Choice between homunculus

[Artificer]

So, next character I want to play is an Artificer, and at level 4 they get the ability to create a homunculus (I hate spelling that word!), and there are a total of 5 kinds available for me to make, but I have the choice narrowed down to 2... Either an Iron Defender or a Furtive Filcher.

Iron Defender: Dog-shaped construct made mainly of iron, good for flanking, attacking and getting between me and something hostile while everyone else is busy. Decent AC, good HP, not many abilities except attacking.

Furtive Filcher: Small shadow construct that has a high Hide and Move Silently, as well as a good Sleight of Hand. Good for scouting, flanking and picking the opponent's pockets while they are in combat, so it'll give me a source of potions, scrolls, wands and other stuff for me to use/sell...

Survival vs Swag... tough choice. Your thoughts? Also, unknown other party members so far. Just thinking of my own character at the moment.

[Bag_of_Holding]

Are you sure that you don't want any dedicated wights or expeditious messenger? The former lets you craft items without having to worry about the time consumed in the process and the latter makes a hell of a scout!

Seriously, iron defender doesn't really stand toe-to-toe with foes with appropriate CR, and you've already got your party tanker to fill that role! FF is not all that bad, I guess. But the problem is since it doesn't have hide in plain sight ability, it can't exactly sneak behind your enemy and steal their gear as you might imagine it would.

If you want something that can 'distract' your foes, Persistent Harrier should be your choice. Tumble +12? Sneak Attack dice to boot? Yay me. Packmate and Arbalester aren't that bad either; Self-loading and self-firing light crossbow? A chest that follows you around and lets you retrieve items as swift action? Yes please!


Nah, ID or FF aren't the best choice around you know. If you really want to choose from the two, then I'd go for ID myself. At least I won't have to worry about my XP turning into dust in one round. Seriously, AC 16 and 5hp isn't the best option to be in the middle of a battlefield trying to steal an item or two. Really not worth the money and XP.

[Yeril]

If your party could use the frontliner, go for the dog, if not, the shadow sounds most useful.

not only are you getting free potions and wands, your enemy is loosing them.

[Artificer]

Unfortunately, Bag of Holding, I haven't heard of the others and don't have access to their sourcebooks at the moment... hmmm...

[Bag_of_Holding]

Unfortunately, Bag of Holding, I haven't heard of the others and don't have access to their sourcebooks at the moment... hmmm...

Oh, sorry about that. Three new homunculi (homunculuses?) are from Magic of Eberron.

[Artificer]

Alrighty, thanks. If I actually get some spending money this summer I'll look into it.

[Kol Korran]

a few things to keep in mind (following Bag of Holding's advice):

- Magic of Eberron could realy increase your options: new homonculuses, feat that enable you to inprove them considerably (flying, better armor, and more...), and new infusions to work with. some groups accept it, some don't. it's considered quite balacne disturbing (due to all kinds of stuff, not just the things dealing with the artificer).

- Homonculus shouldn't be used in a straight fight! far too vulnerable, and you lose 2d10 HP any time one dies... think of them as similar to familiars and such- they're good for scouting, odd jobs, and style!

- you could make a homonculus durable and viable for battle in two basic ways: invest in their HD (costing more exp and gold), or improve them by the MOE feats i mentioned above.

- you can create many homonculuses... why choose, if you don't have to? (providing you have the resources). just rememeber- you're creating more vulnearable "targets" (2d10 per one).

- have you considered the core homonculus? (MM1)- flies well (scouting), a poison that causes sleep, better HP than the FF (though not the ID).. it's one of the more versatyle types. (though i still think the MOE ones would serve you better).

- though FF hides amazingly well, it's move silently is good, but not as good... an enemy with a +6 listen could hear it with a 1/4 chance... this kind of defeats it's purpose.

- one last idea: if you happen to play awarforged, there is a substitute warfroged artificer class in Races of Eberron. if i'm not mistaeken (please correct me if i am people) he can learn to create an intelligent weapon for himself, instead of homonculus. it might be worth checking it out- a weapon can last far longer, and it might be an ineresting addition to your party... i'm sorry but i don't recall the particulars of the substitution...

[Illiterate Scribe]

Dedicated Wright's in the same book as Artificer, no?

[Artificer]

Kol, The reason I'm trying to decide on one is that unless I can find the section in the rulebooks that say I can, my DM won't let me, and I am having a difficult time tracking it down with books scattered over a few hundred kilometers (home and college). If I can find that I'll probably create a dedicated write and keep him and a workshop in a portable hole and have another one aiding me in whatever.. gah, working on a character for most of the night is never a good idea >.<

[TempusCCK]

Go dedicated wight.

You are an Artificer, your job is to make items that help people kill things/find things/kill more things/keep people alive. Any other Homunculus is just a crummy version of another party members role, except maybe the EM, which kicks all kinds of scouting rear-end.

Dedicated Wight + Portable Hole = Crafting Lab on the Go.

Artificer comes in, makes the checks, the Wight takes care of the rest, just be careful not to blow through your wands too quickly, because he can only make them so fast.

[Telonius]

One word about the Wright in a portable hole: it is a Very Bad Idea to have it make a bag of holding.

[bugsysservant]

One word about the Wright in a portable hole: it is a Very Bad Idea to have it make a bag of holding.

Ooh, technically, it only says "If a bag of holding is placed within a portable hole" so, if it was constructed there, theoretically it wouldn't blow. So you can have infinite stoarge space with only one item as long as you're carefull about never taking out and replacing the bag.

[Telonius]

I don't know how, but there has to be some kind of game-breaking exploit to be found there.

[bugsysservant]

I don't know how, but there has to be some kind of game-breaking exploit to be found there.

Hmm, well if you time it right, and set up the bags correctly, you could get quite a bit of damage just by having a heavy object fall through successive bags. There is probably some way to do it more efficiently, but opening a bag and have a 1,500 pound rock come shooting out at somone at several hundred miles an hour might be fun. But I suppose that would depend on how gravity works in portable holes and bags of holding.

[Artificer]

I seriously hope my DM is not reading this thread... I will fear any overhanging bags for the rest of my gaming career.