Recent content by Mephista

Its very rare for my games to get to level 11 (we start at level 3) at the very most, and even then that's, like, a capstone right before the end of the game. Or we're playing a level 20 one-shot. In the former, I don't expect to have an army with wands and SSI. And with the latter, well, its...

Two smol things: By "get to do it well," can I presume you mean have multiple pets? IE the battlemaster and reanimator subclasses? And I just want to mention that that, if you just have the HS out and pinging people with its default blast? It puts your cantrip spam on par with the warlock's...

Never-ending. Misunderstood you

I think class locked items are dumb in the first place. Like... why lock out a staff of fire? And no scrolls or potions qith RMI? They've made several weird decisions I'm guessing because they're afraid of somehow making the Artificer too powerful for some reason. But their hand wringing...

Relying on a core feature of the class... is a gimmick? To me, it looks like it's the intended style of play. Ymmv, I guess

YES! That's their core mechanic. They get other heally powers on top of it. Even the laser clerics were healers! 5e doesn't have Striker roles. False equivalence. Every 5e Fighter gets extra attack, and I absolutely, 100% expect every Fighter to use the Attack Action, their action surges...

They pretty much were. Defender roles had Marks from level 1 - effectively pseudo taunt powers. Strikers had damage boosting traits on single targets. Leaders had effects that boosted healing and/or buffs. Controllers were defined by battlefield control, AoEs, and debuffs. Each group had...

I think we're still in the Paladins-suck-with-new-changes!! phase of online discourse. The Artificer class did change. Tool expertise is flat out gone. Generalized tinkering is gone, with a stronger focus on specialization. Limits on firearms. Low-level cantrip reliance. Homuculus Servant part...

I do honestly believe that they are attempting to make the artificer a dedicated spellcaster. Even as a half-caster. A dedicated half-caster? Its kind of like a mirror of warlock, in much the same way that paladin and ranger are mirrors of each other. Paladins smite, socialize, aura, etc. Very...

If I had to put Artificer anywhere (tank, scout, healer, mage), I'd put them down as a mage. Kind of inverted warlocks. They can scout, but in the same way a wizard scouts - with limited magics and not a great Stealth / Perception score. Wand of Secrets is great, but you get 3 uses a day...

I'd go with Cube of summoning, horn of Valhalla, or one of the four elemental ones. Beads of force feel ... kinda weak, and bag of beans too random. Or just a level 5 spelwrought tattoo. Got to be something good as a 5thl level spell

Nah, sorry - they're their own category. Spell tattoos, however? Either the new thayan one or the Tasha ones? fair game. Though those are closer to scrolls. Necklace of fireballs does count

There's also a battery in the Netheril's Fall book that can recharge wands. lots of potential. I'm not sure if it works with that swapping feature : "While holding the battery, you can take a Magic action to touch the battery to one magic item. If that magic item normally regains expended...

It is indeed squishy. But if you manage to keep it around, it can effectively give you Doublecast. Doubles your spell output in a turn. And I'm not seeing anything stopping you from armoring up the homunculus either

Yep. wand of magic missiles too. giving your homoculi good spells on SSI or wands seems to be part of the Artificer's intended damage output. You can even make the SSI on a Wand of Magic Missile, if im reading this right.