D&D 5E Artificer Fighter subclass? [+]

My spouse plays an artificer Battlesmith, and it effectively has a lot of fighter qualities. Would that scratch the itch you are looking for?

The steel defender is a capable tank, though works best as an off-tank, and with the extra attack at level 5 the artificer is a very strong ranged combatant, much like a ranged fighter, but using intelligence as their main stat as long as they have a magic weapon (which, as an artificer, they can guarantee). They can also fight capably hand to hand, using their defender to help protect them and do extra damage. Once they get arcane jolt, at level 9, they can hit very hard at crucial moments. And then they have a lot of versatile spells to round them out.
 

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Artilerist, Armorer and Battlesmith are all combat focussed subclasses arent they? Theyre all loaded with battlefield artillery - even armorer gets magic missile, shatter (bomb) and lightning bolt.

What I personally would love to see is a Battlefield Engineer that gets to impose walls, trenches and fortified bunkers as well as being an effective sapper
 

This is probably a little more steam punk than magical artificer, but I can imagine a clockwork warrior who has replaced body parts with clockwork parts that let them do different things on and off the battlefield. Something like clockwork legs that allow for greater run speeds and jumping distances, arms that can convert to get weapons (like the transformers movies). Other features would have to build on it.
 


My spouse plays an artificer Battlesmith, and it effectively has a lot of fighter qualities. Would that scratch the itch you are looking for?

The steel defender is a capable tank, though works best as an off-tank, and with the extra attack at level 5 the artificer is a very strong ranged combatant, much like a ranged fighter, but using intelligence as their main stat as long as they have a magic weapon (which, as an artificer, they can guarantee). They can also fight capably hand to hand, using their defender to help protect them and do extra damage. Once they get arcane jolt, at level 9, they can hit very hard at crucial moments. And then they have a lot of versatile spells to round them out.

Artilerist, Armorer and Battlesmith are all combat focussed subclasses arent they? Theyre all loaded with battlefield artillery - even armorer gets magic missile, shatter (bomb) and lightning bolt.

What I personally would love to see is a Battlefield Engineer that gets to impose walls, trenches and fortified bunkers as well as being an effective sapper
They can work but I'd rather not be using a class with spell slots

Really, the idea was born out of the image of a Fighter taking his level 1 sword and upgrading it or customizing it over time, rather than being able to do EVERYTHING an Artificer can do.
 

Artilerist, Armorer and Battlesmith are all combat focussed subclasses arent they? Theyre all loaded with battlefield artillery - even armorer gets magic missile, shatter (bomb) and lightning bolt.

What I personally would love to see is a Battlefield Engineer that gets to impose walls, trenches and fortified bunkers as well as being an effective sapper
None of the subclasses are pure warriors, though.

Artillerist mostly uses cantrips and has no weapon-focused features.

Armored artificer, thought he best 'tank' in the game, only gets gauntlets to attack with, and cannot transfer those (significant) bonuses to any other weapon.

Battlesmiths would be excellent gishes if they didn't have so much of their power budget tied up in a pet.

To be fair, it may be easier to adjust a Battlesmith (-puppy, +can put more than one infusion on a weapon) than make a whole new fighter subclass, but this is a plus thread.
 

They can work but I'd rather not be using a class with spell slots

Really, the idea was born out of the image of a Fighter taking his level 1 sword and upgrading it or customizing it over time, rather than being able to do EVERYTHING an Artificer can do.
In that case it might be easier to just give them infusions at the appropriate levels:

LevelInfusions knownInfused Items*
342
763
1084
15105
18126

* But let them put up to half of their infusions into a single weapon. And probably add some infusions to make sure there's enough options that players aren't soft-forced into a single path.
 

None of the subclasses are pure warriors, though.

Artillerist mostly uses cantrips and has no weapon-focused features.

Armored artificer, thought he best 'tank' in the game, only gets gauntlets to attack with, and cannot transfer those (significant) bonuses to any other weapon.

Battlesmiths would be excellent gishes if they didn't have so much of their power budget tied up in a pet.

To be fair, it may be easier to adjust a Battlesmith (-puppy, +can put more than one infusion on a weapon) than make a whole new fighter subclass, but this is a plus thread.

Another thing of note is that Artificer still doesn't quite feel like a 'core' D&D class, and I think tying it's flavour to another class through a MC style subclass could do a lot to making it feel more 'mainstream' of a class. Fighter and Rogue are probably the most likely to match well, unless we come up with a Trapsmith Ranger?
 

* But let them put up to half of their infusions into a single weapon. And probably add some infusions to make sure there's enough options that players aren't soft-forced into a single path.
I'd like to add infusions that are consumables. Items you use, get an effect for 10 min and then can't activate without infusing again.
In that case it might be easier to just give them infusions at the appropriate levels:
Yeah, I suggested basically taking a Battlemaster approach but with Infusions instead of maneuvers.

Maybe take the opportunity to add some home-brewed infusions.
 

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