Making a homebrew class that crafts magical items and anti-magical items as one of its features. I don't know if they need to be a spell caster in order to harness magic; can magic be extracted and harnessed indirectly by using specialty non-magical crafted tools.

Edit: This class is called the "martial mage" it is a martial class incapable of spellcasting that creates magical effects through the use of the batteries it crafts. The martial mages can harvest magic from light, sound and substrates using non-magical technology and store it inside of the batteries; harvested magic that isn't immediately absorbed by batteries quickly reverts back to its original state. Batteries are a key element of the martial class: they can be crafted at different sizes, quality and be stockpiled; they can be used as an alternative fuel source for martial mage technology or for creating magical glyphs; they become volatile when too much of their artificially stored magic is close together, and lower quality batteries are more likely to leak and automatically run out over time.

 Martial Mages have expertise in tinkerer's tools and one other artisan tool of choice: they can assemble, disassemble or imbue with glyphs any item created from an artisan tool that they have proficiency with. Glyphs are custom made magical accessories created using artisan tools and batteries: glyphs can only be used on items made by the same artisan tools as the glyphs; the customization and powerfulness of a glyph is determined by the amount of stored magic that is used from batteries.

Congratulations, you're more or less reinvented the Artificer.

My most hated character class.

I always thought the artificer should have been an NPC who helps casters to make magic items. Any tradesman (jeweler, potter, smith...)who was of sufficient ability. An ability or skill above master craftsman.

What if I told you that spellcasting could be literally anything you can think of as long as it adheres to a spell's requirements. You could be using technology, eating muffins, sacrificing hamsters, invoking spirits, gaslighting your enemies so hard they die because they believe they are dead, whatever. It's all fluff, you dig?

Quote from naruhoodie >>

Congratulations, you're more or less reinvented the Artificer.

 Does the artificer harness magic by non-magical, technological means?

Here is the Artificer class info. If you're not able to read that, here:

 Spellcasting

You have studied the workings of magic and how to channel it through objects. As a result, you have gained the ability to cast spells. To observers, you don’t appear to be casting spells in a conventional way; you look as if you’re producing wonders using mundane items or outlandish inventions.

Tools Required

You produce your artificer spell effects through your tools. You must have a spellcasting focus—specifically thieves’ tools or some kind of artisan’s tool—in hand when you cast any spell with this Spellcasting feature (meaning the spell has an ‘M’ component when you cast it). You must be proficient with the tool to use it in this way. See chapter 5, “Equipment,” in the Player’s Handbook for descriptions of these tools.

After you gain the Infuse Item feature at 2nd level, you can also use any item bearing one of your infusions as a spellcasting focus.

THE MAGIC OF ARTIFICE

As an artificer, you use tools when you cast your spells. When describing your spellcasting, think about how you’re using a tool to perform the spell effect. If you cast cure wounds using alchemist’s supplies, you could be quickly producing a salve. If you cast it using tinker’s tools, you might have a miniature mechanical spider that binds wounds. When you cast poison spray, you could fling foul chemicals or use a wand that spits venom. The effect of the spell is the same as for a spellcaster of any other class, but your method of spellcasting is special.

The same principle applies when you prepare your spells. As an artificer, you don’t study a spellbook or pray to prepare your spells. Instead, you work with your tools and create the specialized items you’ll use to produce your effects. If you replace cure wounds with heat metal, you might be altering the device you use to heal—perhaps modifying a tool so that it channels heat instead of healing energy.

Such details don’t limit you in any way or provide you with any benefit beyond the spell’s effects. You don’t have to justify how you’re using tools to cast a spell. But describing your spellcasting creatively is a fun way to distinguish yourself from other spellcasters.

Quote from scatterbraind >>

What if I told you that spellcasting could be literally anything you can think of as long as it adheres to a spell's requirements. You could be using technology, eating muffins, sacrificing hamsters, invoking spirits, gaslighting your enemies so hard they die because they believe they are dead, whatever. It's all fluff, you dig?

 I'm trying to make a class that doesn't use spells, but does harness magic through the use of non-magical technology and merges said magic with metalwork and artisanal crafts created by said class. Like implanting one of those soul stone objects into weapons in Skyrim.

Quote from naruhoodie>>

Here is the Artificer class info. If you're not able to read that, here:

 Yeah...I don't want to use spellcasting, if possible, to extract and harness magic. Can't I just use some kind of special or rare material as a conductor for magic? Aren't there any materials that draw magic to them? And if so, does it matter what type of magic I harness? E.g., can I transmute necromancy magic into abjuration magic or something like that? Would I need alchemy for that to work?

Quote from vovuey1 >>

Quote from naruhoodie>>

Here is the Artificer class info. If you're not able to read that, here:

 

 Yeah...I don't want to use spellcasting, if possible, to extract and harness magic. Can't I just use some kind of special or rare material as a conductor for magic? Aren't there any materials that draw magic to them? And if so, does it matter what type of magic I harness? E.g., can I transmute necromancy magic into abjuration magic or something like that? Would I need alchemy for that to work?

 
No, there are no inherently magical metals or anything like that in this edition of D&D.

The artificer uses Spellcasting as a mechanic, but we’re supposed to reskin it as magitech in our RP. For example, when my Artificer casts ray of frost, it’s actually an underslung frost ray on his crossbow, when he casts enlarge/reduce, he uses a shrinking & embiggening ray, when he casts revivify, he uses a magitech defibrillator that uses diamonds as prismatic conductors and they get burnt out every use. So he doesn’t “cast spells,” he uses magitechnology to reproduce the exact same effects as a spellcaster could cast, it just uses the Spellcasting mechanics. The reason they use Spellcasting mechanics is because when WotC was writing the Artificer, they tried to write it as a non-caster but too many people complained that it was different so to make people happy they just used Spellcasting and told us to reskin it.

I too wanted the Artificer to not use spellcasting, but I got outvoted by the internet. 🤷‍♂️ Wadaya gonna do?

Quote from IamSposta >>

Quote from vovuey1 >>

Quote from naruhoodie>>

Here is the Artificer class info. If you're not able to read that, here:

 

 Yeah...I don't want to use spellcasting, if possible, to extract and harness magic. Can't I just use some kind of special or rare material as a conductor for magic? Aren't there any materials that draw magic to them? And if so, does it matter what type of magic I harness? E.g., can I transmute necromancy magic into abjuration magic or something like that? Would I need alchemy for that to work?

 
No, there are no inherently magical metals or anything like that in this edition of D&D.

 I guess I will homebrew some magic conductive materials then, maybe they could be organic materials so ki can flow through them and multi-classing the monk could be an option; not necessarily living flesh or anything: I have recently learned that non-biological creatures like the reborn, warforged and autognome can use ki. So the materials don't have to be biological or organic either.

Also depending on how you look at it, casting components could be seen as conductors of magic.

Ki is “magical energy.”

And I thought the tinker gnome was bad enough.

Quote from IamSposta >> 

...The reason they use Spellcasting mechanics is because when WotC was writing the Artificer, they tried to write it as a non-caster but too many people complained that it was different so to make people happy they just used Spellcasting and told us to reskin it.

I too wanted the Artificer to not use spellcasting, but I got outvoted by the internet. 🤷‍♂️ Wadaya gonna do?

 Is there an archived copy of that version anywhere? I'd be interested to see how they did the mechanics.

Yeah, on WotC’s site.

Why does this class need to exist in the conworld you've created? Because if you're not careful, you won't just have reinvented the Artificer--you'll have reinvented Eberron as well... And what I'm trying to get at is we should consider the telos. That's how you will be able to invent something valuable. What purpose does Magitech serve? Is it an aesthetic? Is it a consequence of some other part of your world building? You want to have an answer to these kinds of questions, because having the answer is how you know how magic can be harnessed. In Forgotten Realms the answer might be "no," because in that setting you harness magic by having a relationship with the Weave. In Eberron, the answer is clearly, "yes," because magitech is what allows the world to resemble an industrialized world. What about your world?

What is the purpose of this class? 

If you're a DM wanting to make this class available in a game you're running, you're the DM. You can rubber stamp whatever lore or mechanics you want for it even if they're not canon to Forgotten Realms. 

If you're looking to play this class with someone else DMing this is probably a conversation you need to have with them. 

Quote from Kotath >>

 

As a class, yes, it already exists and is an Artificer. 

 Yes, Artificer is a class that is entirely based around the idea of coming up with overly complicated descriptions of how a character uses completely unexplained "technology" to create what are mostly mechanically identical effects to other spellcasters. It's a clunky and absurd concept even in a fantasy game because it attempts to introduce a completely unique descriptive flavor with pre-existing mechanics and I personally think it's just really dumb.

Spells don't have to be explained much because they are explicitly frikkin' magic. A wizard did it, literally. They wiggled a few fingers, said some magic words, flicked a bit of bat crap in your direction and then everything around you exploded because it's magic. But artificers "use special devices" that are somehow different than magic but produce the exact same effects. Such as creating a salve and applying it within the space of six seconds with a chemistry kit that fits in a pocket. However the heck that's supposed to look beats me. Mechanically, it's fine, literally just another variety of spellcaster, more or less a half watered down wizard that gets extra utility and specialized subclass magical abilities at the cost of only being a half caster. In flavor it's a huge example of "but I'm special because I do it differently, and now I'm going to spend five minutes describing a steampunk mad scientist do stuff that they are physically incapable of moving their hands to do in the time of a single action." 

And if you try to make an artificer's "effects" non-magical for the purposes of rules (or do the same and call it something else for a homebrew class) then you have completely negate enough possible defenses, counters, and other mechanical balances (literally any defensive ability or trait that includes the words "magic" or "spell") to the point that the class becomes comically overpowered. Unless you write a bunch of restrictions or other limitations into the "non-magical effects" so they behave functionally identical to spells without calling them spells. And that's just the existing artificer with a whole bunch of confusing circular logic wording that doesn't need to exist shoehorned into what could be a simple and easy to understand utility half caster with special utility magical abilities. Which is exactly what an artificer is until somebody has to pretend they're playing Victor Frankenstein or Agatha Heterodyne in a setting where everything such characters do can already be done in a more straightforward and less narratively cumbersome manner with magic that is an inherent part of the game's entire design.

There's actually another subclass that uses mechanics similar to what you're describing... the Rune Knight Fighter.

The Class relies on Runes that must be inscribed on equipment you're carrying, and by doing so you gain access to unique abilities that aren't actually spells, but are still magical in nature. It's fairly limited in what can be done... there are only 6 Runes available, and while each rune gives a passive bonus they also each have a unique ability that triggers under special conditions which can only be used once per short rest. However, it doesn't hold up completely to the idea of a class that relies on crafting magic items for all their class features because the subclasses signature ability, Giant's Might, just kind of happens and doesn't require any equipment of any kind unless you choose to roleplay it that way.

Youtube has some reviews of magical materials in D&D from previous editions if you want to port any of it into 5e.  Let's see if I can dig something up for you.

Dungeons & Dragons: Complete Guide to Metals - YouTube

D&D Metal - Fantasy and Mythical Materials in Dungeons & Dragons - YouTube

You might also want to check out earlier variations of mithral/mythryl; and something about a green comet from Kalimar whose metal can be used in a ritual to allow a fighting type class to apotheosis into a type of stone golem creature type.

I can see the artificer if your whole world was a steampunk dream. A lovely Victorian environment just chock full of classic monsters like vampires and such.

No magic users but instead artificers.