Mounted Kobold Artificer Battlesmith

[Nerdguy88]

I have an upcoming one shot with friends and wanted to make a character I wouldn't normally play. I settled on a mounted kobold after looking over the Battlesmith Artificer. We have 14 levels to work with and I am thinking of going straight 14 levels artificer. Here is what I have so far.

Race: Kobold

Stats: Str 8 Dex 14 Con 14 Int 18 Wis 10 Cha 10

Class: Artificer Battlesmith 14

Feats: Sentinel, Polearm Master, Fey Touched +1 INT (spell: Hunter's Mark)

Infusions: Enhanced Defense, Enhanced Weapon, Replicate Magic Item (Cloak of Protection), Repulsion Shield, Ring of Protection

We are starting with extra equipment under the 'high magic campaign' column under extra equipment so I get 6,000 gold, three uncommon magic items, one rare magic item. What are extra items that would be good to start with? If there are good magic items out there that could replace the infusions I could use those for other things as well.

Edit: I already have two attuned items with the cloak and ring of protection.

Edit Edit: Magic Item Savant removes all requirements from items so really any good magic items is helpful!

Possible Additional Magic Items: Saddle of the Cavalier (Uncommon/No Attunement)

[Joe the Rat]

Saddle of the Cavalier (uncommon, no attunement) is a good utility option for any dedicated rider No getting knocked off, no getting your mount knocked out from under you.

[Sigreid]

If I might make a suggestion. Change your enhance weapon infusion to repeating shot and get pistol to cast it on. Fast moving ranged attacker with a shield and a pistol that never has to be loaded seems on theme.

[Nerdguy88]

If I might make a suggestion. Change your enhance weapon infusion to repeating shot and get pistol to cast it on. Fast moving ranged attacker with a shield and a pistol that never has to be loaded seems on theme.

The reason for using melee instead of ranged is the kobolds pack tactics. While mounted and attacking in melee you always have advantage and you can be VERY tanky.


Saddle of the Cavalier (uncommon, no attunement) is a good utility option for any dedicated rider No getting knocked off, no getting your mount knocked out from under you.

I REALLY like this one. More importantly for me on the saddle is that attack rolls against your mount have disadvantage!

[kaervaak]

Gunner (or crossbow expert if you don't need the ASI) and Sharpshooter with a repeating shot pistol is the best damage you can get with a Battlesmith as far as I'm concerned. This allows you to be in melee range and still use sharpshooter with pack tactics for great damage and gives you the flexibility of attacking from range as well.

You might want to consider either a 1 level dip into fighter for archery fighting style or picking it up from a feat.

Winged boots on your steel defender is a great choice for an infusion. Also put warding bond in your spell storing item so your Defender can cast it on you (or a squishy party member).

For your rare magic item, I would strongly suggest Mantle of Spell Resistance. That will give you amazing defense against magic, coupled with your great AC, to make you extremely hard to hurt.

I'd urge you to reconsider hunter's mark for your fey touched spell. At your level, you'll have better things to concentrate on and it competes too much with your bonus action. Consider something like gift of alacrity, dissonant whispers, or command instead.

[Sigreid]

The reason for using melee instead of ranged is the kobolds pack tactics. While mounted and attacking in melee you always have advantage and you can be VERY tanky.



I do get that, but you need an ally within range so if you have a melee companion that can fill that role. You could also consider Returning for the best of both worlds on a hand axe. Since the weapon becomes magic and returning you can melee or Ranged.

Also, now that I think about it, Gunner allows you to fire while in melee with no penalty. Still best of both worlds IMO. But, your character you're joy!

[Nerdguy88]

I do get that, but you need an ally within range so if you have a melee companion that can fill that role. You could also consider Returning for the best of both worlds on a hand axe. Since the weapon becomes magic and returning you can melee or Ranged.

Also, now that I think about it, Gunner allows you to fire while in melee with no penalty. Still best of both worlds IMO. But, your character you're joy!

While mounted on your medium sized steel defender you are ALWAYS within 5 feet of an ally. With the saddle that was talked about above any attacks against your mount have disadvantage+you get a free attack with sentinel, and your defender can give things disadvantage that attack you. You can top out at 32AC with disadvantage on attacks against you so I'm not to worried about being in combat. Not really looking to change what the character does. He is a melee mounted combatant. Just trying to find magic items to fill in this role.

[kaervaak]

If I were building this I'd go for:

Uncommon:

- Saddle of the Cavalier

- Sentinel Shield

- Pearl of Power (attunement)

Rare:

- Mantle of Spell Resistance (attunement)

[quindraco]

I have an upcoming one shot with friends and wanted to make a character I wouldn't normally play. I settled on a mounted kobold after looking over the Battlesmith Artificer. We have 14 levels to work with and I am thinking of going straight 14 levels artificer. Here is what I have so far.

Race: Kobold

Stats: Str 8 Dex 14 Con 14 Int 18 Wis 10 Cha 10

Class: Artificer Battlesmith 14

Feats: Sentinel, Polearm Master, Fey Touched +1 INT (spell: Hunter's Mark)

Infusions: Enhanced Defense, Enhanced Weapon, Replicate Magic Item (Cloak of Protection), Repulsion Shield, Ring of Protection

We are starting with extra equipment under the 'high magic campaign' column under extra equipment so I get 6,000 gold, three uncommon magic items, one rare magic item. What are extra items that would be good to start with? If there are good magic items out there that could replace the infusions I could use those for other things as well.

Edit: I already have two attuned items with the cloak and ring of protection.

Edit Edit: Magic Item Savant removes all requirements from items so really any good magic items is helpful!

Possible Additional Magic Items: Saddle of the Cavalier (Uncommon/No Attunement)

General build advice is below. Here's your magic item advice:

Infusions: Drop Repulsion Shield, take Amulet of Health. Re-build your statline so you can credibly dump-stat CON, since you'll never use it - the Amulet is providing all the stat points you need.
Rare: Cloak of Displacement, which is how you make your AC unbelievable without needing to rely on the Defender's reaction.
Uncommon: Saddle of the Cavalier, for comboing with the Cloak of Displacement. +1 Shield (this is why you dropped Repulsion Shield). Bracers of Defense (these go on the defender).

That gets you (assuming you keep the spear, which I am adamant is a bad idea):
Kobold: AC 24, Disadvantage to be hit, HP: 129. Accuracy: +11 with advantage to hit. Damage: 1d6+6 (9.5 without crits) base, 1d4+6 bonus action (8.5, lower than the defender's rend, but much more accurate)
--if Hex is up (or, worse, Hunter's Mark): Damage 2d6 + 6/1d4+1d6+6; there's no way to Hex, PAM, and Rend in one turn, so you have to pick one of the three.
--can attack as a reaction if the defender is attacked in melee.
Defender: AC 17, Disadvantage to be hit, HP: 76. Accuracy: +9 to hit. Damage: 1d8+5 (9.5 without crits)

But if you lean into being a kobold - you're building yourself really hard for defense on an offensive race - everything's different. Gunner mandates Dexterity, so here's a build leaning into that:

Start with Dex 17, ASIs: Gunner, Sharpshooter, +2 Dex (so Dex 20).
Active Infusions: Amulet of Health, Repeating Shot, Cloak of Protection, Ring of Protection, Enhanced Defense (Shield)
Rare: Cloak of Displacement
Uncommon: Saddle of the Cavalier, Serpent Scale Armor, Headband of Intellect

So we still have the same INT modifier, no worries there. This gives you, assuming you Sharpshooter:
Kobold: AC 25, Disadvantage to be hit, HP: 129. Accuracy: +6 with advantage to hit. Damage: 1d10+16 (21.5 without crits).
Defender: AC 15, Disadvantage to be hit, HP: 76. Accuracy: +9 to hit. Damage: 1d8+5 (9.5 without crits).


Hex is better than Hunter's Mark, so grab it. Targeting Strength makes targets easier to shove or grapple.
Pack Tactics requires your Defender to be in melee, not you, but also you're small, so you don't have access to GWM worth a damn. Sentinel + PAM (Spear) is inferior to Sharpshooter + CBM/Gunner, and with the repeating shot infusion, you can wield your pistol or hand crossbow with a shield in melee just fine. The only thing you lose out on is Booming Blade, but Battlesmiths get Extra Attack, so whatever. Gunner is particularly useful here cos you get +1 Dex and your BA may be occupied if you don't want your Defender to Dodge.

Returning Shot works on the spear you should be using with PAM. You can throw the spear twice and then bonus melee bludgeon, or just throw it twice and bonus defender attack.
Repeating Shot is the only way in the game to combine a shield with a pistol, hand crossbow, or sling. It's pretty great.
Speaking of slings, bear in mind Enhanced Arcane Focus stacks with an Enhanced Weapon/Returning Shot sling if you cast Magic Stone. This works with the third bullet of Sharpshooter (the -5/+10) but not the first two bullets (ignore cover and ranged penalties). +3 or +4 to hit is not worth the action economy necessary to keep summoning the stones, but I wanted to mention it.
Speaking of Magic Stone, Tiny Servants can throw them for you without consuming your action economy beyond the bonus action to make the rocks. You can hand out EAF/EW to them, but they're not proficient in slings, and they don't have Sharpshooter.
Bonuses to hit are how you make Sharpshooter/GWM great, and you have those in spades.
If you have a Saddle of the Cavalier, you don't want your Defender to Dodge since that's built in, making PAM even less useful (giving yet again more credence to the idea you should lean into Gunner).

You should use your 5 inactive infusions as buff sources. If this is a one-shot, I don't know if you'll have enough adventuring time to encounter an obstacle worth spending multiple days to eliminate, or I'd hands down tell you to spend 2 off-infusions on Bag of Holding. Here are the big sellers:

Spellwrought Tattoo: Assuming your party has a shared backstory, everyone in the party should start with an owl familiar, including you. If the DM will let your Defender vocalize command words, your Defender should also have an owl.
Pot of Awakening: Every shrub you're allowed to recruit is another loyal owl familiar - shrubs can talk - and with an L14 budget you can easily afford a vehicle for them to ride around in.
Alchemy Jug: Less useful in a one-shot, this is useful for turning downtime into money at a reasonable clip, and guaranteeing you can start with as much acid as you want. Veteran's Canes do this same job, but worse.
Bag of Holding: An even number of bags of holding gives you half that number of astral implosion grenades when you really need them, but you need a day to swap into the bags and a day to swap back to normal.
Primary takeway: at a minimum, declare one of your 5 off-infusions to be Spellwrought Tattoo and start with an owl familiar.

Ask your DM if they'll let Enhanced Arcane Focus or an All-Purpose Tool on you buff your Defender's accuracy - RAW it does not, but that's due to highly suspect wording that may not be RAI.