Artificer UA to be released in February

I don't think there is a bunker strong enough to endure the fanbase exploding over this.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

So long as this version doesn't have an infinite bottle factory...

I think it's generally assumed everyone has infinite ammo now, as I feel many groups don't want to count how many arrows, bolts, bullets, etc they're carrying.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

So I spend a hour throwing 600 acid flasks, creating an impenetrable barrier of broken glass....

 

[Gradine]

So I spend a hour throwing 600 acid flasks, creating an impenetrable barrier of broken glass....

It's also generally assumed we care as much if not more about the spirit of the rules than the exact letter.

 

[CrimsonCarcharodon]

Another viewpoint is that after five long years WotC still haven't managed to publish a single new class.

So what? We're not entitled to new classes. They've put out UA versions of the artificer and mystic, and there are dozens of third-party publishers putting out new classes online. Who cares that WotC hasn't thrown a glut of classes at us again?

 

[Leatherhead]

That's a really interesting point. It touches on (my view of) the essential problem with the Warlord class as well - that it was built to fulfil a rules niche, not a story niche, meaning that it is not simply a case of finding the best way to do its story in the new rules set. You could say that Rangers and Sorcerers have the same problem but to a much lesser extent.

I know it's a month out, and this thread has technically risen from it's grave, However...

Both the Cleric(Priest) and the Rogue(Thief) out of the "Core Four" were primarily made to fulfill a rules niche.
The Cleric was created explicitly to counter undead characters from ruining everything, with the added bonus of speeding up recovery time.
And Rogues were created to have a gimmicky non-combat character who countered the traps that were everywhere.

Nowadays, we realize the problems with fixing such problems by introducing a new class. Rogues no longer have the monopoly on dealing with traps, locks, and skills in general. And fast healing is the default rule (despite the grumblings of Grognards).

Quite frankly, I think the game would be better off if the Rogue was folded into the Fighter, and the Cleric was turned into subclasses for the other classes. Heck, we are more than halfway there with the Cleric already!.

As for my view on the essential problem with the Warlord: It's the latest culprit in a long line of perpetrators that robs the Fighter of some cool thing that they should be able to do, and quarantines it off into it's own class.

 

[ad_hoc]

Yeah, can't blame WotC for nature.

Well we can blame Western civilization for that one.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Given that there was a new announcement about exactly when in February the UA would be release, I don't think accusations of necromancy are valid.

I would say the thief class was added to fill a story niche, not a rules niche. The thief archetype was quite common in the Conan stories and the other swords and sorcery pulp fiction that inspired D&D.

And then the proliferation of locks and traps was added as a consequence, to justify the inclusion of a thief in the party.

The cleric was added to fill a rules niche though - can't think of many examples of the archetype in stories, apart from a couple of villains.

The Artificer is interesting, because it fills a story niche, but not one that existed at the time D&D was originally created. It arose later, along with the Steampunk genre.

The Warlord was created to specifically fill a rules niche in the 4e rules. Without 4e it's niche disappears.

 

[CapnZapp]

Good, caution is the better part of valor.

If you aren't just trolling, and really believe five years between class additions is a reasonable development span, boy are you out of touch.

 

[CapnZapp]

So what? We're not entitled to new classes. They've put out UA versions of the artificer and mystic, and there are dozens of third-party publishers putting out new classes online. Who cares that WotC hasn't thrown a glut of classes at us again?

Strawman after strawman.

One class is not a glut. Nobody talked about entitlement. Putting out UA counts for very little.

 

[NaturalZero]

The Artificer is interesting, because it fills a story niche, but not one that existed at the time D&D was originally created. It arose later, along with the Steampunk genre.

I kinda feel like the broad strokes of the artificer do actually pre-date DnD. I think about Hephaestus creating robots and mechanical golden women in greek myth and medieval alchemists creating homonculi and "magic" formulas, for example.