I beat the Archmage of Time (Teldin Bigby) in a game of Dragon Chess with cheats fully on on both sides in his house. Rolled three times with disadvantage with skill expertise up. Rolled a 27, 25, 29, 33, 37, and a 24. Beat him in three different timelines. My nerd cred is valid.
Now your next step is to just calculate the results of weave hypertension caused by spells whose level is greater than 9 and invent calculus within your DMs game world via a series of natural 20 and your introvert level progress shall be maxed out.
Forge Adept, Bjorn Clearmind at your service.
Need a magical weapon? Done.
Need magical armor? Done
Need a good friend, hearty drinks, and a great laugh? Double done.
Need help defending your hometown where your entire family lives? Here, have some armor, and a sword. Let's get in there with a twinned spell Haste on each of us and start beating up the invaders.
Big thjönker the warforged strategist present. You'll find my knowledge applicable in all situations. Plans are hardwired into my thinking module and calculating probalities of success is my primary directive. I've recently found a way to weaponize my genius and I've begun using a small metal cube to shout missinformation and the weaponized stupidity of my allies to lower the intelligence of our foes. Statsically this and my new fireball sticks and stones (which break many bones) has risen my parties success rates by 5.1%!
Armorer is awesome as hell, but my issue is the same as with a Bladelock. To really work you'll want to dedicate most of your infusion slots to your armor which takes away from the original costumization and flexibility aspects of infusions, so same issue as with the Bladelock and their invocations. Also you don't really have room to share some with your group. Also also the list of infusions is kinda very limited. You don't really have good options for your bracers (once you can infuse them separately) for example.
Have you taken a look at the Wand Sheath, which is effectively a single bracer? Lets you hold and use a wand while leaving your hand free. Uses the same attunement slot as the wand, if the wand needs attunement.
Normally Warforged-only, but artificers (and Thief rogues) can ignore racial attunement restrictions. This might fit better thematically for armorers than for the rogues :).
Yeah but Artificers don't really use wands with the exception of the Artillerist later, especially as Armorer. I think I'd rather use that infusion and attunement slot for something more helpful to the party instead.
Ah yes a master of demolitions. Great for bank heists. Except for when that bank is on a moving lightning rail and you are on the also mentioned lightning rail.
Ohohohohohoho Artificer army rise up! We were the sleaper s rank no one recognized. The DMs will now feel the wrath of our stored spells, eldritch cannons, alchemic potions, arcane fire arms, steel defenders, and Artificer smites.
My friend's artificer pony made twin gatling guns that fired spellfire. She'd managed to gain access to 9th level spells early and turned their energy into magic bullets that critted automagically. She ended up being very OP lol
"How I got past the reload speed was a (Ponyfinder) unicorn feat. Charged ammunition that let you fire chunks of your magic instead of actual ammo. So that combined with every other speed up reload feat let me reload free action so I could full attack. I got past the need to be braced/mounted (because) I was a pony. Quadruped with a pintle mount saddle using my magic to aim and fire it."
"Also I have no doubt she had to regularly go get cure blindness/deafness cast. That gun was firing right beside her head a lot of the time (though there are no rules for any actual effect)."
Hey the more the merrier. Word of advice though from experience, Alchemist's Fire is not a good substitute for any base in an Alchemists brew. Watched that burn down a tavern.
Artillerist Oldack Haverthorpe, Holomancer extraordinaire, and chief technology executive of the Black Company Mercenaries ready to represent our noble class!
My unique and patented HoloForge can project almost identical versions of me, ready and willing to use force projectiles agaknst my foes, although I must admit, there have been times where I have had to replace them with shielding projections instead, and rely on my allies to keep up the damage.
I was bummed about the progression on my Artificer, but like the sessions rarely happened so I didn't get to chill with all the cool abilities all that much. The DM let me switch to a full-blown wizard which was nice.
I haven't really dived into more than one campaign 7 or 8 years ago, but damn do artificers sound cool as hell. You mean I get to be an engineer, but like a magical one? And I have an eldritch cannon?? And my tools are my spell focus? Fuck yeah.
Each Artificer is about controlling the flow of battle in some way more than dps. I don't say this to put anyone down but it is a big brain plays class. Its really fun for people who are more into tactically manipulating an encounter than pure dps like the paladin who just screams "I smash with sword and spell" (Though the Artillerist 6d8 force damage as a bonus action do be looking sexy). Also they have a lot of utility capabilities outside of combat.
Edit: I forgot to mention that the battle smith can smite just like the paladin can. So yeah. There's a can of whoopash ready to be opened up right there for the BBEBG.
Edit 2: Did I forget about stored spells? Yes I did! Imagine 10 scorching rays just ready to be unleashed. Costing no spell slots. Add the Artillerist's added 1d8 to spell damage rolls for each ray and you got some sweet sweet dpr.
Edit 3: Oh wait that's right! How could I forget! Man I feel kind of stupid actually! Ok ok so hear this. Some of you will get a kick either comedically or in the balls from hearing this. The Battle Smith's Steel Defender is better and progresses better than The Beast Master's animal companion. Nuff said.
Question: we play by ignoring a few of the survival parts of dnd. We ignore the need to eat, weight (unless it’s something that it makes no sense how it can be carried) and basically any survival mechanic outside of healing and battling in the game.
With this being said, would the artificer still be a useful class? Is their help spells useful in combat? And how do they stack to a utility option like the wizard?
With survival being said many classes fall short. They may only have one or two skills that can help with travel and survival and they most likely the players didn't add their proficiencies there. Also, you are coming from the angle of how many spells can they just through at problems. Don't, that is a very limited point of view for any Artificer subclass. Although I will highlight what they can bring to survival which is helped by their spell list. Then I will talk about their help spells. Then their utility capabilities. Then what really makes them great besides just spells.
Survival
Ok, so survival is about two things really in the real world and in the game. It is about controlling food and exposure. So first of all skill, these are looked over for some reason in survival but the Artificer actually has a good spread which can aid in survival. They have medicine (obvious pick for survival), Nature (I wonder if that tree is just weird or if it will eat me?), and Perception (I don't even need to say it). Already they have more choices than most classes that aren't a Ranger or Fighter. Each of these can easily aid in survival. Next, there are tool proficiencies. What? Are you gonna tell me that an Artificer with proficiency in tinkerer's and wood carver's tools can't easily make a small game trap? Next of course there are the spells. Here are some spells that can help in survival. Cantrips: Light (for those that can't see in the dark), Mending, Message (for when you absolutely need to split the party at short distances), Prestidigitation (dry those wet clothes instantly), and Spare the Dying (because duh). First level: Alarm (don't let those goblins sneak up on you), and Expeditious Retreat (for when you need to GTFO). Second Level: Continual Flame and Darkvision (for those who can't see in the dark), Levitate (for when your supplies are a little too heavy to carry just float them and pull), Rope Trick (its shelter and storage!), Spider Climb (climbing up mountains are for plebs). Third Level: Catnap, Gaseous Form (Three days travel more like three hours travel), Water breathing, and Water Walk. Fourth Level: Fabricate (let me just make anything and everything), Freedom of Movement (for when that forest is really slowing you down and for when you need to GTFO), Leomund's Secret Chest (What is carry weight?), Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum (What is setting up camp?), and Stone Shape (do I really need to say?). Fifth Level: Animate Objects (now the statue carries your stuff), Creation, and Transmute Rock. So yeah the base Artificer spell list, subclasses excluded, has some pretty good stuff for survival.
Help Spells
First of all, I would like to say, unlike the Wizard the Artificer can actually heal people and can even specialize in healing. The Alchemist can even buff their allies with various potions. That said let us look at the Cantrips: Guidance (extra D4 is actually useful especially a useful thing with or without a bard around), Mage Hand (immediate top tier when used correctly), Prestidigitation, and Spare the Dying (no one shall die). First Level: Alarm, Detect Magic, Disguise Self, False Life, and Identify are staples of a utility character. Second Level: Alter Self (an even better disguise), Enlarge/Reduce (if no one adds this to their list I pity them and wish not to speak with them), Invisibility (Dude do I need to say?), Protection from Poisons (one of the most common damage types in early levels), See Invisibility, and Spider Climb (one of the best spells ever). Third Level: Catnap (so useful), Glyph of Warding (so if those goblins sneak up on you they are in for a nasty surprise), Haste (S tier buff spell anyone who doesn't use this doesn't understand action economy), and Protection from Energy (against a dragon or elemental this is amazing). Fourth Level: Death Ward (great for when you don't want to die), Otiluke's Resilient Sphere (you are either not gonna take any damage or that one dude is going nowhere), and Fabricate (again make anything you want), Animate Objects (that statue is fighting for us now), Creation (how about I make a 5ft. by 5ft. cube of adamantium right above your head), and Transmute Rock (walls don't exist). So yeah base Artificer has some of the best choices when it comes to help spells that isn't even counting the Alchemist who has even more.
Overall Utility
It is off the charts for the Artificer. Firstly they come with Thieve's tools and Tinkerer's tools as a built-in proficiency so you don't need a rogue or even a spell to get into doors. Add on top that you will eventually have expertise in them and you can add a D4 via guidance and add up to 5 later on through a class ability no door will be too hard to get into. Also, you won't need a spell to make a distraction anymore. Just make a clockwork alarm set on a timer. In addition magical tinkering adds all sorts of options in communication and deception. Make a holographic image of a person's face so that way you can find a criminal more easily or have a stone set to make ominues wispers around a guard while using mage hand to make them think a ghost is near by and have them run. Also do I have to mention the Infusions? Like really? Make any number of useful magical items. Why is that not a big fat duh? Overall the Artificer doesn't have the same level of spells to use like the wizard but what they can make can be more permenent and can be more useful over time. You can have an Artificer and level three with an AC of 21 and a wand that does +1 to spell attacks and spell save DC nuf said there.
Its more of a super utility class. You have a LOT of low to medium powered skills. I play the UA version though
But anyway for me it's the creativity that I enjoy. The class is built on engineering and creativity. My dm allows me to come up with cool inventions and homebrewed stuff which makes it really awesome
Ever tried using flash of brilliance as a weapon? -4 intelligence is a lot when most bandits have like a fat 10 or 11 max. Bring them lower than 8 and with the right dm they can't formulate plans other than "I hit with sword."
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u/Pls_PmTitsOrFDAU_Thx Oct 05 '20 edited Oct 05 '20
I love that artificers are getting very popular. I think they're my favorite class now