Locked in but branching out from here (course correction on fighter/artificer)

[Seekergeek]

So I’m locked in to what I’ve got but want to plan for the future. This character came together to the point it is at by virtue of role play and character development and not any even half-hearted attempt at optimization. Now I’m looking down the barrel of a long haul with a disjointed build. We are 12 3+ hour sessions into mad mage and just about 1/2 way through the second level - we tend to get pokey and caught up on our own internal role playing. Point being I’m attached to the character and he’s popular in the party so I am sticking with it, I just need help making it work moving forward.

I’ve got a custom lineage (tavern brawler feat as bonus) brute fighter 5/artificer 2 with a plan on going into artillerist only to level 3 or so. My stats aren’t well geared to this, admittedly. I’ve got 20/11/16/14/10/8. I have the dueling fighting style, am the main melee option in the party and have looted a corpse of its full plate. I have the returning infusion on my shield which I use as an improvised weapon with the tavern brawler feat and the dm had given it a d6 damage die. I have the defence infusion on my armour. The other infusions known are a wand of secrets and a wand of detect magic. I have not taken any feats outside of my 1st level bonus feat, though one is possible for fighter 6 if I go that route next level. I might be tempted to pump INT instead though...especially if I want to use the attack options of the artillerist’s cannon with any effect.

It’s a mess, but it’s been really fun the last two levels since artificer entered the mix.

Is it worth going artificer 3 now to get something interesting to do with my bonus action and have the temp hp or flame thrower on hand? Should I wait until after fighter 7 and the brute’s pretty great durability feature? Should I leave well enough alone and just stick with fighter from here on out? We’ve got two other artificers (a battle smith and an alchemist) and a rogue thief in the party currently if that matters.

[Jon talks a lot]

PSA: Brute is a UA fighter subclass, if anyone is getting confused.

[Dork_Forge]

You're locked in to what you already have, but you haven't take your subclass for Artificer now. Why are you attached to Artillerist if you're also okay with not getting a subclass in it at all?

Personally I'd go with either Armorer or Alchemist for the subclass, Artillerist will only give you meh attacks or a temp hp source that requires everyone to be huddled together.

Progression wise I'd go with Fighter until 8, two feats and the Brutes 7th level feature is one heck of a level up path. It's enough ASIs to raise your Int to more usable levels if you really want Artillerist or to make yourself a tank incarnate.

[PrinceOfMadness]

So I’m locked in to what I’ve got but want to plan for the future. This character came together to the point it is at by virtue of role play and character development and not any even half-hearted attempt at optimization. Now I’m looking down the barrel of a long haul with a disjointed build. We are 12 3+ hour sessions into mad mage and just about 1/2 way through the second level - we tend to get pokey and caught up on our own internal role playing. Point being I’m attached to the character and he’s popular in the party so I am sticking with it, I just need help making it work moving forward.

I’ve got a custom lineage (tavern brawler feat as bonus) brute fighter 5/artificer 2 with a plan on going into artillerist only to level 3 or so. My stats aren’t well geared to this, admittedly. I’ve got 20/11/16/14/10/8. I have the dueling fighting style, am the main melee option in the party and have looted a corpse of its full plate. I have the returning infusion on my shield which I use as an improvised weapon with the tavern brawler feat and the dm had given it a d6 damage die. I have the defence infusion on my armour. The other infusions known are a wand of secrets and a wand of detect magic. I have not taken any feats outside of my 1st level bonus feat, though one is possible for fighter 6 if I go that route next level. I might be tempted to pump INT instead though...especially if I want to use the attack options of the artillerist’s cannon with any effect.

It’s a mess, but it’s been really fun the last two levels since artificer entered the mix.

Is it worth going artificer 3 now to get something interesting to do with my bonus action and have the temp hp or flame thrower on hand? Should I wait until after fighter 7 and the brute’s pretty great durability feature? Should I leave well enough alone and just stick with fighter from here on out? We’ve got two other artificers (a battle smith and an alchemist) and a rogue thief in the party currently if that matters.

A lot of this is going to depend a lot on what you want to do with your character.

Personally? With two other artificers in the party (!?), I'd suggest sticking with fighter as much as possible just to give yourself more opportunities to shine at the things you can do. I think pumping Int is probably not that necessary given your party comp's class redundancy. You only need so many people to be good at Int saves and skill checks, after all, and presumably the other two artificers have the Intelligence to make their save DCs great for whatever spells take saving throws that you might want.

That being said, artificer is in no way a bad class, and like bards and clerics, you can have several of them in the same party that end up looking very different depending on subclass and infusion selections.

[J-H]

If you're the tank, I'd grab Armorer. Even if you aren't planning on leveling Artificer much, it still does a few nice things, including giving you the ability to don your armor in under a round like Iron Man, instead of taking 10 minutes.

This is pretty important when you get ambushed while asleep.

[Seramus]

Let me go a slightly different path.
Fighter 6 / Maverick 14.

Why? Your group is lacking flexibility. Maverick is a little underwhelming, but it lets you poach some of the best buffs in the game from other classes, gives you large cantrip variety, and the ability to just swap a cantrip whenever you take a short rest.

[Stangler]

I think your best option is with either armorer or artillerist.

Artillerist is really about the protector and the shield spell. The temp HP as a bonus action is really really good, especially if you combine it with something like heavy armor master. The biggest con is if you are already using your bonus action regularly which I assume you are not because of the dueling fighting style but maybe the Brawler offers an bonus action attack I am not aware of. The problem with the other cannons is that they depend more on your int to do damage which is going to be hard to compete with your attacks already. They still provide you with options to deal with situations like lots of enemies or enemies at range. Don't sleep on the protector cannon though. After level 3 it is a long while before the Artillerist really offers you anything that has synergy with fighter besides base artificer stuff.

Armorer is another good option because the enemies will want to focus you which seems to be part of your party roll. It doesn't do as much as the protector cannon to make you more of a tank but if you get to 5 you can use mirror image to get more tanky. Plus you can use the infiltrator for times when stealth is needed. The armorer then offers more at level 5 (better spells) and 9(better feature).

Both offer party support, both have some flexibility. I think if you are just going 3 or 4 in artificer artillerist is the better choice. If you are going more levels then I think the armorer offers more and doesn't rely on you boosting int too much.

I personally would go Art 3 back to fighter until fighter 11 then decide what is next. If you don't think the campaign will last that long (level 14) then it is a much harder decision to go back to fighter or not.

[Seekergeek]

Thanks for all the feedback!

The appeal of the artillerist was, indeed, the sheild cannon and the sometimes maybe useful save for half flame thrower. I know my DC is never going to be sky high but against mooks a little AOE would be welcome since we are pretty severly lacking in that department. Currently my BA is used for grappling when I can and that's about it.

Having multiple artificers has been an inernal plot point for the party - a "friendly rivals" sort of deal. It has played pretty well so far. I think, for now, I'll run with fighter as suggested until maybe things get dull enough that I want more options.

Would anyone have any feat suggestions if pumping INT isn't a wise choice? Shield master is appealing, but fey touched to grab misty step and hex has also crossed my mind...