I was excited when the new Battle Smith subclass got added here on D&D Beyond, and so am concocting an interesting Artificer character to hopefully use in a future campaign.
I know I was interesting in making a combat-oriented Artificer, and so I knew I'd be using Artillerist or Battle Smith for the final subclass.
I find myself indecisive, however...both subclasses provide appealing options.
I knew I'd want firepower, and likely would create a sort of ranged character concept: They'd have a firearm, crossbow or gauntlet that alternated elemental or "trick" attacks when using spells or ranged attacks. Likewise, they'd have armor and shields that provide mobility and "tricks". A very tactical artificer.
Artillerist provides the firepower; the damaging spells are a godsend, and the wand construction is alright I suppose. I'm less sold on the turret...the features it provides are useful, but the concept is rather limiting. Would that it be some wearable, mechanical suit of armor, with armaments and perhaps even an "eject" feature for the self-destruct mechanism...a walking turret on crab like legs leaves little to the imagination. Oh well.
The Battle Smith I like precisely because the Iron Defender is customizeable... you can make nearly any animal companion or otherwise, lending flexible support. The "Intelligence" modifier augments weapom damage wonderfully, and the burst damage from "Arcane Jolt" is like a smaller "force smite"...if limited to a few per long rest. It's the spell list I find somewhat lacking...well, not LACKING, but skewed towards a melee combatant.
I may very well design two characters...perhaps even have them be former business partners, bickering over artistic differences.
But for discussion...which of these two subclasses do you prefer? What are you likes and dislikes for them? What would you change?
What sort of Artificer would you make from them? What would be their skills? What Infusion combinations would you pick?
Facing the same issue! Would love to hear more feedback from others as well.
My character is level 2 right now. Am a high elf - was originally going to use a longbow to get around the issue with crossbows without taking a feat, but then the 2nd version came out and fixed that with the new infusion and also added Battle Smith.
I'm thinking of asking my DM to let me make a couple tweaks to my stats and go towards Battle Smith at level 3 even with a horrible spell selection. Big issue for me is that the turret takes a turn just to even set up, and only lasts for 10 minutes. Iron defender takes no setting up and is not limited with time. And the iron defender at least scales at level 6, the turret really doesn't scale until you get a 2nd one at level 14 (which takes a 2nd turn to set up). With Battle Smith keep dex at 14 and just worry about maxing out Int.
I may ask my DM if he'll let Arcane Archer work with Crossbows instead of just bows. If he does I may take 3 levels into that to get archery fighting style, action surge, and a couple of nice trick shots. If not since I'm a High Elf I still could stick this route and use a regular longbow instead of a heavy crossbow.
Would probably grab sharpshooter too if I do go with some levels of fighter and grab the archery fighting style, the +2 really helps offset the -5 penalty.
"Using woodcarver's tools or smith's tools, you can take an action to magically create a Small or Tiny eldritch cannon." "A Small eldritch cannon occupies its space, and a Tiny one can be held in one hand."
"Using woodcarver's tools or smith's tools, you can take an action to magically create a Small or Tiny eldritch cannon." "A Small eldritch cannon occupies its space, and a Tiny one can be held in one hand."
Hope this helps!
Yes!
They added that feature to the final version of the Artillerist.
Now my desperado half-drow is packing a handcannon. : )
I do really like the Battle Smith, the Steel Defender's customization with appearance really inspires me to make some strange characters, a halfling from the Talenta Plains that rides on top of their steel defender designed to look like a dinosaur, or a loxodon artificer that has a steel defender shaped like a baby elephant.
I do think if you want to play a gunslinger the closest you're going to get is probably the Artillerist, but I know it isn't the same thing.
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Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
I was excited when the new Battle Smith subclass got added here on D&D Beyond, and so am concocting an interesting Artificer character to hopefully use in a future campaign.
I know I was interesting in making a combat-oriented Artificer, and so I knew I'd be using Artillerist or Battle Smith for the final subclass.
I find myself indecisive, however...both subclasses provide appealing options.
I knew I'd want firepower, and likely would create a sort of ranged character concept: They'd have a firearm, crossbow or gauntlet that alternated elemental or "trick" attacks when using spells or ranged attacks. Likewise, they'd have armor and shields that provide mobility and "tricks". A very tactical artificer.
Artillerist provides the firepower; the damaging spells are a godsend, and the wand construction is alright I suppose. I'm less sold on the turret...the features it provides are useful, but the concept is rather limiting. Would that it be some wearable, mechanical suit of armor, with armaments and perhaps even an "eject" feature for the self-destruct mechanism...a walking turret on crab like legs leaves little to the imagination. Oh well.
The Battle Smith I like precisely because the Iron Defender is customizeable... you can make nearly any animal companion or otherwise, lending flexible support. The "Intelligence" modifier augments weapom damage wonderfully, and the burst damage from "Arcane Jolt" is like a smaller "force smite"...if limited to a few per long rest. It's the spell list I find somewhat lacking...well, not LACKING, but skewed towards a melee combatant.
I may very well design two characters...perhaps even have them be former business partners, bickering over artistic differences.
But for discussion...which of these two subclasses do you prefer? What are you likes and dislikes for them? What would you change?
What sort of Artificer would you make from them? What would be their skills? What Infusion combinations would you pick?
Feel free to comment below!
You can have your turret mount on your shoulder.
There is no reason *you* cannot be an uncontrolled mount for your turret
It also has a tiny option, which is hand held, incase you want to go wand + hand held turret
When you get 2 turrets, can even combine them
Wand + hand held turret + shoulder turret, or wand + shield + 2 shoulder turrets
I was excited when the new Battle Smith subclass got added here on D&D Beyond, and so am concocting an interesting Artificer character to hopefully use in a future campaign.
I know I was interesting in making a combat-oriented Artificer, and so I knew I'd be using Artillerist or Battle Smith for the final subclass.
I find myself indecisive, however...both subclasses provide appealing options.
I knew I'd want firepower, and likely would create a sort of ranged character concept: They'd have a firearm, crossbow or gauntlet that alternated elemental or "trick" attacks when using spells or ranged attacks. Likewise, they'd have armor and shields that provide mobility and "tricks". A very tactical artificer.
Artillerist provides the firepower; the damaging spells are a godsend, and the wand construction is alright I suppose. I'm less sold on the turret...the features it provides are useful, but the concept is rather limiting. Would that it be some wearable, mechanical suit of armor, with armaments and perhaps even an "eject" feature for the self-destruct mechanism...a walking turret on crab like legs leaves little to the imagination. Oh well.
The Battle Smith I like precisely because the Iron Defender is customizeable... you can make nearly any animal companion or otherwise, lending flexible support. The "Intelligence" modifier augments weapom damage wonderfully, and the burst damage from "Arcane Jolt" is like a smaller "force smite"...if limited to a few per long rest. It's the spell list I find somewhat lacking...well, not LACKING, but skewed towards a melee combatant.
I may very well design two characters...perhaps even have them be former business partners, bickering over artistic differences.
But for discussion...which of these two subclasses do you prefer? What are you likes and dislikes for them? What would you change?
What sort of Artificer would you make from them? What would be their skills? What Infusion combinations would you pick?
Feel free to comment below!
You can have your turret mount on your shoulder.
There is no reason *you* cannot be an uncontrolled mount for your turret
It also has a tiny option, which is hand held, incase you want to go wand + hand held turret
When you get 2 turrets, can even combine them
Wand + hand held turret + shoulder turret, or wand + shield + 2 shoulder turrets
I have a question, would Tiny Servant work on a turret?
Unfortunately, no. The first sentence of tiny servant says the item has to be nonmagical. The first sentence of eldritch cannon says the cannon is magical.
I was excited when the new Battle Smith subclass got added here on D&D Beyond, and so am concocting an interesting Artificer character to hopefully use in a future campaign.
I know I was interesting in making a combat-oriented Artificer, and so I knew I'd be using Artillerist or Battle Smith for the final subclass.
I find myself indecisive, however...both subclasses provide appealing options.
I knew I'd want firepower, and likely would create a sort of ranged character concept: They'd have a firearm, crossbow or gauntlet that alternated elemental or "trick" attacks when using spells or ranged attacks. Likewise, they'd have armor and shields that provide mobility and "tricks". A very tactical artificer.
Artillerist provides the firepower; the damaging spells are a godsend, and the wand construction is alright I suppose. I'm less sold on the turret...the features it provides are useful, but the concept is rather limiting. Would that it be some wearable, mechanical suit of armor, with armaments and perhaps even an "eject" feature for the self-destruct mechanism...a walking turret on crab like legs leaves little to the imagination. Oh well.
The Battle Smith I like precisely because the Iron Defender is customizeable... you can make nearly any animal companion or otherwise, lending flexible support. The "Intelligence" modifier augments weapom damage wonderfully, and the burst damage from "Arcane Jolt" is like a smaller "force smite"...if limited to a few per long rest. It's the spell list I find somewhat lacking...well, not LACKING, but skewed towards a melee combatant.
I may very well design two characters...perhaps even have them be former business partners, bickering over artistic differences.
But for discussion...which of these two subclasses do you prefer? What are you likes and dislikes for them? What would you change?
What sort of Artificer would you make from them? What would be their skills? What Infusion combinations would you pick?
Feel free to comment below!
You can have your turret mount on your shoulder.
There is no reason *you* cannot be an uncontrolled mount for your turret
It also has a tiny option, which is hand held, incase you want to go wand + hand held turret
When you get 2 turrets, can even combine them
Wand + hand held turret + shoulder turret, or wand + shield + 2 shoulder turrets
Greetings all!
I was excited when the new Battle Smith subclass got added here on D&D Beyond, and so am concocting an interesting Artificer character to hopefully use in a future campaign.
I know I was interesting in making a combat-oriented Artificer, and so I knew I'd be using Artillerist or Battle Smith for the final subclass.
I find myself indecisive, however...both subclasses provide appealing options.
I knew I'd want firepower, and likely would create a sort of ranged character concept: They'd have a firearm, crossbow or gauntlet that alternated elemental or "trick" attacks when using spells or ranged attacks. Likewise, they'd have armor and shields that provide mobility and "tricks". A very tactical artificer.
Artillerist provides the firepower; the damaging spells are a godsend, and the wand construction is alright I suppose. I'm less sold on the turret...the features it provides are useful, but the concept is rather limiting. Would that it be some wearable, mechanical suit of armor, with armaments and perhaps even an "eject" feature for the self-destruct mechanism...a walking turret on crab like legs leaves little to the imagination. Oh well.
The Battle Smith I like precisely because the Iron Defender is customizeable... you can make nearly any animal companion or otherwise, lending flexible support. The "Intelligence" modifier augments weapom damage wonderfully, and the burst damage from "Arcane Jolt" is like a smaller "force smite"...if limited to a few per long rest. It's the spell list I find somewhat lacking...well, not LACKING, but skewed towards a melee combatant.
I may very well design two characters...perhaps even have them be former business partners, bickering over artistic differences.
But for discussion...which of these two subclasses do you prefer? What are you likes and dislikes for them? What would you change?
What sort of Artificer would you make from them? What would be their skills? What Infusion combinations would you pick?
Feel free to comment below!
Remember [Tooltip Not Found], branding smite, and banishing smite work on ranged weapons.
That's actually very good to know!
That only leaves blinding smite as the odd one out...
Searing smite is still a pretty poor choice.
It wouldn't be my first choice, true.
Facing the same issue! Would love to hear more feedback from others as well.
My character is level 2 right now. Am a high elf - was originally going to use a longbow to get around the issue with crossbows without taking a feat, but then the 2nd version came out and fixed that with the new infusion and also added Battle Smith.
I'm thinking of asking my DM to let me make a couple tweaks to my stats and go towards Battle Smith at level 3 even with a horrible spell selection. Big issue for me is that the turret takes a turn just to even set up, and only lasts for 10 minutes. Iron defender takes no setting up and is not limited with time. And the iron defender at least scales at level 6, the turret really doesn't scale until you get a 2nd one at level 14 (which takes a 2nd turn to set up). With Battle Smith keep dex at 14 and just worry about maxing out Int.
I may ask my DM if he'll let Arcane Archer work with Crossbows instead of just bows. If he does I may take 3 levels into that to get archery fighting style, action surge, and a couple of nice trick shots. If not since I'm a High Elf I still could stick this route and use a regular longbow instead of a heavy crossbow.
Would probably grab sharpshooter too if I do go with some levels of fighter and grab the archery fighting style, the +2 really helps offset the -5 penalty.
Quote about the eldritch canon:
"Using woodcarver's tools or smith's tools, you can take an action to magically create a Small or Tiny eldritch cannon." "A Small eldritch cannon occupies its space, and a Tiny one can be held in one hand."
Hope this helps!
Yes!
They added that feature to the final version of the Artillerist.
Now my desperado half-drow is packing a handcannon. : )
Yeah, the changes they made since this thread ended really settled the issue.
I do really like the Battle Smith, the Steel Defender's customization with appearance really inspires me to make some strange characters, a halfling from the Talenta Plains that rides on top of their steel defender designed to look like a dinosaur, or a loxodon artificer that has a steel defender shaped like a baby elephant.
I do think if you want to play a gunslinger the closest you're going to get is probably the Artillerist, but I know it isn't the same thing.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
You can have your turret mount on your shoulder.
There is no reason *you* cannot be an uncontrolled mount for your turret
It also has a tiny option, which is hand held, incase you want to go wand + hand held turret
When you get 2 turrets, can even combine them
Wand + hand held turret + shoulder turret, or wand + shield + 2 shoulder turrets
Brilliant!
Glad I can inspire
I have a question, would Tiny Servant work on a turret?
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Unfortunately, no. The first sentence of tiny servant says the item has to be nonmagical. The first sentence of eldritch cannon says the cannon is magical.
It would be cool though, a fire-breathing robot that slams into you.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
I just keep thinking of Nunu from League of Legends. Riding around on the shoulders of my iron defender.
A tortle with 2 mounted turrets on his shoulders... Are you saying I can be Blastoise???
With their arcane firearm and a tiny eldritch cannon an artillerist
Sadly you can only have one cannon at a time.
Until level 15.