I think artificer are without question one of the absolute best classes for playing an character who is a pirate, like all their class features are perfect for it:
-tool expertise means that depending on your tool proficiency you might be the best at handling the ship, the best at repairing the ship, the best at gambling with your hard earned booty in games of chance, the best at making more grog and rum, or the best cook of the Ship, making you an irreplacable member of any crew
-your spells are ether super useful at sea or super thematic, catapult is really fun to use with cannonballs, purify food and drink plus create food and drink can help protect against dehydration, scurvy and diseases on Ship during long voyages (can purify food and drink be used on salt water?), water breathing, walk on water and alter self are all obiously useful when you are constantly near water, expendious retreat for when you need to quickly climb the mast or make an escape, haste for the same reason plus a big ol boost to your swordfighting skills, feather fall if a dude falls from the crows nest or overboard, enlarge for schenanigans with your ammunition or food supplies, etc
-Intelegence as your Main stat combined with flash of genious is perfect since it plays into this witty clever rougish fellow who is good at thinking on their feet, think Jack sparrow as portrayed in movies 1-4
-while alchemist works quite nicely, artillerist and battle Smith is where it is at, artillerist getting to make what are called cannons and who can be made small enough to be held in one hand (A very cool aestetic) and the battle Smith is both able to use rapiers, but is also able to use int when shooting their gun, do multiattack and heal their Ship directly mid combat with their features
-as for infusions, they can replicate a lot of water themed Magic items, their homunculus servant can be a normal parrot or an robot parrot just fine and is made from the gems pirates love so much, repeating shot is an incredibly big boon for the renaissance era gunpowder weapons detailed in the dmg that would Most likely be used in an campaign set in an fantasy version of the Golden age of piracy since it makes the musket equal to the greatsword even for creatures with multiattack, and lastly ropes of climbing and an returning trident are both also very cool
-magical tinkering is a weak feature but it can be really big boon in terms of branding and aquiring a fearsome reputation if the planks of the ship you sank start glowing, emitting short sea shanties or if one of the corpses is found with your name written over it magically, if your prey knows who you are and are afraid of you they are more likely to hand over their booty than they are to fight you head on, fear should be just Another tool in your arsenal, savy?
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i am soup, with too many ideas (all of them very spicy) who has made sufficient homebrew material and character to last an thousand human lifetimes
the planks of the ship you sank start glowing, emitting short sea shanties or if one of the corpses is found with your name written over it magically
I love hearing fun ways to use magical tinkering. I never thought about using it on corpses! Now if only my group can all be available at the same time again...
I don't have my books with me at the moment but reading this makes me question... Does the Repeating Shot infusion work with Cannons? Because if so, this seems like enough to make your reputation soar all on its own.
I don't have my books with me at the moment but reading this makes me question... Does the Repeating Shot infusion work with Cannons? Because if so, this seems like enough to make your reputation soar all on its own.
If going RAW from the DMG (p. 255), unfortunately not. Which is probably the best for balancing reasons but not as fun. :P
This is one time where I think I will take the side of balance, actually. Rapid fire cannons, while fun, would really limit the versatility of a naval game. You would end up with a "one true build" situation where Artificers went from 'a great option' to the 'only viable option' going forward.
Don't forget that you can replace all those lost limbs with infused prosthethics, armblades and Arcane propulsion arms...
i would advise against that, specifically infused prostetics as you are using one of your few of your infused item just for the luxury of having a hand or giving one to an companion, common magic items are easy enough to craft especially at 10th level and would you really resist having an wooden peg leg instead of an fully functional one? also armblades do not come with arms...
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
i am soup, with too many ideas (all of them very spicy) who has made sufficient homebrew material and character to last an thousand human lifetimes
Don't forget that you can replace all those lost limbs with infused prosthethics, armblades and Arcane propulsion arms...
i would advise against that, specifically infused prostetics as you are using one of your few of your infused item just for the luxury of having a hand or giving one to an companion, common magic items are easy enough to craft especially at 10th level and would you really resist having an wooden peg leg instead of an fully functional one? also armblades do not come with arms...
You really know how to suck the fun out of things, don't you.... :P
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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I think artificer are without question one of the absolute best classes for playing an character who is a pirate, like all their class features are perfect for it:
-tool expertise means that depending on your tool proficiency you might be the best at handling the ship, the best at repairing the ship, the best at gambling with your hard earned booty in games of chance, the best at making more grog and rum, or the best cook of the Ship, making you an irreplacable member of any crew
-your spells are ether super useful at sea or super thematic, catapult is really fun to use with cannonballs, purify food and drink plus create food and drink can help protect against dehydration, scurvy and diseases on Ship during long voyages (can purify food and drink be used on salt water?), water breathing, walk on water and alter self are all obiously useful when you are constantly near water, expendious retreat for when you need to quickly climb the mast or make an escape, haste for the same reason plus a big ol boost to your swordfighting skills, feather fall if a dude falls from the crows nest or overboard, enlarge for schenanigans with your ammunition or food supplies, etc
-Intelegence as your Main stat combined with flash of genious is perfect since it plays into this witty clever rougish fellow who is good at thinking on their feet, think Jack sparrow as portrayed in movies 1-4
-while alchemist works quite nicely, artillerist and battle Smith is where it is at, artillerist getting to make what are called cannons and who can be made small enough to be held in one hand (A very cool aestetic) and the battle Smith is both able to use rapiers, but is also able to use int when shooting their gun, do multiattack and heal their Ship directly mid combat with their features
-as for infusions, they can replicate a lot of water themed Magic items, their homunculus servant can be a normal parrot or an robot parrot just fine and is made from the gems pirates love so much, repeating shot is an incredibly big boon for the renaissance era gunpowder weapons detailed in the dmg that would Most likely be used in an campaign set in an fantasy version of the Golden age of piracy since it makes the musket equal to the greatsword even for creatures with multiattack, and lastly ropes of climbing and an returning trident are both also very cool
-magical tinkering is a weak feature but it can be really big boon in terms of branding and aquiring a fearsome reputation if the planks of the ship you sank start glowing, emitting short sea shanties or if one of the corpses is found with your name written over it magically, if your prey knows who you are and are afraid of you they are more likely to hand over their booty than they are to fight you head on, fear should be just Another tool in your arsenal, savy?
i am soup, with too many ideas (all of them very spicy) who has made sufficient homebrew material and character to last an thousand human lifetimes
I love hearing fun ways to use magical tinkering. I never thought about using it on corpses! Now if only my group can all be available at the same time again...
Don't forget that you can replace all those lost limbs with infused prosthethics, armblades and Arcane propulsion arms...
I don't have my books with me at the moment but reading this makes me question... Does the Repeating Shot infusion work with Cannons? Because if so, this seems like enough to make your reputation soar all on its own.
If going RAW from the DMG (p. 255), unfortunately not. Which is probably the best for balancing reasons but not as fun. :P
This is one time where I think I will take the side of balance, actually. Rapid fire cannons, while fun, would really limit the versatility of a naval game. You would end up with a "one true build" situation where Artificers went from 'a great option' to the 'only viable option' going forward.
Yeah, autocannons wouldn't be very balanced. They would be fun, maybe for just a one-shot.
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i would advise against that, specifically infused prostetics as you are using one of your few of your infused item just for the luxury of having a hand or giving one to an companion, common magic items are easy enough to craft especially at 10th level and would you really resist having an wooden peg leg instead of an fully functional one? also armblades do not come with arms...
i am soup, with too many ideas (all of them very spicy) who has made sufficient homebrew material and character to last an thousand human lifetimes
You really know how to suck the fun out of things, don't you.... :P