Guys! Finally!

I did not see this coming wonder if they'll say this counts as SRD

A few good things, but it feels overall nerfed.

They really did Artificer dirty >.>

Mostly taking away the cool options to give the other options buffs. Not much weaker than it was, but a lot less options like infusions etc.

eh nothing perfect

Well lets take note and use what we learned from the previous round of UA surveys and convey properly what they must adjust to not ruin the class.

I wish we could have this in dnd beyond character creation.

I kind of feel like the artificer is a half caster with not as much going for it outside the casting as the likes of Paladins. 

If its big deal is that they can help equip the party with low tier magic gear, I kind of feel like the number of magic items they can make is not adequate for that purpose.
The Battlesmith and maybe also the armorer REALLY should get at least one or two weapon masteries.
Also both the artillerist and battlesmith really should get mending for free and give the other two a free cantrip appropriate to them as well.  Having only a couple cantrips and feeling like one of them has to be mending is kind of a rough place to be.
And I don't think the artillerist will be able to come close to keeping pace with the DPS output of nearly any other ostensibly offensive class.  I mean, yeah they get access to fireball eventually, but by the time they do, it is pretty high level...

I guess my biggest take away is that a lot of options and abilities are not really getting to the point where they are powerful until around level 10.  Up to that point, each subclass has a lot of isolated things they can do, but they aren't really great at anything.  I'd like to see the subclasses at least double down a bit harder on whatever they are supposed to be special at.  Like giving battlesmiths weapon masteries.  They are supposed to be the melee combatants after all.  The Artillerist should get a special version of firebolt or something.  Alchemists should get a bonus when administering potions.  Armorer I think might need better scaling on the built in weapons. 

I don't know, how are you all feeling?

My player who is currently running an artificer described his feeling toward this proposed remake as "lukewarm."

It nerfs prepared spells, especially at low level. It takes away a bit of the tool mechanics. It turns the homunculus into a spell, which are already in tight supply, and while it does free a plan/infusion slot, those are reduced as well. It doesn't fix the aspects that make the class feel more like a video game with the Baloney Stark Armorer and Poke-Cannon Artillerist.

Yeah, I won't be using this version, even if it becomes official, and odds are won't buy whatever book it comes out in. 

Alchemist still has a random roll for their main subclass feature. The fact that they didn't completely revamp that feature tells me that they are quite tone deaf to the community. I don't think I've heard a single person in forums, on YouTube, or elsewhere, who thinks having your main subclass feature be random and out of your control is a good idea. (Unless they're playing a Wild Magic Sorcerer. And Wild Sorcs had their random table massively buffed for 2024). 

What if the Battle Master had to roll randomly to determine which Combat Superiority feature they got to use?

What if the Monk had to roll randomly to determine how they got to spend their Focus Points every turn?

Yeah. That would suck. So does this. If they propose to change Arti & it's subclasses, and they don't fix this one thing... I'll chalk it up to another Hunter's Mark Ranger style debacle and just never play it. (Maybe they need some new voices on the design team?)

Quote from JonROsborne >>

It doesn't fix the aspects that make the class feel more like a video game with the Baloney Stark Armorer and Poke-Cannon Artillerist.

Yeah, I won't be using this version, even if it becomes official, and odds are won't buy whatever book it comes out in. 

Eh, flavor is free.  If you don't like how things are flavored, that is an easy fix. 

My problem is the mechanics of this class are ... not good.  They do some things right, but other things are mindbogglingly useless.  And it has serious issues with not doing anything really well. 

This was an opportunity for them to rework a class that has always felt half baked and really fix the problems, but it seems like they mostly just doubled down on the problems.

I think the way to save the alchemist was to go all in on experimental elixer-- that means more options. Not like a d6 instead of a d4, but it would be great to see like wild-magic-table-sized options. 

Maybe that's more than we can realistically expect, but at least double what they have would be nice. 

Presenting alchemist like this is such a shame. UA's for other classes and subclasses included wild new ideas and mechanics to try out. It would have been better to cut it completely and admit they couldn't save it than to send out this pile.

First thought is  why did they remove the Proficiency with firearms because as it stands only a 3rd level battle smith can use them, I suppose thy may have left out the blurb from the 5ed version but having brought firearms into 5.5 I’d expect to see it be listed in the proficiency section alongside simple weapons.  I’ll also point out that it would not be unreasonable nor unbalanced to include a pistol in the starting equipment and/or perhaps as an option for the new magical Tinkering. Just imagine pulling a pistol out of ones hat 🎩 ( rabbits and doves should also be added to the list) as a surprise, after all a pistol is only competitive with fire bolt for the first 4 levels(10 levels for the battle smith). Im also of the opinion that “Tools Required” only pushes the steam punk narrative that many gamers dislike in there games, for instance why a robot dog rather then a demon dog as a steal defender or Tom Bakers trench coat pockets rather then tinkers tools  or the aforementioned hat with a wand waved over it after all it’s all just special effects ( In the Champions/Hero Systems  sense)

I admit my current Artificer would have really enjoyed being able to create a bedroll on the fly in her latest campaign... but only for an hour? That's suddenly a lot less useful (I appreciate that some tables may still find it fun).  ;-) 

Well. There's a little I like, more that I don't.

Positive: Being able to create a magic item directly was a good direction. I also like the ability to change cantrips daily, given how few you have.

Negative: far fewer prepared spells (why would you do that?) and dang, they made me miss Magical Tinkering.

Crawford describes Magical Tinkering as just being a variant of prestidigitation. I see them as similar philosophically, but I'd honestly be thrilled to have the cantrip space to have both. Their overlap is not so much.

Magical Tinkering puts magic on items that lasts indefinitely. You can't have very many, but you can time/choose when it ends. When I first got the class, I didn't think Magical Tinkering was very useful, and then I learned to think around the edges and see all the very useful things it can do, including sending very crude messages and making temporary copies. I like the way it makes me twist my brain to find creative uses for it.

The items that you can make instead in this version are mundane and only last an hour. This is kind of a cool feature, but it's much less useful or interesting than the original, and it's basically undermined by access to a small store and a bag of holding. These are such ordinary items, I don't know why they'd have to evaporate at all, let alone so quickly. Maybe it's because they are in love with their Crafter background - when again these are items that are just so easy to come by in game, that in most games you'll just carry them around.

I think maybe every thread I've seen around Artificer suggests that it should get Mending for free. They didn't do that here, and in fact removed the language around Mending repairing the Steel Defender. 

Honestly, what crafter wouldn't be talented at Mending and for that matter cleaning (aka Prestidigitation) things? Mending and cleaning should be free cantrips to the Artificer.

The new Homunculus consumes the gem instead of it being reusable, and is pushed out to Level 5 characters. I'm not clear - does it last indefinitely in this incarnation? 

Being able to turn a magic item into a spell slot is pretty interesting.

Crawford suggested that this new Artificer would be better able to hand over items to others, but I don't see it that way unless your friends like a lot of 1 hour duration rope (or bedrolls).

Quote from Poggledop >>

Alchemist still has a random roll for their main subclass feature. The fact that they didn't completely revamp that feature tells me that they are quite tone deaf to the community. I don't think I've heard a single person in forums, on YouTube, or elsewhere, who thinks having your main subclass feature be random and out of your control is a good idea. (Unless they're playing a Wild Magic Sorcerer. And Wild Sorcs had their random table massively buffed for 2024). 

What if the Battle Master had to roll randomly to determine which Combat Superiority feature they got to use?

What if the Monk had to roll randomly to determine how they got to spend their Focus Points every turn?

Yeah. That would suck. So does this. If they propose to change Arti & it's subclasses, and they don't fix this one thing... I'll chalk it up to another Hunter's Mark Ranger style debacle and just never play it. (Maybe they need some new voices on the design team?)

 This. Even thematically it seems silly that an experienced Artificer still can't produce the actual elixirs they want but, narratively, just mix random chemicals together and hope for the best. 

Plus, their Alchemical Savant feature - adding to a damage roll of acid, fire, necrotic or poison spells - is basically useless given how few spells an Artificer gets and how few of those deal damage of the appropriate type. It basically just boosts a few cantrips (fire bolt, acid splash, poison spray). That's it.

I'll have to try and remember to actually fill out the survey, though given its around Christmas I may forget!

Quote from RJP1973 >>

 This. Even thematically it seems silly that an experienced Artificer still can't produce the actual elixirs they want but, narratively, just mix random chemicals together and hope for the best. 

Plus, their Alchemical Savant feature - adding to a damage roll of acid, fire, necrotic or poison spells - is basically useless given how few spells an Artificer gets and how few of those deal damage of the appropriate type. It basically just boosts a few cantrips (fire bolt, acid splash, poison spray). That's it.

I'll have to try and remember to actually fill out the survey, though given its around Christmas I may forget!

 That's actually the point "oh everyone too busy on christmas to fill in survey I guess that means the changes are good and don't require feedback :3"

Battle Master needs Weapon Masteries, and the ability to use a weapon as a spell focus rather than their tinker tools.

Alchemist needs to be able to pick their potion, rather than roll for it. They should also get more potions for using a higher level spell slot.

They should get Mending automatically, with another two cantrips to choose.

High Elf is probably the best Artificer, given the free cantrip.

In the video they say that the artificer is supposed to be able to pull from a variety of tools to fill party needs, but they went the opposite way with the design.  They took away options and prepared spells and gave us... less to work with.

The more I dig in and think about it the worse it gets.  *sigh*  I will definitely be filling out the survey.  This is so bad it is almost comical.