Okay, recently I've been looking at the artificer subclasses for an upcoming campaign a friend of mine is going to be running. So what I have in mind was a warforged who use to fight in the war but know works as an adventurer to make up for all the harm he has caused. I'm thinking armorer artificer so he can be a good tank and provide a lot for his team while taking a 3 level dip after level 5 or 6 in battle master fighter to make him more versatile (I also think it adds more to the whole former soldier theme I'm going for). The Maneuvers I'm taking is Commanding strike, Precision attack, Riposte, and Tactical Assessment. So any thoughts on this?
If you're stopping at a three level dip, I suggest just staying Artificer. Battle Smith to get Steel Defender may be tankier and let's you use Int for magic weapon attacks.
Purely from an RP perspective, I think it would be better to start as a fighter, then go Artificer. Mechanically, there are trade offs. But if that’s your background story, you should multiclass it that way, too.
I don’t think you need the Fighter at all though. Artificer has all kinds of goodies every level through 11. You can stick with the background story just by choosing Soldier as your background.
If you want to multi class, that’s up to you. But I don’t think you need it for your character’s story. Or to tank with either Armorer or Battlesmith, both of which have excellent tanking features on their own.
I did a Wild magic Barbarian/Alchemist Warforged with a similar idea to yours. A creation of war looking to repair, those around him and himself (use using artificer infusions to control his wild magic)(not really but that was the fluff)
If you are using the Battlemaster Fighter then I would say going Battle Smith or Artillerist would be the best choice. Reason: Bonus actions.
Most of the Maneuvers that you mentioned are attack-based, which the Armorist and Alchemist conflict with because they require their actions as well. Battlesmith is easy, you command your defender and is your best DPR choice (Commanding Manuviers should work on the SD giving it two attacks per turn using your bonus action and reaction), but if tankiness is what you are after, the Artillerist is your best fit (it is all about the temp Hitpoints for the group as a bonus action.)
For building I would start as a level 1 fighter first, 3 level dip into Artificer and they 2 levels in fighter. This allows you to get high hit dice. all the weapons and armour prof upfront, and you only really lose 1 tool prof overall (You still end up with three, and more is an easy fix).
If you stop at 3 levels of the artificer, make sure you pick infusions you will be happy with for the 17 levels of a fighter. My picks would be the Returning and Repeater weapons (these are basically +1 Enhanced weapons with an additional gimic), Armor of Magical Strength (because you are using more points to Intel) plus 1 of whatever you want.
If you stop at 3 levels of the artificer, make sure you pick infusions you will be happy with for the 17 levels of a fighter. My picks would be the Returning and Repeater weapons (these are basically +1 Enhanced weapons with an additional gimic), Armor of Magical Strength (because you are using more points to Intel) plus 1 of whatever you want.
This is a good point if you take only 3 levels of Artificer. My take is that Replicate Magic Item- Goggles of Night is something you’ll need indefinitely, and it’s more important than Armor of Magical Strength. Warforged don’t have darkvision, so it’s either that or using a tinkered light source that can give off your position when you’re sneaking around in the dark.
If you stop at 3 levels of the artificer, make sure you pick infusions you will be happy with for the 17 levels of a fighter. My picks would be the Returning and Repeater weapons (these are basically +1 Enhanced weapons with an additional gimic), Armor of Magical Strength (because you are using more points to Intel) plus 1 of whatever you want.
This is a good point if you take only 3 levels of Artificer. My take is that Replicate Magic Item- Goggles of Night is something you’ll need indefinitely, and it’s more important than Armor of Magical Strength. Warforged don’t have darkvision, so it’s either that or using a tinkered light source that can give off your position when you’re sneaking around in the dark.
All true.
But there are also other ways to get darkvision (Eldritch Adept - devil sight comes to mind.) never mind that you are an Artificer and can make just them(giving time and gold). Not many items that allows Int bonus for Strenght saving throws. Again it all depends on where the stats are laid. Is Strength on the low side? go armour. A lot of nighttime raids? get some goggles.
Normally I consider Artificer to be one of the worst classes for multiclassing, just because Artificer is versatile enough that some combination of Infusions or spell choices can allow you to accomplish some approximation of what you're trying to accomplish through your multiclassing, but also the class falls behind fairly quickly if it spends too many levels on other classes.
That said... Battlemaster is a really good subclass. I was considering suggesting just going for the Martial Adept feat, but the feat only gives you on Superiority Die, which isn't at all going to accomplish the feel you're going for. Three levels of Fighter is enough to get you a Fighting Style, Action Surge, and your Battlemaster features... which includes proficiency in one Artisan's Tools of your choice, which pairs well with Artificer. The more tools you're proficient in, the better. I don't think most Fighter Subclasses are really worth being 3 levels behind in Artificer, but Battlemaster is so good that it's worth multiclassing with basically any martial class.
Okay, recently I've been looking at the artificer subclasses for an upcoming campaign a friend of mine is going to be running. So what I have in mind was a warforged who use to fight in the war but know works as an adventurer to make up for all the harm he has caused. I'm thinking armorer artificer so he can be a good tank and provide a lot for his team while taking a 3 level dip after level 5 or 6 in battle master fighter to make him more versatile (I also think it adds more to the whole former soldier theme I'm going for). The Maneuvers I'm taking is Commanding strike, Precision attack, Riposte, and Tactical Assessment. So any thoughts on this?
If you're stopping at a three level dip, I suggest just staying Artificer. Battle Smith to get Steel Defender may be tankier and let's you use Int for magic weapon attacks.
Purely from an RP perspective, I think it would be better to start as a fighter, then go Artificer. Mechanically, there are trade offs. But if that’s your background story, you should multiclass it that way, too.
I don’t think you need the Fighter at all though. Artificer has all kinds of goodies every level through 11. You can stick with the background story just by choosing Soldier as your background.
If you want to multi class, that’s up to you. But I don’t think you need it for your character’s story. Or to tank with either Armorer or Battlesmith, both of which have excellent tanking features on their own.
While I would normally agree that 100% Artificer is the way to go... Why not full fighter? RP/unmentioned backstory reasons?
I did a Wild magic Barbarian/Alchemist Warforged with a similar idea to yours. A creation of war looking to repair, those around him and himself (use using artificer infusions to control his wild magic)(not really but that was the fluff)
If you are using the Battlemaster Fighter then I would say going Battle Smith or Artillerist would be the best choice. Reason: Bonus actions.
Most of the Maneuvers that you mentioned are attack-based, which the Armorist and Alchemist conflict with because they require their actions as well. Battlesmith is easy, you command your defender and is your best DPR choice (Commanding Manuviers should work on the SD giving it two attacks per turn using your bonus action and reaction), but if tankiness is what you are after, the Artillerist is your best fit (it is all about the temp Hitpoints for the group as a bonus action.)
For building I would start as a level 1 fighter first, 3 level dip into Artificer and they 2 levels in fighter. This allows you to get high hit dice. all the weapons and armour prof upfront, and you only really lose 1 tool prof overall (You still end up with three, and more is an easy fix).
If you stop at 3 levels of the artificer, make sure you pick infusions you will be happy with for the 17 levels of a fighter. My picks would be the Returning and Repeater weapons (these are basically +1 Enhanced weapons with an additional gimic), Armor of Magical Strength (because you are using more points to Intel) plus 1 of whatever you want.
This is a good point if you take only 3 levels of Artificer. My take is that Replicate Magic Item- Goggles of Night is something you’ll need indefinitely, and it’s more important than Armor of Magical Strength. Warforged don’t have darkvision, so it’s either that or using a tinkered light source that can give off your position when you’re sneaking around in the dark.
All true.
But there are also other ways to get darkvision (Eldritch Adept - devil sight comes to mind.) never mind that you are an Artificer and can make just them(giving time and gold). Not many items that allows Int bonus for Strenght saving throws. Again it all depends on where the stats are laid. Is Strength on the low side? go armour. A lot of nighttime raids? get some goggles.
Normally I consider Artificer to be one of the worst classes for multiclassing, just because Artificer is versatile enough that some combination of Infusions or spell choices can allow you to accomplish some approximation of what you're trying to accomplish through your multiclassing, but also the class falls behind fairly quickly if it spends too many levels on other classes.
That said... Battlemaster is a really good subclass. I was considering suggesting just going for the Martial Adept feat, but the feat only gives you on Superiority Die, which isn't at all going to accomplish the feel you're going for. Three levels of Fighter is enough to get you a Fighting Style, Action Surge, and your Battlemaster features... which includes proficiency in one Artisan's Tools of your choice, which pairs well with Artificer. The more tools you're proficient in, the better. I don't think most Fighter Subclasses are really worth being 3 levels behind in Artificer, but Battlemaster is so good that it's worth multiclassing with basically any martial class.
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