D&D 5E The Maverick (Exploring Eberron)

[Kurotowa]

At 8th level the Maverick only has cantrips, 1st and 2nd level spells.

Wizard, he be rocking cantrips, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th level spells. Looks like more versatility to me.

The Artificer has infusions, can cast Cantrips from both the Artificer and Wizard lists, can freely swap Cantrips on a short rest and can do so instantly once a day, and in addition to their Artificer spells can prepare one 1st and one 2nd level spell picked from the entire Wizard spell list, and can even change which those Wizard spells are every day instead of being locked in like most subclasses are.

That sure sounds strong to me. But maybe you don't see it that way. Maybe it doesn't fit your playstyle, maybe it doesn't fit into your group's campaign style. That's okay. It isn't for you. Not everything has to be. It's a fairly specialized and niche subclass. Complaining that it's not as strong as a full caster is missing the point by a mile.

 

[Gradine]

We're also forgetting that the Maverick at this point also has:

Medium Armor and Shield
D8 Hit Dice
Tool Expertise
Six Artificer Infusions
Access to Three Class Spell-Lists (Artificer and 2 others)

That's a whole lot of versatility outside of and beyond spellcasting.

Plus, 9th level brings the Maverick to whole other level of versatility, being able to swap out a prepared spell on the fly, and up-casting 3rd level spells to 5th level. Oh, and access to a FOURTH class spell list.

I daresay your problem is not with the Maverick specifically, which has some of the most exceptional versatility in the game. Your problem is with half-casters in general, and their perceived deficiency compared to full casters. Which isn't totally unfair, but 5e is not 3.X; full casters are not the overwhelming dominating forces they once were.

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

Looks like a great pick for games that emphasis exploration and politics. For combat heavy games, the artificer has stronger options available.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

What I mean is that, at a given level of spell, the Wizard spell list is generally the largest because they have the extra filter of needing to learn specific spells before they can prepare them. But a Maverick is a prepared caster, so if they select Wizard than they can pick their 1st level Breakthrough spell from the entire Wizard spell list without needing to learn any of them.

True, but they might prefer to pilfer lesser-used spells from lists like the Ranger and Paladin.
Of course they may decide to do both.

We're also forgetting that the Maverick at this point also has:

Medium Armor and Shield
D8 Hit Dice
Tool Expertise
Six Artificer Infusions
Access to Three Class Spell-Lists (Artificer and 2 others)

That's a whole lot of versatility outside of and beyond spellcasting.

Noteworthy that they have no reason not to make one of those infusions a homunculus, which gives a little boost in at-will combat power.

I daresay your problem is not with the Maverick specifically, which has some of the most exceptional versatility in the game. Your problem is with half-casters in general, and their perceived deficiency compared to full casters. Which isn't totally unfair, but 5e is not 3.X; full casters are not the overwhelming dominating forces they once were.

I think that the issue is that the other half-casters, Rangers and Paladins, are both classes with very effective martial and other options, which they supplement with their limited spellcasting.
The Maverick Artificer however is built mostly around using its spell slots to cast spells, but it still does not do this as well as an actual full-caster class.

 

[Kurotowa]

I think that the issue is that the other half-casters, Rangers and Paladins, are both classes with very effective martial and other options, which they supplement with their limited spellcasting.
The Maverick Artificer however is built mostly around using its spell slots to cast spells, but it still does not do this as well as an actual full-caster class.

You may not be wrong. That's the thing with third party material, it doesn't get nearly the same degree of testing and revision. None of the first party Artificer subclasses focus on spellcasting. It's there are as support pillar and then the subclass gives you the meat of what you're actually doing. Artificer is a class with a lot of its power budget free for the subclass to distribute, and I can't help but feel that the two in ExE come up short in that regard.

So don't take my posts as an endorsement of the Maverick as it plays, but rather the Maverick as its explicitly presented design intent lies.

 

[ChaosOS]

As a playtester, I'll give the context that the Maverick is specifically Keith's baby and has been playing a gnome maverick since January or December. The subclass is intended to reflect one of the book characters, Lei. I'm not going to deny it's definitely weaker in combat than the others, but at least in Keith's home game the flexibility was deemed sufficient.

 

[MarkB]

True, but they might prefer to pilfer lesser-used spells from lists like the Ranger and Paladin.
Of course they may decide to do both.

Noteworthy that they have no reason not to make one of those infusions a homunculus, which gives a little boost in at-will combat power.

I think that the issue is that the other half-casters, Rangers and Paladins, are both classes with very effective martial and other options, which they supplement with their limited spellcasting.
The Maverick Artificer however is built mostly around using its spell slots to cast spells, but it still does not do this as well as an actual full-caster class.

I was wondering whether the SCAG Blade cantrips would be a good fit for the maverick. Their bonus to attack rolls with cantrips should apply to the weapon attacks, and would stack with any bonuses they'd get from using magic weapons.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

We're also forgetting that the Maverick at this point also has:

Medium Armor and Shield
D8 Hit Dice
Tool Expertise
Six Artificer Infusions
Access to Three Class Spell-Lists (Artificer and 2 others)

All artificers get that, as well as subclass abilities that seem much more effective and useful to me. Frankly, you don't need armour, shield and hp unless you are gishing, and the maverick does not look like a gish to me. You can get most of the Maverick benefit by taking Arcane Initiate: Wizard.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I was wondering whether the SCAG Blade cantrips would be a good fit for the maverick. Their bonus to attack rolls with cantrips should apply to the weapon attacks, and would stack with any bonuses they'd get from using magic weapons.

You could get these and shillelagh for INT attacks.
But so far as I can see, the Blade cantrips are melee weapon attacks, not melee spell attacks, and therefore do not benefit from the Maverick's to hit bonus.
A Battle Smith can do the same with Magic Initiate feat, and gets a robot dog as well.
And I can't see that selecting the druid spell list has much to offer apart from the one cantrip.

Which spells are actually worth going Maverick for (as opposed to Arcane Initiate) was something I was hoping to get from this thread. So far INT shillelagh seems to be about it.

 

[TwoSix]

You could get these and shillelagh for INT attacks.
But so far as I can see, the Blade cantrips are melee weapon attacks, not melee spell attacks, and therefore do not benefit from the Maverick's to hit bonus.
A Battle Smith can do the same with Magic Initiate feat, and gets a robot dog as well.
And I can't see that selecting the druid spell list has much to offer apart from the one cantrip.

Which spells are actually worth going Maverick for (as opposed to Arcane Initiate) was something I was hoping to get from this thread. So far INT shillelagh seems to be about it.

No, you're right, that subclass is pretty much shite. I overlooked it because I prefer Kibbles Artificer to the official one, but giving it a second glance, it's really bad. It seems to be built on the assumption that there's some sort of multi-spell list shenanigans you can get into because everyone thinks Bard's Magical Secrets are so good. It forgets that Bard Magical Secrets are so good because it's a full caster, so you're getting those bonus spells when they do the most good.

At a minimum, the 15th level feature (extra spells) should be folded into the 3rd level feature. The "ongoing benefits" clause has to go, grabbing fun spells like find steed and find familiar should be part of the point. I'd roll the cantrip specialist and cantrip savant feature together at 5. Make the action cantrip swap a short rest feature, and tack on a potent cantrip effect (+Int to cantrip damage) as well. Superior Breakthrough at 9 is a good powerup combined with the extra slots from the level 3 feature as I proposed. The 15th level capstone should give you the ability to prepare a 6th and 7th level spell from your Breakthrough lists, and you gain an 8th level at level 18. Add all that, and it becomes an OK, but not awesome, subclass.