Has the update been released on DMs Guild? I did a search for 'Engineer Class' on that site and could not find it.
D&D 5E [5E] Engineer class - gadgets and guns!
Has the update been released on DMs Guild? I did a search for 'Engineer Class' on that site and could not find it.
Pavel Shapkin
First Post
Broken gadgets
Thank you for this perfect work! I'm trying to use this class and encountered the following question not covered in the class description: What if the gadget is broken (e.g. spy bug or turret was destroyed)? Does it automatically restore after a required rest? Or one has to "learn" the associated schematics from scratch? What would be the cost of a repair, is it less than the initial schematic learning cost?
Thank you for this perfect work! I'm trying to use this class and encountered the following question not covered in the class description: What if the gadget is broken (e.g. spy bug or turret was destroyed)? Does it automatically restore after a required rest? Or one has to "learn" the associated schematics from scratch? What would be the cost of a repair, is it less than the initial schematic learning cost?
Michael Blommaert
First Post
Nicely done, love it
Kinematics
Hero
I played an engineer in our last big campaign. It was a lot of fun, but I had to do some significant reworks to the class first.
This isn't how you balance AOE damage.
At 5th level for the character (equivalent to a 3rd level spell), the target AOE damage value should be 19.5, which is somewhere between 4d8 and 6d6, or 3d12 for an exact value. That's higher than what you've granted even the level 19 ticker damage. 2d6 for the main target and 1d6 for surrounding targets is somewhere between a cantrip and 1st level.
Further, the assumed number of hit creatures is, per the DMG, radius/5' — so 1, in this case, not 9, for the main area. Adding in the initial target, and the splash range to 10', and you can judge it as 3 targets (or maybe 2.5).
You might have grounds to reduce it based on having 5 to 7 tickers available at level 5, vs 6 spell slots for a caster, plus the fact that you can put them on a delayed fuse — though that is of extremely limited use due to being timer-based, and not having a proximity-based option. Likewise, they are independent of the actual gadgets available, though the gadgets that do damage are actually fairly rare, and with only one use per short rest, may shift the balance only a limited amount.
Overall, I'd probably aim for cantrip + 1 damage. Rough estimate of 4d6 AOE damage for the full 10' radius (not half-damage splash) at level 5.
Note: I did not change the damage levels when I played the character, as I didn't have as good an understanding of damage balance at the time. Instead I allows Overload effects, but without the damage, as an alternate option for the tickers. (The game never made it to level 14, so the full damage Overload effects never came into play.) This ended up being far more useful than most gadgets, and compensated for the fact that the tickers did no real damage of any note on their own.
There was another player in the campaign who started off trying the gunslinger option, but gave it up as a bad cause pretty quickly. It's just not worth it.
In a rebuild I started on the class, I put in an improvisational expert — a MacGuyver type. It felt like a good alternative.
This isn't how you balance AOE damage.
At 5th level for the character (equivalent to a 3rd level spell), the target AOE damage value should be 19.5, which is somewhere between 4d8 and 6d6, or 3d12 for an exact value. That's higher than what you've granted even the level 19 ticker damage. 2d6 for the main target and 1d6 for surrounding targets is somewhere between a cantrip and 1st level.
Further, the assumed number of hit creatures is, per the DMG, radius/5' — so 1, in this case, not 9, for the main area. Adding in the initial target, and the splash range to 10', and you can judge it as 3 targets (or maybe 2.5).
You might have grounds to reduce it based on having 5 to 7 tickers available at level 5, vs 6 spell slots for a caster, plus the fact that you can put them on a delayed fuse — though that is of extremely limited use due to being timer-based, and not having a proximity-based option. Likewise, they are independent of the actual gadgets available, though the gadgets that do damage are actually fairly rare, and with only one use per short rest, may shift the balance only a limited amount.
Overall, I'd probably aim for cantrip + 1 damage. Rough estimate of 4d6 AOE damage for the full 10' radius (not half-damage splash) at level 5.
Note: I did not change the damage levels when I played the character, as I didn't have as good an understanding of damage balance at the time. Instead I allows Overload effects, but without the damage, as an alternate option for the tickers. (The game never made it to level 14, so the full damage Overload effects never came into play.) This ended up being far more useful than most gadgets, and compensated for the fact that the tickers did no real damage of any note on their own.
There was another player in the campaign who started off trying the gunslinger option, but gave it up as a bad cause pretty quickly. It's just not worth it.
In a rebuild I started on the class, I put in an improvisational expert — a MacGuyver type. It felt like a good alternative.
Morebbenhk
First Post
Fast Activation Query
I have really loved the flavour and general structure of this class.
In play, however, I find the Fast Activation ability to be something of a fizzer. It shows up at a time when classes get their standard damage increase and seems to me to have the flavour of something in that vein.
In actual practice - while the lockpicking as a bonus action is interesting (albeit one that I've never seen come up in the middle of a combat - making the actual action economy of it kinda moot in my experience), the other half seems to make very little contribution.
All characters get one free object interraction alongside their actions per round anyway. Most combat applicable Object Interaction gadgets also require an Action for use.
Having a second one I can use as a Bonus Action leaves me with very few options I can actually use, as I've still only got the one action.
So what happened in practice, is that I found the Engineer falling off pretty noticeably in power/utility following Level 5.
Am I doing this wrong?
I have really loved the flavour and general structure of this class.
In play, however, I find the Fast Activation ability to be something of a fizzer. It shows up at a time when classes get their standard damage increase and seems to me to have the flavour of something in that vein.
In actual practice - while the lockpicking as a bonus action is interesting (albeit one that I've never seen come up in the middle of a combat - making the actual action economy of it kinda moot in my experience), the other half seems to make very little contribution.
All characters get one free object interraction alongside their actions per round anyway. Most combat applicable Object Interaction gadgets also require an Action for use.
Having a second one I can use as a Bonus Action leaves me with very few options I can actually use, as I've still only got the one action.
So what happened in practice, is that I found the Engineer falling off pretty noticeably in power/utility following Level 5.
Am I doing this wrong?
WeavingChaos
Villager
I found out about this class yesterday but the downloads section has been erased the only latest versions of this pdf I could find was 1.12 and 1.14. heres 1.14 if anyone is looking for it in the future. https://www.pdf-archive.com/2017/09...gust2015/engineer-5e-ver1-14-17august2015.pdf
It hasn’t been erased. It’s simply been renamed “Resources”. You can find it in the main navbar.
WeavingChaos
Villager
okay I found
Last edited:
okay goodyou
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