[Eberron] What limits are there on artificers?

[Herzog]

Well an artificer requires a UMD check to use an item he creates himself

ehm. No.

an artificer has to make a UMD check for each spell to CREATE an item.
Since it is neither arcane nor divine, anyone using that item has to make a UMD check to use it, EXCEPT for the artificer himself!
Edit: on second thought, this might not be true. I'll have to look into it.

As for those who think the class is too powerfull:
Try starting one at lvl 1. Most of the time, you have no access to equipment to create scrolls, nor the time to create them.
And your infusions are really not that powerfull...

Herzog

 

[the_mighty_agrippa]

The artificer can be extremely powerful but only if that's the intent. I'm DMing one who basically does nothing. All classes can be overpowered in the right hands. I personally like the flavor of the class - it's probably the best support character. Even so, it costs a lot of money and XP to be an artificer - even with the craft reserve. Infusions cost money, item creation costs money, etc. The craft reserve generally serves as a down payment on a useful item and that's all. The fact that the reserve is use-it-or-lose-it means the PC spends a lot of time just trying to create scrolls and whatnot to avoid losing it entirely.

 

[stonegod]

I'm not sure what to do about limiting money. How do I (fairly) limit the gold the artificer gets without also limiting the gold everyone else gets (leaving them underequipped)?

If your chars are getting about the recommended gp allowance per character level, the artificer is faced w/ the choice of either sticking w/ the items given to them or sell them for half price to make new ones. In no way does that give them a lot of super powerful items very quickly.

If $$ is free, then that doesn't stop any PC from buying items out of their league.

 

[irdeggman]

an artificer has to make a UMD check for each spell to CREATE an item.
Since it is neither arcane nor divine, anyone using that item has to make a UMD check to use it, EXCEPT for the artificer himself!
Edit: on second thought, this might not be true. I'll have to look into it.
Herzog

Pg 31 of ECS:

"An artificer cannot automatically use a spell trigger or spell completion item if the equivent spell appears on his infusion list. For example, an artificer must still employ the Use Magic Device skill to use a wand of light, even though light appears on his infusion list."

 

[MarkB]

Pg 31 of ECS:

"An artificer cannot automatically use a spell trigger or spell completion item if the equivent spell appears on his infusion list. For example, an artificer must still employ the Use Magic Device skill to use a wand of light, even though light appears on his infusion list."

Or to put it another way, the only way to use spell trigger or spell completion items without making a UMD check is to have their spells on your spell list, and artificers don't have a spell list.

 

[frankthedm]

Am I missing something? Am I wrong to worry about it?

The Artificer was a class designed for a setting where players were assumed they could buy just about anything. A cosmopolitan setting where there were almost no limits and the concept of level 20 in twenty weeks was embraced.

You are not wrong to worry about it at all. You might be wrong for approving the class in the first place.

Both the more balance minded DMs in my group have said No Fragging Way to that class.