A Little Tweak to Artilerists I'd Like to See

 We didn't get a reprint of Artificers in the new Player's Handbook - which both makes sense but also make me sad.

But I had this notion:

True Strike has gone from being an utterly worthless spell to an, honestly, pretty solid choice for a primary damage cantrip. Admittedly, because it only scales up with d6s, it might eventually fall behind something like Fire Bolt (at level 17, we're looking at 4d10, or about 22, versus 3d6+the weapon's die+your spellcasting modifier. Let's say you are using a Light Crossbow, that's 3d6+1d8+let's say 5, or about 20 - so not that far behind) but it's going to be quite good, especially with magic weapons and anyone who gets to mix in cantrips with their extra attack feature (likely better for Valor Bards and Bladesingers than Eldritch Knights, the latter of whom might not have a terribly high Intelligence).

Now, this spell is not (as far as I can tell from D&D Beyond) on the Artificer class list, but it feels like it would be ideal for Artificers - particularly those who don't get Extra Attack (for Battle Smiths and Armorers, I'd probably stick with Green Flame Blade and Booming Blade).

Artificers have an optional rule of being proficient with firearms, something I think would just be a full-on rule now that Pistols and Muskets are part of the base game.

Now, the Artillerist subclass gets a feature at level 5 called Arcane Firearm - they can inscribe carved runes into a Staff or Rod (normally an arcane spell focus) that turns it into their Arcane Firearm, which now works as a spell focus for them, and when they use it, they can add 1d8 to the damage of any spell they cast through that focus (because I'm a kind DM, I let our Artillerist use their +2 All-Purpose Tool, generally configured as Glassblower's Tools, figuring that a blow-pipe is rod-like enough).

The weird thing is that this technically doesn't work on actual firearms.

I've also said before that I wish that Artillerists and Alchemists fought with weapons instead of relying on cantrips as their free attacks (though I like that Artificers get cantrips). And here, I think it all comes together:

First, give Artificers True Strike as a cantrip option.

Second, let Artillerists use a firearm (Pistols or Muskets, of course, but also modern and futuristic weapons if the DM has them in their game) for the Arcane Firearm.

And then, an Artillerist would very reasonably be using True Strike to, at level 10, for example, hit for 1d12+1d8+1d6+5 damage with their Musket - actually, probably something like +6 because they've got repeating shot, so we're looking at 20.5 damage.