So, I realized recently that the Replicate Magic Item (Veteran's Cane) Infusion is kinda overpowered... well, in a way. You can turn a nonmagical cane into a veteran's cane when you infuse, and then turn it into a longsword. The next day, you can do it all over again. So you get a (basically) free longsword every day. Given enough time, you can get a lot of longswords. And a large-ish group of Artificers doing this every day for years could supply an army. (Math: 360/yr. [taking 5 days off each year for holidays], 10 Artificers, for 10 years = 36000 swords. Granted, that's not a large army, but still.) And all that for basically no cost.
Just wanted to throw that out there.
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Paladin main who spends most of his D&D time worldbuilding or DMing, not Paladin-ing.
Infusions aren't permanent. If you have used a specific infusion and go to use it again, the previous item loses the infusion. That's what the "each of your infusions can be in only one object at a time." part means.
So, no you can't make infinite longswords.
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The description for veteran’s cane says it turns a magic cane into a non-magical long sword. Since it is non- magical then it is no longer an infusion. Get a bunch of canes that cost a silver and turn one each day into a 15 gp long sword. That is just straight profit.
Given how the replicate magic item feature specifically excludes potions or scrolls the impression I get is that it wasn't designed to work with consumable magic items in mind.
Won't you make more gold using the alchemic jar and pour two vials of acid daily? Every vial cost 1 gold but the 2 acid vials total 50 gold, so a clean profit of 48 gold pieces
So, I realized recently that the Replicate Magic Item (Veteran's Cane) Infusion is kinda overpowered... well, in a way. You can turn a nonmagical cane into a veteran's cane when you infuse, and then turn it into a longsword. The next day, you can do it all over again. So you get a (basically) free longsword every day. Given enough time, you can get a lot of longswords. And a large-ish group of Artificers doing this every day for years could supply an army. (Math: 360/yr. [taking 5 days off each year for holidays], 10 Artificers, for 10 years = 36000 swords. Granted, that's not a large army, but still.) And all that for basically no cost.
Just wanted to throw that out there.
For both D&D and Medieval Europe, 36000 swordsmen would be an enormous army. As an example, the Battle of Hastings likely had less than 13,000 soldiers on both sides. Most would have spears or pikes, though, not swords.
Really, just one artificer producing 360 long swords would arm a well equipped castle and town guard. At that point, training them with the swords would be the bigger challenge.
So, I realized recently that the Replicate Magic Item (Veteran's Cane) Infusion is kinda overpowered... well, in a way. You can turn a nonmagical cane into a veteran's cane when you infuse, and then turn it into a longsword. The next day, you can do it all over again. So you get a (basically) free longsword every day. Given enough time, you can get a lot of longswords. And a large-ish group of Artificers doing this every day for years could supply an army. (Math: 360/yr. [taking 5 days off each year for holidays], 10 Artificers, for 10 years = 36000 swords. Granted, that's not a large army, but still.) And all that for basically no cost.
Just wanted to throw that out there.
For both D&D and Medieval Europe, 36000 swordsmen would be an enormous army. As an example, the Battle of Hastings likely had less than 13,000 soldiers on both sides. Most would have spears or pikes, though, not swords.
Really, just one artificer producing 360 long swords would arm a well equipped castle and town guard. At that point, training them with the swords would be the bigger challenge.
Fair points.
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The Improved Pact Weapon means a weapon you summon with your Pact has a +1 to attack and damage rolls because it's you using it, not because that's now a property of the weapon.
Also there's no such thing as a +1 Veteran's Cane, and if so, it wouldn't be a Common magic item, meaning it's not an allowed Replicate Magic Item Infusion.
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You cannot stack infusions, period. Making your veteran cane’s sword a pact weapon or not, does not stop it from being an artificer infusion, so being magical or it does not mater, as you cannot add another infusion to it, it’s part of the second rule you listed. Additionally, you forgot to include the fact that you have a maximum number of infusions you can have at any one point at which time if you attempt to infuse beyond that, your oldest infusions disappear/disabled.
When my artificer retires, he's going to make many pots of awakening to create a bunch of awakened mushrooms* to tend a cavern of edible/useful fungi.
(He's a svirfneblin, and there are surely some fantasy underdark fungi that would count as bushes - it would just be "flavor" and they'd have the same stats as a regular awakened bush - though now I am wondering about the utility of an awakened shrieker...maybe he can raise and train a bunch to shriek in harmony and he can create a fungal chorus)
The Improved Pact Weapon means a weapon you summon with your Pact has a +1 to attack and damage rolls because it's you using it, not because that's now a property of the weapon.
Also there's no such thing as a +1 Veteran's Cane, and if so, it wouldn't be a Common magic item, meaning it's not an allowed Replicate Magic Item Infusion.
+1 = IMPROVED PACT WEAPON
improved pact weapon remains but its transformed as non magical +1 improved pact weapon "the ordinary longsword"
cane (considered staff or club) transformed from the ordinary longsword you made the pact with at lv3 warlock hexblade then Artificer infusion replicate magic item veterans cane from XGE option
this way the cane remain a pact weapon and can then be infused twice again to get 1 more +1
+1 from warlock improved pact weapon
+1 from enhance weapon artificers infusions but since longsword is ordinary we can infuse again id go radiant weapon infusion or repeating shot infusion either add +1
Improved Pact Weapon: "In addition, the weapon gains a +1 bonus to its attack and damage rolls, unless it is a magic weapon that already has a bonus to those rolls."
->Therefore, if you make a +1 weapon into a Pact Weapon, it does not gain a further +1.
Either way, this idea of "locking in" magic bonuses has no basis in any rules anywhere in any of the books. If you find a +3 Longsword and melt it down, it doesn't become +3 Molten Slag - it's just a destroyed magic item.
Likewise, I think you're misunderstanding "indefinitely" in the infusions rules. It means that the item itself doesn't expire unless destroyed or consumed; it doesn't say anything about the item itself, because there absolutely are infusions with effects that expire regardless of whether or not the item is consumed in the process.
So what would actually happen in your example is this:
-You make a Veteran's Cane, occupying an infusion slot.
-You activate the Veteran's Cane. You now have an ordinary Longsword. The Cane is consumed in the process; you no longer have an occupied infusion slot, and if you want you can make a new Cane on your next long rest.
-You turn your ordinary Longsword into a Pact Weapon. Because you have Improved Pact Weapon, it now has +1 to its attack and damage rolls.
-You summon your pact weapon as a cane. With Improved Pact Weapon, it still has +1 to its attack and damage rolls. You infuse it into a Veteran's Cane. It is now a Veteran's Cane with +1 to its attack and damage rolls.
-You activate your Pact Veteran's Cane. You now have an ordinary Longsword. The Cane is consumed in the process; you no longer have an occupied infusion slot OR a pact weapon, because your pact weapon was destroyed on activation. If you want, you can redo the pact weapon ritual on your new Longsword. This would give it +1 to its attack and damage rolls due to Improved Pact Weapon, for a total of +1.
-You infuse your Pact Longsword with Enhance Weapon. It is now a +1 Longsword, for a total of +1 to its attack and damage rolls because Improved Pact Weapon doesn't stack with magic item bonuses.
For the record: the reason you can't make potions or scrolls with Replicate Magic Item is because those are items that rely on resource scarcity... put simply, it's balanced because if you drink a potion, you no longer have that potion. This aspect of balance would get thrown out the window if you could make a new one every long rest. Scrolls in particular would be a problem because Artificers don't have many spell slots; if you can make two 1st-level spell scrolls as a Level 2 Artificer, you almost double your number of spells per long rest. (No, I don't know why they didn't apply this limitation to Spellwrought Tattoos. It's crazy strong at low levels.)
All of which is to say, "indefinite" infusions doesn't mean the effect lasts forever. That's not why consumables can't be replicated.
Ok, as I read it your infusion stays in the item so you use the replicate item infusion to turn a mundane cane into a veteran’s cane then use the infusion’s power to activate the veteran’s cane so it becomes a mundane long sword. The infusion is still present- it’s the magic of that infusion that is holding the steel sword as a transformed cane. When you cast it again the first infusion goes away removing the magic and your sword transforms back into the mundane cane - have fun. Further you are limited to a max of 6 infusions being active at once (at high level) so it’s not like you are a magic factory. Those rules are there specifically to stop things like this. The artificer is able to make their own personal magic items (basically up to rare items/+2) but they can’t act as a magic factory for a group or larger.
Ok, as I read it your infusion stays in the item so you use the replicate item infusion to turn a mundane cane into a veteran’s cane then use the infusion’s power to activate the veteran’s cane so it becomes a mundane long sword. The infusion is still present- it’s the magic of that infusion that is holding the steel sword as a transformed cane. When you cast it again the first infusion goes away removing the magic and your sword transforms back into the mundane cane - have fun. Further you are limited to a max of 6 infusions being active at once (at high level) so it’s not like you are a magic factory. Those rules are there specifically to stop things like this. The artificer is able to make their own personal magic items (basically up to rare items/+2) but they can’t act as a magic factory for a group or larger.
Unfortunately, your logic doesn't work, as how would that work with the tattoo? I use the replication spell, make a tattoo on someone, they then use the tattoo for whatever spell it was made for and what? That infusion is forever taken up? Kind of bs don't you think? lol. I use the infusion ability to to the tattoo again, what exactly "vanishes"?
Your concept of it being "wrong" isn't unfounded, but then again, when you think it through, what exactly is "broken" or "wrong" here? So what, we get a longsword...ok?
Better yet, think this way, I have an infusion slot, something that is limited in what I can do and fill, for me to create a longsword at will once a day, not exactly awe inspiring. It doesn't even solve the "gold" problem, that people may come across, because a DM would just say the vendor isn't interested for xyz reason.
My point is, as "broken" things can become, that is only so if the DM doesn't do anything. Otherwise, nothing the artificer can do that is really "broken". Even the tattoo isn't "broken", as its only cantrips or lv 1 spells, sure it'll help in a pinch, but it won't break anything.
There's no such thing as a +1 nonmagical sword. Either the sword is infused to have a +1 on it, or it is not infused and has the stats of a normal sword with no bonuses.
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"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Ok, as I read it your infusion stays in the item so you use the replicate item infusion to turn a mundane cane into a veteran’s cane then use the infusion’s power to activate the veteran’s cane so it becomes a mundane long sword. The infusion is still present- it’s the magic of that infusion that is holding the steel sword as a transformed cane. When you cast it again the first infusion goes away removing the magic and your sword transforms back into the mundane cane - have fun. Further you are limited to a max of 6 infusions being active at once (at high level) so it’s not like you are a magic factory. Those rules are there specifically to stop things like this. The artificer is able to make their own personal magic items (basically up to rare items/+2) but they can’t act as a magic factory for a group or larger.
Unfortunately, your logic doesn't work, as how would that work with the tattoo? I use the replication spell, make a tattoo on someone, they then use the tattoo for whatever spell it was made for and what? That infusion is forever taken up? Kind of bs don't you think? lol. I use the infusion ability to to the tattoo again, what exactly "vanishes"?
Your concept of it being "wrong" isn't unfounded, but then again, when you think it through, what exactly is "broken" or "wrong" here? So what, we get a longsword...ok?
Better yet, think this way, I have an infusion slot, something that is limited in what I can do and fill, for me to create a longsword at will once a day, not exactly awe inspiring. It doesn't even solve the "gold" problem, that people may come across, because a DM would just say the vendor isn't interested for xyz reason.
My point is, as "broken" things can become, that is only so if the DM doesn't do anything. Otherwise, nothing the artificer can do that is really "broken". Even the tattoo isn't "broken", as its only cantrips or lv 1 spells, sure it'll help in a pinch, but it won't break anything.
Really all consumables (including tattoos) should be banned from getting infusions - that is what I’ve done in my world. however to answer your question: 1) you use the replicate item infusion on a needle to create the tattoo needle- the infusion stays in the needle until you apply the needle to create the tattoo. If you use the infusion again before the needle is applied then the first needle reverts to being a mundane needle with no infusion while the infusion goes into the new needle - only one needle at a time with that tattoo( including spell) (if you want you could perhaps leave the first infusion and have the second more recent attempt simply fail) and no more than 6 different infusions active total (at L20). So I suppose you could have 6 different needle each carrying a different spell, but then you would have nothing else. 2) situation 1 carried forward- some one uses the needle to create a tattoo - so the infusion carries over from the needle to the tattoo and the needle is now a mundane needle. The infusion is still there in the tattoo so if you cast the exact same infusion again the tattoo suddenly disappears and the infusion is now in the new needle. 3) so what if the wearer uses the tattoo to create the spell effect, the spell goes off, the infusion is used and when the spell ends (for whatever reason) the infusion fades out and the artificer is aware that she can cast/create that particular infusion again without loss of the old one. Simple rules : no more than 6 active infusions at a time ever (that stops the artificer from ever becoming a magic factory), no more than 1 example of any particular infusion can be present at one time. These two rules limit the artificer providing the requisite game balance and basically allowing the artificer to generate their own personal magic items without becoming magic factories for power gamers.
On the casting of the spell or tattoo the effect is the infusion without a item medium now
the spell and tattoo effect lasts only as long as the effect duration it replicates.
It cannot continue to exist without a item so it ceases to be.
The infusion is the magical effect placed on the item that allows it to behave differently from normal. If you infuse an item with an effect that says "you can choose to cast a spell, and when you do so the item is destroyed," then the infusion is destroyed with the item when the spell goes off. The infusion is not the spell; the infusion is a tweak to the item.
If you infuse a 1st-level Spellwrought Tattoo with the Grease spell, the "infusion" is the magic in the tattoo. Once you cast the spell, the tattoo vanishes immediately and the infusion goes with it, even though the Grease spell lasts another minute after the casting. The infusion is entirely disconnected from the spell effect.
the veterans cane breaks this by becoming non magical but the item remains and the infusion cannot end as long as the longswords which was a cane TRANSFORMED into remains and as its no longer magical by veterans canes own rule it allows a loop hole
On the Veteran's Cane, the "infusion" is the one-time transformation effect - a tweak to a normal cane that says, "you can transform this cane into an ordinary nonmagical longsword." The moment you activate that effect, the infusion is gone, as are any other effects the cane may or may not have had, because - and this is a direct quote from the description - "it transforms into an ordinary longsword and ceases to be magical."
It may help to think of Veteran's Cane as a longsword that is infused to appear as a cane and that you can end the effect (and thus the infusion) with a bonus action.
if a wizard did a arcana or investigation check all he would see is a +1 nonmagical longsword.
If a wizard investigated it all he would see is "an ordinary longsword that has ceased to be magical." Because the +1 magical effect isn't there. Because the item has ceased to be magical in any way.
If you put a flavor packet into a bottle of water and then boil away the water, you do not get flavored steam.
Infusions are not artifacts. They can't be dispelled because they're not spells but they can absolutely be suppressed by antimagic fields. They're not producing artifacts, that's well outside the ability of any PC, and they're not somehow the "most restricted class ever." Wizards lose literally all their class features when stuck inside an antimagic field and that does not somehow make them a restrictive class.
Now, if you try to use a Replicate Magic Item infusion to create a Veteran's Cane, you have a sword that doesn't count as a magic weapon. The thing is, because it's an Infusion effect, it still counts as a magic item because all infusions are magic items (except for the Homonculous Servant, which is a creature). Even if the GM allows you to use some other effect to add a +1 bonus to it, all you've got is a +1 sword that you achieved by adding unnecessary steps vs just infusing a normal sword. And at that point, regardless of which method you used, it counts as a magic weapon because the Veteran's Cane wording is not some sort of special loophole that lets the sword stay nonmagical even after adding additional magical effects to it. It does not work that way.
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"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
The replicate item infusion is basically a transmutation effect changing the mundane item into something else or altering it to be able to hold a spell effect. When activated it holds the mutation keeping it from returning to its original mundane form or powering the (temporary) spell effect. If the infusion disappears then the item returns to its original mundane form or the spell effect is no longer possible. 1. the mundane cane is infused to make it a veteran’s cane - all that happens is the infusion is “loaded and cocked” to allow the transmutation into a steel sword. When activated the wood of the cane is transmuted into into the form and held in that form by the infusion. If you recast the spell you are choosing to remove the infusion from that item and put it in a different item causing the effects to vanish and the sword to return to being a mundane cane.
infusions are NEVER permanent, they are tied to your life force and when you die they fade away over the next 1-5 days. Probably the best way to think of infusions is that you are investing a piece of your living magic into an item to make it function as magical while you live. You can only invest so much of your life force at a time which is why you can only have so many infusions active at once. In this way they are similar to concentration spells.
whether it’s a cane, a tattoo needle or a planting pot you can follow how this works to limit the power of the artificer keeping them in overall balance with other classes in the game. I get that we would all like to have a super powered character that “breaks” the game but it’s not just about “you” it’s really about “us” the entire group of folks at the table (including the DM) and if you have a super powered character and we don’t we can’t enjoy the game you just stole from us.
Infusing a nonmagical item makes that item magical. The infusion is the magic. They are one and the same. End the infusion and you end the magic. End the magic and you end the infusion.
If the item ceases to be magical the infusion ends. If the item is destroyed the infusion ends.
Further, after the cane transforms into a long sword that sword is not longer a valid target for replicate magic item: veteran's cane. Arguably, the "cane" is destroyed through the process of transforming into a "sword", especially considering that transformation is irreversible.
So in this case the magic ends, the item is more or less destroyed, and the item left isn't even a valid target for that infusion anymore.
All clear indications that the infusion would end.
So, I realized recently that the Replicate Magic Item (Veteran's Cane) Infusion is kinda overpowered... well, in a way. You can turn a nonmagical cane into a veteran's cane when you infuse, and then turn it into a longsword. The next day, you can do it all over again. So you get a (basically) free longsword every day. Given enough time, you can get a lot of longswords. And a large-ish group of Artificers doing this every day for years could supply an army. (Math: 360/yr. [taking 5 days off each year for holidays], 10 Artificers, for 10 years = 36000 swords. Granted, that's not a large army, but still.) And all that for basically no cost.
Just wanted to throw that out there.
Paladin main who spends most of his D&D time worldbuilding or DMing, not Paladin-ing.
Infusions aren't permanent. If you have used a specific infusion and go to use it again, the previous item loses the infusion. That's what the "each of your infusions can be in only one object at a time." part means.
So, no you can't make infinite longswords.
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The description for veteran’s cane says it turns a magic cane into a non-magical long sword. Since it is non- magical then it is no longer an infusion. Get a bunch of canes that cost a silver and turn one each day into a 15 gp long sword. That is just straight profit.
Given how the replicate magic item feature specifically excludes potions or scrolls the impression I get is that it wasn't designed to work with consumable magic items in mind.
So you have some oddities like being able to "craft" a long sword out of wood via the veteran's cane. Or create a once per day perfume of bewitching in (some ways better than the friends cantrip). Or (over a long time) build up a team of awakened shrubs via the pot of awakening. Or get a single use cantrip/1st level spell once per day via a spellwrought tattoo.
So while technically RAW, it's most likely not RAI.
Won't you make more gold using the alchemic jar and pour two vials of acid daily? Every vial cost 1 gold but the 2 acid vials total 50 gold, so a clean profit of 48 gold pieces
For both D&D and Medieval Europe, 36000 swordsmen would be an enormous army. As an example, the Battle of Hastings likely had less than 13,000 soldiers on both sides. Most would have spears or pikes, though, not swords.
Really, just one artificer producing 360 long swords would arm a well equipped castle and town guard. At that point, training them with the swords would be the bigger challenge.
Fair points.
Paladin main who spends most of his D&D time worldbuilding or DMing, not Paladin-ing.
That's not remotely how the rules for infusions or Pact Weapon work.
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"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
The Improved Pact Weapon means a weapon you summon with your Pact has a +1 to attack and damage rolls because it's you using it, not because that's now a property of the weapon.
Also there's no such thing as a +1 Veteran's Cane, and if so, it wouldn't be a Common magic item, meaning it's not an allowed Replicate Magic Item Infusion.
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You cannot stack infusions, period. Making your veteran cane’s sword a pact weapon or not, does not stop it from being an artificer infusion, so being magical or it does not mater, as you cannot add another infusion to it, it’s part of the second rule you listed. Additionally, you forgot to include the fact that you have a maximum number of infusions you can have at any one point at which time if you attempt to infuse beyond that, your oldest infusions disappear/disabled.
When my artificer retires, he's going to make many pots of awakening to create a bunch of awakened mushrooms* to tend a cavern of edible/useful fungi.
(He's a svirfneblin, and there are surely some fantasy underdark fungi that would count as bushes - it would just be "flavor" and they'd have the same stats as a regular awakened bush - though now I am wondering about the utility of an awakened shrieker...maybe he can raise and train a bunch to shriek in harmony and he can create a fungal chorus)
Improved Pact Weapon: "In addition, the weapon gains a +1 bonus to its attack and damage rolls, unless it is a magic weapon that already has a bonus to those rolls."
->Therefore, if you make a +1 weapon into a Pact Weapon, it does not gain a further +1.
Either way, this idea of "locking in" magic bonuses has no basis in any rules anywhere in any of the books. If you find a +3 Longsword and melt it down, it doesn't become +3 Molten Slag - it's just a destroyed magic item.
Likewise, I think you're misunderstanding "indefinitely" in the infusions rules. It means that the item itself doesn't expire unless destroyed or consumed; it doesn't say anything about the item itself, because there absolutely are infusions with effects that expire regardless of whether or not the item is consumed in the process.
So what would actually happen in your example is this:
-You make a Veteran's Cane, occupying an infusion slot.
-You activate the Veteran's Cane. You now have an ordinary Longsword. The Cane is consumed in the process; you no longer have an occupied infusion slot, and if you want you can make a new Cane on your next long rest.
-You turn your ordinary Longsword into a Pact Weapon. Because you have Improved Pact Weapon, it now has +1 to its attack and damage rolls.
-You summon your pact weapon as a cane. With Improved Pact Weapon, it still has +1 to its attack and damage rolls. You infuse it into a Veteran's Cane. It is now a Veteran's Cane with +1 to its attack and damage rolls.
-You activate your Pact Veteran's Cane. You now have an ordinary Longsword. The Cane is consumed in the process; you no longer have an occupied infusion slot OR a pact weapon, because your pact weapon was destroyed on activation. If you want, you can redo the pact weapon ritual on your new Longsword. This would give it +1 to its attack and damage rolls due to Improved Pact Weapon, for a total of +1.
-You infuse your Pact Longsword with Enhance Weapon. It is now a +1 Longsword, for a total of +1 to its attack and damage rolls because Improved Pact Weapon doesn't stack with magic item bonuses.
For the record: the reason you can't make potions or scrolls with Replicate Magic Item is because those are items that rely on resource scarcity... put simply, it's balanced because if you drink a potion, you no longer have that potion. This aspect of balance would get thrown out the window if you could make a new one every long rest. Scrolls in particular would be a problem because Artificers don't have many spell slots; if you can make two 1st-level spell scrolls as a Level 2 Artificer, you almost double your number of spells per long rest. (No, I don't know why they didn't apply this limitation to Spellwrought Tattoos. It's crazy strong at low levels.)
All of which is to say, "indefinite" infusions doesn't mean the effect lasts forever. That's not why consumables can't be replicated.
Ok, as I read it your infusion stays in the item so you use the replicate item infusion to turn a mundane cane into a veteran’s cane then use the infusion’s power to activate the veteran’s cane so it becomes a mundane long sword. The infusion is still present- it’s the magic of that infusion that is holding the steel sword as a transformed cane. When you cast it again the first infusion goes away removing the magic and your sword transforms back into the mundane cane - have fun. Further you are limited to a max of 6 infusions being active at once (at high level) so it’s not like you are a magic factory. Those rules are there specifically to stop things like this. The artificer is able to make their own personal magic items (basically up to rare items/+2) but they can’t act as a magic factory for a group or larger.
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Unfortunately, your logic doesn't work, as how would that work with the tattoo? I use the replication spell, make a tattoo on someone, they then use the tattoo for whatever spell it was made for and what? That infusion is forever taken up? Kind of bs don't you think? lol. I use the infusion ability to to the tattoo again, what exactly "vanishes"?
Your concept of it being "wrong" isn't unfounded, but then again, when you think it through, what exactly is "broken" or "wrong" here? So what, we get a longsword...ok?
Better yet, think this way, I have an infusion slot, something that is limited in what I can do and fill, for me to create a longsword at will once a day, not exactly awe inspiring. It doesn't even solve the "gold" problem, that people may come across, because a DM would just say the vendor isn't interested for xyz reason.
My point is, as "broken" things can become, that is only so if the DM doesn't do anything. Otherwise, nothing the artificer can do that is really "broken". Even the tattoo isn't "broken", as its only cantrips or lv 1 spells, sure it'll help in a pinch, but it won't break anything.
There's no such thing as a +1 nonmagical sword. Either the sword is infused to have a +1 on it, or it is not infused and has the stats of a normal sword with no bonuses.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Really all consumables (including tattoos) should be banned from getting infusions - that is what I’ve done in my world.
however to answer your question:
1) you use the replicate item infusion on a needle to create the tattoo needle- the infusion stays in the needle until you apply the needle to create the tattoo. If you use the infusion again before the needle is applied then the first needle reverts to being a mundane needle with no infusion while the infusion goes into the new needle - only one needle at a time with that tattoo( including spell) (if you want you could perhaps leave the first infusion and have the second more recent attempt simply fail) and no more than 6 different infusions active total (at L20). So I suppose you could have 6 different needle each carrying a different spell, but then you would have nothing else.
2) situation 1 carried forward- some one uses the needle to create a tattoo - so the infusion carries over from the needle to the tattoo and the needle is now a mundane needle. The infusion is still there in the tattoo so if you cast the exact same infusion again the tattoo suddenly disappears and the infusion is now in the new needle.
3) so what if the wearer uses the tattoo to create the spell effect, the spell goes off, the infusion is used and when the spell ends (for whatever reason) the infusion fades out and the artificer is aware that she can cast/create that particular infusion again without loss of the old one. Simple rules : no more than 6 active infusions at a time ever (that stops the artificer from ever becoming a magic factory), no more than 1 example of any particular infusion can be present at one time. These two rules limit the artificer providing the requisite game balance and basically allowing the artificer to generate their own personal magic items without becoming magic factories for power gamers.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
The infusion is the magical effect placed on the item that allows it to behave differently from normal. If you infuse an item with an effect that says "you can choose to cast a spell, and when you do so the item is destroyed," then the infusion is destroyed with the item when the spell goes off. The infusion is not the spell; the infusion is a tweak to the item.
If you infuse a 1st-level Spellwrought Tattoo with the Grease spell, the "infusion" is the magic in the tattoo. Once you cast the spell, the tattoo vanishes immediately and the infusion goes with it, even though the Grease spell lasts another minute after the casting. The infusion is entirely disconnected from the spell effect.
On the Veteran's Cane, the "infusion" is the one-time transformation effect - a tweak to a normal cane that says, "you can transform this cane into an ordinary nonmagical longsword." The moment you activate that effect, the infusion is gone, as are any other effects the cane may or may not have had, because - and this is a direct quote from the description - "it transforms into an ordinary longsword and ceases to be magical."
It may help to think of Veteran's Cane as a longsword that is infused to appear as a cane and that you can end the effect (and thus the infusion) with a bonus action.
If a wizard investigated it all he would see is "an ordinary longsword that has ceased to be magical." Because the +1 magical effect isn't there. Because the item has ceased to be magical in any way.
If you put a flavor packet into a bottle of water and then boil away the water, you do not get flavored steam.
Infusions are not artifacts. They can't be dispelled because they're not spells but they can absolutely be suppressed by antimagic fields. They're not producing artifacts, that's well outside the ability of any PC, and they're not somehow the "most restricted class ever." Wizards lose literally all their class features when stuck inside an antimagic field and that does not somehow make them a restrictive class.
Now, if you try to use a Replicate Magic Item infusion to create a Veteran's Cane, you have a sword that doesn't count as a magic weapon. The thing is, because it's an Infusion effect, it still counts as a magic item because all infusions are magic items (except for the Homonculous Servant, which is a creature). Even if the GM allows you to use some other effect to add a +1 bonus to it, all you've got is a +1 sword that you achieved by adding unnecessary steps vs just infusing a normal sword. And at that point, regardless of which method you used, it counts as a magic weapon because the Veteran's Cane wording is not some sort of special loophole that lets the sword stay nonmagical even after adding additional magical effects to it. It does not work that way.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
The replicate item infusion is basically a transmutation effect changing the mundane item into something else or altering it to be able to hold a spell effect. When activated it holds the mutation keeping it from returning to its original mundane form or powering the (temporary) spell effect. If the infusion disappears then the item returns to its original mundane form or the spell effect is no longer possible.
1. the mundane cane is infused to make it a veteran’s cane - all that happens is the infusion is “loaded and cocked” to allow the transmutation into a steel sword. When activated the wood of the cane is transmuted into into the form and held in that form by the infusion. If you recast the spell you are choosing to remove the infusion from that item and put it in a different item causing the effects to vanish and the sword to return to being a mundane cane.
infusions are NEVER permanent, they are tied to your life force and when you die they fade away over the next 1-5 days. Probably the best way to think of infusions is that you are investing a piece of your living magic into an item to make it function as magical while you live. You can only invest so much of your life force at a time which is why you can only have so many infusions active at once. In this way they are similar to concentration spells.
whether it’s a cane, a tattoo needle or a planting pot you can follow how this works to limit the power of the artificer keeping them in overall balance with other classes in the game.
I get that we would all like to have a super powered character that “breaks” the game but it’s not just about “you” it’s really about “us” the entire group of folks at the table (including the DM) and if you have a super powered character and we don’t we can’t enjoy the game you just stole from us.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
Infusing a nonmagical item makes that item magical. The infusion is the magic.
They are one and the same. End the infusion and you end the magic. End the magic and you end the infusion.
If the item ceases to be magical the infusion ends.
If the item is destroyed the infusion ends.
Further, after the cane transforms into a long sword that sword is not longer a valid target for replicate magic item: veteran's cane.
Arguably, the "cane" is destroyed through the process of transforming into a "sword", especially considering that transformation is irreversible.
So in this case the magic ends, the item is more or less destroyed, and the item left isn't even a valid target for that infusion anymore.
All clear indications that the infusion would end.