The Artificer is the only full class to be officially added to 5th Edition since the Player's Handbook came out (not counting the UA ungodly mess that was the Mystic.) It was reprinted in the setting-agnostic Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. It is probably my favorite class in the game, with a really cool central concept and the benefit of years of information about how 5E classes play. At the core of the class is its Artificer Infusions, which allow the artificer to effectively turn nonmagical items into magic items, making it an extremely self-sufficient class. While you get access to some limited spellcasting ability as well as a couple of other really interesting features, the subclasses have a very strong influence on how the class plays. At present, there are only four subclasses that exist (and oddly, alphabetically none of them go past the letter B.)
Basically, with the introduction of the Armorer in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything (which is my favorite subclass) the class is split 50/50 between having a focus on spellcasting versus having a focus on weapon attacks. Due to the order in which they were released and their subsequent alphabetical order, that means we're actually going to be doing both the caster subclasses first here, and the "martial" ones second.
Because the Artificer is only a half-caster, spellcasting subclasses are going to rely a bit more on repeatable cantrips and other such effects, though we'll see how those are boosted (also, unusually for half-casters, Artificers get the spellcasting ability at level 1, along with cantrips, which the other half-casters, Paladins and Rangers, do not.)
The Alchemist:
This is actually my least favorite subclass, but only because the Artificer subclasses are graded on a very harsh curve - it's actually a pretty awesome one in its own right, just overshadowed by even better options. Like some of the Druid subclasses found in Tasha's, we get a subclass that can focus on healing, or it can focus on damage-dealing. The thematic principle behind your damage though focuses on certain kinds of damage - namely acid, fire, necrotic, and poison damage, or in other words, the kinds of damage types you could produce by mixing various chemicals and other more magical ingredients. I really imagine an Alchemist is going to be throwing glass vials filled with various reactive or noxious chemicals, maybe wearing some fantasy hybrid of a plague doctor's mask with a more modern gas mask.
Naturally, you gain proficiency with Alchemist's Supplies, or if you already have it, you can get proficiency with any other type of artisan's tools. Tool proficiency is the sort of thing that I wish was a bigger part of the game, but a DM who pays attention to them can make them very useful. But also, a lot of your alchemist features require these, so you'll want them anyway.
Your specialist spells are Healing Word, Ray of Sickness, Flaming Sphere, Melf's Acid Arrow, Gaseous Form, Mass Healing Word, Blight, Death Ward, Cloudkill, and Raise Dead. These reinforce the themes mentioned in the previous paragraph, with some very nice damage spells like Blight, but also a pretty good complement of healing abilities.
At 3rd level, you get Experimental Elixir. When you finish a long rest, you can produce an experimental elixir in an empty flask you touch. You roll on the Experimental Elixir table to determine the effect, which is triggered as an action by the creature carrying it, having them either drink the elixir or administer it to an incapacitated creature (I'd allow you to give it to someone who's not incapacitated if they're willing.) You need alchemist's supplies to make these, and the elixir lasts until it is drunk or until you finish your next long rest. When you reach level 6 you produce two of these, and at 15 you make 3, rolling separately (you also need a separate flask for each, but I think as DM I'd just assume you have some indeterminate large number of flasks in your alchemy supplies and not force you to track them.)
You can also make more elixirs using an action and expending a spell slot of 1st level or higher. When you do it this way, you can choose the effect rather than rolling.
The effects are as follows:
1: Healing: the drinker regains a number of hit points equal to 2d4 + your Intelligence modifier.
2: Swiftness: The drinker's walking speed increases by 10 feet for 1 hour.
3: Resilience: The drinker gains a +1 bonus to AC for 10 minutes.
4: Boldness: The drinker can roll a d4 and add the number rolled to every attack roll or saving throw they make for the next minute.
5: Flight: The drinker gets a flying speed of 10 feet for 10 minutes.
6: Transformation: The drinker's body is transformed as if by the alter self spell. They determine the transformation caused by the spell, and the effect lasts 10 minutes.
Most of these effects are pretty broadly useful, but as always with consumables, you'll need to be conscientious about actually using them (my Ranger in our Tomb of Annihilation game has had a Resilience elixir going in to two separate fights and forgot to use it beforehand). Being able to select an option for a single spell slot will make this a lot more useful.
At 5th level, you get Alchemical Savant. When you cast a spell using your alchemist's supplies as the focus, you gain a bonus to the roll. You add your Intelligence modifier (minimum of +1) to a roll of any spell that either restores hit points or deals acid, fire, necrotic, or poison damage. Not only will this give you more bang for your buck with something like a Cure Wounds spell, but it will also make your Cantrips hit significantly harder. If we assume you have +4 to Intelligence at this level, something like Create Bonfire will be dealing 2d8+4 damage on average, which is not bad. And of course this becomes a lot better on any multi-target spell. Depending on how you treat the "one roll," this could be massive (as a side note, for a spell like Magic Missile, most interpret it as having you roll a separate d4 for each dart, but there's another interpretation that I believe is technically rules-as-written which is that you only roll once and all darts do the same damage, which makes this very powerful for an Evocation Wizard, who has a similar feature to this. Granted, alchemist's spells tend to either be single-target or do damage over more time, and I don't think I've ever seen anyone rule that periodic damage is only rolled once.)
At level 9, you get Restorative Reagents. When a creature drinks an experimental elixir you made, they gain temporary hit points equal to 2d6 + your Intelligence modifier. So, no matter what, they're getting a nice little cushion (as long as they don't already have temp HP.)
Additionally, you can cast Lesser Restoration for free without preparing the spell as long as you use alchemist's supplies as the focus. You can do this a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier per long rest. Unless you're dealing with a ton of status effects, this frees up one of your prepared spells and also, of course, saves you a ton of spell slots.
I find it really interesting here how it's not exactly that you're a better healer, but you're doing a lot of the restoration work and perhaps allowing a Cleric or Druid to get peoples' HP back up. It makes a lot of sense as someone who is adept at concocting remedies and antidotes.
Finally, at 15, you get Chemical Mastery. You gain resistance to acid and poison damage, and you are immune to the poisoned condition. It would be cool if you could get full immunity to poison, though being immune to the condition is also quite nice.
Additionally, you can cast Greater Restoration and Heal without expending a spell slot, without preparing the spell, and without material components if you use alchemist's supplies as the spellcasting focus. Once you cast one of these spells with this feature, you can't cast that spell again with this feature until you finish a long rest. But it looks like you can cast both each once per day. Heal is a 6th level spell, and it's a spell that becomes much more useful when the action economy starts to make the relatively little healing from a Cure Wounds not really worth casting in combat. Half-casters typically don't get 6th or higher spells, so getting access to one of the best high-level healing spells is great. This is a super-clutch move you can pull. And being able to cast Greater Restoration with no material component is also really great.
So, again, even though this is my least favorite Artificer subclass, it is nevertheless awesome and one that I could really see myself playing, which I think speaks to how amazing this class is.
The Artillerist:
The Artillerist is the blaster subclass for the Artificer. If you want to be able to dish out damage from afar, this is for you. Even though you're not a full caster, you're going to be able to pump out a pretty respectable amount of damage from afar, and you'll get access to some really great spells for that purpose.
You gain proficiency with Woodcarver's Tools, or another artisan tool of your choice if you already have this one. This might seem an odd choice for this subclass, but if you think of using wands and staves as firearms, it starts to make a little more sense.
Your Artillerist Spells are: Shield, Thunderwave, Scorching Ray, Shatter, Fireball, Wind Wall, Ice Storm, Wall of Fire, Cone of Cold, and Wall of Force. You get some of the very best AoE spells in the game (I mean, Fireball. What's more to say?) Also, pay attention to Scorching Ray, and the weird nuances for it that we'll get into at level 5. But yeah, Fireball, Wall of Fire, and Cone of Cold are all spells I've seen utterly shape a fight.
At 3rd level, you get Eldritch Cannon. As an action, using Woodcarver's Tools or Smith's Tools, you can magically create a Small or Tiny Eldritch Cannon in an unoccupied space or on a horizontal surface within 5 feet of you. A Small cannon occupies its space while a Tiny one can fit in your hand or ride on your shoulder. Once you create one, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest, or if you expend a spell slot of 1st level or higher. You can only have one cannon out at a time (for now.)
The cannon is a magical object that has AC 18 and a number of hit points equal to 5 times your Artificer level. It's got immunity to poison and psychic damage and all conditions. It gets a +0 to any ability check or saving throw. You can cast Mending (a spell I recommend all artificers pick up) on it, it regains 2d6 hit points. (The casting time for Mending is 1 minute, so this is a strictly out-of-combat thing.) You can also dismiss the cannon early as an action.
When you create it, you can choose if it has legs and what it looks like. You can use a bonus action on your turn to activate it if you are within 60 feet. As part of that bonus action, you can also have it walk or climb up to 15 feet to an unoccupied space if it has legs.
You also choose one of three models when you create it:
Flamethrower: Upon activation, it shoots flames in a 15-foot cone. Creatures in the cone must make a Dexterity save or take 2d8 fire damage on a failure or half on a success. It also ignites any flammable objects that aren't worn or carried.
Force Ballista: Upon activation, you make a ranged spell attack originating from the cannon at a creature or object it can see within 120 feet. On a hit, the target takes 2d8 force damage and if it's a creature, you can push it back 5 feet.
Protector: The cannon emits a burst of positive energy, giving itself and each creature of your choice within 10 feet of the cannon temp hit points equal to 1d8 + your Intelligence modifier (minimum of 1.)
In practice, the Force Ballista will likely see the most use, but situationally you can fry a lot of enemies (or burn a place to the freaking ground) with the Flamethrower. Also, if you need to group up, the Protector can give allies a very nice damage buffer.
At level 5, you get Arcane Firearm. You can turn a wand, staff, or rod into an arcane firearm. When you finish a long rest, you can use Woodcarver's Tools to inscribe special sigils into a wand, staff, or rod and turn it into your Arcane Firearm. The sigils disappear when you carve them into a different item, but otherwise last indefinitely. You can use your arcane firearm as a focus for your Artificer spells, and when you do so, you can roll a d8 and add the amount to one of the spell's damage rolls.
Now, the fact that this is only for wands, staves, and rods does complicate matters if you have an All-Purpose Tool. There's an Artillerist in the campaign I'm currently running and I just let her treat the tool as a rod for this purpose. Now, as with what we talked about regarding the Alchemist, there's an interesting nuance here regarding Scorching Ray. The spell shoots three separate rays that each deal 2d6 fire damage. Most players would thus roll 2d6 for each ray, and that might even be what was intended. But technically, Rules-as-Written, you only roll the 2d6 once, and each ray does the same amount (the same is true for something like Magic Missile.) As such, if you're only rolling once, you actually roll 2d6+1d8 if you're using your Arcane Firearm, thus multiplying that d8 for every ray you fire off. I believe Jeremy Crawford has confirmed that this is how Magic Missile works, so I think it ought to be the case for Scorching Ray, making this feature very powerful indeed when using that spell. Regardless, though, this will also make your cantrips (which you'll be relying on a lot) much more powerful - at level 12, that Artificer in my campaign deals 3d10+1d8 with each Fire Bolt, or an average of 21 damage (and then more with the Force Ballista.)
At level 9, you get Explosive Cannon. The damage rolls of your Eldritch Cannon go up by 1d8 (so 3d8 now.) Also, as an action, you can command your cannon to detonate. The cannon is destroyed and each creature within 20 feet of it must make a Dexterity saving throw, taking 3d8 force damage on a failure or half as much on a success. This latter feature is probably very situational (I've never seen our Artificer use it,) but the extra damage on the Cannon is certainly welcome and helps it scale up. (A standard round of Fire Bolt/Force Ballista at level 9 means 2d10+1d8+3d8, so we get about 29 damage per round.)
Finally, at level 15, you get Fortified Position. You and your allies have half cover while within 10 feet of your Eldritch Cannon, as it emits a shimmering force field around it (I assume this also applies to the cannon.) Cover only helps when the attacker is on the other side of it, though, so it's less likely to help with melee attacks unless the ally is right on the edge of the field. Still, you can move your cannon, so you can arrange for that.
Additionally, you can now have a second cannon out. You can create two cannons with the same action, though you still need to spend a spell slot for the second one (or both if you've already used your free use.) The cannons can have the same model or different ones, and can also choose their size, appearance, and legs-havingness separately. And you can activate both cannons with the same bonus action. By this point you should have enough spell slots to feel free to spend them on this, and you can potentially get a lot of extra damage this way. For example, if we're talking about our standard Fire Bolt Force Ballista combo, by this level you're talking about 3d10+1d8+3d8+3d8 damage per round, which comes out to an average of 48 - very respectable. This also means you can cover more angles and spread the cover (and temp HP if you're using the Protector) out to a wider area.
This subclass is going to give you a lot of damage from range, and is the perfect class for someone who loves blowing folks up from afar. And having that much damage for a pretty low spell-slot investment (by level 15 you've got about 48 damage per round for a full hour) is definitely very cool. And, I mean, any time a non-Sorcerer/Wizard can get Fireball is pretty great.
We've only got a few Artificer subclasses - though I hope that WotC continues to support this fantastic class moving forward with 5th Edition (and maybe make it a PHB baseline one in 6th Edition, whenever that comes!) Luckily, they're all winners. I do think the Artillerist is a little less versatile than the Alchemist, but on the flip side, the Artillerist is going to be able to pump out more damage thanks to their Eldritch Cannons, so you can be more of a dedicated damage-dealer than the kind of hybrid support that is the Alchemist.
Next post we'll finish up the Artificer with its two "martial" subclasses, the Battle-Smith and the Armorer.
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