Help with an Artificer

[theodorusrex]

I have some experience playing 3.5, and am planning on picking up an artificer.
I'll be jumping in at level 5, and in order to clear things with the DM, I was wondering what the typical level 5 artificer might have in terms of hommunculi and items etc.

[Invader]

It really depends on how you're building your artificer and how much wealth your DM gives out but as a generic example as a wandaficer something like this would be reasonable especially if you have cost reducing feats.

Assuming 9,000gp starting gold

A dedicated wright 2,100gp
A decent collection of utility scrolls - varies
A metamagic wand grip - 3000gp
Custom item to increase UMD +5 - 2,500gp
+1 heavy crossbow - 1,175gp

That'd put you at $8,775 minus the scrolls but again it's doable with a little cost reduction.

[EugeneVoid]

I love Artificers, but I can't find the time to play one.

They are truly the most complex characters in D&D (second to Psionic Artificers)

Here's some things to help you get started:
The Unofficial Artificer's Player's Guide 3.0
The Complete Cost Reduction Handbook
Complete MacGuyver

There's a lot of guides out there if you look for them, because there is no straightforward way to play an Artificer. You can either convert money into damage, convert money into more money, or buy the class features you want.

[Chronikoce]

Have you ever played an artificer before? My only advice is a bit of caution.

I played an artificer recently for a few levels (4-5) then asked the DM to retire it because the bookkeeping was immense. I was quite powerful and always had something neat to do so the class can be really fun. But I was constantly tracking wand charges, scroll usage, magic item daily charges, and spells. I actually wrote a spreadsheet to help maintain it all before I threw in the towel and rerolled a bard.

[Afgncaap5]

Definitely get a Dedicated Wright to work on crafting things for you.

Also, look up a Quill Of Scribing from Complete Mage. It's like a Dedicated Wright, but it only makes scrolls. Oh, and instead of requiring an hour to set into motion it takes a standard action to set into motion.

I had a DM who ruled that the Quill of Scribing and Dedicated Wright could function at the same time for me, which is bending the rules a bit. He then let me make a custom item (The Brewer's Bonsai) that would grow fruit that acted as potions, which he ruled could *also* be used with the other two, which was getting into broken territory. Then he allowed me to use Spell Storing Item to cast the Research Assistant spell to double all my magic item creation costs.

To be fair, I think he allowed all of that only because it was a really time-sensitive, fast-paced game, and I'd had almost zero crafting time (there were, like, five levels between when I could start crafting my Dedicated Wright and when I could finish it since the week of crafting the body through mundane means got really interrupted.) Allowing me to have two days' worth of scroll scribing, "potion" growing, and misc. magic item creation (Allowing with one days' worth of alchemical crafting) per day during the two weeks that an army arrived was his way of apologizing, I think. (Plus he told me two weeks and then said "Surprise attack!" eight days into crafting, so I couldn't get *everything* I'd planned on. )

[Tvtyrant]

I suggest that you use the Craft Reserve system if you can get the DM to allow it. It does the same thing as a crafting construct or item, but easier to manage since all of the crafting is done at once.

[Drork]

A good way to work out what an artificer should have at what level is work off the crafting reserve and assume 3/4s of all consumables where consumed. Then with the left over work out what you have.

Artificer is the most powerful class in the game but its power comes with some heavy drawbacks which many DMs will not enforce however here is a list of commonly over looked artificer things as well as a few artificer tips.

Spoiler

Show

No stat = no spell, if you do not have a stat above a 10 you can not cast spells from X source of magic. Make sure you build to cast from as many different sources as you reasonably can sometimes its cheaper to get a spell one way than another.

No knowledge skill = no knowledge, make sure you or party members can identify what kind of creatures you are fighting and make liberal use of sages about areas before you go into them. If you know that it is undead or demon or what ever you can make use of bane enchantment and any magic that targets that kind of thing. This ups your power by a huge amount. Remember player knowledge does not = character knowledge after you use bane a few times DMs will often remind you of this with how quickly encounters can be overwhelmed.

Extra action points!! never under estimate the power of action points as an artificer. Being able to speed a cast from 1 minute means you can use it in combat but you wont have enough normally to use this a lot.

Knowledge is power, always check up on spells read and reread all the spells you are able to cast. Quite often there is a spell that is the same but better from another source material. However always try to keep the DM in the loop so you dont count on a spell the DM is going to tell you doesnt exist (outside of playable sources).

Skill focus UMD, +3 to the most useful skill in the game, one that is a staple of my class as well why the hell not, it actually is very very powerful at low levels higher levels not so over powered but still very useful, extra 15% chance on UMD is always welcome. Honorable mention goes to increasing your Charisma score when expecting to need UMD.

Careful what you make it might come back to bite you in the ass, be always aware of the drawbacks if your hommunculi die. Also be aware of how your DM feels about them. They all can have actions which can slow down combat in a game etc talk to your DM make sure they know what they are getting in for.

The only other strong advise I always give someone who wants to play an artificer be open as you can be with your DM. Artificer can be like the void to a DM. It is a big dark pit of limitless power to those who do not understand how to pull people up on it. If they do know how to pull you up you want to know what your going to get pulled up on before you get pulled up on it. Dont want to pull out that scroll of resurrection to return the cleric only to have your DM ask what is your wisdom again?

Final note an artificers can be very powerful but it can also be played at a lesser power level play what is fun you do not have to min/max like crazy to have an acceptable artificer once you learn a few tricks you can keep to them, rather than always looking for the next super broken powerful ... what DM you let me get access to dragon magazine ... Ill be back in a few months after Ive read them all.

[Invader]

Definitely get a Dedicated Wright to work on crafting things for you.

Also, look up a Quill Of Scribing from Complete Mage. It's like a Dedicated Wright, but it only makes scrolls. Oh, and instead of requiring an hour to set into motion it takes a standard action to set into motion.

I had a DM who ruled that the Quill of Scribing and Dedicated Wright could function at the same time for me, which is bending the rules a bit. He then let me make a custom item (The Brewer's Bonsai) that would grow fruit that acted as potions, which he ruled could *also* be used with the other two, which was getting into broken territory. Then he allowed me to use Spell Storing Item to cast the Research Assistant spell to double all my magic item creation costs.

To be fair, I think he allowed all of that only because it was a really time-sensitive, fast-paced game, and I'd had almost zero crafting time (there were, like, five levels between when I could start crafting my Dedicated Wright and when I could finish it since the week of crafting the body through mundane means got really interrupted.) Allowing me to have two days' worth of scroll scribing, "potion" growing, and misc. magic item creation (Allowing with one days' worth of alchemical crafting) per day during the two weeks that an army arrived was his way of apologizing, I think. (Plus he told me two weeks and then said "Surprise attack!" eight days into crafting, so I couldn't get *everything* I'd planned on. )

What's the research assistant spell?