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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RealAlHazred" data-source="post: 6749800" data-attributes="member: 25818">Originally posted by Tempest_Stormwind:You, then, were missing out. +30 to UMD was pretty easy to do (even without custom items, thanks to Item Alteration), so nothing stopped you from reliably SSIing any spell the game printed. You could even do so using a single action every time you tried, since Persistent Unfettered Heroism (1 temporary action point every single round for the whole day) was a thing they could do, using wands they could build. They could even do it without Persistent Spell or draining charges from the wand (since Wand Surge (spend AP in place of a wand charge) was a thing, and Unfettered Heroism itself could supply the AP - you'd use one charge from the wand, then when the duration was running low, you'd tap the temporary AP to re-activate it.) (Incidentally, I would almost never touch the two infusions you mentioned. Resistance Item is completely superceded by cloaks of resistance (which are inexpensive and some of the best items of the price anyone of any class ever buy, at any level - and they're easy as pie for artificers to build after level 3), and Repair Serious Damage is, well, a cure spell(x).) In the 5e version I've written, the success rates are actually quite high even with non-Int races. A starting Int of 14 looks like this:Show[sblock]Assuming you use Ability Score Improvement on +Int until you hit 20: <table style='width: 100%'><tr><td>Int 14</td><td>1st</td><td>2nd</td><td>3rd</td><td>4th</td><td>5th</td><td>6th</td><td>7th</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>DC 12</td><td>DC 14</td><td>DC 16</td><td>DC 18</td><td>DC 20</td><td>DC 22</td><td>DC 24</td></tr><tr><td>1: </td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td></tr><tr><td>2: </td><td>65%</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td></tr><tr><td>3: </td><td>65%</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td></tr><tr><td>4: </td><td>70%</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td></tr><tr><td>5: </td><td>75%</td><td>65%</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td></tr><tr><td>6: </td><td>75%</td><td>65%</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td></tr><tr><td>7: </td><td>75%</td><td>65%</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td></tr><tr><td>8: </td><td>80%</td><td>70%</td><td>60%</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td></tr><tr><td>9: </td><td>85%</td><td>75%</td><td>65%</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td></tr><tr><td>10: </td><td>85%</td><td>75%</td><td>65%</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td></tr><tr><td>11: </td><td>85%</td><td>75%</td><td>65%</td><td>55%</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td></tr><tr><td>12: </td><td>90%</td><td>80%</td><td>70%</td><td>60%</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td></tr><tr><td>13: </td><td>95%</td><td>85%</td><td>75%</td><td>65%</td><td>--</td><td>--</td><td>--</td></tr><tr><td>14: </td><td>100%</td><td>100%</td><td>100%</td><td>90%</td><td>55%</td><td>--</td><td>--</td></tr><tr><td>15: </td><td>100%</td><td>100%</td><td>100%</td><td>90%</td><td>55%</td><td>--</td><td>--</td></tr><tr><td>16: </td><td>100%</td><td>100%</td><td>100%</td><td>90%</td><td>55%</td><td>--</td><td>--</td></tr><tr><td>17: </td><td>100%</td><td>100%</td><td>100%</td><td>100%</td><td>60%</td><td>50%</td><td>--</td></tr><tr><td>18: </td><td>100%</td><td>100%</td><td>100%</td><td>100%</td><td>60%</td><td>50%</td><td>--</td></tr><tr><td>19: </td><td>100%</td><td>100%</td><td>100%</td><td>100%</td><td>60%</td><td>50%</td><td>--</td></tr><tr><td>20: </td><td>100%</td><td>100%</td><td>100%</td><td>100%</td><td>60%</td><td>50%</td><td>40%</td></tr></table>The jump for level 1-4 SSIs at level 14 is due to Spell Storing Mastery doubling your proficiency bonus on those checks. I opted for that route to still allow for advantage or disadvantage to function normally.[/sblock]And that's without any special modifiers like Guidance (note that it's on the cantrip list), Bardic Inspiration, or a source of advantage. It's a gamble, but if you aren't using your highest level spells, it's a manageable gamble - and unlike the 3.5 SSI, it's only a gamble until your next short rest (since it's fueled by craft reserve instead of slots).Barbarians also get fewer rages, and they're on a daily refresh. I don't hear you yelling in ALL CAPS to get Rage on a short-rest recharge. Rage may be their signature ability, but it's not their only choice in every battle. (This is especially true for Frenzy, which brings on a level of exhaustion when you use it, which effectively makes it 1/day if you want to keep it manageable. There's a definite gamble on Frenzy - make sure the battle's your last, because if it isn't, you're dealing with nasty exhaustion. This just isn't linked to a die roll.) This is a good basic argument, but it makes the assumption that craft reserve is a short rest resource (which it isn't - you don't regain potion or scroll reserve until a long rest finishes, for instance). What augments do is increase the pressure on you so you're not an entirely short-rest-driven character - the more often you augment for the day, the less often you can SSI between rests. This also makes the assumption that you short rest after every encounter, which simply isn't true in many games (nor in the DMG, which assumes two short rests per long rest - it's certainly possible to design encounters with this in mind that provide the appropriate daily threshold of XP-equivalent, but the individual encounters will be of setpiece size or complexity.) By making SSIs into reliable spells that use your slots - which, unless I miss my reading, is what you're suggesting - you turn the artificer into a regular caster with every spell ever on his class list. That's something I was trying to avoid, since it's a problem from 3e (this wasn't explicitly in Goal 2, but it's part of it). Incidentally, the "pattern" you describe isn't true either. It assumes slots power SSIs, when that's only the case if you run out of craft reserve. (This is most common on multiclass artificers, by design.) In this case, you can whip up a small number of devices (typically one to two at most levels, depending on what spell level you're copying and how many permanent items you're maintaining) between rests no problem, tapping into your spell slots if you want more. Each of these has amazing versatility by 5e standards (a small spellbook's worth of options, although the size of that book and the maximum level are quite a ways behind the wizard), but it isn't as reliable, so the artificer has incentive to keep his mad inventions simple (low-level slots - rather than throwing full-power fireballs as if he were a caster, he's the one who builds devices that solve problems, like "Who the hell ever prepares Zone of Truth?") or take a bigger risk. If he takes a breather, he'll get enough of his reserve back to try again during the next wave of the adventure. Meanwhile, if he breathes more potent and reliable magic into equipment on the fly (rather than taking the time to prepare it via scrolls of Magic Weapon or the like) and uses an augment, he'll have less magic and fewer components left overall to build and maintain his contraptions (imagine everything as having a (M) component, which can be slowly recycled, but the augments having "consumed upon casting" on it, and it takes a long rest to build fresh components). And even that pattern is different for the Spellforgers' Guild, who do find a way to make temporary Magic Weapon effects (augmentations) more frequently usable. I'm trying to avoid the artificer as feeling like he's casting spells, frankly. Weapon Augmentation has parallels in that it "turns" a crossbow or sword into an elemental cantrip, more or less, but since you're still attacking using a weapon, it "feels" more like a magically enhanced weapon than an elemental cantrip. And Armor Augmentation, if it lasted one round, is basically Blade Ward. This was actually one of the reasons I was disappointed in seeing the arty as a wizard subclass. He's still a wizard, and still attacks with Fire Bolt at a higher accuracy and better damage at a longer range than a crossbow. And he has very little ability to go toe-to-toe with a hastily-enchanted mace. EDIT: You didn't comment on my question above about augmentation, but I'll add another option now: How about turning augments (as you note, they're the pattern breakers) into infusions? By default, 1st level, concentration (1 minute) durations, which do exactly what they suggest here (nearly; they would increase the number of targets by 1 per slot level and I'd probably have armor augmentation apply against magic weapons by default). The class feature is that an artificer gets to use Int when attacking with an augmented weapon. Augmentation mastery would change the duration to 1 hour (not concentration any longer); the Spellforgers Guild would get the ability to cast them from craft reserve (including its short-rest recovery; slots are still possible if you're low on reserve). This way, every single use of craft reserve that's temporary (magecraft, SSI, alchemist bombs, spellforger augments) recovers on a short rest, with augmentation on a "daily" resource that competes with infusions instead of your inventions. The only drawback is that not all artificers will know this, and you won't have them at level 1 (I'm fine with spending one level as a crossbow junkie, but without augmentation, there's very little magic in a first-level artificer - just scrolls). This approach only needs a slight adjustment at level 5 (as there's always something at every level that Salvage Essence appears, and at the moment that's armor augment. (I suppose I could stagger when the longer-duration or the lack-of-concentration on augments kick in.)</blockquote>

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