I as somone who has played artificer extensively I have concluded that this thread is dumb and both sides are essentially just the stop having fun meme 

Quote from Npc_factory8 >>

I as somone who has played artificer extensively I have concluded that this thread is dumb and both sides are essentially just the stop having fun meme 

Not quite. One side is saying "be an NPC" and/or "do what I say", while the other is saying "have fun with your character".

Quote from TwoFaceTony >>

Quote from Npc_factory8 >>

I as somone who has played artificer extensively I have concluded that this thread is dumb and both sides are essentially just the stop having fun meme 

Not quite. One side is saying "be an NPC" and/or "do what I say", while the other is saying "have fun with your character".

 obvious which side this one supports

(i support that side too)

Quote from Dragonlouis >>

Quote from TwoFaceTony >>

Quote from Npc_factory8 >>

I as somone who has played artificer extensively I have concluded that this thread is dumb and both sides are essentially just the stop having fun meme 

Not quite. One side is saying "be an NPC" and/or "do what I say", while the other is saying "have fun with your character".

 obvious which side this one supports

(i support that side too)

 i have to disagree the way that this thread is reading to me is that one side is saying that you have to spread them around and the other is saying to keep them all to your self

NPC factory, nobody said that you have to keep them to yourself. People are saying that the artificer should decide where the artificer's infusions go, not the party. They are not saying that all of the artificer infusions must go to the artificer, because otherwise something. One side is saying that the artificer must more or less give away the infusions, and also that it makes sense that they don't get any magic items in the first place.

Quote from Dragonlouis >>

NPC factory, nobody said that you have to keep them to yourself. People are saying that the artificer should decide where the artificer's infusions go, not the party. They are not saying that all of the artificer infusions must go to the artificer, because otherwise something. One side is saying that the artificer must more or less give away the infusions, and also that it makes sense that they don't get any magic items in the first place.

 
you are literally the only person saying that artificers should get no magic items... you posted that strawman last page

Quote from Yurei1453 >>

Don’t have a lot of time today, so I can’t be as verbose as I usually am on the subject. But a comment elsewhere in the artificer forum spoke again of the ‘greediness’ of artificers who retain their infusions for their own use, and it spiked my blood pressure. Rather than respond in that thread and yank it firmly off topic, I’ve decided to simply post a PSA I can link to whenever someone else yells at an artificer for “being greedy” by keeping their infusions.

Point by point:

1.) My infusions are MY CLASS FEATURES. I don’t get many class features outside of Infusions. Nobody expects a wizard to rip pages out of their spellbook and hand them to other people so that person can cast spells. Nobody expects a druid to undergo a ritual blood transfusion to give away their ability to Wild Shape to someone else. Nobody expects the rogue to cut off their highly trained, nimble-fingered hands and sew them onto the barbarian so the barbarian can have Expertise and locksmithing skills. Why should other people expect me to give away my class features and leave myself woefully unprepared to Adventure alongside them?

2.) Artificers are always at the bottom of the loot pool. A.L.W.A.Y.S. Every single adventuring group in D&D, without fail, tells the artificer “You can just make magic items, you don’t need our found loot too!” and only gives the artificer a share of the spoils when nobody else wants a given item. We put up with this because they are, partially, correct – an artificer can learn Infusions to cover the fact that they do not ever get a share of party loot. Which works – up until the party gets mad that the artificer is “Being Greedy” with their infusions and demands the artificer give away all their created loot, as well. Suddenly, we’re stuck with absolutely no gear or cool items because the party is allowed to be greedy with loot, but the artificer is expected to be Kind and Generous and Selfless with their class features? Screw that noise.

3.) My infusions are required for most of my other class features, as they act as spellcasting foci. Some subclasses (the Armorer in particular) are entirely reliant on their infusions to keep them going and perform very poorly if they’re forced by peer pressure to give away all their stuff. An artificer with no infusions is an artificer with limited ability to cast its spells, limited access to its Spell-Storing Item feature, and almost no ability to take advantage of Magic Item Adept/Savant/Master or Soul of Artifice at higher levels.

STOP demanding that artificers “not be greedy” by keeping their class features for themselves. You do not get to have your cake and eat it too – you get a full suite of class features built into whatever class you decided to play, you don’t get to bully the artificer into giving you their class features and also cut them out of the party’s loot finds. That’s called “being an *******”, and it’s a lot worse than being ‘greedy’. If your party’s artificer doesn’t want to give you their infusions? Deal with it, move on, and console yourself with the fact that the DM will never let that artificer find anything useful for them anyways and all the loot is always for everyone else in the party.

Perhaps we shouldn't focus on false accusations of me creating a reason out of nowhere. One side of the thread is saying that the artificer chooses where the infusions go. The other is saying that the other PCs are right to demand magical items from the artificer or that all of the artificer infusions should be spread around "for the good of the party", even when the artificer doesn't want to.

PCs whose players insist that the artificer hand out all their infusions are exempt from the 'no pvp' table rule

I really don't see what the giant flaming issue is.  People should be allowed to play their artificers the way they want to play their artificers without getting called names or accused of being a poor player.  If other people are gonna be jackwaffles and accuse artificer players of "greed" for daring to play their class the way they feel like, then so long as the artificer is not being a disruption to the table in some other way the jackwaffles are gonna get called out for being jackwaffles.

Don't wanna get called out?  Don't be a jackwaffle.

I might not like Artificers but I agree with Yurei1453.

Quote from Yurei1453 >>

I really don't see what the giant flaming issue is.  People should be allowed to play their artificers the way they want to play their artificers without getting called names or accused of being a poor player.  If other people are gonna be jackwaffles and accuse artificer players of "greed" for daring to play their class the way they feel like, then so long as the artificer is not being a disruption to the table in some other way the jackwaffles are gonna get called out for being jackwaffles.

Don't wanna get called out?  Don't be a jackwaffle.

 something i can agree with there

Got it, the ideal D&D party dynamic is 3 support casters, and a martial class. The support casters should spend all of their concentration buffing the martial character, using their actions to heal them. Any other action would of course be completely unreasonable, and main character syndrome, instead of the efficient characterball.

Edit: Forgot to quote, but trying to respond to the general idea that Artificers are somehow being "inefficient" by using their class features to their own benefit instead of spending all their time buffing others.

There is no ideal party dynamic, just the ones people think are the best.

Not to resurrect an old thread, just thought I'd say that if you're playing at a table where anyone demands that you use ANY of your class features in certain ways (or even worse, insults you for not using the features in certain ways), then you're probably playing with a bunch of buttheads and your DM needs to rein that kind of behavior in REAL quick.

I agree that artificer infusions are your class features, and nobody should expect (let alone demand) that you pass out your infusions to someone else.  However, if you're in a healthy, fun adventuring party I'd think you'd WANT to spread the love, know what I mean?

I'm currently playing an Artillerist and instead of playing like a blaster I'm playing as more of a support/buffer/debuffer type character, using the Protector cannon more often than not and concentrating on buff spells.  And because of our particular party composition (Barb x2, Bladesinger, Sorlock, and Me), it isn't really necessary for me to be some overly strong damage dealer or whatever.  With that said, I have willingly offered/given at least some of my infusions to the party because it's a fun, interesting, and mechanically useful way to play the Artificer.  Yeah, I COULD sit back and let my cannons blast while casting spells with 20-21 AC and all kinds of awesome magical infusion-derived effects, but for me giving a Cloak of Protection to the Bladesinger (so he could stay alive a bit longer and do all the cool stuff that Bladesingers do) just seemed like the obvious/right/fun thing to do!  I offered it to him in-character, he responded in-character, thanking me in a sort of "I owe ya one" kind of way, the other party members thanked me & congratulated him, and it ended up being a cool RP moment that built bonds with the team and made everyone feel good about our game :)

The most "optimal" use of infusions can change from adventuring day to day, and totally depends on your campaign, your DM, your own goals, and to some extent your party's composition...but like I said to begin with - if anyone is demanding that you use your features in a certain way and/or calling you greedy or trying to make you feel bad for using your features as you see fit, then that person is a fart-head and it's totally a player problem that the DM needs to deal with, regardless of other factors (magic item drops, "efficiency", etc.).