Gnome Artificer (no, not that kind)

[Zaq]

So I had Magic of Faerun open the other day and I noticed a PrC I'd never seen before: the Gnome Artificer. I have to say that it intrigues me. It's almost surely mechanically not worth it simply because it doesn't look like the inventions are really ECL-appropriate, but I've been wrong before. Of course, in typical FR style, it has a batch of totally nonsensical prereqs (that were likely made to fit some ridiculously specific NPCs in a developer's home game, but I'm not bitter or anything), but the flavor is pretty interesting. In a nutshell, you're a gadgeteer. You make charged items (usually, but not always, works-perfectly-in-an-AMF nonmagical) that mimic spell effects, and these items cost you gold but no XP to make. You get a free one every two levels, and . . . that's about it, but hey, it's a (semi)solid gadgeteer that doesn't require diving into full on Eberron-style Artificer. The item slot requirements are harsh (you have to pay double price if you don't want the item to take up two slots, one of which must be belt or cloak), and it does suffer from the problem that it requires (admittedly minor) spellcasting to get in, so you might as well have just kept up your spellcasting and done it normally . . . but I still find it intriguing.

So, does anyone have any thoughts on this PrC, or even better, any experience with it? I find it kind of funny that it has explicit rules for creating brand-new partially charged wands artificer items. It might be interesting to combine it with some level of cost-reduction shenanigans. Do you think it'd be playable without any such shenanigans? What about if you reduced the prereqs a bit? It's clearly not as good as a real caster, but it's weird enough that it's captured my interest for now. Thoughts?

[Ravens_cry]

Yeah, I liked the look of it too just from a fluff perspective. My major problem with it was I wasn't quite sure what to lead in with it, what to enter it with?Also the potential items are much more expensive then their magical equivalents. But for pure fluff? Heh, looks very fun for a Engineer type.

[Addi]

It would be nice if you could build some items, that are not attached to your body. I'm thinking of siege engines and similar stuff.
Do you think it's possible or is it tied to a body slot?
RP-wise there's nothing that stops him from doing so. He could have a hideout secured with traps and siege engines or support the local city watch with pseudo-magical ballistae.

What skill check do you need, if you're using this kind of objects? Use magic device? Disable device?

[TerrickTerran]

I have actually played it a couple times (not too long either time sadly) and it's a lot of fun although not exactly powerful. I still really enjoy it.

[Feytalist]

Yeah, it's lots of fun to play. The main problem with it is sustainability... once you've reached level 10, where do you go? No other class will advance its slightly insane spell power doodad list or extend its abilities. But I guess the same could be said for many other PrC's.

It has some nice "at will" (kind of) powers, with some hilarious possibilities (think a grenadier type character with a shoulder mounted launch item contraption). Oh, and there's no reason why one of the slots needed cannot be "held", with doubled cost to make it one slot only. Cue the flame dagger lightsaber...

But yeah, its fun to play but not exactly powerful. And as to entry classes, I reccomend rogue/wizard, since the evasion/uncanny dodge/trapfinding class skills kind of fit the flavour of the character.