D&D 5E Runesmith subclass for Artificers?

QuietBrowser said:

My one problem with your suggestions is, can a subclass really be allowed to modify a core class feature (in this case, Mechanical Servant, which does still make sense for Runesmiths as, say, a traditional style golem, but small and weak)? Because I'm not really seeing how that can work.

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Its seems a pretty hard-and-fast rule in the official class design that subclasses can't remove or significantly change base class features.

However, homebrew such as this thread isn't bound by those rules.
Moreover, the ability to enchant weapons and suchlike on a longer-term basis than normal spells can be thought of as a passive buff to the character's or party's damage or defences, which parallels the existence of the mechanical servant - which is thus an obvious candidate to swap out for it.