Solve my Artificer problems!

[GutterFace]

So here is the skinny:

Im going to be playing in a mid level campaign soon. (5-10). This should last at least until the end of summer since we only play roughly once a week. For a change i want to make something interesting and fun. Flexible but not insane as we have a new DM on our table.

My ideal: (no multi, no PrC)

L5 Human Artificer. ultimately i want to be a dual wand wielder (at L6). i would hope, like, love to have 2 wands of scorching rays. or something else in my offhand wand.

but...

i could also go the Psionic artificer route. i can do the same as dual wands with dual dorje (sp).

Since both builds are mid level they will be very wand/dorje heavy. here are my thoughts please dissect.

The wands are good. 4d6 is respectable for scorching ray. especially 2 of them.

Dorje on the other hand is 5d6, and can have different damage types (elect, fire, sonic...etc.) which is good for flexibility. i also dig power stones over scrolls and tattoos are better (for me) than potions since i dont have an alchemy lab set up.

BUT regular artificer magical weapons and armor seem better than a non-psionic character being able to craft and use psionic arms and armor...

regardless i am looking for some kind of feedback on possible drawbacks for psionic builds at mid levels. im set on making an Arti...just now im trying to determine a type....

thanks!

[Legendairy]

Your offhand wand uses double charges so you may want to go with something cheaper like Kelgores Firebolt (phb 2)

I have a DWW Artificer in my campaign right now, I went the crafting feats so i can make my wands fairly cheap.

Also, do not forget your meta magics, depending on how mean you want to be to the new DM a wand of MM with fell drain on it is pretty brutal.

You may also want some wands of the varied orbs (acid, fire, etc).

Another fun thing to do us use buff wands and the metas to reshape the delivery, or some battlefield control stuff in OH.

The Scorching Ray is your damage bread and butter single target, and you throw admix/energy sub and make it acid soo less things have immunities.

Errata says that wands can be quickened IIRC so you may want to look into that as well. If you do take the crafting feats you will also effectively triple the WBL by making items with restrictions such as class and skill.

There are many more in these forums that know tons more than I do and they will probably give you better things than what I have listed. Either way I hope this helps

EDIT: As far as the Psion Artificers go I do not think its a huge difference in what you do crunch wise just the fluff, that however is just my opinion cause I have never messed with Psionic Artificers. I do know they can pretty much do anything.

[GutterFace]

Sounds good, and all valid points. I figure either way with "arcane" or psionic artificer i cant go wrong blasting things. ill keep digging and see what i decide i want more. 2 dojore's of Energy Bolt (varied energy type) and stones for 1 time use aoe spells and some healing and shielding tattoos cant be bad :)

thanks for the input! i think it depends on the DM's game if he decided he can't handle psionics in his game ill stay with the regular wand path.

[Big Fau]

I suggest you go the Psionic route. The Magic Item Compendium errata'ed the rules for crafting Psionic items to allow Psions to craft normal Magic Items using powers that are functionally similar. For example, a Psionic Artificer could craft an Eternal Wand of Summon Monster 1 using Astral Construct (provided you either got ahold of Craft Wand or your DM allowed Craft Djore to take it's place).

In other words, the Psionic Artificer is strictly superior to the normal one, despite what Magic of Eberron may say.

Another warning: Out of all of the classes in the game, the Artificer is the single most complicated class to build a character with, and just as complicated to actually play. Leveling up is a nightmare towards the mid-levels; I've actually had a player voluntarily not level up for three full sessions (about 8 encounters) because he didn't want to do that much more work until he had a few days off of work to get it taken care of.

[shadow_archmagi]

The thing to remember about playing an Artificer is that you've basically always got all your options open. Even if you design your character to punch, you've got incredible magical versatility, and likewise, even if you build around lasers, you still have decent BAB and HD.

You can always cast any infusion, and through the Armor and Weapon infusions you have every enchantment always available. In the long run, you can cast any spell via wands/scrolls and make any item, so you'll want to memorize the spell and magic item compendiums.

I traditionally print out the Artificer Infusion List (used to be up on crystalkeep, not sure where it is now) so I can keep track of every infusion and every enchantment available via a three ring binder.

Also remember that the best infusion is that third level one that says "Apply a metamagic for free"

[Tr011]

Could you use Eternal Wands?

[GutterFace]

wow excellent feedback. thank you all!