Artificers. Help me out here.

[weckar]

So, I've been looking into building an Artificer. They seem to be popular, and I like the idea of them.

It seems, though, that it is a 5 level class at best. After all, with retain essence you can top up that crafting pool whenever you want? The rest of the abilities gotten seem rather lackluster unless you become a wand specialist.

Of particular note to me is the 13th level Skill Mastery ability. Wouldn't 4 levels of Warlock (so 5 + 4 = ECL 9) get you that exact ability 4 levels early?

Another question regarding this class is its ability to replace UMD checks for crafting requirements. It says you can fail the check for the spells multiple times, but DMG states that the spell used in crafting an item must be supplied daily. Is this a contradiction?

[ghanjrho]

Re: crafting.

This is specific trumps general. The specific rules for artificer crafting override the general crafting rules.

[ExLibrisMortis]

After level 5, you still get bonus feats (crafting and other), more infusions, a higher caster level, and bigger craft reserves (which are still free XP, you won't find infinite magic items to use Retain Essence on). You can advance artificer infusion casting with prestige classes, but you don't have to. It's definitely viable to take the class to 20, and make good use of bonus feats.

[weckar]

Specific trumps general, check.


The issue I really have with 5+ is the resetting crafting reserve, which could be a real waste of consumed magic items. If you take no more levels, it never resets right?

[IcarusWulfe]

Specific trumps general, check.


The issue I really have with 5+ is the resetting crafting reserve, which could be a real waste of consumed magic items. If you take no more levels, it never resets right?

You can get around the resetting craft reserve by simply delaying leveling up until you use a majority of your reserve.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Of particular note is the fact that an artificer's CL for the items he makes is dependent on advancement of his infusion progession. If you don't at least progress your CL through a PrC, the items you craft are going to suck.

[Forrestfire]

Not only that, but the infusions themselves are really quite good (see the guide in my sig). To get all the power out of an artificer, it's really an 8 or 11-level class, because of the class features gained.

In order to not worry about resetting craft reserve, you can always just spend the experience points as you go. Get a dedicated wright to do so while you adventure, even.

[Kelb_Panthera]

You might ask the DM if you could add a homebrew item to the game; magic latency crystal. It's a storage vessel for XP that any one can use to store XP but the stored XP can only be used for crafting. Requires the retain essence class feature to craft. I'll leave the price between you and your DM.

That or setup an XP farm through the production of ambrosia/agony.

[unseenmage]

There's a magic item band aid somewhere in one of the books that costs very very little gp/time to make. Basically you make potions and stuff that're cheap and "store" your craft reserve in those.
Later if you need your craft reserve xp back you just retain essence on the cheap items and viola.

Be warned that Artificers without Action Points will be stymied in adventures with constant surprise fights. Artificers shine best (and I'd say really need) prep time before combats to be effective.
Also, make sure your DM knows that you will NEED a balance of gp, xp, and TIME to craft items. Without all three an Artificer is well and truly useless. Gp and xp are usually easy to come by but timese ems to always be the rarest of commodities for a party of high adventuring murderhobos.

[TiaC]

The best way to store or gain craft reserve is with scrolls of beget bogen. That's 26 XP in a 150 GP item.