So, my initial plan was to go with Tough for my armorer's level 1 feat. He is most likely going to fill the tank role, and effectively giving him the HP of a Barbarian seems like it would be a natural move.
Defensive Field does, effectively, increase their HP. A Barbarian is probably a bad example given that Barbarians are there to soak damage - they get hit more often (unless they get god-like stats early on) and rely on resistance to said damage and their higher health pool to survive. An Armorer is tank-like more like a Fighter or Paladin. Even without Tough, Defensive field does, eventually, give an Armorer more effective HP than a Barbarian, so it could be overkill.
Let me consider a couple other options.
Fey Touched: One thing that seemingly everyone suggests is Fey Touched. This buffs Int (or Wisdom or Charisma, but obvious I'd go with Int) as well as giving you Misty Step and one 1st level spell from divination or enchantment, using the stat you took with the feat. You can cast each once for free and then re-cast them using spell slots of the appropriate level (so, 2nd for Misty Step, which means only once per long rest until level 5). Definitely worth consideration. The Divination or Enchantment spell could be things like Bless or Command or Tasha's Hideous Laughter.
Alert: Getting to go early in initiative is actually pretty good for a tank - you want to be the first into the fray and the first thing that foes see, and getting a +7 to initiative rolls could be very nice for that purpose. It also means potentially getting off something like Faerie Fire before the battlefield gets muddied with friends and foes. Also, not allowing invisible enemies (or simply those who are hidden) get advantage when attacking you is pretty great (and fairly tank-y).
Gift of the Metallic Dragon: A new one from Fizban's, this has two major benefits. First, you learn Cure Wounds, choosing Int, Wis, or Cha as your casting ability (obviously going with Int) and, like with Fey Touched, you can cast it once for free and then use spell slots as normal. We already have Cure Wounds, but this means it's effectively always prepared. Not a bad thing to have. But on top of that, you also get Protective Wings. A number of times per day equal to your Proficiency Bonus, you can use your reaction to add your PB to your AC or that of a creature within 5 feet of you. So, this eventually becomes kind of like Shield (and eventually slightly better, though only in tier 4). Honestly, I think the main reason I'm hesitant to take it is that this is the same group I've been playing my Eldritch Knight with, whose bread-and-butter is casting shield when something manages to hit past his 22 AC. And I've had some arguments with the DM over whether I get to hear what the monster actually rolled before I choose to cast it (I think Jeremy Crawford has declared my side right, which is that you hear the total roll before you cast it, and I'd argue that an adventurer can see if something is a direct hit or a glancing blow).
Artificer Initiate: I mean, if I really, really wanted to double down.
Eldritch Adept: I could get Devil's Sight this way. But I can also just make some Goggles of Night.
Fighting Initiate: So here's an interesting thing: Armorers don't get proficiency in martial weapons (the built-in weapons are simple,) so in theory they wouldn't meet the prerequisite. However, Artificers also get (as an optional rule) proficiency in firearms, and according to the DMG, firearms are all martial weapons, which means that Artificers have proficiency in those specific martial weapons, which should count. Among these options, there's of course Defensive, which means pushing AC up one more point. Also, there's Blind Fighting (though if you're going for that, you might as well just go with Eldritch Adept instead and get Devil's Sight, which is superior in almost every scenario.)
Heavy Armor Master: We actually can't take this yet at level 1, because we need to hit level 3 to be proficient in heavy armor. I also don't really like this feat, as the 3-point reduction is unlikely to fully mitigate any hits, and if we start facing magical foes, their attacks aren't going to be lessened. Basically, I could only see this being really good at low levels against skeletons, goblins, and bandits.
Medium Armor Master: This... is actually slightly good. I think it's probably not really worth it, as you'll also need to have 16 Dexterity to make full use of it. However, if you really want to lean into the Infiltrator Mode, you could get plate-level AC with Half-Plate, but no disadvantage on stealth checks.
Shield Master: Given that I can reliably get a Shield with a net +3 bonus, this could be a pretty good bonus for that. Still.... not sure about it.
War Caster: A good feat, no doubt. The fact that you have proficiency in Con saves does mean that the concentration aspect here is not quite as important (with my base build, by level 20 you get a +19 to Con saves, meaning you need to take at least 42 damage in a single hit to have a slight chance to lose concentration). Booming Blade as an opportunity attack could be very funny. The somatic component aspect here is less important given that my weapons will be built into my armor, which I can use as a spell focus (and thus can do somatic components while holding them).
Telekinetic: This gives a boost to one mental stat (obviously we're going with Int) as well as giving us the Mage Hand cantrip (which we can make invisible) and its range is increased by 30 feet (so a total range of 60 feet). As a bonus action, we can shove a creature 5 feet toward or away from us if the target fails a Strength saving throw (and a creature can choose to willingly fail).
So, honestly, I think that the ones that are really standing out to me are Alert, Fey Touched, and Telekinetic. As someone who tends to play characters with very low initiative bonuses, I've got to be honest that Alert is looking really, really nice.
Part of me is really hesitant to give up the HP boost. We'll have to see how we do on stat rolls.
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