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Potent Potables - The Artificer Manual (by Zathis)
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<blockquote data-quote="Nibelung" data-source="post: 6704886" data-attributes="member: 74499"><p><strong>Originally posted by Zathris:</strong></p><p></p><p><u>Epic</u></p><p><strong>Level 22 Utility</strong></p><p>Generally, it’s best to only take powers that you’re going to use as often as you can, the only exception is when there’s a power that you never *want* to have to use, but when you do, it will save your butt. Cure-All Admixture is such a power.<strong>Show</strong></p><p>[sblock]</p><p><strong><span style="color: #0000ff">Bag of the</span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000">Four Winds</span></strong> – Useless for Con builds. Just enough better than Slick Concoction to still be worth taking.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Cure-All Admixture</strong></span> – My instinct is to say this is situational, but Epic throws out so many nasty conditions at once that this certainly would see use every extended rest if you took it. It also can end conditions that can’t be saved against (including pesky “until the end of the encounter”, and diseases). Healing.</p><p></p><p><strong>Diminutive Bodyguard</strong> – More clumping incentive, ugh. Standard Action to summon, and it’s slow as crap. It’s going to have fantastic Defenses, except AC. If you’ve somehow avoided all the good Immediate Action powers, you should probably just take this and hide it behind the defender. This is one of those powers that being able to use it every Encounter would make it so much better (ie. Lorekeeper)</p><p></p><p><strong>Hero’s Elixir</strong> – That’s just an unnecessary and silly amount of healing, you’d get more mileage out of Cure-All’s condition removal anyway. Healing.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>Opportunistic Enchantment</strong></span> – It’s a useful ability, but it’s the sort of power level I’d expect at 2nd, not 22nd, in Epic this would need to be at-will.[/sblock]</p><p><strong>Level 23 Encounter</strong></p><p>Prismatic Strike is many levels better than anything else here, take it and move on.<strong>Show</strong></p><p>[sblock]</p><p><strong><span style="color: #800080">Armor</span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000">of Acid</span></strong> – Worse for Con builds, if that’s possible. There’s a lot of ways that this power could have been good, starting with letting the effect work on you. Acid, Imp vs Ref.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Beetle of Force</strong></span> – Decent control and forced movement and a double attack on the primary target. Force, Imp vs Fort and Ref.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000">Chaos</span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color: #800080">Weapon</span></strong> – Useless for Wis builds. This is really just Burning Weapons with an extra 1d8, it’s really not any better than Magic Weapon at this level except for being able to pick the damage type. Varies, M/R vs AC.</p><p></p><p><strong>Mental Beacon</strong> – Could be a decent solo-killer power, but it only works for ranged attacks, so this gets thrown into situational territory. Psychic, Imp vs Will.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff9900"><strong>Prismatic Strike</strong></span> – Regardless of if you’re Con or Wis focused this is fantastic. A triple attack that knocks prone, pushes the enemy Con squares, make it so they can’t stand, and gives a Wis penalty to hit, fantastic all around. Fire, Force, Thunder, M/R vs Fort Ref and Will.</p><p></p><p><strong>Rejuvenating</strong></p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>Intercession</strong></span> – Slightly less useful for Con builds. We have a combination of themes here, an IR (so you can’t prevent the hit) plus granting a surge with a small bonus. At-wills do the same damage, which is disappointing for an Epic power. Healing, R vs AC.[/sblock]</p><p><strong>Level 25 Daily</strong></p><p>I love the healing Life-Shock Sigil can hand out, but Synchronized Weaponry will hand out many extra attacks, which is something you generally lack.<strong>Show</strong></p><p>[sblock]</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>All-Consuming Missile</strong></span> – Oh, it’s a fire weapon version of Disintigrate. There’s a Spellscarred Tiefling who loves this power, no one else should take it. Fire, R vs AC.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #800080">Armor of Storms</span></strong> – And here’s another Lightning Resist armor buff … giving you at-will Daze that is fairly inaccurate. There’s a few things that can be done with this, but require very specific builds. Lightning, Imp vs AC.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>Brittle Frost</strong></span> – Weakened is kind of neat, but the power bonus to damage won’t stack with your other powers (namely, Magic Weapon), and they’re already higher at this point. Cold, Imp vs Will.</p><p></p><p><strong>Dimensional Shifter</strong> – This summon’s OA is actually really powerful, probably the best non Weapon summon you have. Imp vs AC.</p><p></p><p><strong>Life-Sho<span style="color: #0000ff">ck Sigil</span></strong> – Not as useful for Wis builds. Without the standard healer’s kit (Gloves, Cloak, and a Feat or 2) you won’t get enough out of this to be better than powers that grant multiple surges. With the healer’s kit, this is at least <span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Very Good</strong></span>. Healing.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Synchronized Weaponry</strong></span> – A rare enabling power (thanks Cazzeo!). It suffers slightly from IA overload, so pick who you give it to carefully. <span style="color: #ff9900"><strong>Golden</strong></span> for Spell Commanders. M/R, Varies.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Trio of Biting Blades</strong></span> – 10 damage is trivial to monsters at this level, even if they trigger it multiple times it’s really not worthy of a daily. Imp vs Ref.[/sblock]</p><p><strong>Level 27 Encounter</strong></p><p>Grave-Dust Cloud is the go-to leader power here, but Coiled Spring Traps is just so versatile and the control is amazing.<strong>Show</strong></p><p>[sblock]</p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Coiled Spring Traps</strong></span> – Another Multi-attack trap, works exactly like Ice Shard Traps from 1st level, except that penalty is just “wow”. Force, Imp vs Ref.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Grave-Dust Cloud</strong></span> – Slightly less useful for Con builds. A very friendly burst power, it’s about time you get an option that grants multiple surges at once (with a small bonus), and as long as you hit one enemy, you also give out another small bonus. <span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Be</strong><strong>tt</strong><strong>er</strong></span> for Battle Engineers. Healing, Necro, Imp vs Fort.</p><p></p><p><strong>Life-Stealing Shroud</strong> – Slightly better version of Energy Shroud (+3 damage and ally gets to make a save) but being Necrotic might be an issue. Necro, Imp vs Fort.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Living Caltrop Swarm</strong></span> – Unfriendly attack, and CA at this level should be trivial for your allies. Because it’s such a small area, it’s also trivial for enemies to get out of that zone. Fire, Imp vs Ref.</p><p></p><p><strong>Retribution Magnet</strong> – Siiiiiigh, yet another Reaction power, +4 to hit is actually good but the timing is tricky (if your turn comes before the allies, the bonus is worthless). Force, R vs AC.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>Thunder-Shock Weapon</strong></span> – Prone and dazed is decent control, but only one target and with nothing else attached it’s just lackluster. Thunder, M/R vs AC.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #800080">Vitality</span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000">Siphon</span></strong> – Not as useful for Con builds. At this point, ~ 16 THP is fairly trivial, <strong>decent</strong> against Elites/Solo’s that are going to be hit a lot. Necro, Imp vs Fort.[/sblock]</p><p><strong>Level 29 Daily</strong></p><p>My head exploded with the sheer amount of awesome at this level. Simulacrum is the easy answer since it lets you get multiple uses of all of your attack powers (if you can get multiple uses of it … I mean really, the possibilities are just insane). Auramorphic Armor takes more work to optimize, but at-will burst 2 damage + they can’t hit this ally? That’s just insane.<strong>Show</strong></p><p>[sblock]</p><p><strong><span style="color: #00ccff">Auramorphic Armor</span></strong> – I guess it’s fitting that the capstone of the Resistance Armor series is rather amazing. I think this is the only power in the game that grants an Effect: Damage Roll. This is highly abusable for so many reasons. Imp.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000">Bitter-Frost Bolt</span></strong> – Not a bad power … if it were 20 levels lower. Cold, M/R vs Fort.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Haste Sigil</strong></span> – The first Sigil you want to end, speed bonus is fairly silly. You get your Haste later than other leaders, but well, you trade a minor action to give someone an extra standard, that’s never bad.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Runes of the Shadow Tendrils</strong></span> – Decent capstone for the control build, auto-blinding any enemy that attacks the defender is very powerful. Imp vs Will.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Simulacrum</strong></span> – Effectively, you can use every one of your attack powers once without expending them (even if you already expended them). Prismatic Strike? Let’s do that again. Synchronized Weaponry? Twice per day. If “Amazing” was a keyword …</p><p></p><p><strong>Tactical Detonation</strong> – Enabling like this is really only useful if you have multiple allies with good MBAs. Only damages the primary target (may as well ‘miss’ an ally with this power) and splits the damage for no reason. Also requires the enemies to be clumped beforehand. Fire, Force, R vs AC and Fort.[/sblock]</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong>Epic Destinies</strong></span></p><p></p><p>Unfortunately, Artificers aren't special enough to have their own Epic Destiny (seriously, WotC?!). But it's alright, as an Int Based Arcane Class there's plenty of options, some great, some not. Without getting into Multi-classed options, Planeshaper stands out as the best option overall, thanks to the strength of your Encounter powers, especially Battle Engineers; Destined Scion and Sage of Ages are both strong choices as well thanks to their accuracy benefits.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Nibelung, post: 6704886, member: 74499"] [b]Originally posted by Zathris:[/b] [u]Epic[/u] [b]Level 22 Utility[/b] Generally, it’s best to only take powers that you’re going to use as often as you can, the only exception is when there’s a power that you never *want* to have to use, but when you do, it will save your butt. Cure-All Admixture is such a power.[b]Show[/b] [sblock] [b][COLOR=#0000ff]Bag of the[/COLOR] [COLOR=#ff0000]Four Winds[/COLOR][/b] – Useless for Con builds. Just enough better than Slick Concoction to still be worth taking. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Cure-All Admixture[/b][/COLOR] – My instinct is to say this is situational, but Epic throws out so many nasty conditions at once that this certainly would see use every extended rest if you took it. It also can end conditions that can’t be saved against (including pesky “until the end of the encounter”, and diseases). Healing. [b]Diminutive Bodyguard[/b] – More clumping incentive, ugh. Standard Action to summon, and it’s slow as crap. It’s going to have fantastic Defenses, except AC. If you’ve somehow avoided all the good Immediate Action powers, you should probably just take this and hide it behind the defender. This is one of those powers that being able to use it every Encounter would make it so much better (ie. Lorekeeper) [b]Hero’s Elixir[/b] – That’s just an unnecessary and silly amount of healing, you’d get more mileage out of Cure-All’s condition removal anyway. Healing. [COLOR=#800080][b]Opportunistic Enchantment[/b][/COLOR] – It’s a useful ability, but it’s the sort of power level I’d expect at 2nd, not 22nd, in Epic this would need to be at-will.[/sblock] [b]Level 23 Encounter[/b] Prismatic Strike is many levels better than anything else here, take it and move on.[b]Show[/b] [sblock] [b][COLOR=#800080]Armor[/COLOR] [COLOR=#ff0000]of Acid[/COLOR][/b] – Worse for Con builds, if that’s possible. There’s a lot of ways that this power could have been good, starting with letting the effect work on you. Acid, Imp vs Ref. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Beetle of Force[/b][/COLOR] – Decent control and forced movement and a double attack on the primary target. Force, Imp vs Fort and Ref. [b][COLOR=#ff0000]Chaos[/COLOR] [COLOR=#800080]Weapon[/COLOR][/b] – Useless for Wis builds. This is really just Burning Weapons with an extra 1d8, it’s really not any better than Magic Weapon at this level except for being able to pick the damage type. Varies, M/R vs AC. [b]Mental Beacon[/b] – Could be a decent solo-killer power, but it only works for ranged attacks, so this gets thrown into situational territory. Psychic, Imp vs Will. [COLOR=#ff9900][b]Prismatic Strike[/b][/COLOR] – Regardless of if you’re Con or Wis focused this is fantastic. A triple attack that knocks prone, pushes the enemy Con squares, make it so they can’t stand, and gives a Wis penalty to hit, fantastic all around. Fire, Force, Thunder, M/R vs Fort Ref and Will. [b]Rejuvenating[/b] [COLOR=#800080][b]Intercession[/b][/COLOR] – Slightly less useful for Con builds. We have a combination of themes here, an IR (so you can’t prevent the hit) plus granting a surge with a small bonus. At-wills do the same damage, which is disappointing for an Epic power. Healing, R vs AC.[/sblock] [b]Level 25 Daily[/b] I love the healing Life-Shock Sigil can hand out, but Synchronized Weaponry will hand out many extra attacks, which is something you generally lack.[b]Show[/b] [sblock] [COLOR=#ff0000][b]All-Consuming Missile[/b][/COLOR] – Oh, it’s a fire weapon version of Disintigrate. There’s a Spellscarred Tiefling who loves this power, no one else should take it. Fire, R vs AC. [b][COLOR=#800080]Armor of Storms[/COLOR][/b] – And here’s another Lightning Resist armor buff … giving you at-will Daze that is fairly inaccurate. There’s a few things that can be done with this, but require very specific builds. Lightning, Imp vs AC. [COLOR=#800080][b]Brittle Frost[/b][/COLOR] – Weakened is kind of neat, but the power bonus to damage won’t stack with your other powers (namely, Magic Weapon), and they’re already higher at this point. Cold, Imp vs Will. [b]Dimensional Shifter[/b] – This summon’s OA is actually really powerful, probably the best non Weapon summon you have. Imp vs AC. [b]Life-Sho[COLOR=#0000ff]ck Sigil[/COLOR][/b] – Not as useful for Wis builds. Without the standard healer’s kit (Gloves, Cloak, and a Feat or 2) you won’t get enough out of this to be better than powers that grant multiple surges. With the healer’s kit, this is at least [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Very Good[/b][/COLOR]. Healing. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Synchronized Weaponry[/b][/COLOR] – A rare enabling power (thanks Cazzeo!). It suffers slightly from IA overload, so pick who you give it to carefully. [COLOR=#ff9900][b]Golden[/b][/COLOR] for Spell Commanders. M/R, Varies. [COLOR=#ff0000][b]Trio of Biting Blades[/b][/COLOR] – 10 damage is trivial to monsters at this level, even if they trigger it multiple times it’s really not worthy of a daily. Imp vs Ref.[/sblock] [b]Level 27 Encounter[/b] Grave-Dust Cloud is the go-to leader power here, but Coiled Spring Traps is just so versatile and the control is amazing.[b]Show[/b] [sblock] [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Coiled Spring Traps[/b][/COLOR] – Another Multi-attack trap, works exactly like Ice Shard Traps from 1st level, except that penalty is just “wow”. Force, Imp vs Ref. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Grave-Dust Cloud[/b][/COLOR] – Slightly less useful for Con builds. A very friendly burst power, it’s about time you get an option that grants multiple surges at once (with a small bonus), and as long as you hit one enemy, you also give out another small bonus. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Be[/b][b]tt[/b][b]er[/b][/COLOR] for Battle Engineers. Healing, Necro, Imp vs Fort. [b]Life-Stealing Shroud[/b] – Slightly better version of Energy Shroud (+3 damage and ally gets to make a save) but being Necrotic might be an issue. Necro, Imp vs Fort. [COLOR=#ff0000][b]Living Caltrop Swarm[/b][/COLOR] – Unfriendly attack, and CA at this level should be trivial for your allies. Because it’s such a small area, it’s also trivial for enemies to get out of that zone. Fire, Imp vs Ref. [b]Retribution Magnet[/b] – Siiiiiigh, yet another Reaction power, +4 to hit is actually good but the timing is tricky (if your turn comes before the allies, the bonus is worthless). Force, R vs AC. [COLOR=#800080][b]Thunder-Shock Weapon[/b][/COLOR] – Prone and dazed is decent control, but only one target and with nothing else attached it’s just lackluster. Thunder, M/R vs AC. [b][COLOR=#800080]Vitality[/COLOR] [COLOR=#ff0000]Siphon[/COLOR][/b] – Not as useful for Con builds. At this point, ~ 16 THP is fairly trivial, [b]decent[/b] against Elites/Solo’s that are going to be hit a lot. Necro, Imp vs Fort.[/sblock] [b]Level 29 Daily[/b] My head exploded with the sheer amount of awesome at this level. Simulacrum is the easy answer since it lets you get multiple uses of all of your attack powers (if you can get multiple uses of it … I mean really, the possibilities are just insane). Auramorphic Armor takes more work to optimize, but at-will burst 2 damage + they can’t hit this ally? That’s just insane.[b]Show[/b] [sblock] [b][COLOR=#00ccff]Auramorphic Armor[/COLOR][/b] – I guess it’s fitting that the capstone of the Resistance Armor series is rather amazing. I think this is the only power in the game that grants an Effect: Damage Roll. This is highly abusable for so many reasons. Imp. [b][COLOR=#ff0000]Bitter-Frost Bolt[/COLOR][/b] – Not a bad power … if it were 20 levels lower. Cold, M/R vs Fort. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Haste Sigil[/b][/COLOR] – The first Sigil you want to end, speed bonus is fairly silly. You get your Haste later than other leaders, but well, you trade a minor action to give someone an extra standard, that’s never bad. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Runes of the Shadow Tendrils[/b][/COLOR] – Decent capstone for the control build, auto-blinding any enemy that attacks the defender is very powerful. Imp vs Will. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Simulacrum[/b][/COLOR] – Effectively, you can use every one of your attack powers once without expending them (even if you already expended them). Prismatic Strike? Let’s do that again. Synchronized Weaponry? Twice per day. If “Amazing” was a keyword … [b]Tactical Detonation[/b] – Enabling like this is really only useful if you have multiple allies with good MBAs. Only damages the primary target (may as well ‘miss’ an ally with this power) and splits the damage for no reason. Also requires the enemies to be clumped beforehand. Fire, Force, R vs AC and Fort.[/sblock] [CENTER][Size=4][b]Epic Destinies[/b][/size][/CENTER] Unfortunately, Artificers aren't special enough to have their own Epic Destiny (seriously, WotC?!). But it's alright, as an Int Based Arcane Class there's plenty of options, some great, some not. Without getting into Multi-classed options, Planeshaper stands out as the best option overall, thanks to the strength of your Encounter powers, especially Battle Engineers; Destined Scion and Sage of Ages are both strong choices as well thanks to their accuracy benefits. [/QUOTE]
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