One of my favorite classes, since introduced in 5e is artificer, because it inspires creativity, and allows me to make different gadgets for my characters, without needing to buy them from a specific shopkeeper. I've talked to the DM and the party in session 0 about this, and they all seemed on board with it, especially the DM. So, either in or out of session time, there are periods that I spend designing or crafting those items. Now, our DM really likes the nitty and gritty aspect of it, so I have to give https://vlc****/ him a basis of logic on the things I'm working on (the most recent example being creating the same mechanism used to pull vacuum cleaner power cables as a basis for a grappling hook). This, however, sometimes takes a lot of time, and may disrupt the flow of the session, leading to me feeling like an ass for hogging the session time. How can I balance playing an artificer like that and not disrupt the flow of the game?
That would be my suggestion. It's not unreasonable to be frustrated that precious game time is spent doing things other than actually playing the game. You could go through your Infusions in your between-session time and think of various manifestations for each. You then have a list of ready to go flavours for each infusion that you can pick from that give your character and their abilities plenty of flavour while only taking the time needed to describe them.
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If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
So, the Artificer, in assorted forms, has been around since at least 1988 or so (longer, really, but that's when it feels like there was a burst of them after a Dragon Mag article).
I have a couple die hard engineers in my group, and they will play one quite often (such a surprise, huh?).
The way that we approach it is that they have to do it either during "downtime" or entirely through written stuff.Spur of the moment creation stuff that requires a DM ruling is always disruptive. A good set of basic designs (core concepts) is literally floating around out there among six different games, so these are often used.
My world has some limits that other DM's worlds do not, and vice versa (I don't have gunpowder, but I have an analog, others have gunpowder. I have clockeworks but no steam, they have steam but no clockworks. etc etc etc). So the list is ess for the DMs and more for the players.
Because I have some crafting rules, artificers are less important because everyone can do it, and those rules essentially enforce the use of a workshop in most cases, since you have to have a collection of parts to build things. So my world is not as "fun" for artificers because they actually have to account for the parts and bits and bobs they need (the device you are describing, for example, needs a high tension spring, and those need to be purpose made in a workshop, so cannot be created spur of the moment), but at the same time, in a workshop and during downtime they can create a host of devices ( an autoreel, for example ) and pack those.
So it becomes a bit like spell casting for them in a sense (a thought that just hit me as I typed this, lol) -- they have to have the components created off game. Then, when assembling a device, they pass notes that show what they are doing.
Since I am not a mechanical engineer, I get about one word in five, lol, and I approve or not as things happen.
The combination of requiring the kitbashing to happen in downtime and the results of that kitbashing being shifted to notes while other things are going on lifts the stuff away from the normally disruptive nature of the class when the DM is not as inclined as the player (it means less explanation and discussion), while still letting things move forward and artificers to create cool stuff.
So, what are some of those items I mentioned before?
Armatures (literally arm and leg pieces)
gearing boxes (with a description of the goal of the gearing)
Pistons
Springs
Pulleys
flywheels
turbine
It is a goodly sized list, and those are the ones I can immediately think of. The turbine is based on a 2000 year old one. None of these things are especially small mind you -- creating a tiny gear such as for a pocketwatch or the like isn't a capability developed yet, so about the smallest practical gear is around an inch in diameter and about 1/8th inch thick.
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Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
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One of my favorite classes, since introduced in 5e is artificer, because it inspires creativity, and allows me to make different gadgets for my characters, without needing to buy them from a specific shopkeeper. I've talked to the DM and the party in session 0 about this, and they all seemed on board with it, especially the DM. So, either in or out of session time, there are periods that I spend designing or crafting those items. Now, our DM really likes the nitty and gritty aspect of it, so I have to give https://vlc****/ him a basis of logic on the things I'm working on (the most recent example being creating the same mechanism used to pull vacuum cleaner power cables as a basis for a grappling hook). This, however, sometimes takes a lot of time, and may disrupt the flow of the session, leading to me feeling like an ass for hogging the session time. How can I balance playing an artificer like that and not disrupt the flow of the game?
Is it possible for you and the DM to do at least some of these builds during play downtime, away from "the table"? If so, that could help.
That would be my suggestion. It's not unreasonable to be frustrated that precious game time is spent doing things other than actually playing the game. You could go through your Infusions in your between-session time and think of various manifestations for each. You then have a list of ready to go flavours for each infusion that you can pick from that give your character and their abilities plenty of flavour while only taking the time needed to describe them.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
So, the Artificer, in assorted forms, has been around since at least 1988 or so (longer, really, but that's when it feels like there was a burst of them after a Dragon Mag article).
I have a couple die hard engineers in my group, and they will play one quite often (such a surprise, huh?).
The way that we approach it is that they have to do it either during "downtime" or entirely through written stuff.Spur of the moment creation stuff that requires a DM ruling is always disruptive. A good set of basic designs (core concepts) is literally floating around out there among six different games, so these are often used.
My world has some limits that other DM's worlds do not, and vice versa (I don't have gunpowder, but I have an analog, others have gunpowder. I have clockeworks but no steam, they have steam but no clockworks. etc etc etc). So the list is ess for the DMs and more for the players.
Because I have some crafting rules, artificers are less important because everyone can do it, and those rules essentially enforce the use of a workshop in most cases, since you have to have a collection of parts to build things. So my world is not as "fun" for artificers because they actually have to account for the parts and bits and bobs they need (the device you are describing, for example, needs a high tension spring, and those need to be purpose made in a workshop, so cannot be created spur of the moment), but at the same time, in a workshop and during downtime they can create a host of devices ( an autoreel, for example ) and pack those.
So it becomes a bit like spell casting for them in a sense (a thought that just hit me as I typed this, lol) -- they have to have the components created off game. Then, when assembling a device, they pass notes that show what they are doing.
Since I am not a mechanical engineer, I get about one word in five, lol, and I approve or not as things happen.
The combination of requiring the kitbashing to happen in downtime and the results of that kitbashing being shifted to notes while other things are going on lifts the stuff away from the normally disruptive nature of the class when the DM is not as inclined as the player (it means less explanation and discussion), while still letting things move forward and artificers to create cool stuff.
So, what are some of those items I mentioned before?
It is a goodly sized list, and those are the ones I can immediately think of. The turbine is based on a 2000 year old one. None of these things are especially small mind you -- creating a tiny gear such as for a pocketwatch or the like isn't a capability developed yet, so about the smallest practical gear is around an inch in diameter and about 1/8th inch thick.
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds