I not too long a go saw the table of contents for Xanathar's Guide to Everything" and apparently the Artificer isn't there. I wanted to wait for the finished version cause I heard the Unearthed Arcana version still had issues. But seeing as its not gonna be done soon I may as well see what you all have to say. What I wanna Know is,
Do you think the concept is viable? What other class do you think I could use if not Artificer?
The idea I have is what I'm calling a "War Cook"
I was inspired by something I was told about how in the Marines that even the cooks can tear you a new posterior. The long and short is that the War Cook uses Arcane arts and cooking to create Meals, confections, snacks, and beverages that confer ether buffs, resistances, or special abilities temporarily. One example being a fireball candy that let you spit 1 to 3 fireballs. another being a Berserk sucker that gives you the Barbarian's rage feature for a minute. The different meals would require different levels of preparedness and therefore different environments. Nightwatch coffee (sleep immunity and night vision) would be something that's prepared in a proper kitchen (roasting the beans and all that) but when used just needs boiling water. Wheres Heroes feast (Same as the spell but its all prepared normally with special ingredients instead of just a spellcasting.) would require a full kitchen and fully stocked pantry.
the drawbacks for the things prepared would depend on the item. The more powerful it is the more work that goes into preparation and (if necessary for balance) its drawbacks.
The berserk sucker for example, if used by anyone other than a barbarian, will leave you with anywhere between 1 to 3 points of exhaustion depending on your constitution. Nightwatch Coffees potency is related to its caffeine content and will result in insomnia depending on your constitution.
I also thought that making some necessary ingredients for the higher power stuff be things that are hard to get like Basilisk eggs or dragon scales or flesh. One of the other things I thought about but felt might be too powerful was the ability to raise a character's ability score by one with the requirements being eating something every day for a long period or something.
last idea I had for it possibly doing something along the lines of Mathew Mercer's Gunslinger in that you create recipes through work as the story goes (I.e. you tell your DM what recipe you want to create and with what benefits and it's a skill challenge succeed and you have it, fail and your ingredients and time are wasted) and once you get it down you add it to a magic cook book and you become able to prepare it whenever so long as you have the ingredients and a proper place of preparedness.
This is allllllll just ideas right now since i didn't want to do any work until I had a finished artificer class.
Honestly, I don't even think you need to do anything to the class.
Step 1) Alchemist. Step 2) cook's supplies/ alchemist supps (2 more of your choosing). Step 3) Wondrous invention: Alchemist Jug (for flavor, har har har...)
From there, it's simply a matter of re-skinning and re-fluffing what's already there and maybe minorly tweaking some things. If you want the alchemical fire to be buried inside some candies, then that's where it is. You are now spitting fireballs. Why not? Do you want to take a homebrew 'concoction' at levels 1, 3, 6, 9, 14th and 17th levels that is in line with the healing draght, tanglefoot bag, and thunderstone in terms of power and utility? (resistance to 1 type of damage for a minute? Your nightwatch coffee?) Hell, I'd do it and I wouldn't even give you the drawbacks... and the hunting around for supplies and special ingredients? That would be on you. It'd be a straight yes from this DM, no question...
Alternatively, it sounds to me like you don't really want the mundane utility of the artificer class, so much as you want a wizard with the "infuse magic" skill. Am I right? To hell with the mechanical servant, to hell with the artificer's trash spell list, to hell with attacks that are useless against anything with the slightest bit of dexterity? yeah?
So in that case, I would absolutely start with the wizard, since that's what you want, and homebrew from there. Ask your DM what it would take for him to grant your wizard the "infuse magic" feature so that you can infuse your candies and whatnot with the fireball spell. He/she might simply say yes, or she might say yes with only a few caveats like "you are limited to 5th level and below spells and you must pump infused magic by a 1 level higher spell slot, can't be used to get around concentration rules" <-- seems reasonable to me. If that's it, once again, you are done. everything else, no offense, is fluff. He's a wizard chef. He infuses his spells in candies and coffees. His spellbook is now a recipe book and he knows x number of recepies.\
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The third way I see going about this is also the most annoying, but it could be done with an arcane trickster, or eldrich knight. Basically, you'd be a guild artisan to snag cooking supplies, and snag alchemist supplies like option 1, and then, instead of using magic and spell-slots, you'd use crafting rules. With the assistance of your DM, you would generate an ACTUAL book of recepies, filled with any of the above recepies that you mentioned above, and you would craft them. By RAW, each such concoction will take you about a week and about 200 gold... however you could negotiate with your DM to start off with a supply of treats in reserve (or at least the ingredients to make them), owing to your background/backstory/concept.
To me, this idea seems the most "War cook" ... "in the marines, even the cooks can f u up" thematic as you would actually BE some kind of fighter, who just prepares magic stuff on the side, but its really up to you to decide what you are looking for.
I not too long a go saw the table of contents for Xanathar's Guide to Everything" and apparently the Artificer isn't there. I wanted to wait for the finished version cause I heard the Unearthed Arcana version still had issues. But seeing as its not gonna be done soon I may as well see what you all have to say. What I wanna Know is,
Do you think the concept is viable? What other class do you think I could use if not Artificer?
The idea I have is what I'm calling a "War Cook"
I was inspired by something I was told about how in the Marines that even the cooks can tear you a new posterior. The long and short is that the War Cook uses Arcane arts and cooking to create Meals, confections, snacks, and beverages that confer ether buffs, resistances, or special abilities temporarily. One example being a fireball candy that let you spit 1 to 3 fireballs. another being a Berserk sucker that gives you the Barbarian's rage feature for a minute. The different meals would require different levels of preparedness and therefore different environments. Nightwatch coffee (sleep immunity and night vision) would be something that's prepared in a proper kitchen (roasting the beans and all that) but when used just needs boiling water. Wheres Heroes feast (Same as the spell but its all prepared normally with special ingredients instead of just a spellcasting.) would require a full kitchen and fully stocked pantry.
the drawbacks for the things prepared would depend on the item. The more powerful it is the more work that goes into preparation and (if necessary for balance) its drawbacks.
The berserk sucker for example, if used by anyone other than a barbarian, will leave you with anywhere between 1 to 3 points of exhaustion depending on your constitution. Nightwatch Coffees potency is related to its caffeine content and will result in insomnia depending on your constitution.
I also thought that making some necessary ingredients for the higher power stuff be things that are hard to get like Basilisk eggs or dragon scales or flesh. One of the other things I thought about but felt might be too powerful was the ability to raise a character's ability score by one with the requirements being eating something every day for a long period or something.
last idea I had for it possibly doing something along the lines of Mathew Mercer's Gunslinger in that you create recipes through work as the story goes (I.e. you tell your DM what recipe you want to create and with what benefits and it's a skill challenge succeed and you have it, fail and your ingredients and time are wasted) and once you get it down you add it to a magic cook book and you become able to prepare it whenever so long as you have the ingredients and a proper place of preparedness.
This is allllllll just ideas right now since i didn't want to do any work until I had a finished artificer class.
Honestly, I don't even think you need to do anything to the class.
Step 1) Alchemist. Step 2) cook's supplies/ alchemist supps (2 more of your choosing). Step 3) Wondrous invention: Alchemist Jug (for flavor, har har har...)
From there, it's simply a matter of re-skinning and re-fluffing what's already there and maybe minorly tweaking some things. If you want the alchemical fire to be buried inside some candies, then that's where it is. You are now spitting fireballs. Why not? Do you want to take a homebrew 'concoction' at levels 1, 3, 6, 9, 14th and 17th levels that is in line with the healing draght, tanglefoot bag, and thunderstone in terms of power and utility? (resistance to 1 type of damage for a minute? Your nightwatch coffee?) Hell, I'd do it and I wouldn't even give you the drawbacks... and the hunting around for supplies and special ingredients? That would be on you. It'd be a straight yes from this DM, no question...
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Alternatively, it sounds to me like you don't really want the mundane utility of the artificer class, so much as you want a wizard with the "infuse magic" skill. Am I right? To hell with the mechanical servant, to hell with the artificer's trash spell list, to hell with attacks that are useless against anything with the slightest bit of dexterity? yeah?
So in that case, I would absolutely start with the wizard, since that's what you want, and homebrew from there. Ask your DM what it would take for him to grant your wizard the "infuse magic" feature so that you can infuse your candies and whatnot with the fireball spell. He/she might simply say yes, or she might say yes with only a few caveats like "you are limited to 5th level and below spells and you must pump infused magic by a 1 level higher spell slot, can't be used to get around concentration rules" <-- seems reasonable to me. If that's it, once again, you are done. everything else, no offense, is fluff. He's a wizard chef. He infuses his spells in candies and coffees. His spellbook is now a recipe book and he knows x number of recepies.\
-------------------------------
The third way I see going about this is also the most annoying, but it could be done with an arcane trickster, or eldrich knight. Basically, you'd be a guild artisan to snag cooking supplies, and snag alchemist supplies like option 1, and then, instead of using magic and spell-slots, you'd use crafting rules. With the assistance of your DM, you would generate an ACTUAL book of recepies, filled with any of the above recepies that you mentioned above, and you would craft them. By RAW, each such concoction will take you about a week and about 200 gold... however you could negotiate with your DM to start off with a supply of treats in reserve (or at least the ingredients to make them), owing to your background/backstory/concept.
To me, this idea seems the most "War cook" ... "in the marines, even the cooks can f u up" thematic as you would actually BE some kind of fighter, who just prepares magic stuff on the side, but its really up to you to decide what you are looking for.