Artificer Class 5e Homebrew

[Shrimpboy107]

Hi all,

As the surveys have shown, the general populace is not happy with the Artificer Wizard tradition introduced in Unearthed Arcana. It just doesn't feel like the Artificers of old, and because of this, me and another veterans DnD player have been working on creating a class that has the same feel as the 3.5 Artificer and remains balanced and unique.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zArJTM03ITfKAQDEszZJ-kz2vdu0wR6u4MmABrPtQRM/edit?usp=sharing is the link to the class.

It is a Beta however, because a few things could be worked upon and would love some input. Namely, dead levels, it looks too much like a warlock, and permanent item creation is as vague as the DMG's.

Note: After much grief, I did remove thieves' tools for fear of being OP. An Artificer's main job is magic item creation, trap tampering should be provided by a rogue.

Anyway, feedback is much appreciated and I will gladly take any constructive criticism.

@Hellcow I would love to hear input from the creator of Eberron himself, if possible. No one else knows the Artificer better!

(As an added note, this class is now on DMSGuild! Check it out at this link: http://www.dmsguild.com/product/185997/Artificer-Class-for-5e)

 

[Hellcow]

I'm tied up with the last 48 hours of my Kickstarter right now - but I'll take a look once that's over and things slow down!

 

[fuindordm]

It's my favorite version so far.

Shouldn't making a potion in a short rest use a point from the craft reserve, if you don't want to drink it right away?

It could use some thought/playtesting about the extent to which this class bends the concentration limit. It was smart to make certain infusions like "Armor of Speed" castable only once per rest, so that multiple party members can't benefit. But I also think it's appropriate for this particular class to be able to sustain multiple buffs simultaneously. The craft reserve is relatively large, so maybe you could consider a scaling cost for multiple identical infusions; the first costs 1 point from the reserve, the second costs 4, the third costs 9...

So the Schematic Binder only contains spells, right? But the artificer can learn a spell from any class list if they find a teacher or a scroll. Then they can cast it my making a scroll using their craft reserve. I like this.

There are also item schematics, but these can only be learned by leveling up. Can an artificer learn an item schematic by studying an item?

 

[Bolares]

Would it be OP to give the artificer his old thieve's tools proficience?

 

[Shrimpboy107]

I'm tied up with the last 48 hours of my Kickstarter right now - but I'll take a look once that's over and things slow down!

Good luck with your Kickstarter! It's a neat concept and looks really fun!

 

[Shrimpboy107]

It's my favorite version so far.

Why thank you.

Yes, making a potion no matter what costs craft reserve corresponding to the rarity of the potion. This craft reserve remains used until a long rest after the destruction or ingestion of said potion. For example, a potion of healing costs 1 point of craft reserve to make during a short rest. I have my maximum craft reserve pool reduced by this one until I decide to drink it or it breaks. I drink my healing potion a few days later and I get my 1 point of craft reserve back after my long rest.

That's why I made certain infusions once per rest. But I feel this class does break the concentration limit quite a lot already with how the potions work. You have a Haste potion, Invulnerability potion, Invisibility potion, Giant Strength potions, all that don't require concentration and you have access to wands, rods, scrolls, and infusions that do force you to use your concentration. If a few more people a for the idea of spending craft reserve for reusing an infusion, I can see coming up with a system to implement it.

Yeah, the Schematic's Binder was modeled so that it retains versatility, but not unlimited versatility like the game breaking 3.5e Artificer. I wanted it to be able to mimic any spell the player wanted and gain access to whatever spell the DM wanted to throw at them via scrolls and what not, but giving them the ability to mimic every available spell with an Arcana check just seems a little too strong.

That is a good question. The problem with permanent item creation in 5e is that the rules about it are so vague, so it's very DM dependent. That's why we added Spell and Potion schematics to be acquired by leveling up instead of just magic item formulas, because that why the class can still function on its own without any DM dependency OR it can be very DM reliant and give awesome quest ideas (finding a heart of a dragon to make a dragon slayer sword). So for this question, I would say bring it up to your DM and see what he/she thinks about working with you for item creation and reverse engineering and so forth.

 

[Shrimpboy107]

Would it be OP to give the artificer his old thieve's tools proficience?

I think if I added it, it would step on the Rogue's toes too much. The Rogue was designed specifically to deal with traps and scouting missions. What makes the Rogue special and unique as a class is the ability to disarm traps right ff the bat and better than anyone else with expertise without having to use background to gain access to it. However, using a background or creating a background that gives proficiency with thieves' tools shouldn't be too hard if you want it. That's the biggest reason we decided to leave it out.

 

[hardvice]

Love this. A couple questions:

- do Artificers count as spellcasters for purposes of conventional magic item creation? If so, they could either craft one of their up to 20 item schematic items using the rules of their Exquisite Crafter feature, or craft anither using the standard DMG rules, provided they meet all the other prerequisites. That gives them versatility but also a repertoire where they're just plain better than other crafters. I like that.

- what about expending spell slots for things like wand charges? They don't have any. My guess is that having the spell schematic and the item schematic is sufficient, but you might want to make that explicit.

 

[Shrimpboy107]

Love this. A couple questions:

- do Artificers count as spellcasters for purposes of conventional magic item creation? If so, they could either craft one of their up to 20 item schematic items using the rules of their Exquisite Crafter feature, or craft anither using the standard DMG rules, provided they meet all the other prerequisites. That gives them versatility but also a repertoire where they're just plain better than other crafters. I like that.

- what about expending spell slots for things like wand charges? They don't have any. My guess is that having the spell schematic and the item schematic is sufficient, but you might want to make that explicit.

Thank you!

Yes, under the Schematics Binder section, it says you count as a spellcaster for crafting with the spells within the Binder.

While this Artificer doesn't have spellcasting, I did include the Power Surge infusion to try and give people who desire more of a boost with wand usage on their Artificer. If I gave the Artificer legitimate spellcasting, it would make the class too powerful and complicated for most players. So for people going for more of a spellcastery artificer, I included spell like infusions which that player could take to fit his/her idea of an artificer character.

 

[hardvice]

Makes sense.

The wand charges question was actually a very poorly worded attempt at clarifying this bit of the item creation process, from the DMG:

"If a spell will be produced by the item being created, the creator must expend one spell slot of the spell's level for each day of the creation process."

Since the artificer doesn't have any spell slots, do they just ignore this with items crafted via Exquisite Crafter?