Long story short, I have a 7 man team of players that I DM for weekly, and multiple smaller teams that I DM for every fortnight.
With Animal Companions, Hirelings, Familiars, Summoned Creatures and the like, it can take a lot of time to get through turns, especially with some players needing to stop and think about their next moves.
And a few of the players really want to take on the Artificer class, and I had a brain blast.
Rather than a Steel Defender, why not a Beacon? A tiny object that can be attached to a person or creature as an action and that magically adheres and attunes to them after one minute, becoming impossible to remove without magic. While the target is wearing the Beacon, or has it attached to their armor, it provides several bonuses and boons, depending upon what it is attached to, and what level the Artificer is. This does NOT count as an Attunement item for the purposes of tracking how many magical items a character may be attuned to at any one time. The Battle Smith may also use the Wearer (regardless of if the Beacon is attached to a Creature, Weapon, Shield or Armor) as the origin point of their Arcane Jolt ability.
An Artificer can, at 9th level, command their Beacon to self-destruct and explode, whether it is attached to a Character, Weapon, Armor or Shield. At 9th level, this explosion does 1d8 Force Damage to everything within 10 feet of the Beacon. At 15th level, this increases to 3d8 Force Damage within 10 feet, and all Creatures and Objects must make a Constitution Saving Throw against the Artificer's Spell Save DC or be knocked prone. The Artificer can set a delay on this self-destruct explosion for a number of rounds equal to their Proficiency Bonus.
All abilities are cumulative, based upon what the Beacon is attached to. No creature can have more than one Beacon attached to them, their weapons or their armor or shield at a time, as the magical fields emanating from the Beacons will interfere with each other and render all Beacons inoperable at best. At worst ... that's up to the DM.
Creature: At 3rd level, the Beacon allows the Artificer to cast Touch-based spells on the wearer of the Beacon, so long as they are within 30 feet of the Artificer. At 9th level, this includes spells that would normally only affect the caster, and increases to allow the Wearer to 'hold' a spell from the Battle Smith within Beacon, so long as they are Touch-based or only affect the caster spells, for so long as they concentrate, as if concentrating on a spell. At 15th level, the range increases to 60 feet. An Artificer can command their Beacon to detach at will, at which point it falls off the Wearer and lands at their feet.
Weapon: At 3rd level, the Beacon allows the weapon to be considered magic for bypassing Damage Resistance. If the Weapon is already magical, it deals an additional 1d4-1 Force Damage on the first successful weapon strike made during one turn. At 9th level, this increases to 1d6 Force Damage, and at 15th level, 1d8 Force Damage, and the Weapon gains a +1 Enhancement, in addition to any magical enhancements the weapon might possess. If this would push the weapon past the +3 Enhancement threshold, the weapon instead deals 1d10 Force Damage.
Shield or Armor: at 3rd level, the Beacon allows the armor or shield to emit a slight magical field, allowing the wearer to negate a critical hit. This can only happen a number of times equal the Artificer's Proficiency Bonus. At 9th level, the Beacon grants the armor or shield a +1 Enhancement bonus. At 15th level, the weapon or armor grants the wearer a second chance at life, if the wearer drops into negative hitpoints, the Beacon will instead expend its power to leave them at 1 hitpoint, and then go inert until the Artificer can channel a spell of at least 1st level into it as an action, so long as both the Wearer and Artificer are within 30 (or 60 if at 15th level) feet of each other. This final ability can only be used once every long rest.
The Artificer can only have 1 Beacon at a time, and can repair or replace their Beacon with an hour's work with their Smithing Tools, and 50 gold's worth of components and reagents. An Artificer can only attune a Beacon to a Wearer a number of times equal to their Proficiency Bonus, but may detach and re-attach it as many times as they like to the Creature, Weapon, Shield or Armor that it is currently 'attuned' to.
Your thoughts? I think it adds enough of the same or similar abilities as a Steel Defender without penalising the Artificer Player for not having a minion running around and providing Flanking Bonuses, without being too broken, and allows the Artificer to share their spells with party members and hirelings who may otherwise be lacking in magical abilities. It keeps the Battle Smith as a front-line combatant, but rather than a hulking metal companion, their focus is on the Wearer of their Beacon, and opens up a lot of strategic options for the party.
Out of curiosity is the player adamant they want a steel defender? There’s multiple sub classes, if they play artilerist and just summon an arcane cannon there’s not to much problem. You could also limit the sub classes available? Sounds like you have a lot going on if there’s so many potential variables in play affecting combat. I’ve seen some players Employ a flowchart to help with quick decisions making, might help speed things up. Or potentially act as protocols if you do end up allowing companions
The players want to play Artificers, and I wanted to give them an option other than 'Hey, let's bloat up the game even more with additional character/npc sheets to keep track of'. The player in question who first raises the question about if the Steel Defender could be summoned or not at will, like a Drakewarden Ranger's animal companion, loves the idea of being able to make multiple attacks in a round, being able to cast spells, especially Cure Wounds and similar healing/defensive spells, and not be reliant on charisma or wisdom as their casting stat, and it got me thinking about how I could do this for them without making yet another homebrew class when I'm already doing 60-70 hour work-weeks ontop of my DMing duties.
I was trying to come up with more of an optional version of the Battle Smith because I have players who will insist on summoning as many creatures as possible to create flanking bonuses and additional attacks as possible, hiring NPCs to fill niche roles in their parties that need to be roleplayed and equipped and tracked, both in and out of combat. And I don't want to be That DM who won't let their players have cool shiny things, I'd rather the players have fun at the table and want to keep coming back every week/fortnight.
The Beacon idea was my way of trying to keep the Battle Smith as a fun Supporter/Gish class without needing the Steel Defender around since A) it is yet one more thing to keep track of and B) it also ties into the theme of the Artificer being a unique and quirkily fun support Class with neat powers. Imagine being able to grant a Fighter Branding Smite or Kinetic Jaunt so they're able to pound the living heck out of an enemy or blitz their way through an otherwise dangerous enemy formation with no opportunity attacks. Imagine being able to just pump Cure Wounds into the Barbarian who is raging away in the middle of a threshing machine of enemies, or grant the Fly spell to in a pinch to an ally who is falling and out of reach, but within range of your Beacon-wearing friend?
A player doesn't get a cool magical weapon because the dice rolls were FUBAR but it would be too obvious to just fudge the rolls and give them one anyways? Use the Artificer infusion and then slap on the Beacon to that thing and suddenly the Paladin's Holy Avenger isn't the only ultra-cool weapon the party possesses. Player keeps getting hammered in melee? Attach the Beacon to their armor and they've got a fighting chance and a built in protection against crits and might even turn a TPK into a heroic moment.
I wanted to give the Battle Smith something fun without adding yet another thing for DMs and players to keep track of since, at my table at least, a lot of the players know that, mathematically speaking, it is better to throw a dozen small things at an enemy and get those flanking bonuses, and more chances to crit or at least roll high on the damage dice, than it is to throw a few stronger things at them and hope the dice favour you. And with a 7-man party, plus 3 hirelings, 2 familiars and any number of Mounts, Summoned Creatures and the like, the progression in combat can drag on unless I start blitzing through my turns and have the NPCs options trimmed down to the bare bones in combat.
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Long story short, I have a 7 man team of players that I DM for weekly, and multiple smaller teams that I DM for every fortnight.
With Animal Companions, Hirelings, Familiars, Summoned Creatures and the like, it can take a lot of time to get through turns, especially with some players needing to stop and think about their next moves.
And a few of the players really want to take on the Artificer class, and I had a brain blast.
Rather than a Steel Defender, why not a Beacon? A tiny object that can be attached to a person or creature as an action and that magically adheres and attunes to them after one minute, becoming impossible to remove without magic. While the target is wearing the Beacon, or has it attached to their armor, it provides several bonuses and boons, depending upon what it is attached to, and what level the Artificer is. This does NOT count as an Attunement item for the purposes of tracking how many magical items a character may be attuned to at any one time. The Battle Smith may also use the Wearer (regardless of if the Beacon is attached to a Creature, Weapon, Shield or Armor) as the origin point of their Arcane Jolt ability.
An Artificer can, at 9th level, command their Beacon to self-destruct and explode, whether it is attached to a Character, Weapon, Armor or Shield. At 9th level, this explosion does 1d8 Force Damage to everything within 10 feet of the Beacon. At 15th level, this increases to 3d8 Force Damage within 10 feet, and all Creatures and Objects must make a Constitution Saving Throw against the Artificer's Spell Save DC or be knocked prone. The Artificer can set a delay on this self-destruct explosion for a number of rounds equal to their Proficiency Bonus.
All abilities are cumulative, based upon what the Beacon is attached to. No creature can have more than one Beacon attached to them, their weapons or their armor or shield at a time, as the magical fields emanating from the Beacons will interfere with each other and render all Beacons inoperable at best. At worst ... that's up to the DM.
Creature: At 3rd level, the Beacon allows the Artificer to cast Touch-based spells on the wearer of the Beacon, so long as they are within 30 feet of the Artificer. At 9th level, this includes spells that would normally only affect the caster, and increases to allow the Wearer to 'hold' a spell from the Battle Smith within Beacon, so long as they are Touch-based or only affect the caster spells, for so long as they concentrate, as if concentrating on a spell. At 15th level, the range increases to 60 feet. An Artificer can command their Beacon to detach at will, at which point it falls off the Wearer and lands at their feet.
Weapon: At 3rd level, the Beacon allows the weapon to be considered magic for bypassing Damage Resistance. If the Weapon is already magical, it deals an additional 1d4-1 Force Damage on the first successful weapon strike made during one turn. At 9th level, this increases to 1d6 Force Damage, and at 15th level, 1d8 Force Damage, and the Weapon gains a +1 Enhancement, in addition to any magical enhancements the weapon might possess. If this would push the weapon past the +3 Enhancement threshold, the weapon instead deals 1d10 Force Damage.
Shield or Armor: at 3rd level, the Beacon allows the armor or shield to emit a slight magical field, allowing the wearer to negate a critical hit. This can only happen a number of times equal the Artificer's Proficiency Bonus. At 9th level, the Beacon grants the armor or shield a +1 Enhancement bonus. At 15th level, the weapon or armor grants the wearer a second chance at life, if the wearer drops into negative hitpoints, the Beacon will instead expend its power to leave them at 1 hitpoint, and then go inert until the Artificer can channel a spell of at least 1st level into it as an action, so long as both the Wearer and Artificer are within 30 (or 60 if at 15th level) feet of each other. This final ability can only be used once every long rest.
The Artificer can only have 1 Beacon at a time, and can repair or replace their Beacon with an hour's work with their Smithing Tools, and 50 gold's worth of components and reagents. An Artificer can only attune a Beacon to a Wearer a number of times equal to their Proficiency Bonus, but may detach and re-attach it as many times as they like to the Creature, Weapon, Shield or Armor that it is currently 'attuned' to.
Your thoughts? I think it adds enough of the same or similar abilities as a Steel Defender without penalising the Artificer Player for not having a minion running around and providing Flanking Bonuses, without being too broken, and allows the Artificer to share their spells with party members and hirelings who may otherwise be lacking in magical abilities. It keeps the Battle Smith as a front-line combatant, but rather than a hulking metal companion, their focus is on the Wearer of their Beacon, and opens up a lot of strategic options for the party.
Out of curiosity is the player adamant they want a steel defender? There’s multiple sub classes, if they play artilerist and just summon an arcane cannon there’s not to much problem. You could also limit the sub classes available? Sounds like you have a lot going on if there’s so many potential variables in play affecting combat. I’ve seen some players Employ a flowchart to help with quick decisions making, might help speed things up. Or potentially act as protocols if you do end up allowing companions
The players want to play Artificers, and I wanted to give them an option other than 'Hey, let's bloat up the game even more with additional character/npc sheets to keep track of'. The player in question who first raises the question about if the Steel Defender could be summoned or not at will, like a Drakewarden Ranger's animal companion, loves the idea of being able to make multiple attacks in a round, being able to cast spells, especially Cure Wounds and similar healing/defensive spells, and not be reliant on charisma or wisdom as their casting stat, and it got me thinking about how I could do this for them without making yet another homebrew class when I'm already doing 60-70 hour work-weeks ontop of my DMing duties.
I was trying to come up with more of an optional version of the Battle Smith because I have players who will insist on summoning as many creatures as possible to create flanking bonuses and additional attacks as possible, hiring NPCs to fill niche roles in their parties that need to be roleplayed and equipped and tracked, both in and out of combat. And I don't want to be That DM who won't let their players have cool shiny things, I'd rather the players have fun at the table and want to keep coming back every week/fortnight.
The Beacon idea was my way of trying to keep the Battle Smith as a fun Supporter/Gish class without needing the Steel Defender around since A) it is yet one more thing to keep track of and B) it also ties into the theme of the Artificer being a unique and quirkily fun support Class with neat powers. Imagine being able to grant a Fighter Branding Smite or Kinetic Jaunt so they're able to pound the living heck out of an enemy or blitz their way through an otherwise dangerous enemy formation with no opportunity attacks. Imagine being able to just pump Cure Wounds into the Barbarian who is raging away in the middle of a threshing machine of enemies, or grant the Fly spell to in a pinch to an ally who is falling and out of reach, but within range of your Beacon-wearing friend?
A player doesn't get a cool magical weapon because the dice rolls were FUBAR but it would be too obvious to just fudge the rolls and give them one anyways? Use the Artificer infusion and then slap on the Beacon to that thing and suddenly the Paladin's Holy Avenger isn't the only ultra-cool weapon the party possesses. Player keeps getting hammered in melee? Attach the Beacon to their armor and they've got a fighting chance and a built in protection against crits and might even turn a TPK into a heroic moment.
I wanted to give the Battle Smith something fun without adding yet another thing for DMs and players to keep track of since, at my table at least, a lot of the players know that, mathematically speaking, it is better to throw a dozen small things at an enemy and get those flanking bonuses, and more chances to crit or at least roll high on the damage dice, than it is to throw a few stronger things at them and hope the dice favour you. And with a 7-man party, plus 3 hirelings, 2 familiars and any number of Mounts, Summoned Creatures and the like, the progression in combat can drag on unless I start blitzing through my turns and have the NPCs options trimmed down to the bare bones in combat.