D&D 5E Artificer, first class since PHB. Your expectations?

[Weiley31]

I am eagerly excited to play it. Both the Artillerist and Battlesmith look and sound awesome!

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Alchemist can fit fine into a medieval setting.

Artillerist still has the turret, but it has been renamed "cannon" and you have an option to make a hand-held version instead if you prefer. It's also had it's damage buffed.

Sounds promising. Certainly this is the least-bad version of Artificer. A bit of reflavouring might even take it Dark Ages as I would like.

 

[Weiley31]

Since you can eventually get TWO cannons at some point, tbe Artillerist can have his Eldritch Boom Stick while putting down a cannon for suppressing fire/defense duties.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Sounds promising. Certainly this is the least-bad version of Artificer. A bit of reflavouring might even take it Dark Ages as I would like.

Alchemist feels more Medieval (or Greco-Roman) than Dark Age, but it might be interesting to use it instead of arcane casters for a low-magic near-historical game.

Some infusions would probably need to be barred though (I'm looking at you force crossbow).

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Alchemist feels more Medieval (or Greco-Roman) than Dark Age, but it might be interesting to use it instead of arcane casters for a low-magic near-historical game.

Some infusions would probably need to be barred though (I'm looking at you force crossbow).

Well I was thinking you could reflavour everything I've seen as a sort of Shaman, with like, the eldritch cannon being a bundle of sinew, feathers and sticks carved with ogham which unleashes blasts of magic and crawls like a spider, and so on. Sort of reverse course - the class suggests reflavouring spells as magitech devices, but on the same track in the opposite direction you can reflavour them as idols and creepy constructions and so on.

 

[Umbran]

Most notably versus your above concerns, pets are gone from all but the Battle Smith (who remains a Mega Man & Rush Archetype, especially if you go Warforged). Alchemists now instead don’t need a homunculus to heal goodly, and Artillerists are more similar to the Gunsmith from the earlier UA.

Hm. I am, as we speak, working on an Artificer from the UA version, for a game we intend to start playing on Friday. I was thinking of going either Alchemist or Battle Smith, not sure which, quite happy to see how it plays before making the choice. The changes to the Alchemist may make the choices more interesting.

 

[TwoSix]

Honestly, after years of using good homebrew classes; the published Artificer comes across as fairly anodyne.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

Alchemist feels more Medieval (or Greco-Roman) than Dark Age, but it might be interesting to use it instead of arcane casters for a low-magic near-historical game.

It originated in late classical Egypt (which in terms of elite culture was part of the western world at the time) but became an Arab thing (al kimiya, "Egyptian Science") until the high middle ages when the tradition moved back to Europe, reaching its height in the Renaissance.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

I appreciate having an Arcane half-caster and having a second intelligence class.I still don't like the Artillerist "make turrets magically appear" thing lore-wise, but at least alchemy no longer revolves around a magic bag.
Fundamentally the lack of crafting as a well-integrated part of play makes the class difficult to square and they've done a relatively good job considering.

I think I'd only ever play it as a wizard multiclass, but I appreciate it for that.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Now I am thinking, conjecturing, and if the next class will be the psionic mystic... which after and when? maybe more psionic manifesters as the soulknife. Maybe none has been chosen yet (the duskblade/swordmage?) but my suggestions are the binder with vestige pact magic and the martial adepts (crusader, swordsage and warblade).

Can artificer craft single-use magic item as tattoos, runes and talismans? A tattoo with feather fall spell could save your PC's life whe this suffers a pitfall trap.

Could a mage hand cantrip to be used for a throwing knife with returning power?