Yo! iv made a really dumb build that somehow works pretty well
so! go custom lineage (size small) for the free feat and take "dual wielder" so we can wield weapons that arent light but are one handed weapons
then go 4 levels into artificer (battle smith) take the fighting initiate feat for two weapon fighting to add our modifiers to our off hand attack
small races can ride the steel defender making us mounted
we then get two lances (only 10gp pretty cheap) lances when you arent mounted need two hands to fight with but if you are mounted only need one hand (and with SD we mounted!)
so we have two attacks with a 1d12 weapon plus lance is reach so 10 feet away out steel defender.
and at 5th level we get extra attack for 3d12+ whatever mods and 40feet of movement that takes the dodge action on its own if we never told it an action
now for those thinking "hey dumb dumb theres a fighter subclass for that" theres a few reasons i went with artificer battle smith
1. When you attack with a magic weapon, you can use your Intelligence modifier, instead of Strength or Dexterity modifier, for the attack and damage rolls. 2. you can 100% make one a magic weapon and make the other a magic weapon at 6th level 3. because this artificer only needs 1 main stat (int) they are still an amazing character 4. this subclass has shield 5. all mounts take the dodge action when you dont command them to take an action 6. the steel defender has this V
Deflect Attack. The defender imposes disadvantage on the attack roll of one creature it can see that is within 5 feet of it, provided the attack roll is against a creature other than the defender.
and our AC should look something like 18 to 19 if we
14 dex + scalemail + dual wielder(+1) + enhanced defense (+1) for a total of 18
you could make this better by getting mounted combatant and heavy armor master for plate get an AC of 20 but hey its only 6th level for the full build to come online. until 6th level if you wanted you could rock a shield and lance for better AC but thats up to you
this works right? i looked at all the rules and besides the almighty DM "no!" i dont see why it wouldnt work
The only improvement I can think off is to not take the Dual Wielder feat until level 8, because as you say you will not get a guaranteed 2nd magic weapon until level 6 meaning for the first 6 levels it is a almost dead feat until you hit level 6 since you most likely dumped STR for this build to wear medium armor. Instead I would start off with a INT half feat and max INT at level 4 and just start off using a longsword with 2 hands until level 8, with 20 INT the d10 from the longsword actually out damages the d12 from a lance with 16 INT. Then at level 12 you round off the build with the Fighting Initiate feat or if you are impatient you could just grab a level of Fighter at level 9. Although you lose the Bonus Action attack from 2 weapon fighting until level 8 it can be mitigated somewhat with the higher INT modifier and the Steel Defender's attack with which you can use to fill the void of the missing Bonus Action attack.
iv made the build better if you arent going to 20th level just take a first level fighter for the fighting style and getting heavy armor then go the rest as normal with artificer. doing that leaves you open with your 4th level feat to do what you want.
I tried doing something similar with an Eldritch Knight 17/Battle Smith 3 but didn’t have much luck. I wanted to start with 1 level in fighter to have access to every armor, but other than that I’m not sure if the build is savable or if it’s better just to start from scratch?
iv made the build better if you arent going to 20th level just take a first level fighter for the fighting style and getting heavy armor then go the rest as normal with artificer. doing that leaves you open with your 4th level feat to do what you want.
At that point you should just go Beastmaster Ranger and ride your beast companion.
iv made the build better if you arent going to 20th level just take a first level fighter for the fighting style and getting heavy armor then go the rest as normal with artificer. doing that leaves you open with your 4th level feat to do what you want.
At that point you should just go Beastmaster Ranger and ride your beast companion.
the artificer gives way more to a party then a ranger does. im not saying rangers are bad in a team just that artificers give better support
Yo! iv made a really dumb build that somehow works pretty well
so! go custom lineage (size small) for the free feat and take "dual wielder" so we can wield weapons that arent light but are one handed weapons
then go 4 levels into artificer (battle smith) take the fighting initiate feat for two weapon fighting to add our modifiers to our off hand attack
small races can ride the steel defender making us mounted
we then get two lances (only 10gp pretty cheap) lances when you arent mounted need two hands to fight with but if you are mounted only need one hand (and with SD we mounted!)
so we have two attacks with a 1d12 weapon plus lance is reach so 10 feet away out steel defender.
and at 5th level we get extra attack for 3d12+ whatever mods and 40feet of movement that takes the dodge action on its own if we never told it an action
now for those thinking "hey dumb dumb theres a fighter subclass for that" theres a few reasons i went with artificer battle smith
1. When you attack with a magic weapon, you can use your Intelligence modifier, instead of Strength or Dexterity modifier, for the attack and damage rolls.
2. you can 100% make one a magic weapon and make the other a magic weapon at 6th level
3. because this artificer only needs 1 main stat (int) they are still an amazing character
4. this subclass has shield
5. all mounts take the dodge action when you dont command them to take an action
6. the steel defender has this V
Deflect Attack. The defender imposes disadvantage on the attack roll of one creature it can see that is within 5 feet of it, provided the attack roll is against a creature other than the defender.
and our AC should look something like 18 to 19 if we
14 dex + scalemail + dual wielder(+1) + enhanced defense (+1) for a total of 18
you could make this better by getting mounted combatant and heavy armor master for plate get an AC of 20 but hey its only 6th level for the full build to come online. until 6th level if you wanted you could rock a shield and lance for better AC but thats up to you
this works right? i looked at all the rules and besides the almighty DM "no!" i dont see why it wouldnt work
That's actually genuinely good. Nice find!
thank you! i appreciate it
The only improvement I can think off is to not take the Dual Wielder feat until level 8, because as you say you will not get a guaranteed 2nd magic weapon until level 6 meaning for the first 6 levels it is a almost dead feat until you hit level 6 since you most likely dumped STR for this build to wear medium armor. Instead I would start off with a INT half feat and max INT at level 4 and just start off using a longsword with 2 hands until level 8, with 20 INT the d10 from the longsword actually out damages the d12 from a lance with 16 INT. Then at level 12 you round off the build with the Fighting Initiate feat or if you are impatient you could just grab a level of Fighter at level 9. Although you lose the Bonus Action attack from 2 weapon fighting until level 8 it can be mitigated somewhat with the higher INT modifier and the Steel Defender's attack with which you can use to fill the void of the missing Bonus Action attack.
iv made the build better if you arent going to 20th level just take a first level fighter for the fighting style and getting heavy armor then go the rest as normal with artificer. doing that leaves you open with your 4th level feat to do what you want.
you could also get a moon touched lance they shouldnt cost to much and are a magic item
You could even make your own moon-touched lance using Replicate Magic Item, since it's a common item.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
i tried looking for a moon touched lance and there isnt one made (in DnDBeyond)
Oops, looks like Moon-Touched is a property that can only be added to swords. Five E has entirely too much of a bias toward swords.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
its really sad how few magic weapons there are for things like whip. lances, boomerangs, blowguns and many many more
I tried doing something similar with an Eldritch Knight 17/Battle Smith 3 but didn’t have much luck. I wanted to start with 1 level in fighter to have access to every armor, but other than that I’m not sure if the build is savable or if it’s better just to start from scratch?
www.dndbeyond.com/sheet-pdfs/Actionsparda_124382691.pdf
At that point you should just go Beastmaster Ranger and ride your beast companion.
the artificer gives way more to a party then a ranger does. im not saying rangers are bad in a team just that artificers give better support
This seems like it could be really fun as long as you were fighting in places you can use the mount.
thats the dope thing! we are a small race and the mount is medium so the mount can go pretty much anywhere anyone in the party can
hell yeah, that would be sweet. I wasn’t sure what the size of the mount was.