Gnome BattleSmith build

[GearsX]

Hi all!
So I am about to start a CoS game where we will go through CoS then into move the DM`s custom campaign, where the DM is letting us players pick races/classes from any realm (forgotten realms,eberron, etc)

Now im new to 5e but have been reading up alot on it and going through the forums looking at different builds/classes and the such.

I must say that I have fallen in love with the Artificer class, especially it's Battlesmith subclass.

Now the class I am thinking of building is A rock Gnome Battlesmith Artificer who will be using a pistol

I have a rough idea on how to build this character, I would start off as artificer which would allow me to be proficient with a pistol. I would also be able to maintain my pistol and also fix it with my abilities with tinkering and such from being a rock gnome and artificer, I would also have access to cantrips such as mending to help fix it.

Being able to infuse my pistol and other items will be a great asset to my team and myself, granting me an early magical weapon by infusing the pistol with say repeating shot, allowing me to get my int to dmg and attack rolls once i get battlesmith (or if my dm lets me refluff crossbow expert to work 100% with firearms, which he might do considering he already refluffed other feats for other players.)

Once I hit Battlesmith I thought i'd dip into fighter to grab the archery stance. So once im able to I was hoping to get the Sharpshooter feat, greatly increasing my dmg, alongside archery stance that will help balance the -5 to hit from sharpshooter for 10 more dmg.

From there I would keep going in my battlesmith lvls to get my steel defender, now here I was wondering if I was a gnome, would I be able to ride my SD? I was thinking of having it look a bit like a metagross from pokemon, a kind of mechanical 4 legged spider creature having it going around bashing things, while I shoot/cast from its back.

From there just keep going into battlesmith, creating magical weapons for the party, infusing normal ones, replicating others, with some fun spells, was looking at the conjure barrage spell with a bullet to bombard the enemies with then using animate object on the bullets for some fun combo madness. Using transmute rock, fabricate, stone shape spells to create my own supplies of materials for crafting.

Let me know what you all think and your ideas on how you would do things and if this build could work well!

[MrCharlie]

Hi all!
So I am about to start a CoS game where we will go through CoS then into move the DM`s custom campaign, where the DM is letting us players pick races/classes from any realm (forgotten realms,eberron, etc)

Now im new to 5e but have been reading up alot on it and going through the forums looking at different builds/classes and the such.

I must say that I have fallen in love with the Artificer class, especially it's Battlesmith subclass.

Now the class I am thinking of building is A rock Gnome Battlesmith Artificer who will be using a pistol

I have a rough idea on how to build this character, I would start off as artificer which would allow me to be proficient with a pistol. I would also be able to maintain my pistol and also fix it with my abilities with tinkering and such from being a rock gnome and artificer, I would also have access to cantrips such as mending to help fix it.

Being able to infuse my pistol and other items will be a great asset to my team and myself, granting me an early magical weapon by infusing the pistol with say repeating shot, allowing me to get my int to dmg and attack rolls once i get battlesmith (or if my dm lets me refluff crossbow expert to work 100% with firearms, which he might do considering he already refluffed other feats for other players.)

Once I hit Battlesmith I thought i'd dip into fighter to grab the archery stance. So once im able to I was hoping to get the Sharpshooter feat, greatly increasing my dmg, alongside archery stance that will help balance the -5 to hit from sharpshooter for 10 more dmg.

From there I would keep going in my battlesmith lvls to get my steel defender, now here I was wondering if I was a gnome, would I be able to ride my SD? I was thinking of having it look a bit like a metagross from pokemon, a kind of mechanical 4 legged spider creature having it going around bashing things, while I shoot/cast from its back.

From there just keep going into battlesmith, creating magical weapons for the party, infusing normal ones, replicating others, with some fun spells, was looking at the conjure barrage spell with a bullet to bombard the enemies with then using animate object on the bullets for some fun combo madness. Using transmute rock, fabricate, stone shape spells to create my own supplies of materials for crafting.

Let me know what you all think and your ideas on how you would do things and if this build could work well!
So first of all you obviously understand artificer quite well, and I see no problems with the idea at all.

To answer questions; You could absolutely ride your steel defender, as long as it's in the form of a mount (that's technically one of the requirements, but you control the defenders form anyway so it does not matter). In practice there isn't necessarily a huge benefit to doing so, it can move 15 feet faster than a gnome and you could take mounted combatant for advantage against small/tiny creatures and to keep the Mount alive longer with demi-evasion, but your already looking at a feat poor build here.

That's the one thing to keep in mind when planning like this; right now, your planning on one, maybe two feats, in a campaign that goes to maybe level 10+, with a class that is heavily dependent on its main attribute. You're choosing either a 20 INT or crossbow/pistol expert and sharpshooter.

In my opinion, go for one of those. I'd recommend sharpshooter, mostly because you can mimic most of pistol expert already with repeating shot, your DM is being kind and letting you use a pistol to begin with, and as a spellcaster bonus action spells exist and I think the artificer even has a few of them. That said, if you find that you've been coerced into melee and you don't want to invest in a backup melee weapon, crossbow/pistol expert would be a great way to obviate the need for distance with your preferred weapon.

Also, because your are so single ability dependent (INT and CON are all you need) consider starting with a 17 INT (point buy) and taking a feat that gives +1 to INT. These aren't really strong, but they are cool and there are few opportunities to take them. And as an aside about attributes, 8-14-16-17-10-8 would be a good default array, going in order from STR to CHA. If no +1 INT feats interest you, 8-14-16-16-12-8 is another option. You'd likely be taking these at level 8 regardless, so it depends on if you think +1 WIS or the eventual feat would be more important.

Remember you are a spellcaster as well; for the first couple levels you rely exclusively on spells to be effective, and you continue to rely on them to supplement your attacks and items after that. You're also a bit of a tank; Repeating shot lets you use a pistol with a shield, you don't need to load it at all, and as such don't need a free hand. As the artificer AC infusions are also very strong and your armor options are at least decent (medium), you are very likely to end up the far and away master of AC in your party, which will be very good for avoiding the type of dangers in Barovia (where visibility, the type of enemy, and the circumstances of engagement conspire to make ranged combat a myth).

Finally, a fighter dip is absolutely worth it if you want to maximize your sharpshooting, but go for it after you get extra attack, and weigh when you want it.

[Wildarm]

Hi all!
So I am about to start a CoS game where we will go through CoS then into move the DM`s custom campaign, where the DM is letting us players pick races/classes from any realm (forgotten realms,eberron, etc)

Now im new to 5e but have been reading up alot on it and going through the forums looking at different builds/classes and the such.

I must say that I have fallen in love with the Artificer class, especially it's Battlesmith subclass.

Now the class I am thinking of building is A rock Gnome Battlesmith Artificer who will be using a pistol

Some thoughts:

If you don't care able riding your defender, starting with V Human and taking sharpshooter as the bonus feat is probably more effective if ranged fighting is your thing.

Start Fighter 1 so you get Heavy Armor Proficiency - Especially good for a Gnome since you can dump strength and just ride your steel defender with no movement penalty

[GearsX]

So first of all you obviously understand artificer quite well, and I see no problems with the idea at all.

To answer questions; You could absolutely ride your steel defender, as long as it's in the form of a mount (that's technically one of the requirements, but you control the defenders form anyway so it does not matter). In practice there isn't necessarily a huge benefit to doing so, it can move 15 feet faster than a gnome and you could take mounted combatant for advantage against small/tiny creatures and to keep the Mount alive longer with demi-evasion, but your already looking at a feat poor build here.

That's the one thing to keep in mind when planning like this; right now, your planning on one, maybe two feats, in a campaign that goes to maybe level 10+, with a class that is heavily dependent on its main attribute. You're choosing either a 20 INT or crossbow/pistol expert and sharpshooter.

In my opinion, go for one of those. I'd recommend sharpshooter, mostly because you can mimic most of pistol expert already with repeating shot, your DM is being kind and letting you use a pistol to begin with, and as a spellcaster bonus action spells exist and I think the artificer even has a few of them. That said, if you find that you've been coerced into melee and you don't want to invest in a backup melee weapon, crossbow/pistol expert would be a great way to obviate the need for distance with your preferred weapon.

Also, because your are so single ability dependent (INT and CON are all you need) consider starting with a 17 INT (point buy) and taking a feat that gives +1 to INT. These aren't really strong, but they are cool and there are few opportunities to take them. And as an aside about attributes, 8-14-16-17-10-8 would be a good default array, going in order from STR to CHA. If no +1 INT feats interest you, 8-14-16-16-12-8 is another option. You'd likely be taking these at level 8 regardless, so it depends on if you think +1 WIS or the eventual feat would be more important.

Remember you are a spellcaster as well; for the first couple levels you rely exclusively on spells to be effective, and you continue to rely on them to supplement your attacks and items after that. You're also a bit of a tank; Repeating shot lets you use a pistol with a shield, you don't need to load it at all, and as such don't need a free hand. As the artificer AC infusions are also very strong and your armor options are at least decent (medium), you are very likely to end up the far and away master of AC in your party, which will be very good for avoiding the type of dangers in Barovia (where visibility, the type of enemy, and the circumstances of engagement conspire to make ranged combat a myth).

Finally, a fighter dip is absolutely worth it if you want to maximize your sharpshooting, but go for it after you get extra attack, and weigh when you want it.

Hey thanks for the reply!!
Yah I know this build is quite feat starved, and I could probably fix that with taking vhuman or something but im wanting to stick with the gnome on here.

A way I figured I would fix this especially since I really want that xbow/pistol expert incase of close quarter combat would be by taking a hit on my INT score at first but then the moment I could would be to take the replicate Magical Item infusion to replicate Headband of Intellect to get 19 INT.

So yah I wont have 20 int. But 19 isnt too bad and maybe I could find another way to boost it up to 20. But I mean this all might not be necessary either because I think the DM is allowing us to roll 4d6 and pick the best 3 rolls for stats, letting us reroll 1's & 2's, so I might, I repeat MIGHT be able to roll an 18 in there to get me 20 int right off the bat, even if its 17 taking a 1 to stat with a feat would still get me 20 int.

I'll also reread the feats available to me that could boost int, considering the 2 feats I really want are, crossbow/pistol expert(if he lets me refluff it and make it work with it) and sharpshooter,

Picking the expert feat would allow me to focus on using the Enhanced weapon Infusion over repeating shot, or other infusions to increase my own ac or focus on helping to buff my teammates by infusing their gear.

Which do you find to be the best over all infuison's? not counting the replicate magical item ones of course.

[MrCharlie]

Hey thanks for the reply!!
Yah I know this build is quite feat starved, and I could probably fix that with taking vhuman or something but im wanting to stick with the gnome on here.

A way I figured I would fix this especially since I really want that xbow/pistol expert incase of close quarter combat would be by taking a hit on my INT score at first but then the moment I could would be to take the replicate Magical Item infusion to replicate Headband of Intellect to get 19 INT.

So yah I wont have 20 int. But 19 isnt too bad and maybe I could find another way to boost it up to 20. But I mean this all might not be necessary either because I think the DM is allowing us to roll 4d6 and pick the best 3 rolls for stats, letting us reroll 1's & 2's, so I might, I repeat MIGHT be able to roll an 18 in there to get me 20 int right off the bat, even if its 17 taking a 1 to stat with a feat would still get me 20 int.

I'll also reread the feats available to me that could boost int, considering the 2 feats I really want are, crossbow/pistol expert(if he lets me refluff it and make it work with it) and sharpshooter,

Picking the expert feat would allow me to focus on using the Enhanced weapon Infusion over repeating shot, or other infusions to increase my own ac or focus on helping to buff my teammates by infusing their gear.

Which do you find to be the best over all infusion's? not counting the replicate magical item ones of course.
You can absolutely use headband instead of increasing INT, the only problem is that headband is a level 10 infusion. This effectively means you'll be between 1 and 2 down what another artificer will be (down 1 levels 4-8, down 2 level 9, down 1 after).

It's not wrong by any means, particularly combined with enhanced attack. The one problem with it is that part of crossbow expert is redundant with repeating shot, but that's hardly a deal breaker.

In general, the best are repeating shot, enhanced defense, and repulsion shield if you interpret infusions as only usable once (I.E no enhanced defense shield and armor). The reason for this is that repeating shot allows you to use a hand-crossbow with a shield (or a pistol with a shield) which is effectively +2 ac for kinduve -1 attack and damage over enhanced weapon, and it frees up a feat. It's an extremely effective investment. Enhanced defense and repulsion shield are both simple AC boosts, and because the artificer can easily use a shield with ranged or melee combat and has decent armor, that's one of the artificers main strengths. An artificer can end up with an AC in the low 20's without finding any magic items, which is a very good place to be.

Also, because enhanced defense can be applied to half the classes in the game, it's a very strong boost for your allies if you decide to go load a tank up with infusions instead. You can easily turn a paladin, fighter, or even a rogue into a much more effective character by boosting their AC just a tad.

[GearsX]

You can absolutely use headband instead of increasing INT, the only problem is that headband is a level 10 infusion. This effectively means you'll be between 1 and 2 down what another artificer will be (down 1 levels 4-8, down 2 level 9, down 1 after).

It's not wrong by any means, particularly combined with enhanced attack. The one problem with it is that part of crossbow expert is redundant with repeating shot, but that's hardly a deal breaker.

In general, the best are repeating shot, enhanced defense, and repulsion shield if you interpret infusions as only usable once (I.E no enhanced defense shield and armor). The reason for this is that repeating shot allows you to use a hand-crossbow with a shield (or a pistol with a shield) which is effectively +2 ac for kinduve -1 attack and damage over enhanced weapon, and it frees up a feat. It's an extremely effective investment. Enhanced defense and repulsion shield are both simple AC boosts, and because the artificer can easily use a shield with ranged or melee combat and has decent armor, that's one of the artificers main strengths. An artificer can end up with an AC in the low 20's without finding any magic items, which is a very good place to be.

Also, because enhanced defense can be applied to half the classes in the game, it's a very strong boost for your allies if you decide to go load a tank up with infusions instead. You can easily turn a paladin, fighter, or even a rogue into a much more effective character by boosting their AC just a tad.

So I was looking at other possibilities other then fighter lvls for multiclassing, and found that maybe instead of fighter lvls I would take rogue lvls and take Arcane Trickster. Sure I lose the archery stance and action surge, but gain sneak attacks which will be great to attack enemies with advantage and sharpshooter, mage hand which will be great to use with the gadgets ill be tinkering, distraction items, exploding items etc, and a few more spells which I think will work wonders for my character. Now If i take say Forest Gnome I would have minor illusions as a cantrip, meaning I could make say a small boulder i could hide behind appear giving me full cover and attack from their meaning giving me advantage on attacks, hello sneak attacks!

Also got my stat rolls from the DM which are 18 16 11 13 10 12.

The 18 will definitly go into INT giving me 20 int at 1st lvl due to taking Gnome, 16 in CON and 13 in dex bumping it up to 14 from forest gnomes +1 Dex, so get full ac from Medium armor.

I was given the OK to use pistols and to be able to refluff crossbow expert into pistol expert.

So now I was thinking of diving straight 5 lvls into Artificer, grabbing Sharpshooter at lvl 4(over pistol expert since I will have repeating shot infusion anyways, later will grab expert for a 3rd attack with a 2nd pistol and bonus action), getting my extra attack at lvl 5, from there I would go 3 lvls in rogue to grab Arcane Trickster. From there is where im wondering what to do, I could go 17 battle smith / 3 AT letting me get the most out of Artificer (more infusion`s, more attuned magical items, upgraded steel defender, upgraded arcane jolt, 5th lvl artificer spells) and would let me have 2d6 sneak attack with mage hand. Which I plan to use to handle cursed items or traps, or tinkered devices to strategically place for distractions and such.

Or I could go higher Arcane trickster for more wizard spells and more sneak attack dmg die with other abilities.

How would you all go about this?