Artificers Overpowered?

[Xellous]

I have heard that Artificers are unbalanced or overpowered but from looking at the class I just dont see how they are? Can anyone shed some light upon this class for me?

 

[Testament]

Artificer has enormous loopholes that can be wriggled through. First and foremost are the infusions Supress Requirement and Metamagic Item. Second are the Artisan feats, especially the XP and GP discount ones. Combine those with Retain Essence, and artificiers can blow the wealth by level curve out of the water.

The other problem is their ability to make items with ease, I believe that a moderately optimised Artificer can make a scroll of Shapechange by 14th level.

And under no circumstances should an Artificer be given access to a Thought Bottle. Heck, no-one should be able to get such an item, but what Artificers can do with it is truly sick.

 

[Targos]

It think it depends on how much cash the artificer has. Item making is what they're good at and likewise affecting items. Any other caster can make use of the same feats. Any other caster is going to have more wealth after crafting their own magic items as opposed to buying the same thing at market price. Now artificers get all the craft feats as bonus feats and they can make things two levels sooner albeit at a lower caster level. DCs from items are significantly lower than from casters as well. They can metamagic trigger wands, but that gets expensive. They are generally support & utility characters.

Is a 3d6 fireball scroll at level 3 a problem (DC14)?
Is a maximized metamagic'ed fireball wand a problem when he burns through wands four times as fast?

In my opinion too much wealth is a problem for any PC, but moreso for those who craft for less than market price.

 

[shilsen]

They can metamagic trigger wands, but that gets expensive.

I agree with most of your points, but this one is incorrect. The Metamagic Item infusion has no cost in material components or XP, so an artificer can use it with impunity, as long as he has infusions remaining.

 

[Grogtar]

At about 10th level Artificers outpace the damage on any other class.

Twind, Maximized, Quickened, Repeating Scorching Ray. Uses 1 charge from a standard wand.

Does 4d6 + 4d6 (Twin) x 2 (Quickened, so twice in a round) x 2 (Repeating) for about 190ish dmg in a 2 round period with one charge from a wand.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

Not to mention that alot of the Infusions are a little whack.

The "+1" abilities are considered to be worth a certain amount of money when placed on a weapon, right? But there are OPPORTUNITY costs associated with that. Once you have a Dragon Bane Longsword +1, that's always going to be a DRAGON Bane weapon. If you run across a bunch of Bugbears, you're SOL. That's why the "Bane" ability is balanced.

It's been a while since I read the book, but I think an Artificer can choose whatever Bane type he wants whenever he wants and toss it down on something with one of his infusions. Which blows the utility of that ability it all out of the water. Dragons? Dragon Bane. Goblins? Goblinoid Bane.

Its like a Ring of TrueStriking ... another "At Will" 1st level spell item would be affordable, but an at-will True Strike item should be wildly more expensive than the basic construction rules state ... because part of True Strike's balance is the opportunity costs associated with casting it "as a spell".

Like Warforged, I think Artificer is a really interesting idea. Like Warforged, I think they interact with the game in such a way as to break certain aspects of it.

--fje

 

[Xellous]

At about 10th level Artificers outpace the damage on any other class.

Twind, Maximized, Quickened, Repeating Scorching Ray. Uses 1 charge from a standard wand.

Does 4d6 + 4d6 (Twin) x 2 (Quickened, so twice in a round) x 2 (Repeating) for about 190ish dmg in a 2 round period with one charge from a wand.

How does an artificer do this? Form reading the text it looks as though it would take alot of charges of the wand to pull this off unless you spend several rounds buffing your wand with Metamagic Item.

 

[Grogtar]

Although any of the Infusions that add an enchantment to magic arms or armor cost.

If Im not mistaken the +5 armor enhancment costs 250gp per. The +3 weapon costs about the same.

Its a balancing factor. Not that it works 100%, but it still mitigates the armor and item enhancments.

 

[blargney the second]

Every character in D&D has two classes simultaneously: super-hero with innate powers, and super-hero gadgeteer.

The balance between the two depends on wealth levels, and as a result is a little finnicky. Artificers shift focus from innate to gadgets. They can be broken by dedicated focus, just like any other character build. (Incidentally, disarm is anathema to artificers. )

 

[Mistwell]

Every character in D&D has two classes simultaneously: super-hero with innate powers, and super-hero gadgeteer.

The balance between the two depends on wealth levels, and as a result is a little finnicky. Artificers shift focus from innate to gadgets. They can be broken by dedicated focus, just like any other character build. (Incidentally, disarm is anathema to artificers. )

Artificers can be broken with a lot more ease than any other class. You don't actually have to optimize them to make them break. They break under their own weight most of the time.