D&D 5E Changing the alchemist - if I remove the mechanical servant...

[Ancalagon]

Hello

I can't sleep *at all* so I might as well do something vaguely useful.

So I'm running this large dungeon that is fairly dangerous, and the party will not have the chance to replace lost party members (not good). I don't want to be forced to pull punches, so the party has 2 NPCs that could be promoted. One is a rogue (pretty straightforward) and the other is some old scholar/linguist (he's the translator/servant of one of the PCs, Mr Zang).

I thought it would be fun if Mr Zang turned out to be an alchemist, from unearthed arcana (who, for some reason, was keeping his powers secret). But now I have to stat him out, aaaand I have a bit of a problem. See, I don't like the Mechanical Servant feature in general, and it's an awkward one to bring in the game at one point. However, the alchemist is not a very powerful class/subclass and it derives a fair amount of its power from this mechanical servant, who serves as a meatshield at the very least. (the possibly promoted to PC-hood NPC would be level 6, so this is relevant).

So, how do I buff the alchemist? One thing that I noted is how *weak* they are as spellcasters. Something that could help would be to change their "1/3" spell progression to a 1/2 spell progression (a la paladin/ranger) or even a 2/3 spell progression (like the 3.X bard or the pathfinder alchemist).

Now this can be a bit tricky to do because the base class doesn't have spells at level 1-2 and it could require expanding the spell list to level 5 or 6, but *since* the play level is 6, it wouldn't be a problem in this specific circumstance. The result would be an alchemist without a mechanical servant but with a few more spell slots, and access to higher level spells sooner.

So... would that be enough?

 

[Nailen]

Why not make him a multi classed alchemist, with something like wizard?

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[Cap'n Kobold]

If you just want a potion-peddlar without all the other skill-based stuff that the Artificer Class does, it might be worth checking out the Artificer Wizard tradition from the Eberron UA.
Its basically spending spell slots to create potions, being able to enchant weapons or armour and similarly-themed capabilities. As a wizard, they have a much better casting progression, at the expense of worse at-will damage.

My general adjustment for the actual Artificer class is to give it half-casting progression like a Paladin or Ranger, but remove Mechanical Servant into a separate subclass similar to the Beastmaster Revised Ranger.

 

[Ancalagon]

Why not make him a multi classed alchemist, with something like wizard?

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using EN World mobile app

The classes don't stack well. What's the synergy here?

(please note the above-mentioned lack of sleep - it's making me not see things and being snippy, so I apologize)

 

[Ancalagon]

If you just want a potion-peddlar without all the other skill-based stuff that the Artificer Class does, it might be worth checking out the Artificer Wizard tradition from the Eberron UA.
Its basically spending spell slots to create potions, being able to enchant weapons or armour and similarly-themed capabilities. As a wizard, they have a much better casting progression, at the expense of worse at-will damage.

While in NPC mode, Mr Zang is mostly useless (I'll foreshadow a bit with the occasional well timed help like a smokestick, but nothing heavy). However if he's inherited by a PC, I want it to be a full fledged character, not just a potion peddler... doesn't sound fun at all. But I'll take a look.

My general adjustment for the actual Artificer class is to give it half-casting progression like a Paladin or Ranger, but remove Mechanical Servant into a separate subclass similar to the Beastmaster Revised Ranger.

So more of less what I'm proposing. Is it enough though, to make up for the loss of the mechanical servant?

One thing I would do is look at the Xanathar spell list and allow the alchemist access to some of those, some do fit the bill. I might also consider creating a few alchemical "cantrips" - like light (a small alchemical torch) for example.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

While in NPC mode, Mr Zang is mostly useless (I'll foreshadow a bit with the occasional well timed help like a smokestick, but nothing heavy). However if he's inherited by a PC, I want it to be a full fledged character, not just a potion peddler... doesn't sound fun at all. But I'll take a look.

Its still a full wizard, with all the capabilities that the base class entails. You don't have to use all your spell slots on options. Its a very effective support character and also capable of operating as a healer if needs be. It also pairs up very well with the alchemist feat in the UA feats.

The downside is that it breaks the action economy a little in the same way that the alchemist class does, which can lead to running out of spell slots easily.

So more of less what I'm proposing. Is it enough though, to make up for the loss of the mechanical servant?

One thing I would do is look at the Xanathar spell list and allow the alchemist access to some of those, some do fit the bill. I might also consider creating a few alchemical "cantrips" - like light (a small alchemical torch) for example.

I would definitely add a few of the spells from XGtE into the Artificer spell list.

If you want to keep a little of the flavour and much less of the power of mechanical servant, you could swap it for a 1/long rest casting of the animated servant spell from XGtE perhaps?

Very little is going to "make up for the loss of Mechanical Servant", because it is a massively powerful capability, particularly at the level at which it is granted. Reducing the power of that ability is one of the major components of most "Artificer fixes".

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Sorry for being off topic, but this character does not really sound like an alchemist to me; he looks more like a butler-mentor lore bard with all the ''speak with...'' spells and other spells based on communication, like Suggestion (''Sir..If I may suggest'') and Vicious Mockery, Command (''Would you kindly...''). Have him a V-human with Linguist as a lvl 1 feat for extra usefulness. Probably not what you wanted to hear, but this his the image that came to me as soon as I read your post.

 

[Ancalagon]

If you want to keep a little of the flavour and much less of the power of mechanical servant, you could swap it for a 1/long rest casting of the animated servant spell from XGtE perhaps?

Mr Zang *did* witness another mage cast it so it would make "sense" in a way.

Very little is going to "make up for the loss of Mechanical Servant", because it is a massively powerful capability, particularly at the level at which it is granted. Reducing the power of that ability is one of the major components of most "Artificer fixes".

Well... without it the artificer is underpowered... then suddenly is overpowered because of that huge power spike, but then (since it doesn't scale) he's underpowered again. It's ... not great design IMO. I would like something that "smoothed" that power curve, and access to a better spellcasting chart would help.

A random thought (speaking of Xanathar again) - artificers should also get the ability to make common magical items, like the cloak of billowing or the mystery key

 

[Ancalagon]

Sorry for being off topic, but this character does not really sound like an alchemist to me; he looks more like a butler-mentor lore bard with all the ''speak with...'' spells and other spells based on communication, like Suggestion (''Sir..If I may suggest'') and Vicious Mockery, Command (''Would you kindly...''). Have him a V-human with Linguist as a lvl 1 feat for extra usefulness. Probably not what you wanted to hear, but this his the image that came to me as soon as I read your post.

I don't think I will use this idea, but I have to admit that it is a *very* valid interpretation of the character, based on what I said in the OP. Well done sir, well done!

The only think that doesn't make it quite "click" (and you wouldn't know because you aren't in the campaign) is that I haven't portrayed Mr Zand as particularly charismatic. That and I don't like bards, but that's a "me problem"

 

[Nailen]

The classes don't stack well. What's the synergy here?

(please note the above-mentioned lack of sleep - it's making me not see things and being snippy, so I apologize)

To be honest, I don't have the Xanathar book, so don't know anything about the Alchemist.
But it sounded like you weren't happy with the spells, so I wondered if multi-classing with another casting class would help. And he doesn't really sound much like a sorcerer or warlock..