D&D 5E Refluffing the Artificer

[Laurefindel]

I have a campaign setting where all spellcasting classes have been re-fluffed and I'm looking to refluff the artificer that didn't exist at the time (in an official published version at any case). Refluffing is the point of the setting; a creative exercise where the PHB classes and races are refluffed as much as possible without changing any of the abilities except in name and concept. The game mechanics needs to remain unchanged.

The setting itself is human-only, kind of a mythic-Europe-meets-Miasaky mashup where spirits exist everywhere and are part of everyone's daily life. There are several types of greater spirits and multiple types of lesser nature spirits, some warring among themselves, some exiled in the mortal's world for crimes they committed in the Shadowlands. Here are the other classes as examples:

Bard = Enchanter (Merlin-like). One of the oldest (and forgotten) magical tradition. Colleges are refluffed as roads, as enchanters travel to recollect bits of broken spells and powers through legends and folklore.
Cleric = Witch (Miyasaki-style). Witches are your local potion brewer and apothecary tending to the nature spirits and through them, ensuring the health of the earth. Domains are types of nature spirits.
Druid = Mage. Mages channel the powers of the greater spirits and once ruled the continent, sometimes as despotic and cruel kings and queens. Circles are different courts of greater spirits.
Paladin = Runecaster. A semi-religious viking-like gish combining power of runes and martial prowess. Oaths are different gods of the old faith that were rewarded with the secrets of runes when they sided with the dwarves against the giants in their mythology.
Ranger = Marauder. Once they were the servant knights of the mages but now that the order of the mages is broken, these knights have become roamers and bandits with diminished powers. Conclaves are knightly chapters.
Sorcerer = Harbinger. They are mortals inhabited by celestials, fiends, and other otherworldly beings not from the Shadowlands. Heritages are (moslty) single entities.
Warlock = Changeling. Spirits substituted with human babies growing up as humans and discovering their (spirit) powers. Becoming mortal is part of the deal of child-stealing; as the warlock grows, they transform into monsters (patrons).
Wizard = Academician. The least original refluff of the lot (but serves the setting right), academicians is magic democratised through school. Independant from spirits and otherworldly being, they overthrew the mage orders to bring the world in an era of reason. Schools are subjects in the academy, mostly the octovium (eight schools of the PHB).

So now i'm looking for ideas as for what the artificer could become.

 

[jmartkdr2]

My first thought was runecaster, honestly, though the artificer wouldn't be devoted to the gods the runes are channeling.

Maybe something more like a spellthief? They learn specific tricks and rituals that siphon power from various entities, but without the entity's knowledge or permission (which means if they get caught they could be in trouble.) This is much easier/safer to do through enchanting items, so that's where they tend to focus.

The other idea would be a more deeply Shinto-inspired mage who learns to awaken and work with the spirits of mundane objects. You could add in prayer-scrolls for regular spells.

In either case, their spellcasting could be reflavored as essentially making wands each day for the spells they've prepared. (Except they work like regular spell slots and they aren't always stick-shaped.)

 

[Kurotowa]

How about Puppeteers? All the Artificer subclasses are animating helpers of some kind, a steel defender or eldritch cannon or homunculus. So make them a class of toymakers and tinkerers who can imbue their creations with life and obsess over their trinkets so much they can pull a spark of magic from them.

 

[Stoutstien]

Totemic binder. You channel a little bit of magic into items that bind minor spirits and use them to power your spells and infusions.

 

[Laurefindel]

My first thought was runecaster, honestly, though the artificer wouldn't be devoted to the gods the runes are channeling.

Maybe something more like a spellthief? They learn specific tricks and rituals that siphon power from various entities, but without the entity's knowledge or permission (which means if they get caught they could be in trouble.) This is much easier/safer to do through enchanting items, so that's where they tend to focus.

The other idea would be a more deeply Shinto-inspired mage who learns to awaken and work with the spirits of mundane objects. You could add in prayer-scrolls for regular spells.

In either case, their spellcasting could be reflavored as essentially making wands each day for the spells they've prepared. (Except they work like regular spell slots and they aren't always stick-shaped.)

I think if i had to redo it all the artificer would have been the runecaster as it feel a natural transition to the artificer (although im not sure what i would have done out of the paladin).

I also like the idea of a binder/puppeteer

 

[jgsugden]

I'd be looking at them as 'Da Vinci' style inventors that infuse their constructions with elemental spirits. There are obvious parallels to Eberron, but the feel could be quite different. I'm imagining a group inspired by Greek Mythos Equivalent Lore that infuses science and elemental magic into creations that change the world.