SangoProduction
2022-07-05, 06:22 PM
Preamble: Essence Smith is an archetype for the Blacksmith spheres class. It trade away a lot in order to gain some Enhancement casting.
Verdict: Yes. It's quite good. It's basically Armorist+... for as much as that's a comparison of any meaning. From level one, he's able to have very good stats on his gear - much better than an Armorist. And by level 5, he's also able to plop some special abilities on them.
Sure, he can't freely apply the abilities that are locked behind Arsenal Tricks... but he does get a lot of crafting so that he can make them regardless.
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Base Stats: BAB drops to 3/4 and HD goes from d10 to d8. Not massive.
Casting: Low caster. But full caster in Enhancement sphere, and gains a combat / magic talent every level, instead of every 2, like a low caster would. Honestly, I kinda feel like most low casters should get that treatment, since they tend to be relatively unappealing.
Crafting: Gains between 1/10 to 1/5 of base WBL from Magical Essence alone (at the cost the bonus Thunderous Blows damage). Plus magic crafting doubles the wealth available. So, if wealth handed out is not adjusted downwards for having such a huge multiplier to wealth, you can WBL-mancy out of whatever chasis you may have. And he counts as a full caster for the purpose of crafting. And he gets a free Item Creation feat at level 2.
Reforge: Lets you change the shape of any magical implement of power, in addition to magic armor and shields, and can restore any kind of broken magic item that has been broken by Generally not too notable.
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All that's left to the archetype are the Smithing Insights.
Crafting Insight: Adds +1/2 level as a bonus to checks for crafting magic items. This is worth 1 missing prerequisite per 10 levels. Doesn't seem too notable. Not sure if an item whose CL is in excess of your own counts as a prerequisite. (Craft DC is 5 + CL of item + 5 per missing prerequisite. So, you can take 10, and deal with 1 missing prerequisite for an item of your level, even if you have no modifiers other than ranks to Craft checks.)
Improved Enhancement: You can stack Equipment Enhancements up to twice to get up to +6 bonus (achieved as early as CL 4). Which is actually rather notable. A +4 to hit and damage is much better than a +2 to hit and damage.
Greater Enhancement: Gives you access to Armorist abilities. There are a lot of situational abilities you love to just be able to whip out at the tip of a hat. Like with this ability. Ghost touch, fortification, spell resistance, mind buttressing, deathless, so on, so forth. Pretty nice. Plus the just standard, obvious things. And then include Improved Enhancement... which has not explicit interaction. So if you would normally be able to add +6 bonuses, you can presumably also add +6 worth of abilities. Or maybe only +4 worth, given that normal weapons cap to +10.
Disenchant: Depends entirely on the DM. Can you "upgrade" magic items, exchanging the old, and just paying the difference in cost? If not, then this basically lets you do that. Do you guys just get totally random magic items, whose sale rate is less than 50%? If so, this can boost the rate to 50%, and not need to find a vendor first.
Hidden Cache: ED Storage, at full caster level. Which isn't saying much. It's 10 lbs / level. Or taken twice, 25 / level. And D&D items weigh absurd amounts.
Item Master: Makes magic items that cast spells a bit better. I mean, if you WBL-mancy the heck out of the class, this is probably somewhat optimal. I would guess. And it would be a complete and total guess. I barely interact with magic items, other than [Stat] +2/4/6 items.
Master of Repair: Gains full caster levels for repair / destroy... which is the worst, and least useful part of the entire creation sphere.
Supreme Artificer: Can craft without the base sphere of an item (is that not default?). And gains +5 to the check when doing so (netting a free ignoring of that prerequisite, yay).
Verdict: Yes. It's quite good. It's basically Armorist+... for as much as that's a comparison of any meaning. From level one, he's able to have very good stats on his gear - much better than an Armorist. And by level 5, he's also able to plop some special abilities on them.
Sure, he can't freely apply the abilities that are locked behind Arsenal Tricks... but he does get a lot of crafting so that he can make them regardless.
-
Base Stats: BAB drops to 3/4 and HD goes from d10 to d8. Not massive.
Casting: Low caster. But full caster in Enhancement sphere, and gains a combat / magic talent every level, instead of every 2, like a low caster would. Honestly, I kinda feel like most low casters should get that treatment, since they tend to be relatively unappealing.
Crafting: Gains between 1/10 to 1/5 of base WBL from Magical Essence alone (at the cost the bonus Thunderous Blows damage). Plus magic crafting doubles the wealth available. So, if wealth handed out is not adjusted downwards for having such a huge multiplier to wealth, you can WBL-mancy out of whatever chasis you may have. And he counts as a full caster for the purpose of crafting. And he gets a free Item Creation feat at level 2.
Reforge: Lets you change the shape of any magical implement of power, in addition to magic armor and shields, and can restore any kind of broken magic item that has been broken by Generally not too notable.
-
All that's left to the archetype are the Smithing Insights.
Crafting Insight: Adds +1/2 level as a bonus to checks for crafting magic items. This is worth 1 missing prerequisite per 10 levels. Doesn't seem too notable. Not sure if an item whose CL is in excess of your own counts as a prerequisite. (Craft DC is 5 + CL of item + 5 per missing prerequisite. So, you can take 10, and deal with 1 missing prerequisite for an item of your level, even if you have no modifiers other than ranks to Craft checks.)
Improved Enhancement: You can stack Equipment Enhancements up to twice to get up to +6 bonus (achieved as early as CL 4). Which is actually rather notable. A +4 to hit and damage is much better than a +2 to hit and damage.
Greater Enhancement: Gives you access to Armorist abilities. There are a lot of situational abilities you love to just be able to whip out at the tip of a hat. Like with this ability. Ghost touch, fortification, spell resistance, mind buttressing, deathless, so on, so forth. Pretty nice. Plus the just standard, obvious things. And then include Improved Enhancement... which has not explicit interaction. So if you would normally be able to add +6 bonuses, you can presumably also add +6 worth of abilities. Or maybe only +4 worth, given that normal weapons cap to +10.
Disenchant: Depends entirely on the DM. Can you "upgrade" magic items, exchanging the old, and just paying the difference in cost? If not, then this basically lets you do that. Do you guys just get totally random magic items, whose sale rate is less than 50%? If so, this can boost the rate to 50%, and not need to find a vendor first.
Hidden Cache: ED Storage, at full caster level. Which isn't saying much. It's 10 lbs / level. Or taken twice, 25 / level. And D&D items weigh absurd amounts.
Item Master: Makes magic items that cast spells a bit better. I mean, if you WBL-mancy the heck out of the class, this is probably somewhat optimal. I would guess. And it would be a complete and total guess. I barely interact with magic items, other than [Stat] +2/4/6 items.
Master of Repair: Gains full caster levels for repair / destroy... which is the worst, and least useful part of the entire creation sphere.
Supreme Artificer: Can craft without the base sphere of an item (is that not default?). And gains +5 to the check when doing so (netting a free ignoring of that prerequisite, yay).