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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Artificer rework



Revlid
2017-07-23, 01:36 PM
Here is a rewrite of the UA's Artificer class. (http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/rJ-lzWkNB-)

Some features are obviously taken straight from that class with slight alterations, such as Tool Expertise or Infuse Magic. Others, such as its short-rest spell slots, are less familiar. Those with a sharp eye may realize that this version of the class is essentially equal parts "fixed Artificer" and "fixed Warlock", and I will freely admit that I was following my understanding of the Warlock's design goals in creating it.

The Warlock is essentially a blaster with three things going for it:
1) A simple, effective blast it can use with its action, all day long.
2) An array of utility effects it can use all day long.
3) 2-4 big impressive effects it can pop per short rest for variety.

In practice, this doesn't work out so well, because the simple, effective blast eats into the utility effects and the impressive stuff to reach its intended potential, while a lot of the impressive stuff is also gateway'd behind utility effects, and the impressive stuff also scales poorly with certain useful spells, and so you're stretched very thin over a pretty simple concept.

The Artificer addresses these issues in a number of ways, while using its spell list to refocus the class toward buffing others with magical enhancements. Primarily:

The Artificer's subclass replaces eldritch blast. That is to say, the 1st (and 3rd) level features of any Artificer specialty provide you with "the thing you use your action for". The Wandslinger blasts people, with an almost identical dpr to eldritch blast. The Bladesmith fills the bladelock role by using its Attack each turn, just without an Invocation tax. The Golemancer commands its golem, the Apothecary bolsters people with temporary hit points. This is the thing you can do all day every day without slots.

The Artificer replaces Invocations with Wonders. The Wondrous Invention feature was... lacklustre and weird (consumable items as a class feature? ring of jump at level 20), and Invocations have always been split between class taxes and actual interesting abilities, almost all of which are just at-will spells. So... that's what these are. Nothing complicated, they take up less than half a page. Just a bunch of spells you can toss out all day every day (these, and the other at-will spells scattered throughout the class features, are why the Artificer has so few spells known).

The ability to waste a 5th level spell slot on a 2nd level spell has been mitigated by Infuse Magic, which lets you expend spell slots more flexibly - in exchange for preparing those spells less flexibly. The charge time might need to be extended compared to the UA version, now it's a short-rest recharger, and despite being confident about the no-Concentration clause I'm willing to be proven wrong.



So that's the upshot. The Artificer is a short-rest caster focused on buffs, capable of creating mini magic items on-the-fly with a little prep-time, festooned with magical gizmos, and specialized around a single particular artifact they've created.

I'm interested in any and all feedback. Let me know what you think!