Artificer class

[Bernard13]

Advice please!

I'm fairly new to DMing (having run one bought campaign) but I'm soon to start running a homebrew I've been cooking up. One of the players has asked to play an Artificer (from the Eberron campaign) and I've got to decide whether or not to allow this class.

I don't want to say no for the sake of saying no, but I'm a bit nervous about whether this class will 'break' the game (with the cheap and rapid production of any and all magic items), and whether I would be experienced enough to a) recognise if the game was broken and b) be able to deal with it.

All comments appreciated.

[Flickerdart]

It's not a good class to have a player run unless you yourself understand WBL, magic item, rules, and so forth properly/

[Coidzor]

How experienced is the player?

Artificer is one of those classes where the player needs to either be willing to play along with a gentleman's agreement or the DM needs to be ready to ramp things up. I can understand putting the class offlimits while you're still learning the ropes.

For your first time DMing, you may want to consider asking your players to aim for a Tier 3-4 range, maybe 4-5. (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=658.0)

[Madcrafter]

Artificer is a class whose power is directly related to how much leeway the DM gives it. As such I wouldn't recommend it to a new DM, since you might end up giving more than you intended by accident.

How well do you understand the system, and the class, and the magic item creation rules, etc.? You might be able to get away with allowing it if your player doesn't know them as well as you do, or if they are a nice enough player to limit themselves despite lacking restrictions. That said, if they don't know those rules that well either, they might not have a very good time with the class.

[Bernard13]

Thanks everyone for your help.

I feel like your comments are echoing my own feelings. I'd say the player is as inexperienced as me but at least as ambitious! I know only what I've read in the Eberron campaign setting about Artificers, most of which the player told me when asking to play the class, including having a dedicated wright living in her bag of holding to make items while she's adventuring.

I guess my biggest concern is not knowing enough about the class to effectively police how the various specialist features/feats are being used.

Thanks Coidzor for the really useful link, regarding Tier 1 classes:
"These guys, if played with skill, can easily break a campaign and can be very hard to challenge without extreme DM fiat or plenty of house rules"
This pretty much confirms my fears.

Thanks again :smallsmile:

[Diarmuid]

The other thing to keep in mind is that (at least for a while), the Artificer really isnt able to bring his "shtick" to bear without a decent amount of downtime.

Even if both you and the player were fairly well versed in everything, if you're anticipating a fast-paced adventure with no real ability for the PC's to set down roots and have some time to themselves every now and then (or really during each level) then it may not be a good idea anyway.

[Piggy Knowles]

My advice for DMing with an artificer in the party:

1. KEEP APPROPRIATE WEALTH-BY-LEVEL (WBL) IN MIND AT ALL TIMES.

Seriously, most of the horror storries I've heard involving artificers tend to be because parties had broken WBL into tiny little pieces and danced on them.

So here's something to make sure your artificer player knows: the artificer is not an excuse to break WBL. Keep careful track of the party's gear, and if they are significantly over their wealth by level in gear, make sure that you adjust things appropriately.

Moreover, talk to your players before the game starts, so that if this does happen and you do need to make adjustments, they don't feel like you're unfairly targeting them or stiffing them on treasure.

2. PUT A HARD LIMIT ON METAMAGIC SHENANIGANS

The other big nasty way in which artificers can break the game is the same big nasty way most spellcasters do it - metamagic shenanigans. Basically, like the incantatrix or the DMM cleric, artificers have built in class features that allow them to apply metamagic to produce spell effects that are well beyond what their level would indicate.

So, I would recommend that you think long and hard about what level of metamagic abuse you are prepared to deal with in your game. Once you've figured this out, talk to your players. Come up with a gentleman's agreement or find an appropriate house rule to prevent this from getting out of control.

In both cases, though, communicating with your players is key!

[Bernard13]

The artificer would almost certainly make it impossible for me to control wealth by level, except by adjusting rewards when things get out of hand. This will not be good as there will be a period of time when the game is unbalanced and therefore not fun, followed by a period of time where no treasure is gained - also not fun!

I am curious to see how the artificer performs, but maybe when I'm a bit wiser in the ways of DMing...

Thanks to everyone who has helped me with this dilemma. At least now I know where to find the experts if I find myself in a tight spot :smallsmile:

[Diarmuid]

Managing WBL is not an exact science. The first time you hand out a +1 weapon, you've just injected 2300gp to whatever person is going to wield the thing.

You're not going to just magically hand out exactly 2700gp worth of loot to each member of the party when they all level from 3 to 4 are you?

There's always going to be stretches where the party is either above or below the line and as a DM you can adjust the encounters accordingly to make sure that it stays fun.

[dascarletm]

As long as you are flexible it shouldn't be a problem.

If the players end up breaking the relative power level I expected them to be at, here is how I deal with it.

1. The first encounter is really easy or just steamrolled.

2. The next encounter is bumped up. Example: level 10 party is fighting four CR6 monsters, I then increase that to 6.

3a. If the encounter is still to easy go to step 2.
3b. The encounter is just right keep a note to bump up challenges by an appropriate amount.
3c. If it is too hard. Hopefully the party will see that they are losing and retreat. Take note and decrease the next encounter.

If I made a character devoted to increasing the teams WBL then I'd feel cheated if the DM purposefully made my contributions not matter. If the players end up stomping a couple encounters it is fine. They can feel good about how powerful they are, but there is always something stronger. Being level 14 and killing Balors feels pretty boss.

[mabriss lethe]

I'd also recommend getting familiar with at least one of the optimizer's handbooks for the class that are floating around the internet. (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=5929.0)

It'll give you a pretty good idea of exactly how the class works and what sort of shenanigans it can pull off.

[Abaddona]

Well, if one of your players wants to play artificer then it's also good reason to use gear unfriendly tactics - in other words: sunder time. Also you may use monsters with different immunities effectively forcing your players to carry several magical weapons. But still - if your player knows rules better that you letting him become artificer will probably result in you getting lots of headaches (altough you simply may ask him to be polite player and not break the game too much).