D&D 5E The Maverick (Exploring Eberron)

[Paul Farquhar]

The Maverick is a subclass of artificer from the Exploring Eberron supplement. My initial impression was that, as a half-caster, it was a weaksauce wizard, but I would like to be proved wrong. How would people get the most out of this complex subclass?

My initial thoughts: Instead of a damage boost that most artificers get it gets a bonus on spell to-hit rolls and save DCs. This suggests it would be effective with "save or die" spells like Tasha's. The to-hit bonus is difficult to leverage, unless you pick up Sharpshooter, which you could combine with a sling and Magic Stone*.



*The artificer's access to INT magic stone is interesting for multiclassing with Arcane Trickster (or any rogue really) , since by loading it into a sling you can make INT based sneak attacks. But a single level dip gives you that.

 

[Flamestrike]

I like a Maverick with Eldritch adept (Agnonizing blast) feat. Looks like it lets you spam Int based EB+Hex attacks (both spells picked up with Arcane Breakthrough and Cantrip specialist).

A reading of both abilities looks like your EB's use Int to hit, but Charisma for damage (the invocation doesnt benefit from the Breakthrough). The slightly lower damage is more than made up for with the scaling +1-3 to hit from Cantrip Savant.

That's solid at will DPR.

Otherwise you're simply plundering the best spells of each caster class as you advance in level, on a half caster Chassis.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I like a Maverick with Eldritch adept (Agnonizing blast) feat.

Not allowed, RAW, unless the Maverick has at least one MC level of Warlock.

 

[Flamestrike]

Not allowed, RAW, unless the Maverick has at least on MC level of Warlock.

Ah that's right.

 

[Kurotowa]

The way I see it, the Maverick won't be placing highly in any DPR contest and isn't intended to. What they are is the utility master. They're hot swapping prepared spells and cantrips, they're snagging specialty spells from Wizards or Clerics, they're the "I've got just the spell for that" caster. I mean, if you pick Wizard for your Breakthrough class then the entire Wizard spell list is available to you, without having to learn them from scrolls or anything. That's just unmatched versatility.

The Maverick is not a character you pick for building a single optimized loadout. The Maverick is a character for constantly adjusting what spells you have prepared to adapt to the adventure you're on and even the specific circumstances of the moment.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I mean, if you pick Wizard for your Breakthrough class then the entire Wizard spell list is available to you

It's not though, is it? It's only spells of level 5 and lower.

I'm not convinced more versatile low level spells comes close to making up for the loss of high level spells. In my experience, most casters have a few favourite spells that they use most of the time, irrespective of what is available to them.

 

[Kurotowa]

It's not though, is it? It's only spells of level 5 and lower.

I'm not convinced more versatile low level spells comes close to making up for the loss of high level spells. In my experience, most casters have a few favourite spells that they use most of the time, irrespective of what is available to them.

What I mean is that, at a given level of spell, the Wizard spell list is generally the largest because they have the extra filter of needing to learn specific spells before they can prepare them. But a Maverick is a prepared caster, so if they select Wizard than they can pick their 1st level Breakthrough spell from the entire Wizard spell list without needing to learn any of them.

As for playstyle, that's definitely the playstyle that most casters fall into, yes. But that's precisely what the Maverick is trying to break out of with all the hotswap options. How well it does that, I can't say, but it's unquestionably its design goal.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

[QU

What I mean is that, at a given level of spell, the Wizard spell list is generally the largest because they have the extra filter of needing to learn specific spells before they can prepare them. But a Maverick is a prepared caster, so if they select Wizard than they can pick their 1st level Breakthrough spell from the entire Wizard spell list without needing to learn any of them.

As for playstyle, that's definitely the playstyle that most casters fall into, yes. But that's precisely what the Maverick is trying to break out of with all the hotswap options. How well it does that, I can't say, but it's unquestionably its design goal.

Sure. But I don't actually see that being massively effective in practice. There aren't enough different things that spells do that having just the right spell is a gamechanger. And an actual wizard gets Wish at the same time the Maverick gets 5th level spells.

 

[Kurotowa]

Sure. But I don't actually see that being massively effective in practice. There aren't enough different things that spells do that having just the right spell is a gamechanger. And an actual wizard gets Wish at the same time the Maverick gets 5th level spells.

Well, it's often hard to guess how well these things work out until you put them into actual play conditions. Especially the Maverick, which really rewards deep knowledge of the Spells available. As for Wish, I have never played in a 5e campaign that got that high, so it's a purely theoretical thing for me. Talk to me about what things look like at 8th level and we'll be in more realistic territory.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Well, it's often hard to guess how well these things work out until you put them into actual play conditions. Especially the Maverick, which really rewards deep knowledge of the Spells available. As for Wish, I have never played in a 5e campaign that got that high, so it's a purely theoretical thing for me. Talk to me about what things look like at 8th level and we'll be in more realistic territory.

At 8th level the Maverick only has cantrips, 1st and 2nd level spells.

Wizard, he be rocking cantrips, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th level spells. Looks like more versatility to me.