I am running a 5e campaign with a pesky artficer who is creating all kinds of amazing magical items for the players. It has over balanced the campaign and led to a couple pretty powerful characters.
I wanted to introduce something to void powers of these items or something but not sure what without totally making the players really mad.
So without specifics it’s hard to know what is going on here.. it’s either (1) the player is doing it right, and you are overly penalizing, or (2) the player is doing Infusions incorrectly.
If (1), why would you want to limit your players “correct” abilities ? You dont take away a fighters Action Surge or a paladins Divine Smite ? Infusions are part of what makes Artificers who they are.
But if I had to guess it’s (2), as players often incorrectly interpret the rules.
The “created” items are limited, ie, 2nd level you can only “infuse” 2 items, simultaneously, from a list of 4. You can only swap the “type” of infusion on level up, and the items must be non-magical to infuse. An example would be; “learn”; Enhanced Offence, Enhanced Defence, Repeating Shot, Item:Bag of Holding.. then they can “create” 2 of those from normal items.. ie, Infuse a long sword to make it +1, and change a bag to a Bag of Holding. Next long rest, swap the BoH to infuse armour to be +1. Next level up, swap the Repeating Shot.. etc. Even at 10th Level it’s only 4 from a set of 8.
Yeah, Artificers infusions are far from overpowered. They are a pretty well designed class feature. So you might be running them wrong.
Or do you mean that they are creating permanent magic items using the DMG rules? Because if that's the problem, maybe you aren't limiting access to the materials, formulas, time, workshop, etc enough. Permanent magic items are completely under the DMs control.
Players rarely react well to having their items taken away. Even worse for class abilities. That should be a last resort, and with a reasonable discussion and their buy-in. But first it sounds like you might be accidentally running one or more things wrong. So we should better understand the details first before giving more advice.
I think I may have been a little over generous if the past without realizing :-) some of the infusions did create permanent magic items. Will just have to be less lenient from now on :-)
Oh man, I'm sorry, we've all been there. At least you know going forward. I think your players will probably understand it was an honest mistake and will probably help not abuse it now. Hopefully as the game goes on they will find better things to replace the items with and it will all even out down the road.
Maybe even have an NPC offer to buy some of the items, and give the players something else to use the money on. Like a home base, some horses, or giving it to a good cause. They won't feel cheated, and they'll get to turn the items into something that is still useful to them, but just not in combat. A fair trade for something they will still enjoy, but will also help balance the adventure part of the game out a little.
I think I may have been a little over generous if the past without realizing :-) some of the infusions did create permanent magic items. Will just have to be less lenient from now on :-)
Who says that they are permanently permanent? Just because they haven't lost their power YET ;-)
I think I may have been a little over generous if the past without realizing :-) some of the infusions did create permanent magic items. Will just have to be less lenient from now on :-)
Who says that they are permanently permanent? Just because they haven't lost their power YET ;-)
Exactly. Just say, oops, we’ve been doing it wrong. Here’s the way it’s going to be. Maybe give them a day or two of downtime to recalibrate what they have.
Neat idea... artificers are pretty powerful as they level up and I have a VERY SAVY player behind one..
Keeps me on my toes!
Artificers are cool but far from the most powerful classes/builds out there. If the player is very savvy they shouldn't be letting you make mistakes with their abilities. If the player knows how they should work they should let the DM know if they aren't running it quite correctly. If the player doesn't know how their character works then they aren't as savvy as you think :)
Artificers start getting the most interesting from level 9 or 10 when they get additional attunements, a decent set of magic items they can create, more infused items and level 3 spells.
Question about artficers: they recently found an artifact that requires someone with dragon blood to attune with it or find someone with dragon blood to "give" it to them in order to attune.
So my "savvy" artificer wants to infuse himself with a dragonborns blood so that he can use it. He is just human BTW
Do you mean Infusion as in the Artificer feature? Or Transfusion as in him putting Dragonborn blood in his body? You have a few options that come to mind immediately:
A) Refuse - Infusions don't work that way. Transfusions don't work that way. You don't have the medical tools or skill to accomplish it even if you did. You can try, your body will reject it, and you might get hurt.
B) Allow it Temporarily - You somehow came up with the means to preform the transfusion. You can attune to the item for a few weeks until your own blood naturally replaces the Dragon blood. After that you have to do it again.
C) Allow it with Magic - You can do it, but only with certain spells and tools. You need to go on a big quest to get them. Adventure awaits my friends!
D) Just Allow It - Sure, because magic, good thinking.
It really depends on if you want them to use the item or not. That's the most important factor. You can adjust the difficulty to achieve success as much as you want. If it's really too powerful, but you wouldn't mind them getting it at much higher level than they are now, make the task take many levels to accomplish.
Points for clever problem solving, but I wouldn’t allow it. It could really open a can of worms if they start finding similar items for other races, and this guy wants to start being everyone at once.
Beyond that, a blood transfusion doesn’t turn you into someone else. Plus, if you say dragon blood, it’s kind of questionable if a dragonborn would even qualify. Their creature type is humanoid, not dragon.
Yeah I know.... just had to post it because it was really clever. I have had a lot of interesting responses from this group.
Although if he does try.... I suppose a con save to see if his body rejects the blood and does him damage... interesting how this could all work out. He had a con of 16 so chances are he makes it. Still...
I am running a 5e campaign with a pesky artficer who is creating all kinds of amazing magical items for the players. It has over balanced the campaign and led to a couple pretty powerful characters.
I wanted to introduce something to void powers of these items or something but not sure what without totally making the players really mad.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Jeff
So without specifics it’s hard to know what is going on here.. it’s either (1) the player is doing it right, and you are overly penalizing, or (2) the player is doing Infusions incorrectly.
If (1), why would you want to limit your players “correct” abilities ? You dont take away a fighters Action Surge or a paladins Divine Smite ? Infusions are part of what makes Artificers who they are.
But if I had to guess it’s (2), as players often incorrectly interpret the rules.
The “created” items are limited, ie, 2nd level you can only “infuse” 2 items, simultaneously, from a list of 4. You can only swap the “type” of infusion on level up, and the items must be non-magical to infuse. An example would be; “learn”; Enhanced Offence, Enhanced Defence, Repeating Shot, Item:Bag of Holding.. then they can “create” 2 of those from normal items.. ie, Infuse a long sword to make it +1, and change a bag to a Bag of Holding. Next long rest, swap the BoH to infuse armour to be +1. Next level up, swap the Repeating Shot.. etc. Even at 10th Level it’s only 4 from a set of 8.
Yeah, Artificers infusions are far from overpowered. They are a pretty well designed class feature. So you might be running them wrong.
Or do you mean that they are creating permanent magic items using the DMG rules? Because if that's the problem, maybe you aren't limiting access to the materials, formulas, time, workshop, etc enough. Permanent magic items are completely under the DMs control.
Players rarely react well to having their items taken away. Even worse for class abilities. That should be a last resort, and with a reasonable discussion and their buy-in. But first it sounds like you might be accidentally running one or more things wrong. So we should better understand the details first before giving more advice.
I think I may have been a little over generous if the past without realizing :-) some of the infusions did create permanent magic items. Will just have to be less lenient from now on :-)
Oh man, I'm sorry, we've all been there. At least you know going forward. I think your players will probably understand it was an honest mistake and will probably help not abuse it now. Hopefully as the game goes on they will find better things to replace the items with and it will all even out down the road.
Maybe even have an NPC offer to buy some of the items, and give the players something else to use the money on. Like a home base, some horses, or giving it to a good cause. They won't feel cheated, and they'll get to turn the items into something that is still useful to them, but just not in combat. A fair trade for something they will still enjoy, but will also help balance the adventure part of the game out a little.
Who says that they are permanently permanent? Just because they haven't lost their power YET ;-)
Exactly.
Just say, oops, we’ve been doing it wrong. Here’s the way it’s going to be. Maybe give them a day or two of downtime to recalibrate what they have.
Neat idea... artificers are pretty powerful as they level up and I have a VERY SAVY player behind one..
Keeps me on my toes!
Artificers are cool but far from the most powerful classes/builds out there. If the player is very savvy they shouldn't be letting you make mistakes with their abilities. If the player knows how they should work they should let the DM know if they aren't running it quite correctly. If the player doesn't know how their character works then they aren't as savvy as you think :)
Artificers start getting the most interesting from level 9 or 10 when they get additional attunements, a decent set of magic items they can create, more infused items and level 3 spells.
Question about artficers: they recently found an artifact that requires someone with dragon blood to attune with it or find someone with dragon blood to "give" it to them in order to attune.
So my "savvy" artificer wants to infuse himself with a dragonborns blood so that he can use it. He is just human BTW
Do you mean Infusion as in the Artificer feature? Or Transfusion as in him putting Dragonborn blood in his body? You have a few options that come to mind immediately:
A) Refuse - Infusions don't work that way. Transfusions don't work that way. You don't have the medical tools or skill to accomplish it even if you did. You can try, your body will reject it, and you might get hurt.
B) Allow it Temporarily - You somehow came up with the means to preform the transfusion. You can attune to the item for a few weeks until your own blood naturally replaces the Dragon blood. After that you have to do it again.
C) Allow it with Magic - You can do it, but only with certain spells and tools. You need to go on a big quest to get them. Adventure awaits my friends!
D) Just Allow It - Sure, because magic, good thinking.
It really depends on if you want them to use the item or not. That's the most important factor. You can adjust the difficulty to achieve success as much as you want. If it's really too powerful, but you wouldn't mind them getting it at much higher level than they are now, make the task take many levels to accomplish.
Points for clever problem solving, but I wouldn’t allow it. It could really open a can of worms if they start finding similar items for other races, and this guy wants to start being everyone at once.
Beyond that, a blood transfusion doesn’t turn you into someone else. Plus, if you say dragon blood, it’s kind of questionable if a dragonborn would even qualify. Their creature type is humanoid, not dragon.
Yeah I know.... just had to post it because it was really clever. I have had a lot of interesting responses from this group.
Although if he does try.... I suppose a con save to see if his body rejects the blood and does him damage... interesting how this could all work out. He had a con of 16 so chances are he makes it. Still...
It's easier to ramp up the difficulty of combat encounters than it is to take things away from your players in a way that doesn't upset them.