Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana Introduces The Artifcer

I don't think anyone saw this coming!

 

[Kyvin]

Perhaps a way to do infusions then would be to give artificers infusion points. Infusing a non magical weapon or armor for 1 minute would cost 1 point. Infusing it for 1 hour would cost 3, and infusing it for 8 hours would cost 5 or 6 points. Infusions could be things like giving a weapon a +1d6 elemental damage or an armor resistance to an element. As the artificer levels up, maybe they gain more powerful infusions, more infusion points, and the ability to infuse magical items as well.
That could be the core feature of the class and gadgets could be secondary.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

If you're after making more of the infusion capability, you could boost the spellcasting to 1/2 caster equivalent, give them ritual casting, but have two spell lists. The first, is a very limited list containing the spells that you can actually cast. The second, much broader list is of spells that you can use your infusion capability to create.
Or even get rid of the spellcasting capability completely and just have the infusions.

How does one infuse magic into items, but know zero magic? That's like wanting blacksmiths to not know different Ores.

Not having spellcasting slots is not the same as knowing zero magic. It just means that you apply it in a different way.

 

[mellored]

Perhaps a way to do infusions then would be to give artificers infusion points. Infusing a non magical weapon or armor for 1 minute would cost 1 point. Infusing it for 1 hour would cost 3, and infusing it for 8 hours would cost 5 or 6 points. Infusions could be things like giving a weapon a +1d6 elemental damage or an armor resistance to an element. As the artificer levels up, maybe they gain more powerful infusions, more infusion points, and the ability to infuse magical items as well.
That could be the core feature of the class and gadgets could be secondary.

That's similar to 3.5's artificer infusions.

You could temporarily (about an hour) enhance something with stuff like...

On command, the weapon (or the ammunition it launches) does +1d6 of Fire damage. (1 point)
Damage from falling, constriction, & other whole-body bludgeoning (but not weapons) is halved. (1 point)
On command, the armor looks like normal clothing, but otherwise acts normally. (1 point)
On a hit, the attack has a 5’ radius explosion that does 2d4 damage (Ref½ DC15). (2 points)
As part of a Full Attack Action, the wielder gets an extra attack at his/her best attack bonus each round. Does not stack with Haste (3 points)
The wearer is immune to any Transmutation effect that would change his/her form, such as being Polymorphed or Petrified. If the wearer fails his/her save vs. Disintegrate, the wearer is reduced to –10 hp, but the body is not turned to dust. (5 points)

You could mix and match a few lower level things or got for a big one.
That said, I approve of their effort to recylce the spell list. No need to have 3 differnt ways of giving +2 AC if you can avoid it. But I agree they don't need to have spell slots to use spells.


Their other main feature (IMO) was...
At 5th level, an artificer gains the ability to salvage the XP from a magic item and use those points to create another magic item.
Which is very much missing. You could find a +3 sword, and the artificer wouldn't even want to look at it let alone study it.

 

[JonM]

I've been studying the artificer more closely and, frankly, I'm a little baffled as to its mostly favorable reception. And even more baffled that a few people think it is too tough. Personally, I think it's kind of unfocused, far less interesting than other alchemist-type classes I have seen, and a little unbalanced (starting rather tough, depending on your archetype, and ending rather weak). In short: neat idea, uninspired implementation.Let's break this down...Artificer Specialist: I'll examine alchemy and gunsmithing, individually, below. (At least I assume it should be gunsmithing. The article sometimes says engineering.)Magic Item Analysis: Makes sense - I'd keep this one. But not terribly useful, at the point you get it. Since detect magic and identify can only be cast as rituals, at 1st and 2nd level (you get no spell slots until 3rd level), the majority of the time, you might just as well take a short rest to focus on the item and learn its properties (unless you are really desperate to know about any spells affecting the item or which spells were used to create it).Tool Expertise: Makes sense - I'd keep this one. Not terribly exciting, though, given how seldom you are likely to actually use those tool proficiencies (other than thieves' tools, of course).Wondrous Invention: Now, this one seems problematic. I know some people have freaked out about the idea of getting magic items through a class feature - "way too powerful", "completely unbalanced" and other such hyperbole. Honestly, I don't even want to know about a campaign that is so flimsy that it will come crashing down because a PC got... gasp! ...a brooch of shielding, at 15th level, or... (faints dead away) ...eyes of the eagle, at 20th level. No, the feature is not too tough (although it is fairly useful, at low level). But there are other potential problems. First, it feels kind of vague and unfinished. What happens if an item is lost? Does the PC permanently lose a class feature?(!) Given the nature of the class, shouldn't this be more flexible? Being able to scrap an item to salvage its magic for something else seems more in keeping; otherwise, the class feels more like an magic item collector, rather than a magic item maker. In general, this really needs to be fleshed out more. Second, how is this feature going to interact with how the DM handles magic items? In a "stingy" campaign, with few such items, this really might seem a bit over-powered. In a "generous" campaign, with many such items, it quickly becomes trivial, especially given how weak the high level items are ("Oh, you leveled up and got a brooch of shielding? Yeah, I found one of those eight... no, wait... nine levels ago. Can't remember where I left it...") Anyway, getting magic items should be exciting, special and fun. This... isn't.Spellcasting: I'm having trouble with this. I get that they shouldn't be on par with wizards, sorcerers and other pure spellcasters. But giving them a spell chart that is even feebler than a paladin's or ranger's? That's just... lame. I'm sure some happy medium between the two extremes would be better, especially give how short and limited the artificer spell list is, anyway. Waiting until 7th level to get 2nd level spells seems too conservative. Ditto, for waiting until 13th for 3rd level spells and 19th(!) for a single 4th level spell, from a rather short and mostly underwhelming list (actually, "conservative" is much too conservative a descriptive, in this case). I'm also left wondering, in a fluff/flavor kind of way, how the feeblest of all spellcasters are supposed to be the best of all magic item creators...Infuse Magic: Now, this feature I like - and it's one of the few that actually makes the class feel like a crafter, rather than a collector. Unfortunately, it is somewhat hampered by the strangely conservative spellcasting feature.Superior Attunement: Makes sense - no problem, here. Not as necessary as you would expect,though, given that the Windrous Invention items do not need attunement until 15th level.Mechanical Servant: This seems fun, although I would have been more inclined to make it a feature for some sort of clockworker archetype, rather than one that all artificers must take (it seems a bit specialized for some versions of the artificer, and I can imagine some players saying that it does not fit their image). Some people seem to think it is too powerful, but I'm doubtful about that. Yeah, having a mechanical giant constrictor snake or sabre-toothed tiger does seem kind of nifty, and, certainly, it is a solid ability at 6th level. But it is important to remember that it does not improve. By 8th level, this is merely handy. By 10th level, pretty underwhelming. By 12th level plus... well, the phrase "brief expendable distraction" comes to mind. I would either leave this one alone or make it scale better - start at CR 1 but improve, over time, or, at least, have the hit points slowly increase.Soul of Artifice: Potentially, over-powered (up to +6 on saves?!) but also potentially under-powered (what if the GM does not hand out a lot of attunable magic items that you care about?). Kind of unimaginative, either way. Compared to Primal Champion or Extra Attack (3) or something like that... I'm just not feeling the love.Alchemist Archetype: The Alchemist’s Satchel is just... weird. I mean, mechanically it's fine, but in-game description-wise, it's just... weird. As for the rest of it, I'm frankly underwhelmed. Every single one of your archetype "slots" gets used up by a formula; the list of choices is so short that you will end up having to take them all; and the list does not improve, as you advance in level. Most people are probably going to take Healing Draught, at 1st level. Which likely leaves Smoke Stick, Swift Step Draught, Tanglefoot Bag and Thunderstone for levels 3, 9, 14 and 17. Blech. "Hey, I just got a 9th level spell! What did you get?" "I got... a smoke stick..." Why am I picturing this spoken in Charlie Brown's voice? Honestly, even if the items were better and there were more choices, I would find the idea that every single one of my archetype "slots" is going to get used up in the same way pretty boring.Gunsmith Archetype: Master Smith is fine, if a bit yawn-inspiring (I mean, you already got a bunch of tool proficiencies, anyway, right?). Thunder Cannon actually seems a bit too tough, for 1st level. I mean, 2d6 + Dex damage, for a non-warrior type? (I assume Dex adds, since it is listed simply as a "two-handed ranged weapon.") The flavor text also makes no sense: where exactly is the "punch through armor with ease" part coming in? You guys do remember that armor affects getting hit, not taking damage, in D&D, right? Arcane Magazine seems a bit pointless. I mean, once you get 40+ charges a day, worrying about keeping track of each charge just seems like pointless nitpicking. Weren't we supposed to be getting away from that, in 5th? Anyway, after 1st level, things just get kind of boring. Every single other archetype "slot" is taken up by a gun modification. Also, while these start out pretty tough, at the highest levels, the damage is not really that exciting, compared to what a fighter with extra attacks and other such class features could do (and not even remotely close to what a high level spell could do) - especially, when you factor in that, for the highest level abilities, a successful save negates all damage, rather than halving it. Balanced? Maybe. I'm not sure. Interesting? Not especially.Summary: This class needs work. The idea is fun and interesting - the implementation, not so much. Also, there is a definite balance problem. You start out fairly solid - maybe even too tough, if you're a gunsmith. Later, you're just sort of mediocre. At high levels, you're definitely weak. The cut off point seems to be around 8th level, I think. Let's look at the situation, after that: 9th: You either get a smokestick (or whatever) or the ability to make your gun cast watered down thunderwaves that a save negates.10th: You get another 2nd level spell, from your rather weak list, and a magic item that you could easily have found four or five levels earlier.11th: You get... well, not much of anything. Oh, another 2nd level spell, from your rather weak list. At 11th level.12th: You get an ability score improvement, just like everyone else.13th: You finally get a 3rd level spell - only eight levels after the wizard did. And nothing else.14th: You get a tanglefoot bag (or whatever) or a slightly tougher gunshot that is negated by a successful save (clearly, the gunsmith is beating out the alchemist, at this point). And another badly belated 3rd level spell.15th: You can attune one more item, and you get a new, somewhat obsolete magic item, which you could have picked up nine or ten levels earlier.... and so on. But, hey, you finally get a 4th level spell at 19th level!Honestly, I think it would be very hard to resist the temptation to multiclass out of this class, after 8th or 9th level.

 

[JonM]

Sorry about the wall of text, in that last post, but my browser suddenly decided that it doesn't want to get along with EnWorld's forums, any more (vis-a-vis line breaks). Will try to fix it...

 

[Garresh]

Lost my partial reply. Anyways your analysis is pretty good, but you have to keep in mind some people like to be unfocused with regards to what they do. Kinda mixed up dabblers, and nothing fits that more than an alchemist or tinkerer or artificer. Anyways the specifics need work, but the thematics are great.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

A smith could know ore without knowing where or how to dig for it.

Similarly, an artificer might be able to learn the fireball spell, but not have any spell slot to cast it.
They could instead use that knowledge to make a wand of fireball. Recylcing it later to make a wand of meteor swarm.

Which would fit pretty well IMO.

Agreed. They just need some sort of rituals-only casting for stuff like identify (the Magical Analysis feature is perfect). Magic item creation is, in effect, a really big ritual.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

The more I think about it...

Am I right to be concerned about the alchemist's limited range? The pathfinder's version didn't have much range either, but it was more like 100 feet or so, not 30. When I first read the class I didn't really clue in on this but now it seems awfully short.

Well, they are just throwing stuff. Most thrown stuff in the PHB (like acid and alchemist fire) actually has a 20-foot range, so the writers are being generous by giving them 30. And given their sustained damage potential (their acid is 3E eldritch blast), keeping them in the danger zone might not be such a bad thing.

 

[Ancalagon]

Sorry about the wall of text, in that last post, but my browser suddenly decided that it doesn't want to get along with EnWorld's forums, any more (vis-a-vis line breaks). Will try to fix it...

I hope you can, you seemed to have a lot of good points but the formatting made it challenging to read.

I have to say that I do agree with you that the level 1-4 spellcasting (with no cantrips) is underwhelming. It should be level 1-5, or maybe even the old level 1-6 from 3.X

It feels like this would be a good character to play for a "medium" length campaign, from low to mid levels (say 3-9), but at higher levels the character might become a bit boring or underwhelming...

 

[Valetudo]

Im a fan of giving them a ritual list.