We'll be playing roll20 and the DM doesn't currently have Tasha's but will be buying it before our second or third session.
We're using Roll20 for sheet's, so my DnD Beyond books are somewhat useless.
Looking for some advice in terms of Feats, spells/cantrips,
I've also taken the Izzet Engineer background which opened up some additional spell choices.
My biggest quandry however is - I've not played a pet class on either platform DDB, or Roll20. I'm unsure how to go about easily managing pet stat blocks and the like, and any suggestions for ease of play would be greatly appreciated. The artificer class is new to me, so any tips or tricks for management, or gameplay would be great!
We're doing Phandelver, so I anticipate this character will peak at level 5 if that helps.
Hmm, I played their premade Dwarf Cleric for the Phandelver campaign - it was a fun one! The artificer class is new to me too - I came here hoping for some tips on how to create one. :)
As to pet stat blocks. I'm old school on this one. I have an NPC sheet in hardcopy, and I pencil and pen my pet stuff. Just having one more thing to manage digitally was hard for me, but YMMV.
I'd have to know what your stat array is before suggesting feats. To be honest, though, you probably won't need any for Phandelver.
Keep in mind that as a battlesmith you'll be relying on actual Attacks for dealing damage, so you don't need to worry too much about attack spells, so you can focus yourself more on battlefield control spells. Unfortunately, you're basically required to take the Mending Cantrip, because that's what you'll be using to heal your Steel Defender outside of combat. Your Magical Tinkering is meant to sort of provide some of the versatility of some utility cantrips, so it's probably not worth your time to get prestidigitation or Light. If you're planning to focus on melee combat it would be worth it to get a ranged attack cantrip... I recommend Lightning Lure, because it gives you more battlefield control and brings enemies into melee range for you. If you're focused on Range fighting, however, I would recommend a melee cantrip, specifically Shocking Grasp. It lets you turn off an enemy's Reaction so you can move out of melee and use your Steel Defender to try and pin them in place or risk an Attack of Opportunity.
If you're playing on Roll20, your DM should be able to create an NPC stat block for your Steel Defender and just give you permission to control and edit its stats. You'd have to enter basically all its stats manually, but it's the simplest way to give you direct control and take some weight off your DM's shoulders since you can take care of all fo its stats.
We'll be playing roll20 and the DM doesn't currently have Tasha's but will be buying it before our second or third session.
We're using Roll20 for sheet's, so my DnD Beyond books are somewhat useless.
Looking for some advice in terms of Feats, spells/cantrips,
I've also taken the Izzet Engineer background which opened up some additional spell choices.
My biggest quandry however is - I've not played a pet class on either platform DDB, or Roll20. I'm unsure how to go about easily managing pet stat blocks and the like, and any suggestions for ease of play would be greatly appreciated. The artificer class is new to me, so any tips or tricks for management, or gameplay would be great!
We're doing Phandelver, so I anticipate this character will peak at level 5 if that helps.
Hmm, I played their premade Dwarf Cleric for the Phandelver campaign - it was a fun one! The artificer class is new to me too - I came here hoping for some tips on how to create one. :)
As to pet stat blocks. I'm old school on this one. I have an NPC sheet in hardcopy, and I pencil and pen my pet stuff. Just having one more thing to manage digitally was hard for me, but YMMV.
I'd have to know what your stat array is before suggesting feats. To be honest, though, you probably won't need any for Phandelver.
Keep in mind that as a battlesmith you'll be relying on actual Attacks for dealing damage, so you don't need to worry too much about attack spells, so you can focus yourself more on battlefield control spells. Unfortunately, you're basically required to take the Mending Cantrip, because that's what you'll be using to heal your Steel Defender outside of combat. Your Magical Tinkering is meant to sort of provide some of the versatility of some utility cantrips, so it's probably not worth your time to get prestidigitation or Light. If you're planning to focus on melee combat it would be worth it to get a ranged attack cantrip... I recommend Lightning Lure, because it gives you more battlefield control and brings enemies into melee range for you. If you're focused on Range fighting, however, I would recommend a melee cantrip, specifically Shocking Grasp. It lets you turn off an enemy's Reaction so you can move out of melee and use your Steel Defender to try and pin them in place or risk an Attack of Opportunity.
If you're playing on Roll20, your DM should be able to create an NPC stat block for your Steel Defender and just give you permission to control and edit its stats. You'd have to enter basically all its stats manually, but it's the simplest way to give you direct control and take some weight off your DM's shoulders since you can take care of all fo its stats.
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