With a potential for an artificer to magically tinker with 1 to 5 objects, dependent on an int 12 (or less) to 20, what are potential uses for tinkered objects? I like the idea of having 1 to 5 light, noise or smell emitting objects in a pocket or, say, a bag of holding that are all ready to be used or thrown. I love the idea of missile weapons/amo being tinkered so that they emit noises like cries of pain or, say, the stench of decay. They also give a great potential for any distance communication with uses of texts such as, "if this message disappears in x time limit then: the task is done/attack/hang out the washing".
What other useful or entertaining applications can they have?
when interacting with bureaucrats or other annoying cityfolk I like to use slight of hand + magic tinkering to gently touch a portion of their garments or something as I walk by them give it a nice foul rotten seafood stink ....
ALSO... less of a prank and this one is more in the useful catagory , my character can fly (winged boots), so when the party is traveling, or in need of knowing where they are in teh world, my character flies 100 feet up or so, then comes back to the party and uses magic tinkering to recreate a picture of what he sees from that vantage point. Instant map of terrain!
I have a few ideas what to use magical tinkering for.
Camera. It can be used to make a photo level picture of something. The book does not go into how detailed the picture is so holding it up to a beautiful vista and making a picture copy of what you see is RAW.
Photocopier. It can be used to copy a piece of paper instantly. A piece of paper has to count as a small object so lay it next to say a incriminating letter and copy it in an action.
Card cheat. You can use it to change a poker card from a 2 of hearts to an ace. A static image is one of the things you can create. You have to be holding thieves tools or artisan tools so hold a lock pick in one hand at your side and use your other hand holding the card to change them. There is no special effect that would tip off the other players so you can literally change the cards anytime and as many times as you want. To change it back while it is in the deck create four or five magic items with small rocks in your pockets. The card will lost the image and you won’t have two ace of hearts in a deck.
(Edit) Detect magic. Magical tinkering can only be used on tiny non magical items. If you want to know if an tiny item (e.g. keys, bottles, gems) is magic or not then try to use magical tinkering on it. If the DM says it doesn’t work then you have a magic item in your hands.
It could be great if you could tinker with fixed down objects like nails or floorboards or, failing that, you could always tinker with coin-sized objects that could be slipped into cracks or lost in jumbles of objects.
In this way, you could add disturbances or even hauntings to an area which, of course, you would be able to resolve. "I can exorcise the ghosts by creating these lights. Payment please!"
This is more of an RP thing and kinda story dependent but it made an EXCELENT use of tinkering in my group!
We had 2 artificers, one really old man who owned a pretty prolific bakery chain (a gnome named "McKeebler")whose "inventions" were magic cookies/cakes/etc... and a young inventor. They didn't get along as they were rivals for "best artificer. Well, McKeebler died in combat before we had access to revivify and the player had to reroll, but it became a story hook for us to travel to his hometown to return the body.
The other artificer built a coffin for him and used Arcane Tinkering to make it permanently smell like cookies.
This was around level 5 and we are now at the edge of 14 so its been a loooooong time and he still keeps that one tinkering use reserved for the coffin
You can pair it with a homunculus to give it headlight, or to have it repeat a 6 sec message as it flies about. Have the homunculus fly into a room and activate a message that is the verbal component to fireball to try to bluff the enemy into running.
Add the symbol/sigil etc to your clothing of a group you are trying to infiltrate.
Use it on coppers if you dont have anything else. Toss a copper that endlessly chirps like a cricket in under the bed of someone you don't like. Make one smell like farts and slip it into some ones pocket. Grab 5 and make them smell like smoke, covertly toss them around a room and tell people the house is on fire to evacuate a building.
The visual effect is by far the most powerful/useful. Its basically a camera, you can make images of someone or thing that you are looking for, and is better at forgeries than minor illusion since there is no check associated with the a spell.
It's actually a lot like the minor illusion cantrip, but more restricted in some ways, and stronger in others.
You can pair it with a homunculus to give it headlight, or to have it repeat a 6 sec message as it flies about. Have the homunculus fly into a room and activate a message that is the verbal component to fireball to try to bluff the enemy into running.
Add the symbol/sigil etc to your clothing of a group you are trying to infiltrate.
Use it on coppers if you dont have anything else. Toss a copper that endlessly chirps like a cricket in under the bed of someone you don't like. Make one smell like farts and slip it into some ones pocket. Grab 5 and make them smell like smoke, covertly toss them around a room and tell people the house is on fire to evacuate a building.
The visual effect is by far the most powerful/useful. Its basically a camera, you can make images of someone or thing that you are looking for, and is better at forgeries than minor illusion since there is no check associated with the a spell.
It's actually a lot like the minor illusion cantrip, but more restricted in some ways, and stronger in others.
Wow, and the marks and smells applied to clothing can never be washed out! :D
Does Magical Tinkering actually make a weapon magical? The wording of it feels like they were stopping just short of allowing that, what with "invest a spark of magic", "bestow a magical property", while Infusions are defined as "turning a mundane item into a magic item". I imagine that's up to the DM to decide.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Helpful rewriter of Japanese->English translation and delver into software codebases (she/e/they)
Also I'm working on a homebrew artificer specialty that, among other things, can give a Magical Tinkering remotely via special applied magic objects as a bonus action, beyond the regular Magical Tinkering limit. So I'm into all of these potential uses :D
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Helpful rewriter of Japanese->English translation and delver into software codebases (she/e/they)
"You can bestow magic on multiple objects". Sounds like a magicle weapon to me.
Bringing that clause to the beginning of the text, it could read, "You can bestow magic on multiple objects" "to invest a spark of magic into mundane objects" to "give it one of the following magical properties of your choice:
The object sheds bright light in a 5-foot radius and dim light for an additional 5 feet.
Whenever tapped by a creature, the object emits a recorded message that can be heard up to 10 feet away. You utter the message when you bestow this property on the object, and the recording can be no more than 6 seconds long.
The object continuously emits your choice of an odor or a nonverbal sound (wind, waves, chirping, or the like). The chosen phenomenon is perceivable up to 10 feet away.
A static visual effect appears on one of the object’s surfaces. This effect can be a picture, up to 25 words of text, lines and shapes, or a mixture of these elements, as you like."
None of those spark of magic, magical properties relates to abilities to hit.
If magically casting Light on a weapon (with the effect that "the object sheds bright light in a 20-foot radius") does not make the weapon magical, there's a question as to whether adding a tinkered light with a 5-foot radius could do so. I also found a claimed distinction between adding an effect on or into an item but have not found an authoritative reference on this.
There is a difference between a spell and a creation "that lasts indefinitly".
A Broomstick from the Netherin age that could only sweep the floor would still be considered a magical item, even though the effect may be rather crappy compared to other magical effects.
"None of those spark of magic, magical properties relates to abilities to hit."
It dosnt have to. Thats something the Battle Smith gains (Hence my first clause "Play a Battle Smith"). For other Artificer its just a shiny Dagger:
Battle Ready
3rd-level Battle Smith feature
Your combat training and your experiments with magic have paid off in two ways:
You gain proficiency with martial weapons.
When you attack with a magic weapon, you can use your Intelligence modifier, instead of Strength or Dexterity modifier, for the attack and damage rolls.
There is a difference between a spell and a creation "that lasts indefinitly".
A Broomstick from the Netherin age that could only sweep the floor would still be considered a magical item, even though the effect may be rather crappy compared to other magical effects.
"None of those spark of magic, magical properties relates to abilities to hit."
It dosnt have to. Thats something the Battle Smith gains (Hence my first clause "Play a Battle Smith"). For other Artificer its just a shiny Dagger:
Battle Ready
3rd-level Battle Smith feature
Your combat training and your experiments with magic have paid off in two ways:
You gain proficiency with martial weapons.
When you attack with a magic weapon, you can use your Intelligence modifier, instead of Strength or Dexterity modifier, for the attack and damage rolls.
Well, if you're right, this would be, by far, the most powerful use of magical tinkering. Amazing that the devs didn't think to mention it.
To be fair I havnt seen anyone discussing this at all in the last few Years. (Which might be do to the fact that "Battle Ready" is a Subclass feature)
It all comes down to the following question: If you " touch a Tiny nonmagical object as an action and give it one of the following magical properties", that "lasts indefinitely". Would that count as a magical item. If yes you should be able to use "Battle Ready" with any Item you enchant (Which are sadly only Dagger or Darts when it comes to weapons. All otheres considereded lager then tiny. (I checked that up when I discoverd the usage of the ability. I think it was do to the item weight. Not a 100% shure anymore. Someone correct me if im wrong. a glowing Hand Axe would be usefull for my next character :D))
In my opinion this fall under, a spell or ability only does what it says it does. By your logic, casting the Light cantrip on a weapon would achieve the same result, as it confers a magical property onto it, (shedding magical light). The distinction in intent can be further surmised from the wording of other spells and abilities, such as the Artificer's Infusions which clearly states that infusing a mundane item makes it a magical item, or Shillelagh, which states that the weapon it is cast upon becomes magical.
As always a DM is free to rule otherwise, and I personally like the idea; but I don't believe that RAW supports it, and I'm fairly confident it is not RAI; but again, just my opinions.
You guys keep on comparing apples with pears. There is a difference between a spell cast and a permanently effect on an item.
Spell scrolls are also magical items btw. And not just paper with a spell on it.
But yeah. When still in doubt ask ure dm. Creating magical items is the one thing they do compared to other classes, but hey..
Oh btw. Other uses for the ability are rp values. I uses to have an artificer with a magical mirror that Shows his dead wife and a wedding Ring with their wedding vows. Made me kill a thiefes guild when they stole from me.
With a potential for an artificer to magically tinker with 1 to 5 objects, dependent on an int 12 (or less) to 20, what are potential uses for tinkered objects?
I like the idea of having 1 to 5 light, noise or smell emitting objects in a pocket or, say, a bag of holding that are all ready to be used or thrown. I love the idea of missile weapons/amo being tinkered so that they emit noises like cries of pain or, say, the stench of decay.
They also give a great potential for any distance communication with uses of texts such as, "if this message disappears in x time limit then: the task is done/attack/hang out the washing".
What other useful or entertaining applications can they have?
when interacting with bureaucrats or other annoying cityfolk I like to use slight of hand + magic tinkering to gently touch a portion of their garments or something as I walk by them give it a nice foul rotten seafood stink ....
ALSO... less of a prank and this one is more in the useful catagory , my character can fly (winged boots), so when the party is traveling, or in need of knowing where they are in teh world, my character flies 100 feet up or so, then comes back to the party and uses magic tinkering to recreate a picture of what he sees from that vantage point. Instant map of terrain!
I have a few ideas what to use magical tinkering for.
Camera. It can be used to make a photo level picture of something. The book does not go into how detailed the picture is so holding it up to a beautiful vista and making a picture copy of what you see is RAW.
Photocopier. It can be used to copy a piece of paper instantly. A piece of paper has to count as a small object so lay it next to say a incriminating letter and copy it in an action.
Card cheat. You can use it to change a poker card from a 2 of hearts to an ace. A static image is one of the things you can create. You have to be holding thieves tools or artisan tools so hold a lock pick in one hand at your side and use your other hand holding the card to change them. There is no special effect that would tip off the other players so you can literally change the cards anytime and as many times as you want. To change it back while it is in the deck create four or five magic items with small rocks in your pockets. The card will lost the image and you won’t have two ace of hearts in a deck.
(Edit) Detect magic. Magical tinkering can only be used on tiny non magical items. If you want to know if an tiny item (e.g. keys, bottles, gems) is magic or not then try to use magical tinkering on it. If the DM says it doesn’t work then you have a magic item in your hands.
It could be great if you could tinker with fixed down objects like nails or floorboards or, failing that, you could always tinker with coin-sized objects that could be slipped into cracks or lost in jumbles of objects.
In this way, you could add disturbances or even hauntings to an area which, of course, you would be able to resolve. "I can exorcise the ghosts by creating these lights. Payment please!"
This is more of an RP thing and kinda story dependent but it made an EXCELENT use of tinkering in my group!
We had 2 artificers, one really old man who owned a pretty prolific bakery chain (a gnome named "McKeebler")whose "inventions" were magic cookies/cakes/etc... and a young inventor. They didn't get along as they were rivals for "best artificer.
Well, McKeebler died in combat before we had access to revivify and the player had to reroll, but it became a story hook for us to travel to his hometown to return the body.
The other artificer built a coffin for him and used Arcane Tinkering to make it permanently smell like cookies.
This was around level 5 and we are now at the edge of 14 so its been a loooooong time and he still keeps that one tinkering use reserved for the coffin
You can pair it with a homunculus to give it headlight, or to have it repeat a 6 sec message as it flies about. Have the homunculus fly into a room and activate a message that is the verbal component to fireball to try to bluff the enemy into running.
Add the symbol/sigil etc to your clothing of a group you are trying to infiltrate.
Use it on coppers if you dont have anything else. Toss a copper that endlessly chirps like a cricket in under the bed of someone you don't like. Make one smell like farts and slip it into some ones pocket. Grab 5 and make them smell like smoke, covertly toss them around a room and tell people the house is on fire to evacuate a building.
The visual effect is by far the most powerful/useful. Its basically a camera, you can make images of someone or thing that you are looking for, and is better at forgeries than minor illusion since there is no check associated with the a spell.
It's actually a lot like the minor illusion cantrip, but more restricted in some ways, and stronger in others.
Wow, and the marks and smells applied to clothing can never be washed out! :D
Play Battle Smith. Make your Dagger or Dart Magical. Get the int. Bonus on Attack and Damage Rolls.
I prefer having a light dagger as a torch. But a sound effect on a hit could be fun just to taunt the enemy: "Ouch, that must have hurt"
Does Magical Tinkering actually make a weapon magical? The wording of it feels like they were stopping just short of allowing that, what with "invest a spark of magic", "bestow a magical property", while Infusions are defined as "turning a mundane item into a magic item". I imagine that's up to the DM to decide.
Helpful rewriter of Japanese->English translation and delver into software codebases (she/e/they)
Also I'm working on a homebrew artificer specialty that, among other things, can give a Magical Tinkering remotely via special applied magic objects as a bonus action, beyond the regular Magical Tinkering limit. So I'm into all of these potential uses :D
Helpful rewriter of Japanese->English translation and delver into software codebases (she/e/they)
"You can bestow magic on multiple objects". Sounds like a magicle weapon to me.
Bringing that clause to the beginning of the text, it could read, "You can bestow magic on multiple objects" "to invest a spark of magic into mundane objects" to "give it one of the following magical properties of your choice:
None of those spark of magic, magical properties relates to abilities to hit.
If magically casting Light on a weapon (with the effect that "the object sheds bright light in a 20-foot radius") does not make the weapon magical, there's a question as to whether adding a tinkered light with a 5-foot radius could do so. I also found a claimed distinction between adding an effect on or into an item but have not found an authoritative reference on this.
There is a difference between a spell and a creation "that lasts indefinitly".
A Broomstick from the Netherin age that could only sweep the floor would still be considered a magical item, even though the effect may be rather crappy compared to other magical effects.
"None of those spark of magic, magical properties relates to abilities to hit."
It dosnt have to. Thats something the Battle Smith gains (Hence my first clause "Play a Battle Smith"). For other Artificer its just a shiny Dagger:
Battle Ready
3rd-level Battle Smith feature
Your combat training and your experiments with magic have paid off in two ways:
Well, if you're right, this would be, by far, the most powerful use of magical tinkering.
Amazing that the devs didn't think to mention it.
To be fair I havnt seen anyone discussing this at all in the last few Years.
(Which might be do to the fact that "Battle Ready" is a Subclass feature)
It all comes down to the following question: If you " touch a Tiny nonmagical object as an action and give it one of the following magical properties", that "lasts indefinitely". Would that count as a magical item. If yes you should be able to use "Battle Ready" with any Item you enchant (Which are sadly only Dagger or Darts when it comes to weapons. All otheres considereded lager then tiny. (I checked that up when I discoverd the usage of the ability. I think it was do to the item weight. Not a 100% shure anymore. Someone correct me if im wrong. a glowing Hand Axe would be usefull for my next character :D))
Yep, a spark of magic, even "that lasts indefinitely", remains just a spark of magic in all those intervening periods of time.
Not shure where you found that definition. A item with a magical property automaticly becomes a magic item in my dictionary.
In my opinion this fall under, a spell or ability only does what it says it does. By your logic, casting the Light cantrip on a weapon would achieve the same result, as it confers a magical property onto it, (shedding magical light). The distinction in intent can be further surmised from the wording of other spells and abilities, such as the Artificer's Infusions which clearly states that infusing a mundane item makes it a magical item, or Shillelagh, which states that the weapon it is cast upon becomes magical.
As always a DM is free to rule otherwise, and I personally like the idea; but I don't believe that RAW supports it, and I'm fairly confident it is not RAI; but again, just my opinions.
You guys keep on comparing apples with pears. There is a difference between a spell cast and a permanently effect on an item.
Spell scrolls are also magical items btw. And not just paper with a spell on it.
But yeah. When still in doubt ask ure dm. Creating magical items is the one thing they do compared to other classes, but hey..
Oh btw. Other uses for the ability are rp values. I uses to have an artificer with a magical mirror that Shows his dead wife and a wedding Ring with their wedding vows. Made me kill a thiefes guild when they stole from me.