Currently, I'm playing a level seven battle smith. Until two sessions ago, I was our party's only line fighter (AC 20, +9 to hit, 59 HP, and steel defender). We had a cleric for a bit and now a paladin, but the battle smith outclasses him in melee in every respect. After our last major battle, it was the artificer that kept everyone on their feet with cure wounds and heroism spells and a judicious sharing of the steel defender. Now we have a straight fighter joining the party, which is great because at level seven, I don't know how much more effectively the battle smith can keep punching above their weight.
Everything right now is annoying. Everyone else is shifting to 2024 rules so picking up background feats and weapon masteries. All of the spells and feats that are now available to us or that we're using are now the 2024 rules. When I asked about allowing the battle smith a background feat or a weapon mastery, the DM said, "The artificer is powerful enough." To some degree that is true.
At level four, I took Shadow Touched to give the no longer with us ranger invisibility and clever uses of silent image and get to INT 20 (rock gnome +2 and ST +1). After realizing that the artificer needed to commit to fighter, I convinced the DM to let me rework my infusions to achieve AC 20 (armor of strength and shield) and a radiant weapon.
Now, we're approaching level eight -- god willing -- and I'm debating tough for the HP, shield master for interpose shied, war caster, or weapon master for weapon mastery.
Given that I'm really annoyed with this character's development arc being hijacked by the needs of the party, the "advantages" or at least shiny new objects 2024 provided to every other character class, and the very real limitations of artificers once they start reaching upper levels -- I have a choice of two bonus actions, command the steel defender or branding smite, get two attacks or cast a spell with the limitations of holding a shield or weapon, need to think very carefully about movement, placement, and battlefield influence, need to think carefully about the order of doing whatever it is the character is going to do.
What feat should I take? I'd love to collect some opinions and feel free to take your reaction, too. I'm leaning heavily towards tough or war caster. The others would be nice, but the HP or the ability to cast while holding a shield and weapon sound like a necessity. Part of me hopes the character dies and I can start over with a fairy warlock or something fun.
I don't know which feat you should take, but I'm sorry to hear about your frustration that you feel that you have to bend your character to meet the needs of the party. What if you just... didn't? Let other members of the party notice their holes and failures. Sometimes that's what they need to be able to grow.
Your bonus action of course can also be used for Misty Step. Battle Smith has this interesting progression where you go from vanilla level 2 artificer with no uses for a bonus action to lots of choices for it.
The steel defender is so versatile, I'm finding. Do you use yours as an attack most often or do you let it dodge and just have it in there distracting? I'm still experimenting with the best uses for mine, but with its reaction and the ability to give advantage/flanking/sneak attack, it can do a lot even without the attack.
I think a lot of why you are feeling so powerful at this level is the maxed out INT. It gives a young artificer a surprising amount of power.
Do what will be fun for you. For me that's having a lot of tactical options in play. War Caster seems like a good call.
I'm too much of a party first type player to do anything other than I have. And, given the feats, infusions, and spells I've chosen, it is a little late to undo them. They are all geared to making the artificer into a fighter. Other than lacking action surge, second wind, fighting styles, and weapon mastery, the battle smith has been more than holding their own as a fighter.
The steel defender is a blessing. When I use it in melee the deflect attack reaction is a godsend and it does pretty decently on the attack. Now, I'm mostly using it to help preserve our squishy druid as in command, "Protect the druid," so it runs over to them and provides deflect attack and dodges everything else. The DM insists that I use my bonus action to command it to move whenever the druid moves away from it. Fair enough, I guess. The steel defender has kept my character and the druid in the fight and been the difference between life and death many times.
I don't have misty step listed on my bonus actions tab. I have my radiant weapon shed a bright light for 30 ft option and branding smite. I don't have misty step on my spell list to choose from.
The character is a great character. I had originally envisioned them as supporting sniper., sending aide where needed via the homunculus servant and steel defender while staying undercover with a crossbow and fire bolt. It's been okay as the fighter, just not what I wanted. Now that a real fighter has joined, it kind of chaps, but how do you be grouse now that the one main weakness of the party has been addressed -- like I said, I'm a party-first type player.
I guess I don't. I guess, I broach the subject of getting a origins feat or maybe allowing the weapon mastery feat in lieu of an origins feat with the DM again now that we're leveling to eight. We'll see.
There is some fun in having the DM complain that none of their villains can actually damage the artificer -- they're rarely hit with an AC of 20. I have to say, it is sweet. It will be hard not to take the tough feat because it will add 20 HP to the character. It won't be as high as the fighter (who got tough as an origin feat, but I'm not complaining), but it will be darn good.
I think Weapon Master would be a solid pick. Not sure, with a fighter joining your party, if you'll be staying in the front line or switching to the back. But when you do level up you could potentially switch your infusion (or Magic Item Plan if you're updating your build to the new Unearthed Arcana) to Returning Weapon or Repeating Shot (or Enhanced Weapon) and still enjoy the benefits of whichever weapon's mastery feature.
If you're switching to the back or middle role, Fey Touched might be a good pick. You could pick up Hex (but that'd be another Bonus Action) or Silvery Barbs (which would give you a nice Reaction option).
Since the UA isn't really available on the character builder, I won't be switching, but I have launched a campaign of letting me take an origin feat and weapon mastery just to level the field with the other characters.
You ever play with people who are not strategic thinkers and they seem to do the most ill-advised things at the absolute worst moment, or just don't really do anything? That's our druid and paladin. We've got two. And, it's the fighter's first time playing. I feel like I need to be everywhere doing everything at the moment. I'll be staying on the front lines for the moment. When we level to nine, maybe I'll reorganize the character to be more what I had originally planned on -- sniping with crossbow and spells and handing out buffs and healing.
I ended up taking Tough just for the HP. When I realized it would give me twenty extra HP, it was hard not to.
I know you are a party first type of player, but I think letting the the druid and paladin feel the consequences of their ill-advised decisions is also good for the party. As a former non-strategic thinker myself, it was the quickest way for me to learn how to better play my character. Failure can be punishing, and death saves are scary, but it does make for one heck of a story. Hope that you at least get an origin feat. Good luck to you!
Apologies for the late reply. It's Khmer New Year here, so I was traveling.
Some of my clearest memories are of losing level 1 ADnD clerics in every campaign. It was a great teacher. You're right about that. Also, it helped with really using your resources to your advantage. Those were some fun times, actually. At least, memories of it are.
Learning by doing is the best teacher. No one changes unless they're in enough pain to change, but at the same time, I don't want them standing around with their asses hanging out, if you know what I mean, and I think you do. The DM is pretty good about giving advise. I give a nudge or two here and there.
Unfortunately, losing a party member could just be the first domino.
Game On, Sibling! Jack
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Howdy y'all!
Currently, I'm playing a level seven battle smith. Until two sessions ago, I was our party's only line fighter (AC 20, +9 to hit, 59 HP, and steel defender). We had a cleric for a bit and now a paladin, but the battle smith outclasses him in melee in every respect. After our last major battle, it was the artificer that kept everyone on their feet with cure wounds and heroism spells and a judicious sharing of the steel defender. Now we have a straight fighter joining the party, which is great because at level seven, I don't know how much more effectively the battle smith can keep punching above their weight.
Everything right now is annoying. Everyone else is shifting to 2024 rules so picking up background feats and weapon masteries. All of the spells and feats that are now available to us or that we're using are now the 2024 rules. When I asked about allowing the battle smith a background feat or a weapon mastery, the DM said, "The artificer is powerful enough." To some degree that is true.
At level four, I took Shadow Touched to give the no longer with us ranger invisibility and clever uses of silent image and get to INT 20 (rock gnome +2 and ST +1). After realizing that the artificer needed to commit to fighter, I convinced the DM to let me rework my infusions to achieve AC 20 (armor of strength and shield) and a radiant weapon.
Now, we're approaching level eight -- god willing -- and I'm debating tough for the HP, shield master for interpose shied, war caster, or weapon master for weapon mastery.
Given that I'm really annoyed with this character's development arc being hijacked by the needs of the party, the "advantages" or at least shiny new objects 2024 provided to every other character class, and the very real limitations of artificers once they start reaching upper levels -- I have a choice of two bonus actions, command the steel defender or branding smite, get two attacks or cast a spell with the limitations of holding a shield or weapon, need to think very carefully about movement, placement, and battlefield influence, need to think carefully about the order of doing whatever it is the character is going to do.
What feat should I take? I'd love to collect some opinions and feel free to take your reaction, too. I'm leaning heavily towards tough or war caster. The others would be nice, but the HP or the ability to cast while holding a shield and weapon sound like a necessity. Part of me hopes the character dies and I can start over with a fairy warlock or something fun.
I don't know which feat you should take, but I'm sorry to hear about your frustration that you feel that you have to bend your character to meet the needs of the party. What if you just... didn't? Let other members of the party notice their holes and failures. Sometimes that's what they need to be able to grow.
Your bonus action of course can also be used for Misty Step. Battle Smith has this interesting progression where you go from vanilla level 2 artificer with no uses for a bonus action to lots of choices for it.
The steel defender is so versatile, I'm finding. Do you use yours as an attack most often or do you let it dodge and just have it in there distracting? I'm still experimenting with the best uses for mine, but with its reaction and the ability to give advantage/flanking/sneak attack, it can do a lot even without the attack.
I think a lot of why you are feeling so powerful at this level is the maxed out INT. It gives a young artificer a surprising amount of power.
Do what will be fun for you. For me that's having a lot of tactical options in play. War Caster seems like a good call.
Howdy Foolish!
I'm too much of a party first type player to do anything other than I have. And, given the feats, infusions, and spells I've chosen, it is a little late to undo them. They are all geared to making the artificer into a fighter. Other than lacking action surge, second wind, fighting styles, and weapon mastery, the battle smith has been more than holding their own as a fighter.
The steel defender is a blessing. When I use it in melee the deflect attack reaction is a godsend and it does pretty decently on the attack. Now, I'm mostly using it to help preserve our squishy druid as in command, "Protect the druid," so it runs over to them and provides deflect attack and dodges everything else. The DM insists that I use my bonus action to command it to move whenever the druid moves away from it. Fair enough, I guess. The steel defender has kept my character and the druid in the fight and been the difference between life and death many times.
I don't have misty step listed on my bonus actions tab. I have my radiant weapon shed a bright light for 30 ft option and branding smite. I don't have misty step on my spell list to choose from.
The character is a great character. I had originally envisioned them as supporting sniper., sending aide where needed via the homunculus servant and steel defender while staying undercover with a crossbow and fire bolt. It's been okay as the fighter, just not what I wanted. Now that a real fighter has joined, it kind of chaps, but how do you be grouse now that the one main weakness of the party has been addressed -- like I said, I'm a party-first type player.
I guess I don't. I guess, I broach the subject of getting a origins feat or maybe allowing the weapon mastery feat in lieu of an origins feat with the DM again now that we're leveling to eight. We'll see.
There is some fun in having the DM complain that none of their villains can actually damage the artificer -- they're rarely hit with an AC of 20. I have to say, it is sweet. It will be hard not to take the tough feat because it will add 20 HP to the character. It won't be as high as the fighter (who got tough as an origin feat, but I'm not complaining), but it will be darn good.
Game On, Sibling!
Jack
Fey Touched comes with Misty Step + 1 use for free, so you ought to have it!
I may have written that I took Fey Touched, but it was really Shadow Touched. I'll fix the post. My apologies for any confusion.
I think Weapon Master would be a solid pick. Not sure, with a fighter joining your party, if you'll be staying in the front line or switching to the back. But when you do level up you could potentially switch your infusion (or Magic Item Plan if you're updating your build to the new Unearthed Arcana) to Returning Weapon or Repeating Shot (or Enhanced Weapon) and still enjoy the benefits of whichever weapon's mastery feature.
If you're switching to the back or middle role, Fey Touched might be a good pick. You could pick up Hex (but that'd be another Bonus Action) or Silvery Barbs (which would give you a nice Reaction option).
Howdy Matt!
Since the UA isn't really available on the character builder, I won't be switching, but I have launched a campaign of letting me take an origin feat and weapon mastery just to level the field with the other characters.
You ever play with people who are not strategic thinkers and they seem to do the most ill-advised things at the absolute worst moment, or just don't really do anything? That's our druid and paladin. We've got two. And, it's the fighter's first time playing. I feel like I need to be everywhere doing everything at the moment. I'll be staying on the front lines for the moment. When we level to nine, maybe I'll reorganize the character to be more what I had originally planned on -- sniping with crossbow and spells and handing out buffs and healing.
I ended up taking Tough just for the HP. When I realized it would give me twenty extra HP, it was hard not to.
Game On, Sibling!
Jack
Hey Jack,
I know you are a party first type of player, but I think letting the the druid and paladin feel the consequences of their ill-advised decisions is also good for the party. As a former non-strategic thinker myself, it was the quickest way for me to learn how to better play my character. Failure can be punishing, and death saves are scary, but it does make for one heck of a story. Hope that you at least get an origin feat. Good luck to you!
Howdy Matt!
Apologies for the late reply. It's Khmer New Year here, so I was traveling.
Some of my clearest memories are of losing level 1 ADnD clerics in every campaign. It was a great teacher. You're right about that. Also, it helped with really using your resources to your advantage. Those were some fun times, actually. At least, memories of it are.
Learning by doing is the best teacher. No one changes unless they're in enough pain to change, but at the same time, I don't want them standing around with their asses hanging out, if you know what I mean, and I think you do. The DM is pretty good about giving advise. I give a nudge or two here and there.
Unfortunately, losing a party member could just be the first domino.
Game On, Sibling!
Jack