doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
I will dissent from the crowd a bit, and say that this feels like a really cool clockmaker in a war context. This is how a magical clockmaker goes to war.
However, I do think that "crossbow artificer" is a really cool theme that also deserves it's own thing. I wish that the Artillerist had been that, with the ability to cast ranged attack spells via your crossbow or firearm, but also just gaining extra force damage on your attacks with it, and it ignoring the loading property and eventually gaining more features. Maybe an extra infusion that must be used to upgrade the weapon, and allowing the weapon to hold multiple influsions.
However, I do think that "crossbow artificer" is a really cool theme that also deserves it's own thing. I wish that the Artillerist had been that, with the ability to cast ranged attack spells via your crossbow or firearm, but also just gaining extra force damage on your attacks with it, and it ignoring the loading property and eventually gaining more features. Maybe an extra infusion that must be used to upgrade the weapon, and allowing the weapon to hold multiple influsions.