D&D 5E (2024) What's New with the Artificer in Eberron: Forge of the Artificer

[ersatzphil]

New article on Beyond covering the changes made to the artificer class in the upcoming Eberron book - looks quite close to what they published in the UA, as I recall.

 

[Remathilis]

I was wondering when we would get the remaining preview articles for ForA.

 

[Kurotowa]

Not a lot that looks different from the UA, at first glance. One brand new element did jump out at me. The addition to the 6th level feature where once per Long Rest you can swap out a Replicated item for another plan not currently in use. That's a big upgrade, and means having a few plans with a narrow utility function is actually worth while. Instead of needing to know at the start of the day what you need, you have the ability to adjust in the field.

ETA: If there are going to be more substantial changes from the UA draft, I expect them in the subclasses. Looking forward to seeing more on that.

 

[Nord Ronnoc]

I'm hoping Artificers, or at least the Artillerist subclass, gets proficiency in martial ranged weapons. Going by the preview from the book, it would be weird for that subclass to use Arcane Firearm on these weapons and not be proficient in a gun or a bow.

 

[Vael]

I'm hoping Artificers, or at least the Artillerist subclass, gets proficiency in martial ranged weapons. Going by the preview from the book, it would be weird for that subclass to use Arcane Firearm on these weapons and not be proficient in a gun or a bow.

Yeah, and Heavy and Hand Crossbows.

 

[eclair~]

I like how they cling to Flash of Genius with it being one of the few features of the Artificer that isn't getting nerfed in some way.

And they're remaining firm on their design direction of "the Artificer is a conjurer that pretends to craft, and in fact is disincentivized from actually making anything themselves instead of poofing it up".

 

[Paul Farquhar]

If there are going to be more substantial changes from the UA draft, I expect them in the subclasses

Yeah, alchemist was still woefully underpowered, and armorer was completely borked.

 

[DEFCON 1]

And they're remaining firm on their design direction of "the Artificer is a conjurer that pretends to craft, and in fact is disincentivized from actually making anything themselves instead of poofing it up".

Because if they didn't... a few bad actors would look for every loophole in the rules possible to find a way to justify the creation of hundreds of different items to sell for millions of gold pieces and basically try and blow up campaigns.

WotC can either spend way too much time trying to create airtight rules 20 pages long that can't be somehow jerry-rigged to create the Artificer equivalent to Pun-Pun... or they can just do what they do and expect the players to fluff the actual results however they themselves want it to be.

And those players who are unable to not run their games RAW? Then they just have to accept that incongruity of items just "disappearing" after long rests and such. But that's a price WotC is willing to pay.

 

[eclair~]

Because if they didn't... a few bad actors would look for every loophole in the rules possible to find a way to justify the creation of hundreds of different items to sell for millions of gold pieces and basically try and blow up campaigns.

WotC can either spend way too much time trying to create airtight rules 20 pages long that can't be somehow jerry-rigged to create the Artificer equivalent to Pun-Pun... or they can just do what they do and expect the players to fluff the actual results however they themselves want it to be.

And those players who are unable to not run their games RAW? Then they just have to accept that incongruity of items just "disappearing" after long rests and such. But that's a price WotC is willing to pay.

WotC clearly can't do such a thing, which is why this scenario you describe was never a problem with the original Artificer.

But also, if the Artificer can just poof up magic items out of nowhere, what stops them from proofing up enchanted plate armour and then selling them to unsuspecting vendors who then wake up the next morning to no suit of armour? You've invented these hypotheticals to defend the changes to the class, but your own arguments are much more damning for the "revised" Artificer.

 

[Kurotowa]

But also, if the Artificer can just poof up magic items out of nowhere, what stops them from proofing up enchanted plate armour and then selling them to unsuspecting vendors who then wake up the next morning to no suit of armour?

Nothing, really. And that sounds like a good plot hook to me!

The party hears about a bounty on a vile charlatan that's scamming people by selling conjured goods that vanish the next day. They chase him down, but he and his henchmen put up a surprisingly good fight with their excellent gear, and he uses a consumable item to escape at the end. Thus setting the seeds of a long term villain who will grow in power even as the PCs do.