I got bored and re-imagined the Artillerist as the Gunslinger. This is purely a power-fantasy and not to be taken seriously :P
Artificer Subclass Redesign: The Artillerist
3rd Level: Tools of the Trade
You gain proficiency with smith’s tools and woodcarver’s tools, assuming you don’t already have them. You also gain those tools for free—the result of tinkering you’ve done as you’ve prepared for this specialization.
If you craft a magic item in the weapon category, it takes you a quarter of the normal time, and it costs you half as much of the usual gold.
3rd Level: Artillerist Spells
Artificer Level
Spell
3rd
Ensnaring strike, hail of thorns
5th
Pass without trace, silence
9th
Counterspell, lightning arrow
13th
Dimension door, greater invisibility
17th
Conjure volley, swift quiver
3rd Level: Bonus Cantrip
At 3rd level, you learn the cantrip true strike. It counts as an artificer cantrip for you, but it doesn’t count against your number of cantrips known.
3rd Level: Battle Ready
When you reach 3rd level, your combat training and your experiments with magic and have paid off in two ways:
You gain proficiency with martial weapons.
When you attack with a magic weapon, you can use your Intelligence modifier, instead of Strength or Dexterity, for the attack and damage rolls.
3rd Level: Gunsmith
Starting when you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with firearms, allowing you to add your proficiency bonus to attacks made with firearms.
Upon choosing this archetype at 3rd level, you may use Smith’s Tools or Tinker’s Tools to craft ammunition in a quarter of the time & at half the cost, repair damaged firearms, or even draft & create new ones (DM’s discretion). Some extremely experimental and intricate firearms are only available through crafting.
Firearm Properties Firearms are a new and volatile technology, and as such bring their own unique set of weapon properties. Some properties are followed by a number, and this number signifies an element of that property (outlined below). These properties replace the optional ones presented in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Firearms are ranged weapons.
Reload. The weapon can be fired a number of times equal to its Reload score before you must spend 1 attack or 1 action to reload. You must have one free hand to reload a firearm.
Misfire. Whenever you make an attack roll with a firearm, and the dice roll is equal to or lower than the weapon’s Misfire score, the weapon misfires. The attack misses, and the weapon cannot be used again until you spend an action to try and repair it. To repair your firearm, you must make a successful Tinker’s Tools check (DC equal to 8 + misfire score). If your check fails, the weapon is broken and must be mended out of combat at a quarter of the cost of the firearm. Creatures who use a firearm without being proficient increase the weapon’s misfire score by 1.
Explosive. Upon a hit, everything within 5 ft of the target must make a Dexterity saving throw against a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Dexterity or Intelligence modifier (your choice) or suffer 1d8 fire damage. If the weapon misses, the ammunition fails to detonate, or bounces away harmlessly before doing so.
Ammunition All firearms require ammunition to make an attack, and due to their rare nature, ammunition may be near impossible to find or purchase. However, if materials are gathered, you can craft ammunition yourself using your Smith’s Tools or Tinker’s Tools at half the cost. Each firearm uses its own unique ammunition and is generally sold or crafted in batches listed below next to the price.
Firearms
Name
Cost
Ammo
Damage
Weight
Range
Properties
Palm Pistol
50g
2g (20)
1d8 piercing
1 lb.
(40/160)
Light, reload 1, misfire 1
Pistol
150g
4g (20)
1d10 piercing
3 lb.
(60/240)
Reload 4, misfire 1
Musket
300g
5g (20)
1d12 piercing
10 lb.
(120/480)
Two-handed, reload 1, misfire 2
Pepperbox
250g
4g (20)
1d10 piercing
5 lb.
(80/320)
Reload 6, misfire 2
Blunderbuss
300g
5g (5)
2d8 piercing
10 lb.
(15/60)
Reload 1, misfire 2
Bad News
Crafted
10g (5)
2d12 piercing
25 lb.
(200/800)
Two-handed, reload 1, misfire 3, explosive
Hand Mortar
Crafted
10g (1)
2d8 fire
10 lb.
(30/60)
Reload 1, misfire 3, explosive
3rd Level: Adept Marksman
You gain the ability to use firearms as spellcasting focuses for your artificer spells.
Starting at 3rd level, you are at your deadliest when you get the drop on your enemies. You have advantage on firearm attack rolls against any creature that hasn’t taken a turn in the combat yet. In addition, any hit you score with a firearm against a creature that is surprised is a critical hit.
When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you learn to perform powerful trick shots to disable or damage your opponents using your firearms.
Trick Shots.You learn two trick shots of your choice, which are detailed under “Trick Shots” below. Many trick shots enhance an attack in some way. You can use only one trick shot per attack.
You learn two additional trick shots of your choice at 6th and 14th level. Each time you learn new trick shots, you can also replace one trick shot you know with a different one.
You gain a number of grit points equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of 1). You regain 1 expended grit point each time you roll a 20 on the d20 roll for an attack with a firearm, or deal a killing blow with a firearm to a creature of significant threat (DM’s discretion). You regain all expended grit points after a short or long rest.
Starting at 6th level in this class, you can also convert spell slots into grit points. As a bonus action, you can expend one spell slot and gain a number of grit points equal to the slot’s level.
Saving Throws.Some of your trick shots require your targets to make a saving throw to resist the trick shot’s effects. The saving throw DC is calculated as follows:
Trick Shot save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Dexterity or Intelligence modifier (your choice)
3rd Level: Arcane Turret
At 3rd level, you learn how to create a magical turret. With your smith’s tools in hand, you can take an action to magically summon a Medium turret in an unoccupied space on a horizontal surface within 5 feet of you.
The turret is a magical object that occupies its space and that has crablike legs. It has an AC of 18 and a number of hit points equal to five times your artificer level. It is immune to poison damage, psychic damage, and all conditions. If it is forced to make an ability check or a saving throw, treat all its ability scores as 10 (+0). If the mendingspell is cast on it, it regains 2d6 hit points. It disappears if it is reduced to 0 hit points or after 10 minutes. You can dismiss it early as an action.
When you summon the turret, you decide which type it is, choosing from the options on the Arcane Turrets table. On each of your turns, you can take a bonus action to cause the turret to activate if you are within 60 feet of it. As part of the same action, you can direct the turret to walk or climb up to 15 feet to an unoccupied space.
You can summon a turret once for free and must finish a long rest before doing so again. You can also summon the turret by expending a spell slot of 1st level or higher. If you summon a second turret, the first turret disappears.
As an action, you can command your turret to detonate if you are within 60 feet of it. Doing so destroys the turret and forces each creature within 10 feet of it to make a Dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC, taking 3d6 force damage on a failed save or half as much damage on a successful one.
Arcane Turrets
Turret
Activation
Flamethrower
The turret exhales fire in an adjacent 15-foot cone that you designate. Each creature in that area must make a Dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC, taking 1d8 fire damage on a failed save or half as much damage on a successful one. The fire ignites any flammable objects in the area that aren’t being worn or carried.
Force Ballista
Make a ranged spell attack, originating from the turret, at one creature or object within 120 feet of it. On a hit, the target takes 2d8 force damage, and if the target is a creature, it is pushed up to 5 feet away from the turret.
Defender
The turret emits a burst of positive energy that grants itself and each creature of your choice within 10 feet of it a number of temporary hit points equal to 1d8 + your Intelligence modifier (minimum of +1).
6th Level: Quick Thinking
Starting at 6th level:
You can attack twice, rather than once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn, but one of the attacks must be made with a firearm.
You add your Intelligence modifier to your initiative.
You can stow a firearm, then draw another firearm as a single object interaction on your turn.
You learn how to quickly attempt to fix a jammed gun. You can spend a grit point to attempt to repair a misfired (but not broken) firearm as a bonus action.
When you cast an artificer cantrip with a casting time of one action, you can make one firearm attack as a bonus action.
6th Level: Improved Turret
Your turret underwent several redesigns during your spare time on your adventures, becoming sleeker, faster, and more lightweight.
On each of your turns, the turret can now walk or climb up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space when you direct it as part of the bonus action used to cause the turret to activate if you are within 60 feet of it.
You can use an action on your turn to command the turret to compact itself and then mount onto your back as if you were donning the turret like a backpack.
You must be wearing light or no armor in order to don the turret like a backpack.
Your back must be free for the compacted turret to mount onto.
While the turret can be worn as a backpack, it is not a backpack for all other purposes.
It has a weight of 25 lb. while worn as a backpack.
It has a container capacity of 1 cubic ft. while worn as a backpack.
While worn as a backpack, the turret shares your space and has a walking speed of 0 ft, relying entirely on you for its mobility and positioning while it is worn.
In addition, while worn as a backpack the turret can use your AC in place of its AC if yours is higher. You can use the turret’s AC in place of your AC if it’s higher only if you are attacked from behind.
If the turret is forced to make an ability check or a saving throw while worn as a backpack, it can use your ability scores for the ability check or saving throw.
Cloaks can still be worn on top of the turret as if to conceal its presence on your back, but you cannot gain the effects of cloaks while the turret is worn as a backpack.
At level 14 in this class, you can gain the effects of a cloak while you wear the turret as a backpack if you wear the turret on top of the cloak. The turret cannot use your AC in place of its AC or your ability scores for its ability checks and saving throws if you wear the turret this way.
You can use an action to return the turret to turret mode.
While worn as a backpack, any spell or magical effect that specifically targets you can also target the turret with the same spell or effect; any spell or magical effect that specifically targets the turret being worn as a backpack can also target you with the same spell or effect.
For example, if you are wearing the turret as a backpack and you are within 5 ft. of another creature, a third creature could target you, the turret, and the creature within 5 ft. of you with an acid splash
If you succeed against a spell or magical effect and the turret fails, the turret can count your success as its own; if the turret succeeds against a spell of magical effect and you fail, you can count the turret’s success as your own.
In addition, at level 14 in this class:
Only one turret can be worn as a backpack at a time.
If you didn’t use your bonus action to issue a command to your turrets, the turret being worn as a backpack repeats the command it was last issued on its next turn.
14th Level: Expert Marksman
Starting at 14th level:
You can reload any firearm as a bonus action.
When you roll initiative and have no grit points remaining, you regain one grit point.
In addition, at level 17 in this class:
You can turn any surprise attack with a firearm into a kill shot. When you hit with a firearm attack against a creature that is surprised, it must make a Constitution saving throw against your trick shot save DC. On a failed save, double the damage of your attack against the creature.
If a creature dies from a surprise attack, you regain two grit points instead of one.
Your firearm attacks score a critical hit on a roll of 19-20, and you regain a grit point on a roll of 19 or 20 on a d20 attack roll.
Whenever you score a critical hit with a firearm attack, the target suffers additional damage equal to half of the damage from the attack at the end of its next turn.
If the target dies from this additional damage, you regain two grit points instead of one if the damage came from a surprise attack.
When you use your action to cast an artificer spell, you can make one firearm attack as a bonus action.
14th Level: Fortified Position
Starting at 14th level, you’re a master at conjuring a well-defended emplacement. You and your allies have half cover while within 10 feet of a turret you create with Arcane Turret, as a result of a shimmering field of magical protection that the turret emits.
You can also now summon a second turret for free and must finish a long rest before doing so again.
If you summon the second turret while the first is still present, the first one doesn’t disappear.
Each turret can be of a different type.
If you summon a third turret, the first turret vanishes.
You can use one bonus action to activate both turrets.
Firearm Interactions with the Repeating Shot Infusion:
The infusion magically produces one piece of ammunition each time you make a ranged attack with the infused item, unless you manually load it. Therefore, it makes sense that the infused item would ignore the reload property if an item, such as a firearm, has it.
The ammunition produced from the infusion vanishes the instant after it hits or misses a target. As no other properties about the ammunition itself is specified in the infusion’s effect other than being magically produced and vanishing immediately after an attack regardless of success, it should be assumed that the ammunition produced by this infusion is the most generic ammunition possible for the item and therefore would ignore any weapon properties that would do more than just the item’s die damage on a hit, such as the explosive weapon property.
Note that this doesn’t affect spells or magical effects like arcane weapon because such effects don’t add any weapon properties other than magical to the item itself.
TRICK SHOTS
These trick shots are presented in alphabetical order.
Bullying Shot You can use the powerful blast and thundering sound of your firearm to shake the resolve of a creature. When you hit with a firearm attack against a creature, you can expend one grit point to deal an extra 1d8 damage and attempt to frighten the creature. If the creature can see or hear you, it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against a DC of 8 + your Charisma (Intimidation) bonus + the damage dealt by the extra 1d8 or be frightened of you until the end of your next turn.
Dazing Shot When you hit with a firearm attack against a creature, you can expend one grit point to attempt to dizzy your opponent. The creature suffers an extra 1d8 damage and must make a Constitution saving throw against your trick shot save DC or suffer disadvantage on attacks until the end of their next turn.
Deadeye Shot When you make a firearm attack against a creature, you can expend one grit point to gain advantage on the attack roll. Use of this trick shot must be declared before the attack roll is made.
Disarming Shot When you hit with a firearm attack against a creature, you can expend one grit point to attempt to shoot an object from their hands. The creature suffers an extra 1d8 damage and must succeed on a Strength saving throw against your trick shot save DC or drop 1 held object of your choice and have that object be pushed 10 feet away from you.
Forceful Shot When you hit with a firearm attack against a creature, you can expend one grit point to trip them up and force them back. The creature suffers an extra 1d8 damage and if the creature is Large or smaller it must succeed on a Strength saving throw against your trick shot save DC or be pushed 15 feet away from you.
Piercing Shot When you make a firearm attack against a creature, you can expend one grit point to attempt to fire through multiple opponents. The initial attack gains a +1 to the firearm’s misfire score. On a hit, the creature suffers an extra 1d8 damage and you make an attack roll with disadvantage against every creature in a line directly behind the target within your first range increment. Only the initial attack can misfire; only the first creature hit with this trick shot suffers the extra damage. Use of this trick shot must be declared before the attack roll is made.
Violent Shot When you make a firearm attack against a creature, you can expend one or more grit points to enhance the volatility of the attack. For each grit point expended, the attack gains a +2 to the firearm’s misfire score. If the attack hits, you can roll one additional weapon damage die per grit point spent when determining the damage. Use of this trick shot must be declared before the attack roll is made.
Winging Shot When you hit with a firearm attack against a creature, you can expend one grit point to attempt to topple a moving target. The creature suffers an extra 1d8 damage and if the creature is Large or smaller it must make a Strength saving throw against your trick shot save DC or it is knocked prone and its flying speed (if any) is reduced to 0 feet until it is no longer prone.
Well this is overpowered. I like the idea of the gunslinger being an artificer subclass, but a gunslinger with a turret is a bit much. Spells at least make up for the missing extra attacks fighter had (you gave the subclass extra attack a level after the base class gets extra attack, which is weird).
Yeah, this was written with the belief that Arcane Armament will indeed become specific to the Battle Smith subclass in a future revision, thus an Extra Attack feature seemed necessary at the time. You can just as easily ignore that line of text and still get basically the same effect if used with the current artificer.
OP updated to reflect version 1.1 of the redesign:
Added "Battle Ready" feature because it didn't feel logical to me that the weaponsmith of the artificers wouldn't know how to use any of the weapons they smith.
Struck out the line "Quick Thinking" referring to attacking twice with a firearm when taking an Attack action; it's unnecessary if you're applying this redesign to the current version of the artificer in the DDB UA section.
Added another caveat to using the turret as a backpack, to further encourage players using this redesigned subclass to improve their Dexterity scores.
Cleaned up the language to the Forceful Shot and Winging Shot trick shots to be more analogous to their counterparts among the battle master maneuvers, as well as clarifying that a creature that was flying when hit by a Winging Shot thematically should be brought down rather abruptly to the closest surface beneath it on a hit.
I'm heavily considering re-redesigning this subclass with the battle smith's iron defender instead of the arcane turrets. Admittedly, my interest in the artificer really began to grow after falling down a rabbit hole of character creation ideas that started with how one would re-imagine Critical Role's Taryon Darrington using the recent version of the artificer. In terms of subclass mechanics, the easiest transition for Taryon would be the alchemist subclass. However, I looked at it in terms of "pet selection" instead since Doty is iconic to the character as well.
Logically, I immediately thought of the battle smith's iron defender and how a humanoid reskin of the iron defender is more than sufficient to reflect an updated Doty for an updated Taryon. And then I looked at some of the forms they suggested the iron defender could resemble, and got fixated on bears. This lead to the question: "What artificer in the world of Exandria would want a mechanical bear?" That's where I'll stop and let you draw your own conclusions on how much deeper that rabbit hole goes from there.
I got bored and re-imagined the Artillerist as the Gunslinger. This is purely a power-fantasy and not to be taken seriously :P
Artificer Subclass Redesign: The Artillerist
3rd Level: Tools of the Trade
3rd Level: Artillerist Spells
Artificer Level
Spell
3rd
Ensnaring strike, hail of thorns
5th
Pass without trace, silence
9th
Counterspell, lightning arrow
13th
Dimension door, greater invisibility
17th
Conjure volley, swift quiver
3rd Level: Bonus Cantrip
3rd Level: Battle Ready
3rd Level: Gunsmith
Name
Cost
Ammo
Damage
Weight
Range
Properties
Palm Pistol
50g
2g (20)
1d8 piercing
1 lb.
(40/160)
Light, reload 1, misfire 1
Pistol
150g
4g (20)
1d10 piercing
3 lb.
(60/240)
Reload 4, misfire 1
Musket
300g
5g (20)
1d12 piercing
10 lb.
(120/480)
Two-handed, reload 1, misfire 2
Pepperbox
250g
4g (20)
1d10 piercing
5 lb.
(80/320)
Reload 6, misfire 2
Blunderbuss
300g
5g (5)
2d8 piercing
10 lb.
(15/60)
Reload 1, misfire 2
Bad News
Crafted
10g (5)
2d12 piercing
25 lb.
(200/800)
Two-handed, reload 1, misfire 3, explosive
Hand Mortar
Crafted
10g (1)
2d8 fire
10 lb.
(30/60)
Reload 1, misfire 3, explosive
3rd Level: Adept Marksman
3rd Level: Arcane Turret
Turret
Activation
Flamethrower
The turret exhales fire in an adjacent 15-foot cone that you designate. Each creature in that area must make a Dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC, taking 1d8 fire damage on a failed save or half as much damage on a successful one. The fire ignites any flammable objects in the area that aren’t being worn or carried.
Force Ballista
Make a ranged spell attack, originating from the turret, at one creature or object within 120 feet of it. On a hit, the target takes 2d8 force damage, and if the target is a creature, it is pushed up to 5 feet away from the turret.
Defender
The turret emits a burst of positive energy that grants itself and each creature of your choice within 10 feet of it a number of temporary hit points equal to 1d8 + your Intelligence modifier (minimum of +1).
6th Level: Quick Thinking
You can attack twice, rather than once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn, but one of the attacks must be made with a firearm.6th Level: Improved Turret
14th Level: Expert Marksman
14th Level: Fortified Position
Firearm Interactions with the Repeating Shot Infusion:
TRICK SHOTS
These trick shots are presented in alphabetical order.
Bullying Shot You can use the powerful blast and thundering sound of your firearm to shake the resolve of a creature. When you hit with a firearm attack against a creature, you can expend one grit point to deal an extra 1d8 damage and attempt to frighten the creature. If the creature can see or hear you, it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against a DC of 8 + your Charisma (Intimidation) bonus + the damage dealt by the extra 1d8 or be frightened of you until the end of your next turn.
Dazing Shot When you hit with a firearm attack against a creature, you can expend one grit point to attempt to dizzy your opponent. The creature suffers an extra 1d8 damage and must make a Constitution saving throw against your trick shot save DC or suffer disadvantage on attacks until the end of their next turn.
Deadeye Shot When you make a firearm attack against a creature, you can expend one grit point to gain advantage on the attack roll. Use of this trick shot must be declared before the attack roll is made.
Disarming Shot When you hit with a firearm attack against a creature, you can expend one grit point to attempt to shoot an object from their hands. The creature suffers an extra 1d8 damage and must succeed on a Strength saving throw against your trick shot save DC or drop 1 held object of your choice and have that object be pushed 10 feet away from you.
Forceful Shot When you hit with a firearm attack against a creature, you can expend one grit point to trip them up and force them back. The creature suffers an extra 1d8 damage and if the creature is Large or smaller it must succeed on a Strength saving throw against your trick shot save DC or be pushed 15 feet away from you.
Piercing Shot When you make a firearm attack against a creature, you can expend one grit point to attempt to fire through multiple opponents. The initial attack gains a +1 to the firearm’s misfire score. On a hit, the creature suffers an extra 1d8 damage and you make an attack roll with disadvantage against every creature in a line directly behind the target within your first range increment. Only the initial attack can misfire; only the first creature hit with this trick shot suffers the extra damage. Use of this trick shot must be declared before the attack roll is made.
Violent Shot When you make a firearm attack against a creature, you can expend one or more grit points to enhance the volatility of the attack. For each grit point expended, the attack gains a +2 to the firearm’s misfire score. If the attack hits, you can roll one additional weapon damage die per grit point spent when determining the damage. Use of this trick shot must be declared before the attack roll is made.
Winging Shot When you hit with a firearm attack against a creature, you can expend one grit point to attempt to topple a moving target. The creature suffers an extra 1d8 damage and if the creature is Large or smaller it must make a Strength saving throw against your trick shot save DC or it is knocked prone and its flying speed (if any) is reduced to 0 feet until it is no longer prone.
Edited to reflect v1.1 redesign.
Well this is overpowered. I like the idea of the gunslinger being an artificer subclass, but a gunslinger with a turret is a bit much. Spells at least make up for the missing extra attacks fighter had (you gave the subclass extra attack a level after the base class gets extra attack, which is weird).
Yeah, this was written with the belief that Arcane Armament will indeed become specific to the Battle Smith subclass in a future revision, thus an Extra Attack feature seemed necessary at the time. You can just as easily ignore that line of text and still get basically the same effect if used with the current artificer.
Nice, though I dont like that it has the same mechanic as Critical Roll's Gunslinger.
OP updated to reflect version 1.1 of the redesign:
I'm heavily considering re-redesigning this subclass with the battle smith's iron defender instead of the arcane turrets. Admittedly, my interest in the artificer really began to grow after falling down a rabbit hole of character creation ideas that started with how one would re-imagine Critical Role's Taryon Darrington using the recent version of the artificer. In terms of subclass mechanics, the easiest transition for Taryon would be the alchemist subclass. However, I looked at it in terms of "pet selection" instead since Doty is iconic to the character as well.
Logically, I immediately thought of the battle smith's iron defender and how a humanoid reskin of the iron defender is more than sufficient to reflect an updated Doty for an updated Taryon. And then I looked at some of the forms they suggested the iron defender could resemble, and got fixated on bears. This lead to the question: "What artificer in the world of Exandria would want a mechanical bear?" That's where I'll stop and let you draw your own conclusions on how much deeper that rabbit hole goes from there.
Haha! Trinket 2.0