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Artificer Class, Revised: Rip Me A New One
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<blockquote data-quote="RealAlHazred" data-source="post: 6749783" data-attributes="member: 25818"><p><strong>Originally posted by Tempest_Stormwind:</strong></p><p></p><p>Revisions made:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Spell Storing Item now uses craft reserve only, and can use spell slots if you're out of reserve. (Spell slots spent this way don't recover after a short rest the way craft reserve does - but this allows warlock/artificers to have some extra stamina with lower-level SSIs if you want.) Also, the core artificer got the "Hit Die for accelerated SSI" ability from the magitechnician. <strong>Note:</strong> Since your book of schema can only have spells of levels for which you have slots, you can't make SSIs stronger than spells you can cast. This includes multiclassing - a wizard 15 / artificer 1 can, hypothetically, derive a schema for an 8th level spell (even a non-wizard spell) and create SSIs of it, but he'll only have, at most, 5 points of craft reserve, so he'll have to spend his only 8th level slot to make it (and pass the Arcana check, which'd be DC 26 with at most a +10 bonus, or +15 if he somehow had expertise in there, if he didn't want it to blow up in his face. He'd be much more capable with lower-level SSIs, but they still take time to make).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Weapon Augmentation has been <em>dramatically</em> changed.</strong> It now basically transforms your weapon into a cantrip (Int-based attacks dealing elemental damage instead of the weapon's normal damage - it doesn't add damage at first, it just changes it) and is useful for serious combat (especially later on, if you maxed Int) or to strike at elemental vulnerabilities (at all levels - it's best used when you recognize there's a vulnerability to exploit, instead of having it simply be something you trigger automatically after a rest). Both Weapon and Armor Augmentation now last an hour as well. I'm definitely allowing team augments, but I'm not sure when they'll come online yet. The team version of weapon augmentation <em>won't</em> change the ability score used, but will change the damage type and add the extra damage at higher levels (as it's a "buff" for the teammates and a "cantrip 'n' buff" for the artificer).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Infuse Scrolls and Infuse Potions now only use craft reserve (and potions now clearly tie up craft reserve until used), and I removed the "10 minutes after a rest" clause. It's now assumed you're working on them while resting. (If a rest is interrupted, you don't "finish" it, so the scroll or potion remains incomplete.) This does strain credulity a bit if using variant rest rules from the DMG, though (where in a "superhero" game a short rest is one minute and a long rest is one hour, while a "gritty" game has a short rest of eight hours and a long rest of a week, and so on), but if you're assuming that, say, one minute is long enough for a monk to meditate to a sublime state of full ki, it shouldn't be hard to come up with a similar description of what's going on with an artificer's scrolls or potions.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Added and revised the Synchronize (a 5e version of "Suppress Requirement"; here it interacts with the attunement mechanic) and Power Surge (a 5e version of, well, Power Surge; it used to supply temporary charges, while here it has a similar but riskier function) infusions, which reflect an artificer's ability to tweak existing magic items a bit. (This was a good side effect of removing the "auto-learn" ability on infusions - niche abilities can be added without showing up on all artificers.) Power Surge has been tweaked a bit to carry an offensive function, if you're willing to overload and sacrifice a charged item like a grenade. (It isn't terribly efficient for this purpose (especially compared to an offensive caster or what I view the alchemist as doing), and works better at getting, well, a power surge out of a nearly-expended staff, though.) </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Removed Makeshift Wand; the subclasses no longer get a bonus cantrip, and I didn't want it stealing the thunder of your augmentation. When they aren't using jury-rigged spell storing items, artificers attack using magically enhanced weapons (particularly crossbows), not spells.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Specialist Artifice subclasses got a bit more cleaned up (especially the magitechnician and the alchemist), but there's still a lot of work to do on them.</li> </ul><p> </p><p></p><p>Except each DM chooses the wheel that's appropriate for their game. Since this fits exactly the same parameters that they're choosing for their game, it'll plug into any of those wheels without too much of a hassle. (If the DM wants a lot of items but not a lot of crafting, for instance, then the formulas are hard to follow. This can be something like "The formula says I need a lightning-forged blade - but no one today knows how to do this. Sages inform me that the ancient Dhakaani civilization had figured out the secret of forging blades using lightning instead of fire, and that if records of this still exist, they might be found in the ruins of the ancient Library of Haruuk. My friends, I propose a quest.")</p><p> </p><p>The only configuration that this doesn't adapt to is if there's a lot of items and a blanket ban on crafting. I've proposed a replacement for that (learning an extra infusion and a few free schema at those levels), which adjusts the artificer more into a temporary hacker who focuses on altering magic within items rather than creating them outright. And you're right, adjusting for this would <em>also</em> require blocking scroll and potion creation, or at least altering it so it's easier to regulate. I'll revisit that soon - good point!</p><p> </p><p></p><p>This sounds like fun! It also sounds far outside the scope of this particular project, which is just creating an artificer, not an entire new magic system. If you want to port over Tephra's system or come up with a variant yourself, I'll happily include a plugin slot for DMs using both artificers and the gadget system.</p><p></p><p>That's why SSI takes so long to use and why I omitted the acceleration clause by default - they can't pull this out of their hat the way they could in 3.5. (The real "anything you can do" in 3.5 came from crafting wands, staffs, and wondrous items to emulate any spell at any caster level, and that's flat out not possible here unless the DM gives it the tacit OK by including such an item already. That's basically saying "No Staff of Power until the DM says it's OK to use a Staff of Power by giving out a Staff of Power or its formula.")</p><p> </p><p></p><p>That's another possibility, but I don't see there being much fundamental difference between rings and rods - just as there's no fundamental difference between a cloak and boots. There's more difference between the ring and the rod (they're different classes of item, while the cloak and boots are both 'wondrous items'), but the game still handles all of them the same since there are no special blanket rules for rods and rings that separate them (apart from, say, their physical size).</p><p> </p><p>I'll consider that for the next pass at item creation.</p><p> </p><p></p><p>I'm just not sure what that sentence meant, grammatically. As in, did you suggest dealing 1 point of energy damage, or converting <em>all</em> the weapon's damage into energy (instead of, say, slashing)? You could read it either way, and I think the latter is actually really cool (you don't upgrade the damage output - but you do hit <em>exactly</em> the right vulnerability or avoid <em>exactly</em> the right resistance, and you don't use it every fight since it's most useful against vulnerabilities).</p><p> </p><p>Actually, this motivated me to change how augmentation works altogether. Now, in effect, it turns your weapon into a slightly stronger <em>cantrip </em>for a short duration, a few times a day (more frequently with Augmentation Mastery, but it also cuts into your SSI budget). This means you're <em>literally</em> attacking with a magically-augmented crossbow (or mace, if you prefer; quivers generally hold only 20 shots, which heated combat might deplete!), start to finish. Limited craft reserve early on (when there's no bonus damage beyond the switch to Int) means it'll probably be reserved entirely for hitting weaknesses, which feels appropriate to me. You can hit multiple elemental types or up the damage further by combining this with the Elemental Weapon (or Magic Weapon) infusion. It also agrees with my overall sensibilities that I prefer modifiers (i.e. advantage, resistance, etc) over bonuses (i.e. Bless, +X abilities) in 5e.</p><p>I've upped the duration - which had the side effect of turning everything you can imbue with craft reserve (magecraft, SSIs, augments) into something that lasts an hour or until used, except for scrolls and potions (which use mechanics I didn't write) and the Power Surge infusion (which is necessarily limited, since it's supposed to be a desperation attack or a way to use a nearly-dead item sooner than normal.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RealAlHazred, post: 6749783, member: 25818"] [b]Originally posted by Tempest_Stormwind:[/b] Revisions made: [LIST][*]Spell Storing Item now uses craft reserve only, and can use spell slots if you're out of reserve. (Spell slots spent this way don't recover after a short rest the way craft reserve does - but this allows warlock/artificers to have some extra stamina with lower-level SSIs if you want.) Also, the core artificer got the "Hit Die for accelerated SSI" ability from the magitechnician. [b]Note:[/b] Since your book of schema can only have spells of levels for which you have slots, you can't make SSIs stronger than spells you can cast. This includes multiclassing - a wizard 15 / artificer 1 can, hypothetically, derive a schema for an 8th level spell (even a non-wizard spell) and create SSIs of it, but he'll only have, at most, 5 points of craft reserve, so he'll have to spend his only 8th level slot to make it (and pass the Arcana check, which'd be DC 26 with at most a +10 bonus, or +15 if he somehow had expertise in there, if he didn't want it to blow up in his face. He'd be much more capable with lower-level SSIs, but they still take time to make). [*][b]Weapon Augmentation has been [i]dramatically[/i] changed.[/b] It now basically transforms your weapon into a cantrip (Int-based attacks dealing elemental damage instead of the weapon's normal damage - it doesn't add damage at first, it just changes it) and is useful for serious combat (especially later on, if you maxed Int) or to strike at elemental vulnerabilities (at all levels - it's best used when you recognize there's a vulnerability to exploit, instead of having it simply be something you trigger automatically after a rest). Both Weapon and Armor Augmentation now last an hour as well. I'm definitely allowing team augments, but I'm not sure when they'll come online yet. The team version of weapon augmentation [i]won't[/i] change the ability score used, but will change the damage type and add the extra damage at higher levels (as it's a "buff" for the teammates and a "cantrip 'n' buff" for the artificer). [*]Infuse Scrolls and Infuse Potions now only use craft reserve (and potions now clearly tie up craft reserve until used), and I removed the "10 minutes after a rest" clause. It's now assumed you're working on them while resting. (If a rest is interrupted, you don't "finish" it, so the scroll or potion remains incomplete.) This does strain credulity a bit if using variant rest rules from the DMG, though (where in a "superhero" game a short rest is one minute and a long rest is one hour, while a "gritty" game has a short rest of eight hours and a long rest of a week, and so on), but if you're assuming that, say, one minute is long enough for a monk to meditate to a sublime state of full ki, it shouldn't be hard to come up with a similar description of what's going on with an artificer's scrolls or potions. [*]Added and revised the Synchronize (a 5e version of "Suppress Requirement"; here it interacts with the attunement mechanic) and Power Surge (a 5e version of, well, Power Surge; it used to supply temporary charges, while here it has a similar but riskier function) infusions, which reflect an artificer's ability to tweak existing magic items a bit. (This was a good side effect of removing the "auto-learn" ability on infusions - niche abilities can be added without showing up on all artificers.) Power Surge has been tweaked a bit to carry an offensive function, if you're willing to overload and sacrifice a charged item like a grenade. (It isn't terribly efficient for this purpose (especially compared to an offensive caster or what I view the alchemist as doing), and works better at getting, well, a power surge out of a nearly-expended staff, though.) [*]Removed Makeshift Wand; the subclasses no longer get a bonus cantrip, and I didn't want it stealing the thunder of your augmentation. When they aren't using jury-rigged spell storing items, artificers attack using magically enhanced weapons (particularly crossbows), not spells. [*]The Specialist Artifice subclasses got a bit more cleaned up (especially the magitechnician and the alchemist), but there's still a lot of work to do on them. [/LIST] Except each DM chooses the wheel that's appropriate for their game. Since this fits exactly the same parameters that they're choosing for their game, it'll plug into any of those wheels without too much of a hassle. (If the DM wants a lot of items but not a lot of crafting, for instance, then the formulas are hard to follow. This can be something like "The formula says I need a lightning-forged blade - but no one today knows how to do this. Sages inform me that the ancient Dhakaani civilization had figured out the secret of forging blades using lightning instead of fire, and that if records of this still exist, they might be found in the ruins of the ancient Library of Haruuk. My friends, I propose a quest.") The only configuration that this doesn't adapt to is if there's a lot of items and a blanket ban on crafting. I've proposed a replacement for that (learning an extra infusion and a few free schema at those levels), which adjusts the artificer more into a temporary hacker who focuses on altering magic within items rather than creating them outright. And you're right, adjusting for this would [i]also[/i] require blocking scroll and potion creation, or at least altering it so it's easier to regulate. I'll revisit that soon - good point! This sounds like fun! It also sounds far outside the scope of this particular project, which is just creating an artificer, not an entire new magic system. If you want to port over Tephra's system or come up with a variant yourself, I'll happily include a plugin slot for DMs using both artificers and the gadget system. That's why SSI takes so long to use and why I omitted the acceleration clause by default - they can't pull this out of their hat the way they could in 3.5. (The real "anything you can do" in 3.5 came from crafting wands, staffs, and wondrous items to emulate any spell at any caster level, and that's flat out not possible here unless the DM gives it the tacit OK by including such an item already. That's basically saying "No Staff of Power until the DM says it's OK to use a Staff of Power by giving out a Staff of Power or its formula.") That's another possibility, but I don't see there being much fundamental difference between rings and rods - just as there's no fundamental difference between a cloak and boots. There's more difference between the ring and the rod (they're different classes of item, while the cloak and boots are both 'wondrous items'), but the game still handles all of them the same since there are no special blanket rules for rods and rings that separate them (apart from, say, their physical size). I'll consider that for the next pass at item creation. I'm just not sure what that sentence meant, grammatically. As in, did you suggest dealing 1 point of energy damage, or converting [i]all[/i] the weapon's damage into energy (instead of, say, slashing)? You could read it either way, and I think the latter is actually really cool (you don't upgrade the damage output - but you do hit [i]exactly[/i] the right vulnerability or avoid [i]exactly[/i] the right resistance, and you don't use it every fight since it's most useful against vulnerabilities). Actually, this motivated me to change how augmentation works altogether. Now, in effect, it turns your weapon into a slightly stronger [i]cantrip [/i]for a short duration, a few times a day (more frequently with Augmentation Mastery, but it also cuts into your SSI budget). This means you're [i]literally[/i] attacking with a magically-augmented crossbow (or mace, if you prefer; quivers generally hold only 20 shots, which heated combat might deplete!), start to finish. Limited craft reserve early on (when there's no bonus damage beyond the switch to Int) means it'll probably be reserved entirely for hitting weaknesses, which feels appropriate to me. You can hit multiple elemental types or up the damage further by combining this with the Elemental Weapon (or Magic Weapon) infusion. It also agrees with my overall sensibilities that I prefer modifiers (i.e. advantage, resistance, etc) over bonuses (i.e. Bless, +X abilities) in 5e. I've upped the duration - which had the side effect of turning everything you can imbue with craft reserve (magecraft, SSIs, augments) into something that lasts an hour or until used, except for scrolls and potions (which use mechanics I didn't write) and the Power Surge infusion (which is necessarily limited, since it's supposed to be a desperation attack or a way to use a nearly-dead item sooner than normal.) [/QUOTE]
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