Making a wizard Order of scribes / Artificer Armorer PC but I'm having a hard time deciding how many lvls should go into artificer? The plan is to reach 20, but recommendations up to 10 and\or up to 20 tend to be different so shoot away.
1: for proficiency and creativity gateway for inventions, extra cantrips and healing spells and others that change at long rest (better reason? please elaborate)
3: All the above + subclass features, infusions(heavy armor with no requirements is nice (that would be heavy armor shield-wielding wizard with no penalty to stealth and extra movement)) Still able to cast lvl 9 spells
6: All of the above + Tool expertise, 2 extra infusions with armorer(extra attack little useless on wiz ). with lvl 14 arcane tradition feature. still able to cast lvl 7 spells.
9: All the above + flash of genius, armor specialty. still able to cast lvl 6 spells.
10: All the above + plus artificer feature extra infusions that are really good. still able to cast lvl 5 spells.
one more lvl and it would be artificer/wiz but SSI is good but no goal here I suppose.
I would say 1 or 2 levels of Artificer at the start before you switch to wizard and never look back. The level 18 Wizard ability is too good to pass up if you are going all the way to level 20.
2 levels might not be worth it because it might delay spell progression a little too much but it all depends if you want a couple of infusions or not. The Mind Sharpener infusion in particular is very very nice for concentration.
Strange enough, I don't find the wizard 18/20 feature too great; I think a scroll made with half cost would do the same unless u wanna spam spells nonstop. but your point is valid as I have not played an LVL 20 wizard
Why are you wanting Artificer at all? What specific ability are you really wanting and why? Find that level then compare it to what you're giving up from Wizard. Being able to wear armor is nice, but you're still a wizard, you're going to be avoiding melee most of the time anyway, unless you've got some specialized build going.
As for the 18's level spell mastery, it is a great ability. Unlimited 1st or 2nd level defensive spells (absorb elements, feather fall, shield, mirror image, blur, invisibility) or utility (longstrider or jump for the entire party <no concentration>, misty step, suggestion, web, see invisible). And you can switch them out. For the offensive spells its bad as your cantrips generally do more damage at that tier.
A wiz from the ancient times with a grudge against God who killed the PC and his family, after which he reincarnated with lost memories and an unstable body(reborn) at the doors of strixhaven, where the PC gets treated and learn magic with a real nack and creativity from knowledge the PC don't know came from. This drives me to a few points into artificer armorer for a magical armor that stabilizes my body and the unhinged creativity of a mad scientist (somewhat).
Just wanted to hear some sales pitches on different levels to make a better decision.
All this assumes 20th level and you primarily want to be slinging spells. Most campaigns don't make it that far, but if you know you're will then plan it out by all means.
I'd take either 2 or 4 levels of artificer because it is a half caster and taking only 1 or 3 messes up you spell levels since they always round down when combining (at least per RAW).
Taking 4 levels means you give up 9th level spells. You'll have the spell slot but no spell. Sure its only 1 spell per day but not having it hurts at 4th tier. The ASIs are a wash as you'll have the artificier one, but you also give up spell mastery and signature spell.
Two levels isn't that bad, as you'll just miss signature spell, an ASI and a 7th level spell slot. And two levels of artificer does give you infusions and access to the 1st level artificer spell list which does at least have a couple of spells that aren't on the wizard spell list, but no subclass.
The advantage of the Artificer is that they round up their spells slot progression.
Spell Slots. Add half your levels (rounded up) in the artificer class to the appropriate levels from other classes to determine your available spell slots.
It would make artificer level 3 viable. You would get level 9 spells at level 20, but still missing it till then and it opens up a subclass for artificier.
Making a wizard Order of scribes / Artificer Armorer PC but I'm having a hard time deciding how many lvls should go into artificer? The plan is to reach 20, but recommendations up to 10 and\or up to 20 tend to be different so shoot away.
I would say 1 or 2 levels of Artificer at the start before you switch to wizard and never look back. The level 18 Wizard ability is too good to pass up if you are going all the way to level 20.
2 levels might not be worth it because it might delay spell progression a little too much but it all depends if you want a couple of infusions or not. The Mind Sharpener infusion in particular is very very nice for concentration.
Strange enough, I don't find the wizard 18/20 feature too great; I think a scroll made with half cost would do the same unless u wanna spam spells nonstop. but your point is valid as I have not played an LVL 20 wizard
Why are you wanting Artificer at all? What specific ability are you really wanting and why? Find that level then compare it to what you're giving up from Wizard. Being able to wear armor is nice, but you're still a wizard, you're going to be avoiding melee most of the time anyway, unless you've got some specialized build going.
As for the 18's level spell mastery, it is a great ability. Unlimited 1st or 2nd level defensive spells (absorb elements, feather fall, shield, mirror image, blur, invisibility) or utility (longstrider or jump for the entire party <no concentration>, misty step, suggestion, web, see invisible). And you can switch them out. For the offensive spells its bad as your cantrips generally do more damage at that tier.
A wiz from the ancient times with a grudge against God who killed the PC and his family, after which he reincarnated with lost memories and an unstable body(reborn) at the doors of strixhaven, where the PC gets treated and learn magic with a real nack and creativity from knowledge the PC don't know came from. This drives me to a few points into artificer armorer for a magical armor that stabilizes my body and the unhinged creativity of a mad scientist (somewhat).
Just wanted to hear some sales pitches on different levels to make a better decision.
All this assumes 20th level and you primarily want to be slinging spells. Most campaigns don't make it that far, but if you know you're will then plan it out by all means.
I'd take either 2 or 4 levels of artificer because it is a half caster and taking only 1 or 3 messes up you spell levels since they always round down when combining (at least per RAW).
Taking 4 levels means you give up 9th level spells. You'll have the spell slot but no spell. Sure its only 1 spell per day but not having it hurts at 4th tier. The ASIs are a wash as you'll have the artificier one, but you also give up spell mastery and signature spell.
Two levels isn't that bad, as you'll just miss signature spell, an ASI and a 7th level spell slot. And two levels of artificer does give you infusions and access to the 1st level artificer spell list which does at least have a couple of spells that aren't on the wizard spell list, but no subclass.
The advantage of the Artificer is that they round up their spells slot progression.
Oh, I had completely missed that.
It would make artificer level 3 viable. You would get level 9 spells at level 20, but still missing it till then and it opens up a subclass for artificier.
My fav is 2 level of artificer, that gives you:
I Also love the level 18 Wizard perk, at will sield and misty step or any other cool level 1 and 2 spell at will.
However that is only if your campaign gets to max level.
Freedom without Laws is Anarchy... Laws without Freedom is Tyranny!