Reflavoring the artificer

[nilang]

I'm starting a new 4E campaign and one of the players plans to be an artificer. But he isn't a big fan of the gadgeteering/ steampunk feel of the class and wants to reflavor it into some kind of runecaster wizard.

The class is all about clockwork constructs, potions, infusions and magical item crafting, so I'm looking for ideas to help make it into something more interesting than just "I inscribe a rune at the item/ potion/ whatever and that's it".

Any good idea?

 

[Pour]

You could go the route of a Native American, Asian, or Viking animism, to say that all animate and inanimate objects contain a soul. Your PC's artificer-animist is really just waking that soul, and subsequently that power, through touch, runes, voice, and/or will. Constructs become woken items, from a shambling wardrobe to a woken fountain statue; potions become the woken healing potential of water, or the fortifying essence of whiskey or chicken soup; infusions are the waking of power in allies, and crafting the waking of power in their gear and weapons, manifested any number of ways: your PC's burning runes flickering along the metal, the objects developing a temporary personality of their own- a face, laughing, humanoid or animal aspects [paws, legs, shell, horns].

Take it one step further if you want and allow social skill checks to quicken or slow access to some of this, a Diplomacy to appeal to an oak for assistance, an Intimidate to scare the poison from an ally's veins, a Bluff to coax a cell door open.

Hah, typing this I actually want to play an artificer now...

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

I have an artificer running through a 4e-ized version of the Savage Tide adventure series. I made the character an Elven bow artificer, using the magic to enhance her archery skills. Works well enough, and there is some support for it.

I am currently running a viking-themed campaign right now and most of the artificer stuff can easily be refluffed in a viking motif. The culture is all about rune magic, and since the class works pretty well in melee, fits in without issue. The biggest problem in either case is restricting yourself to powers that you can easily refluff. It might be hard to reflavour a construct with a viking theme and have it actually make sense, but it is possible, I'm sure. Ancestor spirits might work.

I have another fellow player in a different game that made one fluffed as a voodoo practitioner. His constructs were little dolls or vaguely humanoid shaped bundles of sticks and the like. Worked well enough.

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Take it one step further if you want and allow social skill checks to quicken or slow access to some of this, a Diplomacy to appeal to an oak for assistance, an Intimidate to scare the poison from an ally's veins, a Bluff to coax a cell door open.

I would be careful with this - you are really stepping onto the toes of rituals, and allowing such without spending resources. Which is fine if that's the direction you want to go with rituals generally, but not so much if you are allowing one character to do all kinds of cool stuff that the others can't.

That said, its an awesome way of fluffing ritual casting for the "non-artifact" artificer (or a bard/druid/shaman more generally)... just because no bluff roll is required for the knock ritual doesn't mean you can't describe it that way.

 

[Kannik]

For an artificer I am playing in a Forgotten Realms game I created it as a dwarven runecaster, much in the spirit of the description of forging Aegis Fang from the Crystal Shard (ie, binding and shaping arcane potential through specific rune and name-forms). His healing infusions are small stone tablets inscribed with runes that he breaks to activate them. Arcane Empowerment and Arcane Rejuvenation have him painting/inscribing runes onto the party member's armour and weapons. The Punishing Eye power is a giant floating rune when activated. His crossbow is partially made of stone, with runes deeply inscribed, that he activates by tracing them with a reagent dusted finger to activate his magic weapon or other special shots, and some of his bolts are themselves specially inscribed (daily powers).

It works great flavour-wise, and fits right in with the feel of FR.

peace,

Kannik