In an upcoming campaign I'm planning to play as a ranged battlesmith artificer. I want to go for a bit of a hermit inventor who travels the world in search of the most dangerous monsters to hunt and research them. I want to be the brains of the party and be proficient in skills like investigation, arcana or history and nature.
I'm still not certain though about some options for the character and hope that some of you can give me some advice.
Race:
I realise that a vhuman is a very strong pick to grab either Sharpshooter or Fighting Initiate at lvl 1. I have however played a vhuman in a recent campaign so maybe I wanna try something else. I was thinking of either a high elf or a forest gnome. Would the Elven Accuracy feat be of any use when playing an artificer? Any consistent ways of getting advantage on ranged attacks (other than dipping levels into rogue)?
A forest gnome would work thematicly but I wouldn't be able to wield a heavy crossbow, rifle or longbow for that true monsterhunting feeling.
Maybe there are options from the new Monsters of the Multiverse book that might be interesting as well? (I plan to get it soon)
Weapons:
A pistol or hand crossbow with shield is a very strong combo for an Battlesmith Artificer, however I would prefer to have a big weapon to hunt the monsters from afar (think Doc Brown in Back to the Future 3 with his scoped rifle). So I was thinking of either a heavy crossbow, rifle (if my DM allows it) or a longbow. Anyone has any good experiences with one of these weapons?
Feats:
What feats would you pick up and would you do it before or after maxing out your INT? Sharpshooter and Fighting Initiate (archery fighting style) look like solid picks but how about piercer or crossbow expert (when using a hand crossbow)?
Also if you have any other general tips about playing a ranged Battlesmith artificer feel free to share.
If you really want to take advantage of Elven Accuracy, you could have your Steel Defender use the Help Action using your Bonus Action to grant advantage. Although numerically you'll often be better off just having the Steel Defender attack on their own, but still... it's an easy way to get Advantage each round without spending any resources.
As far as feats go... if you really want to be great at a particular skill you can take the Skill Expert Feat, especially if you have an odd number for your INT. Skill Expert gives you a +1 to an ability score, one additional proficiency, and finally you get expertise in one of your proficient skills. I've got an Artificer who I'm planning to eventually take Skill Expert on Investigation, which will likely come up more often than History or Nature.
Crossbow Expert is kind of a waste... it's nice to be able to use your ranged weapons at short range without disadvantage, but the Bonus Action attack granted by the feat can only be performed with a Hand Crossbow and you're usually better off just using your bonus action to attack with your Steel Defender, or otherwise command it to do things to help control the battlefield.
As for Races... Owlin or Aarakocra are amazing races for a range-focused warrior... I kind of like Owlin more... you get proficiency in stealth and a 120 ft Darkvision, which pairs great for a Sniper-style character. Another good option from MPMM is Harengon, because they get a bonus action jump that doesn't provoke opportunity attacks, which you can use to stay in long-range against opponents or reach ideal sniper locations. Satyr is similar with their Mirthful Leap feature, and also has the other major bonus of having advantage on all saving throws versus spells. Another good race for just keeping your distance from your enemies is Goblin, which gives you a bonus action disengage or hide ability, plus Fury of the Small for just dealing some solid extra damage. The MPMM version of the Goblin is slightly different from the VGTM version... aside from being able to pick your ability score bonuses, you also gain Fey Ancestry to get resistance to Charm abilities, and Fury of the Small deals less damage but you can use it more times per day.
Sharpshooter is definitely the feat to take if you want to just deal a ton of damage. If you're willing to invest two ASI's into it, Sharpshooter combined with Elven Accuracy might actually out-class attacking with your Steel Defender and make it worth your Bonus Action each round just to give yourself advantage with Sharpshooter attacks. Still, you'd have to roll really well on your Ability Scores to justify going for the combo over just maxing out your INT.
Thanks for the tips! I've been thinking of Eladrin as my race. I was already leaning towards an elf and the new rules in MotM make them pretty apealing for an artificer. The new elven trance rules allow you to switch two tool proficiencies every long rest. This combined with the 'right tool for the job' and 'tool expertise' abilities of the Artificer makes them the best at pretty much anything that involses any kind of tools.
The other advantage is being able to put +2 ASI in INT. At level 4 I can then pick a half feat to bump my INT to 18. I agree that Skill Expert would probably be a better choice than Elven Accuracy. This will turn my Artificer even more into an utility class.
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In an upcoming campaign I'm planning to play as a ranged battlesmith artificer. I want to go for a bit of a hermit inventor who travels the world in search of the most dangerous monsters to hunt and research them. I want to be the brains of the party and be proficient in skills like investigation, arcana or history and nature.
I'm still not certain though about some options for the character and hope that some of you can give me some advice.
Race:
I realise that a vhuman is a very strong pick to grab either Sharpshooter or Fighting Initiate at lvl 1. I have however played a vhuman in a recent campaign so maybe I wanna try something else. I was thinking of either a high elf or a forest gnome. Would the Elven Accuracy feat be of any use when playing an artificer? Any consistent ways of getting advantage on ranged attacks (other than dipping levels into rogue)?
A forest gnome would work thematicly but I wouldn't be able to wield a heavy crossbow, rifle or longbow for that true monsterhunting feeling.
Maybe there are options from the new Monsters of the Multiverse book that might be interesting as well? (I plan to get it soon)
Weapons:
A pistol or hand crossbow with shield is a very strong combo for an Battlesmith Artificer, however I would prefer to have a big weapon to hunt the monsters from afar (think Doc Brown in Back to the Future 3 with his scoped rifle). So I was thinking of either a heavy crossbow, rifle (if my DM allows it) or a longbow. Anyone has any good experiences with one of these weapons?
Feats:
What feats would you pick up and would you do it before or after maxing out your INT? Sharpshooter and Fighting Initiate (archery fighting style) look like solid picks but how about piercer or crossbow expert (when using a hand crossbow)?
Also if you have any other general tips about playing a ranged Battlesmith artificer feel free to share.
If you really want to take advantage of Elven Accuracy, you could have your Steel Defender use the Help Action using your Bonus Action to grant advantage. Although numerically you'll often be better off just having the Steel Defender attack on their own, but still... it's an easy way to get Advantage each round without spending any resources.
As far as feats go... if you really want to be great at a particular skill you can take the Skill Expert Feat, especially if you have an odd number for your INT. Skill Expert gives you a +1 to an ability score, one additional proficiency, and finally you get expertise in one of your proficient skills. I've got an Artificer who I'm planning to eventually take Skill Expert on Investigation, which will likely come up more often than History or Nature.
Crossbow Expert is kind of a waste... it's nice to be able to use your ranged weapons at short range without disadvantage, but the Bonus Action attack granted by the feat can only be performed with a Hand Crossbow and you're usually better off just using your bonus action to attack with your Steel Defender, or otherwise command it to do things to help control the battlefield.
As for Races... Owlin or Aarakocra are amazing races for a range-focused warrior... I kind of like Owlin more... you get proficiency in stealth and a 120 ft Darkvision, which pairs great for a Sniper-style character. Another good option from MPMM is Harengon, because they get a bonus action jump that doesn't provoke opportunity attacks, which you can use to stay in long-range against opponents or reach ideal sniper locations. Satyr is similar with their Mirthful Leap feature, and also has the other major bonus of having advantage on all saving throws versus spells. Another good race for just keeping your distance from your enemies is Goblin, which gives you a bonus action disengage or hide ability, plus Fury of the Small for just dealing some solid extra damage. The MPMM version of the Goblin is slightly different from the VGTM version... aside from being able to pick your ability score bonuses, you also gain Fey Ancestry to get resistance to Charm abilities, and Fury of the Small deals less damage but you can use it more times per day.
Sharpshooter is definitely the feat to take if you want to just deal a ton of damage. If you're willing to invest two ASI's into it, Sharpshooter combined with Elven Accuracy might actually out-class attacking with your Steel Defender and make it worth your Bonus Action each round just to give yourself advantage with Sharpshooter attacks. Still, you'd have to roll really well on your Ability Scores to justify going for the combo over just maxing out your INT.
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Thanks for the tips! I've been thinking of Eladrin as my race. I was already leaning towards an elf and the new rules in MotM make them pretty apealing for an artificer. The new elven trance rules allow you to switch two tool proficiencies every long rest. This combined with the 'right tool for the job' and 'tool expertise' abilities of the Artificer makes them the best at pretty much anything that involses any kind of tools.
The other advantage is being able to put +2 ASI in INT. At level 4 I can then pick a half feat to bump my INT to 18. I agree that Skill Expert would probably be a better choice than Elven Accuracy. This will turn my Artificer even more into an utility class.