The most powerful Artificer: walking right into the BBEG's lair, wearing a hard hat, Hi-Viz vest and carrying a clipboard. Ain't no one going to stop him, because who wants to deal with an OSHA inspector?
that. or the party of Mastermind Rogue's wearing business suits coming to "talk" about your taxes. OSHA inspectors and IRS agents. two things no one messes with. Hell even the Joker doesnt fuck with the IRS.
If I build an all-artificer party, I want it to look like Big Hero 6. Speed, swords, an armored mount, quick-build potions, and the one where the suit is doing all the real work. But! They are all intelligent, resourceful, and quick-thinking. And that's what I really want in my artificers.
@@JerSyegFalcon had a pet falcon. In the MCU they put Redwing in as a deployable drone and so name him but it's like one scene and it barely ever shows up
Hi, Artificer main here. I think this is a pretty balanced and accurate take on the class. I do want to highlight some concepts and tactics that missed out on discussion here though. 1. With four artificers in the party, you very quickly get access to the gameplan of "Give the homunculus two bags of holding, and have it stuff one inside the other, to immediately illiminate a big threat". At second level, having this as a combo your party can pull of twice a day. Slip in the Shadow Touched feat, and your homunculus can do this invisibly. This comes online wildly early. 2. Spellwrought Tattoo as a magic item opens up a crazy amount of options for this party. 3. You're right, the Alchemist is absolutely the selfless character that buffs everyone else. At third level, being able to burn a first level spellslot to give an ally flight is insane. 4. In a campaign where tool proficiencies are valuable, particularly if you're able to get hold of an All-Purpose Tool, this party goes to the moon on power level. Artificer sometimes feels like cheating in campaigns with heavy worldbuilding social aspects. Do wizards have good generic tools for this? Sure. Do Artificers have wildly specific tools for his? Insanely so. 5. Your pets can also use infused magic items. This is something I see people miss all the time. Giving the Steel Defender Gauntlets of Ogre Strength, giving your Homunculus a Horn of Blasting, using a Spellwrought Tattoo to get yourself a Familiar and having it cast spells from your Spell Storing Item. This opens up some really gross combos, and a lot of action economy.
Hello artificer main Stephen, Mont K. Ranch here; reporter for Ammo ossity Magazine; any comment on the artillerist that you'd like to mention for the folks at home that like big guns and cannot dye?
So, unfortunately, artificer is relatively weak unless you pull game breaking cheese. I really like the artificer concept, but they completely flubbed the execution of the class.
@@michaelbarnard8529artificer weak? In my party’s strixhaven campaign I played an armorer artificer among a group of wizards and warlocks, and the table gawked at my abilities several times. I would argue they are one of the most powerful classes and they offer the most in flavor
@@Griffingterraarcane firearm, it doesn’t require the spell casting focus to be non magical, so put a enhanced arcane focus on it before turning it into the arcane firearm for an +1 Arcane Firearm.
@@Griffingterra Great question, Mont K Ranch! I think Artillerist is often underrated! Some tips I'd like to mention: Remember that you choose which Arcane Canon type you summon each time you select it! Consider your situation, and whether you need range, AoE, or mass Temp Hitpoints very carefully! Lots of people get obsessed with one option, and forget about the flexibility. Range and movement speed is your friend! Force Balista and Fire Bolt can both be used from over 100ft away, and more than half the monsters in the game don't have ranged attacks! That's a lot of busted potential! Shield is your friend! You can cast shield, and also have a shield! This gives you great AC potential! Use your downtime! Your Arcane Firearm can add a lot of damage, but you're lacking in spell slots. Making Spell Scrolls, Spell Wrought Tattoos, filling Rings of Spell Storing... these things have much more value for you than most other spell casters! The more AoEs you can get, the more value your Firearm holds! Your Eldritch Canon is an object, not a creature! That means lots of spells can't affect it! This is great for you! Particularly if you like to stay at range!
The DM should let you craft magic items as it's an EXPLICIT class feature: "If you craft a magic item with a rarity of common or uncommon, it takes you a quarter of the normal time, and it costs you half as much of the usual gold."
@@sethb3090 True, but that means that the artificer is designed with magic item crafting from the get go. The feature only makes crafting better, it doesn't say it unlocks it for them. So they should be able to craft magic items, as the rules state from the get go.
@@sethb3090 By level 10, this shouldn't be the most powerful gear you have, but it rounds out those places you haven't found something better than mundane for. It's like the skim coat to fill in the gaps: +1 for any armor/weapons/focus you're missing Darkvision for anyone missing it. Flight options for anyone missing it Barrier tattoo for anyone without armor proficiency Lantern of revealing for invisibility Cloaks of protection for anyone with an open attunement slot. Gloves of theivery Bracerys of archery Cloak/boots of elven kind etc. There's just so many options that the dozens of little benefits here and there will add up.
You guys are forgetting one very important thing with the Alchemist. They add their int mod to some damage types (can pick up some cantrips that have the right damage types) and all healing spells meaning their healing is even more effective
Alchemist cast Flaming sphere in front of the Battle Smiths Sentinel wall. And keep the enemies stuck with sentinel, booming blade and steel defender pushing them to prone. Making them stuck. Vortex warp to bring enemies there. While artillerist, armorer and alchemist pepper them with attacks. And with flying boots the armorer could even get over the flaming sphere and keeps using thorn whip to let enemies fall over the flaming sphere
As someone who has played an Armorer and an Artillerist, the Artillerist is way more impactful as a tanky hybrid support blaster, especially in a smaller party where everyone is wearing several hats. The Protector Cannon is an incredible support feature, the Force Balista's repositioning is a more reliable and damaging alternative to the Telekinetic feat, and the sustained AoE of the Flamethrower is fantastic in close quarters and all of them are bonus actions. At higher levels, getting two of them with each cannon granting an aura of half cover is an insane boost to your damage and your party's defenses, and getting 10 free Shatters a day that benefit from your Arcane Firearm takes some of the edge off of being a half caster, and you can still drop Wall of Fire/Fireball. You're like a Light Cleric who can give your Samurai/Gloom Stalker a magic gun
I played a Battlesmith until around level 7 before switching to Artillerist, and I only wish I had switched sooner (this is before Armorer existed), the cannon is far better than the steel defender both in damage and support. I found the battlesmith to be so weak, particularly the steel defender, even with a couple of defensive buffs from the DM it got taken out in the 1st round of combat more than once.
@@Telleryn lol same. We started our current campaign at level 6, and I was neither as resilient as the Forge Cleric nor remotely damaging as the Samurai. I respecced at level 9 and am now level 15 with no regrets. Over several campaigns, our table has seen all four subclasses; Battle Smith and Alchemist were there the most briefly before respeccing, my Armorer multiclassed into Abjuration Wizard (shout out to @DnDDeepDive, that build rules), and we've had 3 straight-classed Artillerists who didn't respec
The Alchemist is actually a very powerful subclass, they are Buffers. Our favorite Alchemist build in my group is what we call the “Gastronomancer”, specifically, an entire class dedicated to the Chef feat. They can literally grant buffs on demand via potions, snacks, infusions, and enchantments. Remember, avoiding damage is always better than healing damage taken.
When I was playing an Artificer, my DM was nice and whenever I chose the “replicate magic item” infusion to invent something, I could spend downtime to make the blueprints for the item. And then I would switch to a new magic item with the next level up when I could switch an infusion, and then spend more downtime and money to create the previous magic item from the blueprints. The system worked really well, and I could make a bunch of low level utility items that I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. And since I had to spend the time and resources it wasn’t overpowered either.
Yeah that is actually where the Artificer shines and why people dump on it, because it takes maximum advantage of downtime which a lot of DMs don't use and get overlooked by most players. I had a one-shot i got to play a level 11 Artificer and my DM gave us restrictions on starting gear but because our backstory was that we were high officials of guilds and he let me make 2 magic items for everyone to start with. I would probably do something similar if my artificer player wanted to do the same.
This is exactly the approach. My DM has ways to get blueprint like wizards find spell scrolls/books, but also, like this, you could make your own from things you find or infuse. We have a 2 person party, my battle Smith and a sorlock. 1 level dip in wizard means tons of ritual spells free to fill in gaps and a familiar, steel defender, and a homunculus make a 2 person party feel capable of tons more thanks to crafting magic items to fill in!
I just change whatever magic item I'm replicating every long rest with all of my other infusions, since needing to wait a whole level to change it is stupid as heck. It's a crapshoot anyway if your magic item is going to be useful for the situation on hand - you should at least be able to roll the die every in-universe day instead of once every several sessions.
Warehouse 13!!! I'd love to make that an all-artiticer party. Hunting down artifacts that are tied to our reality, but that are causing chaos. Especially if you can go to the warehouse as your HQ. This place is a veritable Pandora's Box! We have Pandora's Box on aisle 29... it's empty, of course.
Alchemist support~ The Alchemist has Healing Word to keep the party up however, they also have a ton of Infiltration utility with a "1st level" non-Concentration Alter Self & Actor Feat with Expertise & Disguise Kit without any CHA. They also got Death Wards. This is your dedicated healer that usually gets pushed aside, given Alchemists were about to be benched by both dudes if they could. Rikku is a pretty cool Alchemist.
How is this party not an A? They have no significant weakness for any situation they find themselves in. You could argue that they are better than the Wizard party for the simple fact that they have a true tank that the Wizards can only dream of having. I think they are better than the Ranger group and on par with the Pallys.
This party also is not particularly strong in anyone field. Wizards are full spellcaster, with the ability to cast wish. I don’t know how well this party would be against paladins.
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@@vincentroberto2260 if you actually look at lvl10s, I think that this party outshines wizards hard until those broken lvl6 spells and more come into play
Wizards can just use summons in the absence of a frontliner. I’d also say that the amount of battlefield control Wizards have makes up for not having as strong of a frontline.
Not to mention that since your a construct certain spells can't target you and you get an extra d4 to a saving throw , attack roll or ability check proficiency times per day, advantage on saves against poisoned or paralyzed resistance to poison damage, the mending cantrip can help give extra healing, and the steel defender has a feature that gives some health back to constructs it adds a lot to the party to go autognome
Another theme I can think of for a party of entirely artificers: a group of army engineers who served together and took up adventuring after leaving the army. The artillerist, since they naturally hang back and rely on their turrets, could have been the tactician or commander in their division.
Artificers as a concept were always super cool to me, as a class they have seemed very lackluster. But you guys gave a very compelling argument for how that campaign could be fun. Now I really want to see you guys do a what if everyone plays an apothecary. We saw the live play when you were testing, but I would love to hear your thoughts on which of the 6 subclasses would make the final cut.
Yep I want to see that too. I think an all apothecary class could be very strong with all the stuff they get. Customisability (Armor-, extra options etc), saving throw bonus options, full spell progression, blast- heal- and controle spells etc, will all make a strong reason to put it in top tier.
You guys should do a series of videos around DMing for each class! Pitfalls, suggestions, pillars to focus on, unique items treasure and loot to give etc.
My battlesmith was a noble with Wis 14, Cha 14, Persuasion, Guidance and Enhance Abilitie. Actually, he was pretty good with social and investigation checks.
I dont care if alchemists are less powerful. I love them. I played an alchemist for 2 years and was our party's only source of healing. I was always brewing potions and my damage never fell off because I had sharp shooter. He ended up dying to a false hydra, and everyone firgot he existed, which was so tragic. Ooc everyone was so sad Jon and his spitting homonculus were gone.😂
I love the idea of an all Artificer party. What I would change is make a 5 player party and have both versions of the Armorer (my favorite type of Artificer).
I have a 5th level small Battlesmith Artificer that uses the Steel defender as a mount. They have also takes the Mounted combat feat. In effect, 3 hits per turn and all incoming attacks have disadvantage. It's a surprisingly fun tank build.
I wish Artificer was in the new Player's Handbook so that new books could add new subclasses. In my home game, I made a portal artificer and a weather artificer and if it wasn't for the Tasha's limitations, I'd probably put them to sell on DMs guild lol
I actually kinda want the Artificer to get merged into the Warlock as a subclass, based on Eberron lore about most magitech being powered by bound Elementals. It keeps the number of base classes down, has some cool lore, and ensures at least some level of continued splatbook support. Then again, that would be part of a much broader reimagining of the base classes designed to ensure each occupies a much more equitable region of the design space.
It's sort of why they ended up making a new class in their books. They made a damn good subclass for it! There's many good ones on the DMs guild and so many subclasses for the other classes that just should be artificer like Rune knights but they cram them into weird classes😂
@@meikahidenori I never thought of Rune Knight being an artificer but now that you said that it dose seem like it would fit so well as an Artificer subclass.
It should have been, and Warlocks should be Intelligence casters (let's be honest, the person who goes into ancient tombs to find cursed artifacts, or into a hidden library to find a forbidden tome, or who researches alien runes to summon cthulu is going to be a nerd, not a smooth talker). With this change, you would have: 2 full casters and a half caster for each of Intelligence (Warlock, Wizard, Artificer), Wisdom (Cleric, Druid, Ranger), and Charisma (Bard, Sorcerer, Paladin) and you would have a Martial class that each focus on one of the three body stats with Fighters for Strength, Monks for Dexterity, and Barbarians for Constitution. Then you have the Edgy Rogue who exists off in the corner of the tavern by themselves like they usually are.
I honestly don't get the Alchemist hate. I played one and it was great. The healing was better than the cleric and the extra potions came in handy every session
It's powerscalers they don't hit as hard as other subclasses that means they are bad but you knew adding 2x you int mod to all healing and your pots giving temp hit point on top of healing or whatever else doesn't count
I love them too. I played one and had a blast until we had a support bard and a twilight cleric join my party. they started doing my character's gimmick but at higher level, which made it hard.
Letting the Alchemist choose what elixirs they make instead of rolling for it (without expending spell slots) would really help the subclass be better, though probably still not as good as the other subclasses. One thing they do get though is multiple free uses of Lesser Restoration and eventually Greater Restoration and Heal which effectively makes them a two-thirds caster
@@Mary_Studios Exactly! Its feels pretty silly to not know what they do until you drink them. DMs, if you have someone wanting to play an alchemist artificer, let them pick what effects they want for their free elixirs for the love of Arceus
in addition, something I see overlooked, but I think it is viable is an interaction with your potions and homunculus. you can command your humunculus as a bonus action to administer a potion as its action. I could only find in the rules that force-feeding a potion to a downed ally is an action, but there is no other rules about others feeding a character a potion that I could see, I could be wrong. the theory is to command the humunculus to give a potion to an ally as your bonus action but it uses its action to administer the potion. I have used this to feed our great weapon-wielding barbarian the bless-like potion
They should have let the alchemist choose 1 elixir per long rest or per spell slot, with one of the available options using an Experimental Catalyst that produces 1D4 random elixirs instead. Then you get a reliable option and can keep the fantasy of random experimentation alive by letting the player gamble on types.
my favorite armorer artificer build is mechanically a warforged, but acts as a mech suit. I use the homunculus infusion for the actual character as a tiny pilot. If the campaign starts before you get the infusion, just pretend the suit is locked up and you can't or don't want to open it. My current version has the homunculus pilot as a diminutive kobold, who also made a giant stuffed dragon costume for the mech suit so they look like a big ol' teddy dragon just marchin around with the party. shenanigans ensue. The homunculus does all the RP and mechanically acts as if its mounting the warforged for the most part. All the rules kinda just fit into place naturally and it's a blast to play! Edit: you could go even further and have it as a warforged artificer that got living jarred into the gem that's in the core of their homunculus or something.
Well this will be interesting just like the Drakenheim series i think this is the only class where every subclass is going to be used since there's only 4 subclasses
So, if you read the "infuse item" part of the class, note that you can only infuse *nonmagical items*, which then turns the infused item into a magical item. This means that stacking defense or attack boosts on one item is not possible. You can still spread out infusions of course, but no one item can have more than one infusion Notable exception is the armorer artificer, since eventually their armor is considered multiple items.
Yeah, nothing wrong with the Alchemist! They're only limited by your DM and you're imagintion. Out of all the artificer characters I've made my Alchemist shifter Z'ev Ozone was my absolute favourite.❤ my least was my Artillerist Dinjin a changeling though I think it was probably due to him being outshined by every other character in our solo game which kinda stinks as I had a Halfling one called Ratholos who was pretty awesome 😅 so guess it depends!
ok so.. there was a post in a reddit thread that the mr ripper channel read on a video about "bork nork the science orc". i took that idea and ran with it to create a character concept. first off, to match it better to "bill nye" im using the name "Bryll Nork". secondly, i decided to use a homebrew subrace created by pointy hat.. the verdant orc. i chose the Witherbloom Student background but changed its flavor to "witherbloom teacher". one of witherbloom's things is alchemy so i was going to have him as an alchemist artificer. he'd be an alchemy professor at the witherbloom college. (also had a version with him as a Quandrix professor and either an armorer or artillerist but thought the witherbloom alchemist fit better as its chemistry rather than technology)
The Artificer is by far my favorite class, just because I think their ability to use tools as a casting focus leaves some of the most room for flavor and creativity. I know you can do a lot with other classes of course, it's just I find a special kind of love for the Artificer even if some of the mechanics could have definitely been better for the archtype. If I were to create a party of all Artificers I think the most difficult thing for me would be trying to figure out which theming I like the most, because there are just so many cool ideas you could do. A few of my favorites off the top of my head are: The 4 Hillbillies who somehow build marvels out of scraps. In this you got the Alchemist who homebrews, the Armorer who makes the Mark 1 Iron man suit, the Artillerist with a Shotgun, and the Battle Smith with a very aggressive tractor. This party probably dumps Charisma more than others. The 4 Dwarves who are sent on missions to collect precious metals beneath the surface (Rock n' Stone!). This group would ironically be the one group I'd probably break the rule of taking 1 of each subclass, purely because 3 of the 4 classes from DRG would make for perfect Artillerists. Driller has his flamethrower, Engineer makes Sentry Turrets, and the Gunner is self explanatory. In this party I suppose you make the Scout the Armorer [Infiltrator] since the Scouts are always getting lost on their own anyways, might as well make them the closest thing to a rogue as you can. The 'Fantastic 4' (movies at least, never read comics) where you play as 4 scientists who came into contact with an alien/abberation lifeform that altered your bodies, and I like to imagine a very Venom esque symbiote that each person gets their power from. I imagine a Alchemist who has a built in fleshy bulb that will fill with random liquids for their Elixirs, an Armorer who very much leans into the Guardian aspect and wears a full suit of fleshy armor, an Artillerist who sprouts a tenticle from their back that can turn into their cannon, and a Battle Smith with a cute lil abomination that follows them around. And lastly the Rock Band, which might be my favorite of the bunch, as Artificers your band can make some wicked instruments/weapons. You'd have the Alchemist on the Drums whose Elixirs are pills that they pop, an Armorer who has a stereo system built into their heavy armor as the lead singer, an Artillerist on Bass who uses their guitar as their turret (I especially like the visual of flames shooting out the bottom), and a Battle Smith who uses an Electric Guitar as a Greataxe. I could see the Battle Smith's Steel Defender on keyboard, or as a vocaloid singer if you went that route. Honestly pretty much any of these roles could be swapped around in such a fun manner, just gotta make sure everyone takes the Entertainer background to get their Performance and Instrument Proficiencies. I'm a little biased towards this idea at the moment though, since our CoS campaign is coming to a close pretty soon and me and the other players have decided we are going to form a band for the next campaign, and one of us is going to be an Alchemist Artificer (with some potential homebrew tweaks, if the DM allows it) on the Electric Guitar. I've got a bunch of other ideas in the tank, some of which would have to break the 1 of each subclass rule (sorry Alchemist), but yeah Artificers are awesome flavor wise!
My favorite build was The Doctor as a battlesmith aritificer. The mechanical companion was the Doctor's K9 unit. The all purpose tool was the sonic screwdriver. He didn't actually do much combat but he was good at other stuff.
My DM took a Dalek out of a Dr Who monopoly game to use as the mini for my cannon so it got triggered by me pointing at the enemy and telling it "exterminate"
my thoughts on the alchemist subclass, see what you think about it... alchemist that dips 3 levels as tome pact warlock. that gets you short rest level 2 slots to use on your concentration of choice (flaming sphere), frees up your artificer slots for your experimental elixirs (more so than straight class, at least), gets you access to ritual spells not in class list, AND lets you bypass sleep for more crafting time, while also freeing up your infusion slots for more utility and support than other artificers can afford under most circumstances (which you guys already picked up on).
also, it gives you an excuse/incentive to have a tertiary stat in charisma to be a pseudo party face, gives you potential social ability, and lets you role play the snake oil salesman.
also also, not to spam my own comment, only tangentially related because the character was a battle smith, i once played an artificer who wasnt actually an adventurer; they were running a travelling "food truck/bar" with a brewing kit with multiple barrels built into their mechanical companion (compromised with dm by removing combat capabilities) and using the rest of the party as free caravan guards (pay with free alcohol) to get to the next town and forage for food and alcohol ingredients on the way. get to the next town, give the local tavern keep the night off and host a festival in the town square.
I certainly think that it would be fine lift the no multiclassing restriction for achemist. A 1 lvl dip into order cleric (not necesarily terrible for theme albeit it a bit funky/funny) and a 2 lvl dip into shepard druid can do wonders for your alchemists healing and support features, of course I would be tempted grab extra attack too from somewhere (paladin maybe if you cheated/the dice gods decided you are lucky, warlock, I like celestial or fathomless, fighter, I love rune knight {but than I'd want 7 lvls} echo knight, psi-knight or eldritch knight and I could even see an argument for ranger as this would actually also add a few more spells and feature to alchemist, with some prime candidate subclasses being fae wanderer {WIS based CHA checks, yes pls}, gloom stalker {lot's of attacks with artificers haste spell on top, surprise out of nowhere and or better background support} or swarmkeeper {forced movement put into overdrive 😂😊}) 😅😊 and this would still be a majority alchemist! (1 order, 2 shepard {stars chalice could work decently too, but is less effective}, 5 in the extra attack class and 12 lvls of alchemist artificer!!! That's like what 60% artificer still, isn't that pretty good on the subpar subclass? And if you choose your items definitely make/choose serpent scale mail and Sword of the Paruns)
This is what you do to optimize alchemists, though you don’t even need to do more than a 2 Lv dip into warlock, just use elf or some species that only needs 4 hrs of sleep and when you wake up before the rest of your party, convert all of your warlock spell slots into elixirs, short rest, and repeat until the rest of your party wakes up. This will give you around 15 Lv 1 spell slots by Lv 5 each day in Artificer slots, warlock slots, and elixirs. It’s unfortunate we can’t multiclass in these thought experiment videos, but this is how alchemists are optimized
@@BovineTerror in my mind, im picturing a level progression of 3 alchemist, then 2 warlock, then 2-3 more alchemist, then 1 more warlock. for a decent amount of early tiers play looks exactly like you describe, though you dont REALLY need elf, depending on how you plan on playing combat (one night do your nap trick full night, next night long rest - half the time you have all the elixirs and disadvantage). but once you hit 5 artificer, the combat slots i see as the more needed resource as thats when you want to have sphere up and you can still rest trick with the lock slots so at that point the 3rd level dip comes in. a lot of this kind of depends on how your dm runs crafting though, as base 5e rules on crafting are somewhat less than useful. @woutvanostaden1299 i have an idea in the back of my mind for a fae wanderer/armorer, they LOOK like a paladin in public and they focus on social skills, but behind the scenes they are actually a spy (love infiltrator mode) and they use blackmail and such to persuade rather than force of personality. but with alchemist, you dont need extra attack i think, booming blade + flaming sphere means either they burn or boom on their turn, very catch 22.
In our campaign, alchemists are considered warlocks. They rely on using potions, relics, or drawing glyphs on surfaces to activate their powers. Such as John Constantine and the full metal alchemist brothers. There's even a transmuter in the new Castlevania series. In fact, alchemist is the only warlock in our world that follows the laws of Alchemical Exchange, rather than a patron demon or faerie.
Under tactics, there are a few more options than presented. Remember, Artificers can make Pipes of Haunting to increase their battlefield control capabilities. They also can make Bags of Holding, so everyday, there can be at most two instances of Bag of Holding bombs sending people to the Astral Plain. Absolutely talk with your group about this before hand. When playing an Artificer, I generally lump my infusions into two categories, day to day infusions and niche infusions. I generally have my day to day infusions active, but if the situation calls for it, I’ll switch out for a niche infusion during the long rest. For the all Artificer party, talk it over and determine which party member is going to grab which niche infusion, so at least someone has something like a Cloak of the Manta Ray for when you need to do the marine adventure.
Can we petition DnDBeyond to bring back being able to purchase subclasses and feats from the digital books without having to purchase the entire digital book, and also can they finally sort out Clockwork Soul and Aberrant Mind (among other deficiencies on DnDBeyond) where the subclasses aren't working as they're supposed to
I did play an all articer party once. Had a rock gnome battle smith, warforged armorer, fire genasi artillerist/evocation wizard, and water genasi alchemist/conjuration wizard.
I found an article of tricks (thats a few years old now) that artificers can use called "Tiny Servant Actuated Robot" or TSAR; that uses the Spell-Storing Item feature and/or select magic items and the spell "Tiny Servants". One particular TSAR combo was using "Scorching Ray" in the Spell Storing Item giving it to a Tiny Servant and then with a Bonus Action Command output enough damage to rival the spell "Disintegrate" (if fortune/circumstances permit) on a single target; something similar can be done with the "Shatter" spell, only for groups of enemies instead.
Well thank you for this treat in the Druid video you guys said you’re only doing the 12 classes and I just knew my fav drew the short stick but never fear. I honestly feel like the alchemist is raised up by the all Artifcer party. If you make the Alchemist a changeling and build them as as if your making an eloquence bard you’ll get something nice, you have the best alter-self in the game, with inspiring leader and actor that’s a good face. Alter self also plays great with the armorer and infiltration. I honestly feel like this party has no weaknesses Another thing that kept coming up was damage output but Artificer get catapult which adds an extra 3d8 to all there damage if it’s in the spell storing item. Also a wands of magic missile with tiny servants are beast( dm dependent) The Metal summon construct is a great addition to your battle smith wall with there action economy-less fire attack. Also all purpose tools. Alchemist with Sheliegh/booming blade and a cool play with flaming sphere. Artillerist with eldritch blast has a cool combo with clay summon construct Wall of Fire with spell storing vortex warp is crazy. Honestly the down fall of the all Artifcer party is creativity. I definitely think it’s the most versatile half caster.
I am actually playing in a Ghostbusters one shot that a friend has created for my birthday in 2 days. Egon is an artificer, but everyone else is different.
The alchemist is one of the most fun classes to homebrew for but I don't think I'll ever want to play one, mechanically they seem like a nightmare to build and play around
If you can multiclass dip, they’re great, you can get them to have around 15 Lv 1 spell slots by Lv 5 that way. Without multiclassing they’re going to be weaker than the other artificers but still can make great support, utility, infiltration, party face, and blaster characters (and all at the same time too)
My current D&D character is a variant human with the UA alchemist feat, Alchemist Artificer multiclassed with Chronurgy Wizard, I’m absolutely what you guys talked about. I am THE support and it has really been so much fun
Your obvious enjoyment of engaging in collaborative creativity in the opening section on themes was delightful to watch. No wonder you are such a good team!
I love this series and completely forgot about Artificers. This seems like a super fun total party play, if you’re willing to completely commit to the RP.
Man, am I the only one who plays a fantasy artificer? I like the RP of teaching an apprentice how to collect seeds and make a Tanglefoot bag, spending a few days carving an ornate custom staff to trade a wizard for a favor, learning to value form as well as function and pick out the right gem for a cap of water breathing, etc.
Out of all those subclasses what are you going to choose? Also I think it would be much better to go both guardian and infiltrator for armorer and leave out alchemist.
The Alchemist's Elixiers last until your next long rest, and since you aren't actually casting a spell that means you can make them during a long rest with whatever Spell Slots you still have left. Also I've been playing in a campaign with a friend who is playing Alchemist for a couple months and he never feels like he isn't pulling his own weight (and the rest of the party is a Wizard, Eloquence Bard, Tempest Cleric, Beastmaster, and my Hexblade).
Love this series. Two thoughts: 1) Great analysis of how you might make most of the much-maligned alchemist. 2) All artificer party in an Acquisitions Inc. campaign.
I got an artificer subclass commissioned that is based on using radiation. The whole gimmick is that they have a radiation absorbing box thing, that when energy ( fire, cold and necrotic would give it power letting you boost your spells power ( of which all are changed into radiant damage ). The coolest part is you could make it explode like a mini nuke, the damage being determined by how much energy is stored in it going up to something like 20d6 damage. It is called the Torberknight and was made by the Amethyst dragon and it is my 2nd fav subclass ( even though it is unofficial ) behind the armourer : D
Their glaring weakness is low level play, before they get decent spell levels and have very few infusion option and slots. Around level 10 is where things get really going, and that’s pretty late in most campaigns.
For the spell-storing ring you could have two acting as controller using vortex warp and web. Enemies will never get out of this web. The other two could be protectors, with aid and rope trick. 10 casts of aid can heal up to 150 HP. And how hard is to hit some one inside a rope trick pocket dimension? Specially when the opening can be like 30ft in the sky
1.) You can't play Edison, there's a "no multiclassing" rule, and thus you can't take the requisite levels of rogue to get the necessary lying, cheating, stealing, and backstabbing skills. 2.) Your "ship on the high seas/war truck in the desert" has an easy solution. Spelljammers. 3.) It's not about the power level, it's about how much fun you have in playing it. 4.) The alchemist definitely needs an overhaul, though the others are pretty solid... maybe if they got the Mystic Arcanum type feature that Warlocks get? 5.) The power and ability of the artificer depends heavily on the GM. They don't have to "let you get away with everything" but they do have to let you get away with SOME things; it's expected in the game rules and definitely feels like you're getting beaten with a nerf hammer to not get to do SOME legitimate building and inventing. If you don't get away with anything, you start falling precipitously behind the power curve.
Hey guys love the show! You've taught me so much. I'm currently playing a level 10 moon druid named Kess, whom thinks she's smarter than most...because she is... and would highly appreciate an indepth breakdown of the 4 ementals. Keep Rolling!
I would love to see this party go into a Tournament Arc that they need to win, and they just load all of their infusions onto one character. They could also do a Mad Max campaign and just drive a magically enchanted juggernaut through desert wastelands. There are so many ideas. This is probably my favorite class, and it hurts that it's not WotC's.
9:31 Not Asimov, Arthur C Clarke. Specifically Clarke's 3rd Law (the 1st Law states "When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong."; the 2nd Law is "The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible."; while the 3rd is the most famous "Any Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". Actually, those form a good theme for an all-artificer party all by themself).
I’m in the starts of a homebrew campaign. The main kingdom is an artificer based oligarchy. Think fantasy Buy in Large. One of my players is an Arrificer and bastard son of the “king/CEO”
I think you can also bring the Artillerist in for Tank/Support if you switch them to the Protector Cannon. The amount of THP this party would receive this way is amazing.
Its dubious how useful a Battle Smith tank can actually be with a setup like one that Kelly had: Sure your AC is through the roof and you're basically unhittable. Does it make you an attractive target? No. The opposite really. Battle Smiths focused on defense only have 2 basic attacks that they can put out against any given enemy. Any enemy with INT above 7 will think "this is a low mobility steel wall that I can go around, and it won't hurt me much if I do. What's the point in attacking it if there are squishier targets behind it?" and just ignore BS.
i mean like, in this situation the battle smith is most likely going to going to have sentinel and everyone in the party could be flying so an sort of melee attacker would be useless against this party and the rest of the party can peek in and out of the enemy’s range and nobody can get past the sentinel battle smith it can be good, but against swarms of enemies this strategy kinda fails
WOOO-HOOO! I've been waiting for this one for ever! I trully love the Artíficer Class, and there's not that many around that share the feeling, methinks. Glad to see some apreciation thrown the classes way. 👌👌👌
This would be an excellent campaign to use modular terrain on battle maps, and get a book with good crafting rules. Back in 3.5 I ran a campaign where the party chose all small size or smaller races, and put a war howdah on a draft horse and basically turned that horse into a mobile base. They used a Portable Hole to turn the platform into an extra dimensional pit, and built platforms and rooms inside using Carpentry skills. They equipped the sides of the howdah with heavy cross bow turrets, and hid a small cannon just under the floor boards at the top of the pit.
I want to play a Battle Smith Artificer/Apothecary Reanimator with a Steel Defender and a Corpsewrought Creature. In college playing 2e I was playing a Gnome Fighter/Illusionist and my friend was a Dwarf Fighter/Cleric. We built a wagon that had two levels, was armored, and had hidden compartments that we took everywhere. Keep on keepin' on, Dudes!
We did a home brew with the alchemist. Basically they can create any 1 potion (depending on tier of play) within a long rest. Its more complicated than that, and i will answer questions on it if asked.
The name of the game with Artificers is sustainability, with good intro rolls they'll still damage as much as other classes, but even if they deal less damage per hit, they'll be hitting for longer than the others.
Now I want a warforged Megaman that absorbs the magic powers of the monsters he slays. Also, I think artificers should get options for trick-weapons built in to the class.
To make it a bit more playable for the alchemist, you could make a ruling as the DM to say the other classes can make the tech that comes with there subclass, but the alchemist has to brew up to fuel/power source for that technology.
The artificer in my party just recently was able to make a bear trap launcher on the back of a traveling cart and we used it to surprise some bandits lol.
The Artificer is a half caster but that doesn't do the damage that the others do because it is a hybrid mage and expert unlike the Paladin and Ranger which are hybrid warrior caster(divine/primal).
If I could break the rules, I’d multiclass every party member. A small battlesmith could ride their Steel Defender into battle, using Cavalier levels to boost their tankiness and disruption. Rogue levels could blend with the Infiltrator armor or the artillerist. Not to mention giving the party an extra action with fighter levels would allow for faster set-ups and executions in combat
Artillerist is slept on but waiting til so late for the final cannon really holds it back. The Protector is actually quite good as it constantly tops up your and other allies temporary hit points
We gonna mention the Izzet Guild? An Izzet Guild scope for a squad of Artificers given tasks to solve issues within the guild and around Ravnica would be insanely epic. But maybe that's just me. As for an Avenger with a fighting pet, old school only has Rocket & Groot? With the introduction of the Inhumans, we get the doggo.
Keep in mind that 5e artificers are arcane inventors, craftsmen, or artists channeling magic through objects, substances, or devices to create magical items and effects. They do not _have_ to be scientific or technological in any way.
Gee I wonder what the subclasses are gonna be
An Armorer, a Battle Smith, an Artilerist, and a 2nd Battle Smith
@@PandaKnightsFightingDragons LMAO! Too true, only 3 viable subclasses.
@@chrisjacobs4716 You have to take the alchemist for funses.
@@taliesinllanfair4338Fun for who? Definitely not the Alchemist lmao
No a second armorer it’s one tanky build one sneak build
The most powerful Artificer: walking right into the BBEG's lair, wearing a hard hat, Hi-Viz vest and carrying a clipboard. Ain't no one going to stop him, because who wants to deal with an OSHA inspector?
Oh no, not the clean white hard hat!
Sounds like one of the antics from Bugs Bunny! 😂😂😂
Hi-Vis vests gives a plus 3 to deception checks.
that. or the party of Mastermind Rogue's wearing business suits coming to "talk" about your taxes.
OSHA inspectors and IRS agents. two things no one messes with. Hell even the Joker doesnt fuck with the IRS.
@@crowsenpai5625 it's not even deception, he really is an OSHA inspector
All gnome party Ghostbusters called The Department of Gnomeland Security.
Damn that's good.
Love this!!!
What if they all wore hoods and looked like Jawas?
Agents of Tinkerton?
@@aripaakkonen361 that is another good one. Sort of a play on the Pinkertons
If I build an all-artificer party, I want it to look like Big Hero 6.
Speed, swords, an armored mount, quick-build potions, and the one where the suit is doing all the real work. But!
They are all intelligent, resourceful, and quick-thinking. And that's what I really want in my artificers.
I was literally thinking the same thing for the theme. Honeylemon is totally an Alchemist Artificer.
@@lukelanglois2433Absolutely, and Baymax is a warforged armorer using the guardian model
@@suteceternal8498
Honeylemon: Alchemist
Go Go: Armorer (Infiltration)
Wasabi: Armorer (Guardian)
Hiro: Battlesmith
Baymax: Hiro's Steel Defender with Arcane Propulsion Armor & Winged Boots
Fred: Artillerist
"Nobody has a pet". Falcon off crying because Redwing never gets any respect.
Go ahead pet him!
Who?
@@JerSyegFalcon had a pet falcon. In the MCU they put Redwing in as a deployable drone and so name him but it's like one scene and it barely ever shows up
Redwing is the Homunculus Servant 😂
TF2 players know the sheer power of an all Engineer team
They know the weakness of the flesh and the strength of steel
four artillerists to move that gear up to the end of the campaign
@@stop8388 it makes sense, 3000 battle engineers of dustbowl
My favourite class in tf2 lol
Hey buddy, I'm an Engineer
Hi, Artificer main here. I think this is a pretty balanced and accurate take on the class. I do want to highlight some concepts and tactics that missed out on discussion here though.
1. With four artificers in the party, you very quickly get access to the gameplan of "Give the homunculus two bags of holding, and have it stuff one inside the other, to immediately illiminate a big threat". At second level, having this as a combo your party can pull of twice a day. Slip in the Shadow Touched feat, and your homunculus can do this invisibly. This comes online wildly early.
2. Spellwrought Tattoo as a magic item opens up a crazy amount of options for this party.
3. You're right, the Alchemist is absolutely the selfless character that buffs everyone else. At third level, being able to burn a first level spellslot to give an ally flight is insane.
4. In a campaign where tool proficiencies are valuable, particularly if you're able to get hold of an All-Purpose Tool, this party goes to the moon on power level. Artificer sometimes feels like cheating in campaigns with heavy worldbuilding social aspects. Do wizards have good generic tools for this? Sure. Do Artificers have wildly specific tools for his? Insanely so.
5. Your pets can also use infused magic items. This is something I see people miss all the time. Giving the Steel Defender Gauntlets of Ogre Strength, giving your Homunculus a Horn of Blasting, using a Spellwrought Tattoo to get yourself a Familiar and having it cast spells from your Spell Storing Item. This opens up some really gross combos, and a lot of action economy.
Hello artificer main Stephen, Mont K. Ranch here; reporter for Ammo ossity Magazine; any comment on the artillerist that you'd like to mention for the folks at home that like big guns and cannot dye?
So, unfortunately, artificer is relatively weak unless you pull game breaking cheese. I really like the artificer concept, but they completely flubbed the execution of the class.
@@michaelbarnard8529artificer weak? In my party’s strixhaven campaign I played an armorer artificer among a group of wizards and warlocks, and the table gawked at my abilities several times. I would argue they are one of the most powerful classes and they offer the most in flavor
@@Griffingterraarcane firearm, it doesn’t require the spell casting focus to be non magical, so put a enhanced arcane focus on it before turning it into the arcane firearm for an +1 Arcane Firearm.
@@Griffingterra Great question, Mont K Ranch! I think Artillerist is often underrated! Some tips I'd like to mention:
Remember that you choose which Arcane Canon type you summon each time you select it! Consider your situation, and whether you need range, AoE, or mass Temp Hitpoints very carefully! Lots of people get obsessed with one option, and forget about the flexibility.
Range and movement speed is your friend! Force Balista and Fire Bolt can both be used from over 100ft away, and more than half the monsters in the game don't have ranged attacks! That's a lot of busted potential!
Shield is your friend! You can cast shield, and also have a shield! This gives you great AC potential!
Use your downtime! Your Arcane Firearm can add a lot of damage, but you're lacking in spell slots. Making Spell Scrolls, Spell Wrought Tattoos, filling Rings of Spell Storing... these things have much more value for you than most other spell casters! The more AoEs you can get, the more value your Firearm holds!
Your Eldritch Canon is an object, not a creature! That means lots of spells can't affect it! This is great for you! Particularly if you like to stay at range!
The DM should let you craft magic items as it's an EXPLICIT class feature: "If you craft a magic item with a rarity of common or uncommon, it takes you a quarter of the normal time, and it costs you half as much of the usual gold."
Not gonna lie though, that feature is REALLY late at level 10. By level 10 you're starting to see Very Rare items on occasion
@@sethb3090 True, but that means that the artificer is designed with magic item crafting from the get go. The feature only makes crafting better, it doesn't say it unlocks it for them. So they should be able to craft magic items, as the rules state from the get go.
@@sethb3090 By level 10, this shouldn't be the most powerful gear you have, but it rounds out those places you haven't found something better than mundane for. It's like the skim coat to fill in the gaps:
+1 for any armor/weapons/focus you're missing
Darkvision for anyone missing it.
Flight options for anyone missing it
Barrier tattoo for anyone without armor proficiency
Lantern of revealing for invisibility
Cloaks of protection for anyone with an open attunement slot.
Gloves of theivery
Bracerys of archery
Cloak/boots of elven kind
etc.
There's just so many options that the dozens of little benefits here and there will add up.
@@sethb3090you're underestimating the worth of an alchemy jug, a bag of tricks, or excessive bags of holding
@@farrex0 Literally any character can do that though, RAW. Artificers are no better at crafting magic items than anyone else until level 10.
You guys are forgetting one very important thing with the Alchemist. They add their int mod to some damage types (can pick up some cantrips that have the right damage types) and all healing spells meaning their healing is even more effective
The All Purpose Tool also lets Artificers use one Cantrip from any list.
Alchemist cast Flaming sphere in front of the Battle Smiths Sentinel wall. And keep the enemies stuck with sentinel, booming blade and steel defender pushing them to prone. Making them stuck. Vortex warp to bring enemies there. While artillerist, armorer and alchemist pepper them with attacks. And with flying boots the armorer could even get over the flaming sphere and keeps using thorn whip to let enemies fall over the flaming sphere
+5 or +4 to heal ain’t much when the ability comes online
@@Now_Its_Orange Being able to double you casting modifier on healing spells definitely is impactful.
As someone who has played an Armorer and an Artillerist, the Artillerist is way more impactful as a tanky hybrid support blaster, especially in a smaller party where everyone is wearing several hats. The Protector Cannon is an incredible support feature, the Force Balista's repositioning is a more reliable and damaging alternative to the Telekinetic feat, and the sustained AoE of the Flamethrower is fantastic in close quarters and all of them are bonus actions. At higher levels, getting two of them with each cannon granting an aura of half cover is an insane boost to your damage and your party's defenses, and getting 10 free Shatters a day that benefit from your Arcane Firearm takes some of the edge off of being a half caster, and you can still drop Wall of Fire/Fireball. You're like a Light Cleric who can give your Samurai/Gloom Stalker a magic gun
AGREED! The Protector cannon is seriously powerful. It easily adds 25% survivability to the party if not more from that single feature.
I played a Battlesmith until around level 7 before switching to Artillerist, and I only wish I had switched sooner (this is before Armorer existed), the cannon is far better than the steel defender both in damage and support. I found the battlesmith to be so weak, particularly the steel defender, even with a couple of defensive buffs from the DM it got taken out in the 1st round of combat more than once.
Hell, just going from 1d8 cantrip damage at level 4 to 3d8 at level 5 is a really nice dps boost
@@Telleryn lol same. We started our current campaign at level 6, and I was neither as resilient as the Forge Cleric nor remotely damaging as the Samurai. I respecced at level 9 and am now level 15 with no regrets. Over several campaigns, our table has seen all four subclasses; Battle Smith and Alchemist were there the most briefly before respeccing, my Armorer multiclassed into Abjuration Wizard (shout out to @DnDDeepDive, that build rules), and we've had 3 straight-classed Artillerists who didn't respec
I have always been surprised that people overlook the Protector in favor of the ballista. The Ballista is good, but the Protector is INSANE
6:43 if Tesla and Edison are teaming up, you know the threat is real, because Tesla *DESPISED* Edison.
Edison had some levels in artificer, but his main class was “guy who has lots of money”.
@@MM-lv7iy I believe that's called having the Noble background
@@sethb3090 Thomas Edison was far from noble, I assure you.
The Alchemist is actually a very powerful subclass, they are Buffers. Our favorite Alchemist build in my group is what we call the “Gastronomancer”, specifically, an entire class dedicated to the Chef feat. They can literally grant buffs on demand via potions, snacks, infusions, and enchantments. Remember, avoiding damage is always better than healing damage taken.
When I was playing an Artificer, my DM was nice and whenever I chose the “replicate magic item” infusion to invent something, I could spend downtime to make the blueprints for the item. And then I would switch to a new magic item with the next level up when I could switch an infusion, and then spend more downtime and money to create the previous magic item from the blueprints. The system worked really well, and I could make a bunch of low level utility items that I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. And since I had to spend the time and resources it wasn’t overpowered either.
My dm did something similar with me as well. It really improved utility and role-playing. Party was constantly making requests!
Yeah that is actually where the Artificer shines and why people dump on it, because it takes maximum advantage of downtime which a lot of DMs don't use and get overlooked by most players. I had a one-shot i got to play a level 11 Artificer and my DM gave us restrictions on starting gear but because our backstory was that we were high officials of guilds and he let me make 2 magic items for everyone to start with. I would probably do something similar if my artificer player wanted to do the same.
@@Koranthus good DMs lift players and characters up.
This is exactly the approach. My DM has ways to get blueprint like wizards find spell scrolls/books, but also, like this, you could make your own from things you find or infuse. We have a 2 person party, my battle Smith and a sorlock. 1 level dip in wizard means tons of ritual spells free to fill in gaps and a familiar, steel defender, and a homunculus make a 2 person party feel capable of tons more thanks to crafting magic items to fill in!
I just change whatever magic item I'm replicating every long rest with all of my other infusions, since needing to wait a whole level to change it is stupid as heck. It's a crapshoot anyway if your magic item is going to be useful for the situation on hand - you should at least be able to roll the die every in-universe day instead of once every several sessions.
Warehouse 13!!! I'd love to make that an all-artiticer party. Hunting down artifacts that are tied to our reality, but that are causing chaos.
Especially if you can go to the warehouse as your HQ.
This place is a veritable Pandora's Box!
We have Pandora's Box on aisle 29... it's empty, of course.
Alchemist support~
The Alchemist has Healing Word to keep the party up however, they also have a ton of Infiltration utility with a "1st level" non-Concentration Alter Self & Actor Feat with Expertise & Disguise Kit without any CHA.
They also got Death Wards. This is your dedicated healer that usually gets pushed aside, given Alchemists were about to be benched by both dudes if they could.
Rikku is a pretty cool Alchemist.
Rikku is 100% the alchemist
I mean you get Death Ward at level 13, so it's rarely gonna come up for anyone
i had a huge crush on rikku as a kid
How is this party not an A? They have no significant weakness for any situation they find themselves in. You could argue that they are better than the Wizard party for the simple fact that they have a true tank that the Wizards can only dream of having. I think they are better than the Ranger group and on par with the Pallys.
This party also is not particularly strong in anyone field. Wizards are full spellcaster, with the ability to cast wish. I don’t know how well this party would be against paladins.
@@vincentroberto2260 if you actually look at lvl10s, I think that this party outshines wizards hard until those broken lvl6 spells and more come into play
Wizards can just use summons in the absence of a frontliner. I’d also say that the amount of battlefield control Wizards have makes up for not having as strong of a frontline.
Aloy is the battle smith. Speck towards ranged. Use the endless ammo infusion and skin the steel defender as a dinosaur.
Flash of genius works on initiative rolls too! Right Tools for the Job and tool expertise will absolutely carry this party
4 autognome artificers. 21 unique tool proficiencies with backgrounds
Not to mention that since your a construct certain spells can't target you and you get an extra d4 to a saving throw , attack roll or ability check proficiency times per day, advantage on saves against poisoned or paralyzed resistance to poison damage, the mending cantrip can help give extra healing, and the steel defender has a feature that gives some health back to constructs it adds a lot to the party to go autognome
Also mending is suddenly a healing Cantrip for the whole party
4 gnomish artificers find a starjammer "gnome mechs sky"
"What if Everyone Plays an Artificer in D&D 5e?"
The DM curls up in a corner, shaking and crying. Next question?
Another theme I can think of for a party of entirely artificers: a group of army engineers who served together and took up adventuring after leaving the army. The artillerist, since they naturally hang back and rely on their turrets, could have been the tactician or commander in their division.
The alchemist is the feild medic, the armour the tank 😊
Artificers as a concept were always super cool to me, as a class they have seemed very lackluster. But you guys gave a very compelling argument for how that campaign could be fun.
Now I really want to see you guys do a what if everyone plays an apothecary. We saw the live play when you were testing, but I would love to hear your thoughts on which of the 6 subclasses would make the final cut.
Yep I want to see that too.
I think an all apothecary class could be very strong with all the stuff they get. Customisability (Armor-, extra options etc), saving throw bonus options, full spell progression, blast- heal- and controle spells etc, will all make a strong reason to put it in top tier.
You guys should do a series of videos around DMing for each class! Pitfalls, suggestions, pillars to focus on, unique items treasure and loot to give etc.
For social interactions: A group of socially awkward engineers.
Maybe, but between guidance, enhance ability, and later on Flash of Genius you wouldn’t have much to worry about.
Perfume of Bewitching...
Big Bang Theory :D
My battlesmith was a noble with Wis 14, Cha 14, Persuasion, Guidance and Enhance Abilitie. Actually, he was pretty good with social and investigation checks.
Four artillerists, turn every battle into napoleonic warfare.
I dont care if alchemists are less powerful. I love them. I played an alchemist for 2 years and was our party's only source of healing. I was always brewing potions and my damage never fell off because I had sharp shooter. He ended up dying to a false hydra, and everyone firgot he existed, which was so tragic. Ooc everyone was so sad Jon and his spitting homonculus were gone.😂
I love the idea of an all Artificer party.
What I would change is make a 5 player party and have both versions of the Armorer (my favorite type of Artificer).
I have a 5th level small Battlesmith Artificer that uses the Steel defender as a mount. They have also takes the Mounted combat feat. In effect, 3 hits per turn and all incoming attacks have disadvantage. It's a surprisingly fun tank build.
I wish Artificer was in the new Player's Handbook so that new books could add new subclasses. In my home game, I made a portal artificer and a weather artificer and if it wasn't for the Tasha's limitations, I'd probably put them to sell on DMs guild lol
I actually kinda want the Artificer to get merged into the Warlock as a subclass, based on Eberron lore about most magitech being powered by bound Elementals. It keeps the number of base classes down, has some cool lore, and ensures at least some level of continued splatbook support.
Then again, that would be part of a much broader reimagining of the base classes designed to ensure each occupies a much more equitable region of the design space.
It's sort of why they ended up making a new class in their books. They made a damn good subclass for it! There's many good ones on the DMs guild and so many subclasses for the other classes that just should be artificer like Rune knights but they cram them into weird classes😂
@@meikahidenori I never thought of Rune Knight being an artificer but now that you said that it dose seem like it would fit so well as an Artificer subclass.
It should have been, and Warlocks should be Intelligence casters (let's be honest, the person who goes into ancient tombs to find cursed artifacts, or into a hidden library to find a forbidden tome, or who researches alien runes to summon cthulu is going to be a nerd, not a smooth talker).
With this change, you would have: 2 full casters and a half caster for each of Intelligence (Warlock, Wizard, Artificer), Wisdom (Cleric, Druid, Ranger), and Charisma (Bard, Sorcerer, Paladin) and you would have a Martial class that each focus on one of the three body stats with Fighters for Strength, Monks for Dexterity, and Barbarians for Constitution. Then you have the Edgy Rogue who exists off in the corner of the tavern by themselves like they usually are.
Sam Wilson, aka The Falcon, is a ranged Battle Smith.
was thinking the same thing!
Should have just looked for this comment instead of making my own.
Yes! With the robot bird, boots of flying and goggles of night, it's basically the same as thing
This is what I was coming to add lol
@@hamsmcham3238 Doesn't even have to be a robot. The Homunculus infusion can also fly.
I honestly don't get the Alchemist hate. I played one and it was great. The healing was better than the cleric and the extra potions came in handy every session
It's powerscalers they don't hit as hard as other subclasses that means they are bad but you knew adding 2x you int mod to all healing and your pots giving temp hit point on top of healing or whatever else doesn't count
@@druxusthemage9806 especially when you can add your int mod to acid attacks as well. Cantrips scale up very well.
I love them too. I played one and had a blast until we had a support bard and a twilight cleric join my party. they started doing my character's gimmick but at higher level, which made it hard.
Letting the Alchemist choose what elixirs they make instead of rolling for it (without expending spell slots) would really help the subclass be better, though probably still not as good as the other subclasses. One thing they do get though is multiple free uses of Lesser Restoration and eventually Greater Restoration and Heal which effectively makes them a two-thirds caster
Yeah I honestly don't know why they didn't just go with that for the Alchemist. It's not like they can just make them at will with no cost.
@@Mary_Studios Exactly! Its feels pretty silly to not know what they do until you drink them. DMs, if you have someone wanting to play an alchemist artificer, let them pick what effects they want for their free elixirs for the love of Arceus
in addition, something I see overlooked, but I think it is viable is an interaction with your potions and homunculus. you can command your humunculus as a bonus action to administer a potion as its action. I could only find in the rules that force-feeding a potion to a downed ally is an action, but there is no other rules about others feeding a character a potion that I could see, I could be wrong. the theory is to command the humunculus to give a potion to an ally as your bonus action but it uses its action to administer the potion. I have used this to feed our great weapon-wielding barbarian the bless-like potion
They should have let the alchemist choose 1 elixir per long rest or per spell slot, with one of the available options using an Experimental Catalyst that produces 1D4 random elixirs instead. Then you get a reliable option and can keep the fantasy of random experimentation alive by letting the player gamble on types.
Finally! Thanks so much for doing this one. I’ll be listening to it on my drive home. Can’t wait to see if it’s A+ or S.
my favorite armorer artificer build is mechanically a warforged, but acts as a mech suit. I use the homunculus infusion for the actual character as a tiny pilot. If the campaign starts before you get the infusion, just pretend the suit is locked up and you can't or don't want to open it. My current version has the homunculus pilot as a diminutive kobold, who also made a giant stuffed dragon costume for the mech suit so they look like a big ol' teddy dragon just marchin around with the party. shenanigans ensue. The homunculus does all the RP and mechanically acts as if its mounting the warforged for the most part. All the rules kinda just fit into place naturally and it's a blast to play!
Edit: you could go even further and have it as a warforged artificer that got living jarred into the gem that's in the core of their homunculus or something.
Well this will be interesting just like the Drakenheim series i think this is the only class where every subclass is going to be used since there's only 4 subclasses
I could definitely see a party of four gnomes doing this.
And "Gnome's Mans Land" was 24k solid gold cheese! Loved it.
Thanks Guys.
So, if you read the "infuse item" part of the class, note that you can only infuse *nonmagical items*, which then turns the infused item into a magical item.
This means that stacking defense or attack boosts on one item is not possible. You can still spread out infusions of course, but no one item can have more than one infusion
Notable exception is the armorer artificer, since eventually their armor is considered multiple items.
The biggest question in the all Artificer party... who gets stuck with the Alchemist
The Dark Souls SL1 enjoyer lol
Give it to the Min-Maxer so they can have a challenge
Don't dish the Alchemist, they're cool. Could be a little better in healing, but still, cool.
Yeah, nothing wrong with the Alchemist! They're only limited by your DM and you're imagintion. Out of all the artificer characters I've made my Alchemist shifter Z'ev Ozone was my absolute favourite.❤ my least was my Artillerist Dinjin a changeling though I think it was probably due to him being outshined by every other character in our solo game which kinda stinks as I had a Halfling one called Ratholos who was pretty awesome 😅 so guess it depends!
ok so.. there was a post in a reddit thread that the mr ripper channel read on a video about "bork nork the science orc". i took that idea and ran with it to create a character concept. first off, to match it better to "bill nye" im using the name "Bryll Nork". secondly, i decided to use a homebrew subrace created by pointy hat.. the verdant orc. i chose the Witherbloom Student background but changed its flavor to "witherbloom teacher". one of witherbloom's things is alchemy so i was going to have him as an alchemist artificer. he'd be an alchemy professor at the witherbloom college.
(also had a version with him as a Quandrix professor and either an armorer or artillerist but thought the witherbloom alchemist fit better as its chemistry rather than technology)
The Artificer is by far my favorite class, just because I think their ability to use tools as a casting focus leaves some of the most room for flavor and creativity. I know you can do a lot with other classes of course, it's just I find a special kind of love for the Artificer even if some of the mechanics could have definitely been better for the archtype.
If I were to create a party of all Artificers I think the most difficult thing for me would be trying to figure out which theming I like the most, because there are just so many cool ideas you could do. A few of my favorites off the top of my head are:
The 4 Hillbillies who somehow build marvels out of scraps. In this you got the Alchemist who homebrews, the Armorer who makes the Mark 1 Iron man suit, the Artillerist with a Shotgun, and the Battle Smith with a very aggressive tractor. This party probably dumps Charisma more than others.
The 4 Dwarves who are sent on missions to collect precious metals beneath the surface (Rock n' Stone!). This group would ironically be the one group I'd probably break the rule of taking 1 of each subclass, purely because 3 of the 4 classes from DRG would make for perfect Artillerists. Driller has his flamethrower, Engineer makes Sentry Turrets, and the Gunner is self explanatory. In this party I suppose you make the Scout the Armorer [Infiltrator] since the Scouts are always getting lost on their own anyways, might as well make them the closest thing to a rogue as you can.
The 'Fantastic 4' (movies at least, never read comics) where you play as 4 scientists who came into contact with an alien/abberation lifeform that altered your bodies, and I like to imagine a very Venom esque symbiote that each person gets their power from. I imagine a Alchemist who has a built in fleshy bulb that will fill with random liquids for their Elixirs, an Armorer who very much leans into the Guardian aspect and wears a full suit of fleshy armor, an Artillerist who sprouts a tenticle from their back that can turn into their cannon, and a Battle Smith with a cute lil abomination that follows them around.
And lastly the Rock Band, which might be my favorite of the bunch, as Artificers your band can make some wicked instruments/weapons. You'd have the Alchemist on the Drums whose Elixirs are pills that they pop, an Armorer who has a stereo system built into their heavy armor as the lead singer, an Artillerist on Bass who uses their guitar as their turret (I especially like the visual of flames shooting out the bottom), and a Battle Smith who uses an Electric Guitar as a Greataxe. I could see the Battle Smith's Steel Defender on keyboard, or as a vocaloid singer if you went that route. Honestly pretty much any of these roles could be swapped around in such a fun manner, just gotta make sure everyone takes the Entertainer background to get their Performance and Instrument Proficiencies. I'm a little biased towards this idea at the moment though, since our CoS campaign is coming to a close pretty soon and me and the other players have decided we are going to form a band for the next campaign, and one of us is going to be an Alchemist Artificer (with some potential homebrew tweaks, if the DM allows it) on the Electric Guitar.
I've got a bunch of other ideas in the tank, some of which would have to break the 1 of each subclass rule (sorry Alchemist), but yeah Artificers are awesome flavor wise!
Noise marine
My favorite build was The Doctor as a battlesmith aritificer. The mechanical companion was the Doctor's K9 unit. The all purpose tool was the sonic screwdriver. He didn't actually do much combat but he was good at other stuff.
My DM took a Dalek out of a Dr Who monopoly game to use as the mini for my cannon so it got triggered by me pointing at the enemy and telling it "exterminate"
my thoughts on the alchemist subclass, see what you think about it... alchemist that dips 3 levels as tome pact warlock. that gets you short rest level 2 slots to use on your concentration of choice (flaming sphere), frees up your artificer slots for your experimental elixirs (more so than straight class, at least), gets you access to ritual spells not in class list, AND lets you bypass sleep for more crafting time, while also freeing up your infusion slots for more utility and support than other artificers can afford under most circumstances (which you guys already picked up on).
also, it gives you an excuse/incentive to have a tertiary stat in charisma to be a pseudo party face, gives you potential social ability, and lets you role play the snake oil salesman.
also also, not to spam my own comment, only tangentially related because the character was a battle smith, i once played an artificer who wasnt actually an adventurer; they were running a travelling "food truck/bar" with a brewing kit with multiple barrels built into their mechanical companion (compromised with dm by removing combat capabilities) and using the rest of the party as free caravan guards (pay with free alcohol) to get to the next town and forage for food and alcohol ingredients on the way. get to the next town, give the local tavern keep the night off and host a festival in the town square.
I certainly think that it would be fine lift the no multiclassing restriction for achemist. A 1 lvl dip into order cleric (not necesarily terrible for theme albeit it a bit funky/funny) and a 2 lvl dip into shepard druid can do wonders for your alchemists healing and support features, of course I would be tempted grab extra attack too from somewhere (paladin maybe if you cheated/the dice gods decided you are lucky, warlock, I like celestial or fathomless, fighter, I love rune knight {but than I'd want 7 lvls} echo knight, psi-knight or eldritch knight and I could even see an argument for ranger as this would actually also add a few more spells and feature to alchemist, with some prime candidate subclasses being fae wanderer {WIS based CHA checks, yes pls}, gloom stalker {lot's of attacks with artificers haste spell on top, surprise out of nowhere and or better background support} or swarmkeeper {forced movement put into overdrive 😂😊}) 😅😊 and this would still be a majority alchemist! (1 order, 2 shepard {stars chalice could work decently too, but is less effective}, 5 in the extra attack class and 12 lvls of alchemist artificer!!! That's like what 60% artificer still, isn't that pretty good on the subpar subclass? And if you choose your items definitely make/choose serpent scale mail and Sword of the Paruns)
This is what you do to optimize alchemists, though you don’t even need to do more than a 2 Lv dip into warlock, just use elf or some species that only needs 4 hrs of sleep and when you wake up before the rest of your party, convert all of your warlock spell slots into elixirs, short rest, and repeat until the rest of your party wakes up. This will give you around 15 Lv 1 spell slots by Lv 5 each day in Artificer slots, warlock slots, and elixirs. It’s unfortunate we can’t multiclass in these thought experiment videos, but this is how alchemists are optimized
@@BovineTerror in my mind, im picturing a level progression of 3 alchemist, then 2 warlock, then 2-3 more alchemist, then 1 more warlock. for a decent amount of early tiers play looks exactly like you describe, though you dont REALLY need elf, depending on how you plan on playing combat (one night do your nap trick full night, next night long rest - half the time you have all the elixirs and disadvantage). but once you hit 5 artificer, the combat slots i see as the more needed resource as thats when you want to have sphere up and you can still rest trick with the lock slots so at that point the 3rd level dip comes in. a lot of this kind of depends on how your dm runs crafting though, as base 5e rules on crafting are somewhat less than useful.
@woutvanostaden1299 i have an idea in the back of my mind for a fae wanderer/armorer, they LOOK like a paladin in public and they focus on social skills, but behind the scenes they are actually a spy (love infiltrator mode) and they use blackmail and such to persuade rather than force of personality. but with alchemist, you dont need extra attack i think, booming blade + flaming sphere means either they burn or boom on their turn, very catch 22.
I'm not a massive fan of the theme but I can't deny that a bunch of high tech robots coming to terminate things in a fantasy setting is pretty cool.
In our campaign, alchemists are considered warlocks. They rely on using potions, relics, or drawing glyphs on surfaces to activate their powers. Such as John Constantine and the full metal alchemist brothers. There's even a transmuter in the new Castlevania series. In fact, alchemist is the only warlock in our world that follows the laws of Alchemical Exchange, rather than a patron demon or faerie.
29:50 ... This party is a bunch of worker's union members out to seize the means of production from the BBEG. Or to file an OSHA complaint.
I love these videos. They absolutely have the vibe of me and my friends sitting around conjecturing about the crazy potential of D&D.
Under tactics, there are a few more options than presented. Remember, Artificers can make Pipes of Haunting to increase their battlefield control capabilities. They also can make Bags of Holding, so everyday, there can be at most two instances of Bag of Holding bombs sending people to the Astral Plain. Absolutely talk with your group about this before hand.
When playing an Artificer, I generally lump my infusions into two categories, day to day infusions and niche infusions. I generally have my day to day infusions active, but if the situation calls for it, I’ll switch out for a niche infusion during the long rest. For the all Artificer party, talk it over and determine which party member is going to grab which niche infusion, so at least someone has something like a Cloak of the Manta Ray for when you need to do the marine adventure.
Can we petition DnDBeyond to bring back being able to purchase subclasses and feats from the digital books without having to purchase the entire digital book, and also can they finally sort out Clockwork Soul and Aberrant Mind (among other deficiencies on DnDBeyond) where the subclasses aren't working as they're supposed to
not happening.
I did play an all articer party once. Had a rock gnome battle smith, warforged armorer, fire genasi artillerist/evocation wizard, and water genasi alchemist/conjuration wizard.
9:32 that's Arthur C Clarke's third law, not Isaac Asimov
I found an article of tricks (thats a few years old now) that artificers can use called "Tiny Servant Actuated Robot" or TSAR; that uses the Spell-Storing Item feature and/or select magic items and the spell "Tiny Servants".
One particular TSAR combo was using "Scorching Ray" in the Spell Storing Item giving it to a Tiny Servant and then with a Bonus Action Command output enough damage to rival the spell "Disintegrate" (if fortune/circumstances permit) on a single target; something similar can be done with the "Shatter" spell, only for groups of enemies instead.
Well thank you for this treat in the Druid video you guys said you’re only doing the 12 classes and I just knew my fav drew the short stick but never fear.
I honestly feel like the alchemist is raised up by the all Artifcer party. If you make the Alchemist a changeling and build them as as if your making an eloquence bard you’ll get something nice, you have the best alter-self in the game, with inspiring leader and actor that’s a good face.
Alter self also plays great with the armorer and infiltration. I honestly feel like this party has no weaknesses
Another thing that kept coming up was damage output but Artificer get catapult which adds an extra 3d8 to all there damage if it’s in the spell storing item.
Also a wands of magic missile with tiny servants are beast( dm dependent)
The Metal summon construct is a great addition to your battle smith wall with there action economy-less fire attack.
Also all purpose tools. Alchemist with Sheliegh/booming blade and a cool play with flaming sphere. Artillerist with eldritch blast has a cool combo with clay summon construct
Wall of Fire with spell storing vortex warp is crazy.
Honestly the down fall of the all Artifcer party is creativity. I definitely think it’s the most versatile half caster.
I am actually playing in a Ghostbusters one shot that a friend has created for my birthday in 2 days. Egon is an artificer, but everyone else is different.
Venkman's gotta be a bard. "I'd like to roll to seduce the Gatekeeper, Zuul...."
The alchemist is one of the most fun classes to homebrew for but I don't think I'll ever want to play one, mechanically they seem like a nightmare to build and play around
If you can multiclass dip, they’re great, you can get them to have around 15 Lv 1 spell slots by Lv 5 that way. Without multiclassing they’re going to be weaker than the other artificers but still can make great support, utility, infiltration, party face, and blaster characters (and all at the same time too)
My current D&D character is a variant human with the UA alchemist feat, Alchemist Artificer multiclassed with Chronurgy Wizard, I’m absolutely what you guys talked about. I am THE support and it has really been so much fun
Kelly, you aren't the only one who ain't "afriad" of ghosts.
Your obvious enjoyment of engaging in collaborative creativity in the opening section on themes was delightful to watch. No wonder you are such a good team!
I love this series and completely forgot about Artificers.
This seems like a super fun total party play, if you’re willing to completely commit to the RP.
Been waiting for this 😁
Man, am I the only one who plays a fantasy artificer? I like the RP of teaching an apprentice how to collect seeds and make a Tanglefoot bag, spending a few days carving an ornate custom staff to trade a wizard for a favor, learning to value form as well as function and pick out the right gem for a cap of water breathing, etc.
Out of all those subclasses what are you going to choose? Also I think it would be much better to go both guardian and infiltrator for armorer and leave out alchemist.
The Alchemist's Elixiers last until your next long rest, and since you aren't actually casting a spell that means you can make them during a long rest with whatever Spell Slots you still have left.
Also I've been playing in a campaign with a friend who is playing Alchemist for a couple months and he never feels like he isn't pulling his own weight (and the rest of the party is a Wizard, Eloquence Bard, Tempest Cleric, Beastmaster, and my Hexblade).
Love this series. Two thoughts: 1) Great analysis of how you might make most of the much-maligned alchemist. 2) All artificer party in an Acquisitions Inc. campaign.
OHHHH yeeeeaaahhhh! I have been waiting for this one but which subclasses will they choose?
(cricket chirp)
...
Okay I'll see myself out.
I was thinking a group of "Magic MacGyvers" 😄
I got an artificer subclass commissioned that is based on using radiation. The whole gimmick is that they have a radiation absorbing box thing, that when energy ( fire, cold and necrotic would give it power letting you boost your spells power ( of which all are changed into radiant damage ). The coolest part is you could make it explode like a mini nuke, the damage being determined by how much energy is stored in it going up to something like 20d6 damage. It is called the Torberknight and was made by the Amethyst dragon and it is my 2nd fav subclass ( even though it is unofficial ) behind the armourer : D
I made a Githzerai Armorer. Thats how I got the Shield spell on an Armorer. Also gained Mage Hand & Detect Thoughts. Good spell additions.
Their glaring weakness is low level play, before they get decent spell levels and have very few infusion option and slots. Around level 10 is where things get really going, and that’s pretty late in most campaigns.
For the spell-storing ring you could have two acting as controller using vortex warp and web.
Enemies will never get out of this web.
The other two could be protectors, with aid and rope trick.
10 casts of aid can heal up to 150 HP. And how hard is to hit some one inside a rope trick pocket dimension? Specially when the opening can be like 30ft in the sky
Your love keeps lifting me higher! Than I've ever been lifted before
1.) You can't play Edison, there's a "no multiclassing" rule, and thus you can't take the requisite levels of rogue to get the necessary lying, cheating, stealing, and backstabbing skills.
2.) Your "ship on the high seas/war truck in the desert" has an easy solution. Spelljammers.
3.) It's not about the power level, it's about how much fun you have in playing it.
4.) The alchemist definitely needs an overhaul, though the others are pretty solid... maybe if they got the Mystic Arcanum type feature that Warlocks get?
5.) The power and ability of the artificer depends heavily on the GM. They don't have to "let you get away with everything" but they do have to let you get away with SOME things; it's expected in the game rules and definitely feels like you're getting beaten with a nerf hammer to not get to do SOME legitimate building and inventing. If you don't get away with anything, you start falling precipitously behind the power curve.
Hey guys love the show! You've taught me so much. I'm currently playing a level 10 moon druid named Kess, whom thinks she's smarter than most...because she is... and would highly appreciate an indepth breakdown of the 4 ementals. Keep Rolling!
An all Artificer Descent into Avernus campaign would be wild.
I would love to see this party go into a Tournament Arc that they need to win, and they just load all of their infusions onto one character. They could also do a Mad Max campaign and just drive a magically enchanted juggernaut through desert wastelands. There are so many ideas. This is probably my favorite class, and it hurts that it's not WotC's.
9:31 Not Asimov, Arthur C Clarke. Specifically Clarke's 3rd Law (the 1st Law states "When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong."; the 2nd Law is "The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible."; while the 3rd is the most famous "Any Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". Actually, those form a good theme for an all-artificer party all by themself).
I’m in the starts of a homebrew campaign. The main kingdom is an artificer based oligarchy. Think fantasy Buy in Large. One of my players is an Arrificer and bastard son of the “king/CEO”
FINALLY!!! I have been waiting for this for ages!
The one I've been waiting for finally!!
I've been waiting for this one for a while! Artificers are my favorite class (Artillerists being my favorite subclass)!
I think you can also bring the Artillerist in for Tank/Support if you switch them to the Protector Cannon. The amount of THP this party would receive this way is amazing.
Its dubious how useful a Battle Smith tank can actually be with a setup like one that Kelly had:
Sure your AC is through the roof and you're basically unhittable. Does it make you an attractive target? No. The opposite really. Battle Smiths focused on defense only have 2 basic attacks that they can put out against any given enemy. Any enemy with INT above 7 will think "this is a low mobility steel wall that I can go around, and it won't hurt me much if I do. What's the point in attacking it if there are squishier targets behind it?" and just ignore BS.
i mean like, in this situation the battle smith is most likely going to going to have sentinel and everyone in the party could be flying so an sort of melee attacker would be useless against this party and the rest of the party can peek in and out of the enemy’s range and nobody can get past the sentinel battle smith it can be good, but against swarms of enemies this strategy kinda fails
WOOO-HOOO!
I've been waiting for this one for ever!
I trully love the Artíficer Class, and there's not that many around that share the feeling, methinks.
Glad to see some apreciation thrown the classes way.
👌👌👌
This would be an excellent campaign to use modular terrain on battle maps, and get a book with good crafting rules. Back in 3.5 I ran a campaign where the party chose all small size or smaller races, and put a war howdah on a draft horse and basically turned that horse into a mobile base. They used a Portable Hole to turn the platform into an extra dimensional pit, and built platforms and rooms inside using Carpentry skills. They equipped the sides of the howdah with heavy cross bow turrets, and hid a small cannon just under the floor boards at the top of the pit.
Best thing about an all Artificer party, you get to be greedy with your infusions and don't have to share any of them!
honestly considering theres only 4 subclasses they balance really well in my head
Everybody talks about Iron Man, but I always think of Megaman or Samus Aran when I think of the armorer subclass!
I want to play a Battle Smith Artificer/Apothecary Reanimator with a Steel Defender and a Corpsewrought Creature.
In college playing 2e I was playing a Gnome Fighter/Illusionist and my friend was a Dwarf Fighter/Cleric. We built a wagon that had two levels, was armored, and had hidden compartments that we took everywhere.
Keep on keepin' on, Dudes!
We did a home brew with the alchemist. Basically they can create any 1 potion (depending on tier of play) within a long rest. Its more complicated than that, and i will answer questions on it if asked.
The name of the game with Artificers is sustainability, with good intro rolls they'll still damage as much as other classes, but even if they deal less damage per hit, they'll be hitting for longer than the others.
Now I want a warforged Megaman that absorbs the magic powers of the monsters he slays.
Also, I think artificers should get options for trick-weapons built in to the class.
Trickster Artificer?
To make it a bit more playable for the alchemist, you could make a ruling as the DM to say the other classes can make the tech that comes with there subclass, but the alchemist has to brew up to fuel/power source for that technology.
The artificer in my party just recently was able to make a bear trap launcher on the back of a traveling cart and we used it to surprise some bandits lol.
The Artificer is a half caster but that doesn't do the damage that the others do because it is a hybrid mage and expert unlike the Paladin and Ranger which are hybrid warrior caster(divine/primal).
If I could break the rules, I’d multiclass every party member. A small battlesmith could ride their Steel Defender into battle, using Cavalier levels to boost their tankiness and disruption. Rogue levels could blend with the Infiltrator armor or the artillerist.
Not to mention giving the party an extra action with fighter levels would allow for faster set-ups and executions in combat
Artillerist is slept on but waiting til so late for the final cannon really holds it back. The Protector is actually quite good as it constantly tops up your and other allies temporary hit points
Ratchet and Clank sound like perfect duo for battle smith + steel defender.
We gonna mention the Izzet Guild? An Izzet Guild scope for a squad of Artificers given tasks to solve issues within the guild and around Ravnica would be insanely epic. But maybe that's just me.
As for an Avenger with a fighting pet, old school only has Rocket & Groot? With the introduction of the Inhumans, we get the doggo.
i ran a museum heist one shot with a 4 man artificer group. was a ton of fun with a nice double heist twist at the end.
It would be cool if artificers had a manual where they could record infusions like a wizards spellbook
FYI it was Arthur C. Clarke who said the quote about `sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,`
Keep in mind that 5e artificers are arcane inventors, craftsmen, or artists channeling magic through objects, substances, or devices to create magical items and effects. They do not _have_ to be scientific or technological in any way.