Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana Introduces The Artifcer

I don't think anyone saw this coming!

 

[Leatherhead]

Sure, but even if "mass-produced magic items" is essential to the setting, what does that really mean for players. It is not as though PCs were walking into the game head to toe in +5 magic gear, what the party had was still limited to work within the system. Magic trains and ancient races built by magi-tech doesn't have much impact mechanically on a 1st level adventuring party, and things that might are not impossible to tweak. Is this abundance of magic items necessarily linked to +X items, or is that just the system it was designed for. How many +X items can 5e handle with some rules tweaks?

Heck, keeping atunement in place, or tweaking it could go a long way to dealing with these issues. Obviously things like this will be a change but they need not lose the flavour of the original setting.

Anyways, somewhat off-topic, I see your point but also potential solutions.

It was more that all the "Quality of life" magics and items are abundant and commonplace. Mass production, disposable soldiers grown in a matter of weeks instead of years, guards with vision-enhancing tools, low level wands for everything and especially shooting stuff sold over the counter, light sources and environmental controls like AC units everywhere, enhanced food production and storage, transpiration (alternatives to planes, trains, and automobiles. Also teleportation), cure magic common enough so that the people can buy it, communication and encryption, spying, entertainment, banking and storage, prospecting, private detectives, animal husbandry for enhanced beasts of burden.

Basically, if it was a thing in the 1900's (wow, that's a sentence I never thought I would say), except for guns, the internet, and spaceships, it's in Eberron in some fashion. And I'm not too sure about the spaceships.

It also means anyone of any worth is going to have some magic weapons and armor, but that's true of most D&D settings.

 

[Queer Venger]

At last, this is a class that is much in need in my Forgotten Realms campaigns; I can see followers of Gond and societies like Lantan and Nimbral having predilection for multi-classing in this
.

 

[Aldarc]

At last, this is a class that is much in need in my Forgotten Realms campaigns; I can see followers of Gond and societies like Lantan and Nimbral having predilection for multi-classing in this
.

Yeah it works great for Forgotten Realms, Golarion, or Matt Mercer's campaign, but sadly this does not appear to be an Artificer designed for Eberron.

 

[Gardens & Goblins]

Interesting - will try to include them in our new setting.

[sblock]Currently we've re-fluffed wizards as Scientists, using all manner of mechamagical devices as arcane focuses, including hand held blasting devices. As such, this Arcanist doesn't bring much to our specficic table, other than an in-built pet and some nifty tricks relying on specific magical items.

Still, this arcanist could be used to represent the society many many generations into the future, where magical experimentation has become heavily codified, widely accessible to many through formal training, but at the cost of the mightier effects that come/came from experimentation and innovation (higher level spells).

Hmm... [/sblock]

 

[TwoSix]

Yeah it works great for Forgotten Realms, Golarion, or Matt Mercer's campaign, but sadly this does not appear to be an Artificer designed for Eberron.

It's not Eberron specific, but I don't see why it wouldn't work for Eberron. The rules for magic item creation in Eberron would obviously have to be in their own separate rules system, not embedded in class mechanics. Same thing for dragonmarks.

 

[Queer Venger]

Yeah it works great for Forgotten Realms, Golarion, or Matt Mercer's campaign, but sadly this does not appear to be an Artificer designed for Eberron.

Whats Eberron??
;-)

 

[Kobold Avenger]

The way the Gunsmith is designed, it's assumed that as a default firearms aren't common weapons at all. The Gunsmith Artificer is currently designed to be one of the only people who actually use firearms, being that Artificers are assumed to be on the cutting edge of invention.

 

[Aldarc]

It's not Eberron specific, but I don't see why it wouldn't work for Eberron. The rules for magic item creation in Eberron would obviously have to be in their own separate rules system, not embedded in class mechanics. Same thing for dragonmarks.

Because people in Eberron did not wield guns; they wielded wands of magic missile and the like. I recall Keith Baker saying that guns were not a part of his vision for Eberron.

Whats Eberron??
;-)

Apparently it is a setting that will be shoehorned into Forgotten Realms.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Yeah, TwoSix, you've nailed the heart of my concerns. I dislike the "input gold, get magic item" mentality. Whether it’s crafting or just buying them, part of the sense of wonder dies a little as a result, in my opinion.

Doesn't gaining levels require "quests and effort"? I feel like you mean that crafting a magic item should require extra layer of narrative, on top of whatever the party is normally doing.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

My issues have little to do with rarity/non-rarity of magic items. Different amounts are appropriate for different campaigns.

My issue is that it’s a step towards making magic items humdrum and everyday. It’s why I never hand out a plain +1 sword. Instead, it’s Voidshard, a blade that’s made of pure darkness. It may only be +1, but give it a good name and description and maybe an extra power like conferring darkvision, and it’s a whole lot more interesting and magical.

As I said in my first post, I like the class, but for two features. It’s something I’d allow in my campaigns, but there are things I feel could be improved upon.

But if you're playing in a campaign with artificers, you've already decided "magic items aren't going to be so rare". Otherwise, why have artificers?

The classic use for artificers is in a setting like Eberron - where streetlamps are lit by apprentices with wands of light and wands of magic missile aren't an uncommon item. If you're not playing in a world like that then you shouldn't have artificers. And if you are playing in a world like that, then the artificer's powers seem reasonable (though I'd want to do some at-the-table play to be sure).

This clearly isn't a class that is meant for every setting.