Artificer Incoming

 While we've had to make it an online session given the recent spike in plague cases (we're vaccinated, but this variant seems to be infecting vaccinated people at a much higher rate than previous variants and my roommates just got back from a trip for the holidays,) my usual Sunday group is starting up our Realmspace/Spelljammer campaign this weekend, and I'll be busting out my Artificer.

This is a class I've been excited to play since Eberron: Rising from the Last War came out, and even more so after the introduction of the Armorer in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything.

I've had brief experiences playing Artificers. I have a Battle-Smith that I played in two one-shots (run by the same DM as our upcoming campaign) who got his hands on a laser pistol, on which he slapped Repeating Shot - so, not bad. I also played a level 18 version of the character I've created for this campaign (also an older one by a little over 20 years).

Artificers do have some real flexibility with their spells - not only do they get to prepare spells in a similar manner to Clerics, Druids, Wizards, and Paladins, and thus effectively have access to their whole spell list with some advanced warning, but they can also inherently swap out cantrips when they level up.

The somewhat tougher choices come with picking Artificer Infusions. You learn twice as many as you can actually have active at a time (well, unless you're an Armorer who gets to level 9) but you need to level up if you want to swap any of these, so picking good ones is generally wise.

One of the really appealing things for weapon-based Artificers is that you get a similar bonus to the Hexblade Warlock, in that you can use your spellcasting ability (Intelligence) in place of Strength or Dexterity to use your weapons. In the case of the Battle Smith, this applies to any magical weapon, though with the Armorer it only applies to the armor's built-in weapons.

Still, this means that if you're planning for those subclasses, the first two levels require you to think slightly differently.

I did some napkin math earlier today and found that in AC ranges around 13 to 15, my Artificer with his +2 to Dexterity and +3 to Intelligence would actually tend to do slightly better damage using a Light Crossbow over his Firebolt cantrip. 1d8+2 comes to an average of 6.5, while a Firebolt's 1d10 is 5.5. Even with the higher chance to hit with a Firebolt, it turns out that the Crossbow has a slight edge.

However, that edge become irrelevant the moment that we get a shield - something Artificers are all proficient with but don't get as starting equipment. In theory I could spend the background money I have (I went with Shipwright) to get a shield before the game properly begins, but I might hold off on that.

Anyway, being able to simply use tools in one hand as a spell focus, I should be ok using a shield in the off hand.

I made a shopping list of items that I'll want to get as we acquire gold. Naturally, getting plate armor will be a major goal, though amassing the 1500 gold required is a steep hill to climb. I suspect getting 200 to buy Splint armor will be something I can accomplish around level 5, which will be a pretty good option.

Artisan's tools are also an expense. Despite all the tool proficiencies that come with the class, you only start off with Thieves' Tools (though with my background equipment I also have Carpenter's tools). Thankfully, they changed The Right Tool for the Job to no longer require Tinker's Tools (which are some of the most expensive) and instead allow you to make a set of tools using Thieves' Tools or any other kind of Artisan's tools. This is important because Smith's tools are required to turn your armor into Arcane Armor, which is the core of the Armorer subclass (it only takes an action as long as you're wearing the armor, which is nice.)

Still, I'd like to have a real set of each kind of tool that I can (or will be able to) use. Currently, I have just the thieves' tools and carpenter's tools, so I'll need to get Alchemist's Supplies, Tinker's Tools, and Smith's Tools, which run a total of 120g (the Smith's Tools are the cheapest, requiring only 20).

My next investment is to get a 100g gem that I can make a Homunculus Servant out of. Given that Armorers tend to have free bonus actions (the only thing you'd need to use it for usually would be Defensive Field in Guardian Mode, which you will hopefully not need to use every turn) it seems wise to get a little extra damage and utility out of a pseudo familiar.

Most Artificer spells with costly material components also consume those components, so this will probably be an ongoing gold drain. The two components I can just get and forget, though, are a 100g pearl with which to cast Identify and, in the long term, a 400g intricate lockbox with which to cast Summon Construct.

Now, granted, Summon Construct won't come online until I get 4th level spells at level 13. I think you could also argue that these new summon spells might not be quite as good on a half-caster. Still, I think it's cool and very thematic (and while the damage and number of attacks has poorer scaling given that I've only got lower spell levels, the bonus to hit is just as good).

Anyway, especially given that I'll be playing an Armorer, I can mostly use utility spells - I'll have my most powerful damage spell built in as part of the subclass with Lightning Bolt (having played an Eldritch Knight for years and seeing that campaign grind to a halt right before we hit level 13, level 9 for Lightning Bolt honestly doesn't sound too bad).

As it stands, I seem to be poised to play the tank of the group, so I expect to primarily stay in Guardian Mode (while that's the version I prefer, I will admit that it could be fun to go Infiltrator after getting the level 15 Perfected Armor bonus). Going Variant Human, I initially was going to go with Tough, but I think that the raw HP from that, while tempting, was less interesting to me than going with Alert, which could potentially reap better rewards simply in going being higher in the initiative order. Playing numerous characters with +0 or even -2 to Initiative, now having one with +7 feels really exciting, and also seems strong for a tank.

We went with the Standard Array or Point Buy (I used the latter and realized I'd arrived at the former) rather than rolling stats, meaning I have +3 to Intelligence and +2 to Constitution. My plan is simply to max out both over the course of the campaign and leave Alert as my sole feat.

I'm very excited about flavoring the spells and abilities of the Artificer. I'm not much of a visual artist, but I sketched an impression of what my character's Guardian Mode armor might look like (the helmet has been a bit of a sticking point - I tried playing around with a medieval knight's visor, but I don't know if that kind of medieval futurism is quite the look I want to go for).

One concept I'm fairly proud of is my interpretation of the Thunder Gauntlets, which I imagine as a sort of spinning turbine around around the wrists underneath which you can see this glow of magical energy - when you make your attack, the turbine spins much faster and creates a sort of vortex shockwave. (When I was considering a Triton Armorer before I made my Wizard, I'd thought of having a sort of crab-like armor with a pistol shrimp's claw as the thunder gauntlet, creating a cavitation blast).

I've looked up a lot of art online for inspiration. There's one piece in particular that struck me as having the aesthetic I'm looking for. I don't know if this link is the original for this image, but this one has a really cool look. I think the one thing I might alter for what I have in mind is making it bulkier - I imagine that even as a normal-sized human, my character in his Guardian armor would be at the outermost limit to still count as "Medium" in size.

Anyway, I'm just very excited for this character.