What would you have done differently when using the Artificer as the point of inspiration for a new character? Thanks so much to WorldAnvil for sponsoring this video! Visit www.worldanvil.com/supergeekmike and use the promo code SUPERGEEK to get 40% off any annual membership! www.worldanvil.com/supergeekmike
When you said the Alchemist wouldn't fit the "created something great for someone unworthy" trait, my first thought was of an experimental Philosopher's Stone. It's not something explicitly given in rules like the armor, cannon, or defender, but it would be easy to flavor the Alchemist's abilities and spells to be coming from or augmented by the stone, Fullmetal Alchemist style. I mean you eventually become literally capable of resurrecting the dead with alchemy. As someone who's tried to play a very grounded and "natural philosopher" kind of Alchemist and was annoyed by how explicitly magical and handwavy the mechanics are, a Philosopher's Stone would really help to bridge that gap.
i am very much a “subclass first” person i will see a cool subclass and promptly shove one of the formless character ideas floating around in my head into it
I would be so lost making a lv1 character for a class that doesn't do their subclass split at higher levels, i rely on the flavor a subclass gives in my character creation
As for cartographer, I like the idea that they originally designed the robot to do the scouting and surveying for their maps. But as things got dangerous, they had to start arming the helper.
I also think there is a narrative push of smaller races towards artificer because the trope that they are physically small and weak but use technology to compensate.
This video really spoke to me. I recently created an Artificer Halfling NPC for a game I run, but I went through character creation for them to help me build and understand their backstory. I ended up with the Artificer class and did the Armorer subclass because I'd written them as having lost a leg, and they starting working on a way to replace it, and ended up building a suit to help them fight. The Arcane Armor was perfect for that so it helped explain what happened and why he focused on what he did going forward and was able to build his backstory from there.
I had the SSSS toy growing up. Been going down a Tokusatsu Rabbit hole watching all the original series from Japan. the anime remake is titled "SSSS Gridman" as a reference to the US adaptation of Gridman.
In solidarity, Mike, you absolutely did not imagine this series! Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad (man, they REALLY wanted to make that SSSS work) was based off of the Tokusatsu series Gridman and it was a trip even back when it came out. It did exist, my friend. It did exist.
An artificer character I made is an awakened goose that was treated badly by a bard college that awakened him. He escaped and met a kind old lady, who took him in and other awakened animals the college made. She is an artificer, and she taught the goose and the other animals artificing to help her in her tinkers shop. He made a mech suit out of a barrel to help her around the house and things like that, so she named him Barrel. But when she died, the other animals worked her shop, but Barrel went on a journey because he was so broken by her passing, that he just couldn’t stay at the shop
I designed a group of characters that were basically red-cross, rescuers, and went from there. I made a human steel defender artifcer because their companion would be good for evacuating injured and civilians. I also chose the guild background cause it just makes sense, but i chose leatherworking because i liked thebidea of them showing their affection by making custom purses, sheathes and other things for their campanions
The jokes during the add are so good. So far, my process for creating characters can be separated in 3 ways. Chosing the class first, choosing the background first and trying to adapt some character into a DnD setting (with that one I think that I nailed a funny bard that motivates and gives inspiration to others throught menacing).
Artificer is arguably my favorite class cuz there's just so many ways you can play it, I have to keep myself from making a million of them because of it. I'm definitely a 'class first' type of builder as I get a lot of ideas for personality and character as I fill out the class levels and such.
Meet Ranzo di Chicco, my gnome barrista alchemist who makes magically infused coffees instead of elixirs. Each different coffee has its own special effect like flight is a ristretto.
Artificer is my FAVORITE class 🤩 I definitely start with class/subclass most of the time when creating characters. Right after that, I think about the backstory and the "vibe," then based on that I will pick the race, background, personality traits, and so on. I USUALLY make my own personality traits/bonds/ideals/flaws to better map to backstory, though sometimes I'll take something pregenerated. I've definitely played a gnome artificer (an artillerist who was a magical weapon researcher exiled from her hometown for accidentally causing a massive explosion that injured and killed a lot of people - oops - and adventuring to gain a good name again and be able to go back home). The synergy and aesthetics are really good. 😅 I'm weak for that. But currently I'm actively playing a more unlikely combo (possibly) - a tiefling battlesmith artificer, whose steel defender is a fat robotic cat named Turnip (my DM uses a Pusheen token to represent the defender on the map, that's totally the vibe). She built him to remind her of her family pet back home, and also to help protect her from her own obliviousness (she has a wisdom score of 8 and can't roll double digit perception to save her life). This character has a lot of weird and complicated backstory, but at the core she's a blacksmith with a heart of gold, as well as the chef feat, which she uses to make her mama's recipes and keep the party healthy and well fed. She's a total cinnamon roll with no common sense (she once joined a cult because she thought it was a book club....) and I LOVE HER.
Artificers are one of those classes that I just got a poor first impression of back when it was still UA, and someone built one when they joined a campaign I was in about halfway through. I can see the potential but haven't taken the time to deep dive into it and really understand how it fits with the other class dynamics. That's kind of why Artificer isn't a character class in my homebrew world yet, with the in-world lore being that while Artificers exist, they're pretty much locked into their shops because a technological advancement that can create independently moving constructs hasn't happened yet. So, while they can have basic automatons, they're tethered to a massive rather fragile crystal as their brain/power source. Makes for good NPCs that can handle magic artifacts and similar items, but also can't go out on adventures with their inventions.
I’d like a system that breaks down character abilities into smaller portions that you could choose ala-carte. It would be more open-ended than a class & level system, but characters would need to have a more consistent base that doesn’t ramp up so quickly that you’re extremely fragile in the first session and on your way to becoming a demigod by the 10th. As to artificers, for me the classic has always been the Warforged artificer who learns to work on itself. Maybe that goes back to watching Transformers cartoons as a kid. There’s also a strong Data ST-TNG influence there. I don’t think 5e did Artificers very well. The idea of trinkets that work for a day and then break down may work for a semi-competent tinker gnome, but the fantasy of being a professional magic item crafter isn’t well supported. Being a half-caster doesn’t help either. I’d rather give up most or all spell slots in exchange for access to any spell, but cast as a ritual. You’d need access to new spell levels at the full spellcaster rate (half level, round up), and you’d need a schematics book (spellbook), but since many spells aren’t useful if you need 10 minutes to cast, the artificer would make scrolls (or another gewgaw that stores a spell and is consumed upon use) for its action-casting. In Unearthed Arcana there was the Archivist, but that didn’t get published and most of its features were absorbed into the Order of Scribes wizard. Half-elves are basically the ‘classic adventurer’. Human enough for their minds to be understandable (most of the other species live so long their perspectives could be unintelligible to someone who is lucky to make it to 75, let alone 750), yet fantastical enough to feel exciting. On Eberron, there are families of half-elves who have been such for generations, only occasionally mixing in more human or elf blood. I tend to like making half-elves who look mostly human rather than like elves with shorter ears. That might be influence from Tanis in the Dragonlance novels. Steel defenders, like Warforged, are not robots. They’re not electric or even clockwork, they run on magic. They’re basically golems with more individuated minds. I guess Vil was probably commissioned to build the ultimate guard dog, and half of the commission was paid up front for materials. Then Vil learned that the noble was in the habit of using his real dogs to terrify common folk, and a nigh-invulnerable one would certainly be worse. So she kept the Defender and went on the run from this Ramsay-Bolton-like villain.
Having first started with the Basic set (D&D) before moving to AD&D (what is often now usually called 1E AD&D), I had always rolled stats first-in order, of course-and then figured out what classes my character _could_ be based on that. After many years of not playing at all (stopped playing in 1993 or so, still 1E AD&D at that point), when I got back into D&D with 5e I was quite pleased to see that it was possible to build the character around the class and even future subclass. That was revelatory ! Having had some time to play around with this idea, it makes so much sense to me to at least start off with the class and even the "projected" future subclass as the base for the character creation process, and then weave the background story, ancestry, origin, etc. into a coherent narrative manifesting in the current character as a whole at the point of their entry into the campaign.
I made an artificer concept for a variant human with the prodigy feat... Really leaned into the mindset that humans learn things very quickly as they don't live as long as dwarfs, elves, gnomes, etc. Gave them a bunch of proficiencies in different tool kits and hope to play them soon as I wrote that their main goal would be to be a very renown smith throughout the realm at a young age. Would love to see what can become of it.
I love creating charachters starting from bits and pieces. Sometimes it's a subclass, sometimes a class feature. My only artificer was born from the "armor of magical strength" infusion. Not only did it lift the need for strength, which I rolled really low, it answered why he was weak: he was a veteran who had lost an arm, with the armor as his prosthetic and a steel defender for a companion
A weaver artificer could be awesome, making different cloth for clothing articles, or bands for hats, or small pennants….. A pancho of invisibility. Boxer shorts of giant strength.
On artilerist, it's not a gunmaker, it's a wandmaker. Hence it has woodcarver tools. It's unfortunate that Crawfords character Vi uses a gun looking wand. However a couple of unconventional ideas. Witch, Alchemist. Lives in the wilds and makes magical brews in her kettle. (could go battlesmith if the kettle wants to punchy) Frankie, Battlesmith. A genious doctor that sewed together pieces from corpses into a consturct. (could go armorer if you want a bone/flesh suit) Artist, Artillerist. An passionate artist who can paint reality with their magic brush (that's their wand). Plain simple tailor, armorer. This tailor for sure isn't a spy, with their high heeled infiltraitor catsuit.
I also did a subclass first artificer. I was interested in making an artilleryst, and thus the Gunsmith was born. His whole deal is that he is an old former arms dealer who was essentially a much more powerful character than a level one, but his shop along with all of his stuff was blown up under mysterious circumstances, and he lost his dominant hand. So he built himself a prosthetic and through the adventure, he is trying to reassemble his arsenal and re-engineer his specific formula since all of his notes and research was incinerated. He's got a good starting point, but he has to recreate everything and require his materials, redistill his advanced magical reagents, etc. I've kind of become a big fan of the old adventure who has retired, and thus lost all of their chops, taking on a new profession, like a former fighter who suffered a grievous injury and can't fighter anymore, so he takes up wizardry. He's been there done that has the t-shirt and a wealth of experience, hence the high intelligence, but he never actually studied magic in his prime, and he no longer is physically capable enough to swing a sword like he used to
oooh, Supplemental idea for your artificer, they've already got the control phrase for the defender, and in a stand-up fight against them, they could take control of the robit and use it against you.
When you started fixating on the Jeweler's Tools before having picked a race, I started thinking Gemstone Dragonborn. (Earth Genasi could follow a similar and more direct vibe, but wasn't my first thought.)
about the sleight of hands proficiency not needed if proficient with thief's tools, I dunno if it's just my gaming group that uses the ruling that if you have both proficiencies you get advantage... I'm sure I've read that being a thing in the DMG.
My 2nd character I ever built was an artificer. I wanted a battle chef, who is wandering the world looking for new recipes. Mechanically, I made him an alchemist but I can flavor all his spells as either recipes or using typical ingredients. I built him almost a year ago, but I have yet to play him...
Yes, such a good concept. The moment I saw in the video that artisan's tools can include Cook's tool, I had the same thought. I hope you get to play that character someday.
I have an idea for a Harengon Alchemist who makes potions as stand ins for their spells. Like if they cast Identify, they'd use a pipette with a pearly mixture in it and use it like eyedrops.
I was playing a dwarf artificer and by the time I got my subclass which gave me another choice of tools (I already had proficiency in the tool that came baked into the subclass), I kind of already had all the tools I wanted proficiency in so I took Cook's Tools because it was an already established running gag that every time we camped it would turn into a cooking competition. Sketches were made of towns burning while "Masterchef D&D" went on, Con saves to eat inedible creations were common. Between the guild artisan background, being a dwarf, and the tools that the class gives you, he was proficient with Thieves, Tinker's, Smiths, Alchemists, Jewler's, and Cooks. Man I miss that character.
The moment you mentioned the tools list, I went straight to the novel title “Tinker, Tailor, Solder, Spy”. I could see several options of a more active “Q” type character.
What a coincidence, I was invited to play Curse of Strahd and I always wanted it to play an Artificer because I'm a sucker for the INT stat and oh boy, best decision ever. My first ever Artificer is a Dragonborn (Blue Draconblood) because I loved the idea of using his lightning breath weapon to create and operate his creations/infusions and also be a good diplomat when the time comes, and to keep it up with the idea, I took the Alchemist subclass and I'm still having plenty of fun playing it in the CoS campaign. So yeah, that was the first time I decided to pick a class first instead of the race or background and I don't regret it at all, Artificer is currently my favorite class :)
While you were making this character, you spoke of jeweler... I might be reaching but clockwork (mechanical watches) has jewels in them because they are hard and smooth. I imagine a construct with jewels in the workings.
Nice! Great Concept! Looking forward to the rest of the series. You are a Master of the seamless sponsor non-sequitur. Not bad with the artificer puns either!
Thanks! There are some other installments here: ruclips.net/p/PLF5zBOWphfZAy0SntcEBS14xckvN8fc6A There are also some other installments that I'm really excited to get to in the future :)
If you want some Artificer inspiration for the future, I highly recommend the webcomic Girl Genius. It is a setting chock full of Artificers and mad scientists of every flavor and description.
I’m a very “character first” or “stats first” (rolling down the line can be a lot of fun to start with for me) character builder unless I’m building to fit a party role. But this is fun too! Sometimes I just want to try a class I haven’t played before.
Half-elf as a heritage choice is objectively one of the strongest, due to the ability score modifiers, the resistance to charm, immunity to sleep, infravision, additional skills, and additional language. Other heritages certainly get some useful abilities, but, they are mostly once per long rest. Now, regarding those puns at the end: your artificer didn't take the "Vicious Mockery" spell, so, you have to take those back.
Not super relevant to the larger point, but I think it's funny Rock Gnomes and Artificers get Tinkers Tools proficiency to do magitech, essentially, but the description of what's included in a set of Tinkers Tools in Xanathar's is more like historical tinkers (tools for minor object repair, including things for stitching clothes and some glue) than what the fantasy of either Rock Gnomes or Artificers are trying to create (someone who basically has a travel-sized version of an automail shop from FMA)
I adore artificers ^^ i made one for a campaign who was a goblin battle smith. The twist is that his stuff was less magic items and more magic surgeries hed do to his allies.
As someone who is mostly a DM I do tend to put together a Character I Want to play somewhat mechanically first and then I will build a backstory around that idea. When you don't get to be a player much you tend to value different things when cresting a character. On the subject of class first I've actually now run a number of adventures that players enjoyed where they didn't even pick their classes at all. Atleast they didn't pick then directly. What I like to call Level 0 starts. Players start off effectively without a class and then their character ancestry and back story, along with their actions, decisions and interactions in a roleplay ed session 0 will help me determine what class that player will get.
🎵 We're gonna Amp it up! Kick some Gigabutt 🎵 Use to have some of the episodes on VHS back in the day. Yeah the hero would jump into his computer. The idea was he was traveling into the internet to fight monsters that were souped up computer viruses
I remember. I remember Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad. I had the toy, it was great (It was almost always some kind of knight in my imagination). That was a weird show, but looking back a lot of them were. Also, weirdly I could imagine a very fancy artificer looking like the main character. I have an idea for an artificer with woodcarving, all her creations are made of wood, and glass. I love the idea of these organic looking robots, intricately carved and joined together, but they look almost like they were grown.
I often ask myself what made them the class they are. And I always end up with clerics or warlocks ^^ I can just easily see how someone reaches for a bit of power that way. I have a really hard time coming up with a backstory for Rangers, and I think I'll try your method and go to the original text and see what hooks lie there. I really like browsing the subclasses as well, because they often have a clearer story than the basic class.
see story moments of your character(in your head), dissect them to find class/subclass, race, background, weapon preference, spell choices.... or reverse it and let the dnd session(s) write your story.
I think it’s perfectly reasonable to make a choice, look at it, and use how you feel after that choice to change your mind. Anything that helps narrow down how you feel is exactly right.
I play a hobgoblin of the feywild (UA) alchemist in a 2-player party campaign and it’s really satisfying for building a diversely strong support character for my fellow monk PC
The thing your character made could have been some wonderful ring, maybe for a lover who left them, so now they keep it as a reminder. At least that's where my mind went
When you said thieves tools, I immediately made a safe cracking artificer who is currently on the run from a botched robbery of a fairly influential person. Then, when you said carpenter's tools, I created a Warforged artificer who accidentally created his own form of Pinocchio and is confused as to what he should do about this wooden child. My mind tends to latch onto character ideas rather quickly, never have to worry about character creation at least.
I also latched onto the created gun idea, so I went with a woman who did create guns, but after seeing what they could do, she decided to track down the last of her creations and destroy them.
I would've deviated by making giving them a Jeweler's kit.(I have an idea about forging jewelry like if you're doing glass forging and I want that to be the character's goal to reach) A battle Smith, sure, that could be their hobby. Their fancy jewelry need to go somewhere after all. And glass blown jewelry could have more fancy uses in a robot. I would've also chosen a different Ancestry. I would pick something unexpected and weird. Something with an unexpected element. (Like, I achieved achieved secret ending of kingmaker with a benevolent, ture Natural, deep red Tiefling Necromancer) here I'd pick a race that wouldn't be common. Someone That could startle you easily. And I feel like they would be bisexual. Almost genderless. I'd look the entire Ancestry list 5 times before reducing my preferences to 5 and then spend a good half an hour thinking possible backstories, quirks and Appearances before deciding
Tbh, I like going with things that feel new or fresh. Or just kinda, "yeah! Sure that sounds fun and cool." Though I will admit that full casters speak to me on some level. If I joined a game right now, I'd probably play a Bard or a Sorcerer, because I've never played those... Or haven't played them in a while. And then I'd be like... Yo, what kind of sorcerer, then I'd think of a mage in white robes and then go, sure a court sorcerer under the auspices of the College of Seven Stars, (cool sounding name), grab a subclass and then bam. That's my character. Or a mage in no robes, just a tunic and a book and ... Maybe a leather apron, and some glasses. Yeah. Metalworking mage. Bump the strength score just a bit for flavor, dump the rest into CHA. Ask the DM if I can fish for a homebrew subclass for a forge sorcerer, if an official one can't be found that's good. Bam. Another character.
I never get anything but below average when I roll for stats, so while I would have gone for Point Buy, and also not used a Customized Origin, I would have, instead, gone for the race first and gone with the Hobgoblin (Volo's). After that, I admit, I would have gone a little stereotypical and taken the Soldier background, have someone who works in logistics and military R&D. And, from there, I would have had the reason for their adventuring is to test out their inventions themself since funding for such things doesn't tend to be used on experimental ventures, just look at how they treat their Wizards (evocation school only). As for the subclass, I think I might have gone with the Alchemist, doling out potions to the party as needed, or else gone for the Artillerist, focusing on the combat damage.
I think it sucks how no one can talk about the Artificer without talking about banning it. Nobody talks about banning the Wizard, even though most people's learned understanding of magic in fiction doesn't involve picking out the spells you can manage to remember today, nor does anyone put in the effort to world build about expensive inks.
Mike, if you happen to read this, plz respond with anything. Because i want an opinion. To me, there is a cetaim kind of fantasy thats aluring. The fantasy of playing lvl16-20 humble support character. Someone that would look normal as a servant/temporary helper of a low-mid level artisan or something. Some who would love a life of just "Beeing an umdetected part of Someone else's Grand performance" And i would also love to see the reaction of those low-mid level artisans when this character is forced to save the day and reveal his true lvl. Now i would like to see how that would work in as a part of an other party or something. Because that fantasy is aluring for me for some reason Aka the humbling of Someone's true power. For no other reason than Because they like it
My artificer was an alchemist and was based on a snake oil salesman medicine man. Only after time her potions actually started working and she didnt know why
@@SupergeekMike she had the Charlatan background, and her fake identity was the same as her father, The Great Pirelli. It allowed me to sing Pirelli's Miracle Elixir from Sweeney Todd at the table as well
@SupergeekMike well it's a bit harder then that, I have aphantagia so I can't picture things in my head. So I tend to do a compilation of art work and narrow my focus, then I come up with how they will enteract with the party because if a hero is able to do stuff on their own then they are just an npc. My most recent idea I had came from the idea of a fully normal looking human woman. How ever she has a horn growing out of her eye and there is skin discoloration. Making her a twifling. Now you can't just Google that art work so I started working on the idea she uses divination magic and got the idea of a Fey warden skinned to a fiend instead the abilities still all work just fine just flavor wise. And then dipped into warlock for the sight eldritch abilities mostly the ability to cast detect magic at will. Kinda like a single eye sonar. I wanted a character who felt like she was this unholy product so I went an extra mile and took the idea from inheritors " she has marking on her skin depicting how to summon a devil, born to a noble family that hasn't paid it's debt to the devils yet. " kinda my first time venturing out of my comfort zone and doing a devil build with a teifling. I have like 8~10 pics of horn growths in sheep's and teiflings and human princesses. But that's just me
Yep I know a lot of DMs feel that way, it can be hard for them to sell the party on the world being a grounded fantasy world when one of the players can make robots or guns or whatever ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
What would you have done differently when using the Artificer as the point of inspiration for a new character?
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I've never played D&D, don't know how I'd find a group, probably won't be good at RP, but I REALLY want to roll an artificer weaver.....
When you said the Alchemist wouldn't fit the "created something great for someone unworthy" trait, my first thought was of an experimental Philosopher's Stone.
It's not something explicitly given in rules like the armor, cannon, or defender, but it would be easy to flavor the Alchemist's abilities and spells to be coming from or augmented by the stone, Fullmetal Alchemist style. I mean you eventually become literally capable of resurrecting the dead with alchemy.
As someone who's tried to play a very grounded and "natural philosopher" kind of Alchemist and was annoyed by how explicitly magical and handwavy the mechanics are, a Philosopher's Stone would really help to bridge that gap.
i am very much a “subclass first” person i will see a cool subclass and promptly shove one of the formless character ideas floating around in my head into it
I would be so lost making a lv1 character for a class that doesn't do their subclass split at higher levels, i rely on the flavor a subclass gives in my character creation
this is so me. subclass and backgrounds are great inspirations for characters. but i always accidentally create op characters this way lol.
As for cartographer, I like the idea that they originally designed the robot to do the scouting and surveying for their maps. But as things got dangerous, they had to start arming the helper.
I also think there is a narrative push of smaller races towards artificer because the trope that they are physically small and weak but use technology to compensate.
This video really spoke to me. I recently created an Artificer Halfling NPC for a game I run, but I went through character creation for them to help me build and understand their backstory. I ended up with the Artificer class and did the Armorer subclass because I'd written them as having lost a leg, and they starting working on a way to replace it, and ended up building a suit to help them fight. The Arcane Armor was perfect for that so it helped explain what happened and why he focused on what he did going forward and was able to build his backstory from there.
I had the SSSS toy growing up. Been going down a Tokusatsu Rabbit hole watching all the original series from Japan. the anime remake is titled "SSSS Gridman" as a reference to the US adaptation of Gridman.
In solidarity, Mike, you absolutely did not imagine this series! Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad (man, they REALLY wanted to make that SSSS work) was based off of the Tokusatsu series Gridman and it was a trip even back when it came out. It did exist, my friend. It did exist.
An artificer character I made is an awakened goose that was treated badly by a bard college that awakened him. He escaped and met a kind old lady, who took him in and other awakened animals the college made. She is an artificer, and she taught the goose and the other animals artificing to help her in her tinkers shop. He made a mech suit out of a barrel to help her around the house and things like that, so she named him Barrel. But when she died, the other animals worked her shop, but Barrel went on a journey because he was so broken by her passing, that he just couldn’t stay at the shop
Loving the consistent uploads. I consume dnd advice videos with a great fervour and you make some banger content!
Thank you!
If you're into anime, SSSS got adapted into one - S.S.S.S. Gridman
I designed a group of characters that were basically red-cross, rescuers, and went from there. I made a human steel defender artifcer because their companion would be good for evacuating injured and civilians. I also chose the guild background cause it just makes sense, but i chose leatherworking because i liked thebidea of them showing their affection by making custom purses, sheathes and other things for their campanions
The jokes during the add are so good. So far, my process for creating characters can be separated in 3 ways. Chosing the class first, choosing the background first and trying to adapt some character into a DnD setting (with that one I think that I nailed a funny bard that motivates and gives inspiration to others throught menacing).
A carpenter builds things (like houses) with wood, a woodcarver sculpts art from wood. Very distinct and different.
Artificer is arguably my favorite class cuz there's just so many ways you can play it, I have to keep myself from making a million of them because of it. I'm definitely a 'class first' type of builder as I get a lot of ideas for personality and character as I fill out the class levels and such.
Meet Ranzo di Chicco, my gnome barrista alchemist who makes magically infused coffees instead of elixirs. Each different coffee has its own special effect like flight is a ristretto.
I like it!
Artificer is my FAVORITE class 🤩
I definitely start with class/subclass most of the time when creating characters. Right after that, I think about the backstory and the "vibe," then based on that I will pick the race, background, personality traits, and so on. I USUALLY make my own personality traits/bonds/ideals/flaws to better map to backstory, though sometimes I'll take something pregenerated.
I've definitely played a gnome artificer (an artillerist who was a magical weapon researcher exiled from her hometown for accidentally causing a massive explosion that injured and killed a lot of people - oops - and adventuring to gain a good name again and be able to go back home). The synergy and aesthetics are really good. 😅 I'm weak for that. But currently I'm actively playing a more unlikely combo (possibly) - a tiefling battlesmith artificer, whose steel defender is a fat robotic cat named Turnip (my DM uses a Pusheen token to represent the defender on the map, that's totally the vibe). She built him to remind her of her family pet back home, and also to help protect her from her own obliviousness (she has a wisdom score of 8 and can't roll double digit perception to save her life). This character has a lot of weird and complicated backstory, but at the core she's a blacksmith with a heart of gold, as well as the chef feat, which she uses to make her mama's recipes and keep the party healthy and well fed. She's a total cinnamon roll with no common sense (she once joined a cult because she thought it was a book club....) and I LOVE HER.
Artificers are one of those classes that I just got a poor first impression of back when it was still UA, and someone built one when they joined a campaign I was in about halfway through. I can see the potential but haven't taken the time to deep dive into it and really understand how it fits with the other class dynamics.
That's kind of why Artificer isn't a character class in my homebrew world yet, with the in-world lore being that while Artificers exist, they're pretty much locked into their shops because a technological advancement that can create independently moving constructs hasn't happened yet. So, while they can have basic automatons, they're tethered to a massive rather fragile crystal as their brain/power source. Makes for good NPCs that can handle magic artifacts and similar items, but also can't go out on adventures with their inventions.
I’d like a system that breaks down character abilities into smaller portions that you could choose ala-carte. It would be more open-ended than a class & level system, but characters would need to have a more consistent base that doesn’t ramp up so quickly that you’re extremely fragile in the first session and on your way to becoming a demigod by the 10th.
As to artificers, for me the classic has always been the Warforged artificer who learns to work on itself. Maybe that goes back to watching Transformers cartoons as a kid. There’s also a strong Data ST-TNG influence there. I don’t think 5e did Artificers very well. The idea of trinkets that work for a day and then break down may work for a semi-competent tinker gnome, but the fantasy of being a professional magic item crafter isn’t well supported. Being a half-caster doesn’t help either. I’d rather give up most or all spell slots in exchange for access to any spell, but cast as a ritual. You’d need access to new spell levels at the full spellcaster rate (half level, round up), and you’d need a schematics book (spellbook), but since many spells aren’t useful if you need 10 minutes to cast, the artificer would make scrolls (or another gewgaw that stores a spell and is consumed upon use) for its action-casting. In Unearthed Arcana there was the Archivist, but that didn’t get published and most of its features were absorbed into the Order of Scribes wizard.
Half-elves are basically the ‘classic adventurer’. Human enough for their minds to be understandable (most of the other species live so long their perspectives could be unintelligible to someone who is lucky to make it to 75, let alone 750), yet fantastical enough to feel exciting. On Eberron, there are families of half-elves who have been such for generations, only occasionally mixing in more human or elf blood. I tend to like making half-elves who look mostly human rather than like elves with shorter ears. That might be influence from Tanis in the Dragonlance novels.
Steel defenders, like Warforged, are not robots. They’re not electric or even clockwork, they run on magic. They’re basically golems with more individuated minds.
I guess Vil was probably commissioned to build the ultimate guard dog, and half of the commission was paid up front for materials. Then Vil learned that the noble was in the habit of using his real dogs to terrify common folk, and a nigh-invulnerable one would certainly be worse. So she kept the Defender and went on the run from this Ramsay-Bolton-like villain.
I remember Superhuman Samurai Sybersquad. It used to air on Fox with Power Rangers, BeetleBorgs, and X-Men in the 90s.
Having first started with the Basic set (D&D) before moving to AD&D (what is often now usually called 1E AD&D), I had always rolled stats first-in order, of course-and then figured out what classes my character _could_ be based on that. After many years of not playing at all (stopped playing in 1993 or so, still 1E AD&D at that point), when I got back into D&D with 5e I was quite pleased to see that it was possible to build the character around the class and even future subclass. That was revelatory ! Having had some time to play around with this idea, it makes so much sense to me to at least start off with the class and even the "projected" future subclass as the base for the character creation process, and then weave the background story, ancestry, origin, etc. into a coherent narrative manifesting in the current character as a whole at the point of their entry into the campaign.
I made an artificer concept for a variant human with the prodigy feat...
Really leaned into the mindset that humans learn things very quickly as they don't live as long as dwarfs, elves, gnomes, etc.
Gave them a bunch of proficiencies in different tool kits and hope to play them soon as I wrote that their main goal would be to be a very renown smith throughout the realm at a young age. Would love to see what can become of it.
Not only do I remember that show, I have the both 5 in and 10 in versions of Servo, Zenon, and Drago.
I love creating charachters starting from bits and pieces. Sometimes it's a subclass, sometimes a class feature. My only artificer was born from the "armor of magical strength" infusion. Not only did it lift the need for strength, which I rolled really low, it answered why he was weak: he was a veteran who had lost an arm, with the armor as his prosthetic and a steel defender for a companion
A weaver artificer could be awesome, making different cloth for clothing articles, or bands for hats, or small pennants….. A pancho of invisibility. Boxer shorts of giant strength.
Cartographers tools for a West Marches game would be something like. make a roll to have the DM draw a portion of the map for you.
On artilerist, it's not a gunmaker, it's a wandmaker. Hence it has woodcarver tools. It's unfortunate that Crawfords character Vi uses a gun looking wand.
However a couple of unconventional ideas.
Witch, Alchemist. Lives in the wilds and makes magical brews in her kettle. (could go battlesmith if the kettle wants to punchy)
Frankie, Battlesmith. A genious doctor that sewed together pieces from corpses into a consturct. (could go armorer if you want a bone/flesh suit)
Artist, Artillerist. An passionate artist who can paint reality with their magic brush (that's their wand).
Plain simple tailor, armorer. This tailor for sure isn't a spy, with their high heeled infiltraitor catsuit.
I also did a subclass first artificer. I was interested in making an artilleryst, and thus the Gunsmith was born. His whole deal is that he is an old former arms dealer who was essentially a much more powerful character than a level one, but his shop along with all of his stuff was blown up under mysterious circumstances, and he lost his dominant hand.
So he built himself a prosthetic and through the adventure, he is trying to reassemble his arsenal and re-engineer his specific formula since all of his notes and research was incinerated. He's got a good starting point, but he has to recreate everything and require his materials, redistill his advanced magical reagents, etc.
I've kind of become a big fan of the old adventure who has retired, and thus lost all of their chops, taking on a new profession, like a former fighter who suffered a grievous injury and can't fighter anymore, so he takes up wizardry. He's been there done that has the t-shirt and a wealth of experience, hence the high intelligence, but he never actually studied magic in his prime, and he no longer is physically capable enough to swing a sword like he used to
oooh, Supplemental idea for your artificer, they've already got the control phrase for the defender, and in a stand-up fight against them, they could take control of the robit and use it against you.
Ooooh you’re speaking my language 😁
When you started fixating on the Jeweler's Tools before having picked a race, I started thinking Gemstone Dragonborn. (Earth Genasi could follow a similar and more direct vibe, but wasn't my first thought.)
I usually start with class because I already have something in mind.
about the sleight of hands proficiency not needed if proficient with thief's tools, I dunno if it's just my gaming group that uses the ruling that if you have both proficiencies you get advantage... I'm sure I've read that being a thing in the DMG.
My 2nd character I ever built was an artificer. I wanted a battle chef, who is wandering the world looking for new recipes. Mechanically, I made him an alchemist but I can flavor all his spells as either recipes or using typical ingredients. I built him almost a year ago, but I have yet to play him...
Yes, such a good concept. The moment I saw in the video that artisan's tools can include Cook's tool, I had the same thought. I hope you get to play that character someday.
I have an idea for a Harengon Alchemist who makes potions as stand ins for their spells. Like if they cast Identify, they'd use a pipette with a pearly mixture in it and use it like eyedrops.
I always pick the subclass or class first.
I was playing a dwarf artificer and by the time I got my subclass which gave me another choice of tools (I already had proficiency in the tool that came baked into the subclass), I kind of already had all the tools I wanted proficiency in so I took Cook's Tools because it was an already established running gag that every time we camped it would turn into a cooking competition. Sketches were made of towns burning while "Masterchef D&D" went on, Con saves to eat inedible creations were common. Between the guild artisan background, being a dwarf, and the tools that the class gives you, he was proficient with Thieves, Tinker's, Smiths, Alchemists, Jewler's, and Cooks. Man I miss that character.
The moment you mentioned the tools list, I went straight to the novel title “Tinker, Tailor, Solder, Spy”. I could see several options of a more active “Q” type character.
What a coincidence, I was invited to play Curse of Strahd and I always wanted it to play an Artificer because I'm a sucker for the INT stat and oh boy, best decision ever.
My first ever Artificer is a Dragonborn (Blue Draconblood) because I loved the idea of using his lightning breath weapon to create and operate his creations/infusions and also be a good diplomat when the time comes, and to keep it up with the idea, I took the Alchemist subclass and I'm still having plenty of fun playing it in the CoS campaign.
So yeah, that was the first time I decided to pick a class first instead of the race or background and I don't regret it at all, Artificer is currently my favorite class :)
While you were making this character, you spoke of jeweler... I might be reaching but clockwork (mechanical watches) has jewels in them because they are hard and smooth.
I imagine a construct with jewels in the workings.
I love it!
Nice! Great Concept! Looking forward to the rest of the series. You are a Master of the seamless sponsor non-sequitur. Not bad with the artificer puns either!
Thanks! There are some other installments here: ruclips.net/p/PLF5zBOWphfZAy0SntcEBS14xckvN8fc6A
There are also some other installments that I'm really excited to get to in the future :)
@@SupergeekMike Well, I'm a goof ball I'd watched all but one of these, Just missed that it was a series. *facepalm*
@@risperdude All good!
If you want some Artificer inspiration for the future, I highly recommend the webcomic Girl Genius. It is a setting chock full of Artificers and mad scientists of every flavor and description.
Superhuman samurai cybersquad!
I vividly remember that the cord the main character played on his guitar, to go into his computer, was a E minor
I’m a very “character first” or “stats first” (rolling down the line can be a lot of fun to start with for me) character builder unless I’m building to fit a party role. But this is fun too! Sometimes I just want to try a class I haven’t played before.
Half-elf as a heritage choice is objectively one of the strongest, due to the ability score modifiers, the resistance to charm, immunity to sleep, infravision, additional skills, and additional language. Other heritages certainly get some useful abilities, but, they are mostly once per long rest.
Now, regarding those puns at the end: your artificer didn't take the "Vicious Mockery" spell, so, you have to take those back.
Not super relevant to the larger point, but I think it's funny Rock Gnomes and Artificers get Tinkers Tools proficiency to do magitech, essentially, but the description of what's included in a set of Tinkers Tools in Xanathar's is more like historical tinkers (tools for minor object repair, including things for stitching clothes and some glue) than what the fantasy of either Rock Gnomes or Artificers are trying to create (someone who basically has a travel-sized version of an automail shop from FMA)
I adore artificers ^^ i made one for a campaign who was a goblin battle smith. The twist is that his stuff was less magic items and more magic surgeries hed do to his allies.
As someone who is mostly a DM I do tend to put together a Character I Want to play somewhat mechanically first and then I will build a backstory around that idea. When you don't get to be a player much you tend to value different things when cresting a character.
On the subject of class first I've actually now run a number of adventures that players enjoyed where they didn't even pick their classes at all. Atleast they didn't pick then directly. What I like to call Level 0 starts. Players start off effectively without a class and then their character ancestry and back story, along with their actions, decisions and interactions in a roleplay ed session 0 will help me determine what class that player will get.
You are not alone! I loved Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad!
Since I work in automation, the battle smith artificer is the class that I maintain would be the fantasy version of myself.
🎵 We're gonna Amp it up! Kick some Gigabutt 🎵
Use to have some of the episodes on VHS back in the day. Yeah the hero would jump into his computer. The idea was he was traveling into the internet to fight monsters that were souped up computer viruses
I remember. I remember Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad. I had the toy, it was great (It was almost always some kind of knight in my imagination). That was a weird show, but looking back a lot of them were. Also, weirdly I could imagine a very fancy artificer looking like the main character. I have an idea for an artificer with woodcarving, all her creations are made of wood, and glass. I love the idea of these organic looking robots, intricately carved and joined together, but they look almost like they were grown.
Same. I thought I was the only one who remembered that show! Such a deep cut.
For cartographer’s tools, I think doing something with the magic of stars and star maps would be pretty cool. Similar to the astral druid subclass
Italian player here, and i remember Super Human Samurai, you're not alone ❤
Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad existed! I remember it being a Saturday morning show.
I often ask myself what made them the class they are. And I always end up with clerics or warlocks ^^ I can just easily see how someone reaches for a bit of power that way. I have a really hard time coming up with a backstory for Rangers, and I think I'll try your method and go to the original text and see what hooks lie there. I really like browsing the subclasses as well, because they often have a clearer story than the basic class.
I totally remember Super Human Samurai Cyber Squad back in the 90s.
Superhuman samurai syber squad was absolutely real, and I suspect I had the same toy!
see story moments of your character(in your head), dissect them to find class/subclass, race, background, weapon preference, spell choices.... or reverse it and let the dnd session(s) write your story.
Oh my God thank you. I thought I was crazy about the Superhuman Cyberman Syber squad show no-one I know has any idea what that show is at all
I think it’s perfectly reasonable to make a choice, look at it, and use how you feel after that choice to change your mind. Anything that helps narrow down how you feel is exactly right.
Yes, I DO remember Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad. :D
Funny part: I was actually in the process of making an Artificer myself.
I...I do remember the Superhuman Samurai Cyber Squad...and I still have the action figures.
As a current gnome artificer, giving our level 2 barbarian a magic pike was such a headache for our DM lol.
I play a hobgoblin of the feywild (UA) alchemist in a 2-player party campaign and it’s really satisfying for building a diversely strong support character for my fellow monk PC
The thing your character made could have been some wonderful ring, maybe for a lover who left them, so now they keep it as a reminder. At least that's where my mind went
I remember Superhuman Samurai Cybersquad!!! Didn't watch it much but it was a cool concept. Mostly a cyberverse Power Rangers knockoff.
When you said thieves tools, I immediately made a safe cracking artificer who is currently on the run from a botched robbery of a fairly influential person. Then, when you said carpenter's tools, I created a Warforged artificer who accidentally created his own form of Pinocchio and is confused as to what he should do about this wooden child. My mind tends to latch onto character ideas rather quickly, never have to worry about character creation at least.
I also latched onto the created gun idea, so I went with a woman who did create guns, but after seeing what they could do, she decided to track down the last of her creations and destroy them.
Hiro hamada as a battlesmith artificer and baymax as their steel defender
I would've deviated by making giving them a Jeweler's kit.(I have an idea about forging jewelry like if you're doing glass forging and I want that to be the character's goal to reach)
A battle Smith, sure, that could be their hobby. Their fancy jewelry need to go somewhere after all. And glass blown jewelry could have more fancy uses in a robot.
I would've also chosen a different Ancestry. I would pick something unexpected and weird. Something with an unexpected element. (Like, I achieved achieved secret ending of kingmaker with a benevolent, ture Natural, deep red Tiefling Necromancer) here I'd pick a race that wouldn't be common. Someone That could startle you easily. And I feel like they would be bisexual. Almost genderless.
I'd look the entire Ancestry list 5 times before reducing my preferences to 5 and then spend a good half an hour thinking possible backstories, quirks and Appearances before deciding
Tbh, I like going with things that feel new or fresh. Or just kinda, "yeah! Sure that sounds fun and cool."
Though I will admit that full casters speak to me on some level.
If I joined a game right now, I'd probably play a Bard or a Sorcerer, because I've never played those... Or haven't played them in a while.
And then I'd be like... Yo, what kind of sorcerer, then I'd think of a mage in white robes and then go, sure a court sorcerer under the auspices of the College of Seven Stars, (cool sounding name), grab a subclass and then bam. That's my character.
Or a mage in no robes, just a tunic and a book and ... Maybe a leather apron, and some glasses. Yeah. Metalworking mage. Bump the strength score just a bit for flavor, dump the rest into CHA. Ask the DM if I can fish for a homebrew subclass for a forge sorcerer, if an official one can't be found that's good.
Bam. Another character.
You gave me an idea for a elf artificer who sells dope enchanted jewelry….
I love it!
„…Steel Defender!“ xD
get you a guy who remembers Super Samurai Syber Squad *and* knows the word 'tokusatsu' :)
I absolutely know what SSS. And if you want some modern version of it you should check out the anime SSS Fridman and Dinozenon
oh shit, Syber Squad is the one with the kid who plays the guitar to become super, right? I knew that show but not the name!
I know he has a guitar in the theme song lol
I never get anything but below average when I roll for stats, so while I would have gone for Point Buy, and also not used a Customized Origin, I would have, instead, gone for the race first and gone with the Hobgoblin (Volo's). After that, I admit, I would have gone a little stereotypical and taken the Soldier background, have someone who works in logistics and military R&D. And, from there, I would have had the reason for their adventuring is to test out their inventions themself since funding for such things doesn't tend to be used on experimental ventures, just look at how they treat their Wizards (evocation school only). As for the subclass, I think I might have gone with the Alchemist, doling out potions to the party as needed, or else gone for the Artillerist, focusing on the combat damage.
I think it sucks how no one can talk about the Artificer without talking about banning it. Nobody talks about banning the Wizard, even though most people's learned understanding of magic in fiction doesn't involve picking out the spells you can manage to remember today, nor does anyone put in the effort to world build about expensive inks.
Mike, if you happen to read this, plz respond with anything. Because i want an opinion.
To me, there is a cetaim kind of fantasy thats aluring. The fantasy of playing lvl16-20 humble support character.
Someone that would look normal as a servant/temporary helper of a low-mid level artisan or something.
Some who would love a life of just "Beeing an umdetected part of Someone else's Grand performance"
And i would also love to see the reaction of those low-mid level artisans when this character is forced to save the day and reveal his true lvl.
Now i would like to see how that would work in as a part of an other party or something. Because that fantasy is aluring for me for some reason
Aka the humbling of Someone's true power. For no other reason than Because they like it
Super HUMAN Sam-u-rai...Syber SQUAD!
This exact tune has lived rent-free in my head for 29 years.
My artificer was an alchemist and was based on a snake oil salesman medicine man. Only after time her potions actually started working and she didnt know why
Haha I really like that
@@SupergeekMike she had the Charlatan background, and her fake identity was the same as her father, The Great Pirelli. It allowed me to sing Pirelli's Miracle Elixir from Sweeney Todd at the table as well
I remember that show
Is Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad as obscure as Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills?
Honestly, it might not be a good idea to start a character, but I enjoy searching through artwork and finding something I vibe with.
That’s an approach I’m definitely going to tackle in the future as well ☺️
@@SupergeekMike
Fair, fair.
Good video btw.
I remember super human samurai.
I tend to start with a character art then work my way back from them.
That’s an approach I plan to talk about as well 😁
@SupergeekMike well it's a bit harder then that, I have aphantagia so I can't picture things in my head. So I tend to do a compilation of art work and narrow my focus, then I come up with how they will enteract with the party because if a hero is able to do stuff on their own then they are just an npc.
My most recent idea I had came from the idea of a fully normal looking human woman. How ever she has a horn growing out of her eye and there is skin discoloration. Making her a twifling. Now you can't just Google that art work so I started working on the idea she uses divination magic and got the idea of a Fey warden skinned to a fiend instead the abilities still all work just fine just flavor wise. And then dipped into warlock for the sight eldritch abilities mostly the ability to cast detect magic at will. Kinda like a single eye sonar. I wanted a character who felt like she was this unholy product so I went an extra mile and took the idea from inheritors " she has marking on her skin depicting how to summon a devil, born to a noble family that hasn't paid it's debt to the devils yet. " kinda my first time venturing out of my comfort zone and doing a devil build with a teifling. I have like 8~10 pics of horn growths in sheep's and teiflings and human princesses. But that's just me
class/subclass first is the only way to start
I know that show well, but I know GRIDMAN better
gimme that ep 27
Thursday, 10am.
@@SupergeekMike awesome
None of my DMs have allowed me to play this class. "Didn't fit the setting."
Yep I know a lot of DMs feel that way, it can be hard for them to sell the party on the world being a grounded fantasy world when one of the players can make robots or guns or whatever ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
You did not reach lvl 3 as promised. Or at least I missed it in the video
15:50
@@MogoPrime thx
Has anyone covered the whole racial ability score bonuses thing? They all cant go into inyelligence, fam 😅
Oh, good to know!
Rolling for stats *puke*
Are you more of a standard array fan, or point buy?