Artificer Class 5e Homebrew

[Shrimpboy107]

Makes sense.

The wand charges question was actually a very poorly worded attempt at clarifying this bit of the item creation process, from the DMG:

"If a spell will be produced by the item being created, the creator must expend one spell slot of the spell's level for each day of the creation process."

Since the artificer doesn't have any spell slots, do they just ignore this with items crafted via Exquisite Crafter?

I was thinking using a spell scroll of the specified spell(s) would meet the requirements, but my mind may have been hazy. I thought I remembered the wording saying it needed the spell to be cast once per day of creation but I may be wrong. I should probably put that in somewhere in the class just to clarify anyway, thank you for pointing that out.

 

[hardvice]

Yeah, using a scroll instead of a spell slot makes sense. So you would effectively just reduce your crafting reserve by 1 point per spell level until the item is completed.

 

[Shrimpboy107]

Yeah, using a scroll instead of a spell slot makes sense. So you would effectively just reduce your crafting reserve by 1 point per spell level until the item is completed.

Yep! Still gives the class a penalty like it does to spellcasters while making a magic item when made in that way.

 

[hardvice]

Disable Construct: no attack roll and no save? Is it a touch attack or does it have a range?

 

[Shrimpboy107]

Disable Construct: no attack roll and no save? Is it a touch attack or does it have a range?

Good catch. No idea how I missed that. Anyway, added a range and save to Disable Construct and included the word "touch" in Repair Damage.

 

[hardvice]

Cool, thanks. Very excited to try this class out.

The only other ones that have me a bit worried are the at-will infusions. Lubricant is only a first-level spell, though, and isn't as powerful as some of the at-will Warlock stuff like Armor of Shadows -- and like most of the warlock at-wills, it's kind of situationally useful. Shouldn't be a problem.

Elemental Infusion and Enhance Weapon might be trickier -- they're higher level spells and have a direct effect on damage output. That said, they are exactly what an artificer should be able to do. And I'm not sure limited uses would work at all. Uses per short rest might not even matter because they have long durations; uses per long rest would feel like taking away too much of what an artificer's about.

In the case of Elemental Infusion, it feels weird to let a 5th level character cast a 3rd-level spell at will. Mechanically, it's not as powerful as some ways to add damage at that level, like Smite, battlemaster maneuvers, or bardic Combat Inspiration, though those have limited uses and affect only a single attack. But it requires concentration, and those don't. That at least keeps the artificer from buffing the entire party's weapons before every fight.

Will have to see how it plays out.

 

[hardvice]

Maybe there's a way to use craft reserve for enhance weapon and elemental infusion. After all, they're temporary magic items, albeit not scrolls or potions.

Something like "As an action, you can imbue a nonmagical weapon you touch with magical energy. Spend two points from your craft reserve; for 1 hour, the weapon is magical and gains a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls. At 7th level, you can spend 3 points to grant a +2 bonus, and at 11th level, you can spend 4 points to grant a +3 bonus."

That removes the concentration limit, which means you *can* buff the whole party at once -- but you're going to burn through your craft reserve in no time if you do. It also gives a character who isn't all that interested in making scrolls or potions (like a selfish Warforged battle engineer) something to do with those points.

 

[Shrimpboy107]

Please report back with how the class plays. Unfortunately I haven't been able to playtest it at all yet, but I I've already came up with a few builds and concepts for the class that I am excited to try out.

And about the At-Will Magic and Elemental Weapon, I figured since that it what the Artificer is all about and it requires concentration to use either, I really didn't think it would be overpowered, unless the DM really likes throwing elementally vulnerable/resistant enemies often, and even then concentration is probably better off used on a scroll, wand, or infusion of some kind in most other cases. This is a good option when you run out of those resources and still want a way to buff the parties damage output.

 

[Goemoe]

Nice attempt. Thank you for your work. I don't like the part with the cantrips though, as the artificer is no spellcaster and your design does not use spell slots. I would go for some minor infusions at will something, which don't count to his normal amount of infusions. Those could scale up like cantrips and add something like weapon and armor buffs depending on level and concentration. 'Choose one, concentrate on..'

I think if I added it, it would step on the Rogue's toes too much. The Rogue was designed specifically to deal with traps and scouting missions. What makes the Rogue special and unique as a class is the ability to disarm traps right ff the bat and better than anyone else with expertise without having to use background to gain access to it. However, using a background or creating a background that gives proficiency with thieves' tools shouldn't be too hard if you want it. That's the biggest reason we decided to leave it out.

Look at your 'thirst of knowledge' section. For me a huge part reads 'Indianer Jones'. And as the original Artificer could pick locks as well, I believe at least one sub class should be able to choose thiefs tool.

One option to change this would be:

Proficiencies:
Armor: Light Armor, Medium Armor
Weapons: All simple weapons

Tools: Two kind of tools of your choice, of which at least one has to be Artisan’s Tools

Saving Throws: Constitution, Intelligence

Great work though!

 

[transcendantviewer]

I'm thinking the Pending Potion Infusion is rather strange. I think you should rewrite it to "After casting this infusion, for the next one hour, you can imbibe a potion and suspend its effects. Any time for the next 24 hours after drinking the potion, you can use a bonus action on your turn to have the potion take effect. If 24 hours have passed since drinking the potion and its effects have not been used, the effects are lost. You can suspend the effects of only one potion at a time."