Melee Aftificer/Renegade Mastermaker

[Yogibear41]

So I might be making an Artificer for an upcoming game and I would like to play him as a melee character. I also know im going to at least take 2 levels in Renegade Mastermaker for a free +1 battlefist (will most likely be going battlefist and shield for combat)

Would it be worth it to take more than 2 levels of this prestige class? While being primarily melee having the ability to gain warfored components at 7th level seems awesome for the particular one that allows you to store a wand in a bracer slot, so I could be fighting in melee then all of a sudden blast people with a wand at point blank.

In addition any other advice? The game does not have action points so I will definetly be taking rapid infusion as my 3rd level feat.

[ZamielVanWeber]

Two levels seems good. You will not be able to increase the enhancement bonus, but that gives you +9 to work with otherwise and, honestly, you want a bunch of those artificer feats for this build.

[Alienist]

In addition any other advice? The game does not have action points so I will definetly be taking rapid infusion as my 3rd level feat.

That's an enormous waste of a feat. It's like a fighter taking a feat that once per day his longsword does 1d8 damage.

If you want to cast infusions really quickly (e.g. in combat type situations), write them down.

[Yogibear41]

Are you saying to make a scroll? don't they have the same casting times regardless?

[Piggy Knowles]

If you can afford the feat, use Etch Schema instead of scribing a scroll. It's a spell trigger item with a standard action casting time, but can be used every day. And unlike eternal wands, you can store 6th-level infusions in them.

A minor schema of Personal Weapon Augmentation only costs 400gp. That's absolutely chump change for an artificer even if you don't have any of the cost reduction feats, so it's a pretty nice investment for a meleeficer.

I still think that Rapid Infusion can be worthwhile in a non-AP game, because it's nice to be able to perform some artificer tricks on the fly, but yeah - if you're an artificer, try not to spend too many feats on things that cheap items can grant you instead.

[Answerer]

Why Renegade Mastermaker instead of just being a Warforged Artificer?

Renegade Mastermaker takes 10 levels, including two lost spellcasting levels, to gain things you could have just by choosing the Warforged race to begin with. And that allows you to take the excellent Warforged racial substitution levels for Artificer.

[kladams707]

Why Renegade Mastermaker instead of just being a Warforged Artificer?

Renegade Mastermaker takes 10 levels, including two lost spellcasting levels, to gain things you could have just by choosing the Warforged race to begin with. And that allows you to take the excellent Warforged racial substitution levels for Artificer.

Flavor. Just because you like an option simply because it's mechanically better doesn't mean everyone wants to play it.

[Answerer]

So, play a Warforged Artificer and write into your backstory how you were human and did the whole Renegade Mastermaker thing. There's no reason why completing that process requires 15th-level, a level higher than almost every Player-race NPC in the setting.

[Yogibear41]

I most likely wasn't going to take all 10 levels anyway so I would still be human. I was either going to dip 2 levels or go up to 7th level so I could get components mostly because I like the one where you can have a wand hidden in your forearm and blast people with it.


from a roleplaying perspective the more levels you take the more warfored you become so to look similar to the guy in the book who looks about half and half I would assume that guy has about 5 levels of the prestige class.

Don't think I want to be all machine, think Will Smiths character in I Robot, hes just a normal guy who happens to have a robotic arm of uber awesomeness(aka BATTLEFIST!) instead of his real one.

Also the setting isn't Ebberron its a friends game who just recently began to DM and hes making up his own setting as he goes along basically so there may or maynot be warfored anyway.

I just enjoy playing off the wall characters (normally ones with level adjustments that really aren't worth it) but he said that since the majority of the group is new to keep the level adjustment low, so im trying to play something crazy/interesting with no level adjustment

[Zonugal]

If you are interested in just grabbing the arm to facilitate combat why not enter with something like a Duskblade or Ranger (using Practiced Spellcaster)?

[Yogibear41]

chances are their are little if any renegade mastermakers in the world, being an artificer gives me the knowledge to head into such a prestige class from a roleplaying stand point its probably the best base character class when it comes to the knowledge of applying the magic/technology in order to be able to actually be that class. + it gives all the prereqs as bonus feats, and I can craft magic items for myself or the rest of the party if need be, and I have never played one and want to give it a try.