D&D 5E Preview of Eberron Rising!

[MarkB]

The second thing they get at Level 5 is the (perhaps inappropriately named) Arcane Firearm. This feature lets you take a wand, rod, or staff and inscribe sigils into it to convert it into your Arcane Firearm. While active, using the Firearm as your spellcasting focus lets you add an extra d8 to one damage roll of any damaging spell you cast.

I prefer "boomstick".

 

[Weiley31]

An Eldritch Boomstick!!

 

[Parmandur]

I am a bit worried that the alchemist subclass is quite not on par with the other subclasses of the artificer. At level 5 they gain not a lot, just + int to damage, while the battelsmith gets extra attack and his pet can attack toowith a bonus action, and the artillerist has a magic gun in one hand, and in the other hand a wand that makes every spell deal +1d8 damage. Does not sound balanced to me.

+3-5 damage 1d8 is the same difference.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

+3-5 damage 1d8 is the same difference.

But you also have a bonus action 2d8 area damage weapon in your off hand.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

But you also have a bonus action 2d8 area damage weapon in your off hand.

Well, the cannon only lasts an hour and is destroyable, so you won't always have it, but on the whole the alchemist does seem to suffer from the loss of the homunculus. The Experiemental Elixier that they get instead is pretty useless because of the randomness.

Of course what we haven't seen are the Infusions, it could be that some are now flagged as subclass specific, so only an alchemist can build a homunculus.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The Small version is for when your hands are full with wand+shield or if you're holding a point, since it can only move 15 feet on its turn; the Tiny version is if you need to move more than 15 feet per round and you want to take it with you. You can deploy two Cannons at once at Level 15.

It doesn't list a weight, but hypothetically a small cannon could be carried between fights by a reasonably strong medium sized party member.

"Note to self: employ half orc sidekick called Igor."

 

[Kurotowa]

It doesn't list a weight, but hypothetically a small cannon could be carried between fights by a reasonably strong medium sized party member.

Alternatively, we know that there's Infusions for artificial limbs, and that you can determine the appearance of your Eldritch Cannons. Assuming you have a similar level of control over the limb, you should be able to design an arm and the tiny Cannon as a matched set where the Cannon slots into the arm and its legs lock it in place.

Yes, I'm suggesting you go all Iron Man palm repulsor or Bobba Fett wrist blaster with one hand while you wave your Harry Potter wand in the other. Tell me that wouldn't be awesome, I dare you. Or as a fallback, install a bracket on your armor for it to attach to and you've got the Predator's shoulder mounted blaster.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

If you want to carry it yourself you can just go with the tiny cannon, stats are identical.

The point of the small cannon is you don't need to carry it, so you can have a shield in one hand and your "arcane firearm" in the other.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Well, the cannon only lasts an hour and is destroyable, so you won't always have it, but on the whole the alchemist does seem to suffer from the loss of the homunculus. The Experiemental Elixier that they get instead is pretty useless because of the randomness.

Of course what we haven't seen are the Infusions, it could be that some are now flagged as subclass specific, so only an alchemist can build a homunculus.

A first level spell is only needed to have it around for another hour. Compared to the random potion, that seems a lot more powerful. As a sidenote: a sorcerer using sorcery points to create a lot of first level spell slots looks like a good multiclass option. You could get a lot of a 3 level artificer dip.
Right now I see an alchemist rathher as a 3 level dip class. Of course, he gets his unique +int modifier to healing spells and access to healing word, making it quite potent but with the artillerist also adding a d8 to spells in addition to having his flame thrower leaves a slightly bad feeling for the alchemist. If his potions were not random at all, it would at least seem more balanced since a potion of bless that does not take concentration is indeed very powerful.

 

[Shardstone]

Honestly that's a terrible 3 level dip. Great for flavor, nice for random hijinks, but you are delaying 3rd & 4th levels spells + another metamagic + your 6th level sorcerer feature for just some potions. That's not efficient at all; in fact, that's as trash a dip as you can make.