Artificer Build Help

[Athelian]

Hey-lo,

I'm rolling an artificer, starting at level six, and I was wondering what beginning feats I should take with this class. I like the idea of going wand-murder-death, but utility isn't out of the question - What would I be potentially be giving up if I did veer towards a destructo-blastificer and what would be an advisable route be, if I stuck with it, at this level?

As always, thanks for the help.

[Aegis013]

Extraordinary artisan is a must for any Artificer. I suggest you take it, possibly as your level 4 bonus feat.

If your DM is very cheese lenient, Item Familiar is a must. If you or your DM aren't a fan of cheese, don't touch this with a 10 foot pole.

Dual Wand Wielder, Cull Wand Essence, and Wand Master are all good for blast-o-ficers. Although they can really eat into your gp. Metamagics are also quite good, especially with metamagic spell trigger. Twin and Maximize are really quite good.

There's plenty of other good feats, but those are a few to chew on.

[shadow_archmagi]

Hey-lo,
What would I be potentially be giving up if I did veer towards a destructo-blastificer and what would be an advisable route be, if I stuck with it, at this level?


Investing feats in blasting robs you of very little. You can still throw out any enchantment in the game via the Armor and Weapon infusions, and Spell Storing Item says any spell of 3rd level or lower is yours to command at a minute's notice, and you can craft utility scrolls and wands just as well as ever.

All you really need to do to be an effective blaster is

1. Take Energy Alteration (Acid)

2. Take Twin Spell. Twin is slightly better than maximize for two reasons- First off, it's better by the numbers: 4d6 averages out to 14 damage an Maximizes out to 24, while 8d6 averages out to 28 damage. Second off, every spell benefits from being Twinned. Twin Fireball means double damage, Twin Glitterdust means *two* saves vs blindness, Twin Fly... well, not quite every spell. But certainly more spells than Maximize.

3. Acquire a Wand of Scorching Ray for 4,500 gp. Since it kicks up by one ray every four levels, you can just buy a third level wand (the lowest possible) and get 4d6 damage per round out of it, making it cost efficient (and lasers)

4. At the start of every fight, cast Metamagic Item (a 3rd level infusion) on your Wand of Scorching Ray so that you can fire two rays for 8d6. If needed, transmute the damage to Acid by spending one extra charge per extra spell level (Zero extra charges)

5. When you have money invest in a level 7 wand of Scorching Ray to boost your damage to 8d6, or 16d6 when twinned.

You should be able to upgrade your wand fairly early, because when upgrading an item you subtract the existing gold value from the end price, and when doing it yourself, you half the cost, (so to craft the wand that would cost 10,500 you can provide your existing 4500 gold wand and then that leaves 6000, which you then divide by 2 for only 3000. If you pick up the Artisan feat that reduces gold cost, it goes down to 2,250 at which point you may wish to just set aside that much money from your WBL and immediately begin upgrading it the first time you have ten days to spare)

Also great for a blastificer is to pick up Invisible Spell, since it's another metamagic with a 0 adjustment you can apply it to all your wands and items at no cost. It has both the potential for hilarity and the life-saving potential of making your enemies unable to distinguish you as the source of damage (and since artificers wear armor, you can just build wands that look like crossbows and they'll think you're a ranger or a fighter rather than a wizard and thus not prioritize you)

[Tvtyrant]

One thing you can do really well as an Artificer is become a persistomancer. While it cannot be run at the same time as a blastomancer at low levels, at higher levels you get a lot of benefit from both. Persisting buffs on yourself at the beginning of the day keeps you safe and lets you use all of your actions for violence.

Also, look into quick draw and swift action wands with dual wand wielder for three spells a turn. Fire, fire, drop, fire.