I use them mostly as head lamps, combined with my rock gnome's tinkerer's lore to make little bugs with lights in them. Given them to our gloom stalker ranger, saying it has a shutter he can trigger so he can let us know where he is, because while we all have dark vision, we can't see him in darkness.
Also managed to pull a fast one on some bullywugs by abusing the fact that you can change things with only an action, and it not specifying much else about how you change them.
And as far as the undispellable, nature, while I don't doubt that that is RAW, I can't image it being RAI. So If I were DM or if someone did that one one of my items, I would assume it snuffed it. Although I may try to abuse the magical darkness thing because that can be so annoying.
Magical Tinkering is an absolutely excellent ability that far too many artificers underrate. From the very first post I ever wrote on these forums:
Cool Things You Can Do with Magical Tinkering:
-The Pen Light: enchant a wooden dowel with minor light Tinkering effect. Use tinker’s tools to create a small metal casing for the dowel with a thumb-actuated pivoting cap, allowing you to carry a negligible-weight point light source you can tuck behind an ear (or a horn) while doing things like picking locks in the dark or trying to read secret missives while on an infiltration job. So much more effective than candles – flick-on, flick-off, one-directional light absolutely perfect for burglary. Half my party were desperately jealous of my pen light.
-The Perfume: Enchant the broach on your cloak (or the decorative cap on your horn) to emit a pleasing scent like jasmine, cinnamon, or brimstone. Enjoy being surrounded by your favorite scent whenever you happen to be. Obvious, but still worth stating.
-The Anti-Perfume: offer to enchant the armor of the stupid fighter who charged into that hobgoblin troop dick-first and nearly got you killed yesterday with your Enhanced Defense infusion “just in case we get into hot water like that again today.” Succeed on a Deception check because your party is starting to grow wise to your shit. Instead, tinker the smell of month-old curdled milk into their armor and inform them that the next time they decide to think with their halberd instead of their brain, you’ll find a way to make it permanent. Spend the day 15 or more feet away from said fighter.
-The Decoy: enchant a throwaway object like a ball bearing (if you don’t carry a bag of ball bearings on every character you’re insane and I don’t wanna play with you) with your scent. Drop near your trail somewhere difficult to access, such as between the bricks of a nearby tavern, and buy time to get more of a lead on those damned guard hounds.
-The “Legendary Avenger”: Enchant a greatsword’s blade with minor light. Enchant the guard - which is a different part of the sword and thus qualifies as its own object, as any proper artificer knows – with the sound of a magical Power Thrum. Sell this clearly potent and magnificent weapon (it even registers as a magic item to Detect Magic spells/items!) to the smith at Podunk Road Trip Village #14 at a ‘disastrous discount’ because “its power burns my impure blood, I can’t bear to hold it any longer” and everybody’s giving you the stink-eye for being a tiefling anyways. One Deception check later, walk away with a hundred gold. And then maybe don’t go back to that village later unless you have a disguise spell…
-The Giggity: Wake up before the Lawful Prude paladin who keeps complaining about your unbecoming conduct does, put your stealth skills to work. Enchant his underoos with the scent of fresh sex, wait for the party to get up. Act all blissed-out and silly, do not stop smiling and making eyes at said paladin while he desperately tries to explain that he didn’t so much as look at you last night and he’d never sully himself with a common slattern like you. Get Insight’d by the entire party because they are definitely wise to your shit by now, consider dipping a Rogue level because Expertise in Deception is starting to look very attractive.
-The Mindscrew: Magically tinker faint, murky fiendish murmuring (no discernible words or distinct voices? Close enough to nonverbal, at least according to the DM I pulled this on) into the favorite earring of a snooty noblewoman. Enjoy watching her squirm as ‘demons’ murmur into her ear all day, offer to investigate when she grows distraught enough to be willing to hire people to find out why the noises won’t stop. Kick that damned paladin when he blabs and not only ruins your score but puts your Deception to the test trying to get out of explaining how you got close enough to the earring to enchant it in the first place.
-The Mindscrew, Pt. II: Magically tinker the phrase “Ohhhh yeah, HARDER! YES!” with a thick put-on accent into a bureaucrat’s pen. Convince the DM that writing necessarily involves tapping the pen repeatedly. Laugh as that ******* who stiffed you on payment for that owlbear bounty because ‘you didn’t fill out a bounty acceptance form first’ gets his office searched top to bottom because they keep hearing that crazy tiefling girl Having A Good Time in there.
Leomund's Tiny Hut. It's utility and artificer-flavor-y AF, yet it's missing for some reason. By the time Artificers get 3rd level spells, having Tiny Hut should break no one's game.
Also Telekinesis. They get Bigby's Hand but not the more utility based version?
So what spells or cantrips do you wish was on the artificer spell list/cantrip list?
Mold Earth .... it would just be SO thematically perfect for Artificers. Also, it's enormously useful ...!
I've had characters use repeated castings of this one cantrip, to surround a town with a ditch-and-rampart earthenworks fortification. Assuming sufficient flat ground, and all of it breakable with a shovel (no picks or whatever needed) so the spell can work on it? You can make a 20' wide, 10'-deep (with 45-degree sloping sides) ditch, and use all that moved earth to make a 20'-wide, 10'-high rampart inside it, with around 40 castings per 5' length of this fortification.
That's four minutes, per 5' length. Need a mile of this? 352 hours, or 14 and two-thirds days of continuous elapsed time. Given 12-hour workdays, that's about a month.
And a thirteen year old apprentice could do all of it, in that month. UNSUPERVISED.
...
For Artificers specifically, I'm picturing a bunch of temporarily-magic toy-sized earth moving machines doing the work. :D
I'm shocked to realise the list doesn't have Locate Object and/or Person.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Hjalmar Gunderson, Vuman Alchemist Plague Doctor in a HB Campaign, Post Netherese Invasion Cormyr (lvl20 retired) Godfrey, Autognome Butler in Ghosts of Saltmarsh into Spelljammer Grímr Skeggisson, Goliath Rune Knight in Rime of the Frostmaiden DM of two HB campaigns set in the same world.
Green Flame Blade on a Alchemist. I forget if it was mentioend already. but yeah, this one cantrip would really help Alchemist solidfy its spot. WIth Green Flame Blade,and Firebolt, with Alchemical Savant's bonus. They could really have fit in super well in a switch hit combatant that fills the gap of the group. (since alchemist doens't really have a solid placement).
Speaking as someone who was allowed to take Spell Sniper, to get green flame blade, and allow it to be cast via Alchemical Supplies really let my Alchemist "fill any opening" in combat. I really wanna try it with Spear and Spear Wielder UA feat. So I can bonus action 10ft stab stuffs.
but yep. Also very much control water, mold earth. magic Initiate was pretty useful there
Hjalmar Gunderson, Vuman Alchemist Plague Doctor in a HB Campaign, Post Netherese Invasion Cormyr (lvl20 retired) Godfrey, Autognome Butler in Ghosts of Saltmarsh into Spelljammer Grímr Skeggisson, Goliath Rune Knight in Rime of the Frostmaiden DM of two HB campaigns set in the same world.
Ah dialect for certain English speaking areas. Its an informal conjuction of "You Know" it colloqial conversation its kind of "and then" or "Oh! so I had a thought" or "oh, did you know...." basically.
Also I don't really know how to link spells or other things that I don't have access to. (Don't own that supp or spells on dnd beyond). Since I can't view the page for it to copy the link to it.
Those are special internal links called tooltips. You type this [_spell_]Green Flame Blade[_/spell_] without the underscores and you get Green Flame Blade.
You can learn more about them by following the link in my sigline below.
Cantrips: booming blade, green-flame blade, lightning lure, mold earth, primal savagery, and produce flame. With the exception of mold earth, each of these cantrips could easily be portrayed as a device that whirs to life and causes an effect or as a potion that is either applied to an object or drank. I put mold earth on the list because what kind of combat engineer can't dig a hole. Also, I agree that mending should be a free cantrip for the artificer. In fact, each caster with access to cantrips should be able to pick up druidcraft, prestidigitation, or thaumaturgy for free. I would also like to suggest that the artificer prepare their cantrips like they do their spells especially if the other prepared spell classes get the ability to switch out a cantrip every time they level up.
1st Level: burning hands, earth tremor, sleep, and Tenser's floating disk. Burning hands is a flame thrower. Earth tremor is an explosive. Sleep is a gas attack, and Tenser's floating disk is practically the utility spell of 1st level.
2nd Level: blindness/deafness, dragon's breath, knock, Maximilian's earthen grasp, and spike growth. Blindness/deafness is a flash bang. Dragon's breath literally is a potion, and I am almost positive that not including knock on the artificer's spell list is an oversight. Maximilian's earthen grasp and spike growth play into the artificer as combat engineer and creator of earthworks.
3rd Level: erupting earth, Leomund's tiny hut, magic circle, and nondetection. Erupting earth is just earth tremor but MORE. Leomund's tiny hut just seems like it should be on the list, but you would probably never use it since a full-caster in the party would likely have had it for 4 levels already. Magic circle involves actually making a circle with magical properties, and nondetection is a jamming device.
4th Level: sickening radiance and vitriolic sphere. If any class is going to walk around with a nuclear reactor or a vial of hyper-compressed acid in their pockets, it would be an artificer.
5th Level: teleportation circle. You are building a magical transportation hub. Teleportation circle is the one teleport spell artificer's should have.
For further consideration, I very strongly believe that their should be some way (probably as expensive, high-level infusions) for artificers to cast glyphs and wards, move earth, disintegrate, simulacrum, and/or clone. These spells just scream engineer or mad scientist. One of them is an actual death ray for goodness sake.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Bark side up, bark side down, it really, truly does not matter.
I use them mostly as head lamps, combined with my rock gnome's tinkerer's lore to make little bugs with lights in them. Given them to our gloom stalker ranger, saying it has a shutter he can trigger so he can let us know where he is, because while we all have dark vision, we can't see him in darkness.
Also managed to pull a fast one on some bullywugs by abusing the fact that you can change things with only an action, and it not specifying much else about how you change them.
And as far as the undispellable, nature, while I don't doubt that that is RAW, I can't image it being RAI. So If I were DM or if someone did that one one of my items, I would assume it snuffed it. Although I may try to abuse the magical darkness thing because that can be so annoying.
Magical Tinkering is an absolutely excellent ability that far too many artificers underrate. From the very first post I ever wrote on these forums:
Cool Things You Can Do with Magical Tinkering:
-The Pen Light: enchant a wooden dowel with minor light Tinkering effect. Use tinker’s tools to create a small metal casing for the dowel with a thumb-actuated pivoting cap, allowing you to carry a negligible-weight point light source you can tuck behind an ear (or a horn) while doing things like picking locks in the dark or trying to read secret missives while on an infiltration job. So much more effective than candles – flick-on, flick-off, one-directional light absolutely perfect for burglary. Half my party were desperately jealous of my pen light.
-The Perfume: Enchant the broach on your cloak (or the decorative cap on your horn) to emit a pleasing scent like jasmine, cinnamon, or brimstone. Enjoy being surrounded by your favorite scent whenever you happen to be. Obvious, but still worth stating.
-The Anti-Perfume: offer to enchant the armor of the stupid fighter who charged into that hobgoblin troop dick-first and nearly got you killed yesterday with your Enhanced Defense infusion “just in case we get into hot water like that again today.” Succeed on a Deception check because your party is starting to grow wise to your shit. Instead, tinker the smell of month-old curdled milk into their armor and inform them that the next time they decide to think with their halberd instead of their brain, you’ll find a way to make it permanent. Spend the day 15 or more feet away from said fighter.
-The Decoy: enchant a throwaway object like a ball bearing (if you don’t carry a bag of ball bearings on every character you’re insane and I don’t wanna play with you) with your scent. Drop near your trail somewhere difficult to access, such as between the bricks of a nearby tavern, and buy time to get more of a lead on those damned guard hounds.
-The “Legendary Avenger”: Enchant a greatsword’s blade with minor light. Enchant the guard - which is a different part of the sword and thus qualifies as its own object, as any proper artificer knows – with the sound of a magical Power Thrum. Sell this clearly potent and magnificent weapon (it even registers as a magic item to Detect Magic spells/items!) to the smith at Podunk Road Trip Village #14 at a ‘disastrous discount’ because “its power burns my impure blood, I can’t bear to hold it any longer” and everybody’s giving you the stink-eye for being a tiefling anyways. One Deception check later, walk away with a hundred gold. And then maybe don’t go back to that village later unless you have a disguise spell…
-The Giggity: Wake up before the Lawful Prude paladin who keeps complaining about your unbecoming conduct does, put your stealth skills to work. Enchant his underoos with the scent of fresh sex, wait for the party to get up. Act all blissed-out and silly, do not stop smiling and making eyes at said paladin while he desperately tries to explain that he didn’t so much as look at you last night and he’d never sully himself with a common slattern like you. Get Insight’d by the entire party because they are definitely wise to your shit by now, consider dipping a Rogue level because Expertise in Deception is starting to look very attractive.
-The Mindscrew: Magically tinker faint, murky fiendish murmuring (no discernible words or distinct voices? Close enough to nonverbal, at least according to the DM I pulled this on) into the favorite earring of a snooty noblewoman. Enjoy watching her squirm as ‘demons’ murmur into her ear all day, offer to investigate when she grows distraught enough to be willing to hire people to find out why the noises won’t stop. Kick that damned paladin when he blabs and not only ruins your score but puts your Deception to the test trying to get out of explaining how you got close enough to the earring to enchant it in the first place.
-The Mindscrew, Pt. II: Magically tinker the phrase “Ohhhh yeah, HARDER! YES!” with a thick put-on accent into a bureaucrat’s pen. Convince the DM that writing necessarily involves tapping the pen repeatedly. Laugh as that ******* who stiffed you on payment for that owlbear bounty because ‘you didn’t fill out a bounty acceptance form first’ gets his office searched top to bottom because they keep hearing that crazy tiefling girl Having A Good Time in there.
Please do not contact or message me.
Leomund's Tiny Hut. It's utility and artificer-flavor-y AF, yet it's missing for some reason. By the time Artificers get 3rd level spells, having Tiny Hut should break no one's game.
Also Telekinesis. They get Bigby's Hand but not the more utility based version?
Mold Earth .... it would just be SO thematically perfect for Artificers. Also, it's enormously useful ...!
I've had characters use repeated castings of this one cantrip, to surround a town with a ditch-and-rampart earthenworks fortification. Assuming sufficient flat ground, and all of it breakable with a shovel (no picks or whatever needed) so the spell can work on it? You can make a 20' wide, 10'-deep (with 45-degree sloping sides) ditch, and use all that moved earth to make a 20'-wide, 10'-high rampart inside it, with around 40 castings per 5' length of this fortification.
That's four minutes, per 5' length. Need a mile of this? 352 hours, or 14 and two-thirds days of continuous elapsed time. Given 12-hour workdays, that's about a month.
And a thirteen year old apprentice could do all of it, in that month. UNSUPERVISED.
...
For Artificers specifically, I'm picturing a bunch of temporarily-magic toy-sized earth moving machines doing the work. :D
I'm shocked to realise the list doesn't have Locate Object and/or Person.
Hjalmar Gunderson, Vuman Alchemist Plague Doctor in a HB Campaign, Post Netherese Invasion Cormyr (lvl20 retired)
Godfrey, Autognome Butler in Ghosts of Saltmarsh into Spelljammer
Grímr Skeggisson, Goliath Rune Knight in Rime of the Frostmaiden
DM of two HB campaigns set in the same world.
Yakno..
Green Flame Blade on a Alchemist. I forget if it was mentioend already. but yeah, this one cantrip would really help Alchemist solidfy its spot. WIth Green Flame Blade,and Firebolt, with Alchemical Savant's bonus. They could really have fit in super well in a switch hit combatant that fills the gap of the group. (since alchemist doens't really have a solid placement).
Speaking as someone who was allowed to take Spell Sniper, to get green flame blade, and allow it to be cast via Alchemical Supplies really let my Alchemist "fill any opening" in combat. I really wanna try it with Spear and Spear Wielder UA feat. So I can bonus action 10ft stab stuffs.
but yep. Also very much control water, mold earth. magic Initiate was pretty useful there
Wanted the reminder text of the spell :)
Also, what is Yakno?
Hjalmar Gunderson, Vuman Alchemist Plague Doctor in a HB Campaign, Post Netherese Invasion Cormyr (lvl20 retired)
Godfrey, Autognome Butler in Ghosts of Saltmarsh into Spelljammer
Grímr Skeggisson, Goliath Rune Knight in Rime of the Frostmaiden
DM of two HB campaigns set in the same world.
“Ya know”
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Ah dialect for certain English speaking areas. Its an informal conjuction of "You Know" it colloqial conversation its kind of "and then" or "Oh! so I had a thought" or "oh, did you know...." basically.
Also I don't really know how to link spells or other things that I don't have access to. (Don't own that supp or spells on dnd beyond). Since I can't view the page for it to copy the link to it.
Those are special internal links called tooltips. You type this [_spell_]Green Flame Blade[_/spell_] without the underscores and you get Green Flame Blade.
You can learn more about them by following the link in my sigline below.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
I'd like to see flame blade and shadow blade. The 2 lightsaber like spells not on artificer list feels like a miss to me.
Cantrips: booming blade, green-flame blade, lightning lure, mold earth, primal savagery, and produce flame. With the exception of mold earth, each of these cantrips could easily be portrayed as a device that whirs to life and causes an effect or as a potion that is either applied to an object or drank. I put mold earth on the list because what kind of combat engineer can't dig a hole. Also, I agree that mending should be a free cantrip for the artificer. In fact, each caster with access to cantrips should be able to pick up druidcraft, prestidigitation, or thaumaturgy for free. I would also like to suggest that the artificer prepare their cantrips like they do their spells especially if the other prepared spell classes get the ability to switch out a cantrip every time they level up.
1st Level: burning hands, earth tremor, sleep, and Tenser's floating disk. Burning hands is a flame thrower. Earth tremor is an explosive. Sleep is a gas attack, and Tenser's floating disk is practically the utility spell of 1st level.
2nd Level: blindness/deafness, dragon's breath, knock, Maximilian's earthen grasp, and spike growth. Blindness/deafness is a flash bang. Dragon's breath literally is a potion, and I am almost positive that not including knock on the artificer's spell list is an oversight. Maximilian's earthen grasp and spike growth play into the artificer as combat engineer and creator of earthworks.
3rd Level: erupting earth, Leomund's tiny hut, magic circle, and nondetection. Erupting earth is just earth tremor but MORE. Leomund's tiny hut just seems like it should be on the list, but you would probably never use it since a full-caster in the party would likely have had it for 4 levels already. Magic circle involves actually making a circle with magical properties, and nondetection is a jamming device.
4th Level: sickening radiance and vitriolic sphere. If any class is going to walk around with a nuclear reactor or a vial of hyper-compressed acid in their pockets, it would be an artificer.
5th Level: teleportation circle. You are building a magical transportation hub. Teleportation circle is the one teleport spell artificer's should have.
For further consideration, I very strongly believe that their should be some way (probably as expensive, high-level infusions) for artificers to cast glyphs and wards, move earth, disintegrate, simulacrum, and/or clone. These spells just scream engineer or mad scientist. One of them is an actual death ray for goodness sake.
Bark side up, bark side down, it really, truly does not matter.