D&D 5E Poll of artillerist Cannnon(s)

[Stoutstien]

looking for additional experiences with the effective duration of the arcane cannon(s). in regards to the THP provided by the defender only count times it is activated in combat.
also looking for a general players feelings of if the duration is adequate.

 

[Salthorae]

So on the first question, I've never seen a DM attack the canon(s), so they effectively never go away once summoned/created. There is no duration on them that I see in the text other than "once per long rest" or "when you spend a 1st level spell slot".

I'm not exactly sure what your question is on the Temp HP portion. Temp HP is there until they're gone. The canon's presence doesn't effect that once they're given out. But the canon can give them out every round as a bonus action if you created the protector canon. if the canon is destroyed, PC's keep the THP. THP doesn't stack with other THP, so you're just replacing THP each round as a bonus action.

 

[Fenris-77]

I can't see myself directing attacks against the cannon instead of the character. Possibly if the cannon was deployed forward with the intent of it taking some fire, but then I'm really just playing yes and... rather than simply making the most efficient combat decision.

 

[Stoutstien]

So on the first question, I've never seen a DM attack the canon(s), so they effectively never go away once summoned/created. There is no duration on them that I see in the text other than "once per long rest" or "when you spend a 1st level spell slot".

I'm not exactly sure what your question is on the Temp HP portion. Temp HP is there until they're gone. The canon's presence doesn't effect that once they're given out. But the canon can give them out every round as a bonus action if you created the protector canon. if the canon is destroyed, PC's keep the THP. THP doesn't stack with other THP, so you're just replacing THP each round as a bonus action.

• the cannons have a duration of one hour, its hidden at bottom of the 3rd paragraph . I call it the torch paradox due to how time is handled outside of combat as a whole.
• DM attacking the cannon is a question because experiences will vary.
• on the THP I assume they will spam it until the max amount is reached so i was really only wondering how many times it used in combat to refresh them/ effect new targets.

 

[Stoutstien]

I can't see myself directing attacks against the cannon instead of the character. Possibly if the cannon was deployed forward with the intent of it taking some fire, but then I'm really just playing yes and... rather than simply making the most efficient combat decision.

it depends on the NPC in question. i could see less intelligent/ mindless NPCs targeting the cannon or if the protector is handing out a ton of THP to a large group a smart NPC might decide to try to take it out.
As a player i would see that as a good thing because they are fairly hearty and cheap to make and any attack on the cannon is not an attack on the party.

 

[Salthorae]

• the cannons have a duration of one hour, its hidden at bottom of the 3rd paragraph . I call it the torch paradox due to how time is handled outside of combat as a whole.
• DM attacking the cannon is a question because experiences will vary.
• on the THP I assume they will spam it until the max amount is reached so i was really only wondering how many times it used in combat to refresh them/ effect new targets.

Neat, so it does. I'll have to point that out to my DM as our current artificer just always has it up.

On THP, what "max amount"? You can do the canon's effect 1/round as a bonus action while it's up and running.

 

[Stoutstien]

Neat, so it does. I'll have to point that out to my DM as our current artificer just always has it up.

On THP, what "max amount"? You can do the canon's effect 1/round as a bonus action while it's up and running.

well so the artificer could just use the protector over and over until they roll an 8. the rules with THP allow the recipient to choose to keep the old or take the new THP every time you use it so the max is 8+INT. during combat the action economy keeps it toned down but before/after an encounter no reason not to have it topped off.

 

[Salthorae]

well so the artificer could just use the protector over and over until they roll an 8. the rules with THP allow the recipient to choose to keep the old or take the new THP every time you use it so the max is 8+INT. during combat the action economy keeps it toned down but before/after an encounter no reason not to have it topped off.

I get what you mean now. I was thinking you were talking about a capped number of uses or something.

I agree, and our table just handwaves it that when not in combat the table has the max 8+Int THP. Just like a warlock with Fiendish Resilience maxed out THP walking around makes sense.

 

[Frozenstep]

Before the revision, the turret often survived just fine. It might have been partially because the campaign was just starting (3-6). Not many AoE's targeted players, the cannon was often in the back doing force ballista (because the flamethrower was only 1d8), and there wasn't much in the way of strong and accurate ranged damage coming at the players (and if there was, hitting an AC 18 target is hard that early on). The only time it really died was when the players used it to body block an angry Deva and it got smashed in one turn.

After the revisions (which I allowed my player to use, and they're level 7 now) he has it riding him often and it hasn't suffered much yet, mostly because the only AoE attacks the player has been caught in were poison-based.

As for targeting, if the turret is riding the artificer, I can't imagine targeting the turret rather than the person, especially since the player easily outdamages the turret at this point and is clearly the bigger threat.

 

[Fenris-77]

My vision of the Artillerist is very much one that includes a shoulder cannon rather than a spider drone cannon thing. Boba Fett, the Predator, etc - it allows me to mine some shooty character concepts that I haven't in a fantasy game before. If didn't have to wait until one cannon was destroyed to make another they'd be moderately useful grenades too. Or at least useful enough that I could casually call them Thermal Detonators if I wanted to.