In a spelljammers campaign I’m playing I wanted to play an artificer. The problem is that the rest of my party is mostly running DPs builds, which is fine because I’d like for my character to be a bit more of a support character. So basically I was going to see about taking a one level dip into forge domain cleric for the buff spells but still fitting the theme. Any tips on when to take the dip (starting at level one artificer) or any other subclasses I should look into for the artificer ( was thinking artillerist for protecting turret)?
Its not worth multiclassing unless you already have most of your levels planned out, and absolutely need it to make a build work. The main issue is that it'll end up forcing you to invest in Wis for scaling bonuses, especially if you're going 2014 Cleric rules that let you prepare extra spells. The Forge specific cleric spells are on the Artificer spell list at the spell levels they get, with the exception of the one smite spell. Anything higher doesn't matter, unless your going deep into cleric..... in which case you may as well just start as cleric.
Second, the Artificer spell list is small, but its drawing from a good mix of cleric, wizard, paladin and ranger spells. Most of which are the support spells, and a few attack spells in the subclass lists. However, your limited spell slots means you can't hard carry a group with magic like a full caster can, until you hit lvl 11. You can still manage it, but you'd have to get really creative and really understand the range of magic items you can find/craft/replicate. In early levels you'll also benefit from exploring the expanded range of Common and Uncommon magic items, since you can realistically craft those mid-adventure utilizing any free time your DM will afford you. Remember.... you don't need to craft an item in one go. You can total up hours into completing it.
Frist level spells are a bit of a struggle, as you don't have anything other than FarieFire and Grease thats effective over an area; and slots are so few, you kind of want persisting effects to make the most of it. Second level spells have a lot of competition, so I recommend replicating or making a wand of web to have multiple castings of that on hand. And then prepare Vortex Warp, and any combination Spider Climb, Reduce/Enlarge, Lesser Restoration, See invisibility or Rope Trick. Enlarge to have a front linter take up more space, and adv on STR saving throws (aka harder to move around them). The others are more self explanatory.
Vortex warp requires some explaining though..... At face value its pretty bad against enemies, since CON tends to be high with big monsters. Buuuuuut..... allies can willingly fail a saving throw. Despite limited casting, Vortex warp is probably THE best support spell for situational opportunity cost. You can teleport allies out of danger (especially downed ones). You can put other allies in better positions, even bypassing enemies/obstacles. I've poofed our Paladin on top of a huge monster (while Spider Climb was still active on him); so with hands free, he went to town on its head. I've had to pull the wizard out of more than one crit downing, because hes literally made of cloth. I've long since kept one 2nd level spell slot in reserve just in case I need this spell, because its that good in a pinch.
Favorite NPC being held hostage by the BBG? Call out "Trust me (wink)" and zoop, they're now safely in your back line, behind the adventurers with no more moral quandary about dropping a bunch of AOEs on the BBG's head.
"There is only one Goblin who has survived an encounter with this party. He is behind me. You are in front of me. Be somewhere else!"
If you have no other healer, I would highly recommend petitioning the DM to let you have an Enspelled item (typically staff, weapon or armor... but it can technically be a ring or wand) to get more uses of Cure Wounds or Healing Word; including up leveled castings at higher rarities (there is precedent for it). So as you gain higher level spell slots, you can retool the Enspelled item to cast at that same level. This will give you 6 charges of the spell per day. Depending on how brutal combat is for the party, this should work ok, despite the lack of defense spells had you been a cleric.
Third, also see if someone else in your party can fit in Herbalist tool proficiency, as this allows them to craft/help craft healing potions. If the DM is not ok with Enspelled items to augment you with more healing spells, ask the DM if they're willing to house rule distilling of Healing potions, letting you combine lower tier potions into higher tier ones. The conversation rate should 2 potions to get the next higher, letting it keep pace with cure wounds as you scale up. This way people can carry a source of healing, since an Artificer can't do that job on spell slots alone.
With that aside.... Artificer as a class suffers more that any other if you multiclass into anything else. The one odd exception is starting as an Artificer to get the Con Save, and then the rest of the levels as a full caster. The main issue is spell slot advancement and feature advancement. Every level offers something useful to the class. Even if the subclasses are not even in power, they always build upwards. And unless the campaign has no intention of reaching past level 10, the spell storing ring at level 11 takes you from behind a full caster, to a bigger menace than a wizard. Assuming you have 18 Int by this point, that's 8 castings of any 1st through 3rd level spells you know. And 3rd level is where all the Work Horse spells are. Dispel Magic, Haste, Fly, Revivify off your main class spell list. 3rd level spells is also where every subclass, other than Alchemist, gets their big offensive spell. Fireball, Call Lightning, Lightning Bolt, Hypnotic Pattern.
If you know what the rest of the party is going to do with class and subclass, it'll easier to give a solid suggestion on which subclass to take. I would also recommend going with the 2025 Revamp, as your options are overall better; especially since you're going support.
Alchemist is doable, but not recommended for what you're doing trying to do. Its better than the previous version, but still anemic compared to the other subclasses. The subclass spell has scaling issues as well. The healing spells you learn have low HP per slot level, and was meant to be paired with upcasting and cleric enhancements. The other spells have niche applications, but for the slot level, you have better options in the main spell list. The random elixirs (which you create the most of) are also unreliable for healing, and spending spell slots isn't worth it until they get their upscale at level 9.... then it might be worth spending a lvl 1 spell slot on them. Really the only significant benefit of the Subclass is being able to craft normal potions like a 3D printer, and free uses of lesser restoration at lvl 9. If the DM allows scavenging to reduce the gold cost of potions, even better.
Artillerist is overall DPS focused, and the Temp HP turret potency falls behind as you go up in level, because its avg 8 THP and goes up to 12 at lvl 9. But you can pulse and then switch to offensive with the cannon, and pulse THP again when needed. How effective it is long term really depends on what you're fighting. Chip damage and AOE is where that THP pulse shines. But if they're taking huge hits, or getting overwhelmed, the Fire Cone or Push from the other cannon shot actions might be of more help. But most importantly... you get access to Fireball at lvl 10. And 8 Fireballs at level 11.
Armorer if the party needs a Tank. Replicate Magic Item allows you to get Plate armor via Gleaming or Smoldering armor (both of which are Common magic items, and valid for replicate at level 2), and can be used as your Arcane armor. You can also replicate a Shield of Swans, to get both a Shield for more AC and short bursts of fly speed for added mobility. For armor model, it'll depend on what play style the others are going with. Dreadnaught to push/pull things around the map, or Guardian to go shoulder to shoulder with the Melee, and Sap effect whatever you hit. But the real fun starts at level 9, when you get the Armor Replicate Item bonus slot..... and there is NO written limitation on what that armor plan can be. So RAW, even Legendary armor within the Setting is fair game. Also RAW, Shields are fair game too. So if you already have an armor you like, you can make a Legendary shield instead.
50 THP on long rest, and Resistance non-magical damage while you have THP. And per sage advise..... not all elemental damage is magical. Even Dragon Breath, unless explicitly stated as magical, is usually just elemental. Meaning you have Resistance to Dragon Breath as long as you have THP when you take it. And as an Artificer, you have access to False Life as a spell; letting you regain that resistance benefit between rounds. The Guardian armor has a BA to gain THP equal to your level when you're below half HP total, making it another source of upkeep for the armor effect.
This is why knowing what magic items are out there is such a big deal for an artificer. Replicate opens up a lot of options as is. And now that crafting is gaining visibility with GMs thanks to this class, and the update, you can more easily leverage magic items to augment your slow spell slot progression. You should have a couple wands on hand to get extra castings of spells you use often. Even the rings/etc that replicate low level spells (Jump, water walking, etc) have uses due to at-will casting.
And if you go Battlesmith, the value of unattuned magic items start to show itself more.
I play Battlesmith, so I have experience with this one. Your expanded spell list is also pretty solid, giving you Shield, Heroism, and Warding Bond at lower levels, which have strategic uses in fights you have foresight into. But the 3rd level spells, Conjure Barrage and Aura of Vitality, are beastly with the Spell Storing item and the new Circle Casting rules respectively.
Secondly, Battlesmith's Battle Ready feature lets you use INT as your attack stat for any magical weapon. And this is very flexible, as any inherently magical weapon counts, weapons enchanted with spells count, and a few magic items that can change shape into weapons also count. The old DDB sheet was really spotty on this, due to how things are connected under the hood; but the new system is just a check box, meaning you don't have to jump through hoops or have multiple copies of things to get the sheet to work right for items enchanted by spells. Anyway... I have a small bunch of common and uncommon magic weapons for different BPS damage types, and a set of walloping ammo in an Efficient Quiver. None of these are attuned items. Theres also a decent amount of common magic items (like Moon touched) that are, or count as magic weapons... so
You also get a Steel Defender companion that lets you play with the action economy. For the cost of a Bonus Action you can get an extra attack, or a Grapple, or a Shove, or Help action, or a Utilize action, or a Search Action, or use a Magic Item*. The Defender is fast (40ft), letting be a flanking ally for advantage on melee. It can use its reaction to impose disadvantage on an attack against an adjacent ally. It can grab and pull allies out of danger without triggering AOP (forced movement rule). It can administer healing potions, or just potions in general. The magic item limitation is mainly centered on attunement and command words, as it can't talk, and DMs rule different when it comes to familiars/companions getting their own attunement slots. (I gave mine a Wand of Magic Missile and Circlet of Blasting for light artillery. Gonna give it Rope of Entanglement when I can. If I can also get an Arc Rifle, my Defender is now a Temu Big-O). Having an extra body, and basically a whole extra action is really flexible. I once had it pick up a table, and drag it, following an ally to provide cover from arrows. I play a Goblin, so I routinely let it pick me up and carry me around because it moves faster. My DM will let it do perception checks to spot danger, or look out for creatures outside of combat. And from the start I've been using it to grapple/shove enemies into ground hazards created by the spell casters.
Its also an incredible accomplice for sight gags. I had it lift me up so I could use a telescope to look around. when it was newer, it wouldn't know to use doors and would break through walls like the Koolaid man (got lot of milage out of Mending cantrip). One time I told it catch me, but botched an acrobatics check, so while it was holding its arms out, I feel just to the side of it. Then there was the time I had it dig a short trench, got distracted by a conversation and short investigation into something, and remembered about the defender much later..... and the DM said that it had almost circled the whole village with a 5ft wide trench by the time we got back to it. And I'm waiting for the day when I get to do a chase scene with it pulling a small cart like a Rickshaw. I also have the Homunculus servant. Individually, and as a group, I have them play off each other like 3 mutes in a slapstick movie.
Anyway..... strategically a Battlesmith has a good amount of options, but you also have some limitations. You don't get Weapon Mastery by default. So you either invest in the Weapon Master feat for it, or find a feat that offers similar function (Like Shield Master's Shield Bash). Or take the Fighter Initiate to get access to fighting styles for Protector, so you can use also use your rection to protect adjacent allies with your shield. You work in Tandem with the Defender to plug holes in front line, topple/push/bully enemies around, flank with allies, or otherwise set them up for your allies to go ham. You 'can' spec for damage, but its more costly, and the other Martials will do it better anyway. You're also exposed to more damage, so concentration spells are harder maintain.
If you go back or mid line ranged, you can shift your cantrip choice to supportive or defensive, or elemental damage if the party is lacking in it (acid splash is great if your DM likes regenerating creatures). Thorn Whip is really good for pulling enemies away from casters, or into ground hazards. Ray of frost is also good if you didn't take weapon masteries, as the 10ft move penalty makes rushing the back line harder. You're also more free to keep concentration spells up, like FaireFire and Web. Grease is also amazing in a tight hallway, as anything passing through it has make a save. Then have the Defender run interference, or up in the front line helping the melee guys. Meanwhile, you hang back maintaining whatever concentration spell you put out, while throwing cantrips or bow/crossbow shots, with a stack of walloping ammo to make life miserable. Flying enemies are going to hate you.
Cartographer is too new, and have no chance to field test it. But in certain party comps, I can see this working out pretty good. Like there some RAI interactions that are not immediately obvious due to vague RAW.... but if your group has incessant Darkness users (I'm looking at you Shadow Monk), having the Martials take Blind Fighting/Blind Sight item, the Warlock take Devil Sight, Eldritch adept for range other casters, or access to Tremor sense..... there is serious potential to make to the party designed around, and fights in magical darkness. And the Maps let the other party members know where everyone else is, and can target them with spells, even if they can't see them.
so far, my experience playing artificer is its good for "the feels" but not so great at much of anything else.
You can play ironman pretty well, armorer at level 6 or 7 can tank pretty well and hit decent. But as you level up, your infusions really start to fall behind the kinds of magic items you should be getting as a party, you're a half caster with a pretty mediocre spell list,
So, first few levels, you're not an armorer, so youre AC kinda sucks. Once you're an armorer, your AC can get pretty good and your armor-based weapons use intelligence to attack/damage. At level 5 you get extra attack. at level 6 you unlock some UNCOMMON infusions? which feels a little behind the curve at that point. at level 7 you get flash of genius, which is sort of like a poor-mans-paladin aura, which can help youself or your team, but only a small number of times. level 11 when you get the spell storing item, letting you cast a level 3 spell up to 10 times. but psych, fireball isn't on your spell list unless you're an artillerist, and artillerist's dont tank. The other caveat about the spell casting item, is you can only cast the spell at the level its defined, no upcasting an OK level1 spell to level3. So chromatic orb is on your list, but youc an only cast it at level 1 in the spell storing item. probably go armorer and put lightning bolt in the spell storing item. odds are you'll only hit one target per whap, but it'll be 8d6 lightning damage. if you go artillerist, at level 11, you'll be bonking fireballs left and right, but you'll have to kinda hang back a bit and make sure to get a 14 DEX for medium armor and shield for a decent AC.
or maybe look at the cartographer subclass? They seem to have some really neat support features, like teleporting a party member out of danger.
In a spelljammers campaign I’m playing I wanted to play an artificer. The problem is that the rest of my party is mostly running DPs builds, which is fine because I’d like for my character to be a bit more of a support character. So basically I was going to see about taking a one level dip into forge domain cleric for the buff spells but still fitting the theme. Any tips on when to take the dip (starting at level one artificer) or any other subclasses I should look into for the artificer ( was thinking artillerist for protecting turret)?
If Forge Domain is a one level dip, you are playing under the 2014 rules, correct? Are you using purely 2014 rules?
my Dm was leiniate telling us to use either the 2014 or 2024 rules. ( i was using the 2014 because when I first came up with the charecter concept the 2024 artificer wasn't out yet, and I have yet to get a good look at the new one.)
Here is the last playtest version that included the main Subclasses. Eberron Updates has the latest playtest version of the Class and the Cartographer class.
I have not done an analysis of what changed since the last playtest.
In addition, here are two articles on the Artificer:
Note that Dragonmarks in Forge of the Artificer are now feats that can be granted by a Background instead of a Subspecies and are no longer tied to a species. If you are interested in any of the Dragonmarks, perhaps Mark of Healing, Forge of the Artificer may be of interest to you.
I agree with another poster that I don't think Forge Domain adds anything for you and it will delay your Artificer features. Blessing of the Forge is going to be similar to getting access to your Infusions 1 level earlier and won't scale with character level.
The Protector "Cannon" will help mitigate damage with temporary hit points, but it is disappointing that it never scales with your level, other than Intelligence increases. Still, AoE temporary hit points, especially if the rest of your group isn't already using temporary hit points, is really good. I personally play an Armorer when I play to impose disadvantage on attacks against others for an any enemy I hit. It's been pretty helpful for small encounters.
In a spelljammers campaign I’m playing I wanted to play an artificer. The problem is that the rest of my party is mostly running DPs builds, which is fine because I’d like for my character to be a bit more of a support character. So basically I was going to see about taking a one level dip into forge domain cleric for the buff spells but still fitting the theme. Any tips on when to take the dip (starting at level one artificer) or any other subclasses I should look into for the artificer ( was thinking artillerist for protecting turret)?
Its not worth multiclassing unless you already have most of your levels planned out, and absolutely need it to make a build work. The main issue is that it'll end up forcing you to invest in Wis for scaling bonuses, especially if you're going 2014 Cleric rules that let you prepare extra spells. The Forge specific cleric spells are on the Artificer spell list at the spell levels they get, with the exception of the one smite spell. Anything higher doesn't matter, unless your going deep into cleric..... in which case you may as well just start as cleric.
Second, the Artificer spell list is small, but its drawing from a good mix of cleric, wizard, paladin and ranger spells. Most of which are the support spells, and a few attack spells in the subclass lists. However, your limited spell slots means you can't hard carry a group with magic like a full caster can, until you hit lvl 11. You can still manage it, but you'd have to get really creative and really understand the range of magic items you can find/craft/replicate. In early levels you'll also benefit from exploring the expanded range of Common and Uncommon magic items, since you can realistically craft those mid-adventure utilizing any free time your DM will afford you. Remember.... you don't need to craft an item in one go. You can total up hours into completing it.
Frist level spells are a bit of a struggle, as you don't have anything other than FarieFire and Grease thats effective over an area; and slots are so few, you kind of want persisting effects to make the most of it. Second level spells have a lot of competition, so I recommend replicating or making a wand of web to have multiple castings of that on hand. And then prepare Vortex Warp, and any combination Spider Climb, Reduce/Enlarge, Lesser Restoration, See invisibility or Rope Trick. Enlarge to have a front linter take up more space, and adv on STR saving throws (aka harder to move around them). The others are more self explanatory.
Vortex warp requires some explaining though..... At face value its pretty bad against enemies, since CON tends to be high with big monsters. Buuuuuut..... allies can willingly fail a saving throw. Despite limited casting, Vortex warp is probably THE best support spell for situational opportunity cost. You can teleport allies out of danger (especially downed ones). You can put other allies in better positions, even bypassing enemies/obstacles. I've poofed our Paladin on top of a huge monster (while Spider Climb was still active on him); so with hands free, he went to town on its head. I've had to pull the wizard out of more than one crit downing, because hes literally made of cloth. I've long since kept one 2nd level spell slot in reserve just in case I need this spell, because its that good in a pinch.
Favorite NPC being held hostage by the BBG? Call out "Trust me (wink)" and zoop, they're now safely in your back line, behind the adventurers with no more moral quandary about dropping a bunch of AOEs on the BBG's head.
"There is only one Goblin who has survived an encounter with this party. He is behind me. You are in front of me. Be somewhere else!"
If you have no other healer, I would highly recommend petitioning the DM to let you have an Enspelled item (typically staff, weapon or armor... but it can technically be a ring or wand) to get more uses of Cure Wounds or Healing Word; including up leveled castings at higher rarities (there is precedent for it). So as you gain higher level spell slots, you can retool the Enspelled item to cast at that same level. This will give you 6 charges of the spell per day. Depending on how brutal combat is for the party, this should work ok, despite the lack of defense spells had you been a cleric.
Third, also see if someone else in your party can fit in Herbalist tool proficiency, as this allows them to craft/help craft healing potions. If the DM is not ok with Enspelled items to augment you with more healing spells, ask the DM if they're willing to house rule distilling of Healing potions, letting you combine lower tier potions into higher tier ones. The conversation rate should 2 potions to get the next higher, letting it keep pace with cure wounds as you scale up. This way people can carry a source of healing, since an Artificer can't do that job on spell slots alone.
With that aside.... Artificer as a class suffers more that any other if you multiclass into anything else. The one odd exception is starting as an Artificer to get the Con Save, and then the rest of the levels as a full caster. The main issue is spell slot advancement and feature advancement. Every level offers something useful to the class. Even if the subclasses are not even in power, they always build upwards. And unless the campaign has no intention of reaching past level 10, the spell storing ring at level 11 takes you from behind a full caster, to a bigger menace than a wizard. Assuming you have 18 Int by this point, that's 8 castings of any 1st through 3rd level spells you know. And 3rd level is where all the Work Horse spells are. Dispel Magic, Haste, Fly, Revivify off your main class spell list. 3rd level spells is also where every subclass, other than Alchemist, gets their big offensive spell. Fireball, Call Lightning, Lightning Bolt, Hypnotic Pattern.
If you know what the rest of the party is going to do with class and subclass, it'll easier to give a solid suggestion on which subclass to take. I would also recommend going with the 2025 Revamp, as your options are overall better; especially since you're going support.
Alchemist is doable, but not recommended for what you're doing trying to do. Its better than the previous version, but still anemic compared to the other subclasses. The subclass spell has scaling issues as well. The healing spells you learn have low HP per slot level, and was meant to be paired with upcasting and cleric enhancements. The other spells have niche applications, but for the slot level, you have better options in the main spell list. The random elixirs (which you create the most of) are also unreliable for healing, and spending spell slots isn't worth it until they get their upscale at level 9.... then it might be worth spending a lvl 1 spell slot on them. Really the only significant benefit of the Subclass is being able to craft normal potions like a 3D printer, and free uses of lesser restoration at lvl 9. If the DM allows scavenging to reduce the gold cost of potions, even better.
Artillerist is overall DPS focused, and the Temp HP turret potency falls behind as you go up in level, because its avg 8 THP and goes up to 12 at lvl 9. But you can pulse and then switch to offensive with the cannon, and pulse THP again when needed. How effective it is long term really depends on what you're fighting. Chip damage and AOE is where that THP pulse shines. But if they're taking huge hits, or getting overwhelmed, the Fire Cone or Push from the other cannon shot actions might be of more help. But most importantly... you get access to Fireball at lvl 10. And 8 Fireballs at level 11.
Armorer if the party needs a Tank. Replicate Magic Item allows you to get Plate armor via Gleaming or Smoldering armor (both of which are Common magic items, and valid for replicate at level 2), and can be used as your Arcane armor. You can also replicate a Shield of Swans, to get both a Shield for more AC and short bursts of fly speed for added mobility. For armor model, it'll depend on what play style the others are going with. Dreadnaught to push/pull things around the map, or Guardian to go shoulder to shoulder with the Melee, and Sap effect whatever you hit. But the real fun starts at level 9, when you get the Armor Replicate Item bonus slot..... and there is NO written limitation on what that armor plan can be. So RAW, even Legendary armor within the Setting is fair game. Also RAW, Shields are fair game too. So if you already have an armor you like, you can make a Legendary shield instead.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/9445170-godsteel-warplate
50 THP on long rest, and Resistance non-magical damage while you have THP. And per sage advise..... not all elemental damage is magical. Even Dragon Breath, unless explicitly stated as magical, is usually just elemental. Meaning you have Resistance to Dragon Breath as long as you have THP when you take it. And as an Artificer, you have access to False Life as a spell; letting you regain that resistance benefit between rounds. The Guardian armor has a BA to gain THP equal to your level when you're below half HP total, making it another source of upkeep for the armor effect.
This is why knowing what magic items are out there is such a big deal for an artificer. Replicate opens up a lot of options as is. And now that crafting is gaining visibility with GMs thanks to this class, and the update, you can more easily leverage magic items to augment your slow spell slot progression. You should have a couple wands on hand to get extra castings of spells you use often. Even the rings/etc that replicate low level spells (Jump, water walking, etc) have uses due to at-will casting.
And if you go Battlesmith, the value of unattuned magic items start to show itself more.
I play Battlesmith, so I have experience with this one. Your expanded spell list is also pretty solid, giving you Shield, Heroism, and Warding Bond at lower levels, which have strategic uses in fights you have foresight into. But the 3rd level spells, Conjure Barrage and Aura of Vitality, are beastly with the Spell Storing item and the new Circle Casting rules respectively.
Secondly, Battlesmith's Battle Ready feature lets you use INT as your attack stat for any magical weapon. And this is very flexible, as any inherently magical weapon counts, weapons enchanted with spells count, and a few magic items that can change shape into weapons also count. The old DDB sheet was really spotty on this, due to how things are connected under the hood; but the new system is just a check box, meaning you don't have to jump through hoops or have multiple copies of things to get the sheet to work right for items enchanted by spells. Anyway... I have a small bunch of common and uncommon magic weapons for different BPS damage types, and a set of walloping ammo in an Efficient Quiver. None of these are attuned items. Theres also a decent amount of common magic items (like Moon touched) that are, or count as magic weapons... so
You also get a Steel Defender companion that lets you play with the action economy. For the cost of a Bonus Action you can get an extra attack, or a Grapple, or a Shove, or Help action, or a Utilize action, or a Search Action, or use a Magic Item*. The Defender is fast (40ft), letting be a flanking ally for advantage on melee. It can use its reaction to impose disadvantage on an attack against an adjacent ally. It can grab and pull allies out of danger without triggering AOP (forced movement rule). It can administer healing potions, or just potions in general. The magic item limitation is mainly centered on attunement and command words, as it can't talk, and DMs rule different when it comes to familiars/companions getting their own attunement slots. (I gave mine a Wand of Magic Missile and Circlet of Blasting for light artillery. Gonna give it Rope of Entanglement when I can. If I can also get an Arc Rifle, my Defender is now a Temu Big-O). Having an extra body, and basically a whole extra action is really flexible. I once had it pick up a table, and drag it, following an ally to provide cover from arrows. I play a Goblin, so I routinely let it pick me up and carry me around because it moves faster. My DM will let it do perception checks to spot danger, or look out for creatures outside of combat. And from the start I've been using it to grapple/shove enemies into ground hazards created by the spell casters.
Its also an incredible accomplice for sight gags. I had it lift me up so I could use a telescope to look around. when it was newer, it wouldn't know to use doors and would break through walls like the Koolaid man (got lot of milage out of Mending cantrip). One time I told it catch me, but botched an acrobatics check, so while it was holding its arms out, I feel just to the side of it. Then there was the time I had it dig a short trench, got distracted by a conversation and short investigation into something, and remembered about the defender much later..... and the DM said that it had almost circled the whole village with a 5ft wide trench by the time we got back to it. And I'm waiting for the day when I get to do a chase scene with it pulling a small cart like a Rickshaw. I also have the Homunculus servant. Individually, and as a group, I have them play off each other like 3 mutes in a slapstick movie.
Anyway..... strategically a Battlesmith has a good amount of options, but you also have some limitations. You don't get Weapon Mastery by default. So you either invest in the Weapon Master feat for it, or find a feat that offers similar function (Like Shield Master's Shield Bash). Or take the Fighter Initiate to get access to fighting styles for Protector, so you can use also use your rection to protect adjacent allies with your shield. You work in Tandem with the Defender to plug holes in front line, topple/push/bully enemies around, flank with allies, or otherwise set them up for your allies to go ham. You 'can' spec for damage, but its more costly, and the other Martials will do it better anyway. You're also exposed to more damage, so concentration spells are harder maintain.
If you go back or mid line ranged, you can shift your cantrip choice to supportive or defensive, or elemental damage if the party is lacking in it (acid splash is great if your DM likes regenerating creatures). Thorn Whip is really good for pulling enemies away from casters, or into ground hazards. Ray of frost is also good if you didn't take weapon masteries, as the 10ft move penalty makes rushing the back line harder. You're also more free to keep concentration spells up, like FaireFire and Web. Grease is also amazing in a tight hallway, as anything passing through it has make a save. Then have the Defender run interference, or up in the front line helping the melee guys. Meanwhile, you hang back maintaining whatever concentration spell you put out, while throwing cantrips or bow/crossbow shots, with a stack of walloping ammo to make life miserable. Flying enemies are going to hate you.
Cartographer is too new, and have no chance to field test it. But in certain party comps, I can see this working out pretty good. Like there some RAI interactions that are not immediately obvious due to vague RAW.... but if your group has incessant Darkness users (I'm looking at you Shadow Monk), having the Martials take Blind Fighting/Blind Sight item, the Warlock take Devil Sight, Eldritch adept for range other casters, or access to Tremor sense..... there is serious potential to make to the party designed around, and fights in magical darkness. And the Maps let the other party members know where everyone else is, and can target them with spells, even if they can't see them.
so far, my experience playing artificer is its good for "the feels" but not so great at much of anything else.
You can play ironman pretty well, armorer at level 6 or 7 can tank pretty well and hit decent. But as you level up, your infusions really start to fall behind the kinds of magic items you should be getting as a party, you're a half caster with a pretty mediocre spell list,
So, first few levels, you're not an armorer, so youre AC kinda sucks. Once you're an armorer, your AC can get pretty good and your armor-based weapons use intelligence to attack/damage. At level 5 you get extra attack. at level 6 you unlock some UNCOMMON infusions? which feels a little behind the curve at that point. at level 7 you get flash of genius, which is sort of like a poor-mans-paladin aura, which can help youself or your team, but only a small number of times. level 11 when you get the spell storing item, letting you cast a level 3 spell up to 10 times. but psych, fireball isn't on your spell list unless you're an artillerist, and artillerist's dont tank. The other caveat about the spell casting item, is you can only cast the spell at the level its defined, no upcasting an OK level1 spell to level3. So chromatic orb is on your list, but youc an only cast it at level 1 in the spell storing item. probably go armorer and put lightning bolt in the spell storing item. odds are you'll only hit one target per whap, but it'll be 8d6 lightning damage. if you go artillerist, at level 11, you'll be bonking fireballs left and right, but you'll have to kinda hang back a bit and make sure to get a 14 DEX for medium armor and shield for a decent AC.
or maybe look at the cartographer subclass? They seem to have some really neat support features, like teleporting a party member out of danger.
If Forge Domain is a one level dip, you are playing under the 2014 rules, correct? Are you using purely 2014 rules?
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My houserulings.
my Dm was leiniate telling us to use either the 2014 or 2024 rules. ( i was using the 2014 because when I first came up with the charecter concept the 2024 artificer wasn't out yet, and I have yet to get a good look at the new one.)
Here is the last playtest version that included the main Subclasses. Eberron Updates has the latest playtest version of the Class and the Cartographer class.
I have not done an analysis of what changed since the last playtest.
In addition, here are two articles on the Artificer:
Note that Dragonmarks in Forge of the Artificer are now feats that can be granted by a Background instead of a Subspecies and are no longer tied to a species. If you are interested in any of the Dragonmarks, perhaps Mark of Healing, Forge of the Artificer may be of interest to you.
I agree with another poster that I don't think Forge Domain adds anything for you and it will delay your Artificer features. Blessing of the Forge is going to be similar to getting access to your Infusions 1 level earlier and won't scale with character level.
The Protector "Cannon" will help mitigate damage with temporary hit points, but it is disappointing that it never scales with your level, other than Intelligence increases. Still, AoE temporary hit points, especially if the rest of your group isn't already using temporary hit points, is really good. I personally play an Armorer when I play to impose disadvantage on attacks against others for an any enemy I hit. It's been pretty helpful for small encounters.
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.