Artificer Homebrew

[Engilbrand]

First: I apologize if this looks a little rough.
I've been trying to knock out an Artificer for 5e, and I would love some feedback and ideas. Before you read, I would also like to point out that the item creation rules presented here would supersede those in the DMG. I got ideas for this from Keith Baker's Artificer conversion and the one that I found here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Fh9ztmMJ8GPprdZdIprHyfhYkkBsOwn4z1T6tdtSsko/edit?pli=1

Artificer
Hit Die: d8
Proficiencies: Light and Medium Armor, Shields, Simple Weapons, 2 Artisan's Tools, or 1 Artisan's Tools and Thieve's Tools
Saving Throws: Con and Int
Skills: Choose 2 from Arcana, History, Investigation, Medicine, Religion, Sleight of Hands.
Focus: The Artificer needs a focus for his abilities. He may use his Artisan's Tools as his focus.
Levels

1. Craft Homunculus, Craft Potions and Scrolls (Common), Repair Construct, Cantrips
2. Imbue Weapons and Armor (+1), Spell Storing Item
3. Path Feature
4. Ability Score Improvement
5. Craft Potions and Scrolls (Uncommon), Identify
6. Craft Reserve, Craft Items (Uncommon), Retain Essence
7. Imbue Weapons and Armor (+2)
8. Ability Score Improvement
9. Craft Potions and Scrolls (Rare)
10. Craft Items (Rare)
11. Path Feature
12. Ability Score Improvement
13. Imbue Weapons and Armor (+3)
14. Craft Potions and Scrolls (Very Rare)
15. Craft Items (Very Rare)
16. Ability Score Improvement
17. Path Feature
18. Craft Potions and Scrolls (Legendary)
19. Ability Score Improvement
20. Craft Items (Legendary)

Craft Homunculus- This works like Find Familiar, only the Artificer crafts an Iron Defender. The stats are for a Wolf with the Construct Type.

Craft Potions and Scrolls- The Artificer can craft potions and scrolls of up to the rarity listed. He can only have up to his Intelligence Modifier in Potions crafted. For scrolls, he can only have as many scrolls crafted as his level in spells. Example: A first level Artificer with 18 Intelligence could craft and retain 4 potions and 1 first level scroll. At 10th level, with a 20 for Intelligence, he could have up to 5 potions, and enough scrolls to equal 10 levels worth of spells.

Repair Damage- This works as Lay on Hands, but it only affects Constructs and Objects. He may repair up to his level times 5 in points. A 5th level Artificer could repair up to 25 points to a Construct or Object.

Cantrips- Though he doesn't technically cast spells, the Artificer knows a few Cantrips. He knows 2 Cantrips at level 1, then learns new Cantrips at levels 5, 10, and 15. He may choose from: Makeshift Wand, Mending, Light, Blade Ward, Prestidigitation, and Shocking Grasp.

Imbue Weapons and Armor- During a short or long rest, the Artificer can enhance an ally's weapon or armor, thereby making it magic and giving it the specified bonus. He may do this twice per day and level 2, 3 times per day at level 7, and 4 times per day at level 13.

Spell Storing Item- Starting at level 2, the Artificer can create an item which holds a spell. He may do this up to his Intelligence modifier per day. If he decides to do this during a short rest, he must make an Arcana roll to imbue the spell into his temporary item. The DC to do this is 10 + Spell level. If he fails, he takes Spell Level (SL)d6 damage. If he tries to do this on the fly in combat, he must spend an Action Point/Heroic Point/Hit Die, and the DC becomes 10 + Spell Level (SL)x2. The level of said spell in either case can't be any more than half of his Artificer level.

Identify- The Artificer may cast Identify at-will.

Craft Reserve- The Artificer has a Craft Reserve of points of 6. He also gains one point per level. These are used to craft magic items.

Craft Items- The Artificer may use his Craft Reserve points to craft magic items. He is limited by rarity listed in parentheses. The time it takes to craft these items and the point costs are listed below:
Uncommon- 1 day, 2 Craft Points
Rare- 1 week, 4 Craft Points
Very Rare- 1 month, 6 Craft Points
Legendary- 10 Craft Points
In all cases, the player must work with the DM on appropriateness of item. Items with more than just a +1/2/3 bonus may require additional materials. Smells like a quest!

Retain Essence- You may destroy a magic item to gain Craft Points. The points gained are equal to half the point cost to create an equivalent item. Example: An Uncommon item could be destroyed to gain 1 Craft Point. With 2 items destroyed, you could craft your own Uncommon Item.


Makeshift Wand
Evocation Cantrip
Range 60 feet
Choose 2 elements when you first learn this spell: Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, Thunder. When you cast the spell, choose which of your elements to cast it as. The spell deals 1d8 damage, then an extra d8 at levels 5, 11, and 17.

Paths (I'm struggling with these and will need to look at them more)

Path of the Battlesmith

Improved Imbue- Starting at level 3, when you use Imbue Weapons and Armor, you may add an extra effect. When you Imbue a weapon, you may add elemental damage to it. Choose from Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Thunder. The character wielding the weapon decides when to activate the elemental enchantment. It then lasts for 1 minute. The weapon deals and extra 1d8 of the chosen element on a successful hit. This damage increases to 2d8 at level 7, and 3d8 at level 13. When you cast this on Armor, you may choose 1 damage type that the armor gains Resistance to for the duration of the enchantment. You may choose 2 damage types at level 7, and 3 at level 13.

I'm not sure where to go from here. I would greatly appreciate ideas, recommendations, and critiques.
I think that Use Magic Device should go somewhere.

 

[transcendantviewer]

I'm going to already say that the wolf's stats granted the Construct Type are already way stronger than a familiar. I believe the way to make this manageable, you should require the Artificer to spend gold to craft his items, similar to how Artificers back in 3.5 worked. Like for crafting constructs, he must spend gold equal to 100x the number of hit dice that the construct required. Back in 3.5, there was a formula for making potions and scrolls. It said to use the Caster's level x 25 gp. Fifth Edition doesn't use Caster Levels anymore, so instead, use the minimum level a character would need to be to cast the spell and multiply that by 50 gold. That gets the market price, divide that cost in half for the cost to create.

 

[Engilbrand]

It has been a few days, and I went back and revamped the class a bit. I wanted to try to make it work a bit better with the system, while still having a lot of the feel of the original Artificer that we have all come to know and love.
The craft times included are because the craft times in the DMG are just plain silly. For anyone who hasn't done the math, the DMG rules would require around 55 years for one person to create a Legendary item. No thanks. That's just silly.



Artificer
Hit Die: d8
Proficiencies: Light and Medium Armor, Shields, Simple Weapons, 1 Artisan's Tools and Thieve's Tools
Saving Throws: Con and Int
Skills: Choose 2 from Arcana, History, Investigation, Medicine, Religion, Sleight of Hands.
Focus: The Artificer needs a focus for his abilities. He may use his Artisan's Tools as his focus.
Levels
1. Cantrips, Spell Storing Item, Detect Magic, Identify
2. Path Feature, Repair Damage
3. Craft Potions and Scrolls (Common and Uncommon), Craft Items (Uncommon), Use Magic Device, Craft Reserve
4. Ability Score Improvement
5. Retain Essence, Imbue Weapons and Armor (+1)
6. Craft Potions and Scrolls (Rare), Craft Items (Rare)
7. Path Feature
8. Ability Score Improvement
9. Imbue Weapons and Armor (+2)
10. Use Magic Device (All)
11. Craft Potions and Scrolls (Very Rare), Craft Items (Very Rare)
12. Ability Score Improvement
13. Path Feature
14. Imbue Weapons and Armor (+3)
15. Potent Spellcasting.
16. Ability Score Improvement
17. Craft Potions and Scrolls (Legendary), Craft Potions and Scrolls (Legendary)
18. Path Feature
19. Ability Score Improvement
20. Master of Artifice

Cantrips- Though he doesn't technically cast spells, the Artificer knows a few Cantrips. He knows 2 Cantrips at level 1, then learns new Cantrips at levels 5, 10, and 15. He may choose from: Makeshift Wand, Mending, Light, Blade Ward, Prestidigitation, and Shocking Grasp.

Spell Storing Item- Starting at level 1, the Artificer can create an item which holds a spell. He may do this up to his Intelligence modifier per day. If he decides to do this during a short rest, he must make an Arcana roll to imbue the spell into his temporary item. The DC to do this is 10 + Spell level. If he fails, he takes Spell Level (SL)d6 damage. Cantrips count as first level for these purposes. If he tries to do this on the fly in combat, he must spend an Action Point/Heroic Point/Hit Die, and the DC becomes 10 + Spell Level (SL)x2. The level of said spell in either case can't be any more than half of his Artificer level. At first level, he can only use this ability to store Cantrips.

Detect Magic- The Artificer may cast Detect Magic once per short rest. This may be used twice at level 7, and three times at level 15.

Identify- The Artificer may cast Identify once per long rest. This may be used twice at level 7, and three times at level 15.

Repair Damage- This works as Lay on Hands, but it only affects Constructs and Objects. He may repair up to his Artificer level times 5 in hit points. A 5th level Artificer could repair up to 25 points to a Construct or Object.

Craft Potions and Scrolls- The Artificer can craft potions and scrolls of up to the rarity listed. He can only have up to his Intelligence Modifier in Potions crafted. For scrolls, he can only have as many scrolls crafted as his Artificer level in spells. Example: A first level Artificer with 18 Intelligence could craft and retain 4 potions and 1 first level scroll. At 10th level, with a 20 for Intelligence, he could have up to 5 potions, and enough scrolls to equal 10 levels worth of spells. It takes 1 day to brew a potion. If he has access to and proficiency with Alchemist’s Supplies, this can be done during a long rest. Scrolls take 1 day to craft. The Very Rare and Legendary categories for Potions and Scrolls require 1 week. The cost to create potions or scrolls is 1/5th the price in the DMG. Artificer scrolls are magical “short cuts”. They have enough information to cast the spell, but not enough that a Wizard could learn to actually cast a spell from an Artificer’s scroll.
Craft Items- The Artificer may use his Craft Reserve points to craft magic items. He is limited by rarity listed in parentheses. The time it takes to craft these items and the point costs are listed below:
Uncommon- 1 day, 2 Craft Points
Rare- 1 week, 4 Craft Points
Very Rare- 1 month, 6 Craft Points
Legendary- 10 Craft Points
In all cases, the player must work with the DM on appropriateness of item. Items with more than just a +1/2/3 bonus may require additional materials. Smells like a quest!
The base cost is also 1/5th of what is listed in the DMG. Craft Points may be spent as described in the Craft Reserve Ability.

Use Magic Device- At level 3, the Artificer can use any magic item that he creates. At level 10, he can ignore all item restrictions for use.

Craft Reserve- The Artificer has a Craft Reserve of 3 points. He also gains one point per level. These are used to craft magic items. He may spend an extra Craft Point when he creates a magic item to halve the cost, and another to halve the time required. He may use as many Craft Points as he wants to do this.

Retain Essence- You may destroy a magic item to gain Craft Points. This requires a ritual which takes one day per level of rarity. The points gained are equal to half the point cost to create an equivalent item. Example: An Uncommon item could be destroyed to gain 1 Craft Point. With 2 items destroyed, you could craft your own Uncommon Item.

Imbue Weapons and Armor- During a short or long rest, the Artificer can enhance an ally's weapon or armor, thereby making it magic and giving it the specified bonus. He may do this twice per day and level 5, 3 times per day at level 9, and 4 times per day at level 14. If the item is already magic, this bonus supersedes the normal bonus. For example, a +1 weapon can be turned into a +2 weapon by an Artificer of at least 9th level. A lower level Artificer, though, could not add 1 to a +1 weapon. Constructs may be targeted by this ability.

Potent Spellcasting- Starting at level 15, the Artificer may add his Intelligence modifier as damage to any damaging spell cast from an item he has created.

Master of Artifice- The Artificer gains 10 Craft Points and the costs in Craft Points to create items are halved.

Makeshift Wand
Evocation Cantrip
Range 60 feet
Choose 2 elements when you first learn this spell: Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, Thunder. When you cast the spell, choose which of your elements to cast it as. The spell deals 1d8 damage, then an extra d8 at levels 5, 11, and 17.

It would also be worth creating Repair spells and placing them on the Wizard spell list. These would work like Cleric’s Cure spells, but for Constructs.



Path of the Battlesmith

Bonus Proficiencies- The Artificer gains proficiency with Heavy Armor and Martial Weapons.

Cantrips- The Battlesmith learns the Ray of Frost and Acid Splash Cantrips.

Improved Imbue- Starting at level 7, when you use Imbue Weapons and Armor, you may add an extra effect. When you Imbue a weapon, you may add elemental damage to it. Choose from Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Thunder. The character wielding the weapon decides when to activate the elemental enchantment. It then lasts for 1 minute. The weapon deals and extra 1d8 of the chosen element on a successful hit. This damage increases to 2d8 at level 9, and 3d8 at level 14. When you cast this on Armor, you may choose 1 damage type that the armor gains Resistance to for the duration of the enchantment. You may choose 2 damage types at level 9, and 3 at level 14.

Level 13- ?????

Level 18- ?????



Path of the Construct Master

Inflict Damage- At second level, a Construct Master may use his points from Repair Damage, and instead use them to inflict damage on a Construct or Object. This requires a Constitution save.

Craft Iron Defender- At level 7, you gain the ability to craft an Iron Defender. This requires 1000 worth of materials and 1 week to craft. An Iron Defender uses the statistics for a Wolf, but it has the Construct type. If it is “broken” (no hit points), you may collect the pieces and repair it in one day at no cost. If it is completely destroyed, then you must start all over. The Iron Defender follows simple instructions and can move without being told, but it requires using an Action to command it to attack. Craft Points may be used as normal.

Craft Dire Defender- At level 13, you may also craft a Dire Iron Defender. This uses the stats for a Dire Wolf, but has the Construct type. This requires materials costing 10000 gold and one week. Craft Points may be used as normal.

Construct Autonomy- Starting at level 13, any Construct you create has limited autonomy. They may attack without being ordered to, and they receive their own initiatives in combat.

Craft Shield Guardian- At level 18, the Construct Master gains the ability to craft a Shield Guardian. This requires materials costing 50000 gold and one month of work. Craft Points may be used as normal.

 

[transcendantviewer]

If his create temporary magic item ability states that he can't use it to imbue magic that's more than half his class level, he can't do it at all, since he gets it at level 1 and level 0 (Cantrips) spells still count as level 1s.

 

[transcendantviewer]

And I don't deny that creating magic items takes way too long, but that's the point. They're meant to be made by those devoted to their making; the people that say "I'm going to do something momentous! I'm going to build a sword to fell The Legendary Tarrasque!". That's not something that just anybody should be able to do. It takes decades for a reason. To put it simply, Artificers that can just pump out magic items willy-nilly don't work in 5. It sucks, but even being able to spit out a Legendary item more than once is broken. There's a reason why Public Play says it takes 150 Downtime Days for a character to craft a suit of mundane Full Plate. It's realistic. Magic items are a bit faster, but still, this is silly in its own right. If anything, make crafting require 2/3s the ordinary amount of time and 2/3s the ordinary amount of money. That's not going to break anything.

 

[Engilbrand]

Good catch on the Spell Storing Item. I added a line that a first level Artificer can only use the ability to store Cantrips.

In terms of the sorts of time it takes to create Magic Items: I'll call this a simple matter of disagreement. Especially when it comes to heroes, the idea that years upon years would be required to do anything beyond the simplest thing is just too unrealistic to be viable. "See? You CAN do this. It says that your character has the ability to right on your sheet." "Yeah, but it will take me 55 years, so... that's not a real ability."

I would call something that could kill the Tarrasque an Artifact.

Even with these rules, especially in decent party, I see the Artificer making it so that there are a few Magic Items, but it's what they're for. It's the entire reason that the Artificer exists. I'm an Eberron fan, so I went with something that felt like it would be doable and realistic for Eberron. Seeing as how it's a homebrew class, something tells me that DMs who aren't ok with players having a lot of Magic Items would just give the thumbs down to a player wanting to play this.

 

[Engilbrand]

I also wanted to thank you for commenting. Other than craft times, what are your thoughts on the rest of the class? Are there any abilities that it's missing or anything that feels out of place? Thoughts on Battlesmith? (Thoughts on abilities would be much appreciated.) Thoughts on Construct Master?
I have also been contemplating some sort of Trapsmith, as some trap-related things were included with the original Artificer, but Thieve's Tools seem to take care of that.
I've also contemplated something like a Wand Adept, who manipulates the items that he has, maybe changing damage types. At higher levels, maybe the original Artificer's Metamagic Spell Trigger makes an appearance.

 

[transcendantviewer]

I suppose, overlooking the crafting times, the Master of Artifice is a bit too strong. Perhaps removing one of the abilities it grants would be better. I recommend keeping the "the costs in Craft Points to create items are halved." portion and removing the additional craft points. Improved Imbue from the Path of the Battlesmith seems a bit too strong, at least for armor enchanting, anyway. Give them enchanting properties as they gain levels in the Battlesmith progression. I'd advise reading through the DMG carefully for inspiration.

 

[transcendantviewer]

The most important thing with this class is to test it against each of the other classes. If it seems too strong, then it is, quite simply. If it starts to feel that the Bard with average stats isn't being out-paced by the Artificer with comparable stats, then everything should be okay. Run extensive playtests, get ahold of your friends and ask them for help with the testing, get feedback from them. I used feedback on my Warforged homebrew and it's been steadily improving over the last few months.

 

[Engilbrand]

The idea with the Master of Artifice is so that he will definitely be able to craft a Legendary item. Hitting 20th level typically means you're probably coming to the end of the game, so this is the last chance to try to get something before going up against whatever it might be. I could see dropping the duration halving, as that's the equivalent of a Craft Point, so nothing special.

Would the Battlesmith's Improved Imbue work better for the armor if it were like the weapon version? The ability lays dormant until activated by the wearer, then it's active for one minute.