Experiences with the Artificer Class?

[MadMaxim]

I'm about to start an Eberron campaign with only two player characters (a Bard and an Artificer) and I was starting to wonder what experiences people have had with the Artificer class? I'm expecting him to be requiring a lot of downtime to make a lot of magic items and perhaps a couple of constructs for protection. I'd like some opinions from people who have actually seen the Artificer in play or played one. Thanks in advance.

 

[DevoutlyApathetic]

Planning and careful preparation are key for Artificers. Though it sounds like they're going to get deaded if much combat happens. Constructs are generally not that good. I suppose once he hits 5th he could start crafting some Effigies but they (like alot of artificer tricks) rapidly move from 'good' to 'hideously broken'.

 

[takasi]

One of my players ran one, and from his opinion they make better cohorts than PCs (especially if your PC is a warforged).

 

[Ealli]

In our campaign, the artificer has been struggling. The number of rolls required to make an attack with a wand gives ample opportunity for a failure, the rogue covers most other skill checks, and the master craftsman aspect of the artificer, while nice to have around, doesn't come up often and isn't very interesting in play. From watching him, it feels like so many of his abilities eat either gold or XP that I don't think I'd have fun with an artificer.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

I DM an Eberron game (6th level PCs), and the artificer is by far the most powerful member of the group. This is partially because he's also a warforged -- perhaps the most powerful race -- but I think artificers are the most powerful "official" PC class.

The other characters are not hyper-optimized, but they're also not scrubs -- a 6th-level half-orc ranger, a 3rd/3rd-level human fighter-rogue, a 6th-level sea spiritfolk shugenja, and a 6th-level kalashtar paladin. The warforged artificer is in a different league.

 

[Grymar]

There is a ton of bookeeping so it isn't an easy class to play, but it can be both fun and effective.

Once they can apply metamagic feats to wands at will (burning extra charges) be prepared for a fifth level artificer to be tossing out 30hp maximized fireballs round after round.

Make sure they buy each spell component and track them. Make sure you double check their math on crafting items. Make sure you track action points (they can be HUGE for artificers). At the same time, give them the down time they need to be effective. An artificer without downtime is little more than an expert.

But be careful. With enough money so they aren't worried about blowing charges you can have some frightening blasters unseen before in the game.

Finally, a 10+ level artificer with multiple constructs plus leadership will soon have a small army at his beck and call.

 

[MadMaxim]

I actually haven't had any of my players play characters capable of making magic items, so I'll be very careful with going through calculations a couple of times to make sure that they're correct.

 

[SiderisAnon]

Only Supporting Roles?

I'm about to start an Eberron campaign with only two player characters (a Bard and an Artificer) ....

In a recent campaign, one of the characters was an artificer. Even with using 3rd party rules for creating much weaker golems to help the character, the artificer was a support character. They have okay combat abilities, but they won't survive long as a front line fighter.

I think you may run into some problems with just an artificer and a bard unless you run either a low-combat game or a game where combats are more like dueling. (Think swashbuckling.) Both the bard and the artificer tend to be support characters, not front-line types, but in your game they're only going to have each other to support.

You are going to need to keep an eye on money. The artificer can be a very expensive class to play effectively. It is very easy for one to spend all their money, and then some of the other party member's money, and still not have enough.

 

[Arc]

If decently optimized, the artificer is crazy borked powerful. If a player comes to the table with an artificer past 7th level carrying more than one wand of scorching ray, be very, very worried.

Like, > 36d6 damage / round worried.

I played one for a while, it was plenty fun. I could kill anything we faced by the third round of combat, but could barely survive one round of being hit. The artificer is the epitome of a glass cannon, since the prep time required to set up his damage output replaces the normal defensive buffs a wizard casts.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

I feel compelled to point out, again, that there is no reason in the text to assume that an artificer's Metamagic Spell Trigger ability allows them to apply more than one metamagic feat to a wand per activation. No maximised empowered split scorching rays, no sir.

You might also want to disallow feats like the one found in Complete Arcane that allows a caster to use two wands at once, given that it's a special prestige class ability of the Cannith wand adept in Sharn: City of Towers.