D&D 5E Does the Artificer Suck?

[NotAYakk]

Hat of disguise & weapon of warning along with many other things are also on that same table.

Yes, the weapon of warning; immunity to surprise, advantage on initiative (worth more in most fights than +1 to hit/damage), and also penetrates "resist nonmagical BPS".

Hat of Disguise, which (barring a high magic world where there is constant truesight/detect magic spam) impersonate almost anyone, carry weapons almost anywhere, etc. You can step into a corner and come out someone else, all day long.

Pretty major magical power. Even half decent for combat; if you are roughly the same size as your foes, you can mimic any one of them and pull off a pretty good ambush.

I can see how the +1 greatsword is way less impactful. It is mostly just a slightly sharper sword. I mean, it does swing damage and accuracy a bit, and in the hands of a GWM -5/+10 that bonus accuracy can be big.

Honestly, to me, the main advantage of +1 weapons is that they don't require an attunement slot. At low levels this doesn't matter; eventually, running out of attunement slots isn't all that rare in most games.

 

[Umbran]

As for the spell scrolls themselves, a handful of them really do go a long way.

Again, I haven't seem much call to make 1st level spells into scrolls. And the character's 8th level, so he's two levels away from getting that time and cost reduction, so each 2nd level scroll would cost him 250 gp, which ain't peanuts.

 

[Stoutstien]

Again, I haven't seem much call to make 1st level spells into scrolls. And the character's 8th level, so he's two levels away from getting that time and cost reduction, so each 2nd level scroll would cost him 250 gp, which ain't peanuts.

shield and AE are the big ones once you get to 10. i see you tend to run with a crossbow so having the free hand for scroll not even a big deal.

Second level scrolls are a bigger investment so spells that you doubt you ever need but really need them when you need them, like seeing invisibility and rope trick, really shine here.

Lv eight is a rough spot for the artificer but every level following is amazing.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

No. They're great. They don't suck, and they're not OP.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

As long as one of his infusions is his sword (or shield) he can cast most spells on his list with his hands full.

The only one he cant cast is Shield and he should have Warcaster to be able to pop that off.

Actually, using the updated Artificer from Tasha's, all Artificer spells have Material components, so a Sword and Board Battle Smith can cast Shield as long as they're holding an infused item.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

shield and AE are the big ones once you get to 10. i see you tend to run with a crossbow so having the free hand for scroll not even a big deal.

Second level scrolls are a bigger investment so spells that you doubt you ever need but really need them when you need them, like seeing invisibility and rope trick, really shine here.

Lv eight is a rough spot for the artificer but every level following is amazing.

I can't see Shield and Absorb elements being useful as scrolls, unless you also have a houserule in place to change the activation time into a reaction as the spells are. Scrolls take an action to use, and both of those spells lose a lot of usefulness if you can't use them reactively.

 

[NotAYakk]

I can't see Shield and Absorb elements being useful as scrolls, unless you also have a houserule in place to change the activation time into a reaction as the spells are. Scrolls take an action to use, and both of those spells lose a lot of usefulness if you can't use them reactively.

Huh? "Casting the spell by reading the scroll requires the spell’s normal Casting Time".

 

[tetrasodium]

Huh? "Casting the spell by reading the scroll requires the spell’s normal Casting Time".

Not that it looks like

Spoiler: dmg139

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

So, @Zardnaar, it appears that the problems have been pointed out. You were a bit too generous with magic items, made some mistakes with spellcasting rules, forgot to keep track of spell slots, and rolled for stats.

The last two issues are the biggest problems. I'm generous with giving magic items in my campaigns, even in the ones with Artificers. I've also made mistakes with the casting rules, which makes minor issues but doesn't ruin the game, IMO.

However, if your players forget how to (accurately) keep track of spell slots, that will create major complications in the game, especially with paladins. I cannot stress this enough. If a paladin uses a spell slot to Misty Step, they can't use that spell slot to Divine Smite.

Additionally, if you use rolled stats, you are not allowed to complain about balance differences between characters. That is the whole point in playing with rolling for stats. If you use 4d6-lowest or any other stat-rolling system, you have to be prepared to have characters with vastly different power ranges. If you want the characters to be balanced amongst each other, use Point Buy/Standard Array.

 

[NotAYakk]

Not that it looks like

Spoiler: dmg139

View attachment 131538

Must be missing errata or something in your screenshot?

Spell Scroll

A spell scroll bears the words of a single spell, written in a mystical cipher. If the spell is on your class’s spell list, you can read ...

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