Newbie Artificer (with unique circumstances)

[Talya]

A friend of mine is running an odd campaign. I'm not entirely sure how it will work mechanically, but we've all been asked to make up to four characters for an "expedition to the new world." We're going to be exploring a savage land, no towns, kingdoms, shops. Ye Olde Magicke Item Shoppe will simply not exist. And to kick it off, we're starting at level 1 on a 32 point buy, so there won't be any magic items to start with, either.

I'm going with a nordic theme for my characters:
The Skald (A silverbrow human savage bard)
The Valkyrie (A human Warblade)
The Priest of Thor (a human cleric)
and, most importantly, for this thread...

The Runecrafter (likely some variety of dwarf or elf, an artificer)

Despite this not being Eberron, the DM is going to let me import the Artificer class into his setting. The idea is, she's going to be a member of an ancient secret society of crafters -- the Svartálfar -- who were actually responsible for crafting the original Mjolnir.

I want to make an item crafter who can contribute to a party. The artificer seems the perfect choice...I think. I know NOTHING about them. Not how to build them, not how to play them.

Any suggestions are welcome. (For the other characters too, but mostly the artificer.)

[Ranting Fool]

Despite this not being Eberron, the DM is going to let me import the Artificer class into his setting...

...I want to make an item crafter who can contribute to a party. The artificer seems the perfect choice...I think. I know NOTHING about them. Not how to build them, not how to play them.

Any suggestions are welcome. (For the other characters too, but mostly the artificer.)

I really like the Artificer and normally add the class to my games (Almost always as NPC shop keepers/Quest givers "Oh i need the X from X to make the might X"

For best Op build you'll have to get some one more skilled then me, though a few pointers.

Will you find magic items from monsters/long lost tomb of unknownness?

USE your Craft Reserve, starts off low but i've known people to level a bit too fast and feel robbed.

Start with scrolls oh so many scrolls, rather cheep and you can get any of them.

You can't "Take a 10" on UMD until you are level 13, so you might want to think about skill focus (Though you do get +2 for any item type you can craft)

Make good friends with the Magic Item Comp (Unless it's banned) your infusions take a long time to cast but can be much more effective then just giving your friends sword a +1 bonus. Fire/Ice/Acid damage vs the right monster. Ghost Touch and other enchants that add unique abilites are wonderful but you have to know your options, but starting out at level 1 gives you time to learn.

Oh and once you get Craft Wonderous Items, you might want to have a nice look at Skill Shards (Very cheap and +2 or +5 to a skill)

Same goes for Weapon and Armour Crystals when you can Craft Arms and Armour.

[Waker]

Well, outside of combat, an Artificer is able to craft the party's gear (obviously), provide useful buffs and act as the trapfinder.

In combat, the Artificer is able to blast, buff, battlefield control and so on. It really just depends on which scroll, wands and rods that you have crafted. Most people tend to favor the blasting route however, due to feats like Reckless Wand Wielder.

The player will definitely want to grab some of the cost-reduction feats like exceptional artisan. This will even further extend the versatility of your WBL. Many of the items crafted will require some downtime, but many people circumvent this via the use of a crafting homunculus.

I almost forgot, don't forget about the cannibalize ability. Even if you get stuck with a nigh-useless magic item, maybe it can find a use as a better item.

[Mnemnosyne]

Check out the Complete Cost Reduction Handbook (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=1000) for ways to reduce the costs of crafting items. You'll want to minimize your costs to make your wealth and craft reserve last as long as possible. I'll also point you to the Unofficial Artificer Player's Guide (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=2829).

Early on, scrolls are potentially going to be your main method of contribution. At 1st level, with Artificer cost reductions, you can make a pretty significant amount of scrolls. That should hopefully be enough to last you until 2nd level. Over time, you're going to want to build up a library of every obscure 'sometimes it gets used' spell ever, and keep them handy. Whenever you come across a situation that X obscure spell would be perfect for, you can pull it out, as long as you actually remember that it's in your inventory.

Speaking of inventory, keeping track of artificer inventory is one of the major difficulties. You're going to have hundreds of scrolls eventually, along with dozens of magical items of every type, and each one you're going to have to keep track of various things like what cost reducers are applied to it. Best way I've found to do that is spreadsheets, although I have yet to put together a truly comprehensive spreadsheet for artificer inventorying.

Are you going to get action points? They're pretty useful for artificers (and they were designed to work with them) but you can work without them. They're very helpful for infusions. If you use an action point to cut the casting time of the Personal Weapon Augmentation infusion down to 1 round instead of 1 minute, you can infuse your weapon with the Bane enchantment, specific to whatever you happen to be fighting right that moment. Bane gives you +2 to your weapon that stacks with any bonus it already has, and +2d6 damage. If you use your melee/ranged weapons at all, this is a very nice bonus. You can also use the 2nd level Lesser Weapon Augmentation on others' weapons, but this costs materials totaling 20gp a shot (which is worthwhile for difficult fights).

Keep in mind that all the cool stuff wizards and clerics do is at your disposal - at a small fee, for creating the scrolls to do it with. Plus, you can build continuous or at-will items that will allow you to do that stuff even better. This is one of the harder parts of playing an artificer, because it requires carefully combing through every book you have to find the cool magical items that are cheap and effective and give awesome abilities. Just remember that as long as you have more money, if you did something wrong you can always just change when you craft your next bunch of items.

[Slipperychicken]

Figure out how your GM will handle the "you need X GP of materials to build this item" without shops. In a savage land, those things should be cheaper, considering the locals might not have a use for them.

When you find a "vendor trash" item, cannibalize it to save XP.

Soon as you can, get an extra-dimensional storage space and turn it into a mobile factory/construct-sweatshop. Take the Craft Homunculus feat (or emulate it if that's possible), and build a team of Dedicated Wrights to craft items in your backpack while you adventure. Makes crafting so much less of a hassle.

Don't be afraid to use consumables (scroll, wands). They are extremely useful, and preposterously cheap as an Artificer. Take every "But what if..." situation and make a scroll/wand/item to solve it. I've heard a wand's 50 charges are very long lived.

Wands of Lesser Vigor. Hand one or two to your Bard so it can heal you guys out of combat while you Craft. You won't regret it.

If you're feeling enterprising, sell nice things to the locals for waaaay above market price. They also make nice gifts for nobility, provided you know what kind of things they like.

Do NOT get into a "The Savages captured you and took all your stuff" situation. Use Hoard Gullet (Dragon Magic, 1st) or similar power to keep your items safe inside you (or teleport far away quickly) should something like that occur.

(Ab)Use the Custom Magic Item rules (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/creatingMagicItems.htm). Laugh at those stupid concepts like "WBL" and "Balance".

Once the time comes, get a way to teleport back to civilization for updates, nicer things, re-fueling, vacations, etc.


EDIT: I second the spreadsheet. You'll be writing on (and erasing from) your inventory a lot otherwise, and it can get *really* messy. I've started to use Excel for everything, and it rules. Sure, your friends might joke about you being an accountant, but your turns will go by a lot faster when you're not rifling through seven pages of items to decide your action.

[Madcrafter]

I will link you to a thread that was done yesterday, mostly because I don't want to write everything out again. Good info about the artificer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=13176046#)

Also, the obligatory handbook Hanbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=5929.0) EDIT: That's what I get for only scanning, the handbook was posted already.

Read and learn. Artificer might not be to your taste. Also, you may definitely need to ask the DM about the wealth and magic items, and your likelihood to get your hands on such things.

[shadow_archmagi]

The important thing to remember about an Artificer is that you have all possible options open, which is pretty overwhelming! I highly recommend the artificer infusion list (http://dnd.freeminded.org/tables/DnD3.5Index-Infusions-Artificer.pdf) as it contains a list of all the infusions you've got available, *and* all the enchantments that those infusions can render.

Basically, if you really want to play an artificer, you'll want to buy a three-ring binder and keep separate sections for every item that ever looks useful, ever spell that ever looks useful, and every enchantment. Then try to anticipate what the party will need and craft it beforehand!

Also, grab the Rapid Infusion feat. Using a 1-minute infusion as a 1-round infusion once per day is great because a lot of the 1-minute infusions can be game-changers, especially at level 1.

[Answerer]

The important thing to remember about an Artificer is that you have all possible options open, which is pretty overwhelming! I highly recommend the artificer infusion list (http://dnd.freeminded.org/tables/DnD3.5Index-Infusions-Artificer.pdf) as it contains a list of all the infusions you've got available, *and* all the enchantments that those infusions can render.
Oh man, thank you for that.

[Talya]

So...Gray Elf with Magic-Blooded template, 32 point buy, with Str 10, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 16. (based on modifiers of +2 dex, +2 int, +2 cha, -2 str, -2 con, -2 wis).

most useful feat at level 1?

[Answerer]

Rapid Infusion's probably best. The one that reduces crafting costs is also a good bet.

EDIT: I just realized that I didn't even check the prereqs on either of those. Ignore me if they're impossible to take at 1st.

[Waker]

Legendary Artisan reduces xp cost by 25%, Extraordinary Artisan reduces gp cost by 25%. Personally I favor Legendary. Both feats are in the Eberron setting book.

[Chronos]

Figure out how your GM will handle the "you need X GP of materials to build this item" without shops. In a savage land, those things should be cheaper, considering the locals might not have a use for them.
Alternately, your DM might rule that the appropriate materials just can't be found at all. You really, really want to ask about that before the campaign starts.

[Talya]

It's tough planning a build for a class you don't understand at all.

Okay, I'm thinking of making a single-classed "Archerficer,"

Since she's elf for thematic reasons (A magic blooded grey elf with +2 dex/int/cha, -2 str/con/wis), and we lack ranged combatants, I decided to take advantage of that longbow proficiency and make her a decent archer.

i took the "noncombatant" flaw (she's not fighting in melee anyway). Rapid Infusion, torn between Point Blank Shot (which is great at level 1, and remains needed as a prerequisite for archery feats later on), or extraordinary artisan to lower gold costs early on for my party's gear. She's still going to be a crafter for everyone, so I can't skip on crafting ability for archery.

[GodGoblin]

Personally I wouldnt invest feats in archery, use the long bow to begin with but once you gain a few levels you will be throwing wand charges around like nothing.

Although saying that does point blank shot and precise shot do effect ray spells...

So maybe grab Point blank and precise shot as they should help throughout the career but I wouldnt get feats like rapid shot, multishot etc. Then once you can make em start dual wielding some Scorching Ray wands :smallbiggrin:

[Talya]

Personally I wouldnt invest feats in archery, use the long bow to begin with but once you gain a few levels you will be throwing wand charges around like nothing.

Although saying that does point blank shot and precise shot do effect ray spells...

So maybe grab Point blank and precise shot as they should help throughout the career but I wouldnt get feats like rapid shot, multishot etc. Then once you can make em start dual wielding some Scorching Ray wands :smallbiggrin:

You're basically just saying you prefer blastificers to archerficers. :smallwink:

[Answerer]

I'd go with Point Blank Shot. Mundane crafting is really cheap to begin with (one-third price), so you probably won't need Extraordinary Artisan for that. You're going to need Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot anyway (sadly), and at least at level 1 Point-Blank Shot's worth something instead of being complete crap. If you can take another Flaw, I would; I'd probably just take Precise Shot, though, to get that over with. You're going to want it.

Heroic Spirit is another great choice, since it lets you use your Infusions more quickly more often. Skill Focus (Use Magic Device) is good at low levels, so that's also a consideration.

Combat's probably going to go like this: you infuse your Bow with the appropriate Bane property, gaining +2d6 damage, and then you just shoot things. Out of combat, you're crafting and possibly supplying utility magic with scrolls.

If you haven't, note that there is a very thorough Artificer guide here (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=5929.0). It even includes an Archerficer section. A lot of advice, however, is not good (he mentioned Weapon Specialization... as a must-have; I trust you know this is not the case), so if anything sounds dubious to you, you may easily be right and him wrong. It still covers a ton of the options and that makes it worth being aware of.

[Tvtyrant]

Remember that as an Artificer you can make scrolls from any list, so you can make the Giant's Size (I think that is the name) spell from the Wu-Jen list and make yourself colossal at higher levels. All of your arrows move into the 3d6 category, which is a +2d6 boost to each attack (along with strength bonuses). Earlier you can use lesser size altering spells.

[Talya]

If you haven't, note that there is a very thorough Artificer guide here (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=5929.0). It even includes an Archerficer section. A lot of advice, however, is not good (he mentioned Weapon Specialization... as a must-have; I trust you know this is not the case), so if anything sounds dubious to you, you may easily be right and him wrong. It still covers a ton of the options and that makes it worth being aware of.


I questioned how he was even considering getting weapon specialization without 4 levels of fighter... but yeah.

[Duke of URL]

You may also want to check with the DM if you can use the Craft Points variant (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/craftPoints.htm) from UA for magic items (but not for masterwork... that's just inane and insane).

That bypasses a large part of the real problem playing an artificer in a campaign: crafting time. (Yes, the dedicated wright helps, but even still, it takes time to set that up and additional time to craft.) Unless the action moves slowly enough in "game time", you'll likely not have the time you need to craft items, even if your construct buddy is doing the work.

[Big Fau]

When you find a "vendor trash" item, cannibalize it to save XP.

While this is a good idea, do note that you will need some GP outside of your WBL every now and again,

[Chronos]

Speaking of cannibalizing items, note that magic traps are magic items. The process is too slow to use when you first encounter them, but after you've beat the villain and are coming back out of the dungeon, scavenge as many as you can.

[Talya]

Three of my four characters for this game:

Artificer (http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler/view_char.php?cid=59718)
Bard (http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler/view_char.php?cid=59658)
Warblade (http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler/view_char.php?cid=59900)

Need to make my priest, too.

[hydraa]

There was some mention of crafting spell trigger / spell completion items. The errata to the Artificer states
"Magic items created by an artificer are considered neither arcane nor divine."

So the party bard, wizard, cleric, etc will need to make a UMD check to use wands, scrolls, etc.

[King Atticus]

Despite it's inherent cheesiness, and if you can get away with it, you might consider picking up (creating) an item familiar at 3. Abuse the skill bonuses for UMD, you really want to make sure you can hit your DC's. Throwing away resources is never fun and this will make it MUCH easier to hit decent levels earlier.

[hoverfrog]

There was some mention of crafting spell trigger / spell completion items. The errata to the Artificer states
"Magic items created by an artificer are considered neither arcane nor divine."

So the party bard, wizard, cleric, etc will need to make a UMD check to use wands, scrolls, etc.Just to clarify does this mean that an artificer who creates a scroll of fireball cannot then give it to a wizard to copy into their spell book and a wand of magic missile is equally useless if created by an artificer?

[panaikhan]

Have you considered Weapon Familiar, sinse you seem to want to do more than simply 'support'? Or make Arbalesters to sit on your shoulders :)

[Answerer]

Just to clarify does this mean that an artificer who creates a scroll of fireball cannot then give it to a wizard to copy into their spell book
It means exactly that. That exact scenario is why the errata was made in the first place.


and a wand of magic missile is equally useless if created by an artificer?
Well, it's not useless, seeing as it still can be used, you just have to UMD it.