Renduaz
2021-03-09, 01:02 AM
Creating something like this has been a pet peeve of mine for a while, and when Tasha's came out, it provided some fantastic augmentations which make it truly feasible, and now I decided to share the unique build for any interested player's benefit and suggestions for improvement. Let's begin.
What is the Dronemaster?
The Dronemaster is very similar to its real world namesake, granting you command over one or several 'drones' ( Or magical servants ) which, while probably ( with a strong emphasis, considering they might just do exactly that depending on your wits and objective ) won't be a substitute for a full party in intense prolonged battle or many situations, can still inflict enormous havoc, pain, suffering and confusion upon your enemies, in addition to carrying out elaborate infiltration and sabotage missions, from a remote position.
How remote? Usually anywhere on the same plane of existence, or several hours away from destination depending on how much firepower and help you wanna pack, but we'll get to that later. Anyone with a little experience in Chainlocks or munchkinry in general reading this right now is probably already recognizing the old Chainlock feature at play, but the real meat of this build is not just 'infinite' range, but effective power at that range, and at all, which is pretty tricky to assemble with the range and duration limitations of most tools and buffs around. But, that is where we come in.
At full capacity, the Dronemaster can feel like a fraction of Godhood - An undying, unseen, nearly all-reaching, practically untraceable, risk-free and mostly costless force at your disposal while lounging at the comfort of your base.
Note: In the past I've I explored Wizard abilities which are far more grandiose in terms of remotely commanding with things involving conjuration, planar binding, using creatures to control other creatures, Simulacrum command, and other high-level spell antics, but the downside is that it only really gains momentum at high levels, while half of this build is pretty viable even at much lower levels.
Requirements
After all the talking, let's dive into the technical details.
Race
Any, but a High Elf is excellent for its 4 hour Trance ability enabling you to often achieve a long rest ( Which as a Dronemaster, you can initiate without danger ) before an opponent can finish theirs.
Class
3 levels of Warlock with Pact of the Chain is mandatory, and it is recommended to choose the Genie patron. Followed by at least 11 levels of Artificer, with a recommendation for Alchemist, and the other 6 can be optimally utilize either to go for the level 17 artificer if you wish, or into a Clockwork Soul Sorcerer/Scribe Wizard, though the Wizard subclass is just my preference.
Feats
Nothing particularly necessary on this front, though Chef and Poisoner would fit the archetype.
Eldritch Invocations
Voice of the Chain Master and Investment of the Chain Master. Eyes of the Runekeeper is useful, The rest are optional.
Artificer Infusions
Repeating shot, Homunculus Servant, Enhanced Defense and Enhanced Weapon are staples.
Spells
Suggestion, Animate Dead, Nystul's Magic Aura, Clairvoyance, Phantom Steed, Nondetection, Sending. Note that these spells aren't strictly mandatory, with some obviously only available if you MC as a Wizard. All the spells you really need can already be drawn from the Artificer spell list or your Warlock pact.
Deployment
As for the fun part, we'll take a look at some of the stuff you can accomplish starting from earlier levels and onwards, with the first order of business being your familiar.
Chosen Familiar
The familiar is the centerpiece of the build, so we'll need to pick wisely depending on the goal. Ignoring the lousy basic familiars, let's focus on two of the Chainlock familiar options that I deem most efficient - The Imp and the Sprite.
The Imp is a more reliable damage dealer, beefier, can see in magical darkness, is immune to fire, resistant to nonmagical attacks, to magic, is invisible at will, and all the other good stuff everyone knows. Its main drawbacks however are lack of range and partial damage reliance on Poison damage.
The Sprite is extremely fragile and weak, but has a significant advantage, and not the rather ineffective poison ability, but being the only familiar capable of making a ranged weapon attack while wielding a miniature shortbow, and wearing leather armor too. Disclaimer: this build takes the conservative approach of assuming your DM would forbid custom-fitting familiars with tiny armor or weapon versions and assigning arbitrary stats for that sake. If they don't, then never pick the Sprite.
These familiars are amazing in their own right. Much has been said by myself and others on the manipulations of a Chain Master and how easily you can steal ( even giving thieves tools to a familiar with their great dex and stealth ), frame, plant things, madden others, start fights, spy on, poison the drinks of, intimidate and a host of other stuff that I can link a primer on upon request that would take too long for this thread.
However, they are not much for direct engagement - holding their own against threats, direct assassination, environmental interaction and influence, etc, and I aim to change that.
Low Level Statistics and Buffs
First of all, its important to remember that as a Chainlock, whenever you take the Attack action, regardless of distance or target, you can forego one attack to make your familiar attack with their reaction, perserving action and bonus action on their turn.
This is important, as your primary ranged combat strategies to protect a feeble Sprite or Imp later on would be to attack with a reaction, turn invisible with an action, fly away, and repeat. The Investment of the Chain Master then enables you to attack twice with your familiar, both with your action and their reaction, then with your bonus action and their action, should you feel comfortable exposing your familiar. In order to do either of those, you will have to let your familiar act on a telepathic instruction rather than your own perception.
Our Artificer Infusions can only be applied to our ranged familiar, the Sprite, buffing both weapon and armor, with repeating shot providing infinite ammo in equal measure if the Sprite did not already have that. Next up, we can expend 1st level slots to give the familiar indefinitely lasting, drinkable at leisure elixirs of Resilience and Boldness.
Aid can then be cast for 8 hours without concentration, and Elemental Weapon or Flame Arrows for 1 hour when it comes to more nearby targets, which might frequently be the case in a party. Alternatively, you can expend your concentration on Enhance Ability for a temp HP boost. Lastly, a familiar can retreat to regain some minor temp HP with Chef treats, or a Poisoner can coat the Sprite's bow with poison, or any poison you can access really.
With all boosts combined, most of which could be done as at least by level 6 save 3rd level spells, our familiar is still a bit puny, but with invisible strikes, flight, high range attacks ( at disadvanatage for the truly far, but still worth it ) and resistances, it can now survive a hit or two rom low level foes instead of being a puffball, and probably take out some with harassment tactics.
Do not forget that if your familiar is compromised in any way, captured or charmed or vulnerable to damage, you can dismiss it with an action and resummon it with infusions and leftover effects intact before sending it off again.
At any rate, with the current statistics, we still strive for our familiar to never get hit, which problematic for the Imp due to opportunity attacks, but plausible for the invisible fleeting sprite against many creatures. You should therefore reserve the Imp for swift assassination attempts of targets with low HP and no resistance to poison if you are confident that one could be picked off in a quick burst of attacks.
The stats including all optional buffs are as follows:
Imp - 14AC, 6+1d4 to hit, 15hp, 1d4piercing+3d6poison ( halved on success)+1d4elemental
Sprite - 17AC, 7hp, +8 to hit ( shortbow ), 1d1+2+1d4elemental+
2d8poision on DC14 save if Poisoner, more for other poisons ( Give vials to familiar to apply at leisure )
Bottled Respite
The Genie's Bottled Respite, a feature with so much utility at level 1, it deserves its own primer (https://justpaste.it/2o59b) to truly appreciate its scope, but in short, you can utilize it for two main purposes - transportation via flight to whichever new position you want your familiar to bring you to, which can be done as a general command, since your familiar is intelligent, or being carried by a party member or other servant while you are controlling drones, and secondly as a delivery system.
Although it requires some preparation or costs depending on your selection, handing your familiar a nearly broken ( low HP ) or full hp Genie's Vessel to nontheless be hit and broken by the familiar at any point in space, allowing 20 foot radius worth of content to instantly spill out, grants you a major means of physical engagement, and resembles an 8th level object teleportation function. Whether it be a large assembled rock to be dropped above some unfortunate foes, or used to collapse a structure, a stack of alchemist's fire or even plain wood or oil ready to be ignited, pure molten metal from a temporary forge installed in your vessel, the possibilities are endless and varied.
The Miniature Armada
The Familiar is not the sole drone at your disposal. The Homunculus Servant can be commanded, at any range, via your familiar if brought along with it, is a flying creature, and can hurl ranged force bolts at opponents using your bonus action ( Which you can see as targets through your familiar's senses ), making it an amazing companion for the sprite, especially as a distraction.
The downside is the lack of invisibility, but the Homunculus can still masquerade as an inconspicuous object when immobile, or you could cast Invisibility on it for a short expedition, or simply infuse an item inside your Genie's vessel and have your familiar break and release it if absolute stealth is required.
Later on, you can add a Tiny Servant to your ranks, lasting 8 hours without concentration, and given a general order to assist/attack with/follow your other minions. It has Blindsight to 60 feet, so it can alert its companions to danger.
Even later, you can forego a concentration buff to summon a Construct Spirit for 1 hour as the 'tank' of a short distance incursion if you resume your advancement as an Artificer, and later on if you MC as a Wizard, Animate Dead and Phantom Steed skeleton archers could be introduced to the whole mix as a bona fide non-stealthy harassment force.
Remember, you can give Alchemist potions to any companion for as many spell slots as you have to spare, which might not be much, but buff spells such as Aid which affect multiple targets can also apply.
High Level Mechanics
At around level 14 ( Artificer 11 ), and a bit prior, you will gain access to Restorative Reagents, allowing a minion to regain a measure of temp HP when recouping by drinking one of your potions. More importantly, you gain access to the final cornerstone of the high level Dronemaster, which is the Spell-Storing Item. By entrusting it to your familiar, or say choosing your Sprite's bow, you can invest all kinds of utility spells that your familiar itself can now use, up to 10 times with an INT of 5.
You could try barring opponents in their quarters by casting Arcane Lock on stuff or other antics, but most of the time, you'll want to pick either Catapult or Tasha's Caustic Brew, or Melf's Acid Arrow if subclass spells are allowed. Doing so effectively solves both your Imp's absence of range, and your Sprite's weakness to boot, allowing you to inflict 4d8 bludgeoning damage, 4d4 acid damage or 4d4+2d4 acid damage for up to 10 times.
Tasha's Caustic Brew is incredible as you can make your familiar vanish and the damage to co tinue until your target spends their action putting it out, during which time theu can keep getting pelted by other minions or attacked again.
As for your remaining 6 levels, you could go for the level 17 Artificer or even a warlock, or any choice really, but notable options are the Clockwork Soul sorcerer, granting you access to Metamagic for your buffs and such, and the Bastion of Law feature which can bestow up to 5d8 warding points on a minion. Note that it is distinct from temp HP and Aid's raised HP max, meaning bonuses from other sources all stack, enabling your drone to suffer a bit of punishment even at high levels.
The Scribe Wizard with Manifest Mind also works wonders with the archetype, although at a much shorter range, or you could go for Divinations Portent on any target you can see at any range, or a Necromancer. At any rate, you should pick up Animate Dead. One cool trick you could do with it is summon a zombie, give it an Alter Self potion ( Keep in mind it can't be dispelled unlike Alter Self ), cast Nystul's Magic Aura on it with some perfume or body spray possibly, and send it out with a familiar or other means of communication to act as your Avatar or pretend to be someone else.
Summary
Not so bad for what started out as a powerless minion with only a few hitpoints and tickle strikes, right? Here are a couple key points to discuss though:
A combined effort
Despite being pimped out many times over even the standard Chainlock familiar, our drone was always meant to be just a drone, and would likely be overwhelmed in no time if thrust into heedless frontal combat. The plan should start by disrupting, confusing, turning one against the other, poisoning or misleading enemies into hurting themselves via our invisible presence and the tools at our disposal ( sounds, items, etc ), activation of our 'haymaker' in the form of the shattered Genie vessel, whether to hinder or to damage, pciking off vulnerable isolated targets which can't see or reach us, and then using the Armada at full offensive to bring down or weaken a stronger target.
Play your cards right, and the drones might just 'clear out' whole sections or accomplish a full party objective, but anticipate using them mostly as support or covert ops. Even sending it one party member to a foray, or better yet, using your Warlock's Suggestion to coerce a creature into doing so, with your drones as backup multiplies their deadliness.
Your minions are more powerful than my presentation
This build only touches on what your minions can accomplish by yourself, by strict RAW and without any external resources at that. In a real campaign, for the DM to narrate the lengthy escapades of your drones and their mischief in a far-off area, it is likely of importance to the whole party, for example, a place you aren't keen on setting foot in personally yet, or require further information, or to weaken first, or just need a rest for a while.
In that instance, the entire party can pitch in to bolster the drones, especially full casters like Clerics, Wizards, Bards and Druids, or even another Artificer or Warlock, with whatever long-acting boons they can provide. To boot, as an Artificer, you will likely be able to replicate magic items you find throughout the campaign like potions, arrows, rings, necklaces, etc that are much more potent than your basic class fare, though you might be wary of losing those.
Even with the party buffing every member of your armada alone, particularly those you can't spare spell slots or infusions for, it could easily quadruple in resilience and damage output, and that point might as well even carry out direct assaults against other groups.
Your drones cannot be easily dispelled
It is very crucial to underscore that a creature with Dispel Magic, rare enough on their own, do not mean the end of your incursion. I don't want to babble about the rules too much, but you can Google the relevant info - Familiars can't be unsummoned by Dispel Magic, nor can the Homunculus infusion which is not a spell, nor any of your Artificer infusion and Potion effects, and your spell-storin items can't be depleted either. Tiny Servant can be, as well as any buff spells.
Antimagic Field is more dangerous, winking out your drones and tools out of existence, however it is worth noting that the caster has just deprived themselves of an invaluable spell slot by wasting it on your drones, and furthermore that if you intend to linger, then they accomplished nothing - The drones and all of their long-lasting buffs and infusions will reappear as soon as that caster moves away or the spell's duration ends, completely intact. Not to mention you can always just try to keep enemy casters at range.
It would take a full-blown Antimagic Zone spread out over an area to really halt the drones in that manner, assuming they can't bypass it, but those are found in very high-level environments anyway.
The drones are expendable and renewable
As you might be eager to call out, there is a variety of ways by which the drones might be discovered, knocked out, or fail. The fundamental reason of being a Dronemaster, though, is that your losses are only measured in time, spell slots, minor costs of vessel replacement or new familiar if you failed to wink one out in time, whatever you put into a vessel if at all, and pride.
You and your party are sitting in safety taking care of downtime activities while all of those events transpire, and there is almost no direct spell or ability by which any of your minions could be pried for information about their owner before ceasing to exist by thought, not to mention you knowing as soon as it happens or just going to a solo location and withholding important whereabouts or details from them. The only risk is tyour enemies having access to spells like Commune or Contact Other Plane and the DM himself opting to provide them accurate details of identity or whereabouts, as a sort of deus ex machina intervention.
You can just keep doing it over and over again as soon as you rest, and if you are an High Elf, you finish resting 4 hours earlier than most of your foes. Your capacity to be a nasty nuisance is even more intimidating than your minions raw power.
Imagine just finishing dealing with the hellish mess caused by your drones to items, property, creature and harmony, trying to nap, repair stuff, attend to an experiment or study or feeding, only for the nightmare to apparate yet again, informing them in voice that you can keep this up until the end of their days, and there is nothing they can do to permnanently dispose of the drones.
Imagine yourself having to live that life. You can easily get entire groups of mobs or baddies adopting a submissive attitude toward the sadistic mage's Emissary and parleying with you as to what tribute you want or an action they should undertake, or cease partaking in. They could also be made to flee or hide away from their abode. Alternatively, you can intimidate single members to sabotage their own and be spared by you, and the list goes on.
This works even on a lot of unintelligent beasts and monstrosities, after being swarmed enough times, they might just be incentivized to migrate from the infested lair or territory for new grounds, paving a clear path for your party.
You're more than your drones
Remember, this is not an 'all-in' build - Your character won't be a jumble of different classes desined to exclusively facilitate the drones bht render you worthless otherwise. You can be a level 17 Alchemist Artificer with only the 3 levels of Chainlock as your dip, and with the Genie patron, it honestly meshes perfectly for any Artificer. Likewise, levelling as a Clockwork Soul Sorcerer or Wizard of any kind will open up Multiclasser slots, be thematic for your Artificer main, and add excellent contributions.
If at any given adventuring day you decide to skip remote control and just dive in with your party, or only bring out your drones for special occassions, you won't be limited by it.
Finish
And that's the full build and guide, hope it serves you well.
What is the Dronemaster?
The Dronemaster is very similar to its real world namesake, granting you command over one or several 'drones' ( Or magical servants ) which, while probably ( with a strong emphasis, considering they might just do exactly that depending on your wits and objective ) won't be a substitute for a full party in intense prolonged battle or many situations, can still inflict enormous havoc, pain, suffering and confusion upon your enemies, in addition to carrying out elaborate infiltration and sabotage missions, from a remote position.
How remote? Usually anywhere on the same plane of existence, or several hours away from destination depending on how much firepower and help you wanna pack, but we'll get to that later. Anyone with a little experience in Chainlocks or munchkinry in general reading this right now is probably already recognizing the old Chainlock feature at play, but the real meat of this build is not just 'infinite' range, but effective power at that range, and at all, which is pretty tricky to assemble with the range and duration limitations of most tools and buffs around. But, that is where we come in.
At full capacity, the Dronemaster can feel like a fraction of Godhood - An undying, unseen, nearly all-reaching, practically untraceable, risk-free and mostly costless force at your disposal while lounging at the comfort of your base.
Note: In the past I've I explored Wizard abilities which are far more grandiose in terms of remotely commanding with things involving conjuration, planar binding, using creatures to control other creatures, Simulacrum command, and other high-level spell antics, but the downside is that it only really gains momentum at high levels, while half of this build is pretty viable even at much lower levels.
Requirements
After all the talking, let's dive into the technical details.
Race
Any, but a High Elf is excellent for its 4 hour Trance ability enabling you to often achieve a long rest ( Which as a Dronemaster, you can initiate without danger ) before an opponent can finish theirs.
Class
3 levels of Warlock with Pact of the Chain is mandatory, and it is recommended to choose the Genie patron. Followed by at least 11 levels of Artificer, with a recommendation for Alchemist, and the other 6 can be optimally utilize either to go for the level 17 artificer if you wish, or into a Clockwork Soul Sorcerer/Scribe Wizard, though the Wizard subclass is just my preference.
Feats
Nothing particularly necessary on this front, though Chef and Poisoner would fit the archetype.
Eldritch Invocations
Voice of the Chain Master and Investment of the Chain Master. Eyes of the Runekeeper is useful, The rest are optional.
Artificer Infusions
Repeating shot, Homunculus Servant, Enhanced Defense and Enhanced Weapon are staples.
Spells
Suggestion, Animate Dead, Nystul's Magic Aura, Clairvoyance, Phantom Steed, Nondetection, Sending. Note that these spells aren't strictly mandatory, with some obviously only available if you MC as a Wizard. All the spells you really need can already be drawn from the Artificer spell list or your Warlock pact.
Deployment
As for the fun part, we'll take a look at some of the stuff you can accomplish starting from earlier levels and onwards, with the first order of business being your familiar.
Chosen Familiar
The familiar is the centerpiece of the build, so we'll need to pick wisely depending on the goal. Ignoring the lousy basic familiars, let's focus on two of the Chainlock familiar options that I deem most efficient - The Imp and the Sprite.
The Imp is a more reliable damage dealer, beefier, can see in magical darkness, is immune to fire, resistant to nonmagical attacks, to magic, is invisible at will, and all the other good stuff everyone knows. Its main drawbacks however are lack of range and partial damage reliance on Poison damage.
The Sprite is extremely fragile and weak, but has a significant advantage, and not the rather ineffective poison ability, but being the only familiar capable of making a ranged weapon attack while wielding a miniature shortbow, and wearing leather armor too. Disclaimer: this build takes the conservative approach of assuming your DM would forbid custom-fitting familiars with tiny armor or weapon versions and assigning arbitrary stats for that sake. If they don't, then never pick the Sprite.
These familiars are amazing in their own right. Much has been said by myself and others on the manipulations of a Chain Master and how easily you can steal ( even giving thieves tools to a familiar with their great dex and stealth ), frame, plant things, madden others, start fights, spy on, poison the drinks of, intimidate and a host of other stuff that I can link a primer on upon request that would take too long for this thread.
However, they are not much for direct engagement - holding their own against threats, direct assassination, environmental interaction and influence, etc, and I aim to change that.
Low Level Statistics and Buffs
First of all, its important to remember that as a Chainlock, whenever you take the Attack action, regardless of distance or target, you can forego one attack to make your familiar attack with their reaction, perserving action and bonus action on their turn.
This is important, as your primary ranged combat strategies to protect a feeble Sprite or Imp later on would be to attack with a reaction, turn invisible with an action, fly away, and repeat. The Investment of the Chain Master then enables you to attack twice with your familiar, both with your action and their reaction, then with your bonus action and their action, should you feel comfortable exposing your familiar. In order to do either of those, you will have to let your familiar act on a telepathic instruction rather than your own perception.
Our Artificer Infusions can only be applied to our ranged familiar, the Sprite, buffing both weapon and armor, with repeating shot providing infinite ammo in equal measure if the Sprite did not already have that. Next up, we can expend 1st level slots to give the familiar indefinitely lasting, drinkable at leisure elixirs of Resilience and Boldness.
Aid can then be cast for 8 hours without concentration, and Elemental Weapon or Flame Arrows for 1 hour when it comes to more nearby targets, which might frequently be the case in a party. Alternatively, you can expend your concentration on Enhance Ability for a temp HP boost. Lastly, a familiar can retreat to regain some minor temp HP with Chef treats, or a Poisoner can coat the Sprite's bow with poison, or any poison you can access really.
With all boosts combined, most of which could be done as at least by level 6 save 3rd level spells, our familiar is still a bit puny, but with invisible strikes, flight, high range attacks ( at disadvanatage for the truly far, but still worth it ) and resistances, it can now survive a hit or two rom low level foes instead of being a puffball, and probably take out some with harassment tactics.
Do not forget that if your familiar is compromised in any way, captured or charmed or vulnerable to damage, you can dismiss it with an action and resummon it with infusions and leftover effects intact before sending it off again.
At any rate, with the current statistics, we still strive for our familiar to never get hit, which problematic for the Imp due to opportunity attacks, but plausible for the invisible fleeting sprite against many creatures. You should therefore reserve the Imp for swift assassination attempts of targets with low HP and no resistance to poison if you are confident that one could be picked off in a quick burst of attacks.
The stats including all optional buffs are as follows:
Imp - 14AC, 6+1d4 to hit, 15hp, 1d4piercing+3d6poison ( halved on success)+1d4elemental
Sprite - 17AC, 7hp, +8 to hit ( shortbow ), 1d1+2+1d4elemental+
2d8poision on DC14 save if Poisoner, more for other poisons ( Give vials to familiar to apply at leisure )
Bottled Respite
The Genie's Bottled Respite, a feature with so much utility at level 1, it deserves its own primer (https://justpaste.it/2o59b) to truly appreciate its scope, but in short, you can utilize it for two main purposes - transportation via flight to whichever new position you want your familiar to bring you to, which can be done as a general command, since your familiar is intelligent, or being carried by a party member or other servant while you are controlling drones, and secondly as a delivery system.
Although it requires some preparation or costs depending on your selection, handing your familiar a nearly broken ( low HP ) or full hp Genie's Vessel to nontheless be hit and broken by the familiar at any point in space, allowing 20 foot radius worth of content to instantly spill out, grants you a major means of physical engagement, and resembles an 8th level object teleportation function. Whether it be a large assembled rock to be dropped above some unfortunate foes, or used to collapse a structure, a stack of alchemist's fire or even plain wood or oil ready to be ignited, pure molten metal from a temporary forge installed in your vessel, the possibilities are endless and varied.
The Miniature Armada
The Familiar is not the sole drone at your disposal. The Homunculus Servant can be commanded, at any range, via your familiar if brought along with it, is a flying creature, and can hurl ranged force bolts at opponents using your bonus action ( Which you can see as targets through your familiar's senses ), making it an amazing companion for the sprite, especially as a distraction.
The downside is the lack of invisibility, but the Homunculus can still masquerade as an inconspicuous object when immobile, or you could cast Invisibility on it for a short expedition, or simply infuse an item inside your Genie's vessel and have your familiar break and release it if absolute stealth is required.
Later on, you can add a Tiny Servant to your ranks, lasting 8 hours without concentration, and given a general order to assist/attack with/follow your other minions. It has Blindsight to 60 feet, so it can alert its companions to danger.
Even later, you can forego a concentration buff to summon a Construct Spirit for 1 hour as the 'tank' of a short distance incursion if you resume your advancement as an Artificer, and later on if you MC as a Wizard, Animate Dead and Phantom Steed skeleton archers could be introduced to the whole mix as a bona fide non-stealthy harassment force.
Remember, you can give Alchemist potions to any companion for as many spell slots as you have to spare, which might not be much, but buff spells such as Aid which affect multiple targets can also apply.
High Level Mechanics
At around level 14 ( Artificer 11 ), and a bit prior, you will gain access to Restorative Reagents, allowing a minion to regain a measure of temp HP when recouping by drinking one of your potions. More importantly, you gain access to the final cornerstone of the high level Dronemaster, which is the Spell-Storing Item. By entrusting it to your familiar, or say choosing your Sprite's bow, you can invest all kinds of utility spells that your familiar itself can now use, up to 10 times with an INT of 5.
You could try barring opponents in their quarters by casting Arcane Lock on stuff or other antics, but most of the time, you'll want to pick either Catapult or Tasha's Caustic Brew, or Melf's Acid Arrow if subclass spells are allowed. Doing so effectively solves both your Imp's absence of range, and your Sprite's weakness to boot, allowing you to inflict 4d8 bludgeoning damage, 4d4 acid damage or 4d4+2d4 acid damage for up to 10 times.
Tasha's Caustic Brew is incredible as you can make your familiar vanish and the damage to co tinue until your target spends their action putting it out, during which time theu can keep getting pelted by other minions or attacked again.
As for your remaining 6 levels, you could go for the level 17 Artificer or even a warlock, or any choice really, but notable options are the Clockwork Soul sorcerer, granting you access to Metamagic for your buffs and such, and the Bastion of Law feature which can bestow up to 5d8 warding points on a minion. Note that it is distinct from temp HP and Aid's raised HP max, meaning bonuses from other sources all stack, enabling your drone to suffer a bit of punishment even at high levels.
The Scribe Wizard with Manifest Mind also works wonders with the archetype, although at a much shorter range, or you could go for Divinations Portent on any target you can see at any range, or a Necromancer. At any rate, you should pick up Animate Dead. One cool trick you could do with it is summon a zombie, give it an Alter Self potion ( Keep in mind it can't be dispelled unlike Alter Self ), cast Nystul's Magic Aura on it with some perfume or body spray possibly, and send it out with a familiar or other means of communication to act as your Avatar or pretend to be someone else.
Summary
Not so bad for what started out as a powerless minion with only a few hitpoints and tickle strikes, right? Here are a couple key points to discuss though:
A combined effort
Despite being pimped out many times over even the standard Chainlock familiar, our drone was always meant to be just a drone, and would likely be overwhelmed in no time if thrust into heedless frontal combat. The plan should start by disrupting, confusing, turning one against the other, poisoning or misleading enemies into hurting themselves via our invisible presence and the tools at our disposal ( sounds, items, etc ), activation of our 'haymaker' in the form of the shattered Genie vessel, whether to hinder or to damage, pciking off vulnerable isolated targets which can't see or reach us, and then using the Armada at full offensive to bring down or weaken a stronger target.
Play your cards right, and the drones might just 'clear out' whole sections or accomplish a full party objective, but anticipate using them mostly as support or covert ops. Even sending it one party member to a foray, or better yet, using your Warlock's Suggestion to coerce a creature into doing so, with your drones as backup multiplies their deadliness.
Your minions are more powerful than my presentation
This build only touches on what your minions can accomplish by yourself, by strict RAW and without any external resources at that. In a real campaign, for the DM to narrate the lengthy escapades of your drones and their mischief in a far-off area, it is likely of importance to the whole party, for example, a place you aren't keen on setting foot in personally yet, or require further information, or to weaken first, or just need a rest for a while.
In that instance, the entire party can pitch in to bolster the drones, especially full casters like Clerics, Wizards, Bards and Druids, or even another Artificer or Warlock, with whatever long-acting boons they can provide. To boot, as an Artificer, you will likely be able to replicate magic items you find throughout the campaign like potions, arrows, rings, necklaces, etc that are much more potent than your basic class fare, though you might be wary of losing those.
Even with the party buffing every member of your armada alone, particularly those you can't spare spell slots or infusions for, it could easily quadruple in resilience and damage output, and that point might as well even carry out direct assaults against other groups.
Your drones cannot be easily dispelled
It is very crucial to underscore that a creature with Dispel Magic, rare enough on their own, do not mean the end of your incursion. I don't want to babble about the rules too much, but you can Google the relevant info - Familiars can't be unsummoned by Dispel Magic, nor can the Homunculus infusion which is not a spell, nor any of your Artificer infusion and Potion effects, and your spell-storin items can't be depleted either. Tiny Servant can be, as well as any buff spells.
Antimagic Field is more dangerous, winking out your drones and tools out of existence, however it is worth noting that the caster has just deprived themselves of an invaluable spell slot by wasting it on your drones, and furthermore that if you intend to linger, then they accomplished nothing - The drones and all of their long-lasting buffs and infusions will reappear as soon as that caster moves away or the spell's duration ends, completely intact. Not to mention you can always just try to keep enemy casters at range.
It would take a full-blown Antimagic Zone spread out over an area to really halt the drones in that manner, assuming they can't bypass it, but those are found in very high-level environments anyway.
The drones are expendable and renewable
As you might be eager to call out, there is a variety of ways by which the drones might be discovered, knocked out, or fail. The fundamental reason of being a Dronemaster, though, is that your losses are only measured in time, spell slots, minor costs of vessel replacement or new familiar if you failed to wink one out in time, whatever you put into a vessel if at all, and pride.
You and your party are sitting in safety taking care of downtime activities while all of those events transpire, and there is almost no direct spell or ability by which any of your minions could be pried for information about their owner before ceasing to exist by thought, not to mention you knowing as soon as it happens or just going to a solo location and withholding important whereabouts or details from them. The only risk is tyour enemies having access to spells like Commune or Contact Other Plane and the DM himself opting to provide them accurate details of identity or whereabouts, as a sort of deus ex machina intervention.
You can just keep doing it over and over again as soon as you rest, and if you are an High Elf, you finish resting 4 hours earlier than most of your foes. Your capacity to be a nasty nuisance is even more intimidating than your minions raw power.
Imagine just finishing dealing with the hellish mess caused by your drones to items, property, creature and harmony, trying to nap, repair stuff, attend to an experiment or study or feeding, only for the nightmare to apparate yet again, informing them in voice that you can keep this up until the end of their days, and there is nothing they can do to permnanently dispose of the drones.
Imagine yourself having to live that life. You can easily get entire groups of mobs or baddies adopting a submissive attitude toward the sadistic mage's Emissary and parleying with you as to what tribute you want or an action they should undertake, or cease partaking in. They could also be made to flee or hide away from their abode. Alternatively, you can intimidate single members to sabotage their own and be spared by you, and the list goes on.
This works even on a lot of unintelligent beasts and monstrosities, after being swarmed enough times, they might just be incentivized to migrate from the infested lair or territory for new grounds, paving a clear path for your party.
You're more than your drones
Remember, this is not an 'all-in' build - Your character won't be a jumble of different classes desined to exclusively facilitate the drones bht render you worthless otherwise. You can be a level 17 Alchemist Artificer with only the 3 levels of Chainlock as your dip, and with the Genie patron, it honestly meshes perfectly for any Artificer. Likewise, levelling as a Clockwork Soul Sorcerer or Wizard of any kind will open up Multiclasser slots, be thematic for your Artificer main, and add excellent contributions.
If at any given adventuring day you decide to skip remote control and just dive in with your party, or only bring out your drones for special occassions, you won't be limited by it.
Finish
And that's the full build and guide, hope it serves you well.