Artificers and Psionics

[Grue]

If the world is based on a mastery of ARCANE magic (almost a direct quote from the "things to know" intro for the campaign setting book), why can artificers do divine items and effects when there is no reason within the back story of the game that they would have master of divine magic.

This is of course assuming that artificers can do divine items.

DC

Artificers can definitely do divine items. See page 30 of the ECS under 'Role' for the Artificer class description. Scribing a scroll of barkskin is specifically mentioned as an example.

As for the metaphysics Eberron's magic system, I think there are a couple of threads on the Eberron boards that touch on it but I haven't seen anything definitive either from the Eberron team or from the ECS except the statement that an artificer's infusions are neither arcane nor divine and the artificer is not a spellcaster. It is definitely inferred in the Artificer class description that their approach to magic is very mechanical.

To me this suggests that to get to an end product the artificer strings together a series of basic magical processes (that aren't inaccessible to non-spellcasters) like cogs. That the goal is to simulate the effect not duplicate the process a wizard or cleric uses to cast spells by using what or more or less a circuit of 'little cantrips' to create a more complex effect. So when an artificer infuses an item to produce cure serious wounds he isn't focusing divine faith to get to the end result, he's using his own process to get to the end result that simulates the same effect as a cure serious wounds spell.