So after reading through artificer and giving it a live test, I cannot help but feel the class overall is lacking and after talking to other DMs and players, I feel I narrowed it down to three reasons and how I can fix it for my next campaign, though I am now partially waiting to see what they do with the official release next month for it.
One - its archetypes feel lacking in terms of up against the other classes but that makes sense as it is still new to 5e.
Two - it is a third caster when it feels like something that should be a half caster like ranger so they get access to spells more early on, a few extra spell slots, and they get access to artificer style 5th level spellcasting.
Three - This ties in to the third level spellcasting with less slots. No one uses the Infuse magic trait in a memorable manner or use it much at all because you give up versatility for a tiny bit of utility.
What i mean by the third part is the fact that due to the very limited number of spell slots you get as a third caster you generally do not want to waste them on the infuse magic feature as you give up your capability to react to situations in exchange for the minor utility of allowing the spell to be cast by more than yourself .
What i am thinking about doing for the third part is turning its infuse magic feature into not using spell slots at all to infuse the item with the spell. However instead of being able to make max infusions all at once depending on your intelligence mod and of any spell, you get the capability of making a new infusion each time you each a next level of spellcasting.
So essentially at third level you get your first infusion for only first level of spellcasting. At 7th you get a second infusion for second level spell casting or the first, and so on up to fourth level spellcasting so you loose a fifth infusion with this change. It will give the class more motivation to not want to cross-class as it gives a scaling power boost to all archetypes and making the class feel like it has more spell slots as a third level caster. Rule wise it would still function in vanilla rules as you can only infuse after a long rest and they expire after eight hours.
My two biggest problems that I hope are addressed in February are as follows:
1) Unreplenishing Magical Item Creation. Many of the items the Artificer creates are one time use items. This means that after a while a large portion of their class feature will literally be removed as they lose all the charges. Essentially forcing Artificer to pick only items that don't have charges, such as the Bag of Holding. They need to address this, whether through allowing charges to be replenished on long rests or allowing Artificer to create the item again once it is used.
2) The mechanical Servant quickly falls behind as you level up. The mechanical servant seems like an after thought. It quickly becomes useless as the APL increases and becomes a flavorful NPC over a helpful combatant. It should be extracted into it's own archetype and level up as the Artificer levels up. To counteract this (since the alchemist and gunsmith would no longer have the servant), the other archetypes should get something else.
My two biggest problems that I hope are addressed in February are as follows:
1) Unreplenishing Magical Item Creation. Many of the items the Artificer creates are one time use items. This means that after a while a large oortpor of their class feature will literally be removed as they lose all the charges. Essentially forcing Artificer to pick only items that don't have charges, such as the Bag of Holding. They need to address this, whether through allowing charges to be replinished on long rests or allowing Artificer to create the item again once it is used.
2) The mechanical Servant quickly falls behind as you level up. The mechanical servant seems like an after thought. It quickly because useless as the APL increases and becomes a flavorful NPC over a helpful combatant. It should be extracted into it's own archetype and level up as the Artificer levels up. To counteract this (since the alchemist and gunsmith would no longer have the servant), the other archetypes should get something else.
There's an unearthed arcana for leveling pets and minions.
I feel that there should be more offensive spells in artificer spell list. I mean, if you want to be something like a counterflux blastseeker (which is totally an artificer by the way), your going to need more than just magic weapon for a damage spell. Even the CLERIC has more spells that deal damage.
Devious serpent folk devoid of compassion, yuan-ti manipulate other creatures by arousing their doubts, evoking their fears, and elevating and crushing their hopes. From remote temples in jungles, swamps, and deserts, the yuan-ti plot to supplant and dominate all other races and to make themselves gods.
I am hoping that the artificer becomes very sub-class dependant. Let the base class have magic detection, item creation/identification/modification, attunement bonuses, and basic spellcasting. Then let the sub-classes expand the different types of arcane tinkers: alchemists, gadgeteers, mechanical constructs, magical hand weaponry.
That way, you get more depth on a single character, but the class as a whole fits a broad collection of magical crafters.
If you need simple mechanical servants for the other sub-classes... just add to the familiar rules. The ritual to summon a mechanical servant is just the process to create them. :)
I can sort of understand the issue they had with artificers in that magic items in 5th edition are more "freeform" and less modular than they were previously (I.e. making it tricky for a class to have a feature saying, e.g, "enchant an item with an effect equivalent to a +1 bonus").
Nevertheless, I would also like artificers to be more unique rather than just another spellcaster. A return to "infusing" rather than spellcasting with more unique effects.
And although I didn't mind the basic ideas if the subclasses, I hope for more flexibility.
Like, for the alchemists, where is my pouch of sneezing powder or flasks of splatter-glue!
And while I like the idea of a gun-wielding artificer, a subclass based on enchanting your current weapon would probably be more broadly appealing
It is up folks. I definatly like where they have taken it all the abilities feel so much more crafting focused than they were previously, which it should to be fair. A bit disappointed to still only have 2 subclasses but I like what they have done with them. I also feel that even though much of the original core class is still there how they have implemented it this time is much better. I actually think I may have a new favourite class.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Loex - A Lizardfolk Lvl 4/6/4 Hexblade Profane Blood Hunter/ Battlesmith Artificer/ Cleric of the Forge Arborea - A Warforged Lvl 1 Hexblade Warlock
Will it be added to DnDBeyond as a playable class at some point? I'd love to play one, and I love this site, but so far there's no way to even make a homebrew base class. Just curious if DnDBeyond has announced an intention to add it as a playtest option.
Will it be added to DnDBeyond as a playable class at some point? I'd love to play one, and I love this site, but so far there's no way to even make a homebrew base class. Just curious if DnDBeyond has announced an intention to add it as a playtest option.
On today's Dev Update BadEye did say when the Artificer was released they would start the process of getting it on DnDBeyond.
Will it be added to DnDBeyond as a playable class at some point? I'd love to play one, and I love this site, but so far there's no way to even make a homebrew base class. Just curious if DnDBeyond has announced an intention to add it as a playtest option.
On today's Dev Update BadEye did say when the Artificer was released they would start the process of getting it on DnDBeyond.
So after reading through artificer and giving it a live test, I cannot help but feel the class overall is lacking and after talking to other DMs and players, I feel I narrowed it down to three reasons and how I can fix it for my next campaign, though I am now partially waiting to see what they do with the official release next month for it.
One - its archetypes feel lacking in terms of up against the other classes but that makes sense as it is still new to 5e.
Two - it is a third caster when it feels like something that should be a half caster like ranger so they get access to spells more early on, a few extra spell slots, and they get access to artificer style 5th level spellcasting.
Three - This ties in to the third level spellcasting with less slots. No one uses the Infuse magic trait in a memorable manner or use it much at all because you give up versatility for a tiny bit of utility.
What i mean by the third part is the fact that due to the very limited number of spell slots you get as a third caster you generally do not want to waste them on the infuse magic feature as you give up your capability to react to situations in exchange for the minor utility of allowing the spell to be cast by more than yourself .
What i am thinking about doing for the third part is turning its infuse magic feature into not using spell slots at all to infuse the item with the spell. However instead of being able to make max infusions all at once depending on your intelligence mod and of any spell, you get the capability of making a new infusion each time you each a next level of spellcasting.
So essentially at third level you get your first infusion for only first level of spellcasting. At 7th you get a second infusion for second level spell casting or the first, and so on up to fourth level spellcasting so you loose a fifth infusion with this change. It will give the class more motivation to not want to cross-class as it gives a scaling power boost to all archetypes and making the class feel like it has more spell slots as a third level caster. Rule wise it would still function in vanilla rules as you can only infuse after a long rest and they expire after eight hours.
Thoughts?
The new version of the Artificer is due to be released as Unearthed Arcana soon (during February if I recall correctly).
Pun-loving nerd | She/Her/Hers | Profile art by Becca Golins
If you need help with homebrew, please post on the homebrew forums, where multiple staff and moderators can read your post and help you!
"We got this, no problem! I'll take the twenty on the left - you guys handle the one on the right!"🔊
Yeah - wait a few weeks for the updated Artificer to be released; it may address your concerns (or have even more problems).
My two biggest problems that I hope are addressed in February are as follows:
1) Unreplenishing Magical Item Creation. Many of the items the Artificer creates are one time use items. This means that after a while a large portion of their class feature will literally be removed as they lose all the charges. Essentially forcing Artificer to pick only items that don't have charges, such as the Bag of Holding. They need to address this, whether through allowing charges to be replenished on long rests or allowing Artificer to create the item again once it is used.
2) The mechanical Servant quickly falls behind as you level up. The mechanical servant seems like an after thought. It quickly becomes useless as the APL increases and becomes a flavorful NPC over a helpful combatant. It should be extracted into it's own archetype and level up as the Artificer levels up. To counteract this (since the alchemist and gunsmith would no longer have the servant), the other archetypes should get something else.
There's an unearthed arcana for leveling pets and minions.
I feel that there should be more offensive spells in artificer spell list. I mean, if you want to be something like a counterflux blastseeker (which is totally an artificer by the way), your going to need more than just magic weapon for a damage spell. Even the CLERIC has more spells that deal damage.
Devious serpent folk devoid of compassion, yuan-ti manipulate other creatures by arousing their doubts, evoking their fears, and elevating and crushing their hopes. From remote temples in jungles, swamps, and deserts, the yuan-ti plot to supplant and dominate all other races and to make themselves gods.
I am hoping that the artificer becomes very sub-class dependant. Let the base class have magic detection, item creation/identification/modification, attunement bonuses, and basic spellcasting. Then let the sub-classes expand the different types of arcane tinkers: alchemists, gadgeteers, mechanical constructs, magical hand weaponry.
That way, you get more depth on a single character, but the class as a whole fits a broad collection of magical crafters.
If you need simple mechanical servants for the other sub-classes... just add to the familiar rules. The ritual to summon a mechanical servant is just the process to create them. :)
I can sort of understand the issue they had with artificers in that magic items in 5th edition are more "freeform" and less modular than they were previously (I.e. making it tricky for a class to have a feature saying, e.g, "enchant an item with an effect equivalent to a +1 bonus").
Nevertheless, I would also like artificers to be more unique rather than just another spellcaster. A return to "infusing" rather than spellcasting with more unique effects.
And although I didn't mind the basic ideas if the subclasses, I hope for more flexibility.
Like, for the alchemists, where is my pouch of sneezing powder or flasks of splatter-glue!
And while I like the idea of a gun-wielding artificer, a subclass based on enchanting your current weapon would probably be more broadly appealing
It is up folks. I definatly like where they have taken it all the abilities feel so much more crafting focused than they were previously, which it should to be fair. A bit disappointed to still only have 2 subclasses but I like what they have done with them. I also feel that even though much of the original core class is still there how they have implemented it this time is much better. I actually think I may have a new favourite class.
Loex - A Lizardfolk Lvl 4/6/4 Hexblade Profane Blood Hunter/ Battlesmith Artificer/ Cleric of the Forge
Arborea - A Warforged Lvl 1 Hexblade Warlock
DM - "Malign Intelligence"
I'm okay with only two subclasses. Most of the base classes only had two when they were first released in the PHB.
I absolutely adore this class! I actually have a campaign getting ready to start in a few weeks and I'm playing a Kobold Artillerist named Singesnout.
Will it be added to DnDBeyond as a playable class at some point? I'd love to play one, and I love this site, but so far there's no way to even make a homebrew base class. Just curious if DnDBeyond has announced an intention to add it as a playtest option.
On today's Dev Update BadEye did say when the Artificer was released they would start the process of getting it on DnDBeyond.
Awesome! Can't wait!
Following, keen to see how they integrate the unique systems into Beyond
Hi all,
there are numerous threads open on this, so we're condensing that down to one thread for the moment, making it easier for everyone to discuss.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/dungeons-dragons-discussion/unearthed-arcana/31300-artificer-february-2019-ua-discussion
Pun-loving nerd | She/Her/Hers | Profile art by Becca Golins
If you need help with homebrew, please post on the homebrew forums, where multiple staff and moderators can read your post and help you!
"We got this, no problem! I'll take the twenty on the left - you guys handle the one on the right!"🔊