It would probably help to see what you're doing with those skills, yeah. Clearly you're adding firearms - should artificers get some abilities based around that?
My experience running a game for an artificer suggested that they don't normally have a lot to do in combat, unless they want to use a wand each action, and that gets expensive quite quickly. I would seriously consider giving them a "blasting rod" type power, similar in concept to the Alchemist's bomb from the Advanced Player's Guide. The other option would be to boost the homunculus class feature they get so it's more in line with a druid's animal companion or (more likely) a Summoner's eidolon.
Both of those could be given a steampunkish flavor pretty easily. The blasting rod could simply be a primitive firearm that only artificers use regularly, or just proficiency with an uncommon and effective weapon. The homunculus could easily be their steampunk guardian that they've built and modified to suit their liking.
Munitions (Dex; Trained Only)
Use this skill to handle, place, or disable gunpowder
explosives with safety and accuracy,
and to reload and maintain firearms.
Check:
Any action involving an explosive
requires a skill check.
Disable simple explosive:
You can disarm a
simple explosive or bomb that is not trapped.
Generally, this task involves little more than
cutting a fuse or putting out a slow-burning
match. If you have 5 or more ranks in Disable
Device, you gain a +2 synergy bonus on the
Munitions check.
Set fuse:
You safely set the fuse on a gunpowder
explosive so that it detonates after one
round.
Place explosive:
You set a gunpowder charge at
the correct location to produce the maximum
effect on a structure or other object. You must
still set the fuse to determine when the explosive
will detonate.
Set timed fuse length:
This use of the skill
allows you to set a fuse so that an explosive
detonates at a predetermined time. Asuccessful
skill check indicates that the explosive goes off
during your initiative on the designated round.
A failure on the skill check means that the
explosive fails to detonate, goes off early, or
detonates later than desired. The following
table indicates what happens on a failed skill
check.
d20 Round of Detonation
1–4 Explosive fails to go off
5–8 Two rounds early
9–12 One round early
13–16 One round late
17–20 Two rounds late
Make complex explosive:
This use of the skill
represents the construction of a trapped explosive,
rigged to prevent disarming attempts.
Construction takes at least 1 minute, but
depending on the size and composition of the
bomb and the trap, more time may be required
at the DM’s discretion. If you have 5 or more
ranks in Craft (trapmaking), you gain a +2 synergy
bonus on skill checks for this task.
Disable complex explosive:
Use this skill task
when trying to disarm an explosive specifically
trapped to discourage tampering. You must
make an opposed Munitions skill check against
the character that made the trapped explosive.
A standard complex explosive is DC 20, but
more exotic or complicated bombs may be
even more difficult.
Quick Reload:
You can make a Munitions
check to reload your firearms faster. If you have 5 or more ranks in
Concentration, you get a +2 synergy bonus to
Munitions checks to reload a firearm.
Special:
If you fail to disable a trapped explosive
by more than 5, the explosive detonates
immediately. You can make a Reflex save
(explosive’s DC + 5) for half damage.
101
Munitions
Task DC Action Required
Disable simple explosive 10 Standard action
Set fuse 15 Standard action
Place explosive 15 Full-round action
Set timed fuse length 20 Standard action
Make complex explosive 25 Variable, see below
Disable complex explosive Opposed Full-round action
Quick reload (matchlock) 15 Full-round action
Quick reload (flintlock) 20 Standard action
Use Steamcraft Device (Int)
Use this skill to operate complex mechanical devices, such as steam engines, and other machines.
Check:
You need this skill because such technology
is rare and exotic or if you want to
attempt an advanced or specialized task.
Retry:
Depending on the situation, you can
retry as often as you like. However, in some
cases, the situation or the specific device you
are using will prevent further attempts.
--
Those are modified from Sorcery and Steam, which I am using as my "base". As I noted before, Steam is Ancient Technology, so go with that where you will. I wanna limit the use of firearms to lower level characters. They're powerful and expensive. Most of said ancient technology cannot be reproduced...or rather the modern world hasn't figured it out yet.
Digger's Society or Order of Studious Archeologists
A group concerned with the excavation and study of ancient technology. In order to "dig", you must have the proper license given by the OSA.
--
If you have Sorcery and Steam, maybe leaf through it or obtain a pdf and check it out. There's an Artificer class in it, but I feel it is horribly lacking.
