Reviewing the Artificer

bganon said:

Creating a wand of chill strike at 4th level is probably not a big deal for a wizard since they could already take it as an encounter power, and not a big deal for a warlock since they probably don't have the Int to make best use of it. But when the artificer probably has an Int as good as a wizard, and can use that wand twice per day, it starts looking a whole lot better. And that's without making it any easier to make.

Click to expand...

The problem I see with the artificer's ability to get extra uses out of items is the limit on using magic item daily powers per day (1, 2, or 3, plus 1 per milestone). The artificer can use the same item more than once, sure, but he's overall not getting much benefit over somebody who just uses a handful of slightly weaker items.

As for the hand juggling I mentioned before I guess I'll stick with warforged and use an armbow.

sukael said:

The problem I see with the artificer's ability to get extra uses out of items is the limit on using magic item daily powers per day (1, 2, or 3, plus 1 per milestone). The artificer can use the same item more than once, sure, but he's overall not getting much benefit over somebody who just uses a handful of slightly weaker items.

Click to expand...

Keep in mind that he can recharge the items of others in the party. So it's not *his* best item, but *the party's* best item, if the artificer isn't too selfish.

Honestly, the only reason artificers were better than everybody else in 3.5e at making items was because everyone else, even wizards, sucked too much at making items. It required too much investment (feats, xp) for little gain.

Click to expand...

That is not necessarily true. XP expenditure in 3.5 is no longer the debilitating drawback it was in 3e because of a concept called "riding the gravy train". Basically, the self-correcting nature of xp gain in 3.5 ensures that you get more xp in encounters to compensate if you ever fall behind in levels. This means that it is actually beneficial for the item-crafting wizard or artificer to consistently lag at 1 lv behind the rest of the party. This way, they get much more xp, which in turn can be funnelled into crafting more magic items. And so on and so forth. It is a vicious cycle that gets ugly very quickly.

Plus, if you are not willing to waste so many feats, a warlock12/chameleon2 can access any item creation feat he wants and craft any item he wants.

Artificer just does all these more easily, but he is not the only item crafter in 3e worth his salt.

I don't think the problem was actual XP and feat usage...

It was apparent XP and feat usage. To many players, being one level behind is horrible. Spending XP? Even worse! Having to spend 1-2 of your 7 feats? Ghastly!

Basically, it was all in the player's mind, but it was enough to discourage crafting for most people.

Here's the message I sent to the email address they gave. Pretty much sums up my thoughts.

-------------------

I have played a session with an artificer character. We did mostly combat encounter, of course. Here are things that I think should be improved or built upon.

1) Short-rest prepared powers are a great concept, but are too sparse. Applying them to more powers would be, in my honest opinion, make the artificer a much more interesting class. Why? Because it makes it that much more distinct from the warlord and wizard (the two closest classes we have right now). Yes, this means the artificer might use his powers before the encounter and then hand them out to his party, but I'm not arguing for the artificer to have all his powers prepared in advance: I think putting a bit less then one option per "power level"* that is prepared in advance would be interesting, as you could build a character that is almost entirely based on these.

To compensate for the lack of direct attacks in such a build, perhaps give him ways to play even without casting new powers - perhaps "sustains" that act in new ways for the prepared powers. For example, you could have to prepare "Fiery infusion" in advance, but if you choose to sustain it (say, as a minor action), it might sustain the effect, or a part of it, for as long as you choose. since you will be throwing out powers, it could be an interesting choice between sustaining the power you just used or sustaining the one you used a round back.

2) I think his "Restorative formula" need to be re-flavoured (healing tea you spray on allies? seriously?) and changed a bit, so they don't feel so mechanically close to the warlord and cleric. Healing surge+1d6 is all fine and dandy, but it is starting to be overused. Perhaps change it to another type of healing; maybe give resistance X until the start of your turn, or something like that.

Now for the positive: what you did well, I LOVE. The mini-trampoline is inexplicably awesome. For that matter, his utility spells in general are very, very nicely done. Healing figurine, Phantom structure... Very polished, very fit thematically. However, again, I'd like to see more preparation: right now, even though the flavour says it's all because of his magical tinkering, there is almost no mechanical reflection of that. I think they should be models for some other powers: non-damage, but useful in any situation, including combat. Perhaps one more utilitarian power ever two or three "power level"?

Lastly, I'd like to direct you to this thread, on ENworld, that you might have already seen. it's filled with good ideas and feedback.

Thanks for the opportunity to playtest the artificer, and for reading this email.

* [Obligatory "It's over 9000" reference]

Totally agree with everyone that liked the short rest powers. One of the things I liked about 3rd edition artificer was it's radically different take on magic. I'd like to see the class be heavily based around some totally new method of buffing, whether it's handing out items made during the short rests, or something else that hasn't been tried yet.

One of the problems I see is that the Artificer was itself an artifact of the crumbling spell system of 3.x, designed specifically to take advantage of 3rd Edition's quirks rather than as an actual archetype. It's going to take quite a bit to hack out the 3e mechanics while convincing the fans that it still feels the same - the theme of the 3.x Artificer was "let's exploit the wonkiness of the spell system". For me, I like what I see so far, but more 'short rest' dailies would be awesome.

And I absolutely adore the healing/inspiring word power. If a leader doesn't have it, they're not viable as a leader.

Artificers should be able to break down a magic item and get back more than 1/5 of the creation cost.

Artificer also sounds like they could make magic items = their level +1.

That instantly offers parties with an artificer an equipment edge, which they could now afford to use when the artificer extracts more money from items than normal. That should increase fun around the table.

A. Smith said:

The mini-trampoline is inexplicably awesome.

Click to expand...

I hope I'm not the only one who saw that and said

"Spongify!"