Fleshcrafter (draft-incomplete)

While some artificers focus on tools, chemicals, or mechanical means of exploring the arcane, the fleshcrafter relies on living subjects for their experimentation.

Mad Doctor

3rd-level Fleshcrafter feature

You gain proficiency with Medicine skill. If you already have this proficiency, you gain proficiency with one other type of artisan’s tools of your choice. Additionally, you may use Intelligence instead of Wisdom for Medicine checks.

You can construct a special Healer’s Kit that contains a variety of biological concoctions, injections, and animal blood samples whenever you take a long rest and have tinker's tools. You may use this Healer’s Kit as if it were an arcane focus, as a spellcasting focus for your artificer spells. It can also be used as a normal Healer’s Kit, but doing so does not expend uses.

Fleshcrafter Spells

3rd-level Fleshcrafter feature

You always have certain spells prepared after you reach particular levels in this class, as shown in the Fleshcrafter Spells table. These spells count as artificer spells for you, but they don’t count against the number of artificer spells you prepare.

Fleshcrafter Spells

Artificer Level	Spell
3rd	cure wounds, animal friendship
5th	enhance ability, alter self
9th	revivify, feign death
13th	locate creature, polymorph
17th	awaken, reincarnate

Mutagens (Infusion)

3rd-level Fleshcrafter feature

You have unlocked some of the first secrets of mutable biology and gain access to an expanded Infusion list. These mutagens are considered Infusions for you, but instead of enchanting objects, they can only be used to target and enhance living creatures. When you first gain this ability you learn one Mutagen Infusion, chosen from the list below, that does not count against your number of infusions known. Any time you would learn a new artificer Infusion, you can select a new mutagen instead.

• Crowded Eyes - Gain Darkvision +60ft. You sprout extra eyes, maybe just a couple on your face, maybe all over.
• Wilderweapon - Gain a natural weapon that deals 1d8 damage. These can be claws, bite, gore, slam etc. and deal piercing, bludgeoning or slashing damage as appropriate. This weapon counts as a magical weapon for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. You sprout talons or claws, or your mouth elongates with jagged teeth, or fierce antler or horns sprout, these growths serve well as natural weapons.
• Arachnid - Can climb with arms free equal to walk speed. Several spider-like legs sprout from you, whether replacing your old ones or coming from your back or torso, these legs are exquisite at climbing.
• See Arcana - Can Detect Magic once, regaining this use after a short or long rest. The magical Infusion flowing through you has caused your senses to more readily identify other magical auras.
• Aquatic - Can breathe underwater and gain a 30 ft swim speed. Gills, webbing, small fins or fishy squiggly bits grow from you, potentially all over.
• Veiled - You are hidden from divination magic. You can't be targeted by such magic or perceived through magical scrying sensors. You tend to go unnoticed unless something calls people’s attention directly to you, regardless of your appearance.
• Tentacles - Can use the tentacles to grapple even while your hands are otherwise occupied. They can also handle small objects and allow you to Interact with an Object once on your turn as a nonaction in addition to normal actions you might have. You’ve grown several long semi-prehensile tentacles, even while you try to remain still, they writhe ever so slightly out of your control.

Your fleshcrafted horror serves as your reservoir for these mutagens, and always has the active effects of your known mutagen Infusions, without counting towards the number of infusions you are maintaining. 

You can also inject these mutagens into other creatures. Whenever you finish a long rest, you can touch a willing creature and imbue it with one of your mutagen Infusions. You can inject more than one creature at the end of a long rest; the maximum number of creatures you can infuse appears in the Infused Items column of the Artificer table, this number is shared between the number of creatures and the number of items infused. You must touch each of the creatures and your fleshcrafted horror, and each of your Infusions can be in only one creature at a time. So placing one of these mutagenic infusions in a creature causes it to go dormant in your fleshcraft horror.  

Moreover, no creature can bear more than one of your mutagens at a time, except your horror. Your mutagen remains in the creature indefinitely, but if you die, the mutagen vanishes after a number of days equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of 1 day). The mutagen also vanishes if you replace your knowledge of the mutagen for another infusion. If you try to exceed your maximum number of infusions, the oldest infusion ends, and then the new infusion applies. As an action, while holding your medical kit, you can touch a creature with one of your mutagen infusions to end it early, causing it to immediately resume effect in your fleshcrafted horror instead.

Fleshcraft Horror

3rd-level Fleshcrafter feature

By combining samples from several creatures, your experimentation has borne you a faithful companion, a Fleshcraft Horror. This twisted creature acts friendly to you and your companions, and it obeys your commands. See its game statistics in the Fleshcraft Horror stat block, which uses your proficiency bonus (PB) in several places. You determine the creature's horrific twisted chimeric appearance and whether it has two, four, or any other number of legs and appendages, though it often retains at least some traces of the original creature you transformed; your choice has no effect on its game statistics. 

In combat, the horror shares your initiative count, but it takes its turn immediately after yours. It can move and use its reaction on its own, but the only action it takes on its turn is the Dodge action, unless you take a bonus action on your turn to command it to take another action. That action can be one in its stat block or some other action. If you are incapacitated, the horror can take any action of its choice, not just Dodge.

If it has died within the last hour, you can use your healer's kit as an action to revive it, provided you are within 5 feet of it and you expend a spell slot of 1st level or higher. The fleshcraft horror returns to life after 1 minute with all its hit points restored.

At the end of a long rest, you can create an entirely new fleshcraft horror if you have your healer's kit with you and a suitable subject creature, any small medium or tiny beast** will do. If you already have a horror from this feature, the first one immediately perishes*. The horror also perishes if you die.

(*Optional: If your Fleshcrafter Artificer wishes to release a living Fleshcraft Horror, they may do so with DM approval. A released horror regards you, its creator, with seething hatred and will attack you on sight, seeking to inflict even a fraction of the torment to you that you inflicted on it. Failing that, if it can't find you, it will try to eek out some semblance of life, which... often means it goes on a murderous rampage until someone or something puts it out if its misery. Very rarely, a horror will go on to survive and reproduce, spawning some new species of monster out in the world. But most are sterile from the extreme stresses of the biological manipulation they endured. After release, the artificer may create a new Fleshcraft Horror as normal during their next long rest.)

(**Extra Optional: With DM approval, replace the word "beast" with "living creature" if you want a potentially far more screwed up and darker ability than it already is.)

 

Extra Companion Attack

5th-level Fleshcrafter feature

Your Fleshcraft Horror can attack twice, rather than once, when it takes the Attack action on its turn.

Savage Creation

9th-level Fleshcraft feature

You've learned new ways to infuse biologically hazardous arcane energy into your Fleshcraft Horror. When your horror hits a target, once per turn when it hits with a natural weapon, it can channel this magical energy through the strike to create your choice of one of the following effects:

• The target takes an extra 2d6 poison damage.
• The target takes an extra 1d6 necrotic damage, restoring any lost hit points to the horror equal to this extra damage done.
• The target takes an extra 2d6 psychic damage if the type currently selected for the horror's resistance type is also Psychic.

Absolute Terror

15th-level Fleshcrafter feature

Your Fleshcraft Horror become more powerful:

• The extra damage (and the healing) of your Savage Horror doubles to 4d6 poison/psychic damage or 2d6 necrotic damage/healing.
• Your fleshcraft horror gains a +2 to all attributes and +2 bonus to Armor Class.
• Whenever your fleshcraft horror deals psychic damage, the target must succeeds on a wisdom saving throw equal to your spell DC, or it is frightened until the end of your horror's next turn.