Honestly, the change that I hate the most is the fact that you can no longer use Infused Items to cast spells, and have to rely _specifically_ on tools instead. Battle Smith is my favorite 5e Artificer subclass, and this change _only_ really affects Battle Smiths. Alchemists don't care, since they got nothing better to hold in their hands. Artillerists don't care, as they only need to hold onto Wands of Fireball. Armorers don't care, as they can use their armor as a Spellcasting Focus. Hopefully, they either revert this change, or give Battle Smiths the option to use Magic Weapons as a Spell Focus.
I am soooo glad someone else is upset about Magical Tinkering being changed. Sure it was a ribbon feature previously, but it had lots of uses. _whispering a message into a ball bearing or a funky odor....then rolling it across the crowded tavern was hilarious. It also provided the distraction for our rogue to pick pocket ppl_
I love how Replicate Magic Item now has categories of items and not just a set list. It opens up so much potential for the class, but most importantly it future proofs it. I love this class, but I don’t have much confidence WoTC is going to give it much attention after the 2024 version is released. By having categories of magic items, it allows new books to add new content to Artificers even if they don’t directly state it
Flash of Genius is NOT the same. It got a significant buff going from “When you or a creature makes” to “When you or a creature fails” ensuring no wasted uses
It fails on two things, 1 when the terms of/level of failure is unclear & 2 when your wanting to apply it to a Skill check proactively to "Super" Succeed ala buff stacking to get the best possible support
Or take a 3 level dip in thief rogue and become a one man army, normal fireball plus fast hands fireball is like casting an 11th level fire ball. It's gonna make Mystra really uncomfortable lol
An important change in wording relative to the old rules: Subclass spells used to say "these spells count as artificer spells for you". The new UA doesn't use that language, it just says "you always have these spells prepared ". So, RAW, you can't put subclass spells in Spell-Storing Item. I don't think this is RAI though, and it's something I would allow in my games.
Guardian Armorer Thunder Gauntlets increases from 1d8 at lv3 to 1d10 at lv15... No wonder he thinks changing cheat death from 1 point to 20 makes any difference....
i kinda like the new magical tinkering, even if it isn't better than the old one, there are just some issues: 1. the things only last 1 hour...wtf is bedroll doing on that list? there's like ONE thing i can think of using a bedroll for a hour for...and most games frown on that sorta thing. 2. i think it would have been nice if subclasses got other items, like alchemist's fire fire and acid flask for the alchemist. it does leave some interesting options, for example: conjure a flask, fill it with alchemist's fire, put the flask amongst some explosives, one hour later the flask goes POOF, the alchemists fire spills out...explosion. if you can't fill a flask with alchemists fire you can suspend a flask of alchemists fire over the explosives with a conjured rope for the same effect. another thing: 10 foot pole is BACK. always a pain to lug around a 10 foot pole, but conjure one...nice. that being said it's basically a less impressive minor conjuration. more items larger than 3 foot on the list might give it an edge, like a ladder. or maybe make a limited number of transformable items, as many as you have intelligence modifier, and as an action you can cause the item to turn into another item, kinda like the all purpose tool. this gets around the risk of people printing money with it (which you know is their main concern and why they don't just let the item persist) the item can be any item in the equipment section or any mundane weapon in which you are proficient, but if the item is destroyed it cannot be made again until you finish a long rest. the item maintains its shape until you use an action to change it, and the item is obviously magical giving out a faint glow (just like the previous magical tinkering)
I personally think the spell storing item being able to cast 3rd-level spells is way over-tuned, and almost no one will pick the level 1 or level 2 spell options because of that. I personally think they should make the spell-storing item have charges equal to twice your Int mod, and each casting of the spell consumes charges equal to the spell’s level. That means with +5 Int, you can cast ten level 1 spells, five level 2 spells, or three level 3 spells. That will make each spell level pretty viable to pick.
I would generally say that Artificers in general probably should have Masteries. Like, there whole thing is that they're skillful with magical items, but the Battle Smith definitely should. It just plays to the tropes, where the magical master smith shows off his weapons. Like, maybe they can only use masteries with things they make themselves? That would be a flavorful limit, but they should have them.
Artillerist’s getting 13 fireballs a day and the Spellpiercer Wand to negate all advantage your opponent has against the fireballs and as an arcane firearm you do 2d8 more damage
@ it’s called Spellpiercing Wand and it’s A Magic Item in the Dungeons Of Drakkenhiem adventure book it’s on 5e Tools you when you filter make sure to include the partnered content
20 hp on the level 20 feature is useful in one way I can think of: enemies will steal knock you down, but you won't go down to like, d4 fire damage from some minor effect. Not likely at level 20, but at least it's SOMETHING in a case that would otherwise feel super anticlimactic.
There's a couple things that clearly are meant to be made a specific way but instead are written the other way. You mentioned the armorer, but another one I found was that the new truestrike being on this list is directly speaking less useful than it is on other classes. Since you need to hold your tools, you're limited to 1 of 4 options, with those being holding tools in one hand and a weapon in the other, the armorer can use armor as their focus, the artillerist can use a staff, or gain truestrike from highelf/magic initiate
Not gonna lie I think its a cold take that Heal is better than Bubbling Cauldron. I do agree that you should just pick your elixers, and I think they should honeslty last until a short rest, but Bubbling Cauldron is better than restorative spells that are nice at best. The alchemist isn't a primary healer and you can craft strong restorative potions at 1/8th the time of similar rarity items. The emergency button is not your role. Getting to make 5 potions of cold resistance before you got and face an Ancient White Dragon is going to save your party more HP than Heal will, and that's just one of the many useful Uncommon Potions in the game.
It also occured to me that Greater Healing Potions heal fro 4d4+4, which is average 14 healing. If you have a 20 intelligence that gives you 5 potions, or 70 HP worth of healing. So the amount of direct healing isn't even different you just get more versatility and adaptability out of the feature and lose out on the emergency button you may not have even been able to use every day.
One thing you missed about cheating death is even if the enemy does 20 damage to you, you can just come back again even if it’s multiple times on the same turn because no reaction
Ok, good things, and bad. A lot of QOL things. Magical tinkering is now basically a robe of useful items, that you can choose. Much more useful than before. Although, they can't be used to make magical weapons, although, I doubt it was intentional. Infusions are now just magical items, awesome! Now everyone can get returning weapon! Homunculus Servant is much better, and artificer now gets Dragon Breath? That's such a fun combo! Discount for non-magic item creation? Neat, although, kindna useless. Now, the bad: Where is the firearm proficiency went? Sacrificing a magic item for a spell slot isn't worth it. And what we gave up? Tool expertise was amasing! With good imagination, you could use tool proficiency, instead of skills, so artificers used to get basically 3 extra skills, with expertise on level 6. New feature just not worth such sacrifice! No weapon mastery? Really? That's kinda dumb You have taken 10-th level discount in time and money for crafting magic items?! Why!? You just gave us proper rules to craft them! I really love that infusions are just regular magical items, but by making some original infusions into uncommon magical items, you moved them from 2nd to 6-th level. That's a big nerf. Also, with replicating magic items, you can just, straight up, create magical armor, even the most expensive ones? Without paying the cost? That a bit OP. Please, keep the infusing of magical items, it would fix so much rules errors. Homunculus Servant consume the gem, and doesn't drop it on death? That's so damn expensive, 100 gold per servant! Let him drop the gem! Armorer is a mess. RAW, you can't make the dreadnought flail magical anymore! And why he gets one less magical item from 9-th level feature? Despite the buffs, alchemist and artillery remain the weakest, simply because they are half-casters, with no martial abilities. Arcane firearm, and alchemical savant partially fix the issue, but not enough. If a fighter deals 2d8 plus mod twice, artillerist deals 1d8 extra, and alchemist deals/heals int mod extra. Give them 1d8+int mod, and they won't fall behind basic attacks. Also, I would suggest for alchemist to create 1 chosen +1 random each long rest, and each use of a spell slot(or better, choose a number equel to spell slot used, and get 1 random extra), and for artillerist to keep his cannon always active, not for just an hour. Also, give armorer Shield. It's odd, that he's not the tank subclass, and more vulnerable than battle smith. Or, another idea to let him keep up with the regular casters, is to move the spell-storing item to ~ level 5. This way he will be kinda like diet warlock in terms of resource economy.
This clearly needs some polishing, but it is a good improvement on what it was. I'm sure there will be 1 or 2 more UA play tests between now and the official release. I feel like they are headed in the right direction. Alchemist as a whole and the higher level features of the other subs kinda feel like they got the ranger treatment. (Not worse than 2014, but not really better either)
I like the Lyre of Building as a downtime option for items. You can summon a construct to help with physical labor while using move earth to shape terrain. You also get Fabricate to craft things like wall sections, equipment, small houses and so on. There is also items that summon elementals, which is helpful if you have an ally who can cast Planar Binding. You can also always fall back on enspelled wands because, unlike the regular item crafting rules, the replicate magic items crafts do not require you to supply the spells needed to craft them.
A very subtle buff to Alchemist is that any CREATURE can administer an experimental elixir as a bonus action. That means that Spellwrought Tattoo lets you give everyone familiars, and then those familiars can administer a Potion of Boldness, or anything else, during combat, for effectively no action economy. This stacks with Bless, which is already a great spell for combat. Now, this was FAR stronger pre-2014 because the -5 / +10 from Great Weapon Master and Sharpshooter meant each point of to-hit was converting into damage at a higher ratio. But it's still good, and it also benefits all attack rolls and saving throws for the next minute. That means with Bless, you have +2d4. Throw on a Paladin aura, and you're likely never failing a saving throw again! But... what if you don't get any potions of boldness? Treat it like a Sorlock! Dip 2 levels of Warlock of your choice, get a Pact, and use a 4-hour long rest species to produce 8 elixirs each night by level 5. If you have 2 strikers in your party, that's a healing elixir, and 3 potions of boldness each per day, not to mention whatever two random potions you get. You can use your first-level slots for more if you need, or if you take a short rest. This is a 100% full support class like never before, but the benefits are huge and you barely need to do anything in combat to be incredibly effective. It's perfect for people who aren't into combat a lot. Once you get Tasha's Bubbling Cauldron, you can reproduce potions of Watchful Rest, allowing the party to craft all night long while familiars stay on watch! I do agree that the elixirs should scale. But it honestly does more than it looks like it does. You just have to REALLY channel that support mindset, and it all but requires that you have a front line to feed those elixirs to. Like a paladin and fighter/barbarian.
3:15 The previous Artificer was already limited to one of each item, this isn't a new restriction. As tempted as i am to ignore that rule, i am painfully aware of its existence. (I agree it's probably good for the game overall, but damn i wanna kit out the whole party with magic weapons) (Edit: actually scratch that, with the new system i can just give them a different weapon each, that's even better)
I think this is the most nothing class to come out of UA. The core class is just an npc, especially since everyone can craft the items you unlock way before you get access to them. By level 10 when you can make any uncommon item, you could have crafted every uncommon item you'd want and have a whole class to yourself. At level 14, when you make 2 whole rare magic items, you should be getting legendaries and by the time you can make all your items into rare items, you'll be 17. The core class seems like a "It's dangerous to go alone, take this!" kinda person, hands you some stuff and then stays out of trouble. The alchemist doesn't really help with this sentiment. The armorer now is stuck with +0 weapons and the dreadnought's is not even elemental damage dealing one, so good luck using it after level 5-6. Battlesmith will have to constantly juggle if they also plan on using a shield or a wand with a weapon and cast regular spells, they also can't heal their defender with mending anymore. Artillerist seems like the only good option and that's the one that was barely changed. This is just my opinion, but just playing a wizard with a smithing or similar background or a forge cleric brings more flavour and gameplay options than this whole class.
Artificer subclass spells are artificer spells, it specifically states that any feature you have form the class that gives you spells are artificer spells
@@shadowdragon-ClanTG- Even then, you have 2 good features in an entire class, this and crafting times halved, that's not enough to make a class work. It feels like the game doesn't want you to go on adventures, just give out stuff to the party and go back to crafting, this is why I said it feels like you're an npc.
@5AMACE it allows you to guarantee you have items, i have played a few artificers and when I told the party that the magic items I make are my class features they understood and I kept them, getting what was useful for my character, I was one of the stronger members of the party, and they still had magic items as normal, the problem is more the fact that artificers are expected to give the items away when really they should be the ones using them. This isn't to say that I completely disagree with you, a fair number of changes they made were just plain bad
@@shadowdragon-ClanTG- But in 2024 dnd, anyone can make magic items, so anyone can guarantee the items and you can have them faster since you don't have a level requirement. I don't have problems with 5e version, since they are the only ones who had that ability and with infusions they had unique stuff specifically to them, they had expertise with all tools which could be handy especially with locks and traps, etc.
@5AMACE definitely, they need the ability to craft at a lower constant time than others, but also, making magic items is still dm dependant, artificer isn't, beyond being allowed to play one
@PackTactics you missed that the cheat death feature doesn't have a usage limit. Which means at level 20 when you have 6 magic items, you can cheat death 6 times for a total of 120 hp
@@PackTactics I also would prefer the old saving throw buffs, but it does have some utility that plays into the artificer's 'tankiness.' Because it doesn't use a reaction, you could make an interesting combo with Boon of Energy resistance if you plan it right to double your effective hit points and get a bunch of extra reaction damage. (not that planning on dropping to 0 is a great plan). I was just pointing out why Crawford (another Jeremy) said that it was improved.
It is also slightly worse as it destroys the item rather than just eliminating the infusion. The example I saw given was what if you destroy your weapon. Now you have hindered yourself greatly. Or worse what if it's your Armor? This might not be as good as it was previously.
@@nickm9102 That is an interesting consequence that I overlooked. In my head since the infusion/weapon would just be created again the next long rest I assumed that it was the same situation, but like you are pointing out it isn't, since even the mundane item isn't left so instead of having full plate/halfplate AC 18/17 after cheating death you are left with 10 AC and no weapon. That is a glaring issue that needs to be pointed out in the survey response because I do not think that it was an intentional interaction. Thank you for catching that.
With the new more open ended magic item replication, you can abuse stuff like spellwrought tatoo / enspelled weapon to give the entire party familiars and homunculi (and then give all your familiars / undead their own familiars and homunculi, and also steeds), then use THAT for the spell-storing item trick.
I think the spell storing item should have a number charges depending on the spell's level. Three times your intelligence modifier for first level spells, twice int mod for 2nd lvl spells and just int mod for 3rd level. This way, there is actually a reason for not just choosing from the highest level available.
Spell storing item is the only feature saving this class from the item scaling nerfs. I hope if it does get reduced in power they add strength to the rest of the base class.
But Kobold, you forgot a something noteworthy about the Battlesmith, AMMO counts as Weapons for magic items. The Artificer could make Ammo of Slaying to deal more damage per shot against a specific type. Like if you know the BBEG is a Lich, Imagine the Fighter with Arrows of Undead Slaying and have him dish an additional 6d10 Force Damage per shot, or half that if the Lich beats the DC. If he's lvl 20 he can open fire like a madman on said Lich with 8 shots of his normal Bow/Gun Damage + potential 48d10 Force Damage. That's not taking into account they can crit too. The juiciness isn't just making your typical weapons at half the time, it's also making those special types of ammo. Practice your 2nd Amendment Rights! Unfortunately, I only saw +1,2,3 and Slaying Ammo in the magic department, but hey, you can probably get away with making Fire Arrows, Explosive Arrows and more.
There is a Strength requirement for all heavy armor except Ring Mail. 13 for Chain Mail, 15 for Splint & Plate. If you wear the armor without the Strength score minimum you reduce your speed by 10 feet. So it does make sense to just say no Strength requirement. It’s not a requirement to wear the armor no, it’s a requirement to wear it without penalty.
They nerfed the number of known infusion too much (before it was double the the number of active infusion, now it’s only two more then the number of active infusion) which sucks because there’s a lot of situational items in there which you don’t want to wear everyday. For exemple all of the stealth options (Gloves of thievery, cloak of Elvenkind, resistance armor which you can no longer get at level 6 because of its rarety, googles of night, wand of magic detection, etc). A lot of infusions are now delayed to 4 levels later and Mind Sharpener got heavy nerfed because it needs a attunement now. ARMORER HAVE TWO BIG PROBLEM. Firstly, their weapons can no longer have a +2 infusions because infusion no longer exist so there weapons are less powerful the before. Secondly the level 9 feature is even worse then you think because the best armor you have acces to is a +1 armor so if you find a better armor you now have a usless level 9 feature. Defensive field of the Armorer Guardian sucks compared to the protector canon of the Artillerist. I love the concept of Armorer but they just suck in term of power. They need big buffs. Also they lack strenght to avoid grapple so they should add a feature to avoid that. They also really nerfed they heavily nerfed the level 9 feature, which would have been fine if they had buffed everything else. BATTLESMITH GOT TWO BIG PROBLEMS First of all and most importantly they are obligated to have a tool in hand to cast spells since they can no longer use magic items as a spell focus. Which sucks because they usully use one hand weapon and a shield. Secondly, the Steel defender can no longer be healed with mending, so you will need a lot more of spell slot per day to recast it. Also smith spells need bonus action so you won't really get a good use out of them because your Steel Defender already eats your bonus action. ALCHEMIST actully got a pretty BIG hidden NERF : You can no longer stack effect of potions with the new ruling. You need to roll on a table to determine the bad effect which can completely nullify the effect of both potions or make you explode and this for each potions you drink after the first one.
I’m playing in a group with the 2014 rules We hit level 14 awhile ago I’m playing artificer and the first thing I did once the characters got some downtime after hitting level 14 was make a Mizzium Aparatus because of your video on it. That thing has been a god send. Was playing tower defense against an orc horde and was sniping from the church towers. Had to get from one tower to the next but lacked enough movement. Tried casting Ashalardon’s stride through the Mizzium Aparatus Got Fireball instead. Was a sorcerer for about 3 seconds because I bonus action casted fireball In this version, I can no longer use that.
I wouldn't be surprised if, in future book that they put the Artificer in, they also reprint the stuff about Bastions, along with possibly more options for Bastions.
I knew artificers were coming back! In the DMG there is text in the bastion section where in an arcane room, people with arcane focuses and tool focuses
I feel like the level 1 feature is great at certain tables, with creative players. Some of those items can be quite useful, like caltrops. Some of the others can be combined to make useful items , like combining string, a jug and some ball bearings to make a noisemaker trap on a door so you can sleep in a dungeon.
@ Yeah but that means I gotta carry around a wagonload of random crap. 🤷♂️ This is useful for those situations where you need a particular thing and don’t have it and it also means you can leave stuff behind to drop weight because next time you need the item you can just make another one. Also, at lower levels anyway, being able to make a torch or a bag of caltrops could potentially be pretty useful.
The core books should be as plain jane vanilla as possible so you can only go up from there. There should be no tieflings dragonborn etc in it, all of that should be available but as supplementary. dohbt wotc is doing that though amd is lilely doing it for money.
My issue is that before level 10 you’re boring. Less spell preps, less items available, and not appreciably buffed in a game where the other classes got new toys.
I can't see the spell storing item keeping the ability to store 3rd level spells when the artificer is eventually printed. 10 free fireballs per long rest is just broken, especially when it's given to to something like a homunculus servant for essentially free casts. Conjure barrage too (I somehow missed the massive glow up it got.) I really like the changes to replicate magic item though, mainly because it means the artificer won't fall behind when new magic items are released. Also, mind sharpener did get nerfed, but it also got a buff in being a ring instead of armour, meaning you can now use it without having to sacrifice improving your AC. This means you no longer necessarily have to get war caster if you'd prefer to use the feat for something else, and it being its own item means you can get multiple for every spell caster in the party that might want one.
You know this bit here: 16:16 You can do this with web and web is as good as 3rd lvl spells and arguably better than hypnotic pattern in shut down especially when there's 3 party members for example creating 3 blocks of web down a hallway or something. It's just so much web that if the enemies can't get rid of it then it turns into a default kill. What they have to do is nerf the charges but I don't think that will ever happen because everyone will be mad about it.
Sorry but its nowhere near full casters in broken lvl, a warlock rn its way more powerful in different aspects then SSI at lvl 11... Stop trying to make finally a good half caster, shitty as a ranger or at/ek
@@PackTactics True (I admittedly skipped past the artillerist bit because I'm only interested in the battle master right now because I'm playing one.) One idea for charges is that they depend on the level of the spell, so 1st level gives 3 times your spell modifier, 2nd level gives 2 times, and 3rd level is just the modifier. That way there's also actually a reason to put lower level spells in sometimes.
@@TheBlink182ify The problem is that it's just too abusable. If only the artificer could use it/it could only be used once per round, then it would be one thing, but as Pack Tactics pointed out (and I admittedly skipped over before writing my original comment) everyone can share it around use it easily and quickly, meaning there's potential to wipe most encounters in the first turn. They really need to distribute more power around the class instead of focussing it all in a single class feature.
I've got an idea for a 20th level character that is 6 levels of artillerist artificer and 14 levels of nemesis sorcerer from the latest frontiers of eberron book. Basically you can craft wands and be a wandslinger. Pair it with the wandslinger background for more flavor.
One thing that's weird about the subclass spell list though is it doesn't say they count as artificer spells. Every other time a subclass gave you spells. It said they count as the class's spells, not the subclasses
Battle Smiths got their legs broken. You can’t use your replicated/infused items as spell foci, so now sword and board battle smith, which was practically the default playstyle for that subclass, is deeply impractical without war caster. And with CON proficiency our homeboy is one of the people who needed that feat less before. Now it’s basically a must pick. I mean, I suppose with True Strike the AoO cantrip is worth it. Still means level 3 is a poop burger and level 4’s ASI isn’t an actual choice. Meanwhile at level 3 choose: do you use a shield or do you voluntarily forgo one of your two subclass spells? Armorer damage go done super dirty. Alchemists got a buff but are still the LOLRANDOM subclass. Artillerist got only buffs and is the best subclass now by a pretty toxic margin. And yeah, enspelled items are a problem for artificer design. And the mind sharpener doesn’t need to be a level 10 item. It’ll likely be craftable at most tables LONG before then due to crafting costs. Even by artificers themselves - eye roll- EDIT: Oh my god it’s so much worse than I initially thought. Because Tools Required specifically states that you must use a tool, that means even War Caster won’t save you. You need a hand for your tool, and you need a weapon to actually DO a True Strike or Booming Blade attack, so you must have a hand free for the tool, meaning no shield unless you’re using the legacy loxodon or thri-keen. WHAT THE HELL.
I think the capstone should be changed so that death defy gives 20 hp + 10 hp per attuned item and revert the other part back to the 2014 saving throw + number of attuned items. I just think it's thematic that an artificer would have enchanted their attuned items to provide more defenses to themselves than other classes would be capable of, but that power gets diminished as they lose their attuned items.
I honestly alchemist because ot gets healing word and mass healing word. If you optimize to craft scrolls, take advantage making potions quickly, make some good healing elixirs and utilize spell storing items and enspelled items you can be a great healer. Plus the bonus action bless potions are nice. Of course you would have to build in a way to get more tool proficiencies but it's not a bad support build for a party that wants to play a lot of melee martials. Nothing beats minonmancy though lol
Unless i am missing somewhere, the subclass spells don't seem to get added to the artificer spell list, opening questions about if they are even elligible to use with spell storing item?
Some cool things in the UA, but still wish for a bit more in the subclass category, aside from limiting a bit the artilerist nuke potential, its a cool bomber archetype, but Alchemist should be able to throw potions and elixirs to allies, the Armorer's 2 previous armors need a bit more identity with the new Dreadnough, and maybe the Steel Defender should be an enchanted suit of armor that you can choose to replicate from your arcane plans, then you can give the Battle Smith more weapon prowess, maybe a way to create a custom weapon to scale with. Besides that, I like the idea of artificers changing the casting rules for flavor, maybe make your tools or materials be needed for your spells, and the resonance of the magic is what gives a verbal component instead of your voice, but they do need a work around for the mechanic in combat, either by making the subclasses give you an alterative focus (weapons for the Battle Smith?) or give it base line in some way though magic items.
So at lvl 14 you can have 40 3lvl spell castings, 10 from storing item, and 5 item with 6 castings from your RMI using enspelled things (rare for 3rd lvl spells) and the 30 from enspelled don have to be on there artificer spell list. Endgame fun times.
Just think for fireball, spell storing item (10), enfuse enspelled what staff or weapon for 6 more x number of RMI at lvl 14 then craft wands of fireball. So much fireball. Probably need some mind crystals ( carefull spell) or this may get messy
Two spells that shouldn't be spells; homunculus and find steed. Enjoy your infinite homunculi army riding horses with infinite healing, fear, and teleport.
@@mogalixir the Find Steed and Homunculus Servant spells create a permanent creature, with the restriction being, you can only have one of each per creature; spells cast through items ignore cost; UA Artificer can just make whatever rare enspelled item they want in the DMG; Crawford explicitly says the class doesn't even need to know the spell. So, you make an enspelled item that creates a Homunculus; that Homunculus takes that same item, attunes to it, and casts the spell to summon another Homunculus. You can repeat the process with the not-so-Paladin exclusive spell Find Steed, handing these Homunculus' an Enspelled X of Find Steed. It snowballs from there.
I think you might have undersold the flexibility buff to the Artillerist cannon. The Protector ability was already pretty cracked (especially when you first get it), but it came at the cost of not having the Force Ballista for additional damage. Now it looks like you get both! As someone who really enjoys both the subclass and being OP, I hope they don't revert this feature to its Tasha's form, but I wouldn't be surprised if they do. Losing the feature that granted tool Expertise at level 6 is a bit of a bummer since it was an easy way of letting you be as reliable a lockpicker as a Rogue, but considering how Spell Storing Item (and the lackluster capstone) encourages a Thief multiclass, maybe that's not such a big deal. Agreed on the change to Magical Tinkering also being a bummer. It's a ribbon feature in either case, but there's more space for creativity and fun in its Tasha's incarnation.
Between the Spell-storing Item and Replicate Magic Item, there’s the potential to give your party 46 extra casts of spells per day. Somehow I doubt this is going to survive the play test.
The biggest issues with the 5E Artificer is that they get their playstyle from their sub and don't get it until 3, and that their level 20 capstone is not thematically congruous as passive bonuses to saves aren't their thing. All OneD&D classes get their subs at 3, so the Artificer's biggest problem literally cannot be fixed in OneD&D.
I completely agree with you, I personally feel that they should have also kept some subclass levels at 1st level. If they really wanted to make it less weird with "what class got their subclass when" than they should have either put the wizard and druid at 1st level, or druid at 1st and wizard at 3rd
I play an armorer artificer (a very small (90cm) Harengon XD) and I'm sad about the magical tinkering, I used it until now only to wear a ring that produces the smell of pines around me for flavor but I like it XD
I feel an alchemist would play very well with the parties barbarian. Using Tasha’s cauldron, you could give your barbarian a potion of growth, and because it’s made from the alchemist, the barbarian will gain temp hp, which always goes longer due to rage, vs other PC’s. A small win for the alchemist, but to niche!
The dreadnought can become gargantuan at level 9 with thier feature plus enlarge reduce which is pretty cool. I seem to remember but cant find the rules for crushing instant deaths if a creature two sizes larger than you moves into your space and you fail a dex save. If those rules actually exist and carried over to 2024 that would make the dreadnaught a nightmare
I seem to be alone with this, but I feel like they should have some kind of ritual spell ability. That was their entire gimmick in the Eberron lore. Plus, it is an incredibly underutilized mechanic. It always seemed interesting, and the feat allowed otherwise non-caster classes to cast a level 6 spell. Unfortunately, the only level six ritual spell worth using is Forbiddance. I always assumed they would eventually add more high-level utility spells with the ritual tag, but they didn't. Plus, the setting artificers originate from had a whole thing with some people casting non-ritual spells as rituals. It would still take ten minutes so It would be limited to so something you can prepare before a fight and utility spells.
I think cube of summoning is a great item for the level 14+ replicate magic item since its in essence a free concentrationless summon spell and it doesn't require attunement so after use you can just turn it into a spell slot
No bad, I raise you the enspelled dagger of summoning homunculus. Sure you waste time while your homunculus attuned to it but now your homunculus can summon a homunculus. Then you can consume the dagger for a spell slot and make another one.
How do you know which wands and spellbound weapon require attunement and which ones don't? I know it explicitely says for webs and missles, but I'm not where the general rule, if there's any, is.
Magic iniate as an origin feat will let you make wands of magic missiles, and once youve made plenty of those, you can swap out magic missile for find familiar to make enspelled items or spell wrought tattoos to give all the non casters familiars. Also, the reason Artillerists dont get magic missile is because arcane firearm adds 1d8 to artificer spells, and mm is intended to have 1 damage roll you multiply by the number of darts, so adding a d8 to it is super strong, going from avg 10.5 damage to 24 avg damage with just a first level slot and no save. Evocation gets a similar ability as its whole deal, while Artillerist has the rest of its class and subclass kit to deal damage. It really doesn't need the help
In a game where GWM, PAM, Nick, and Dual Wielding exist the Armorer “weapons” feel like a joke and it makes me angry. WotC doesn’t have an foresight. They don’t know how to balance their game or even consider what’s already in it when they add something. Oh yeah that flail is cool, but it gets out damaged by a Scimitar and a Short sword every single time.
Defensive field of the Armorer Guardian sucks compared to the protector canon of the Artillerist. I love the concept of Armorer but they just suck in term of power. They need big buffs. Also they lack strenght to avoid grapple so they should add a feature to avoid that.
I would like to see the two more caster focused subclasses get access to higher level spells similar to Warlocks Mystic Arcanum feature. They could curate the list of available spells to only ones that make sense for artificers. Meanwhile the two more martial subclasses should get weapon masteries. Let's not keep pretending alchemist is a half caster in the same way a paladin is. Give them access to higher level spells.
I think some masteries would solve a lot of things. Can we give the classes that have a "melee" mode (cleric, druid, swords bard etc.) one mastery that they can change each level?
I wish that they'd made the eldritch cannon last 8 hours instead of 1 hour. In my games at least that effectively means one cannon per combat and given that you have to use spell slots after you free one I would effectively be spamming cannon blasts and cantrips without being able to do much else in combat, let alone casting spells outside of combat.
I'm an artificer main and I think spell storing item is a tiny bit op even for only 2nd level spells 10 scorching rays is a lot already and now it's 10 fireballs Combat day ends before you run out of spell juice Like could they buff something else instead? Artificer basically now revolves around 2 abilities 1 from their subclass and 1 on 11
I like magical tinkerer is ok but I would rather see it give two option like most classes in 2024 Combat Engineer or Arcane Engineer Combat Engineer You get the Intelligence option on weapon attacks attack, Martial Weapons and Heavy Armor uses. Arcane Engineer you gain Expertise Arcana and Alchemist or Scribes tools and cantrips True strike and an improved mending that repairs more damaged materials
I find it hilarious that the melee summon and the ranged/support summon get the same HP and the ranged one has better AC somehow. I really wanna play new Armorer honestly, Dreadnaught sounds like a lot of fun, especially on a small race and it's a subclass I've really always wanted to play. Artificer is hurting for masteries though, especially the martial ones. Hell, 1-2 tied to subclass level. All I'm asking.
I'm just gonna treat these suggested changes the same as Optional Class Features from Tasha's Cauldron. Grab what I like, ignore what I don't, make one whole functioning class out of the two attempts WotC has made so far.
I understand the point that crafting is powerful but... the campaigns my friends and i play usually takes around a week of inside-world time. If you think in this scenario, then an uncommon armor would take half the time of the adventure. At that moment maybe it's not useful anymore.
Why is Homunculus Servant 2nd level It’s worse then Pact of the chain plus investment of the chain which a warlock can get both in 5 levels which an artificer needs 6 to get the servant Especially when you could get the servant at level 2 of artificer before
That capstone sucks. Skill check boosts? F’ing Guidance is a damn cantrip. That’s a ridiculous nerf and on par with the garbage ranger capstone. Tier 4 bad guys should easily do 20+ damage on one hit. Not to mention the insanely high attack modifiers at that level. AC is almost irrelevant at that point. Not having infused or created items that act as a spell casting focus is also a nerf, I wonder if that was just missed, or intentional. The Guardian Armorer got nerfed by removing the ability to improve the specific weapon, the thunder gauntlets. The Artillerist is still really good, and got better. The Battle Smith is pretty much the same, a solid subclass. Poor Alchemist…how do they look at subclasses like this and not make meaningful improvements? All potions are bonus actions to consume now, per the new rules, that change means nothing. Still random elixirs? Why? They don’t scale at all no matter what spell level you might use to create them. I’m happy to see this class being added back into the game, but this UA needs a lot of work. Gator needs fire extinguisher training…
So here's a question: does Crafter actually become worth taking for an Artificer? The materials you're buying aren't magical; you're going to MAKE them magical. An additional 20% discount to your magic item material costs could really add up over time, but the cost of opportunity is not taking another origin feat, and that's a significant cost.
One day WotC might actually balance spells to make Fireball less dominant and better than all other AoE damage spells by miles. One day…. I like Fireball but it’s so good that anything that isn’t fireball is just dogsht unless it has a powerful secondary effect like Synaptic Static. Every AoE spell is compared to Fireball. Every time. That should tell you that it’s a problem in terms of balance.
Alchemist needs more love and effort added especially the whole random dice roll for potions let them craft potions that and I feel they need to go more rather then playing safe for this class and I feel there is cool new stuff but still feels I i heard more nerf then buff but still I hope they don’t follow up by not doing most of what they presented we often hear more cool/crazy abilities and this play test feels more subdued
Kobold & Gator dice sets coming soon: www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/f2e5cf3e-b4ae-4a90-be3a-8e17540f71b7/landing
Never forget the fact that you can get infinite stats at level 14 thanks to a rare wondrous item of chaotically vegetative proportions
Honestly, the change that I hate the most is the fact that you can no longer use Infused Items to cast spells, and have to rely _specifically_ on tools instead. Battle Smith is my favorite 5e Artificer subclass, and this change _only_ really affects Battle Smiths. Alchemists don't care, since they got nothing better to hold in their hands. Artillerists don't care, as they only need to hold onto Wands of Fireball. Armorers don't care, as they can use their armor as a Spellcasting Focus. Hopefully, they either revert this change, or give Battle Smiths the option to use Magic Weapons as a Spell Focus.
I am soooo glad someone else is upset about Magical Tinkering being changed. Sure it was a ribbon feature previously, but it had lots of uses.
_whispering a message into a ball bearing or a funky odor....then rolling it across the crowded tavern was hilarious. It also provided the distraction for our rogue to pick pocket ppl_
I love how Replicate Magic Item now has categories of items and not just a set list. It opens up so much potential for the class, but most importantly it future proofs it. I love this class, but I don’t have much confidence WoTC is going to give it much attention after the 2024 version is released. By having categories of magic items, it allows new books to add new content to Artificers even if they don’t directly state it
Artificers are hands down my favorite class in the game. Having the ability to create enspelled items via "infusions" is epic!!!
If something in a UA makes Pack Tactics scream like a little girl it’s going to get nerfed.
The Artificer will probably get screwed because WOTC love to do that. I guess we can still have hope (not really). But we can help them with reviews
OMG THAT WAS AN AWESOME INTRO! All the right questions!
-- Why not in the PHB
-- Libertarians with 3d Printers
Flash of Genius is NOT the same. It got a significant buff going from “When you or a creature makes” to “When you or a creature fails” ensuring no wasted uses
This change is both a buff and a nerf: it means we can no longer apply bonuses to initiative rolls.
People effectively used it that way anyway. Not even a buff really.
It fails on two things,
1 when the terms of/level of failure is unclear
&
2 when your wanting to apply it to a Skill check proactively to "Super" Succeed ala buff stacking to get the best possible support
Artificers are going to be AWESOME when paired with a Thief Rogue on the team! Hand out fireball machine guns and destroy the world!
Or take a 3 level dip in thief rogue and become a one man army, normal fireball plus fast hands fireball is like casting an 11th level fire ball. It's gonna make Mystra really uncomfortable lol
That opening joke hits so hard that I don't think United Healthcare is gonna cover the damage.
An important change in wording relative to the old rules:
Subclass spells used to say "these spells count as artificer spells for you". The new UA doesn't use that language, it just says "you always have these spells prepared ".
So, RAW, you can't put subclass spells in Spell-Storing Item.
I don't think this is RAI though, and it's something I would allow in my games.
Guardian Armorer Thunder Gauntlets increases from 1d8 at lv3 to 1d10 at lv15...
No wonder he thinks changing cheat death from 1 point to 20 makes any difference....
It’s amazing.
They got Gordon Ramsey to come work on Alchemist and it still ended up Undercooked.
i kinda like the new magical tinkering, even if it isn't better than the old one, there are just some issues:
1. the things only last 1 hour...wtf is bedroll doing on that list? there's like ONE thing i can think of using a bedroll for a hour for...and most games frown on that sorta thing.
2. i think it would have been nice if subclasses got other items, like alchemist's fire fire and acid flask for the alchemist.
it does leave some interesting options, for example:
conjure a flask, fill it with alchemist's fire, put the flask amongst some explosives, one hour later the flask goes POOF, the alchemists fire spills out...explosion.
if you can't fill a flask with alchemists fire you can suspend a flask of alchemists fire over the explosives with a conjured rope for the same effect.
another thing: 10 foot pole is BACK. always a pain to lug around a 10 foot pole, but conjure one...nice.
that being said it's basically a less impressive minor conjuration. more items larger than 3 foot on the list might give it an edge, like a ladder.
or maybe make a limited number of transformable items, as many as you have intelligence modifier, and as an action you can cause the item to turn into another item, kinda like the all purpose tool. this gets around the risk of people printing money with it (which you know is their main concern and why they don't just let the item persist) the item can be any item in the equipment section or any mundane weapon in which you are proficient, but if the item is destroyed it cannot be made again until you finish a long rest. the item maintains its shape until you use an action to change it, and the item is obviously magical giving out a faint glow (just like the previous magical tinkering)
Thank you so much for this review, Kobold. I love how our ideas on this UA resonate so well
I personally think the spell storing item being able to cast 3rd-level spells is way over-tuned, and almost no one will pick the level 1 or level 2 spell options because of that. I personally think they should make the spell-storing item have charges equal to twice your Int mod, and each casting of the spell consumes charges equal to the spell’s level. That means with +5 Int, you can cast ten level 1 spells, five level 2 spells, or three level 3 spells. That will make each spell level pretty viable to pick.
I would generally say that Artificers in general probably should have Masteries. Like, there whole thing is that they're skillful with magical items, but the Battle Smith definitely should.
It just plays to the tropes, where the magical master smith shows off his weapons.
Like, maybe they can only use masteries with things they make themselves? That would be a flavorful limit, but they should have them.
Artillerist’s getting 13 fireballs a day and the Spellpiercer Wand to negate all advantage your opponent has against the fireballs and as an arcane firearm you do 2d8 more damage
I don't think spellpiercer wand is a thing I'm not finding it in 5etools
@ it’s called Spellpiercing Wand and it’s A Magic Item in the Dungeons Of Drakkenhiem adventure book it’s on 5e Tools you when you filter make sure to include the partnered content
the fact that spell storing item is now available for 3rd level spells?
this is the most insane thing ever
literally haste your entire party in only one round
@@CaMags_07 Haste really sucks with the spell storing item especially if the party loses concentration.
@@PackTactics so haste your enemies then knock your concentration down and gain another entire round with full advantage + automatic critical hit
@@CaMags_07
They have to be willing.
@@ODDnanref ooh i forgot that, nvm
I believe that the reason why Artillerist doesn't get magic missile is it would work with Arcane Firearm, so +1d8 damage to every missile.
They closed that loophole. You now roll for each dart so only one dart gets the bonus.
"Why wasn't this in the PHB" I'm like 90% sure it's because of how it interacts with the magic item crafting rules
I’m like 99% sure it’s because they don’t want to put it in the SRD/open license.
"...Like a Libertarian with a 3D printer..."
I feel so seen.
Same (I don’t do it)
20 hp on the level 20 feature is useful in one way I can think of: enemies will steal knock you down, but you won't go down to like, d4 fire damage from some minor effect. Not likely at level 20, but at least it's SOMETHING in a case that would otherwise feel super anticlimactic.
also it is not limited to once per rest so you can just keep using it in theory until you burned all 6.
@@saqwana25yes and you lose your armor, the barbariand axe, the wizards bag if holding ext.
@@Razdasoldier didn't say it was no cost just that is stronger then considered.
There's a couple things that clearly are meant to be made a specific way but instead are written the other way. You mentioned the armorer, but another one I found was that the new truestrike being on this list is directly speaking less useful than it is on other classes. Since you need to hold your tools, you're limited to 1 of 4 options, with those being holding tools in one hand and a weapon in the other, the armorer can use armor as their focus, the artillerist can use a staff, or gain truestrike from highelf/magic initiate
I think videos like these are what cause UA to get nerfed
Then WOTC should hire me. I'll break everything Jeremy throws at me.
But also, the class overall needs more buffs than nerfs
Not gonna lie I think its a cold take that Heal is better than Bubbling Cauldron. I do agree that you should just pick your elixers, and I think they should honeslty last until a short rest, but Bubbling Cauldron is better than restorative spells that are nice at best.
The alchemist isn't a primary healer and you can craft strong restorative potions at 1/8th the time of similar rarity items. The emergency button is not your role.
Getting to make 5 potions of cold resistance before you got and face an Ancient White Dragon is going to save your party more HP than Heal will, and that's just one of the many useful Uncommon Potions in the game.
It also occured to me that Greater Healing Potions heal fro 4d4+4, which is average 14 healing. If you have a 20 intelligence that gives you 5 potions, or 70 HP worth of healing.
So the amount of direct healing isn't even different you just get more versatility and adaptability out of the feature and lose out on the emergency button you may not have even been able to use every day.
One thing you missed about cheating death is even if the enemy does 20 damage to you, you can just come back again even if it’s multiple times on the same turn because no reaction
Ok, good things, and bad.
A lot of QOL things.
Magical tinkering is now basically a robe of useful items, that you can choose. Much more useful than before. Although, they can't be used to make magical weapons, although, I doubt it was intentional.
Infusions are now just magical items, awesome! Now everyone can get returning weapon!
Homunculus Servant is much better, and artificer now gets Dragon Breath? That's such a fun combo!
Discount for non-magic item creation? Neat, although, kindna useless.
Now, the bad:
Where is the firearm proficiency went?
Sacrificing a magic item for a spell slot isn't worth it. And what we gave up? Tool expertise was amasing! With good imagination, you could use tool proficiency, instead of skills, so artificers used to get basically 3 extra skills, with expertise on level 6. New feature just not worth such sacrifice!
No weapon mastery? Really? That's kinda dumb
You have taken 10-th level discount in time and money for crafting magic items?! Why!? You just gave us proper rules to craft them!
I really love that infusions are just regular magical items, but by making some original infusions into uncommon magical items, you moved them from 2nd to 6-th level. That's a big nerf.
Also, with replicating magic items, you can just, straight up, create magical armor, even the most expensive ones? Without paying the cost? That a bit OP.
Please, keep the infusing of magical items, it would fix so much rules errors.
Homunculus Servant consume the gem, and doesn't drop it on death? That's so damn expensive, 100 gold per servant! Let him drop the gem!
Armorer is a mess. RAW, you can't make the dreadnought flail magical anymore!
And why he gets one less magical item from 9-th level feature?
Despite the buffs, alchemist and artillery remain the weakest, simply because they are half-casters, with no martial abilities. Arcane firearm, and alchemical savant partially fix the issue, but not enough. If a fighter deals 2d8 plus mod twice, artillerist deals 1d8 extra, and alchemist deals/heals int mod extra. Give them 1d8+int mod, and they won't fall behind basic attacks.
Also, I would suggest for alchemist to create 1 chosen +1 random each long rest, and each use of a spell slot(or better, choose a number equel to spell slot used, and get 1 random extra), and for artillerist to keep his cannon always active, not for just an hour. Also, give armorer Shield. It's odd, that he's not the tank subclass, and more vulnerable than battle smith.
Or, another idea to let him keep up with the regular casters, is to move the spell-storing item to ~ level 5. This way he will be kinda like diet warlock in terms of resource economy.
This clearly needs some polishing, but it is a good improvement on what it was. I'm sure there will be 1 or 2 more UA play tests between now and the official release. I feel like they are headed in the right direction. Alchemist as a whole and the higher level features of the other subs kinda feel like they got the ranger treatment. (Not worse than 2014, but not really better either)
I like the Lyre of Building as a downtime option for items. You can summon a construct to help with physical labor while using move earth to shape terrain. You also get Fabricate to craft things like wall sections, equipment, small houses and so on. There is also items that summon elementals, which is helpful if you have an ally who can cast Planar Binding. You can also always fall back on enspelled wands because, unlike the regular item crafting rules, the replicate magic items crafts do not require you to supply the spells needed to craft them.
1:25 Ah yes, a bedroll that lasts for an hour.
How useful.
A very subtle buff to Alchemist is that any CREATURE can administer an experimental elixir as a bonus action. That means that Spellwrought Tattoo lets you give everyone familiars, and then those familiars can administer a Potion of Boldness, or anything else, during combat, for effectively no action economy. This stacks with Bless, which is already a great spell for combat. Now, this was FAR stronger pre-2014 because the -5 / +10 from Great Weapon Master and Sharpshooter meant each point of to-hit was converting into damage at a higher ratio. But it's still good, and it also benefits all attack rolls and saving throws for the next minute. That means with Bless, you have +2d4. Throw on a Paladin aura, and you're likely never failing a saving throw again! But... what if you don't get any potions of boldness? Treat it like a Sorlock! Dip 2 levels of Warlock of your choice, get a Pact, and use a 4-hour long rest species to produce 8 elixirs each night by level 5. If you have 2 strikers in your party, that's a healing elixir, and 3 potions of boldness each per day, not to mention whatever two random potions you get. You can use your first-level slots for more if you need, or if you take a short rest. This is a 100% full support class like never before, but the benefits are huge and you barely need to do anything in combat to be incredibly effective. It's perfect for people who aren't into combat a lot. Once you get Tasha's Bubbling Cauldron, you can reproduce potions of Watchful Rest, allowing the party to craft all night long while familiars stay on watch!
I do agree that the elixirs should scale. But it honestly does more than it looks like it does. You just have to REALLY channel that support mindset, and it all but requires that you have a front line to feed those elixirs to. Like a paladin and fighter/barbarian.
3:15 The previous Artificer was already limited to one of each item, this isn't a new restriction.
As tempted as i am to ignore that rule, i am painfully aware of its existence.
(I agree it's probably good for the game overall, but damn i wanna kit out the whole party with magic weapons)
(Edit: actually scratch that, with the new system i can just give them a different weapon each, that's even better)
Hey wasn't this number 360+ when you put this on discord?
I was very wrong. I didn't do math properly.
I think this is the most nothing class to come out of UA. The core class is just an npc, especially since everyone can craft the items you unlock way before you get access to them. By level 10 when you can make any uncommon item, you could have crafted every uncommon item you'd want and have a whole class to yourself. At level 14, when you make 2 whole rare magic items, you should be getting legendaries and by the time you can make all your items into rare items, you'll be 17. The core class seems like a "It's dangerous to go alone, take this!" kinda person, hands you some stuff and then stays out of trouble. The alchemist doesn't really help with this sentiment. The armorer now is stuck with +0 weapons and the dreadnought's is not even elemental damage dealing one, so good luck using it after level 5-6. Battlesmith will have to constantly juggle if they also plan on using a shield or a wand with a weapon and cast regular spells, they also can't heal their defender with mending anymore. Artillerist seems like the only good option and that's the one that was barely changed.
This is just my opinion, but just playing a wizard with a smithing or similar background or a forge cleric brings more flavour and gameplay options than this whole class.
Artificer subclass spells are artificer spells, it specifically states that any feature you have form the class that gives you spells are artificer spells
@@shadowdragon-ClanTG- Even then, you have 2 good features in an entire class, this and crafting times halved, that's not enough to make a class work. It feels like the game doesn't want you to go on adventures, just give out stuff to the party and go back to crafting, this is why I said it feels like you're an npc.
@5AMACE it allows you to guarantee you have items, i have played a few artificers and when I told the party that the magic items I make are my class features they understood and I kept them, getting what was useful for my character, I was one of the stronger members of the party, and they still had magic items as normal, the problem is more the fact that artificers are expected to give the items away when really they should be the ones using them. This isn't to say that I completely disagree with you, a fair number of changes they made were just plain bad
@@shadowdragon-ClanTG- But in 2024 dnd, anyone can make magic items, so anyone can guarantee the items and you can have them faster since you don't have a level requirement. I don't have problems with 5e version, since they are the only ones who had that ability and with infusions they had unique stuff specifically to them, they had expertise with all tools which could be handy especially with locks and traps, etc.
@5AMACE definitely, they need the ability to craft at a lower constant time than others, but also, making magic items is still dm dependant, artificer isn't, beyond being allowed to play one
@PackTactics you missed that the cheat death feature doesn't have a usage limit. Which means at level 20 when you have 6 magic items, you can cheat death 6 times for a total of 120 hp
That doesn't change my opinion.
It also doesn't use your reaction, which is important when a big bad takes a legendary action to drop you after your reaction is spent
@@PackTactics I also would prefer the old saving throw buffs, but it does have some utility that plays into the artificer's 'tankiness.' Because it doesn't use a reaction, you could make an interesting combo with Boon of Energy resistance if you plan it right to double your effective hit points and get a bunch of extra reaction damage. (not that planning on dropping to 0 is a great plan).
I was just pointing out why Crawford (another Jeremy) said that it was improved.
It is also slightly worse as it destroys the item rather than just eliminating the infusion.
The example I saw given was what if you destroy your weapon. Now you have hindered yourself greatly. Or worse what if it's your Armor? This might not be as good as it was previously.
@@nickm9102 That is an interesting consequence that I overlooked. In my head since the infusion/weapon would just be created again the next long rest I assumed that it was the same situation, but like you are pointing out it isn't, since even the mundane item isn't left so instead of having full plate/halfplate AC 18/17 after cheating death you are left with 10 AC and no weapon. That is a glaring issue that needs to be pointed out in the survey response because I do not think that it was an intentional interaction. Thank you for catching that.
With the new more open ended magic item replication, you can abuse stuff like spellwrought tatoo / enspelled weapon to give the entire party familiars and homunculi (and then give all your familiars / undead their own familiars and homunculi, and also steeds), then use THAT for the spell-storing item trick.
I think the spell storing item should have a number charges depending on the spell's level. Three times your intelligence modifier for first level spells, twice int mod for 2nd lvl spells and just int mod for 3rd level. This way, there is actually a reason for not just choosing from the highest level available.
Have it be 3 times your int modifier and every spell level consumes a charge. Same balance just more intuitive.
So 3rd level spells consume 3 charges.
Spell storing item is the only feature saving this class from the item scaling nerfs. I hope if it does get reduced in power they add strength to the rest of the base class.
@@mogalixir
Enspelled dagger with Simon Homunculus disagrees, but yeah, it should have loops closed and power increased a bit more.
But Kobold, you forgot a something noteworthy about the Battlesmith, AMMO counts as Weapons for magic items. The Artificer could make Ammo of Slaying to deal more damage per shot against a specific type. Like if you know the BBEG is a Lich, Imagine the Fighter with Arrows of Undead Slaying and have him dish an additional 6d10 Force Damage per shot, or half that if the Lich beats the DC. If he's lvl 20 he can open fire like a madman on said Lich with 8 shots of his normal Bow/Gun Damage + potential 48d10 Force Damage. That's not taking into account they can crit too.
The juiciness isn't just making your typical weapons at half the time, it's also making those special types of ammo. Practice your 2nd Amendment Rights! Unfortunately, I only saw +1,2,3 and Slaying Ammo in the magic department, but hey, you can probably get away with making Fire Arrows, Explosive Arrows and more.
There is a Strength requirement for all heavy armor except Ring Mail. 13 for Chain Mail, 15 for Splint & Plate. If you wear the armor without the Strength score minimum you reduce your speed by 10 feet. So it does make sense to just say no Strength requirement. It’s not a requirement to wear the armor no, it’s a requirement to wear it without penalty.
They nerfed the number of known infusion too much (before it was double the the number of active infusion, now it’s only two more then the number of active infusion) which sucks because there’s a lot of situational items in there which you don’t want to wear everyday. For exemple all of the stealth options (Gloves of thievery, cloak of Elvenkind, resistance armor which you can no longer get at level 6 because of its rarety, googles of night, wand of magic detection, etc).
A lot of infusions are now delayed to 4 levels later and Mind Sharpener got heavy nerfed because it needs a attunement now.
ARMORER HAVE TWO BIG PROBLEM.
Firstly, their weapons can no longer have a +2 infusions because infusion no longer exist so there weapons are less powerful the before. Secondly the level 9 feature is even worse then you think because the best armor you have acces to is a +1 armor so if you find a better armor you now have a usless level 9 feature.
Defensive field of the Armorer Guardian sucks compared to the protector canon of the Artillerist. I love the concept of Armorer but they just suck in term of power. They need big buffs. Also they lack strenght to avoid grapple so they should add a feature to avoid that. They also really nerfed they heavily nerfed the level 9 feature, which would have been fine if they had buffed everything else.
BATTLESMITH GOT TWO BIG PROBLEMS
First of all and most importantly they are obligated to have a tool in hand to cast spells since they can no longer use magic items as a spell focus. Which sucks because they usully use one hand weapon and a shield.
Secondly, the Steel defender can no longer be healed with mending, so you will need a lot more of spell slot per day to recast it.
Also smith spells need bonus action so you won't really get a good use out of them because your Steel Defender already eats your bonus action.
ALCHEMIST actully got a pretty BIG hidden NERF :
You can no longer stack effect of potions with the new ruling. You need to roll on a table to determine the bad effect which can completely nullify the effect of both potions or make you explode and this for each potions you drink after the first one.
I’m playing in a group with the 2014 rules
We hit level 14 awhile ago
I’m playing artificer and the first thing I did once the characters got some downtime after hitting level 14 was make a Mizzium Aparatus because of your video on it.
That thing has been a god send.
Was playing tower defense against an orc horde and was sniping from the church towers.
Had to get from one tower to the next but lacked enough movement.
Tried casting Ashalardon’s stride through the Mizzium Aparatus
Got Fireball instead.
Was a sorcerer for about 3 seconds because I bonus action casted fireball
In this version, I can no longer use that.
I wouldn't be surprised if, in future book that they put the Artificer in, they also reprint the stuff about Bastions, along with possibly more options for Bastions.
The Battlesmith at the least should get Weapon Mastery (as should Bladesinger when they get round to doing them)
I knew artificers were coming back! In the DMG there is text in the bastion section where in an arcane room, people with arcane focuses and tool focuses
I feel like the level 1 feature is great at certain tables, with creative players. Some of those items can be quite useful, like caltrops. Some of the others can be combined to make useful items , like combining string, a jug and some ball bearings to make a noisemaker trap on a door so you can sleep in a dungeon.
The items can be useful, but if you think they'll be useful, just buy them. You do not need a class feature for that.
@ Yeah but that means I gotta carry around a wagonload of random crap. 🤷♂️
This is useful for those situations where you need a particular thing and don’t have it and it also means you can leave stuff behind to drop weight because next time you need the item you can just make another one.
Also, at lower levels anyway, being able to make a torch or a bag of caltrops could potentially be pretty useful.
The core books should be as plain jane vanilla as possible so you can only go up from there. There should be no tieflings dragonborn etc in it, all of that should be available but as supplementary. dohbt wotc is doing that though amd is lilely doing it for money.
My issue is that before level 10 you’re boring. Less spell preps, less items available, and not appreciably buffed in a game where the other classes got new toys.
I can't see the spell storing item keeping the ability to store 3rd level spells when the artificer is eventually printed. 10 free fireballs per long rest is just broken, especially when it's given to to something like a homunculus servant for essentially free casts. Conjure barrage too (I somehow missed the massive glow up it got.)
I really like the changes to replicate magic item though, mainly because it means the artificer won't fall behind when new magic items are released.
Also, mind sharpener did get nerfed, but it also got a buff in being a ring instead of armour, meaning you can now use it without having to sacrifice improving your AC. This means you no longer necessarily have to get war caster if you'd prefer to use the feat for something else, and it being its own item means you can get multiple for every spell caster in the party that might want one.
You know this bit here: 16:16 You can do this with web and web is as good as 3rd lvl spells and arguably better than hypnotic pattern in shut down especially when there's 3 party members for example creating 3 blocks of web down a hallway or something. It's just so much web that if the enemies can't get rid of it then it turns into a default kill. What they have to do is nerf the charges but I don't think that will ever happen because everyone will be mad about it.
Sorry but its nowhere near full casters in broken lvl, a warlock rn its way more powerful in different aspects then SSI at lvl 11... Stop trying to make finally a good half caster, shitty as a ranger or at/ek
@@PackTactics True (I admittedly skipped past the artillerist bit because I'm only interested in the battle master right now because I'm playing one.)
One idea for charges is that they depend on the level of the spell, so 1st level gives 3 times your spell modifier, 2nd level gives 2 times, and 3rd level is just the modifier. That way there's also actually a reason to put lower level spells in sometimes.
@@TheBlink182ify The problem is that it's just too abusable. If only the artificer could use it/it could only be used once per round, then it would be one thing, but as Pack Tactics pointed out (and I admittedly skipped over before writing my original comment) everyone can share it around use it easily and quickly, meaning there's potential to wipe most encounters in the first turn. They really need to distribute more power around the class instead of focussing it all in a single class feature.
@@The_Fallen_1 Then you skipped the best part of this video lol. Artillerist is god tier.
The Artillerist is now the Carpet Bomber.
Artificer being a half caster deserves Extra Attack. This makes room for Battlesmith & Armorer, & a fallback plan for Artillerist & Alchemist.
Alchemist should have a true d100 table in Experiential Elixir.
I've got an idea for a 20th level character that is 6 levels of artillerist artificer and 14 levels of nemesis sorcerer from the latest frontiers of eberron book. Basically you can craft wands and be a wandslinger. Pair it with the wandslinger background for more flavor.
One thing that's weird about the subclass spell list though is it doesn't say they count as artificer spells. Every other time a subclass gave you spells. It said they count as the class's spells, not the subclasses
Battle Smiths got their legs broken. You can’t use your replicated/infused items as spell foci, so now sword and board battle smith, which was practically the default playstyle for that subclass, is deeply impractical without war caster. And with CON proficiency our homeboy is one of the people who needed that feat less before. Now it’s basically a must pick. I mean, I suppose with True Strike the AoO cantrip is worth it. Still means level 3 is a poop burger and level 4’s ASI isn’t an actual choice. Meanwhile at level 3 choose: do you use a shield or do you voluntarily forgo one of your two subclass spells?
Armorer damage go done super dirty. Alchemists got a buff but are still the LOLRANDOM subclass. Artillerist got only buffs and is the best subclass now by a pretty toxic margin.
And yeah, enspelled items are a problem for artificer design. And the mind sharpener doesn’t need to be a level 10 item. It’ll likely be craftable at most tables LONG before then due to crafting costs. Even by artificers themselves - eye roll-
EDIT: Oh my god it’s so much worse than I initially thought. Because Tools Required specifically states that you must use a tool, that means even War Caster won’t save you. You need a hand for your tool, and you need a weapon to actually DO a True Strike or Booming Blade attack, so you must have a hand free for the tool, meaning no shield unless you’re using the legacy loxodon or thri-keen. WHAT THE HELL.
I think the capstone should be changed so that death defy gives 20 hp + 10 hp per attuned item and revert the other part back to the 2014 saving throw + number of attuned items. I just think it's thematic that an artificer would have enchanted their attuned items to provide more defenses to themselves than other classes would be capable of, but that power gets diminished as they lose their attuned items.
Leave it to Kobold to unearth the cheese.
I honestly alchemist because ot gets healing word and mass healing word. If you optimize to craft scrolls, take advantage making potions quickly, make some good healing elixirs and utilize spell storing items and enspelled items you can be a great healer. Plus the bonus action bless potions are nice. Of course you would have to build in a way to get more tool proficiencies but it's not a bad support build for a party that wants to play a lot of melee martials. Nothing beats minonmancy though lol
Unless i am missing somewhere, the subclass spells don't seem to get added to the artificer spell list, opening questions about if they are even elligible to use with spell storing item?
yeah, in RAW they aren't Artificer's Spells, just spells that you have prepared
The subclasses are artificer subclasses. These are artificer spells.
@@CaMags_07RAW they 100% are. It is even listed explicitly in the spellcasting section.
@@Razdasoldier so cool, i can rule a entiry party of artificers now named Manhattan Project and do a literal nuke in D&D
Some cool things in the UA, but still wish for a bit more in the subclass category, aside from limiting a bit the artilerist nuke potential, its a cool bomber archetype, but Alchemist should be able to throw potions and elixirs to allies, the Armorer's 2 previous armors need a bit more identity with the new Dreadnough, and maybe the Steel Defender should be an enchanted suit of armor that you can choose to replicate from your arcane plans, then you can give the Battle Smith more weapon prowess, maybe a way to create a custom weapon to scale with.
Besides that, I like the idea of artificers changing the casting rules for flavor, maybe make your tools or materials be needed for your spells, and the resonance of the magic is what gives a verbal component instead of your voice, but they do need a work around for the mechanic in combat, either by making the subclasses give you an alterative focus (weapons for the Battle Smith?) or give it base line in some way though magic items.
So at lvl 14 you can have 40 3lvl spell castings, 10 from storing item, and 5 item with 6 castings from your RMI using enspelled things (rare for 3rd lvl spells) and the 30 from enspelled don have to be on there artificer spell list. Endgame fun times.
Just think for fireball, spell storing item (10), enfuse enspelled what staff or weapon for 6 more x number of RMI at lvl 14 then craft wands of fireball. So much fireball. Probably need some mind crystals ( carefull spell) or this may get messy
Why they can't fix Alchemist properly is beyond my comprehension.
Two spells that shouldn't be spells; homunculus and find steed.
Enjoy your infinite homunculi army riding horses with infinite healing, fear, and teleport.
Is Find Steed not limited? Thought you could only have one at a time. Homonculus isn’t but it also costs 100g for every one.
@@mogalixir the Find Steed and Homunculus Servant spells create a permanent creature, with the restriction being, you can only have one of each per creature; spells cast through items ignore cost; UA Artificer can just make whatever rare enspelled item they want in the DMG; Crawford explicitly says the class doesn't even need to know the spell.
So, you make an enspelled item that creates a Homunculus; that Homunculus takes that same item, attunes to it, and casts the spell to summon another Homunculus. You can repeat the process with the not-so-Paladin exclusive spell Find Steed, handing these Homunculus' an Enspelled X of Find Steed.
It snowballs from there.
Tasha's version of artificer did limit you to one instance of each infusion already
I read this UA and instantly thought about what you were gonna have to say about it cause man
I think you might have undersold the flexibility buff to the Artillerist cannon. The Protector ability was already pretty cracked (especially when you first get it), but it came at the cost of not having the Force Ballista for additional damage. Now it looks like you get both! As someone who really enjoys both the subclass and being OP, I hope they don't revert this feature to its Tasha's form, but I wouldn't be surprised if they do.
Losing the feature that granted tool Expertise at level 6 is a bit of a bummer since it was an easy way of letting you be as reliable a lockpicker as a Rogue, but considering how Spell Storing Item (and the lackluster capstone) encourages a Thief multiclass, maybe that's not such a big deal.
Agreed on the change to Magical Tinkering also being a bummer. It's a ribbon feature in either case, but there's more space for creativity and fun in its Tasha's incarnation.
basically guarantees temp HP throughout the day
I noticed a lot of items like staff of the python or staff of the adder no longer have class prerequisites
The funniest for me is now you can stack like 4 or 5 versions of increase size categories.
Goliath, Rune Knight, the giant barbarian, the dreadnought armorer, and enlarge reduce
You can play as ultraman going super gargantuan for a few minutes
Between the Spell-storing Item and Replicate Magic Item, there’s the potential to give your party 46 extra casts of spells per day. Somehow I doubt this is going to survive the play test.
The biggest issues with the 5E Artificer is that they get their playstyle from their sub and don't get it until 3, and that their level 20 capstone is not thematically congruous as passive bonuses to saves aren't their thing.
All OneD&D classes get their subs at 3, so the Artificer's biggest problem literally cannot be fixed in OneD&D.
I completely agree with you, I personally feel that they should have also kept some subclass levels at 1st level. If they really wanted to make it less weird with "what class got their subclass when" than they should have either put the wizard and druid at 1st level, or druid at 1st and wizard at 3rd
Fair. But note that the PHB states that they recommend always starting at 3rd level, unless you've never played before. (Or something like that).
@@NOUBIZ They should have made everyone get their subclass at 1.
The +6 to saves is so they can support and not burn through all of their items.
I play an armorer artificer (a very small (90cm) Harengon XD) and I'm sad about the magical tinkering, I used it until now only to wear a ring that produces the smell of pines around me for flavor but I like it XD
I feel an alchemist would play very well with the parties barbarian. Using Tasha’s cauldron, you could give your barbarian a potion of growth, and because it’s made from the alchemist, the barbarian will gain temp hp, which always goes longer due to rage, vs other PC’s. A small win for the alchemist, but to niche!
The dreadnought can become gargantuan at level 9 with thier feature plus enlarge reduce which is pretty cool. I seem to remember but cant find the rules for crushing instant deaths if a creature two sizes larger than you moves into your space and you fail a dex save. If those rules actually exist and carried over to 2024 that would make the dreadnaught a nightmare
That rule doesn't exist in 5e.
Alchemist with the new potion miscibility rules
I seem to be alone with this, but I feel like they should have some kind of ritual spell ability.
That was their entire gimmick in the Eberron lore. Plus, it is an incredibly underutilized mechanic. It always seemed interesting, and the feat allowed otherwise non-caster classes to cast a level 6 spell.
Unfortunately, the only level six ritual spell worth using is Forbiddance. I always assumed they would eventually add more high-level utility spells with the ritual tag, but they didn't.
Plus, the setting artificers originate from had a whole thing with some people casting non-ritual spells as rituals. It would still take ten minutes so It would be limited to so something you can prepare before a fight and utility spells.
Has Pack Tactics ever felt a play test feature was too strong?
Yes. 2024 Wizard playtest where they could actually make spells. lol
I think cube of summoning is a great item for the level 14+ replicate magic item since its in essence a free concentrationless summon spell and it doesn't require attunement so after use you can just turn it into a spell slot
No bad, I raise you the enspelled dagger of summoning homunculus. Sure you waste time while your homunculus attuned to it but now your homunculus can summon a homunculus. Then you can consume the dagger for a spell slot and make another one.
How do you know which wands and spellbound weapon require attunement and which ones don't? I know it explicitely says for webs and missles, but I'm not where the general rule, if there's any, is.
I just wanted experimental elixir to scale based on level of spell cast to make it. Seems like a real missed opportunity
I'm imagining artificer with 3 levels thief rogue is going crazy
Magic iniate as an origin feat will let you make wands of magic missiles, and once youve made plenty of those, you can swap out magic missile for find familiar to make enspelled items or spell wrought tattoos to give all the non casters familiars.
Also, the reason Artillerists dont get magic missile is because arcane firearm adds 1d8 to artificer spells, and mm is intended to have 1 damage roll you multiply by the number of darts, so adding a d8 to it is super strong, going from avg 10.5 damage to 24 avg damage with just a first level slot and no save. Evocation gets a similar ability as its whole deal, while Artillerist has the rest of its class and subclass kit to deal damage. It really doesn't need the help
In a game where GWM, PAM, Nick, and Dual Wielding exist the Armorer “weapons” feel like a joke and it makes me angry.
WotC doesn’t have an foresight. They don’t know how to balance their game or even consider what’s already in it when they add something.
Oh yeah that flail is cool, but it gets out damaged by a Scimitar and a Short sword every single time.
Defensive field of the Armorer Guardian sucks compared to the protector canon of the Artillerist. I love the concept of Armorer but they just suck in term of power. They need big buffs. Also they lack strenght to avoid grapple so they should add a feature to avoid that.
I would like to see the two more caster focused subclasses get access to higher level spells similar to Warlocks Mystic Arcanum feature. They could curate the list of available spells to only ones that make sense for artificers.
Meanwhile the two more martial subclasses should get weapon masteries.
Let's not keep pretending alchemist is a half caster in the same way a paladin is. Give them access to higher level spells.
I think some masteries would solve a lot of things. Can we give the classes that have a "melee" mode (cleric, druid, swords bard etc.) one mastery that they can change each level?
I hate how you provinces UA as it immediately made me go in me head “Hawk tUA”
I wish that they'd made the eldritch cannon last 8 hours instead of 1 hour. In my games at least that effectively means one cannon per combat and given that you have to use spell slots after you free one I would effectively be spamming cannon blasts and cantrips without being able to do much else in combat, let alone casting spells outside of combat.
I'm an artificer main and I think spell storing item is a tiny bit op even for only 2nd level spells
10 scorching rays is a lot already and now it's 10 fireballs
Combat day ends before you run out of spell juice
Like could they buff something else instead?
Artificer basically now revolves around 2 abilities 1 from their subclass and 1 on 11
I like magical tinkerer is ok but I would rather see it give two option like most classes in 2024 Combat Engineer or Arcane Engineer
Combat Engineer You get the Intelligence option on weapon attacks attack, Martial Weapons and Heavy Armor uses.
Arcane Engineer you gain Expertise Arcana and Alchemist or Scribes tools and cantrips True strike and an improved mending that repairs more damaged materials
Gator and Kobold dice! Yes, please.
Don’t even waste a level dip for magic missile when you can get magic initiate as a level 1 character with your background or as a human.
I find it hilarious that the melee summon and the ranged/support summon get the same HP and the ranged one has better AC somehow.
I really wanna play new Armorer honestly, Dreadnaught sounds like a lot of fun, especially on a small race and it's a subclass I've really always wanted to play. Artificer is hurting for masteries though, especially the martial ones. Hell, 1-2 tied to subclass level. All I'm asking.
I'm just gonna treat these suggested changes the same as Optional Class Features from Tasha's Cauldron. Grab what I like, ignore what I don't, make one whole functioning class out of the two attempts WotC has made so far.
Fireball the subclass looks good.
How does cheat death work if your max hp is below 20?
Level one feature is context sensitive button from conkers bad fur say
I understand the point that crafting is powerful but... the campaigns my friends and i play usually takes around a week of inside-world time.
If you think in this scenario, then an uncommon armor would take half the time of the adventure. At that moment maybe it's not useful anymore.
Why is Homunculus Servant 2nd level
It’s worse then Pact of the chain plus investment of the chain which a warlock can get both in 5 levels which an artificer needs 6 to get the servant
Especially when you could get the servant at level 2 of artificer before
That capstone sucks.
Skill check boosts?
F’ing Guidance is a damn cantrip. That’s a ridiculous nerf and on par with the garbage ranger capstone.
Tier 4 bad guys should easily do 20+ damage on one hit. Not to mention the insanely high attack modifiers at that level. AC is almost irrelevant at that point.
Not having infused or created items that act as a spell casting focus is also a nerf, I wonder if that was just missed, or intentional.
The Guardian Armorer got nerfed by removing the ability to improve the specific weapon, the thunder gauntlets.
The Artillerist is still really good, and got better.
The Battle Smith is pretty much the same, a solid subclass.
Poor Alchemist…how do they look at subclasses like this and not make meaningful improvements?
All potions are bonus actions to consume now, per the new rules, that change means nothing.
Still random elixirs? Why? They don’t scale at all no matter what spell level you might use to create them.
I’m happy to see this class being added back into the game, but this UA needs a lot of work.
Gator needs fire extinguisher training…
So here's a question: does Crafter actually become worth taking for an Artificer? The materials you're buying aren't magical; you're going to MAKE them magical. An additional 20% discount to your magic item material costs could really add up over time, but the cost of opportunity is not taking another origin feat, and that's a significant cost.
0:05 Why?! BECAUSE MONEY!!!
One day WotC might actually balance spells to make Fireball less dominant and better than all other AoE damage spells by miles.
One day….
I like Fireball but it’s so good that anything that isn’t fireball is just dogsht unless it has a powerful secondary effect like Synaptic Static.
Every AoE spell is compared to Fireball. Every time. That should tell you that it’s a problem in terms of balance.
Alchemist needs more love and effort added especially the whole random dice roll for potions let them craft potions that and I feel they need to go more rather then playing safe for this class and I feel there is cool new stuff but still feels I i heard more nerf then buff but still I hope they don’t follow up by not doing most of what they presented we often hear more cool/crazy abilities and this play test feels more subdued