I don't think anyone saw this coming!
but has there been any Warlock or Wizard coverage?
Can't say as I agree. (Outside of agreeing that racial type subclasses would be great for this class.) Outside of the mechanical servant, most of the tech elements are imbedded in the subclasses. And you could easily have a more shamanistic subclass that makes the mechanical servant into a fey, for example. I could easily make an elven artificer that feels a lot like a ranger, for example, with only light reskinning. (Thunder Cannon becomes Arcane Bow, and the Mechanical Servant becomes a beast.)I remember that there was the idea, once upon a time, of treating the artificer as a subdivision of a broader class that focused on "magical crafting" (dwarven runecarvers, elves that weave great magic in the land, etc.). That's an idea with a home in many campaigns that artificers could be one version of. This version is clearly not for anyone who doesn't want tech in their fantasy. Potentially bad page-count-to-broad-utility ratio.
Sure, but allowing conversion of levels into items is far less problematic than allowing conversion of gold, or XP, or time into items. Allowing other magic items to be turned into crafted items would just bring back 4e residuum. Fundamentally, you can't have an artificer with ANY magic item crafting abilities that isn't going to cut into the novelty factor of finding your own magic items. At least by limiting it to a small selection of items gained at only a few points in your adventuring career, you're still keeping the bulk of magic items interesting. This way, they're more like class features that you can hand me down when you get bored with them."Oh, a robe of useful items. I mean, sure, it's nice, but I've already got one because I made it." Artificers are going to be making magic items, yes, but there are ways to handle that fiction that don't just give the party free treasure for leveling up. It makes gaining magic items through adventures less fun. That's not a great result. Magic items should always be fun to discover, even if your character can make magic items.
I really don't see this one. The artificer is a rogue, first and foremost. They do excellent damage which is lost without their presence. They CAN'T craft new items unless they're out gaining XP and levels. Their infusions last 8 hours, max. I agree that they don't need to make a ton of "artificing decisions" outside of where to deploy their few spell slots, but moving them away from being a full caster is pretty strong signal that was the designer's intent.Between free magic items and infusions, the best artificer is one who stays in town (or otherwise away from the action) - you just come back to visit them to get recharged. During an adventure, the artificer isn't making a whole lot of interesting decisions about being an artificer. All those decisions are made before they start the adventure (and the things they enable aren't things that they need to do)
A minor ability that works in conjuction with their crafting ability to supprt both low and high item campaigns.Suddenly, my class powers are dependent on the roll of magic item tables.
Beasts are the safest choice for any sort of shapechanging or companion ability, due to the predictability of their advancement and abilities. And you can describe them any way you want. So you could use a bear's stats, for example, and just describe them as a burly humanoid. I agree that if you really wanted to build a C-3PO you're out of luck, but that seems addressable via subclasses in the future.Hi, my beast companion is better than yours, I hope that's OK. But also, it can't be a humanoid, so I hope you didn't want a humanoid golem?
More than anything, I appreciate the boldness, but I think there's a lot more clever design here than you may be giving them credit for.I think there's a lot of very interesting ideas here, but it is kind of a mess, and a lot of the ideas are a little weak conceptually (free magic items and the turtling being perhaps the most likely to have unpleasant in-play effects, though the better-than-a-ranger-beast-companion is also harsh). But, I like that they're trying out some bold ideas!
Free Magic Items Break the "Contract"
"Oh, a robe of useful items. I mean, sure, it's nice, but I've already got one because I made it." Artificers are going to be making magic items, yes, but there are ways to handle that fiction that don't just give the party free treasure for leveling up. It makes gaining magic items through adventures less fun. That's not a great result. Magic items should always be fun to discover, even if your character can make magic items.