary details, like which spells you can and can't infuse. It appears common to rule that you can only infuse artificer spells you have access to, for example.
As you have noted, the crafting rules are bad --- though technically, that's because they're nonexistent. It's poor form to suggest that they do exist and are actually elite artificer hacks for infinite familiars and such.
Your GM can rule otherwise, but generally speaking, it's a nerf to tell casters they have to spend two actions (one of which is usually their one free Use Item) to cast a spell with an M component while they have a totally free hand.
That requires an exceptionally perverse reading of the word "hold." It's a free action to drop things, and an interact action to pick them up. The usual assumption is that a caster would just keep/hold the focus in a hand, like a weapon. It only takes up the interact option the first time, when grabbing it. You only need another if you've let go in the interim.
Take, for example, the case of a sword + shield person who wants to cast with a wand. They can drop their sword for free (maybe after using it, if the spell they want is a bonus action spell), pick up their focus, and cast. Next turn, they can drop their focus and pick up their weapon, to use it. Tie the weapon and the focus on cords if you're worried about leaving them behind, but stop trying to dodge the hand economy.
Yes, you can infuse plate, but just so we're clear, infusing cast-off armor into chain won't turn the chain into plate, it'll make cast-off chain. You'd need to target plate with the infusion to get plate with the infusion.
I was actually under the impression that replicate magic item creates the item, is this not true? Would I need to buy normal goggles to replicate goggles of night? Do I need a jug to replicate an alchemy jug? I assume it creates the items instantly without any material components because that’s how the text seems to word it correct me if I’m wrong. Also thank you so much for answering my questions, it answered a lot, especially the shocking grasp and the tools and damage questions!
1. I was actually under the impression that replicate magic item creates the item, is this not true? 2. Would I need to buy normal goggles to replicate goggles of night? 3. Do I need a jug to replicate an alchemy jug?
No it is not true. You have to put an infusion in something. It doesn't create the item. Otherwise you could replicate Plate for no money instead of the 1500g it should cost.
Why don’t I just infuse full plate cast off armor into my scale male, It doesn’t say it has to be a specific version of a mundane item for each infusion, just that it has to be the mundane item that relates to the infusion. Since full plate cast off armor is technically it’s own magic item I can specify it as that.
At least that’s how I’m trying to rationalize it. I wouldn’t thing the material component needs to be more than just some kind of armor, otherwise you would need a specific jug or specific type of goggles or a ring.
and can’t I just say that I just modified my armor with my smiths tools? Or made it using iron?
yeah most of these sound crazy but I kinda want this to work, if these don’t really jive I’ll stop trying haha. I’m probably sounding super dumb.
my interpretation of infusions is that you give mundane objects special effects. so with cast off armor you are giving it the ability to doff of armor as an action w/o needing to spend time. going from a mundane object into a magical prototype
going from scale mail to plate is changing the stats of the armor or altogether just changing it which i'd argue fall more into crafting because this is more going from mundane object to a different mundane object. to apply both at the same time imo might be an abuse of the wording.
I'd say with the example of alchemy jug could be any size jug made of any material as long as it can hold a liquid. if you are talking specific game mechanics arguably there is only 1 "jug" item in the game anyways. I'd believe the other items face similar circumstances so I wouldn't stress too much about "specific" goggles or rings.
another example i'd say would be like Bag of Holding which does have different in game items and for me i'd allow flexibility between say a sack or a backpack to be suitable objects to apply the infusion since arguably they are remarkably similar.
also, I would read the infusion list as "cast off armor" is an item on the list rather than the 15 or so items its been spread into. I think they did this on dndbeyond for coding purposes rather than as an indication you can turn 1 armor into a completely different armor.
my interpretation of infusions is that you give mundane objects special effects. so with cast off armor you are giving it the ability to doff of armor as an action w/o needing to spend time. going from a mundane object into a magical prototype
going from scale mail to plate is changing the stats of the armor or altogether just changing it which i'd argue fall more into crafting because this is more going from mundane object to a different mundane object. to apply both at the same time imo might be an abuse of the wording.
I'd say with the example of alchemy jug could be any size jug made of any material as long as it can hold a liquid. if you are talking specific game mechanics arguably there is only 1 "jug" item in the game anyways. I'd believe the other items face similar circumstances so I wouldn't stress too much about "specific" goggles or rings.
another example i'd say would be like Bag of Holding which does have different in game items and for me i'd allow flexibility between say a sack or a backpack to be suitable objects to apply the infusion since arguably they are remarkably similar.
also, I would read the infusion list as "cast off armor" is an item on the list rather than the 15 or so items its been spread into. I think they did this on dndbeyond for coding purposes rather than as an indication you can turn 1 armor into a completely different armor.
You would be correct on this final point. DDB has split up various things for coding purposes. There are certain feats for example that are split up into different types based upon spell caster list your drawing from even though there aren't actually specifically different feats in the general rules. DDB does not do everything perfectly or exactly because of various coding reasons. Armors may be split up into a bunch of types because of different statistics on them even though they are made with the same base enchantment for example. But when it comes to infusions you do need the base item to infuse it into it's magical replicant version. even if they don't have the specific look that the normal magical item has. The truth is the descriptions of most magical items are just the most common designs you see them in but the specific looks of one can actually be much different as long as they adhere to certain basic details. Such as long sword specific magical items always being longswords. Or the one that is just a force blade and only it's hilt is physical is always going to have just a physical hilt and a force blade, but truthfully it may not always be a longsword. That's just the way it's most often found and officially written down.
also, I would read the infusion list as "cast off armor" is an item on the list rather than the 15 or so items its been spread into. I think they did this on dndbeyond for coding purposes rather than as an indication you can turn 1 armor into a completely different armor.
Exactly. RAW you would just choose the Cast-Off Armour infusion and put it on whatever armour you have - there aren't multiple types of it in-game. The different types on DNDBeyond are just a limitation of the software.
If my spell casting focus was my armor, would I still need to have an empty hand to wield it? Also, with replicate magic item, could I replicate plate mail armor By replicating say Cast off armor or smoldering armor and choosing the Plate mail variant? Would that armor become an arcane focus due to how artificer arcane focuses work? Can I use green flame blade with my thunder gauntlets if I’m using armourer artificer? Can I wield a shield if I’m using armorer artificer even though I’m technically also holding a simple melee weapon in the form of thunder gauntlets? Can I create infinite familiars with the spellwrought tattoo? Can I throw and break Oil flasks using catapult spell? Does enhances arcane focus increase spell damage? Can I cast shocking grasp through my familiar? For armorer, does my intelligence modifier apply also to the extra once per turn instance of damage? When I have unequipped armor, can I just drag it around instead of carrying it on me and using my push/drag power? Can I make others armor be arcane armor? Can I instead of carrying equipment , drag that equipment around in a sack to save on carrying encumberence. Can I **make** guns as an artificer? What tools would I need? What are your favorite tool proficiencies? I’m thinking cartographer or navigator but idk so I’m asking for opinions.
what is in your opinion the best feat to use with an artificer? I’m thinking of using the telepathic feat, I’ve heard good things about it from friends. Or even fey touched?
That distinction is immaterial. If you are not holding a focus, you need to use the "interact with your environment" pseudo-action to start holding it. (But yes, you generally count as holding a gauntlet you are wearing on your hand. The same is not strictly true for the rest of your armor, e.g. a breastplate.)
If and only if your DM allows tattoos as infusions (this is debated, in part because of this exact use case). And it would still be, at best, one familiar per day, as you can only (re)make the infusion at the end of a long rest.
Per Xanathar's, you can do a similar cooking thing with Cook's Utensils, without the feat (basically, food that adds healing to short rests). If using those rules, I suggest they stack with the feat, as to not make the feat dumb. Also per Xanathar's, Woodcarver's Tools can be used to make arrows during rests.
Thanks for pointing that out about cook's utensils, I missed the text about the bonus point of healing! Yes, that makes cook's utensils one of the best artisan's tools, in my opinion. Most of the crafting rules are tragically bad.
There's no question the RAW supports Spellwrought Tattoo infusions - GMs may houserule against that, but of course I can't know the mind of this player's GM. Universally, for literally any rules question, the answer always has the caveat "your GM may override this". I'm playing in a campaign right now where my GM deliberately buffed foci to basically cease entirely to be a rules restriction, for example, in deliberate violation of the RAW. Same GM also has critical hits and failures on ability checks. It's always up to your GM.
You don't need to interact with your environment any more to hold something than to drop something. There is no explicit RAW for this, but I would look askance at any GM ruling that the two actions are meaningfully distinct. Here's the rules text in question:
A spellcaster must have a hand free to access a spell’s material components—or to hold a spell-casting focus—but it can be the same hand that he or she uses to perform somatic components.
Your GM can rule otherwise, but generally speaking, it's a nerf to tell casters they have to spend two actions (one of which is usually their one free Use Item) to cast a spell with an M component while they have a totally free hand.
That requires an exceptionally perverse reading of the word "hold." It's a free action to drop things, and an interact action to pick them up. The usual assumption is that a caster would just keep/hold the focus in a hand, like a weapon. It only takes up the interact option the first time, when grabbing it. You only need another if you've let go in the interim.
Take, for example, the case of a sword + shield person who wants to cast with a wand. They can drop their sword for free (maybe after using it, if the spell they want is a bonus action spell), pick up their focus, and cast. Next turn, they can drop their focus and pick up their weapon, to use it. Tie the weapon and the focus on cords if you're worried about leaving them behind, but stop trying to dodge the hand economy.
I was actually under the impression that replicate magic item creates the item, is this not true? Would I need to buy normal goggles to replicate goggles of night? Do I need a jug to replicate an alchemy jug? I assume it creates the items instantly without any material components because that’s how the text seems to word it correct me if I’m wrong. Also thank you so much for answering my questions, it answered a lot, especially the shocking grasp and the tools and damage questions!
Mega Yahtzee Thread:
Highest 41: brocker2001 (#11,285).
Yahtzee of 2's: Emmber (#36,161).
Lowest 9: JoeltheWalrus (#312), Emmber (#12,505) and Dertinus (#20,953).
Why don’t I just infuse full plate cast off armor into my scale male, It doesn’t say it has to be a specific version of a mundane item for each infusion, just that it has to be the mundane item that relates to the infusion. Since full plate cast off armor is technically it’s own magic item I can specify it as that.
At least that’s how I’m trying to rationalize it. I wouldn’t thing the material component needs to be more than just some kind of armor, otherwise you would need a specific jug or specific type of goggles or a ring.
and can’t I just say that I just modified my armor with my smiths tools? Or made it using iron?
yeah most of these sound crazy but I kinda want this to work, if these don’t really jive I’ll stop trying haha. I’m probably sounding super dumb.
my interpretation of infusions is that you give mundane objects special effects. so with cast off armor you are giving it the ability to doff of armor as an action w/o needing to spend time. going from a mundane object into a magical prototype
going from scale mail to plate is changing the stats of the armor or altogether just changing it which i'd argue fall more into crafting because this is more going from mundane object to a different mundane object. to apply both at the same time imo might be an abuse of the wording.
I'd say with the example of alchemy jug could be any size jug made of any material as long as it can hold a liquid. if you are talking specific game mechanics arguably there is only 1 "jug" item in the game anyways. I'd believe the other items face similar circumstances so I wouldn't stress too much about "specific" goggles or rings.
another example i'd say would be like Bag of Holding which does have different in game items and for me i'd allow flexibility between say a sack or a backpack to be suitable objects to apply the infusion since arguably they are remarkably similar.
also, I would read the infusion list as "cast off armor" is an item on the list rather than the 15 or so items its been spread into. I think they did this on dndbeyond for coding purposes rather than as an indication you can turn 1 armor into a completely different armor.
You would be correct on this final point. DDB has split up various things for coding purposes. There are certain feats for example that are split up into different types based upon spell caster list your drawing from even though there aren't actually specifically different feats in the general rules. DDB does not do everything perfectly or exactly because of various coding reasons. Armors may be split up into a bunch of types because of different statistics on them even though they are made with the same base enchantment for example. But when it comes to infusions you do need the base item to infuse it into it's magical replicant version. even if they don't have the specific look that the normal magical item has. The truth is the descriptions of most magical items are just the most common designs you see them in but the specific looks of one can actually be much different as long as they adhere to certain basic details. Such as long sword specific magical items always being longswords. Or the one that is just a force blade and only it's hilt is physical is always going to have just a physical hilt and a force blade, but truthfully it may not always be a longsword. That's just the way it's most often found and officially written down.
Exactly. RAW you would just choose the Cast-Off Armour infusion and put it on whatever armour you have - there aren't multiple types of it in-game. The different types on DNDBeyond are just a limitation of the software.
Mega Yahtzee Thread:
Highest 41: brocker2001 (#11,285).
Yahtzee of 2's: Emmber (#36,161).
Lowest 9: JoeltheWalrus (#312), Emmber (#12,505) and Dertinus (#20,953).