I would like to hear anyone's thoughts on the best artificer build focusing on firearms. Anything from any published books is on the table. Thanks in advance for any input!
The artillerist, ironically, makes a poor user of firearms. It's a spell-based class that doesn't much care for weapon combat.
The 'best' firearm artificer is a battlesmith, making use of Repeating Shot infusion to avoid the Loading property of the (absolutely bum**** terrible) DMG firearms while also shortcutting the expensive ammunition requirements. The battlesmith can attack using Intelligence, and the Repeating Shot infusion negates the need for the otherwise lackluster Gunner feat. Beyond this, simply treat the Gunny Artificer as a higher-damage hand crossbow build with worse stealth and an exceedingly rare and expensive weapon.
The artillerist, ironically, makes a poor user of firearms. It's a spell-based class that doesn't much care for weapon combat.
The 'best' firearm artificer is a battlesmith, making use of Repeating Shot infusion to avoid the Loading property of the (absolutely bum**** terrible) DMG firearms while also shortcutting the expensive ammunition requirements. The battlesmith can attack using Intelligence, and the Repeating Shot infusion negates the need for the otherwise lackluster Gunner feat. Beyond this, simply treat the Gunny Artificer as a higher-damage hand crossbow build with worse stealth and an exceedingly rare and expensive weapon.
what Yurei said, also for some Feats you'd may want to consider: Sharpshooter is great for both the ignored cover and the bonus damage (use it against everything thats not armored to the teeth), Fighting Initiate (Archery) is also great to make your hits more reliable. I play a similar build (although she not yet has a gun but uses a crossbow) - I used a Simic Hybrid (reflavoured) with climbing claws and the glide wings so she's pretty mobile. I'd suggest getting some race that gives you some mobility or special movement speeds - with Tashas allowed you'll get wour Int and Dex pumps anyway.
Armorer is another option. Repeating Shot infusion is a must, Homunculus Servant provides a bonus action attack, Sharpshooter helps with the firearms' awkward ranges and increases expected DPR and a 1-level fighter dip or Fighting Initiate for Archery's +2 to hit with ranged weapons. Guardian model helps balance out the guns' weakness in melee combat; Infiltrator's focus on the Lightning Launcher doesn't help much here.
Build with high Dex and Int (Str and Con can be cheated later with Replicate Magic Item). If something gets in your face, punch it with the Thunder Gauntlets; if not, blast it with the firearm. On-demand temp HP keeps you in the fight longer.
Ideally, you'd want to use a musket for the d12 weapon die and how 2-handed weapons interact with features needing a free hand; going with a pistol and shield isn't ideal for this setup unless you're comfortable with dropping the pistol to punch and using your free action to pick it up again. This trick won't always work, for a clever DM can potentially punish you for relying on it too much (kicking the pistol away with a readied action, it bounces down a steep slope, etc).
I think Armorer is not the answer here for once. Nothing about the subclass does much for the actual plan of using the firearms. Battlesmith gives you bonus damage (Arcane Jolt) in later levels, EA and INT for weapon attacks, which makes you pretty SAD. Armorer would have to use DEX for his firearms which isn't ideal. The whole guardian model just gives you more tankiness which isn't really needed for a ranged character. If you end up in Melee anyway, just take disengage once, get your Iron defender close and run, that should do the trick.
It's true that Armorer doesn't provide any direct bonuses to firearms; I think only Battle Smith does. One thing it does provide is 2 additional infusions active on your armor, opening up the potential for greater magic item use. Probably the best use of this comes from turning your armor's boots into winged boots, because flight with a ranged option is often considered powerful, while still having another option for your armor, helmet or special weapon WITHOUT impacting your other infusion choices.
Ultimately, it goes to user preference. Do you want to squeeze out every point of damage out of your weapon of choice, do you cover your weaknesses or do you maximize the utility you bring to the table? Every subclass has something to bring!
My current character is a Mark of Making Human Armorer with the CR feat Firearm Specialist. This allows me to have the mending cantrip to use on my Homunculus Servant should the need arise, Guidance for out of combat skill checks, non-concentration Magic Weapon for an ally and a reliable damage cantrip should I need it. Multiattack at LVL 5 allows me to use the LIghtning Launcher for the first attack, or second should it miss, for 2d6+int Lightning damage and then fire off a second attack with my Repeating Shot infused pistol and a bonus action attack with it as well for 1d10+1+Dex each. Granted, I rolled really well for stats (12/17(+1)/16/18(+2)/16/9) so I can spare an early feat for the 3rd attack.
To get around the DEX hang up for the Armorer Artificer class, I chose a stout halfling. With the halfling you get lucky which almost means you can never misfire, if you haven't added the repeating shot infusion to your gun. I am essentially building a tiny Iron-man with a pistol.
My question for this class stems around the 2 attacks per action. My character uses a shield for added AC. On my turn to attack, do I get 2 attacks with the gun because it has repeating shot infusion?
Yeah, repeating shot lets you ignore the loading property and it creates its own ammunition, so you only need one hand to wield it as far as I can tell.
As far as the misfire bit goes, the DMG weapons don't misfire - and RAW the artificer only gets proficiency with firearms if your DM uses the DMG rules for firearms. Of course, your DM can allow the Gunslinger subclass homebrew guns, just be aware that the artificer's features (repeating shot, proficiency, etc) aren't built with those in mind.
I agree that Repeating Shot is a must for a firearms-based Artificer. It’s more important than the subclass you pick. In addition to avoiding having to buy or make expensive ammunition and not having to load the gun, it gives you the advantage of being able to cast spells from your firearm as your focus. That should avoid you having to swap out your gun in combat, allows a shield readily, etc.
From a flavor perspective, if you are going all-in on the firearms concept, you could flavor your spells as various special ammunition or side-mounted launchers you use. Web grenades, syringes, even inductive metal heaters are potentially explained by the right ammunition you invent. Then it makes sense to use your gun as a focus.
I agree that Repeating Shot is a must for a firearms-based Artificer. It’s more important than the subclass you pick. In addition to avoiding having to buy or make expensive ammunition and not having to load the gun, it gives you the advantage of being able to cast spells from your firearm as your focus. That should avoid you having to swap out your gun in combat, allows a shield readily, etc.
From a flavor perspective, if you are going all-in on the firearms concept, you could flavor your spells as various special ammunition or side-mounted launchers you use. Web grenades, syringes, even inductive metal heaters are potentially explained by the right ammunition you invent. Then it makes sense to use your gun as a focus.
I was DM'ing a game with an Artificer that leaned into the idea of all their magic just being specialized bullets for hilarious results. Like... in order to cast Mage Hand, they just loaded up a Mage Hand Bullet and fired it into a toilet to pull out the key that fell in there. Or loading up a Cure Wounds bullet then pressing it against their ally's temple and pulling the trigger. The player was leaning hard into the "mad scientist" angle so the more chaotic and bizarre delivery for spells, the better.
I am asking multiple people, and wanted to get other peoples inputs. With the Repeating Shot Infusion, Ammo magically apparates inside the gun, now if you misfire, is it going to misfire like what is in RAW now, or is it just not going to go off. Another way I guess I am going to explain it, will the misfire function as normal to where you have to roll to fix it or does it just act like a normal miss since the bullet isn't really there? I don't know if I explained it well enough.
If you're referring to the firearms of Exandria, they don't have the Ammunition property, so the Repeating Shot infusion technically doesn't apply to them. The DMG firearms would qualify for the infusion, and don't have the Misfire property.
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I agree that Repeating Shot is a must for a firearms-based Artificer. It’s more important than the subclass you pick. In addition to avoiding having to buy or make expensive ammunition and not having to load the gun, it gives you the advantage of being able to cast spells from your firearm as your focus. That should avoid you having to swap out your gun in combat, allows a shield readily, etc.
From a flavor perspective, if you are going all-in on the firearms concept, you could flavor your spells as various special ammunition or side-mounted launchers you use. Web grenades, syringes, even inductive metal heaters are potentially explained by the right ammunition you invent. Then it makes sense to use your gun as a focus.
Unfortunately, RAW wouldn't let you have a single-handed firearm and a shield and still be able to cast spells through the game. As you still need one free hand to do things and the gun just removes the material cost, nothing else. Unless you take the specific feat, which I feel is a bit much in the end to take, just to cost spells through full hands. The first thought I had for Battle Smith was Capt. America, shield and gun, but then became sad quickly.
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I would like to hear anyone's thoughts on the best artificer build focusing on firearms. Anything from any published books is on the table. Thanks in advance for any input!
Definitely an artillerist with the gunner feat from TCoE and you should probably ask your DM if he will let you make firearms as infusions.
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Thanks for the advice! My DM is pretty open to reasonable requests. Do you have a recommended race?
Yes.
The artillerist, ironically, makes a poor user of firearms. It's a spell-based class that doesn't much care for weapon combat.
The 'best' firearm artificer is a battlesmith, making use of Repeating Shot infusion to avoid the Loading property of the (absolutely bum**** terrible) DMG firearms while also shortcutting the expensive ammunition requirements. The battlesmith can attack using Intelligence, and the Repeating Shot infusion negates the need for the otherwise lackluster Gunner feat. Beyond this, simply treat the Gunny Artificer as a higher-damage hand crossbow build with worse stealth and an exceedingly rare and expensive weapon.
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This is what I was leaning towards initially.
what Yurei said, also for some Feats you'd may want to consider: Sharpshooter is great for both the ignored cover and the bonus damage (use it against everything thats not armored to the teeth), Fighting Initiate (Archery) is also great to make your hits more reliable. I play a similar build (although she not yet has a gun but uses a crossbow) - I used a Simic Hybrid (reflavoured) with climbing claws and the glide wings so she's pretty mobile. I'd suggest getting some race that gives you some mobility or special movement speeds - with Tashas allowed you'll get wour Int and Dex pumps anyway.
Armorer is another option. Repeating Shot infusion is a must, Homunculus Servant provides a bonus action attack, Sharpshooter helps with the firearms' awkward ranges and increases expected DPR and a 1-level fighter dip or Fighting Initiate for Archery's +2 to hit with ranged weapons. Guardian model helps balance out the guns' weakness in melee combat; Infiltrator's focus on the Lightning Launcher doesn't help much here.
Build with high Dex and Int (Str and Con can be cheated later with Replicate Magic Item). If something gets in your face, punch it with the Thunder Gauntlets; if not, blast it with the firearm. On-demand temp HP keeps you in the fight longer.
Ideally, you'd want to use a musket for the d12 weapon die and how 2-handed weapons interact with features needing a free hand; going with a pistol and shield isn't ideal for this setup unless you're comfortable with dropping the pistol to punch and using your free action to pick it up again. This trick won't always work, for a clever DM can potentially punish you for relying on it too much (kicking the pistol away with a readied action, it bounces down a steep slope, etc).
I think Armorer is not the answer here for once. Nothing about the subclass does much for the actual plan of using the firearms. Battlesmith gives you bonus damage (Arcane Jolt) in later levels, EA and INT for weapon attacks, which makes you pretty SAD. Armorer would have to use DEX for his firearms which isn't ideal. The whole guardian model just gives you more tankiness which isn't really needed for a ranged character. If you end up in Melee anyway, just take disengage once, get your Iron defender close and run, that should do the trick.
It's true that Armorer doesn't provide any direct bonuses to firearms; I think only Battle Smith does. One thing it does provide is 2 additional infusions active on your armor, opening up the potential for greater magic item use. Probably the best use of this comes from turning your armor's boots into winged boots, because flight with a ranged option is often considered powerful, while still having another option for your armor, helmet or special weapon WITHOUT impacting your other infusion choices.
Ultimately, it goes to user preference. Do you want to squeeze out every point of damage out of your weapon of choice, do you cover your weaknesses or do you maximize the utility you bring to the table? Every subclass has something to bring!
My current character is a Mark of Making Human Armorer with the CR feat Firearm Specialist. This allows me to have the mending cantrip to use on my Homunculus Servant should the need arise, Guidance for out of combat skill checks, non-concentration Magic Weapon for an ally and a reliable damage cantrip should I need it. Multiattack at LVL 5 allows me to use the LIghtning Launcher for the first attack, or second should it miss, for 2d6+int Lightning damage and then fire off a second attack with my Repeating Shot infused pistol and a bonus action attack with it as well for 1d10+1+Dex each. Granted, I rolled really well for stats (12/17(+1)/16/18(+2)/16/9) so I can spare an early feat for the 3rd attack.
To get around the DEX hang up for the Armorer Artificer class, I chose a stout halfling. With the halfling you get lucky which almost means you can never misfire, if you haven't added the repeating shot infusion to your gun. I am essentially building a tiny Iron-man with a pistol.
My question for this class stems around the 2 attacks per action. My character uses a shield for added AC. On my turn to attack, do I get 2 attacks with the gun because it has repeating shot infusion?
Thanks!
Yeah, repeating shot lets you ignore the loading property and it creates its own ammunition, so you only need one hand to wield it as far as I can tell.
As far as the misfire bit goes, the DMG weapons don't misfire - and RAW the artificer only gets proficiency with firearms if your DM uses the DMG rules for firearms. Of course, your DM can allow the Gunslinger subclass homebrew guns, just be aware that the artificer's features (repeating shot, proficiency, etc) aren't built with those in mind.
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I agree that Repeating Shot is a must for a firearms-based Artificer. It’s more important than the subclass you pick. In addition to avoiding having to buy or make expensive ammunition and not having to load the gun, it gives you the advantage of being able to cast spells from your firearm as your focus. That should avoid you having to swap out your gun in combat, allows a shield readily, etc.
From a flavor perspective, if you are going all-in on the firearms concept, you could flavor your spells as various special ammunition or side-mounted launchers you use. Web grenades, syringes, even inductive metal heaters are potentially explained by the right ammunition you invent. Then it makes sense to use your gun as a focus.
love this answer! thanks dude.
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I was DM'ing a game with an Artificer that leaned into the idea of all their magic just being specialized bullets for hilarious results. Like... in order to cast Mage Hand, they just loaded up a Mage Hand Bullet and fired it into a toilet to pull out the key that fell in there. Or loading up a Cure Wounds bullet then pressing it against their ally's temple and pulling the trigger. The player was leaning hard into the "mad scientist" angle so the more chaotic and bizarre delivery for spells, the better.
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I am asking multiple people, and wanted to get other peoples inputs. With the Repeating Shot Infusion, Ammo magically apparates inside the gun, now if you misfire, is it going to misfire like what is in RAW now, or is it just not going to go off. Another way I guess I am going to explain it, will the misfire function as normal to where you have to roll to fix it or does it just act like a normal miss since the bullet isn't really there? I don't know if I explained it well enough.
If you're referring to the firearms of Exandria, they don't have the Ammunition property, so the Repeating Shot infusion technically doesn't apply to them. The DMG firearms would qualify for the infusion, and don't have the Misfire property.
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Unfortunately, RAW wouldn't let you have a single-handed firearm and a shield and still be able to cast spells through the game. As you still need one free hand to do things and the gun just removes the material cost, nothing else. Unless you take the specific feat, which I feel is a bit much in the end to take, just to cost spells through full hands. The first thought I had for Battle Smith was Capt. America, shield and gun, but then became sad quickly.