Reworking class builds for other classes

[thanson02]

Hey everyone.

Recently, my wife and I were talking about the Artificer class for 4E and she loves it, but wishes that the class received more love from WotC. We were brainstorming character ideas and one of the things she wanted to do was make an artificer character that has a mechanical construct as a companion. So far, strait forward and easy to do.

Then she decided she wanted to use it in combat....

We talked about options, but ultimately, she wants a Beastmaster Ranger who is an Artificer and has a swarm monster construct, not animals. So we figured, why not try a homebrew and see how it goes. We are in the process of reskinning the Beastmaster Ranger to be an artificer. I have never played with the Beastmaster, but I have heard that that it is the weakest of the ranger builds. Also, it sounds like my wife wants to have the build act more like a controller then a striker or a leader.

Most of my homebrewing has been on the DM side, so this is the first real rework I have done on the players side. I was wondering if there were any pointers folks had for the rework of the build so it worked with the Artificer.

 

[MwaO]

Fey Beast Tamer theme or an Int/Wis Sentinel|Artificer hybrid both do what you want it to do. Then you just need to refluff the Fey/Primal into Mechanical/Arcane. A lot less work.

And Sentinel adds a lot of controller elements - Magic Stones, Charm Beast, Wind Wall, Summon Giant Frog, etc...

 

[thanson02]

Fey Beast Tamer theme or an Int/Wis Sentinel|Artificer hybrid both do what you want it to do. Then you just need to refluff the Fey/Primal into Mechanical/Arcane. A lot less work.

And Sentinel adds a lot of controller elements - Magic Stones, Charm Beast, Wind Wall, Summon Giant Frog, etc...

See, this is why I ask.

Thank you. I will see how my wife likes that route.

Sent from my XT1096 using Tapatalk

 

[Garthanos]

Hmmm instead of instinctive behavior the construct gets a "pre-programmed response."

 

[darkbard]

I second MwaO's suggestion of Sentinel|Artificer. Recently I built a similar character, a Sentinel|Warlord, for my wife, and Sentinel actually plays better as a hybrid, IMO, than the straight class. The companion can be a full-fledged combatant, and the class brings a good degree of control powers to the build, again as MwaO notes. INT/WIS builds are fun on the Skills side, too.

EDIT: If your wife is interested in a swarm companion, refluff the Living Zephyr companion (Heroes of the Elemental Chaos).

 

[Tony Vargas]

I was going to say: look at Sentinel for a how a Leader-appropriate companion might work.

 

[darkbard]

Aye. And one of the great things about the hybrid Sentinel is the ability to grab regular Druid powers instead of being limited to the precanned (leader) choices of the Essentials class, which brings the control powers that [MENTION=6801619]thanson02[/MENTION] 's wife has indicated as her desire. All that without losing the second encounter heal when hybridized with Artificer, so the PC can still clearly fill the Leader role as such (by choosing Artificer powers or Sentinel choices where appropriate). It's a win-win, really: primary leader, strong controller secondary (through power choice).

 

[Garthanos]

I was skeptical then I re-read Fey Beast Tamer.... well I'll be skepticism gone.

 

[MwaO]

See, this is why I ask.

Thank you. I will see how my wife likes that route.

Sent from my XT1096 using Tapatalk

No problem. Any time.

 

[darkbard]

Fey Beast Tamer is the general "go to" for viable animal companion mechanics, but for what the OP has specified, I think Sentinel is the best option.