Artificer UA to be released in February

I don't think there is a bunker strong enough to endure the fanbase exploding over this.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

(Trying to bring the thread back to the topic)

What do you expect from this UA?

I want an Artificer the hits clser to home in relation to Eberron's lore and theme. No guns is a great start.

I hope the opposite. I hope that the base class and a single subclass are designed to fit seamlessly into Eberron; and the rest is designed to work in other types of settings, including actual magitech settings.

 

[Vael]

I definitely want an Eberron-first Artificer. I didn't mind the idea of a gunsmith subclass, but the entire class felt off for me.

The main challenge is that the 3.5 Artificer used the very concrete 3.5 Magic Item crafting rules, and the rules for crafting in 5e are more ambiguous. You can't build the class around them, so at best I expect the Artificer to get some ribbon-ish abilities that simply allow an Artificer to craft items either faster or more cheaply. The one we got got a bunch of items for free, but that kinda bothered me.

So I'd guess that most of the Artificer's abilities will be around making temporary magic items. I'd also hope for a class feature resembling the Spell Storing Item Infusion. That always looked like a core Artificer class feature hidden in the spell chapter in the Eberron Campaign Setting. The ability to mimic almost any spell and create a single charged wand was really good. The Infuse Magic was close, but didn't quite do it for me.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I definitely want an Eberron-first Artificer. I didn't mind the idea of a gunsmith subclass, but the entire class felt off for me.

The main challenge is that the 3.5 Artificer used the very concrete 3.5 Magic Item crafting rules, and the rules for crafting in 5e are more ambiguous. You can't build the class around them, so at best I expect the Artificer to get some ribbon-ish abilities that simply allow an Artificer to craft items either faster or more cheaply. The one we got got a bunch of items for free, but that kinda bothered me.

So I'd guess that most of the Artificer's abilities will be around making temporary magic items. I'd also hope for a class feature resembling the Spell Storing Item Infusion. That always looked like a core Artificer class feature hidden in the spell chapter in the Eberron Campaign Setting. The ability to mimic almost any spell and create a single charged wand was really good. The Infuse Magic was close, but didn't quite do it for me.

Fair enough. I’ve never liked infusing literal spells into items, personally. I’d rather just have the character cast the spell, and flavor it as using specially made items as the focus and components.

But, I’d love to see a subclass or something that is all about that.

For me, it’s more important that the Artificer jack the Xanathar’s Guide crafting rules with some narrow down of specifics, and have something like being able to skip the rare ingredient once per level or something. Or even just reduced cost and time, plus the ability to recharge magic items, and maybe even overcharge them somehow.

And maybe even drain charges from items to fuel class features, like draining charges from a wand to make a weapon do spell-level-equivalent extra damage, or whatever.

And a spell list that has all the spells that already involve items, like fabricate, and the tiny servant one, and a spiritual weapon equivalent, etc. and find familiar, because alchemists should be able to have familiars.

 

[ad_hoc]

As I have no interest in Eberron I suppose I am one who doesn't care for it to be like that.

One thing to keep in mind is that edition changes bring changes to how classes work. I personally didn't like the 3e Artificer at all, but then, that was intertwined with my dislike of how magic items were handled. Magic items are much more rare in 5e and can only be created with variant rules. I'd rather not have an Artificer creating them.

Except for the golem they got (I think at 6th level) I quite liked the UA Artificer. I liked both the guns and the potions. I think it is okay for guns to be in the game as an only Artificer magical invention. Gnomes would be happy with that.

 

[André Soares]

I think the gunsmith is cool too, and I understand the people that don't care for Eberron and wish a more broad archetype, I think that's fair. My main struggle is with the fact that the class will be published on an Eberron product, so I believe that the subclasses that don't fit the setting would be tricky to add there. Maybe having more options on the UA but only the Eberron themed options be included in the book? I really don't know what would be the best option here.

 

[NaturalZero]

I can easily see them creating a whole class without features that depend on creating or relying on magic items out of the DMG being included in the campaign. This would probably be the smart move, since you could hypothetically include the class in a lower-magic item campaign without it taking a hit in power relative to all the other classes that don't directly rely on drops. There's more than enough design space to create class features that revolve around buffing existing items, crafting personal golems, or personal class items like the gun. It would fit into Eberron, regardless.

 

[Gradine]

I'm fine with the Artificer having not-especially-Eberron-esque subclasses such as a gunsmith. I can always say "not in my Eberron" to my players if I have a problem with any specific archetype. I've already introduced firearms and clockwork in my Eberron as an odd local quirk of the Lhazaar Principalities because of planar shenanigans involved in hacking a potential Blades in the Dark campaign into the setting.

Now, I'm not sure a gunsmith is an entirely necessary addition to D&D, but I can always re-fluff the thing into a wandslinger if necessary (preferably this would work the other way around, however.)

 

[SkidAce]

And a spell list that has all the spells that already involve items, like fabricate, and the tiny servant one, and a spiritual weapon equivalent, etc. and find familiar, because alchemists should be able to have familiars.

Especially the bolded part. Indeed.

Thats how we got homunculous (sp?) in the first place, right?

 

[André Soares]

Especially the bolded part. Indeed.

Thats how we got homunculous (sp?) in the first place, right?

I think a mechanical familiar would be great. Not so much a clockwork, or a robot, but a golem, imbued with magic. That's way better than the option on the other UA.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Especially the bolded part. Indeed.

Thats how we got homunculous (sp?) in the first place, right?

Damn right!

And I do want to see a subclass that gets a big bruiser construct that you can flavor how you want.

But all artificers should have the option of a familiar.

I’d also love to see something unique like DND Online’s Rune Arm.