PSA: An Armorer Artificer by Level 20 is Nigh-Unkillable

While doing some planning for an AL character, I came up with a 1-20 plan.

And I discovered that things get utterly crazy if you actually make it to level 20.

In AL, you generally either take the Standard Array or the Point Buy system for your stats - you can't roll them, because basically everything has to be replicable and not just "trust me, I rolled really well when I made this character." But with the new racial rules, you can reassign ability score improvements. Any race with +2 to one stat and +1 to another can thus achieve the model I'm using.

So, with the Standard Array, you give the 14 to Intelligence and the 15 to Constitution, and then grant the +2 to Int and the +1 to Con (or vice versa - the idea is to get yourself both to 16 at level 1.) Eventually, you'll be getting Int and Con both maxed, with one leftover ASI for a feat.

By level 9, an Armorer can infuse two extra items, as long as they're part of the four elements of their armor that can be infused. This isn't strictly relevant, but you want to make sure you've got all your attunement slots filled by 20 - something that this will help with.

Now, Armorers can get heavy armor, and as long as it's their Arcane Armor, they don't need any Strength to move at full speed in it. So you want to get a set of plate as soon as you can.

Next, you'll also want a shield - while Artificers don't start with one, they can use them, and there's no reason I know of that an Armorer wouldn't want to use one (especially since your weapons aren't even going to occupy your dominant hand.)

Putting Repulsion Shield on your shield and Enhanced Defense on your armor means that, if you have a set of plate, by level 10 (when Enhanced Defense upgrades) you'll have 23 AC.

Also at level 10, you can learn to replicate Cloak of Protection, which increases AC and your saving throws by 1. So now, you've actually got 24 AC.

At level 14, you can learn to replicate Ring of Protection, which does the same thing but is a higher rarity for some reason. But now, you have that and you have 25 AC - which is the same AC as Tiamat and the Tarrasque, the highest CR monsters in the game, have.

Making sure that you have every attunement slot filled (which you can do regardless of what the DM is giving you thanks to your infusions,) you'll eventually have six items.

So, with the standard array, you'll have gotten Int and Con both up to +5. These are also the saving throws you're proficient in as an Artificer, which by level 20 is a +6 bonus.

Artificers also get +1 to their saving throws for every item they are attuned to once they hit level 20. Which means that you will have +5 for the ability, +6 for proficiency, +6 for your attunements, and +2 for the ring and the cloak.

And thus have a +19 to your Intelligence and Constitution saving throws.

Now, your other stats will have two +1s, a +0, and a -1. But that still gets the +6 and the +2 bonuses from attunements and the ring and cloak, which comes out to two +9s, a +8, and a +7.

(Team up with a level 20 Paladin with maxed Charisma for extra fun!)

25 AC. And +19 to Con saves. Which then means that concentration saves are going to be a bit easier, right?

Man, I want to play one of these.

Shadowlands Tomorrow!

 Shadowlands, WoW's 8th (!) expansion launches tomorrow (or today if it's the 23rd in your time zone.) So while we're all hoping for Bronjahm to drop his freaking bag (I really can't complain, as I've gotten it on 4 characters now, but I want to get it for my Rogue, dammit, and I missed two spawns today because I remembered he was coming about two minutes after he did) the pre-expansion event will come to a close an hour before the expansion goes live. That is set to occur at 3 PM Pacific time, at which point you should get a quest sending you to your faction capital before getting a ride to Acherus, and from there to Icecrown Citadel.

Your first character will have to complete the campaign quests, which will take you first into the Maw, and then to the capital city of Oribos, and then through the main quest lines in Bastion, Maldraxxus, Ardenweald, and then Revendreth. At level 60, you'll pick your Covenant, which will lock in the two abilities and your options for things like soulbinds and such.

There is a ton of theorycrafting on Covenants, but I think I'm going to try to ignore that and just pick the ones that fit the personalities and characters of my various characters - my theory being that ideal covenant might shift over the course of the expansion. Is this a terrible idea? I hope not!

I'm given to understand that they've nerfed the amount of XP you need to get from 50-60, which was very necessary, as I finished the final story quests in the Beta before that change at about halfway through 57, which meant I eventually needed to dungeon grind after finishing all the side quests in... I think every zone. The intention now is that you should be able to hit the cap with the four leveling dungeons and the campaign, but I'd say do some side quests just to be safe (especially in the early zones, as these will not scale up, and thus their XP will be deprecated when you outlevel them.)

Now, subsequent characters can choose to either go through the same linear path or pick their covenant immediately and then level up through side quests and bonus objectives. Beware: the entire main campaign quests (other than the Maw intro, which you need to get through to make this choice) is unavailable if you choose this, so make sure you really don't want to do any of those story quests. Side quest chains should still be available, and you'll have bonus objectives in the regions where the main story quests would otherwise be in order to make up for the lost XP.

Personally, I'd recommend doing the main campaign at least on the first couple characters, particularly because this will give you a chance to try out all the covenant abilities before you commit to a choice. If you put your full trust in Icy-Veins or Noxxic or whatever the kids are using these days, then feel free to just pick the best-simmed one, but I'm going to try them all out (note that before you commit even in this version of the leveling experience, you do get to try out the various abilities on combat dummies before you make a choice).

I'm given to understand that the first raid, Castle Nathria (which is actually the only announced raid at this point) opens up just two weeks after launch. I don't know how easy it will be to gear up for that in time, but that of course depends on your playstyle (given the year we're in, I imagine people will have more time to power-level.) Castle Nathria is the home of Sire Denathrius, the main villain of Revendreth, and is a massive gothic castle (insert Arrested Development joke here) where Denathrius has been stockpiling anima while the lower classes of Revendreth suffer, not to mention the souls there that are supposed to be getting rehabilitated but are instead just being squeezed for every last drop of anima.

Anyway, it's a brand new day in WoW, and we'll be leaving behind Azerite Armor and Heart of Azeroth essences the moment we enter the Shadowlands (well, the armor will stay, but we won't get the azerite powers anymore.)

I think the big question is whether the Soulbind system will feel as intrusive on the gameplay as Azerite was - I'm hopeful it won't, but we'll see. (Personally, I'd love to see the next expansion ditch these "borrowed power" systems and just go back to straight gear - artifact weapons were cool, but I don't think we need another version of them in every expansion.)

There is plenty of story left to be revealed, and apparently some bits that were missing from the beta (such as the cinematic that shows how and when the system of death got broken - something we know happened after Ursoc died but before Teldrassil burned - was it the death of Argus?) that I'm eager to see.

Anyway, it's a big day for WoW tomorrow!

Comparing PHB vs Tasha's Ranger

 More than any other class, the Ranger got a profound rework with Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. Given the reputation for the poor state of the Ranger over the last 6 years, I thought I'd go through feature-by-feature and consider how the new ones stack up against the old ones.

Note that I'll be ignoring the Beast Master changes. While certainly good (you sort of just have Summon Beast up at all times, though the stat blocks are a bit different) I'm looking at universal Ranger features.

Level 1: Favored Enemy vs. Favored Foe.

Favored Enemy: This lets you choose a creature type (or two humanoid races) and designate them as your favored enemies. You learn a language associated with them, and you get advantage on Survival checks to track them, as well as any Intelligence checks to recall information about them. You get additional favored enemies at 6th and 14th level, with all the perks.

Favored Foe: When you hit an enemy, you can mark them for 1 minute while maintaining concentration (as if on a spell) as your foe, dealing an extra d4 of damage to them once per turn (including when you mark them.) You can do this a number of times equal to your PB, getting all uses back on a long rest. The damage bonus goes up to a d6 at level 6, and a d8 at level 14. (The marked target also counts for your Foe Slayer feature at level 20.)

    So, I'll be honest, I think I like the original better in this case. The fact that Favored Foe both requires concentration and is also limited by your PB - and you can't move it to other targets while it's up - means that it's basically a worse, albeit spell-slot free version of Hunter's Mark, which you're probably going to pick up at level 2 anyway. Just take Hunter's Mark instead and enjoy the flavorful element of Favored Enemy.

Level 1: Natural Explorer vs Deft Explorer.

Natural Explorer: This lets you choose a favored terrain, with an array of examples from which you can choose. When making an Intelligence or Wisdom check related to that terrain, your proficiency is doubled if you're using a skill that you're proficient with (wow, guess I've been doing that wrong - honestly, I think part of the reason to swap this one out is that it's so complicated.) If you travel for an hour or more in that terrain, you get the following benefits:

Difficult terrain doesn't slow your travel. You can't be come lost except by magical means. While engaged in another activity while traveling (such as foraging, navigating, or tracking) you remain alert to danger. If traveling alone, you can move stealthily at a normal pace. When you forage, you find twice as much food as you normally would. While tracking other creatures, you learn their exact number, their sizes, and how long ago they passed through the area.

And you pick additional terrain types at 6th and 10th level.

Deft Explorer: You get the following benefits at levels 1, 6, and 10: Level 1: Canny: Choose one of your skill proficiencies. You double your proficiency when you make a check that uses that skill (basically expertise, right?) Level 6: Roving: Your movement speed increases by 5 and you gain a climbing speed and a swimming speed equal to your walking speed. Level 10: Tireless: As an action, you can give yourself temp HP equal to 1d8+Wis (minimum of 1.) You can do this a number of times equal to your PB per long rest. Also, if you finish a short rest, your exhaustion level, if any, decreases by 1.

    So, in this case, I'd actually lean toward the newer one. While the former has some great sort of immunities, unless your adventure is focusing a lot on long-distance travel, it's basically fluff, while the Deft Explorer features are all very clearly useful in any campaign. So in this case, I'd go with the new feature (though I'm debating if I'd want to swap it out in my Tomb of Annihilation group, where I'm playing a Ranger - having Forest as his favored terrain has been very useful, though it'll abruptly not be when we get to the dungeon itself.)

Level 3: Primeval Awareness vs Primal Awareness

Primeval Awareness: You can expend a Ranger spell slot to sense (for 1 minute per spell level) whether there are any aberrations, celestials, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, or undead within 1 mile (or 6 miles if you're in your favored terrain.)

Primal Awareness: You learn additional spells that don't count against your spells known, each at a different level. 3rd level: Speak with Animals. 5th level: Beast Sense. 9th level: Speak with Plants. 13th level: Locate Creature. 17th level: Commune with Nature. You can cast each of these spells once without expending a spell slot, regaining this use on a long rest.

    Going to hand it to the new one, Primal Awareness. While Primeval Awareness can be nice, the RP potential and general usefulness of the other spells feels way cooler.

10th level: Hide in Plain Sight vs. Nature's Veil:

Hide in Plain Sight: You can spend 1 minute creating camouflage for yourself. You must have access to fresh mud, dirt, plants, soot, and other naturally occurring materials with which to create your camouflage. Once camouflaged this way, you can try to hide by pressing yourself up to a solid surface, such as a tree or a wall, that is at least as tall and wide as you are. You gain a +10 bonus to Dexterity (Stealth) checks as long are you remain there without moving or taking actions. Once you move or take an action or reaction, you must camouflage yourself again to gain this benefit.

Nature's Veil: As a bonus action, you can magically become invisible, along with any equipment you're wearing or carrying, until the start of your next turn. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your PB, regaining all uses when you finish a long rest.

    Oh man. On one hand, I adore the absurd flavor baked into Hide in Plain Sight. On the other hand, it's so over the top impractical unless the situation is built for it (and useless in dungeon environments.) Frankly, this is the kind of thing I'd let a Ranger do if they sold me on the RP and maybe succeeded on a Survival check. But Nature's Veil is clearly going to be far more useful in almost every situation.

    And there we have it. Half of the Ranger's unique class features can be swapped out for others. I don't know how most people will choose to play this - whether a player can pick and choose each of them or if they have to take the full suite. I really like the new ones except for Favored Foe, which I really think just doesn't seem worth it (if it weren't a concentration effect, that would salvage it for me.)

    I think you do lose some of the Ranger's really idiosyncratic specificity by taking the new options, but if it makes the class feel less like it's being held back in comparison to, say, a ranged fighter, I'm all for players who want to play that fantasy feeling like they aren't handicapping themselves by playing a broken class. And what's nice about this being simply new optional rules instead of a whole new edition is that if you preferred the original Ranger, there's nothing stopping you from playing it that way.

Tasha's, Class by Class - Artificer

 Finally, we come to the newest but also alphabetically first class in 5e D&D. Tasha's includes a full reprint (with just a couple changes) from Eberron, Rising from the Last War, which first gave us the Artificer. Given that it's kinda-sorta a new class but also not, there aren't really any big class changes that come with it. I'd have to go through their spell lists in each book to see if there are any changes, other than some spells that are found in Tasha's itself (while nearly all Artificers have some major use for their Bonus Action, I still think Summon Construct would be a lot of fun to play with.)

Notably, some of the Replicate Magic Item infusions have been removed, as they had items found only in the Eberron book (though Prosthetic Limb is reprinted in Tasha's and no longer requires attunement!) I don't believe there are any brand-new infusions, though there might be some subtle changes, for example to the Homunculus Servant, that I haven't caught.

However, there is the new subclass, Armorer, which is printed here along with the established Alchemist, Artillerist, and Battle-Smith (man, you know there are 24 other letters in the alphabet, Artificer subclasses!)

New Subclass:

Armorer:

As I've written about here before, the Armorer is more or less your Iron Man subclass. You get proficiency in heavy armor and smith's tools. You can then work with a set of armor (not just heavy) and turn it, with an action, into a suit of Arcane Armor, which removes its Strength requirement, lets you use it as a spellcasting focus, makes it so the armor can't be removed against your will (though you can retract or deploy the helmet as a bonus action) and the armor also replaces any limbs you're missing with prosthetics of the same functionality, and finally, allows you to doff or don the armor as an action (great if you need to recover hit dice on a long rest but are worried about nighttime fights - just suit up with a single action!

You also get to switch your set of armor between Guardian and Infiltrator mode. The former is tanky, with some special weapons that encourage foes to attack you instead of your allies, while the Infiltrator lets you make ranged lightning attacks and also gives you advantage on Stealth checks.

This is an interesting change from UA, which simply removed the disadvantage on Stealth from certain types of armor (notably all heavy armor.) By giving you advantage instead, on one hand, it means you'll never be able to get true advantage on stealth checks while wearing non-mithril heavy armor, but it also means that you'll never get any sort of disadvantage, and if you use light armor or a breastplate (or have Medium Armor master and use any Medium armor) you'll always be extra-sneaky, which is darned cool. I think overall this probably actually comes out to be a buff.

    The Artificer has been a very well-received addition to the game, and rightly so, and I think the Armorer manages to introduce a new flavor of Artificer that simultaneously feels very on-brand for the class while feeling very distinct from the other subclasses.

Tasha's, Class by Class - Barbarians

 Ah, the Barbarian, the little-to-no-armor tank. Barbarians are the big beefy warriors of D&D, with their unmatched HP and their Rage fueling extra damage and greater survival. Let's look at what they get, starting with class features:

Primal Knowledge (3rd level):

When you reach 3rd level, and again at 10th, you can learn one additional skill proficiency from the Barbarian skill list.

Instinctive Pounce (7th level):

As part of the bonus action to enter your rage, you can move up to half your speed.

    I really like this feature, as it's always kind of frustrating for a Barbarian to feel like they can't Rage because they're too far from the foes at the beginning of the fight - only for the bad guys to then get some nasty attack on them before they have their resistances running. Making it a bit easier to get to the foe is great.

Subclasses:

Path of the Beast:

I've already written about how much I like this subclass, but let's break it down: you sort of take on a bestial aspect when you rage in this subclass, which can either be flavored as a sort of mystical connection to nature or maybe you've literally been affected by some kind of lycanthrope. If I get to play one of these, I'd just flavor it as being a full-on werewolf.

You get a selection of natural weapons while raging, and later you get bonuses you can swap out on rests that include stuff like swim speed and water breathing, being able to spider-climb, or just being able to jump much farther.

The feral ferocity of this class seems like it could be a ton of fun, and the damage potential (particularly with the claws) is quite high.

Path of Wild Magic:

You ever see a Wild Magic Sorcerer and think "what if that were a Barbarian subclass?" Well, this is more or less that. When you rage, you roll on a table, getting a random ability that goes off immediately and then generally can be used for the rest of your rage. The wild magic effects are fewer than the Sorcerer, but they're also pretty much all beneficial.

This is a high-chaos subclass, and brings a lot of whimsy to a class that tends to skew more metal.

    Again, these subclasses pass my big aesthetic test, as both feel very unique compared to the ones that came before, and very distinct from one another. While Beast feels like a great subclass for a Ravenloft campaign, Wild Magic could be in something with weird planar magic of the Feywild or Limbo.

    Ironically, while the Barbarian class itself is not my typical tastes, there are now several subclasses that I really want to try - Beast might be pushing out Storm Herald as the one I'm most into at this point.

Tasha's, Class by Class - Bard

 Bards are such a weird and idiosyncratic class - really powerful in their group synergy, but generally underpowered in terms of personal power. We get some interesting ideas here in Tasha's. Let's look at class features first:

New Spells:

Like all the casters, the options for PHB spells are expanded, as well as getting new spells out of Tasha's. The new PHB spells are: Color Spray, Command, Aid, Enlarge/Reduce, Mirror Image, Mass Healing Word, Slow, Phantasmal Killer, Rary's Telepathic Bond, Heroes' Feast, Prismatic Spray, Antipathy/Sympathy, and Prismatic Wall.

Magical Inspiration (2nd level):

If a creature has a Bardic Inspiration die from you and casts a spell that restores hit points or deals damage, the creature can roll that die and choose a target affected by the spell. Add the number rolled as a bonus to the hit points regained or damage dealt. The Bardic Inspiration die is then lost.

    This gives BI another potential use, though limiting it to a single target keeps it from getting crazy. Still, being able to toss in a bit of extra healing or damage is pretty great.

Bardic Versatility (4th level):

Whenever you get the Ability Score Improvement feature, you can either replace one of the skills you chose for the Expertise feature with another skill proficiency you have that doesn't have Expertise already, or you can replace a Bard cantrip with a different Bard cantrip.

Subclasses:

College of Creation:

This can be flavored as either whimsical, primal, or both, allowing you to basically sing or play things into existence. In addition to granting bonus effects for the normal uses of your Bardic Inspiration (with a cool visual to represent it) you can also just sing into being nonmagical objects of a certain value, which scales up in both value and potential size with your bard level. The objects are temporary, and obviously made by magic (as they glimmer and there's faint music that can be heard by anyone touching it,) but if you need anything in a jiffy, this is a great way to provide it.

Also, you can turn any large or smaller object into a friendly construct that can fight alongside you, and while it uses your bonus action to command it, you can also command it when you use Bardic Inspiration, so you'll generally always be able to direct it.

College of Eloquence:

Reprinted from Mythic Odysseys of Theros, what is ostensibly a much drier flavor of Bard is actually quite powerful, focusing on the idea of being a great orator. You essentially get reliable talent for Persuasion and Deception right there at level 3, and eventually your Bardic Inspiration sticks around until it actually causes a success, which is, frankly, amazing.

With that and other features, you essentially become extremely efficient with your Bardic Inspiration - this is a fantastic subclass if you want to be your group's "face."

    So, overall, we only get one brand new subclass, though the one we do is really quite excellent. Eloquence, while a reprint, is also pretty fantastic, and again, what I think always seems to be a good sign is that I can really visualize the different subclasses and their aesthetics. College of Creation has a major whimsical, feywild aspect to it, while it feels like everything an Eloquence bard says should feel like the inspiring, climactic speech of a legal drama.

    I'll be honest, what little I've played of Bards, I've not been that into them, but these both feel like they could be fun in their own ways.

Tasha's, Class by Class - Cleric

 Ah, yes, officially and intentionally the most powerful class in D&D, Clerics are the most iconic healers in the game, but they also come with a lot of other tools to make them quite powerful in other aspects. Let's get into class features:

New Spells:

Clerics already have a rather unique and powerful set of spells, and I'll be honest, some of the ones added here I really assumed they already had. But in addition to a couple from Tasha's, the PHB spells they now also get are: Aura of Vitality, Aura of Life, Aura of Purity, Sunbeam, Sunburst, and Power Word Heal.

Harness Divine Power (2nd level):

You can expend a use of your Channel Divinity to fuel your spells. As a bonus action, you touch your holy symbol, utter a prayer, and regain one expended spell slot, the level of which can be no higher than half your PB. You can use this once per long rest, or twice at level 6 or higher or thrice at level 18 or higher.

Cantrip Versatility (4th level):

Any time you get an Ability Score Improvement, you can swap out a cleric cantrip you know for a different cleric cantrip.

Blessed Strikes (8th level, replaces Divine Strike or Potent Spellcasting from your subclass):

When a creature takes damage form one of your cantrips or weapon attacks, you can also deal 1d8 radiant damage to that creature. Once you use this feature, you can't again until the start of your next turn.

    My sense is that this is actually generally worse than the features it replaces, though it does mean you can use it as an opportunity attack, and radiant damage does sometimes disrupt particular foes like vampires. Still, it doesn't scale up like Divine Strike and Potent Spellcasting, which will be a +5 after you've gotten your Wisdom capped, will be on average a little better than a d8.

Subclasses:

Order Domain:

This is another reprint from GGtR, which seemed primarily built for the Azorius Senate (though it also works a bit for the Orzhov Syndicate.) Generally, there's a teamwork and enchantment theme to this subclass, allowing you to really enforce your will upon your foes and get your allies to hit harder and more often.

I don't think this one took off quite like Circle of Spores, but it's a solid subclass.

Peace Domain:

Ultimately, this domain is really focused on teamwork and synergy, creating bonds between allies that protects them. You can basically turn your party into a super-team that can constantly help one another out.

I imagine this could prove pretty powerful in a group that uses all these features, spreading the damage out and assisting one another on various rolls.

Twilight Domain:

The theme here is all about lighting - in addition to getting a freaking 300-ft darkvision, you can also create a kind of sanctuary of dim light around you that bolsters allies and cures charms and fear effects. You can even fly while in dim light or darkness.

    Personally, I think Twilight wins in terms of flavor and fun factor for its abilities. Both Peace and Order domains seem good from a mechanical standpoint, but require some heavy lifting on the part of the player to make the idea of their domain interesting.

    I think Clerics have a bit of the Wizard issue - the main thing that's powerful about the class is its spell list, and while that's certainly nothing to be scoffed at, it does mean that the actual class and subclass features are generally less flashy than, say, that of a Paladin or a Rogue.