Sell me on artificer infusions

[redking]

Besides the Item Alteration infusion, which seems to be one of the lost powerful abilities in the game, what other infusions are useful? I always see threads about item creation, but what about infusions?

[Beni-Kujaku]

Besides the Item Alteration infusion, which seems to be one of the lost powerful abilities in the game, what other infusions are useful? I always see threads about item creation, but what about infusions?

I mean, Personal Weapon Augmentation is pretty darn versatile and quite powerful (I know I'm gonna fight neogis? Why not have an Aberrationbane crossbow for no cost?). Spell Storing Item literally allows you to cast any spell in the game spontaneously below 4th level, with a one minute casting time (and a few XP lost). It is a non-negligible cost, but considering the absolute versatility of it, I'd say it's not too much of one at all.

The Armor Enhancement line is great. You are not going to face 500 fights before changing your armor, and paying 10gp to gain a relevant ability costing 5000gp in a fight is hence great, and pretty undercosted. And that's a 1st level infusion!

[AvatarVecna]

Disregard Money, Acquire Buffs (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?427628-Disregard-Money-Acquire-Buff-Spells-Artificers-without-the-Artifice) does a decent dive into infusions worth using, and has three in particular it champions as "makes Artificer maybe T1 even if you're not doing item crafting".

[redking]

Is there any way to get infusions through the backdoor? Limit wish, maybe?

[AnonJr]

There are a couple of PrC that grant Artificer infusions, the names escape me at the moment. I'll have a poke around after I get my second cup of coffee.

Cyre Scout from Dragonmarked definitely comes to mind; and I really thought Renegade Mastermaker from Magic of Eberron did, but apparently it only advances the spellcasting class you had upon entry. I never entered it by a means other than Artificer, so that might be why I thought of it adding infusions.

[Tohron]

Spell Storing Item is a valuable infusion where you spend a tiny amount of XP (10 to 40) to get a single-use item of a level 1 to 4 spell for use sometime that day.
Skill Enhancement can be valuable early on for making the UMD checks for crafting items, and the ability to give yourself or a party member up to +12 (at CL 20) to any specific skill for several minutes can be useful in a variety of scenarios.


Is there any way to get infusions through the backdoor? Limit wish, maybe?

Miracle can do it (it can imitate any 7th level or lower spells, or "effects whose power level is in line with the above effects") but I'm not sure of any others.

[Rebel7284]

Minor schemas can hold infusions if I recall correctly.

Metamagic Item is pretty silly with Persistent Spell.

[Bayar]

The Brew Universal Potion from Master Alchemist can also hold infusions up to level 3.

[sreservoir]

I mean, Personal Weapon Augmentation is pretty darn versatile and quite powerful (I know I'm gonna fight neogis? Why not have an Aberrationbane crossbow for no cost?). Spell Storing Item literally allows you to cast any spell in the game spontaneously below 4th level, with a one minute casting time (and a few XP lost). It is a non-negligible cost, but considering the absolute versatility of it, I'd say it's not too much of one at all.

Frankly, the fact that you now have to do explicit XP accounting is a way bigger deal than the actual lost XP. Even if, going from 2nd to 10th level, you cast spell storing item twice per encounter (and extremely high estimate!) at full caster level for a spell of the highest level available, you're spending about 3.5k XP total, not even accounting for the increased-XP-when-underleveled effect because you probably won't concretely ever actually be underleveled. I would absolutely recommend neglecting it.


Disregard Money, Acquire Buffs (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?427628-Disregard-Money-Acquire-Buff-Spells-Artificers-without-the-Artifice) does a decent dive into infusions worth using, and has three in particular it champions as "makes Artificer maybe T1 even if you're not doing item crafting".

I think that's overselling it a bit. There's a (very narrow) range around 8th level where a non-crafting artificer both has the resources to make the UMD checks it needs to pull the same tricks as T1 classes, and hasn't fallen deeply behind on the levels of the base spell effects it has access to. But like, no amount of metamagic cheese is getting you, say, a proper teleport effect; it's just at least 5th level on every spell list it's on. (I mean, you can tree stride or something, but that's way worse.)

Spell Storing Item + Metamagic Item with Persistent Spell is certainly a powerful combo (Concurrent Infusions is a barely-relevant accounting hack—the minor schema costs more than 8x as much as a memento magica, it's a pretty bad deal unless you're trying to avoid the XP cost, which is pretty darn negligible), but even at its peak it does about what other T1 builds do (maybe with 2-3x buffs per day though), and mostly rests on Persistent Spell being a horrible idea to begin with. Take that away, and you're left with, uh, mystic ranger's evil twin.


Is there any way to get infusions through the backdoor? Limit wish, maybe?

Infusions "function just like spells and follow all the rules for spells", so you should be able make a case for duplicating infusions of up to 4th/5th level with limited wish. Even if you don't assume infusions are spells per se, limited wish is open-ended on being able to "produce any other effect whose power level is in line with the above effects", which infusions clearly are supposed to be. Like, half the 5th-level infusions are literally equivalent to 5th-level sor/wiz spells.


Minor schemas can hold infusions if I recall correctly.

Minor schemas are the only item type whose description is written with the awareness that infusions exist, but whether other item types can hold infusions is ... funny. The rules for minor schemas don't particularly imply that other items can't hold infusions, they just keep saying "spell or infusion" like it's totally normal. Infusions in general "function just like spells", so by default you'd expect to be able to put them in items, except that the errata changes a sentence from "Like a spellcaster, an artificer can apply item creation feats and metamagic feats to his infusions." to "Like a spellcaster, an artificer can apply metamagic feats he knows to his infusions." The seems intended to delete "item creation feats and", implying that you can't apply item creation feats to infusions you know, but the way this dovetails with what actually written down is "An artificer’s infusions do not meet spell prerequisites for creating magic items."

So my take on infusion items is that you make a wand of personal weapon augmentation the same way you'd make a wand of light; you just have to emulate it even though it's on your infusion list. But if a recaster or wyrm wizard or something equivalent picked up an artificer infusion as one of their off-list spells, and they'd be able to create the item without rolling.

[redking]

So my take on infusion items is that you make a wand of personal weapon augmentation the same way you'd make a wand of light; you just have to emulate it even though it's on your infusion list. But if a recaster or wyrm wizard or something equivalent picked up an artificer infusion as one of their off-list spells, and they'd be able to create the item without rolling.

The infusions work like spells, but surely that doesn't mean that a wyrm wizard could select infusions for their off-list spells. For one, infusions are neither arcane not divine.

Any rationale to support this?

[Arcanist]

Frankly, the fact that you now have to do explicit XP accounting is a way bigger deal than the actual lost XP. Even if, going from 2nd to 10th level, you cast spell storing item twice per encounter (and extremely high estimate!) at full caster level for a spell of the highest level available, you're spending about 3.5k XP total, not even accounting for the increased-XP-when-underleveled effect because you probably won't concretely ever actually be underleveled. I would absolutely recommend neglecting it.

This seems like personal taste and, checking your math, it comes out to a little more than 38% of what you said it should cost. At four(4) ECL appropriate encounters per level from 2nd to 10th level, and using Spell Storing Item twice per encounter (by your own admission an "extremely high estimate!"), at full caster level, you will expend about 1,360xp. Please feel free to correct my math, I am a bit tired and I did do a slap job together on excel for it included in the spoiler below. That said, this isn't something that is likely to occur since, well? If given ample prep time (a hallmark of all T1 classes), you'll just have the correct spell that can end an encounter, full stop. The XP cost is negligible and isn't likely to lower your level, but on the off chance that it does somehow do so, you can catch up quite easily.

EDIT: And checking my own math, I was off by quite a bit. At 13.33 ECL appropriate encounters per level, from 2nd to 10th level, and using Spell Storing Item twice by encounter (by your own admission, an extremely high estimate!"), at full caster level, you will expend about 4,536xp from 2nd to 10th onward. The XP breakdown on a level by level basis is included below in the spoiler. However, as stated previously, this is an extremely exaggerated figure given your parameters and not likely to actually reflect even a lightly optimized Artificer's experience.


https://i.imgur.com/3PRqe78.png

Furthermore, you still won't likely spend even a fraction of that much at 4th to 5th since from 2nd to 5th level your best resource is your free and open access to 1st level spells from every single class list. Gaseous Form, Invisibility, Knock (not necessary since you're the only T1 class with Open Lock, but worth noting it is 1 level lower for Trapsmiths), and most importantly Haste. And what is more, you're notably ignoring the benefits of infusions like Weapon Augmentation personal to give a weapon the Bane property against whatever you're fighting that day, or using Lesser Armor Enhancement for Arrow Catching for the meatier party members or buffing them with Shield of Faith or Magic Vestment. This isn't even beyond 1st level Infusions, everything after that just gets better.


I think that's overselling it a bit. There's a (very narrow) range around 8th level where a non-crafting artificer both has the resources to make the UMD checks it needs to pull the same tricks as T1 classes, and hasn't fallen deeply behind on the levels of the base spell effects it has access to. But like, no amount of metamagic cheese is getting you, say, a proper teleport effect; it's just at least 5th level on every spell list it's on. (I mean, you can tree stride or something, but that's way worse.)

A 3rd level Artificer Human with Iron Will and Hardened Criminal can, with a 13 in Charisma (+1), 6 ranks in Use Magic Device (+6), casting Skill Enhancement (+3 circumstance), Masterwork Tools (+2 circumstance), and a casting of Eagle's Splendor (+2) can absolutely make a UMD check of 24 to produce a 1st level spell using Spell Storing Item and is primed to make 2nd level spells once they are 4th level. To do this, you only need to expend about 50 gold pieces for the Masterwork tools (presuming you don't just, ya know, craft it yourself) as everything else is natively built into the class already; Unfortunately to do this, you begin you adventuring day with effectively 3 1st level spell slots (assuming you didn't use Spell Storing Item yet) and 1 2nd level spell slot. Any additional levels beyond and this become easier and less resource dependent. This doesn't even include saving an entire feat slot for by purchasing/surviving an Otyugh Hole. If you at some point manage to get your hands on a Robe of Arcane Might (Transmutation) or other caster level boosting effects (https://web.archive.org/web/20121109053026/http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19872350/Raising_Caster_Level), you effectively can produce spells of a level 1 higher than everyone else in your party. Around 6th level, this becomes quite affordable for an Artificer at least. Granted, crafting it consumes a little over 80% of your wealth, but it is a worth while investment if your end game is effectively turning yourself into a more flexible spellcaster than the rest of your entire time upwards to 10th level.

If you need more longevity than that, purchasing (or more likely crafting; it is 150 gold pieces or 6 of your Craft Reserve and 75 gold pieces) an Unguent of Timelessness and applying it to your Spell Storing items, your Skill Enhancement item, your Eagle's Splendor item can drive you past the post in anticipation for needing them within the next 7 days at minimum.


Spell Storing Item + Metamagic Item with Persistent Spell is certainly a powerful combo (Concurrent Infusions is a barely-relevant accounting hack—the minor schema costs more than 8x as much as a memento magica, it's a pretty bad deal unless you're trying to avoid the XP cost, which is pretty darn negligible), but even at its peak it does about what other T1 builds do (maybe with 2-3x buffs per day though), and mostly rests on Persistent Spell being a horrible idea to begin with. Take that away, and you're left with, uh, mystic ranger's evil twin.

A Memento Magica of a 4th level spell costs 24,000gp and a Minor Schema of a 4th level Spell or Infusion of a 4th level spell costs 11,200gp, one specifically for Concurrent Infusion 12,800 gold pieces. Where did you get your figure of "more than 8x as much as a memento magica" from? And granted, I totally agree with the assessment that a Memento Magica of a couple of 1st level ones as well as 3rd and 4th level ones is totally worth it for an Artificer (additional castings of Spell Storing Item, Metamagic Item, and Concurrent Infusion being as worth it as they come after all), I am just not necessarily sure I follow your math and assessment here.

[Crichton]

(snip) At four(4) ECL appropriate encounters per level (snip)


Am I misreading your math here? Why 4 encounters? There "should" be 13-14 ECL appropriate encounters per level, by the math and charts in the DMG (DMG p41). Or are you calculating your figures based on only using SSI 4 times out of the 13-14 encounters per level you should have?

[Rebel7284]

Possibly confusion of 4 encounters/day being a full day of adventuring?

[Arcanist]

Am I misreading your math here? Why 4 encounters? There "should" be 13-14 ECL appropriate encounters per level, by the math and charts in the DMG (DMG p41). Or are you calculating your figures based on only using SSI 4 times out of the 13-14 encounters per level you should have?


Possibly confusion of 4 encounters/day being a full day of adventuring?

You are not misreading my math at all, it is just wrong. I did admit, I was tired when I was setting up that table and just blanked on it entirely. I'll update my post to reflect this correction.