Replicate magic item makes a new magic item, so a sword +1 for example. The armor model's weapons are integrated and aren't a separate, unique item. Unfortunately, you can't.
They do get a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls automatically at class level 9.
Actually, they do not. The Artificer gains a +1 to attack and damage with them. This difference means that if you cast Magic Weapon on them, the bonuses stack, up to +4 to attack and damage with a 6th level slot (requires a different class since an Artificer can't cast 6th level spells). By the time you have this feature, you will have 3rd level slots so you can be swinging with +3 to hit and damage for an hour.
You can't cast Magic Weapon on them. Magic Weapons says that you touch a nonmagical weapon. Your DM may rule differently, but fantastical weapons that shoot lightning, emit thunder, or extend out of you as force (and deal that type of damage) are *absolutely* magical weapons IMHO.
Honestly, people just want a way to make these weapons +2/+3 so they can match what their party members have (if they have that at all!). Might as well just say that at certain player levels you just get +1/+2/+3 and homogenize the game *rolls eyes*
You can't cast Magic Weapon on them. Magic Weapons says that you touch a nonmagical weapon. Your DM may rule differently, but fantastical weapons that shoot lightning, emit thunder, or extend out of you as force (and deal that type of damage) are *absolutely* magical weapons IMHO.
Honestly, people just want a way to make these weapons +2/+3 so they can match what their party members have (if they have that at all!). Might as well just say that at certain player levels you just get +1/+2/+3 and homogenize the game *rolls eyes*
Please provide the rules text that says that they are "magic weapons".
They are class features that are defined as weapons. They are never described as "magic weapons" so while the effect may or may not sound supernatural, that is not sufficient for them to be classified as magic weapons. True Strike and Shillelagh alter the nature of a weapon attack in line with the Armorer innate weapons and don't conflict with Magic Weapon at all. The same is true with Armorer special weapons. The same would be true of a Soul Knife's Psychic Blade if they persisted beyond an individual attack. The same is true of a Warlock's conjured Pact weapon (the Warlock can only bond with an existing weapon if it is magical so only the conjured weapons work with Magic Weapon).
Magic Weapon can be cast on the special weapons. They cannot be bonded as a Warlock's Pact Weapon unless they are made magical first because they are not innately magic weapons (tangential).
*shrug* if you think that Soul Knife's psychic blades aren't magical weapons because it doesn't specifically mention that they are magical, then I can't convince you. (I'm not even bothering looking this up). You're lost in the text and rules. Play how you want but it's not intuitive or balanced.
*shrug* if you think that Soul Knife's psychic blades aren't magical weapons because it doesn't specifically mention that they are magical, then I can't convince you. (I'm not even bothering looking this up). You're lost in the text and rules. Play how you want but it's not intuitive or balanced.
The text and rules are what define RAW. Always start there before house ruling. Flawed understandings of the written rules or assumptions based on flavor instead of mechanics will lead you astray.
RAW, a weapon isn't de facto nonmagical unless the rules specifically say it's magical. Where does it say that in the rules? That is an assumption you're making.
RAW, if the rules say it's magical, then it's magical. If the rules say it's nonmagical, then it's nonmagical. Otherwise, it's up to your interpretation.
RAW, a weapon isn't de facto nonmagical unless the rules specifically say it's magical. Where does it say that in the rules? That is an assumption you're making.
RAW, if the rules say it's magical, then it's magical. If the rules say it's nonmagical, then it's nonmagical. Otherwise, it's up to your interpretation.
RAW, a weapon is nonmagical unless it says it is a Magic Weapon.
A magic weapon is typically a magical version of a weapon from “Equipment”. Some magic weapons specify the type of weapon they are in their descriptions, such as a Longsword or Longbow. If no weapon type is specified, you may choose the type or determine it randomly.
Ammunition. If a magic weapon has the Ammunition property, ammunition fired from it is considered magical for the purpose of any rule that cares whether a weapon is magical or not.
Armor Model: "Each model includes a special weapon. When you attack with that weapon, you can add your Intelligence modifier, instead of your Strength or Dexterity modifier, to the attack and damage rolls."
Force Demolisher. An arcane wrecking ball or sledgehammer projects from your armor. The demolisher counts as a Simple Melee weapon with the Reach property, and it deals 1d10 Force damage on a hit. If you hit a creature that is at least one size smaller than you with the demolisher, you can push the creature up to 10 feet straight away from yourself or pull the creature up to 10 feet toward yourself.
Thunder Pulse. You can discharge concussive blasts with strikes from your armor. The pulse counts as a Simple Melee weapon and deals 1d8 Thunder damage on a hit. A creature hit by the pulse has Disadvantage on attack rolls against targets other than you until the start of your next turn.
Lightning Launcher. A gemlike node appears on your armor, from which you can shoot bolts of lightning. The launcher counts as a Simple Ranged weapon with a normal range of 90 feet and a long range of 300 feet, and it deals 1d6 Lightning damage on a hit. Once on each of your turns when you hit a creature with the launcher, you can deal an extra 1d6 Lightning damage to that target.
Tell me where it says these weapons are magic weapons? They are no more magic weapons than a weapon created by Fabricate. They are no more magical than a Quarterstaff with Shillelagh cast on it.
Look at the description of Magic Weapon. "You touch a nonmagical weapon. Until the spell ends, that weapon becomes a magic weapon..." A weapon is nonmagical by default. Something has to say it is magic. In 2024, they have reduced or eliminated resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks (I think they are currently completely gone, but may appear later), but a Warlock Pact of the Blade's conjured weapon would not be sufficient to bypass a Jade Giant Spider's immunities (the Armorer weapons and Soulknife's psychic blades get around it with their damage types).
If anything is immune or resistant to nonmagical Force damage, the Force Demolisher does not bypass it. If anything is immune or resistant to nonmagical Thunder damage, the Thunder Pulse does not bypass it. If anything is immune or resistant to nonmagical Lightning damage, the Lightning Launcher does not bypass it.
"A magic weapon is typically a magical version of a weapon from “Equipment”. " It says typically. It doesn't have to be. "Some magic weapons specify the type of weapon they are in their descriptions, such as a Longsword or Longbow." SOME.
So that entry does not cover all situations that weapons can or cannot be magical.
It doesn't even matter because this entry refers to weapons in the equipment part of the players handbook. The artificer weapons are not part of this section.
You *are* correct that they are special. They are unique to the artificer. Therefore, we must determine whether they are magical within the artificer ruleset. You are correct that it says they are simple weapons. Simple merely refers to whether it is in the Simple weapon or Martial category. See the rules glossary.
If you cast Magic Weapon on a Simple Dagger, it becomes a Magic Simple Dagger. These are different properties.
Again, I understand that you want to assume that any item is automatically nonmagical unless specifically stated otherwise. I disagree with you.
If I shoot lightning out of my freaking hands from Lightning Launcher, that's magic. That's because the artificer, while coming from a tech source, is still considered a caster using magic and casts spells. Read the entry part of the artificer and how they cast spells. When an artificer casts lightning bolt, it's a spell even though they cast it from tools. (Though caviot, I would understand a DM running a campaign otherwise, if they want to enter into the more tech-side fantasy. It is a departure from the rules though.
It's in the same way that a Cloud Giant feature lets you teleport. No, it's not a spell per se, and it doesn't cost a spell slot. BUT IT'S STILL MAGIC (not a spell). Even if it doesn't say so. They freaking teleported.
Lastly, mechanically, it's a terrible decision. If the weapons are non-magical by default, then you are *forced* to cast magic weapon on them. There is no other way to bypass the resistance to nonmagical damage that you mentioned. Resistance to non-magical damage is kind of like a breakpoint in the game- at some level every character has magic weapons to bypass it. Artificers can't just find a magical longsword, this is their weapon the whole time. It has to be magical from the get-go or have a feature that gives it to them, like so many other classes do. For example, the lunar druid gets to choose radiant damage at level 6. MAGICAL RADIANT DAMAGE (even though it doesn't say that specifically). Similarly, like in your example, shillelagh does magical damage bludgeoning or force. Literally google it.
"*shrug* if you think that Soul Knife's psychic blades aren't magical weapons because it doesn't specifically mention that"
Uhm. in the 2024 phb, under soul knife, the rule book says: "The magic blade has the following traits:"
Under artificer it never says the armor or weapons are magic. It says the armor and weapons are "arcane".
The way dnd rules work, language means only what it says and "magic" does not mean "arcane".
It is weird and sometimes very annoying, but the rules are written more like code or a legal document than a plain english explanation/description.
And yeah, soul knife sucks for that reason. But everything ive read says lightning launcher, powered fists, and the big ball and chain thingy are not magical, but simple weapons, which then means that magic weapon spell could be cast on it or artificer infusions that bump weapons by +1 or whatever could be applied.
"A magic weapon is typically a magical version of a weapon from “Equipment”. " It says typically. It doesn't have to be. "Some magic weapons specify the type of weapon they are in their descriptions, such as a Longsword or Longbow." SOME.
That isn't the gotcha you think it is.
It is an explicit use of "magic weapon" to define a weapon that is magical. When it says "some", it means that a Dagger of Venom specifies that is a Dagger. By contrast, a Holy Avenger or a +1 Weapon can be any weapon.
Read the entry part of the artificer and how they cast spells. When an artificer casts lightning bolt, it's a spell even though they cast it from tools. (Though caviot, I would understand a DM running a campaign otherwise, if they want to enter into the more tech-side fantasy. It is a departure from the rules though.
When an Artificer casts Lightning Bolt, they are casting a spell. Explicitly needing a focus does not change that. Flavor aside, they are mechanically still casting a spell.
It's in the same way that a Cloud Giant feature lets you teleport. No, it's not a spell per se, and it doesn't cost a spell slot. BUT IT'S STILL MAGIC (not a spell). Even if it doesn't say so. They freaking teleported.
Goliath, Cloud's Jaunt: "As a Bonus Action, you magically teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see."
Oh look, it's magical because it's explicitly magical.
Lastly, mechanically, it's a terrible decision. If the weapons are non-magical by default, then you are *forced* to cast magic weapon on them. There is no other way to bypass the resistance to nonmagical damage that you mentioned. Resistance to non-magical damage is kind of like a breakpoint in the game- at some level every character has magic weapons to bypass it.
In 2014, yes and no. As of the 2025 MM, I don't see any instances of monsters of that have resistance or immunity to Bludgeoning, Piercing, or Slashing damage. I had to explicitly look at pre2024 creatures to find examples. Even then, it was rare and the Artificer's weapons do not deal Bludgeoning, Piercing, or Slashing damage. Now, if there is resistance, it is flat out resistance and doesn't matter if the weapon is magical or not. When the Artificier's weapons face resistance, it won't be resistance or immunity to nonmagical Radiant damage, it will be flat out, in 2014 or 2024 and being magical or not won't matter.
In addition, your assumption about needing magic weapons is false and the DMG explicitly says otherwise:
The D&D game assumes that magic items appear sporadically and that they are a boon unless an item bears a curse. Characters and monsters are built to face each other without the help of magic items, which means that having a magic item makes a character more powerful or versatile than a generic character of the same level. As DM, you never have to worry about awarding magic items just so the characters can keep up with the campaign’s threats. Magic items are truly prizes—desirable but not necessary.
Per the DMG, magic items (including magic weapons) are not necessary to face creatures. This design philosophy may not apply to legacy content, but magic weapons are never required for encounters.
For example, the lunar druid gets to choose radiant damage at level 6. MAGICAL RADIANT DAMAGE (even though it doesn't say that specifically). Similarly, like in your example, shillelagh does magical damage bludgeoning or force. Literally google it.
If it doesn't say it is magical, it is not necessarily magical.
Shillelagh is a spell and the effect changes properties of the weapon but never makes it a "magic weapon". The damage is never defined as magical, but it is an effect of a spell. If you were facing a legacy foe with resistance to Bludgeoning damage and hit with your Shillelagh quarterstaff, you could either deal Bludgeoning damage and face resistance or Force damage without resistance. The effect of the spell on the quarterstaff is a magical effect, but the damage it deals isn't necessarily magical. In this case it is debatable. In the similarly, creating a quarterstaff with Fabricate is a magical effect upon the raw materials but the resulting quarterstaff doesn't deal magic damage because it was created via magic.
Your argument about it being mechanically a terrible decision is unfounded by the actual mechanics. Mechanically it does not interact with resistance to nonmagical weapons because those resistances will apply to Bludgeoning, Piercing, or Slashing damage.
If I shoot lightning out of my freaking hands from Lightning Launcher, that's magic. That's because the artificer, while coming from a tech source, is still considered a caster using magic and casts spells.
The mechanics of the Lightning Launcher is that it is a simple weapon that deals Lightning damage. This is similar to the DMG's Laser Pistol and Laser Rifle which are Martial Weapons that deal Radiant damage and the Antimatter Rifle which is a Martial Weapon that deals Necrotic damage. None of these are magic weapons because unlike the Magic Weapon entry and the Magic Weapon spell description, none of them explicitly state that they are magic weapons.
Edited To Add: You can buy toy Tesla Coil Guns on Amazon to launch lightning and pop balloons. This is the "it's a fantasypunk setting so these actually are effective" version of a real world, mundane device.
Your position has no basis in any printed rule and you appear to be conflating fluff with mechanics in your arguments. Contrarily, when a weapon is a "magic weapon", it is explicitly stated as such. Armorer's Special Weapons, Psychic Blades, and conjured Pact Weapons are not explicitly stated to be magic weapons.
"*shrug* if you think that Soul Knife's psychic blades aren't magical weapons because it doesn't specifically mention that"
Uhm. in the 2024 phb, under soul knife, the rule book says: "The magic blade has the following traits:"
That is not conventional, but it works. I missed that in the description and since they deal Psychic damage, being magic weapons or not doesn't normally matter.
And yeah, soul knife sucks for that reason. But everything ive read says lightning launcher, powered fists, and the big ball and chain thingy are not magical, but simple weapons, which then means that magic weapon spell could be cast on it or artificer infusions that bump weapons by +1 or whatever could be applied.
2014 Infusions could be applied but not the new Replicate Magic Item. Infuse Item affects existing items. Replicate Magic Item conjures an item so I don't think it could apply to any of the Armorer's special weapons. It would be an easy house rule, but things get weird with other mechanics from the new version of the class. Now, instead of becoming a nonmagical item when you use certain features, the replicated item is destroyed. Replicating your Arcane Armor has risks.
"That is not conventional, but it works. I missed that in the description and since they deal Psychic damage, being magic weapons or not doesn't normally matter."
Thats an interesting way to say "i agree with you".
The general Crafting Magic item rules in dmg say: "If a magic item incorporates an item that has a purchase cost (such as a weapon or a suit of armor), you must also pay that entire cost or craft that item"
The general Craft Magic Items rules in the dmg also say "Raw Materials. The cost in the table represents the raw materials needed to make a magic item." Which means once you have the mundane item, the table says how much time and money it takes to convert the mundane item to magical, based on rarity.
The armorer subclass says an armorer can crrate their arcane armor as a magic action, creating their mundane nonmagical arcane armor, including lightning launcher or whatever weapon
The artificer Replicate Magic item rules then says "Creating an Item. When you finish a Long Rest, you can create one or two different magic items "
So anyone crafting a +1 longsword would buy or craft a mundane longsworrd, and them spend money and time specified in the table to make it +1 magical.
It would seems the common sense reading of "replicate magic item" ought to start with the "crafting magic item" rules in the dmg, and iwhere everyone else uses the table to fugure out the time and cost yo upgrade a mundane wrapon to magic wrapon, an artificer can do the upgrade for zero gold and a long rest.
Nothing in the artificer rules says that Replicate Magic Item requires the armorer to craft the imundane tem and makr it magical as a single step.
And EVEN IF IT DID, an artificer armorer can change model of armor as part of a long rest, which could be the same long rest they use to "replicate magic item" and bump it to +1.
It would be weird if an armorer could make a lightning launcher in a long rest, or make a long bow in a ling rest and slso make the long bow into a +1 lingbow in a long rest, but not make a lightning launcher in a long rest and bump it to +1 lightning launcher during that same long rest.
Someone is overly complicating artificers "replicate magic item" rules.
Crafting a magic item starts with a mundane version of the weapon or armor (either crafted or purchased or found in a dungeon). And then the crafter spends time and money (and an arcana skill) to make it magic.
Why would an artificers replicate magic item be more restrictive than anyone using the dmg rules for crafting a magic item?
"That is not conventional, but it works. I missed that in the description and since they deal Psychic damage, being magic weapons or not doesn't normally matter."
Thats an interesting way to say "i agree with you"
Oh. I agree with you. I meant that the convention is to use the phrase "magic weapon". Searching is easier that way. 😊
The general Crafting Magic item rules in dmg say: "If a magic item incorporates an item that has a purchase cost (such as a weapon or a suit of armor), you must also pay that entire cost or craft that item"
The general Craft Magic Items rules in the dmg also say "Raw Materials. The cost in the table represents the raw materials needed to make a magic item." Which means once you have the mundane item, the table says how much time and money it takes to convert the mundane item to magical, based on rarity.
The armorer subclass says an armorer can crrate their arcane armor as a magic action, creating their mundane nonmagical arcane armor, including lightning launcher or whatever weapon
No, they don't create their Arcane Armor. They turn an existing armor into Arcane Armor. It explicitly is not creating the armor and uses an existing armor.
The artificer Replicate Magic item rules then says "Creating an Item. When you finish a Long Rest, you can create one or two different magic items "
So anyone crafting a +1 longsword would buy or craft a mundane longsworrd, and them spend money and time specified in the table to make it +1 magical.
It would seems the common sense reading of "replicate magic item" ought to start with the "crafting magic item" rules in the dmg, and iwhere everyone else uses the table to fugure out the time and cost yo upgrade a mundane wrapon to magic wrapon, an artificer can do the upgrade for zero gold and a long rest.
Nothing in the artificer rules says that Replicate Magic Item requires the armorer to craft the imundane tem and makr it magical as a single step.
And EVEN IF IT DID, an artificer armorer can change model of armor as part of a long rest, which could be the same long rest they use to "replicate magic item" and bump it to +1.
Replicate Magic Item doesn't reference the crafting rules at all. You just create a magic item from thin air. If you needed to have an existing item, it would say so like Arcane Armor does. If the feature was modifying the crafting rules, it would reference them (look at how Pact of the Chain references casting Find Familiar as a Magic Action). It's weird and I prefer the Infuse Item version.
Also look at Level 6 -Transmute Magic Item, that turns one Magic Item into another. A +1 Longsword into a +1 Shield, for example. Level 20 - Cheat Death destroys magic items created by Replicate Magic Item.
It would be weird if an armorer could make a lightning launcher in a long rest, or make a long bow in a ling rest and slso make the long bow into a +1 lingbow in a long rest, but not make a lightning launcher in a long rest and bump it to +1 lightning launcher during that same long rest.
Someone is overly complicating artificers "replicate magic item" rules.
Yep. "I agree with you". 😊 It is what is for now though.
Crafting a magic item starts with a mundane version of the weapon or armor (either crafted or purchased or found in a dungeon). And then the crafter spends time and money (and an arcana skill) to make it magic.
Why would an artificers replicate magic item be more restrictive than anyone using the dmg rules for crafting a magic item?
Replicate Magic Item does not reference, modify, or interact with the DMG crafting process at all. It is in a way less restrictive because you can summon Gleaming Plate Armor at level 2+. Additionally, because the Special Weapons are not necessarily persistent items, you could argue that they cannot be made magical by the crafting rules in the DMG.
Since the armorer's armor model attacks are considered Simple Weapons. Can Replicate magic Item make them +1 (To help with Scaling)?
I don't think that's the intent, but I don't see anything in the rules explicitly forbidding it.
They do get a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls automatically at class level 9.
pronouns: he/she/they
True but I would like better scaling instead of a one-time +1 boost.
Replicate magic item makes a new magic item, so a sword +1 for example. The armor model's weapons are integrated and aren't a separate, unique item. Unfortunately, you can't.
Under the 2014 edition of the rules, it was possible. With the 2024 edition, it is no longer possible.
Actually, they do not. The Artificer gains a +1 to attack and damage with them. This difference means that if you cast Magic Weapon on them, the bonuses stack, up to +4 to attack and damage with a 6th level slot (requires a different class since an Artificer can't cast 6th level spells). By the time you have this feature, you will have 3rd level slots so you can be swinging with +3 to hit and damage for an hour.
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My houserulings.
You can't cast Magic Weapon on them. Magic Weapons says that you touch a nonmagical weapon. Your DM may rule differently, but fantastical weapons that shoot lightning, emit thunder, or extend out of you as force (and deal that type of damage) are *absolutely* magical weapons IMHO.
Honestly, people just want a way to make these weapons +2/+3 so they can match what their party members have (if they have that at all!). Might as well just say that at certain player levels you just get +1/+2/+3 and homogenize the game *rolls eyes*
Please provide the rules text that says that they are "magic weapons".
They are class features that are defined as weapons. They are never described as "magic weapons" so while the effect may or may not sound supernatural, that is not sufficient for them to be classified as magic weapons. True Strike and Shillelagh alter the nature of a weapon attack in line with the Armorer innate weapons and don't conflict with Magic Weapon at all. The same is true with Armorer special weapons. The same would be true of a Soul Knife's Psychic Blade if they persisted beyond an individual attack. The same is true of a Warlock's conjured Pact weapon (the Warlock can only bond with an existing weapon if it is magical so only the conjured weapons work with Magic Weapon).
Magic Weapon can be cast on the special weapons. They cannot be bonded as a Warlock's Pact Weapon unless they are made magical first because they are not innately magic weapons (tangential).
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My houserulings.
*shrug* if you think that Soul Knife's psychic blades aren't magical weapons because it doesn't specifically mention that they are magical, then I can't convince you. (I'm not even bothering looking this up). You're lost in the text and rules. Play how you want but it's not intuitive or balanced.
The text and rules are what define RAW. Always start there before house ruling. Flawed understandings of the written rules or assumptions based on flavor instead of mechanics will lead you astray.
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.
RAW, a weapon isn't de facto nonmagical unless the rules specifically say it's magical. Where does it say that in the rules? That is an assumption you're making.
RAW, if the rules say it's magical, then it's magical. If the rules say it's nonmagical, then it's nonmagical. Otherwise, it's up to your interpretation.
RAW, a weapon is nonmagical unless it says it is a Magic Weapon.
Armor Model: "Each model includes a special weapon. When you attack with that weapon, you can add your Intelligence modifier, instead of your Strength or Dexterity modifier, to the attack and damage rolls."
Tell me where it says these weapons are magic weapons? They are no more magic weapons than a weapon created by Fabricate. They are no more magical than a Quarterstaff with Shillelagh cast on it.
Look at the description of Magic Weapon. "You touch a nonmagical weapon. Until the spell ends, that weapon becomes a magic weapon..." A weapon is nonmagical by default. Something has to say it is magic. In 2024, they have reduced or eliminated resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks (I think they are currently completely gone, but may appear later), but a Warlock Pact of the Blade's conjured weapon would not be sufficient to bypass a Jade Giant Spider's immunities (the Armorer weapons and Soulknife's psychic blades get around it with their damage types).
If anything is immune or resistant to nonmagical Force damage, the Force Demolisher does not bypass it. If anything is immune or resistant to nonmagical Thunder damage, the Thunder Pulse does not bypass it. If anything is immune or resistant to nonmagical Lightning damage, the Lightning Launcher does not bypass it.
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My houserulings.
You are just incorrect.
"A magic weapon is typically a magical version of a weapon from “Equipment”. " It says typically. It doesn't have to be. "Some magic weapons specify the type of weapon they are in their descriptions, such as a Longsword or Longbow." SOME.
So that entry does not cover all situations that weapons can or cannot be magical.
It doesn't even matter because this entry refers to weapons in the equipment part of the players handbook. The artificer weapons are not part of this section.
You *are* correct that they are special. They are unique to the artificer. Therefore, we must determine whether they are magical within the artificer ruleset. You are correct that it says they are simple weapons. Simple merely refers to whether it is in the Simple weapon or Martial category. See the rules glossary.
If you cast Magic Weapon on a Simple Dagger, it becomes a Magic Simple Dagger. These are different properties.
Again, I understand that you want to assume that any item is automatically nonmagical unless specifically stated otherwise. I disagree with you.
If I shoot lightning out of my freaking hands from Lightning Launcher, that's magic. That's because the artificer, while coming from a tech source, is still considered a caster using magic and casts spells. Read the entry part of the artificer and how they cast spells. When an artificer casts lightning bolt, it's a spell even though they cast it from tools. (Though caviot, I would understand a DM running a campaign otherwise, if they want to enter into the more tech-side fantasy. It is a departure from the rules though.
It's in the same way that a Cloud Giant feature lets you teleport. No, it's not a spell per se, and it doesn't cost a spell slot. BUT IT'S STILL MAGIC (not a spell). Even if it doesn't say so. They freaking teleported.
Lastly, mechanically, it's a terrible decision. If the weapons are non-magical by default, then you are *forced* to cast magic weapon on them. There is no other way to bypass the resistance to nonmagical damage that you mentioned. Resistance to non-magical damage is kind of like a breakpoint in the game- at some level every character has magic weapons to bypass it. Artificers can't just find a magical longsword, this is their weapon the whole time. It has to be magical from the get-go or have a feature that gives it to them, like so many other classes do. For example, the lunar druid gets to choose radiant damage at level 6. MAGICAL RADIANT DAMAGE (even though it doesn't say that specifically). Similarly, like in your example, shillelagh does magical damage bludgeoning or force. Literally google it.
"*shrug* if you think that Soul Knife's psychic blades aren't magical weapons because it doesn't specifically mention that"
Uhm. in the 2024 phb, under soul knife, the rule book says: "The magic blade has the following traits:"
Under artificer it never says the armor or weapons are magic. It says the armor and weapons are "arcane".
The way dnd rules work, language means only what it says and "magic" does not mean "arcane".
It is weird and sometimes very annoying, but the rules are written more like code or a legal document than a plain english explanation/description.
And yeah, soul knife sucks for that reason. But everything ive read says lightning launcher, powered fists, and the big ball and chain thingy are not magical, but simple weapons, which then means that magic weapon spell could be cast on it or artificer infusions that bump weapons by +1 or whatever could be applied.
That isn't the gotcha you think it is.
It is an explicit use of "magic weapon" to define a weapon that is magical. When it says "some", it means that a Dagger of Venom specifies that is a Dagger. By contrast, a Holy Avenger or a +1 Weapon can be any weapon.
Again, Magic Weapon explicitly says that weapon becomes a "magic weapon".
When an Artificer casts Lightning Bolt, they are casting a spell. Explicitly needing a focus does not change that. Flavor aside, they are mechanically still casting a spell.
Goliath, Cloud's Jaunt: "As a Bonus Action, you magically teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see."
Oh look, it's magical because it's explicitly magical.
In 2014, yes and no. As of the 2025 MM, I don't see any instances of monsters of that have resistance or immunity to Bludgeoning, Piercing, or Slashing damage. I had to explicitly look at pre2024 creatures to find examples. Even then, it was rare and the Artificer's weapons do not deal Bludgeoning, Piercing, or Slashing damage. Now, if there is resistance, it is flat out resistance and doesn't matter if the weapon is magical or not. When the Artificier's weapons face resistance, it won't be resistance or immunity to nonmagical Radiant damage, it will be flat out, in 2014 or 2024 and being magical or not won't matter.
In addition, your assumption about needing magic weapons is false and the DMG explicitly says otherwise:
Per the DMG, magic items (including magic weapons) are not necessary to face creatures. This design philosophy may not apply to legacy content, but magic weapons are never required for encounters.
If it doesn't say it is magical, it is not necessarily magical.
Shillelagh is a spell and the effect changes properties of the weapon but never makes it a "magic weapon". The damage is never defined as magical, but it is an effect of a spell. If you were facing a legacy foe with resistance to Bludgeoning damage and hit with your Shillelagh quarterstaff, you could either deal Bludgeoning damage and face resistance or Force damage without resistance. The effect of the spell on the quarterstaff is a magical effect, but the damage it deals isn't necessarily magical. In this case it is debatable. In the similarly, creating a quarterstaff with Fabricate is a magical effect upon the raw materials but the resulting quarterstaff doesn't deal magic damage because it was created via magic.
Your argument about it being mechanically a terrible decision is unfounded by the actual mechanics. Mechanically it does not interact with resistance to nonmagical weapons because those resistances will apply to Bludgeoning, Piercing, or Slashing damage.
The mechanics of the Lightning Launcher is that it is a simple weapon that deals Lightning damage. This is similar to the DMG's Laser Pistol and Laser Rifle which are Martial Weapons that deal Radiant damage and the Antimatter Rifle which is a Martial Weapon that deals Necrotic damage. None of these are magic weapons because unlike the Magic Weapon entry and the Magic Weapon spell description, none of them explicitly state that they are magic weapons.
Edited To Add: You can buy toy Tesla Coil Guns on Amazon to launch lightning and pop balloons. This is the "it's a fantasypunk setting so these actually are effective" version of a real world, mundane device.
Your position has no basis in any printed rule and you appear to be conflating fluff with mechanics in your arguments. Contrarily, when a weapon is a "magic weapon", it is explicitly stated as such. Armorer's Special Weapons, Psychic Blades, and conjured Pact Weapons are not explicitly stated to be magic weapons.
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My houserulings.
That is not conventional, but it works. I missed that in the description and since they deal Psychic damage, being magic weapons or not doesn't normally matter.
Exactly.
2014 Infusions could be applied but not the new Replicate Magic Item. Infuse Item affects existing items. Replicate Magic Item conjures an item so I don't think it could apply to any of the Armorer's special weapons. It would be an easy house rule, but things get weird with other mechanics from the new version of the class. Now, instead of becoming a nonmagical item when you use certain features, the replicated item is destroyed. Replicating your Arcane Armor has risks.
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.
"That is not conventional, but it works. I missed that in the description and since they deal Psychic damage, being magic weapons or not doesn't normally matter."
Thats an interesting way to say "i agree with you".
The general Crafting Magic item rules in dmg say: "If a magic item incorporates an item that has a purchase cost (such as a weapon or a suit of armor), you must also pay that entire cost or craft that item"
The general Craft Magic Items rules in the dmg also say "Raw Materials. The cost in the table represents the raw materials needed to make a magic item." Which means once you have the mundane item, the table says how much time and money it takes to convert the mundane item to magical, based on rarity.
The armorer subclass says an armorer can crrate their arcane armor as a magic action, creating their mundane nonmagical arcane armor, including lightning launcher or whatever weapon
The artificer Replicate Magic item rules then says "Creating an Item. When you finish a Long Rest, you can create one or two different magic items "
So anyone crafting a +1 longsword would buy or craft a mundane longsworrd, and them spend money and time specified in the table to make it +1 magical.
It would seems the common sense reading of "replicate magic item" ought to start with the "crafting magic item" rules in the dmg, and iwhere everyone else uses the table to fugure out the time and cost yo upgrade a mundane wrapon to magic wrapon, an artificer can do the upgrade for zero gold and a long rest.
Nothing in the artificer rules says that Replicate Magic Item requires the armorer to craft the imundane tem and makr it magical as a single step.
And EVEN IF IT DID, an artificer armorer can change model of armor as part of a long rest, which could be the same long rest they use to "replicate magic item" and bump it to +1.
It would be weird if an armorer could make a lightning launcher in a long rest, or make a long bow in a ling rest and slso make the long bow into a +1 lingbow in a long rest, but not make a lightning launcher in a long rest and bump it to +1 lightning launcher during that same long rest.
Someone is overly complicating artificers "replicate magic item" rules.
Crafting a magic item starts with a mundane version of the weapon or armor (either crafted or purchased or found in a dungeon). And then the crafter spends time and money (and an arcana skill) to make it magic.
Why would an artificers replicate magic item be more restrictive than anyone using the dmg rules for crafting a magic item?
Oh. I agree with you. I meant that the convention is to use the phrase "magic weapon". Searching is easier that way. 😊
No, they don't create their Arcane Armor. They turn an existing armor into Arcane Armor. It explicitly is not creating the armor and uses an existing armor.
Replicate Magic Item doesn't reference the crafting rules at all. You just create a magic item from thin air. If you needed to have an existing item, it would say so like Arcane Armor does. If the feature was modifying the crafting rules, it would reference them (look at how Pact of the Chain references casting Find Familiar as a Magic Action). It's weird and I prefer the Infuse Item version.
Also look at Level 6 -Transmute Magic Item, that turns one Magic Item into another. A +1 Longsword into a +1 Shield, for example. Level 20 - Cheat Death destroys magic items created by Replicate Magic Item.
Yep. "I agree with you". 😊 It is what is for now though.
Replicate Magic Item does not reference, modify, or interact with the DMG crafting process at all. It is in a way less restrictive because you can summon Gleaming Plate Armor at level 2+. Additionally, because the Special Weapons are not necessarily persistent items, you could argue that they cannot be made magical by the crafting rules in the DMG.
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My houserulings.
"Replicate Magic Item doesn't reference the crafting rules at all. You just create a magic item from thin air."
Copy paste the section of rules containing the reference "from thin air".