Level 4 Artificer suggestions required

[Bayar]

Hello playground. I come here today to ask you for some advice.

First, a little background. I am playing a dwarf-gnome inbred artificer in a post-D&D Waterworld campaign, soon hitting level 4. In the party there's also a level 5 elven conjurer (banned evocation/necromancy) and a level 6 human Crusader/Barbarian. There were other party members (ratlord shatter warlock and knowledgeable factotum) but they dropped out recently. So far, I have crafted some scrolls for various situations (including an Earthbind in case of flying enemies), a Talisman of the Disk to help with carrying things around and also have a Grell Lightning Lance after killing some (will only save one since the party is strapped for cash).

My current Use Magic Device is maxxed out at +11 (6 ranks, +1 CHA, +2 UMD tool, +2 racial bonus). After talking to the DM, he agreed with a custom UMD boosting item in the vein of Cloak of elvenkind. It would involve completing a sidequest to gather some necessary reagents and I can craft them to grant +3 bonus and upgrade them as we get more gold. So UMD should rise to +13 (swapping the tool for the item).

I need suggestions on the following: Would it be worth swapping my level 1 Extraordinary Artisan feat with Magical training (gaining a +2 bonus to Spellcraft and UMD) and using the level 4 artificer bonus feat for Extraordinary Artisan ? Kinda need a good enough score to prevent accidents, and I could retrain it to the XP reducing feat at higher levels.

What items to craft ? Was thinking of an Artificer Monocle to identify magic items, a level 1 Pearl of Power for the wizard, a Healing Belt to heal the party (mainly the crusader since he is the primary damage dealer and damage sponge). Other nice things are a Tome of Knowledge (since the wizard has all of them at at least 1 rank), a Clockroach homunculus (acid damage and is one of the few that can be crafted at this level), saving gold to enchant weapons and armor at level 5 (though need to invest in masterwork items first), or save gold for a Handy Haversack. The last one is less of a priority since most of the things I need I can already carry with me and can use the talisman to haul the treasure out to the mounts / wagon.

[Tvtyrant]

I would suggest instead making a wand of magecraft or guidance of the avatar instead. Getting +20 to a skill check each use beats out other options and is fairly cheap.

[Afgncaap5]

I would suggest instead making a wand of magecraft or guidance of the avatar instead. Getting +20 to a skill check each use beats out other options and is fairly cheap.

Yeah, this is the way to go. If you're using Eberron rules and can make a quick Eternal Wand of Magecraft, I say go for it. Also, don't neglect your Skill Enhancement infusion; it starts off as just a tiny boost, but over time it can help a lot. (There's some debate on whether or not your UMD check needs to be a one-time thing or representative of an entire crafting process for an item, but most DM's I've played with are fine with letting Skill Enhancement work for UMD checks like that.)

If you're going to be staying at low levels, the feat isn't a bad idea, but at higher levels the feat will seem like it's dragging you down. I wouldn't take Magical Training personally unless you have some other reason to. If the campaign's likely only going to last another couple of levels, though, it wouldn't be a bad idea.

[Bayar]

Guidance of the Avatar sounds interesting, but will probably not use it due to various fluff reasons (mostly the dwarf-gnome hybrids being borderline atheists, letting warforged and other constructs do the prayers for them). Magecraft was on my list but forgot to mention it in the OP.

Since Artificers get Craft Wand at level 6 (ECS errata), that would mean I'd have to buy it. Would buying a Minor Schema of it instead of an Eternal Wand be better ? 400 gold instead of a 820 gold for the eternal wand version, doubt I'd need to cast it more than once per day.

I love Skill Enhancement, but up until now those level 1 infusion slots were used on either Bane Augmentations or Shields of Faith (depending on the circumstances).

The feat is mostly to raise the UMD bonus until level 6 (or 5 if things go smoothly and the party earns more funds) and then retrain it to something more useful. Considering this is a E8-ish setting (there is no level cap, you can take epic feats after level 10 instead of 20, there are probably not a lot of high level NPC's), by the time I'll require a better feat the UMD bonus should be high enough without it.

[Urpriest]

Guidance of the Avatar sounds interesting, but will probably not use it due to various fluff reasons (mostly the dwarf-gnome hybrids being borderline atheists, letting warforged and other constructs do the prayers for them). Magecraft was on my list but forgot to mention it in the OP.

Given that description, making a magic item that casts the spell should line up nicely with standard practice of using magical constructs to cover prayers, thematically speaking.

That said, as you say, it's kind of expensive at present.

I'd not go for Magical Training, since you don't have Skill Focus yet, which would give a higher bonus. For that matter, Shape Soulmeld: Mage's Spectacles would be better still, if perhaps harder to fit in depending on fluff.

The main question to ask is, what DCs are you aiming to meet? I'd try to get a grip on what your goals are before worrying about maximizing your UMD.

[Bayar]

I aim to have a high enough bonus to hit DC 25 UMD without having to worry about failing by 10 or more (which happened, wasn't pleasant). Was thinking about Skill Focus, but Magical training also provides a +2 bonus to spellcraft, useful for identifying spells being cast, spell effects, potions (needless to say, it was pretty useful so far). At level 5, this should raise to 27, and in a perfect world it should be high enough to hit 32 reliably (highest DC to use Spell storing item with a level 4 spell).

Mages spectacles are awesome. However, they have a minimum CON score to get with a feat, and I don't have it high enough.