Crafter character. How to?

[Egoria]

Greetings

Going to join in on a campaign that have recently started.
Was talking to the DM about what role to fill, and we're still trying to make me a character that suits both my needs and his :)

I'm going to start of a level 6 and i'm allowed to play any race i want ( Ecl 3 or below with the levels allready bought off). Had my eyes on the Half-celestial but not sure about that one yet.

Been thinking more and more about a crafter wizard. But looking at Prc's it seems that the ones that can craft all loose spell-progression ( Granted, i have not read all the books. only a handful :) )

But to be able to construct a golem to use at my leasure and making the rest of the party marvelous sparkly items is what i want to do.

Could you help me with possible ways to make a character that can do such things with as few drawbacks as possible. Xp, time, money and such things.

Oh, one more thing to mention. I am going to have a cohort, so i must have the Leadership feat. But flaws a acceptable so can make up for the Leadership feat that way

Sincerly
Egoria

[Tempest Fennac]

The Artificer on page 4 of http://www.crystalkeep.com/d20/rules/DnD3.5Index-Classes-Base.pdf is perfect due to its free item crafting feats and point reserve which can be used in place of Exp. This link may also be useful: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/cwc/20060328a .

[Jasdoif]

If you're looking into making constructs, the Effigy Master class in Complete Arcane may be worth a look. It does lose a single caster level over the five levels...but it also eliminates the need to spend a feat on Craft Construct to create effigies (described in the same book), so it might be worthwhile to you anyway.

You might also be interested in this WotC article (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060526a), suggesting ways you can get someone else to (help) pay for the XP costs of crafting. Useful if the rest of the entire party thinks you need to craft their gear.

[Egoria]

The Effigy Master isn't until 10+. Although i sounds sweet i think i might be a bit bored if i have to wait 4 levels to get into that :), so what would you recommend until that class get avaible?

The artificer, interresting as it is, is missing a spellbook. He looks like an awesome crafter, but to me he is missing the wiz element i have pictured in my slightly warped head :).

[Tempest Fennac]

I don't know much about the class, but from what I can gather, Artificers can access pretty much any spell in the game (hence the fact that they are often seen a broken, especially when they are causing huge amounts of damage by using 3 Lesser Orb spells at once).

[Sstoopidtallkid]

The artificer, interresting as it is, is missing a spellbook. He looks like an awesome crafter, but to me he is missing the wiz element i have pictured in my slightly warped head :).How do you think he stores his scrolls? :smallwink:

[CASTLEMIKE]

Something a little different than Artificer would be to go Wizard Binder Anima Mage and Bind the level 4 Vestige Astaroth from Cityscape for the Master Craftsman special temporary bonus crafting feat:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070307a

Wizard -1 with the Precocious Apprentice feat trick, Binder -1 with the Improved Binding feat via a flaw at second level, Anima Mage -4.

Wizard -5 spellcasting. Vestige Binding up to a level 4 Vestige (Astaroth).

ECS is the source book with the most feats which reduce standard crafting costs:

http://realmshelps.dandello.net/datafind/feats.shtml

[Devils_Advocate]

The artificer, interresting as it is, is missing a spellbook. He looks like an awesome crafter, but to me he is missing the wiz element i have pictured in my slightly warped head :).
You could ask the DM to house-rule that an artificer needs a written copy of a spell from a spellbook/prayerbook/scroll/whatever in order to make an item that requires that spell. That would help to make artificers rather wizardy, and also less absurd in terms of both power and believablity. By RAW, artificers would seem to be able to emulate spells that they have no knowledge of, which strikes me as silly.

Regardless, you'll want to consider the feats Exceptional Artisan, Extraordinary Artisan, and Legendary Artisan from the Eberron Campaign Setting book. They reduce the time, gp, and XP required to produce an item respectively. Note that these have been errataed so that each may be taken only once. Evidently, they decided that being able to instantaneously create magic items out of thin air for free with no cost nor drawback was overpowered, or something. :smallwink:

[Adumbration]

Take a look at Maester as well. CAd, wasn't it?

[SCPRedMage]

Regardless, you'll want to consider the feats Exceptional Artisan, Extraordinary Artisan, and Legendary Artisan from the Eberron Campaign Setting book. They reduce the time, gp, and XP required to produce an item respectively. Note that these have been errataed so that each may be taken only once. Evidently, they decided that being able to instantaneously create magic items out of thin air for free with no cost nor drawback was overpowered, or something. :smallwink:
Exceptional Artisan is generally a BAD choice for an Artificer, as you actually get less chances to make your UMD checks. And considering that if you fail to make the check before the item's "completed", the item and everything spent to make it (INCLUDING the XP cost) are lost, you're usually better off just sticking with the normal creation times.

Of course, if you can get your UMD checks up high enough, you can ignore my warning. Since the DC to emulate a spell is 20 + caster level, you'd need to get your UMD modifer up to 10 + artificer level; that way, taking 10 will always succeed.

[CASTLEMIKE]

With Leadership you could have a Artificer -4 cohort.

[EMU]

Hello, i know the dear Egoria... in fact i am the mighty dm... ohh horror :)

Egoria and myself have talked quite alot of what kind of charater she would play, and the artifisher is a good class, and a great crafter.
But she is conserned she will miss out all the wizards utility spells.

If she for example would cast invis on someone on the fly and she dont have a wand with that spell, etc.

I am pretty large as far as houseruling goes, i will allow pretty much anything as long everyone in our group have fun.

Could we somehow alter the class so it get wizard/sorecer spell progesion, i know it would be pretty powerfull... any ideas what we could do to not make her solo every aspect of the adventure.

Have a nice day
Emu..

P.s. sorry for my bad english.

[Lochar]

Give it a wizard's spellbook and an archivist's prayer book, and allow 2 spells total per level to be added between the two for free, like a wizard. Spells are added to the books like normal. Items can only be crafted with spells known.

Give it the sorcerer's spell progression.

Bonus spells are based off Wis.

DC is based off Int.

[kamikasei]

If she for example would cast invis on someone on the fly and she dont have a wand with that spell, etc.
...
Could we somehow alter the class so it get wizard/sorecer spell progesion, i know it would be pretty powerfull... any ideas what we could do to not make her solo every aspect of the adventure.

It would be ridiculously powerful.

A wizard can't cast invisibility on the fly - unless she knows the spell, has left an appropriate slot open, and "on the fly" means "has 15 minutes or more". An artificer deals with problems arising which he didn't anticipate just as a wizard does: he pulls out a scroll he scribed earlier. Just give the artificer downtime to prepare these utility scrolls, wands etc. between adventures.

[Tokiko Mima]

How about a human Wizard with 2 levels of Chameleon for the revolving bonus feat? Then you could have any crafting feat you need, and the Extra Spell feat would grant you any exotic 8th level or lower spell you might not happen to have in your spellbook. Plus you'd still get ninth level spells, access to Aptitude Focus (Uncanny Dodge, Trapfinding, Wild Empathy, 2nd levels spells from any list, etc.) and be able to spend all your other feats (aside from one spent on Able Learner) on being a good wizard. :smallsmile:

[CASTLEMIKE]

Hello, i know the dear Egoria... in fact i am the mighty dm... ohh horror :)

Egoria and myself have talked quite alot of what kind of charater she would play, and the artifisher is a good class, and a great crafter.
But she is conserned she will miss out all the wizards utility spells.

If she for example would cast invis on someone on the fly and she dont have a wand with that spell, etc.

I am pretty large as far as houseruling goes, i will allow pretty much anything as long everyone in our group have fun.

Could we somehow alter the class so it get wizard/sorecer spell progesion, i know it would be pretty powerfull... any ideas what we could do to not make her solo every aspect of the adventure.



Consider making her a sorcerer with D4 and limited to spellcasting as a Battle Sorcerer which is one less daily casting and one less known spell.

At level 20 casting would be 5/ 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 with known spells 8/ 4 4 3 3 3 2 2 2 2

Going Binder and Beguiler or Sorcerer with Anima Mage would do the trick.

[Chronos]

Chameleon... Is there anything it isn't good for? The caveat there is that some items require more than one feat to make, so just one from the floating bonus feat wouldn't be enough. You might want to take Craft Rod as a real feat, so you can put your floating feat on a metamagic you don't have to craft metamagic rods, or on Craft Magic Arms and Armor to make things like a Rod of Lordly Might. Or you could just buy those items the same as everyone else, and just make everything else yourself.

[Jack_Simth]

Chameleon... Is there anything it isn't good for?
You want a list?

1) It's behind the Wizard or Cleric in pure casting.
2) You still have to qualify for anything you use the Bonus Feat on - and your daily Focus doesn't let you qualify for feats. Which means to take the item crafting feats, you need an actual spellcasting class, in addition to your chameleon levels.
3) The Chameleon never gets 7th+ level spells on it's own.

Really, the Chameleon is just a prepared bard with a few more options, when it comes down to it.

[SCPRedMage]

Hello, i know the dear Egoria... in fact i am the mighty dm... ohh horror :)

Egoria and myself have talked quite alot of what kind of charater she would play, and the artifisher is a good class, and a great crafter.
But she is conserned she will miss out all the wizards utility spells.

If she for example would cast invis on someone on the fly and she dont have a wand with that spell, etc.

I am pretty large as far as houseruling goes, i will allow pretty much anything as long everyone in our group have fun.

Could we somehow alter the class so it get wizard/sorecer spell progesion, i know it would be pretty powerfull... any ideas what we could do to not make her solo every aspect of the adventure.

Have a nice day
Emu..

P.s. sorry for my bad english.
The thing about Artificers is that they DON'T miss out on Wizard utility spells. Heck, they don't miss out on ANY spells. You just have to do a little more prep work.

All you have to do is make the magic items to cast the spells, such as scrolls, wondrous items, or wands, then you can use them in combat. Granted, you have to be able to make the Use Magic Device checks, but Artificers are MADE to make those checks.

[Tokiko Mima]

In it's defense, there are worse things than being 3 levels behind both wizards and clerics especially when you can pillage other spell lists to get all arcane/divine spells at the lowest possible level. It's a great class right up till it abruptly stops at 15th level. How many PrCs with their own spell progressions do you know that give you access to second level arcane and divine spells at the first level you take in the PrC?

[Randel]

Well, wizards basically have 4 class features.

1. their spells
2. their familiar
3. their bonus feats
4. their ability to specialize and get extra spells by sacrificing versitility

Try replacing or modifying these in little ways to see what you can come up with, hopefully they won't be too much.

replace the familiar with a Dedicated Wright homunculus, its a tiny construct from the Eberron Campaign setting. It basically crafts stuff while its owner goes adventuring though you have to provide the craft check, materials and XP (if crafting magic items) artificers can make these with their craft homunculus class feature and can build a whole bunch of them if they have the money to do so. However, I think you can only have one magic item being crafted at a time, but lots of mundane items.

In Races of Eberron there is the spell Unseen Crafter. its a 2nd level spell that creates an being of force like an unseen servant that lasts 1 day/level. It crafts stuff but I think it only does mundane items. I saw the spell on Crystalkeep.


replace the wizards bonus feats (scribe scroll at 1st and 4 more metamagic or item creation feats at 5,10,15,and 20) with just giving all the item creation feats at around the level they become available. Or go with the artificer bonus feats progression with a little tweaking. Item creation feats don't affect combat (except with allowing more items for the group and making them cheaper) so it shouldn't be overpowered.


Give a crafter wizard a separate spellbook in which he can scribe any spell he wants, but only use those for meeting the requirements for crafting items. Not sure if the standard 100 gp per spell level would be too costly. But if another spellcaster is there to explain the details of the spell, then he doesn't need a scroll to copy it from. So the party cleric would explain Cure Light Wounds to him, he copies it into his Crafter Book and can then make potions and scrolls of it also freeing up the feats for the cleric.

[Jasdoif]

The Effigy Master isn't until 10+. Although i sounds sweet i think i might be a bit bored if i have to wait 4 levels to get into that :)You can get into Effigy Master as early as level 8. The most stringent requirement is the 10 ranks in one of the three Craft skills; so with that as a class skill (which is quite common) you can meet that prereq at level 7. So when you get level 8, you can start on Effigy Master.

[mabriss lethe]

You want a list?

1) It's behind the Wizard or Cleric in pure casting.
2) You still have to qualify for anything you use the Bonus Feat on - and your daily Focus doesn't let you qualify for feats. Which means to take the item crafting feats, you need an actual spellcasting class, in addition to your chameleon levels.
3) The Chameleon never gets 7th+ level spells on it's own.

Really, the Chameleon is just a prepared bard with a few more options, when it comes down to it.

I know it's totally tangential, but a few levels in Chameleon is a Warlock's best friend. Revolving feats that you can use to give yourself an extra invocation or item creation (great after 12+ levels of warlock), or whatever else floats your boat. add the capacity to use a handful of utility spells or just beef yourself up a bit and it's priceless to the 'lock.

[Egoria]

I do not know the mechanics behind wand-wielding, scroll use etc, and that might be why i don't fully understand the Artificers role.

How many times per round can you activate a wand or scroll, or do you go about using two-weapon-wand feat ( might not be the correct name, but something about wielding two wands ).

Do you quicken a lot of stuff so you get "free" spell effects to manifest?

Or is it just that you, once per round, can pick the most suitable spell for that particular situation?.

P.s. where do i find the Anima mage?

Thank you so much for all your replies. Very good information here i wouldn't have found without devoting myself to bookreading for a few weeks :smallsmile:

[CASTLEMIKE]

Anima Mage is in Tome of Magic along with the Binder. The last link is the binder handbook which is interesting reading.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/frcc/20070718

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060303a&page=2

http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=784085

[AslanCross]

I also recommend the Artificer. It's your quickest ticket to craft-happy fun.


Greetings

I'm going to start of a level 6 and i'm allowed to play any race i want ( Ecl 3 or below with the levels allready bought off). Had my eyes on the Half-celestial but not sure about that one yet.



Half-Celestial isn't a race, it's a template. You have to apply that to a race. It's also a +4 LA template. (a first level half-celestial human would be ECL 5).

[Funkyodor]

Well, wizards basically have 4 class features.

1. their spells
2. their familiar
3. their bonus feats
4. their ability to specialize and get extra spells by sacrificing versitility


You forgot one.

5. their ability to write 2 bonus spells into their spell book per level.