Need help with an Artificer Build

[Planecaster]

Ok I am looking into making an Artificer for a game that is starting at lvl 5.
9000 GP to spend, no PrC just plan class or multi classing.

Its on a 32 point buy system.
My GM said no Warforged as a race but he is gonna allow up to a 3 ECL Race (He is not ignoring that ECL bonus just not letting us have anything more then that.)
I can have any template so long as it matches the ECL.

But here is the thing I have some questions
1 What feats should I take and why? I have seen some of the handbooks but I don't get it.
2 Does a Artificer suffer from Arcane Spell Failure if they don't cast spells as either Arcane or Divine, or did I hear that wrong?
3. What items and such should I buy and why?

I am wanting to play more a general artificer, maybe a Psionic one using the MIC rules. Maybe a Zeroficier but I don't wan to push it beyond a certain point.

My party will be a Monk, Rogue, and Two Bards one focuses on casting, the other on skillmonkeying.

[FrznTear]

Depends on what you want to do.

You can build an artificer to be a melee beast by using self buffs and juicy cleric scrolls. For this you need time to prepare before combat.

You can build a Blastificer that can deal a ridiculous amount of damage at the expense of quickly wearing through wands.

You can specialize in crafting golems homunculus and effigy to aid you in combat granted that you have the down time.

Feat selection revolves on what role you are trying to fill, the feats that reduce exp and gold cost for crafting are great in any build.

Artificers use infusion's not arcane spells so they do not have a spell failure chance.

You should eventually buy a portable hole to have a mobile lab/forge/whatever you need to craft stuff while adventuring.

Your party line up is pretty squishy, If your DM doesn't mind having the battlefield clogged up specializing in crafting creatures will keep your monk and rogue alive. The Bardic Music would not buff them though since constructs are immune to morale effects.

[Planecaster]

Well I asked about the Arcane Spell Failure with things like Scrolls I read somewhere it might work on Artificers who are wearing armor, especially medium.

Yes the party is very squishy and I have a feeling we will see a lot of times where we hit negs which is why I wanted a more utility Artificer who can help boost all of my party members while still doing a good job on his own to contribute.

So building Constructs to help with melee is good in theory I just don't want to step on the Monk's toes this is his first attempt at a monk and he likes the idea of the flurry of blows power house monk.

Is there anything of a need to know about the Artificers I might not know.

[Mnemnosyne]

If there is one advantage I can think of offhand to the Artificer errata that makes their scrolls neither arcane nor divine, it is that only arcane spells and scrolls suffer from arcane spell failure.

[Planecaster]

So as long as its scroll they have made, or a divine one they are fine? Good to know. Anything else?

If an Artificer makes a wand of Fireball, is it always gonna be 5d6? Even if they make it at level 10?

[FrznTear]

A wand's damage depends on the caster level of the creator. It also affects the cost. The feats reckless wand wielder and wand mastery can increase the CL of a wand being wielded. Artificers also gain the ability to apply metamagic to their wands at the cost of charges, combine that with a Metamagic wand grip which lets you do the same thing and it get's absurd what kind of damage you can do.

I built a 9th level artificer who with Double Wand Wielder, Split Ray and Quicken Ray who could in a round Cast 'Sonic Rainboom' For 3 Rainbow Beam 5d12 rays and 2 Sound Lance 10d8 rays. If It were human instead of dwarf for another metamagic feat and bought metamagic wand grips...

The cost to buy a wand is 750*(spell level)*(caster level)
crafting it costs half that much and cost exp in 1/25 the market price(iirc)

[Mnemnosyne]

As long as the artificer is high enough level, he can choose to make the wand higher level.

An artificer gets a +2 bonus to his caster level for the purposes of qualifying for spells, too, so he can make a 3d6 wand of fireballs at 3rd level if he wanted to. The +2 only applies to qualifying, not to the actual caster level of the item. This does mean that the artificer can make things at a lower caster level than their normal minimum.

Also, make sure to look at the list of bargain bin spells for artificers (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=12661.0) because as an artificer, you can pick spells off unusual classes' lists to gain access to them early, and to lower the cost of making them, since the cost is generally spell level x caster level. Getting the spell at a lower level reduces the cost by a lot. Haste is one of the most common examples, available at level 1 off the Trapsmith list - even though you want it at a higher caster level, having to multiply 1 x caster level instead of 3 x caster level is a huge discount.

As far as feats go, personally if I go artificer I'm always going to be crafting, a lot, so I tend to take at least Extraordinary Artisan and Legendary Artisan, to knock another 25% off of both gp and xp costs. If you craft all your own items, or at least as many as you can qualify to craft, you can knock a lot of costs off your gear and thus wind up with gear worth considerably more than your starting gold at market price.

[Planecaster]

Artificer do not count as spell casters do they? I mean for the purpose of Item Familiar? I am curious because Infusions are still spells sorta right?