Okay, so we are playing Age of Worms in Greyhawk with 5 PCs, one of whom is a human Artificer. We just finished the Blackwall Keep adventure and are taking a couple of weeks of downtime before heading off to the big city. Half the party just made 7th level, and the other half is about another session away.
The problem is that the Artificer has been very weak in combat. Like, he'll shoot off missiles from his CL-1 wand of magic missiles. Or he'll use a level 1 scroll. Now, he's not completely useless. Occasionally he'll make good use of the Spell-Storing Infusion or come up with just the right scroll. However, it always seems like he would be better off if he were just a wizard or something. Physically, with a 10 strengh, d6 hitpoints, and no feats invested in combat he's not much when it comes to hitting things with his mace. That leaves magic.
Part of this is probably that he has been very generous spending his time crafting things for various members of the party, charging us 3/4 the book value. Another part has been a certain lack of downtime. I mean, he's gotten himself a Dedicated Wright homoculus, but when an entire adventure (and two level gains) happens over a week, that's not much time.
Finally, there's been a lack of raw cash. I don't mean that the DM has been stinting us on treasure. Far from it! My record-keeping shows that party members have from 20,000 to 38,000 (or so) worth of magical items each, when the suggested treasure value for 7th level characters is 19,000. (The wide range is because of a Shocking, Returning, +1 Trident and a Ring of Minor Spellstoring found items that are throwing off the total balance with their high book value.)
However, we've been keeping out found magic treasure instead of selling it, because normally somebody can make use of it. So that's less cash for the artificer to play with.
I'm looking for suggestions to give the player. I've always heard how Artificers are supposed to be this incredibly powerful class, but I'm not seeing it come together for him. Maybe things will change once he gets Craft Wand at 7th.
The latest suggestion has been to let him switch out his 6th level feat for Leadership and get a construct cohort to use his best infusions on. However, this is a Greyhawk game and I'm not sure we want to have a warforged running around. Are there any constructs suitable for Leadership that better fit the Greyhawk feel?
The problem is that the Artificer has been very weak in combat. Like, he'll shoot off missiles from his CL-1 wand of magic missiles. Or he'll use a level 1 scroll. Now, he's not completely useless. Occasionally he'll make good use of the Spell-Storing Infusion or come up with just the right scroll. However, it always seems like he would be better off if he were just a wizard or something. Physically, with a 10 strengh, d6 hitpoints, and no feats invested in combat he's not much when it comes to hitting things with his mace. That leaves magic.
Part of this is probably that he has been very generous spending his time crafting things for various members of the party, charging us 3/4 the book value. Another part has been a certain lack of downtime. I mean, he's gotten himself a Dedicated Wright homoculus, but when an entire adventure (and two level gains) happens over a week, that's not much time.
Finally, there's been a lack of raw cash. I don't mean that the DM has been stinting us on treasure. Far from it! My record-keeping shows that party members have from 20,000 to 38,000 (or so) worth of magical items each, when the suggested treasure value for 7th level characters is 19,000. (The wide range is because of a Shocking, Returning, +1 Trident and a Ring of Minor Spellstoring found items that are throwing off the total balance with their high book value.)
However, we've been keeping out found magic treasure instead of selling it, because normally somebody can make use of it. So that's less cash for the artificer to play with.
I'm looking for suggestions to give the player. I've always heard how Artificers are supposed to be this incredibly powerful class, but I'm not seeing it come together for him. Maybe things will change once he gets Craft Wand at 7th.
The latest suggestion has been to let him switch out his 6th level feat for Leadership and get a construct cohort to use his best infusions on. However, this is a Greyhawk game and I'm not sure we want to have a warforged running around. Are there any constructs suitable for Leadership that better fit the Greyhawk feel?