Ultimate Artificer Support Build: Science, God, and Magic!
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- čas přidán 27. 05. 2022
- Let's build an Artillerist Artificer multiclass for an Eberron campaign setting using some secret tricks for one of the best support builds in DND 5e!
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New episodes posted on Mondays along with various Dungeons and Dragons videos and content about printing and painting terrain in between! What other videos would you like to see?
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#artificer #dnd #dungeonsanddragons - Zábava
I just realized something about the Flash of Genius feature: if you somehow got a negative Int modifier - by feeblemind, curse or some insanely underpowered build - you could use it once per long rest on an enemy to hinder them. Nothing specifies "willing" or "ally".
You're not wrong. Makes me feel like there could be some fun had using the headband of intellect to get your score where you want it and then take it off when you want to mess up an enemy! Is it efficient? Probably not. Is it a good time? Probably so! haha
I've seen that discussed around Reddit with the nickname "Flash of Stupid". Roll up with an 8 or lower Int Artificer, infuse a Headband of Intellect and 'lift it off' to flash stupid at an opponent (DM willing obviously).
@@ConstructedChaos
I have an NPC that has very low stats, but are all buffed by magic items. He’s the bbeg, his name is Clark in weak mode while interacting with the players, in strong mode he tries to be a good guy hero, but does more harm then good.
Seems reasonable. A fighter with negative str wouldnt be able to wear their armor and would deal pitiful damage. Especially with great weapon master. This is normal :D
But don't you need a base 13 int to be an artificer I mean the rules are meant to be bent but still
I love the artificer so much. The two builds I've made are more self-focused (artillerist who always gets optimal positioning and armorer with 25 AC), but access to Cure Wounds has made them useful team players. I'll definitely give this a close look since I'm also quite fond of support roles.
I also shared a battlesmith support/controller hybrid build somewhere in the comments. might be something you want to take a look at.
I feel like support builds can certainly be overlooked in today's meta of comparing DPR from one build to another!
I’ve been planning a support artificer build I’ve named “Uncle Iron” that this will fit nearly perfectly.
"I'm sorry, who are you again?" "I'm the Doctor."
HAHA yeah I do always think of that when I see the artificer's all purpose tool
This is my first video I'm watching of your content and I must say... my hat is off tk you sir! Well done with both the build and the interesting character rp options you have provided. Most of all, and I don't find many who take the time to talk about this, thank you for discussing the short campaign option to make the build still viable to its overall strategy. Bravo sir, Bravo!!! 👏👏👏
Thanks so very much! I'm glad you enjoyed it!!
I’m playing a rock gnome artillerist artificer with a level in forge cleric. I am doing something similar using the protector turret or force ballista and I picked cure wounds to go with my spell storing item. I’ve used vortex warp or force ballista plenty of times to get party members out of harms way.
Nice!! I’d bet that force ballista can do some fun things to enemies you place on high ledges with vortex warp, eh? 😜
I love your backstory and motivations for this build! Usually it's tough to make a 3-way multiclass make sense but this works really well!
something i use for triple-classing is just to say the triple-class is your own unique subclass and you're basically just levelling up in your own subclass. that way there's no need to justify story wise jumping around classes. for example my fighter 2, hexblade 5, gloomstalker 3 is called the hexstalker.
@@TheRobversion1 That's definitely a good idea! I just like motivating changes in narrative direction since these progressions do occur at particular times. Plus, it's just good to tell stories on CZcams. People always love a good story!
@@ConstructedChaos sure either or, whatever works best for the table and for the character.
Nice to finally see the build vid. props on the animation/graphics/production!
sad not to see a spellwrought tattoo as one of your infusions known.
i see that you used this build vid as well as kind of like a deep dive into the artillerist subclass. glad to see a triple-class. good build with lots of synergies. it was thoughtful to include a lower level version. i'll share my own artificer build that i''ve been working on in a separate comment.
Thanks as always!! Spellwrought is obviously one of my favorites but I wasn't sure of how useful it might be on this build outside of producing a familiar or gaining access to an extra control spell that's not on the Artificer/Cleric/Wizard spell list. Admittedly, it could be nice to have in the early levels instead of the potential mind sharpener that I mentioned. Could have even been a good idea to say as much in the video!
@@ConstructedChaos yeah since you went wizard, you'd get familiar that way. personally though i'd still pick spellwrought tattoo: goodberry anyway as infusion known as you can always cast it on a non-combat day and carry over the berries to a combat day due to the long duration which would help your party with little hp nicks.
depending on the DM, spellwrought tattoo: animal friendship can also be useful for the same reason. you can have another scout if you want to keep your familiar/homunculus close. cast it on a non-combat day then carry over it's use to a combat day.
@@TheRobversion1 Ahhh yes, the goodberry use case is one I always seem to forget about!
I like this build and character concept. I have a warforged artificer that basically went the route of pacifist/support. I used Divination instead because Chronoturgy(spelling?) wasn't available and I took Luck instead of the Chef feat.
so I hand out the Portents to buff or debuff. Not as efficient I know, but it's what I have to work with.
What Artificer subclass?
Cool build. I made a 4th level Bardificer (Three levels Alchemist Artificer, 1 Level bard) Race Saty. Back story a alchemist student wakes up transformed into a satyr. Kicked out of school, he is now on the hunt for a way to change back. it was a fun support build.
Certainly sounds fun!! Bard is one of my favorites and I haven't played one in a while!
@@ConstructedChaos bard isn't one of mine (i don't like the thematics or lore of the character) but i play them alot as i like their mechanics alot. magical secrets is arguably my favorite ability in the game. so when i RP bards, i typically reflavor them to a cross between sorcs and wizards. their magic is part innate (born talented) and part honed by knowledge/training (just like a wizard). i tend to stay away from RPing musical bards as they tend to be cliche and i lean more towards the storyteller/gossip or informant/historian flavor of the class.
... damn! You just listed my 3-favorite-things, Brother. For the Emperor...!
Love your videos!
Thanks so much! Glad you're enjoying these!
Hey Chaos! hows it going? thought i'd share something artificer-infusion related here since i haven't seen someone else mention it- how to get concen-free flight at level 1-3 without being a flying race:
step 1: be any small race
step 2: pick up any flying pet like an owl familiar or a homunculus
step 3: drop prone on the ground
step 4: instruct your familiar/homunculus to grapple you until they succeed. choose the weaker of your str or dex
*DM fiat- i'd suggest skipping all the rolls here as eventually the grapple will succeed out of combat
step 5: instruct your familiar/homunculus to grapple drag/carry you into the air (their movement is halved)
step 6: profit. you're now flying at half the speed of your pet (though you can only move on their turn) while all enemies who attack you with ranged attacks will have disadvantage as you are prone. enjoy raining spells from your enemies from above
Going great!! Just a little busy with some stuff outside of the channel so my posts are slowing down a bit for now. Thanks for sharing this idea!
I enjoy you making video like theses .
I enjoy using this build.
Glad you enjoy it!
I one made a cleric of the forge artificer battlesmith, with the sole purpose of being a support tank with pets... it turned out having basically 2 tanks in one character with 26 ac was kinda broken, because I could never be hit... I'm a little sad the adventure ended early, but it was fun while it lasted.
Sounds like an epic time!!
Forge cleric combine really poorly with the artificer because the enchantement of the forge cleric and the infusion of artificer can only be applied to none magic item but both of them makes the item magic. So you cant combine them.
@@googloocraft1217 You're not trying to combine them. Making armor or a weapon magic uses an artificer infusion. You don't have to use an infusion if you make it magic with your Blessing of the Forge. A Forge Cleric Battlesmith also gets to use Heavy Armor.
@@vederianl9723 At higher level I would alredy found some magic items so I prefer peace cleric to really boost my ally then having something that I can't use.
@@googloocraft1217 I get adding Peace Cleric at high level instead of Forge. If I wanted to tank like @Kskage though I'd start as a Forge Cleric or take it at level 2.
Quick note Initiation is a dex check and If your DM is cool your flash of Genius can be add to it also
Great point and totally viable in RAW! Thanks for mentioning this!
Why do people keep calling it initiation instead of initiative?
@@rogerwilco2 They're probably not English first language speakers
Hey, recently found your channel and really enjoying some of the builds you're making.
I was very interested to hear and agree that the eldritch cannon is an object and so any spells that target creatures should not effect it, similar to how a dm might say you can't eldritch blast a door as it targets creatures.
I was going to say the description says it grants temp hp to creatures and how it can't benefit as it is an object, but then read closely and saw it gives "itself and any creature of your choice" the points.
Well played, my friend, great catch. If you find yourself in Orlando for Halloween Horror Nights, hit me up for a ticket, this build is gonna be a nightmare in Drakkenheim and you deserve some fun frights in kind!
Thanks very much for the accolades on this one and for the offer of a good time! I'll definitely let ya know if I ever find myself there!
Hey! FINALLY someone who gets me! I’ve been playing an insane mountain dwarf glassblower artillerist/witch, with a chrono dip, for a year now, and she is too much fun. I lean into freestanding-ish constructs: homunculus, familiar, protector cannon, and two awakened shrubs. (Don’t give an artificer 60 days of downtime between campaigns.)
I rarely cast spells, just save the slots for cannon and have my glass menagerie spread caltrops, ball bearings and alchemy jug oil everywhere. My DM hates me, because I roll (and call for re-rolls) as much as he does.
nice on the multiple awakened shrubs. baby groot!
other good items to have them use are hunting traps and the inhaled/contact poisons. magic stone gives the shrubs a good ranged attack option too.
Haha nicely done! Happy you enjoyed the video and feel at home here! That's the goal! :D
Awakened Shrubs are legitimately my favorite part of the Artificer class because coupled with things like Sending your reconnaissance can be insane.
I was making plans to do something so similar to this with my battle Smith.
Either cleric or wizard for my next level.
Picking up bless and guidance alone are so extremely good for support. It's hard not to just dip a level of cleric on this type of thing.
@@ConstructedChaos there is a subclass of cleric that is arcane and I believe that means an arcane cleric can start with 5 cantrips instead of three. If that adds to my artificer cantrips thats 7 total
@@millermbe You'd get more Cleric cantrips but that wouldn't allow you to choose more from the Artificer list. That said, I'm not sure going arcane cleric for more cantrips would be worth what you lose.
@@ConstructedChaos just going cleric for a level. I'm doing some unoptimal decisions partially for RP flavor. For example I am not taking my forth lol of artificer yet, going cleric for my forth then going back to get ability scores and extra attack. Might not go for more than flash of genius.
@@millermbe that’s totally fair! Sometimes you can’t ignore an opportunity in game to move over to something else sooner than you’d like to ideally! It’s what I’d probably do too in that situation!
i played a kobold artillerist and picked up the healer feat between that and the temps i was able to keep everyone alive through frostmaiden
Very nice! The only reason I didn't pick up the healer feat was that it'd involve Marco using the kit himself. And, he prefers to let Polo act as his proxy for most things!
@@ConstructedChaos I love that the reason is for roleplay keep up the great work
@@druxusthemage9806 thanks so much!!
Vortex Warp on the spell-storing item for your Homunculus/Steel Defender. Basically gives them a sling ring to yoink enemies into danger or allies out of that web as a bonus action. Let the shananigans begin :)
better on the artifcer's familiar, awakened shrub or tiny servant so it doesn't consume your bonus action to do that.
with that said, at the level you get to do this, half of this doesn't work as good as it looks theoretically. vortex warp is good for putting enemies in danger at tier 1-2 because enemies con saves are lower then. once you hit level 11 (tier 3) and get spell storing item, lots of enemies get a huge jump in con saves (due to size increase) and magic/legendary resistance become more commonplace.
Funny enough, I ran Vortex Warp in a one-shot with this build and never saw a use case for it in that game. It's definitely one of my favorite spells to take but I'm not sure it would warrant having on spell-storing item since I don't know that I'd use it that often!
@@ConstructedChaos exactly. There are much better spells than vortex warp to put in there. Vortex warp is a utility spell much like counterspell, dispel magic, mistu step, dimension door.. you wont need it often but its damn useful when you do. Having it on your spell list is enough.
Spell storing item spells should be bread and butter spells, your core tactic spells such as web or flaming sphere.
two or three levels of rogue with arcana expertise plus a mizzium apparatus would add no fail chance of every single level1-4 wiz/cleric/artificer spell available based on appropriate class levels on demand. The rogue archetype could even allow fun stuff :D
True that! I do feel like it probably takes this build in a different direction but I like the application here!
@@ConstructedChaos Good point, rogue has awful synergy & all yuo need is arcana expertise. Skill expert along the way is much better but Mizzium apparatus is tricksy & you gain way more than it sounds. If you drop wiz to 2 You can bring artificer to 15 for the +5ac partial cover aoe shield it gives and because the MA's wording is "In addition, you can
attempt to cast a spell that you do not know or have prepared. The spell you choose must be on your class's spell list and of a level for which you have a spell slot, and you must provide the spell's components. " You don't actually need to be at a level you can prepare the spell just the slot it uses . So the 4/3/3/3/2/1 1st-6th level slots can be *any* 1st-6th level spell from artificer/wizard/cleric lists. You lose momentary stasis but basically gain ∞ prep slots for a pretty godly result
I think this is a great item on any caster with a sorc/warlock/wiz build. only issues i have with it is it's setting specific (thus excluded at most tables/non-ravnica campaigns). there's also alot of DMs who won't allow you to have/go after magic items you want. with that said, i'd rather skill expert feat over a level of rogue if i ever got this item. the arcana check can easily be boosted by any abilities that boost ability checks such as the hobgoblin's saving face, flash of genius, emboldening bond, etc.
Interesting idea I had while watching this. You mentioned giving the homunculus servant an item that is containing a spell. Given the requirement of the item storing a spell being either a simple/martial weapon or an object that can be used as a spellcasting focus, plus that you any infused item _as_ a spellcasting focus, could you not have the homunculus servant itself store the spell? And then for it to cast said spell, it just sorta does it itself? As a bonus action from the artificer of course.
I think that would largely depend on how you interpret the rules. I probably wouldn’t let that fly at my table but another DM might!
10:20 the Homunculous taking the dodge action will not transfer that to the carried cannon. It could be considered a mount and rider, but I think a carried item is the most appropriate way to handle it as the cannon is not a creature and it is being held in the hand of a creature. The item is very well protected by the rules of fireball does not burn off your clothes no matter how much it should.
I don't think this is as cut and dry as you believe it is. I've discussed this with another commenter that had a similar reaction. The important distinction here is that the cannon is an object, not a creature (as you have also pointed out). There are no specific rules that state carried objects benefit from the dodge action but I think the logic makes sense here and more supports that they would than that they wouldn't.
@@ConstructedChaos I'm starting to think you're right. If I think of it as 2 people sword fighting. Person a dodges, person b tries to disarm. That disarm should be harder because of the dodge. Thanks.
@@skavies2351 No problem! As others have stated in the comments, it's not something that's explicitly stated in the rules but I think it's a logical conclusion, personally. As always, that part will be up to your DM!
Spell Storing Item is one of my favourites, especially if you give it to another character. Give a martial the ability to heal, or cast Shield.
same. it's a nuke with the right choices. no need to shield or heal. just end the combat.
Sadly, shield wouldn't work since its casting time is a reaction and not "1 action" but I like where your head is at here!
@@ConstructedChaos I failed to think rules lawyery enough! Gods damn it!
I don't think anything covers whether or not you can upcast a first as a second though. I think by the writing it's insinuated, but have they left it to the DM to decide whether a player can or cannot cast cure wounds at second level through it?
@@ConstructedChaos homunculus can use items, right? I like the idea of having the little fucker being a field medic 🤣
@@slipperyfish It’s always seemed to me that you could only cast the spell at its base level in that way but I’ve also always allowed players to upcast to 2nd level for it.
I.. have never seen someone with a cranium quite so animated before.
Thanks? haha
@@ConstructedChaosNo lie I was kinda mesmerized for a solid chunk of time. Also, S tier vid, surprised your channel isn't bigger 👍
@@Salad_Pickle hahaha thank you for real then! I have a habit of being a bit… bouncy when I speak but I’m glad someone enjoyed it 😂
I never really understood the whole 'needs affects object descriptor' thing. Like I understand it mechanically, but logically if my eldritch blast is fucking up Orcy McBandit it should at least ding an object.
Same in a videogame, most random keybinds almost never affect objects or terrain
Eldritch blast specifically deals force damage, so one could argue it literally hits and rends your soul, meaning it is useless on anything which doesn't have one
zombies and constructs don't have souls but they *do* have a magical field of energy which acts like almost their muscle tissue, basically some kind of magical aura
with acid splash, there are plenty of chemicals in real life that only dissolve organic matter and not minerals, I think in a fantasy world all these would be re-labelled acid much like the arming sword being called a shortsword
Firebolt actually throws fire, fire actually burns objects, therefore it says it can target objects
I always explain a spells description in terms of an interpretation of it's rules, I don't make up it's rules to fit the spells description, I think this makes the world more logical and coherent
I think there are ways to interpret those distinctions as the above commenters has. But, I do agree that it can be a little odd at times. I'm just going by the rules here but if I had a player that specifically wanted to attack an object or break down a door with a spell that targeted a creature, I'd probably still allow it.
And RAW it very much can fuck up a object.
Per both the Object and the Hitting Cover rules, any effect that can damage a creature can damage a object unless it explicitly has a different effect against objects (like true polymorph or earthquake). If it doesn't have the object as a regular target tho, it means full object rules apply and it needs to beat the hardness/damage threshold of the object to actually deal damage even if hit.
@@ANDELE3025 Where are damage hardness and threshold rules again?
@@nyanbrox5418 DMG page 247 (+/- 1 depending on version and in what language it is in).
Also PHB page 185 which just gives the quick TLDR without any tables or info past general "immune to poison and psychic due to no anatomy and no brain/mind to effect".
2024 update: I've done a lot of artificer builds--more than I'd like to admit--for one-shots (either as a player or a support DM NPC) & they've all been team support related. Coming up on redoing Strahd & my very first long-term Artificer is using the Alchemist sublass. It's challenging compared to the other 3 subclasses, but it's fun & I love it not the less.
For race, my next one is a Reborn Goblin (chose goblin mainly because of a mini, lol) but he's Reborn THEMATICALLY rather than MECHANICALLY. He still keeps his Monsters of the Multiverse features. His background is Astral Drifter with Bless (wonderful support ability), Spare the Dying (useful with the homonculous servant) & Guidance as his chosen spells.
The idea is that he was a member of a crew flying through the astral sea for 45+ years until they were attacked by some eldritch monster. He was saved, but he suffered a SEVERE case of amnesia--to the point where his memory and parts of his character/personality were lost. Seen as neutral good because his "kind decisions" stem more from common sense & decency to improve an overall situation rather than a strict moral code of kindness--so he set out on a journey of self-discovery to form his own path, morals & goals to find his new place in the cosmos (intending to rejoin his crew when the campaign was done). If he saw someone in need he'll help them because it's common sense to do so but that's purely in an analytical mindset. His biggest personal goal is that he wants to be someone who ALSO does good things for others out of kind-heartedness & resolve, not just common sense & numbers. By the time the campaign is done he will be either "lawful good" or "chaotic good" based on the events of the campaign.
"It is important to help those who are in need; those who are struggling to make their place in the world & move it forward--not just for the sake of kindness, but also efficiency & progress for us all. We cannot look past the pain & hindrances of the world under the excuse of personal inconvenience when a days worth of struggle for someone else's sake could give them a lifetime of opportunities to help others & do the same--especially if one of their opportunities is to help us in the future, as well. To deny others in a time of need because virtue wasn't convenient at the time is to deny our right to criticize the world for all of its struggles."
What I like in regards to gameplay RP is that he has notes of when he was a master level alchemist before his accident, so he's low level because he's starting over rather than because he's new & his Experimental Elixirs are random because he's looking through old & encoded notes/labels that he's still trying to fully understand, so when he finally pulls together the notes of the day he creates the one "random" Experimental Elixir per long rest. When he eventually gets 2 & then 3 per long rest it's due to him getting better at reading & decoding his old notes.
He spends as much downtime as he can making acid, Alchemist's Fire, smoke bombs, spell scrolls & TNT to use during the day (most often with the catapult spell). With him creating spell scrolls during rests, he can use his lower level spell slots to create more elixirs. Gold costs aren't really that much of a hindrance with how our DM runs loot rewards & he loans off some of his infusions in exchange for the funds to make his magical equipment.
His stats are point buy, beginning at 8, 13+1, 15+1, 15+1, 12, 8. His Intelligence & Constitution are top priority for spell effectiveness, survivability & saving throws while his Wisdom is higher than average for RP purposes. This makes Strength & Charisma his dump stats, which I'm fine with. I get Intelligence to 20 ASAP using a +2 ASI for Intelligence at levels 4 & 8. We plan on ending the campaign at level 12 or 13 so I don't have that much thought into what to get at level 12, but by then I'll have a good idea on what rout to take.
I like how this video decides to multiclass to fully broaden out the concept of a supporting Artificer--and I LOVE the fact that you have an actual RP reason to do it rather than JUST numbers. Me, myself & I am just too anxious for higher-level features to deeply or broadly multiclass. It's a personal character flaw, but I've never done a level 20 campaign before & only draw builds up to level 6, 8 or 12.
Absolutely! I believe that the best builds are motivated by both mechanics AND story! Seems like you're of the same mind!
Be curious how it works with Elemental Adept and a wildfire multiclass or assassin multi.
I don't think these options are really what this build wants to be doing but that doesn't mean they're wrong or bad! I could see some added utility from the wildfire druid but I'm not sure what we'd really want support-wise from elemental adept or assassin.
I'm honestly surprised you never suggested taking the Healer feat, given how absurdly efficient it is in the unlikely event that one of your allies actually goes down.
I did think about taking it! But, in my mind, I'd have other options for that AND that feat would necessitate Marco being in combat to use the kit. The idea here is for Marco to stay back and act through his homunculus for the most part!
@@ConstructedChaos that makes sense!
Had this on my Watch Later list for a while now and had time to fire it up - very cool build!! Some thoughts: It does feel like a bit of a Bonus Action bottleneck, at least speaking from my last campaign my Protector Turret was firing every turn to keep the party upright, and I had the Telekinesis feat but rarely got to use the push/pull (This could have been the DM compensating for the constant THP resource). On an Armourer the Homunculus definitely shines as they typically have an open Bonus Action. After all the support abilities, the cleric dip almost seems overkill, and considering if you went Twilight Cleric to pump out THP, your turrets could go offensive.
This one is just personal opinion: I see the optimizing value in high Initiative, many build guides recommend Alert - coming off a Sentinel Shield Artificer (Adv Init) and a high Init Swashbuckler Rogue in recent games - I just don't want to go first anymore, letting other players start the flow of battle gives everyone at the table the hotseat experience when they top the Initiative list. Your build does have plenty of ways to support and recover a party even when rolling low Initiative.
That being said I love Artificer builds, thanks for putting this together!
i agree that there's bonus action clog. personally, i would've just strapped the protector turret to my familiar and skipped the homunculus. that would've freed up the infusion slot.
i disagree however on wanting lower initiative (except on a healer). higher initiative is essentially an extra turn. it's not good however if you don't know your own combat tactics or tend to play like a reactionary caster. for example on my own battlesmith, my typical openers are:
1. if enemy is far away- haste
2. if bbeg is huge- enlarge
3. otherwise-heroism
@@TheRobversion1Good points. But my person opinion (play however you want!) If playing a support, let snipers/strikers bombard the field and then react with THP and other buffs. Something like Twilight Cleric granting advantage on a friendly initiative. Pick a friendly to set the combat stage.
@@Pondering133 i think it all depends on what type of support you're providing. if it leans towards being more of a healer then yes lower initiative is better as your allies havent been damaged yet. if your support is more diversified and have some offensive bonuses then it's actually ideal for you to go ahead of the controllers, summoners or strikers (the party's main offense).
for example:
1. strikers would want stuff like bless, haste etc on them before their actual turn so they could use them in their striking. same thing for a summoner's pets.
2. controllers would want that the enemy already debuffed with something like bane before they lay down a control spell.
3. even for tanks, if you're casting defensive buffs like shield of faith, they'd want it on them before they head into the fray.
I'm glad you enjoyed the build! When I played it out, I did find that the bottleneck was on bonus actions but it still felt quite potent. It just seemed like each turn I was stacking up another effect until I eventually needed to refresh the party and their temp hp.
how would you structure this for a 20 + campaign? I'm currently level 24 and need to make some backup characters
i'm curious how do you run epic levels in 5e? there's not enough support for it in the rules unless i missed something in the DMG aside from the boons. do you just allow people to continue gaining levels in classes as long as they havent reached level 20 in a class? what happens to multiclass casters? do they increase in spell slots or do you just cap it at the level 20 multiclass slots table?
@@TheRobversion1 Same here. I've actually never run above 20th level so I feel ill-equipped to offer advice here.
@@ConstructedChaos all well and good as i think most tables dont play tier 4 anyway so i bet a smaller number goes to epic levels.
Question: Can I store an eldritch cannon in a bag of holding during a short rest? Maybe that way we can have the cannon last 2 fights with a short rest between.
You can definitely store it there! It doesn’t need oxygen and it can certainly be small enough. However, this won’t provide you with any added longevity on its use. The cannon will still only last for an hour in the bag.
@@ConstructedChaos Thanks for the response, I am looking for a way to last the cannon some more time -_- , I think it could help the spell slots use distribution.
@@willykevinsuarezphellan3925 Ok, so, you want the cannon to last longer, multiclass into wizard after 3rd level to get more spell slots
heck you could take a warlock instead of cleric dip if you wanted a floating 1st level spell slot that comes back on a short rest, of course meeting minimum charisma
@@nyanbrox5418 the dip recomendations is really neat. Wizard would be the most easy to access.
@@willykevinsuarezphellan3925 Yeah! I think multiclassing into a full caster would be the best way to go. And Wizard is definitely an easy pickup for you!
I'm currently playing a goblin battlesmith who uses guns and bombs.decided later to try "wizard training "which didn't work.hes now a wildmagic sorcerer that was a secret from the party.somehow magic&technology didn't work lol
So while he's trying to be supportive there's a chance of a mishap!
Hahah I love little secret multi classes like that! It always makes the role-play interesting when they start to piece it together too!
It may not necessarily be as strong but I think there is a case for peace cleric and alchemist. Bless spell + peace buff + boldness potion to give 3d4 to attacks and saves
i think it's fine as a support setup but the action economy has to be improved as that's 3 turns worth of setup. multiclass with fighter 2 for action surge and 2-3 sorc for quickened spell and yes this becomes viable as you can do everything turn 1 at level 7:
3 alchemist, 2 fighter, 2 sorc:
custom lineage: metamagic adept: quicken spell
pre-combat:
give allies swiftness elixirs as those last 1 hr anyway.
1st turn:
bonus action: quickened bless
action: emboldening bond
action surge: administer boldness elixir on your sharpshooter/gwm ally
2nd turn onwards:
bonus action: quickened spell/convert spell slot to sorc points/bonus action spell
action: administer elixir (like flight or resilience or boldness) to ally
@@TheRobversion1 It also gets better if you run potions/elixers as a bonus action like I do. Either way, definitely a viable setup! Peace cleric on artificer in general just tends to work out since the artificer class lends itself so easily to support builds.
@@ConstructedChaos sadly we dont. DM is a stickler for RAW. our own version of homebrewing the potion thing is:
1. the healing is maximized (dm thinks rolling here unnecessarily slows down the game for something that's not really "fun")
2. i think i mentioned this to you before but he lifted a page out of diablo 3 and basically allows us to find potion containers that refresh daily (no need to bookkeep as much or make an unnecessary side trips to town). so the actual container is magical and replenishes the container. so:
a. healing-restores 10
b. greater healing-restores 20
c. superior healing-restores 40
d. supreme-restores 60
sometimes he homebrews versions that refill more than once per day.
strix haven mascot feat with the same background is good with this build quindaxit school has a familiar that can change size 1 per round from tiny to eventually huge. a 3 dip into warlock chain pact familiar and the right invocations you have a flying huge tank you and your cannon can ride.
That's totally fair! And I'm definitely a huge fan of the stuff from Strixhaven! However, I know a lot of DMs don't allow those backgrounds outside of that adventure and this was a solution baked right into the class so I figured I'd just go that route.
Fantastic suggestion either way!
@@ConstructedChaos speaking of strixhaven, i think we're finally going to get our DM to say yes to the strixhaven background/feats/spells (along with other setting specific content though he hates the chronurgist). of course, not everyone wants to be pigeonholed to playing a strixhaven background RP wise. my suggestion is the DM should just allow a player to select an extra feat if they select any of the old non-ravnica backgrounds/customize background. what do you think?
@@TheRobversion1 That sounds pretty reasonable to me, honestly. I wonder if we'll see a similar change from WOTC before 5.5e in a new sourcebook or sage advice.
@@ConstructedChaos yeah its been the direction design wise like with the Krynn UA. was just wondering what you thought of it balance wise compared to the strixhaven backgrounds which gives a specific feat and extra spells.
Can we double check that the homunculus can use magic items? I was just writing this comment to correct the statement as when I was reading it on my character sheet on D&D Beyond it’s specified that the action it could take had to be from a set list of actions which included hide, Dash, and disengage, but not use an item. However when I looked it up on the actual class page with details all the infusions (me looking there was a happy mistake) it simply says it can be the action in its stat block or some other action…no clarification or specificity. Now DND beyond is by no means the final authority on game ruling, But it is still weird that it’s worded in such a way in one place and not the other. Was there an errata in one of the books that made it one way or the other?
the more recent publications of the book reflect the latter. the devs have also come out and said that all pets/summons can use magic items (or mundane items) as long as they have the appropriate anatomy for it (this part is DM fiat still). so homunculus can use magic items. tiny servants can use spell storing item. you can give a +1 short sword to your summon fey. and so on.
i would check with the DM however for example if a pet/summon without hands can use a magic/mundane item requiring hands to manipulate such as a standard familiar trying to use a wand.
I did a ton of research before this video in particular to make sure all my rulings were within bounds and consistent with the norms hahaha. As Rob said, always double check with your DM. But, this is typically allowed and accepted as correct.
I've made a Rock Gnome Artillerist Artificer with Far Traveller background. Take him up to Level 5 Artificer to get the Arcane Firearm and a flying Homunculus Servant with a Protector or Flamethrower Eldritch Cannon. Then at 6th Level, Take Sorcerer 1 then go up to Clockwork Sorcerer 4 at 9th Level before taking Diviner Wizard 2 at Levels 10-11 and finally moving up to Artificer 14 all the way to 20th Level if the game reaches that level.
Divination Wizard and Clockwork Sorcerer were definitely two other subclasses I'd considered for the build! Clockwork in particular vibes pretty well with Artificer flavor!
Homunculus goes BRRRRRRRRRRRRRT!
Hehehe pretty much!
That’s crazy because I just created my Artificer and went with almost the exact same stats
Haha great minds think alike!
Hey Chaos! Sharing here the battlesmith build i've been working on for my next campaign. pure level 10 theorycraft as i haven't playtested this yet. the steel defender i have in mind is inspired by the iron giant
"the iron giant"
battlesmith 10
custom lineage: metamagic adept (twinned spell, extend spell)
asi: +3 int, +1 cha
infusions known: spellwrought tattoo: find familiar, pot of awakening, spellwrought tattoo: goodberry, spellwrought tattoo: animal friendship
infusions used: gauntlets of ogre strength (equip on steel defender), repeating weapon (pistol), winged boots (equip on steel defender), cloak of protection (equip on steel defender)
role: support/controller/tank hybrid
key spells: magic stone, mending, guidance, warding bond, enlarge, heroism, sanctuary, haste, aid, web
DM notes: ask the DM if you can put barding on your steel defender
so just like yours this is mainly a support but focuses on supporting the steel defender with spells and items.
tactics:
pre-combat: cast warding bond on steel defender. cast aid on yourself, the steel defender and your allies. spam guidance for initiative and magic stone.
1st round:
bonus action: command steel defender to grapple the bbeg. with winged boots they should be able to reach even flying bbegs
action: this would depend on the situation
if the bbeg is huge or looks to have high str, enlarge the steel defender.
if the bbeg is far away, haste the steel defender.
if there's alot of enemies you need to deal with near the bbeg, web.
otherwise, you can do twin heroism on yourself and the steel defender.
free action: drop magic stones then command awakened shrub to throw magic stone at bbeg
awakened shrub: throw magic stone
steel defender: move towards bbeg and grapple. use flash of genius as needed to boost the grapple check
your reaction: shield/absorb elements as needed if you haven't used flash of genius
steel defender: deflect attack as needed
2nd round:
bonus action: sanctuary the steel defender
action: attack x2 the bbeg (arcane jolt heal the steel defender as necessary)
awakened shrub: throw magic stone
steel defender: dodge
so basically the whole point of the build is to make a tanky steel defender who will grapple the bbeg away from the party so the bbeg is forced to attack the steel defender and the party can eventually kill the bbeg with ranged attacks. with the spells, full battlesmith levels, and 3 attuned magic items we end up with a tanky steel defender with a +7-12 grapple check at level 10. assuming the heroism buff as described earlier here's how tanky the steel defender is at level 10:
HP: 67 (with aid) + 5 replenishing temp hp per turn
AC: 20 (with plate barding, COP and WB), has disadvantage to be hit due to dodging
Saves: +5 STR, +7 DEX (with advantage due to dodging), +8 CON, -1 INT, +2 WIS, +0 CHA (with COP and WOB)
immunities: poisoned, charmed, exhaustion, frightened (with heroism)
resistance to ALL dmg with DC 17 Sanctuary effect
*can use repair 3x/day
so yes he can be tough to take down and the bbeg has no choice but to hit him due to being grappled (you can also grapple and drag the bbeg into the air). so a bbeg attempting to hit the steel defender after the 2nd turn will have to get past sanctuary then ac 20 with disadvantage then resistance then the temp hp before they actually touch the steel defender's hp which can be healed as needed with cure wounds, arcane jolt or repair in combat and mending post-combat.
now if i were to take this further than level 11, that's when i'll consider dipping into sorc (that's why i picked the +1 cha for one of the ASIs) for a little more sorc points, better spell slot progression and spell access. more sorc points will allow me to use extended aura of vitality more often post combat to easily heal the whole party to full hp.
anyway hope that wasn't too long and you found this take on the battlesmith interesting.
Ooooohhhh! Really smart to throw on sanctuary AFTER the grapple succeeds on the BBEG. Seems like a really fun build for the players and pretty annoying for the DM haha!
@@ConstructedChaos yup! it has lots of options and is really a different playstyle from supporting a party. yeah the difficulty with sanctuary is most players would want to use their actions to attack/cast spells instead of dodging for the whole combat and the player type that would benefit the most from the sanctuary, the tank, typically likes to shove prone and attack. the brilliance here is that a steel defender tank doesnt need to attack (you can use the bonus action to command it to do something else like casting sanctuary, magic stone, commanding the steel defender to repair itself, etc) nor does it need to shove prone (we get our disadvantage to be hit from dodging). so the steel defender can benefit from sanctuary for the full duration as it doesn't need to break it.
the one caveat for this build is it works best with a ranged party. if there's another melee, the bbeg can then just choose to attack the other melee (though the steel defender can still impose disadvantage via deflect attack) and ignore the layers of defenses we put on the steel defender.
rn, in my campaign im a lvl 4 artificer battlesmith
i am almost unhittable by normal weapons (you need to roll a 26 with disadvantage)
and when i reach lvl 6 i will also become unhittable to 1 magic damage type
oh, and ive taken absorb elements to help surive magic damage
and i have fey touched (misty step) with a revolver
im a unhittable teleporting gunslinger
Good lord! How did you manage a 26AC at just level 4?
Shield, plus medium armour, + the spell shield+ good dex and enhanced defense as an infusion, this gives me situational 25/26 AC
@@user-fu7dl1tk6b Ah yes. The shield spell is a hell of a drug haha
Around 11:04 ish you mentioned the Protector Cannon giving itself temp hit points? Wouldn’t that be invalidated because it isn’t a considered a creature?
check the ability description. 😉
@@TheRobversion1 As Rob mentioned, it's an often overlooked part of the protector cannon's ability!
Well mimicry truly is the best form of flattery, if my suspicions are accurate anyway. Might I have inspired you to tweak my idea of an "Ultimate Accuracy Artillerist" (17 Artificer, 2 Wizard (for portant), and 1 Cleric (for emboldening bond) I posted in a previous Artificer video of yours?
Either way, love how you sculpted the undisputed support build.
I’ve had the idea for this build since the artillerist was released but I did get some inspiration for the chronurgy dip from someone in our discord! Now that you remind me, maybe your comment had some influence as well but it would have been purely subconscious. That said, thanks as always for sharing those ideas with the world!
Just went back to read that comment from three months ago and I do have to admit the similarities are pretty uncanny. But, I promise this wasn’t some carbon copy. I’d all but forgotten the comment since I get and respond to about 15/day and the build was originally going to just be artillerist 12 / peace cleric 8 until I realized the insane synergy that chronurgy offered.
@@ConstructedChaos
Thank you for your comments and encouragement. It was not my intent to come across "sour" in my comment, quite the opposite! You have very enjoyable content, so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the similarities between builds.
Keep up the great work/content!
@@gabrielhoy6790 oh! Well thank you!! I was just worried I’d offended you in some way. I seem to always assume the worst in the comments section 😂
Few days ago one of my players said he wants to try an artificer, he just sent me a link to this video with the caption: Can I?
you should (artificers in general aren't OP) though i would caution for the bag of holding bomb combo once you have 2 artificers in the party.
@@TheRobversion1 oh for sure. I am by no means against it, artificer is my second favorite class. I just wanted to share the moment.
@@remanyooman3803 Hahaha that's awesome!! Happy to have inspired someone to make something similar! It really is super fun to play Marco and Polo ;)
Would suggest having a Kobbo friend for one effect they have. Grovel, cower, beg. EVERYONE HAS ADVANTAGE.
Wellllll, sadly, the new kobold doesn't have that feature. I'd probably still allow the old kobold at my table if people wanted to use it but I'm not sure that's the case everywhere, unfortunately.
@@ConstructedChaos frankly not a fan of the new one, pack tactics and GCB are too good to pass up! Especially in bigger parties. So if I can, I usually try to get the older kobbo in if I play one.
@@aidan4472 I think that's fair! Most people seem to prefer the old kobold and I'm in that camp as well! But, I kinda feel like, if you're going to take that version at its best, you also have to take the "medicine" of negative ability score modifiers.
@@ConstructedChaos that is true… I remember making one with a higher DPS with a nail on a string than with a lance because of that. (1d4+3, totaling to 5.5 compared to 1d12-2, totaling to 4.5.)
Warforged artificer armour/cleric of the forge is crazy ....
"Forged" sure it is! (sorry for the dad joke)
Why would you take forge cleric it anti synergies with the infusion of the artificer
I didn’t realize they were named Marco & Polo until 25:45 🤦♂️
Hehehehe I’m glad someone enjoyed the joke!
This is nice build.
Question. 11th level artificer. Spell storing item. 1st or 2nd level artificer spell. If you upcast the spell to store it. Does the upcast effectively increase the spell level?
Unfortunately, we belive it doesn't
Sadly, the above comment is correct. However, I’d allow it at my table as I don’t think it breaks anything that wasn’t broken already!
@@ConstructedChaos it does change the level of spell or doesn't. Lol I know it will use higher spell slot.
If it doesn't change the spell level. Have I got a broken combo for you sir. Still doing research on it tho. Lol.
Just need to know if the upcast changes the spell level.
@@dracosdiabolis1769 RAW, it doesn’t change the level of the spell. You’re “storing” a spell in the item-not casting it. So it would use the base level of that spell.
That said, I would allow that to happen in my games. What’s the combo you have in mind? 😂
@@ConstructedChaos to be clear here RAW yes it doesn't work but not exactly for the reason you gave here. it doesn't work because you are CHOOSING a 1st or 2nd level spell from the artificer list (choosing from the list means you cant control the level it's cast at so no upcasting) and CASTING it into the item with the restriction that it costs 1 action to cast (this is why modifying it with metamagic is allowed and certain spells like rituals arent allowed).
Love the build, music came in a little hot though. Was not prepared for its loudness.
Haha thanks!! And sorry about that! I’ll try to tone it down a bit next time 😂😅
Great video as always , but am I alone in loathing Dscribe performances?
Thanks so much! This is actually the first (sortof) negative comment I've had about a sponsor so you might be alone in that. Still, these sponsors are helping me get to a point where I can produce CZcams content full time--a goal I have for this year. So, I can't thank them enough, regardless!
would have loved to see clockwork sorccer
Not a bad pick at all either! I just felt chronurgy did more of what we wanted by level 6!
Hey constructed I don't know if you'll see this but i've tried a character build that still helps the group and does stuff in the campaign is there a way you could help make it a little more interesting it's a fallen aasimar that's monk 2/ bladesinger 18 if you do end up answering this I'll be extremely grateful
I'll let chaos get to this but without knowing much about the role you want to play in the party and what your core tactics are, best advice i can give is to drop the monk. the less monk levels are in any build, 99% of the time, it makes the build better. monks can be fun but they simply aren't good mechanically. unless of course, this was supposed to be a monk which i doubt since you just dipped monk.
@@TheRobversion1 well my group consists of a hexblade/gunslinger, a paladin/divine soul/celestial warlock, storm herald barbarian and that's why I'm stumped on what to do
@@LunarWolf-bv2ci i dont think your party's composition should stump you on what you should do. the question is what do you want to do with your character? what do you find fun? what role do you want to play/tactics you want to use?
if you're concerned if your party is lacking something and that's what you care about, in terms of party roles, there's only 1 integral role: controller. as long as the party has a controller, the other players can be whatever they want and the party should be fine. looking at your allies, it does seem your party lacks a controller at first glance. i see a tank type (barb) and a couple of strikers. so yeah if you're looking to fill holes in the group, play a controller.
there's alot of good choices in wizard, even the bladesinger can be specced as such with proper multiclassing/feats. i wont' suggest further as i dont know if you'll find that playstyle fun or that's what you want to do.
@@TheRobversion1 well are barb isn't a tank he could care about being the meat shield
@@LunarWolf-bv2ci shouldn't be an issue if he's a striker then. tanks are a sub-optimal role anyway. either way, yeah i'd recommend going controller unless you don't find that fun. most important is to play a build you will have fun with though it's also good to experiment and open your horizons. are you looking to play a bladesinger? a wizard?
PLZ DO AN OPTIMIZED ARMORER BUILD !!!!😭
Plz plz plz
i can adjust one of my builds for an armorer if you're looking for an infiltrator and i can share it if you're interested.
@@dangelobarton8164 Haha in due time! Unfortunately, even though the Armorer is one of the strongest of the Artificer subclasses, it's one of the least appealing to me. I'm just not a huge fan of it and I can't explain why haha. But, you can bet I'll get an idea for one at some point!
@@TheRobversion1 I'd definitely welcome that and look forward to it! As always!
@@ConstructedChaos ah it's just a typical multi-attacking sharpshooter but instead of using darts (my original build which was me trying to create yondu from GOTG), i just take more artificer levels over ranger/fighter levels and use the lightning launcher. it practically works the same with the major difference that lightning launcher deals lightning which could be a problem against resistant enemies as there's no way to circumvent that resistance (can't use elemental adept or transmute spell because it's not a spell). if you're still interested, sure i'll post it. just thought it might be boring for you since sharpshooter builds are quite common and i present no solution in the build to the lightning dmg issue.
At level 7 Peace1 Chron6 will actually be able to cast web hypnotic pattern and wizard rituals. Start custom lineage with Telekinetic for a useful bonus action and starting with 18 int. At chron 4 take resilient(con). This way you are still casting 3rd level spells instead of being limited to 1st all the way up to 7 like you describe at the end of the video.
Taking fireball at level 19 is a terrible idea.
Totally a fair build! But I specifically wanted this to be an artificer support build so it does defeat the point a bit there.
Fireball is always fun and you can’t convince me otherwise.
Two big problems at the beginning especially.
1) I dont know how they msised this, but the Homonculus servant is an infusion you can choose at level 6. not at level 1. So you will not be able to start off the game with this. It also requires a Gem worth 100GP. So even if it was lvl 1, you wouldent have much else for equipment if you used our starting coin( providing you even have any) for this gem.
2) The homonculus is the -worst- infusion for an artillierist since your cannon is going to be using your Bonus action every round. You'll never be able to actually command your servant without sacrificing your core class abilities. Nothing in the game, not even Haste, will grant a second Bonus action.
So you are better off just giving your cannon to the tank, or another party member if you dont want it centered on you.
I appreciate the input but you’re incorrect on most counts. The Homunculus servant does not have a level prerequisite (although it does cost 100gp). Additionally, you should remember that the benefit we want from it is NOT the bonus action instruction. It’s the auto dodge that it does when it receives no instruction…
@@ConstructedChaos We are both correct apparently. I just rechecked my books and they removed the level 6 pre-requisite in Tasha's, but it was present in Eberreron: Rising from the last war. Very interesting change!
@@jamesmartin8005 I see! That is interesting. I use dnd beyond as my reference so my rules are auto updated. Thanks for explaining where the confusion came from.
what is this sond at 17:39
It's called "Vantage Point" by Hampus Naeselius!
So... technically, chronomancy is setting specific, as is echo knight and some of the others from Wildmount (the Critical Role book). That's because they are among the most powerful of the subclasses. That's not to say that I couldn't see the Dragonmark houses establishing a school of magical inquiry into time travel. After all, everyone would prefer to undo the Day of Mourning which set off the Great War. Chronomancy is the ONLY subclass whose spells are subclass restricted. That says something to me about reclusivity. Overall, a very interesting character concept.
Thanks for pointing that out!! Funny enough, the original build was just Artificer and Cleric. But, when it felt like a little something was missing, I knew exactly where to go for it haha. But, without a doubt, it's a good idea to make sure a given DM is okay with using the chronurgy wizard.
I have been going down a self-educating rabbit hole with D&D, and have recently began dipping my toe in character building to conceptualize for a game I have yet to try and play. I have to admit, I have been pretty turned off by full support characters.
You have changed my mind.
that's good to hear. theorycrafting then playstesting builds is one of the main joys of dnd.
Happy to have inspired you!! I so rarely go support classes in other games but I find myself drawn to it in 5e specifically for some reason!
Wow this character needs to pick his major.
Haha probably so but it worked out for them in the end 😜
Homonculous srvany and wlsrtch canon seem redundanr. Id pick enhance arcane focus to enhance my casting. There an argument to use it with nattlesmirh
It would seem redundant until you realize that having your servant carry the cannon greatly improves maneuverability and allows for the use of the dodge action every turn. It really amplifies the staying power and relative effectiveness of the cannon itself.
I like how he just got into the video. Well crafted video! Im glad more artificer tech is being found.
I like half-elf battlesmith with elven accuracy and a greatsword. I know it couldve been done before, with hexblade, but eww hexblade ;-)
Haha I try to get started ASAP after seeing what happens when I don’t 😂
That said, I just started playing an artificer that I plan to take into battle smith as well! I may have to consider that setup you mentioned! 🤔
Goblin artillerist Dao warlock. From izzet. You essentially use the warlock spell slots to refuel your turret. Also you get the extra damage from your patron.
So at level 6, When you cast fire bolt. 2d10+1d8+3.
Edit: didn't see that my phone changed dao to do.
I might be missing something. What extra damage are your referring to?
@@ConstructedChaos
2d10= fire bolt
1d8= arcane firearm
+3= professionacy bonus bludgening damage from Dao warlock.
@@dragonhearthx8369 ahh got it! This gets even better if you manage to get an all purpose tool and pick up eldritch blast with it specifically (since it would then count as an artificer spell for you). Pick up agonizing blast from there and you’re doing MAD damage with just cantrips.
In case others are wondering, the goblin was exiled from ravnika. Because he was caught "eliminating" the competition. When it came to sales. His clan however did not banish him. Because they hired him to do exactly that but under the table. They paid him in experimental trinkets. One of them was a bb gun that never ran out of ammo because it takes it from the plane of earth. His warlock slots are batteries from the plane of air (lightning).
@@dragonhearthx8369 Ohhh I like the planar magic flavor here instead of just saying it doesn't run out of ammo!
I wish the cannon lasted longer than 1 hour.
i think the duration is decent enough. should be long enough for a DM to run you through a combat unless the DM is purposely trying to screw you over in a dungeon or you're creating it in a non-combat possible area like a town. you can then re-create it after hour by spending a 1st level slot.
As Rob said, I think the need to use a spell slot to recreate it makes sense. And I think they kinda nailed the balance on this one! However, as a player with no regard for that balance, I'd love to have the cannon online at all times haha.
@@ConstructedChaos i think tbh if they made it online at all times and easily recreatable (like how echo knights create echoes) it wouldn't really unbalance the artillerist. they already have limited slots for being a half-caster.
@@TheRobversion1 I see it like this though; the alchemist keeps their potion until the next long rest AND can create another one with a spell slot, the Armorer keeps their armor all the time, the battle smith keeps their Steel Defender all the time/recreate it per long rest. the Artillerist gets a cannon 1 time for 1 hour per long rest/spell slot.
For games where the DM isn't comfortable with firearms the cannon is a great workaround but it just feels wrong that you have said canon for 1 hour every day (ignoring spell slot consumption) and it just poofs out of existence until the next day.
I don't mind spending spell slots, I think it's very well made in terms of balance. I just want to make Ash from Evil Dead and NOT have his Boomstick disappear on him :(
@@trevorninja100 thats fair. Enough of an argument there to keep it around and just need to recreate it if it gets destroyed like the steel defender.
with a quandrix background you can grab find familiar instead of homunculus if you want an extra infusion, it won't have the extra health but they can use the help action and use items without your bonus action and will still have the temp hp from the defender.
you don't need the quandrix background for that. artificers can get find familiar by default at level 2 without consuming an infusions used slot. an infusions known slot is enough. check the pinned comment in his infusions vid.
@@TheRobversion1 homuculous servant requires your bonus action and the find familiar spell is only on the wizard spell list with other classes having features that give them one. Artificer isn't one of them.
With that being said, multi classing into wizard is already part of the build and an extremely potent subclass so I'll admit it's only worth it if you want a familiar early.
Also I didn't know homunculos didn't require the infusion to be active thanks for the info.
@@aaronmacdonald1370 nope i think you misunderstood. Homunculus requires the infusion used and infusion known slots. Artificers can get find familiar for infusion known slot. This is via replicate magic item: spellwrought tattoo: find familiar.
Set that as infusion used for the day. Cast fins familiar. Swap the infusion out for something else like winged boots. Homunuculus on the other hand if you swap out the infusion disappears.
@@TheRobversion1 oh right the spell wrote tattoos, I always sleep on them because the dms i run with treat them as the same as scrolls and as a result not allowed but if the dm is cool with it you could give your entire party familiars this way as an added bonus.
@@aaronmacdonald1370 yeah thats one of the shenanigans that can be done with it. when i dm, i just rule that spellwrought tattoos are for personal use when used with infusions. solves all shenanigans and doesn't penalize the artificer.
RAW and RAI though it is intended by the developers to work. you can even show your DMs its selectable on dnd beyond.
spellwrought tattoo infusions are a great way to make the artificer more versatile as it's their poor man's version of magical secrets. other good picks i'd recommend are goodberry (just infusions known slot since the berries last for 24 hours), bless, heroism, fog cloud and shield of faith.
Why would you think the cannon benefits from the Dodge action just because it is being carried by someone/thing that is taking the Dodge action? There is nothing in RAW that supports that claim.
I said it in the video. Most enemies will target the Homunculus instead of the cannon. Additionally, there’s nothing in RAW that refutes the claim either.
If you wanted to, say, knock an enemy’s socks off, I would imagine that you’d roll to hit the enemy since the socks are worn/carried by said enemy.
@@ConstructedChaos Worn items are VERY different from carried creatures or objects.
The concept of allowing Dodge to benefit carried creatures or objects is not supported or even implied in RAW. Although nothing in RAW states that creatures/objects being carried by another creature taking Dodge don't get the benefit of Dodge, that is a huge leap in logic. It would be an abuse of action economy. Do you really want to allow the party fighter to carry around 1-2 other party members and then always just dodge in combat?
If someone wants to make a claim that is not supported by RAW, they would have to show that it should be allowed. You cannot try to say that RAW not refuting the claim is sufficient. For example, there is not anything in RAW that refutes that Dodge also heals adjacent allies. Would you allow someone to make this claim?
@@nnzfmly so then take my first point instead. Once again, I said in the video that most enemies would likely target the Homunculus.
Or, better yet, interchange “socks” for “sword”. Would a character’s sword not gain a benefit from the said character taking a dodge action?
I don’t think it’s quite as blatantly obvious as the example you listed about healing nearby enemies. But, hey, you’re welcome to run your games how you want to!
@@ConstructedChaos I would not allow a player to target an enemy's held sword with an attack. I would allow a player to target an Artificer's held Eldritch Cannon with an attack.
Would you allow a half-orc fighter carrying 2 ally halflings to have Dodge benefit the carried halflings?
@@nnzfmly Well that's simple. The Eldritch Cannon is an object. Halflings are creatures.
Unless you just objectified halflings. How dare you.
Any enemy who knows anything about the party will be killing Marco first. 😉
So long as polo is safe, my heart will go on.
@@ConstructedChaos There's always Ring of Mind Shielding infusion and reincarnation into a new Warforged body. We wouldn't want Polo to be an orphan. ;-)
@@Tusitala1967 are we turning Marco into Alphonse from full metal alchemist? Because I’m not against it.
Thank you for pronouncing “Artificer” correctly 😅
Thank you for noticing! :D
What level artificer build is he? I'm getting some 9 level artillerist vibes with the peace cleric multi.
Edit : wait nevermind he's level 11. 🤣 Marco is the opposite of my peace cleric artillerist.
Peace, through firepower using the force ballista and 2 level peace cleric
Haha sounds like an equally fun application for artillerist!! Oh, and the full level 20 build is 12 artificer! Don’t wanna miss out on those ASIs!
@@ConstructedChaos my character is a 9 level artificer with cross bow expert, sharp shooter, and spell sniper feat. A variant human who my DM allows me to use muskets and flintlocks for my arcane fire arm and let me reflavor my crossbow to a musket but it keeps crossbow damage.
I have 2nd level peace cleric because my character doesn't like using violence but if he has to he wants the problem gone, immediately, so no one gets hurt, but if they do I can heal them 🙂
@@jaimiebrown4055 interesting!! The feats seem like a good fit too!
@@jaimiebrown4055 why didnt the dm just allow you to use the musket in the DMG? artificers are proficient with all firearms at level 1. is it for using it with crossbow expert?
As a stickler for not cheesing the dm, I can’t take peace cleric. Considering forge cleric for RP reasons myself as an alternative
I want the opposite as a DM. Do optimize. not only does it help me improve as a DM but it means i can bring out toys i hold myself back from playing (pulling punches). it also helps me diversify combat by including dangerous puzzle/trap elements even with dangerous monsters as i know the party can take it.
@@TheRobversion1 peace cleric, twilight domain, and moon Druid for example feel too cheesy. Meaning the dm has to throw bigger fights at the party just to balance one PC or throw leveled encounters but risk one PC outshining the rest. An overpowered support class is less of an issue but still
@@Scaphism36 personally, i never found peace cleric cheesy as long as i have diversified encounters. i tend to always have casters on the dm side so peace cleric doesn't feel cheesy as it excels when all the dm does is dmg. when the players cant take reactions, peace cleric becomes meh.
twilight domain sure is cheesy but again, this just means as you said i just get to throw more dangerous challenges or once in a while make the PCs feel like superheroes which is a good thing.
moon druid i think is only cheesy at tier 1. our table never plays tier 1 anymore as it's a table primarily composed of vets with the occasional guest casual/newbie (somebody's friend/wife). so at our table, the moon druid is actually usually overshadowed (especially if the player leans towards the shapes instead of spells) because at level 5 onwards the shapes tend to get overshadowed by the party martials.
in terms of outshining, i think this is only a problem if the DM is incompetent, inexperienced or lazy. 3 things i do at my table to never have this be an issue is:
1. set proper expectations during session zero. this is a team game. other players are expected to outshine each other at certain moments. there will be star players but everyone has their role and is expected to collaborate. i, as a dM, will give everyone their time to shine. the players in turn are expected to check their jealousy at the door. no egos are allowed at my table.
2. if a pc is being outshined alot, i either give them a magic item that minimizes the power gap or give the party more challenges that cater to their strengths.
3. i allow inexperienced players to reroll their character if they feel outshined alot and ask the optimizers to guide that player. or i may guide the player myself. if the player refuses help (i had wizard once who wanted to have an 8 int, picked trash spells and complained about being outshined), i point them to #1. just like any sport, there are bench players. he's one of those. it doesn't mean he's not important but it also means he has less of an impact if he chooses to be stubborn.
@@TheRobversion1 there’s a difference between a subclass being “overshining” with dm mitigation versus it just being balanced in the first place. The twilight cleric I played never went down unless the dm ignored the barbarian, and the barbarian never went down as long as the cleric was up. I have to assume when you’re talking about tier one I have to assume You mean level 16+ because the moon Druid starts eclipsing players at level seven. Vox Machina for example, Keylith wasn’t even optimized nor played by a knowledgeable player but still was super strong. Peace cleric basically gets the bless spell with no concentration, basically a high value spell for no cost and they keep their concentration for something else.
I respect a dm seeing a character struggling (usually monks) and giving them something to help bring them up, but are you going to give that to three players and give the fourth player nothing? Frankly it shouldn’t be on the dm to balance players between themselves, classes typically are strong then others at various times. The rogue at level ten for example out damages fighters, but one level later the fighter and paladin go back to out damaging the rogue. I’m talking about subclasses that are stronger than others the whole time. It’s different to allow the monk to use their cunning actions w/o ki cost, than to give everyone items just to keep up with one player, veteran table or otherwise
@@Scaphism36 lots of points to address here so lets get to it:
1. there's no balance in 5e. not in 3-3.5e either. 4e was the most balanced system but it was shit on because the classes felt same-y. the moment you try to make classes different balance goes out the window. i do hope the devs try to balance the martial-caster gap better in 1 dnd but it looks worse. outshining is bound to happen not only factoring builds but factoring in player experience, tactics, etc. the key is to not make it a big deal at the table and to focus on making sure everyone feels like they are contributing and having fun. its a team game. not everyone can be mvp.
2. when i dm i don't pull punches and i use proper combat tactics as a player would which means step 1 is to always ignore tanks (they arent threats) and go after the casters as they are the most dangerous. so yeah the twilight cleric never bothered me because i'd usually go after them 1st. once they are down, the barb won't stay up for long.
3. nope i meant tier 1 as the game officially categorizes it. level 1-4. no moon druid is doing more dmg than a properly optimized martial at level 5+ especially once magic weapons come into play (which usually does by tier 2). my guess is you havent compared an optimized moon druid to an optimized martial. at level 5, the best thing a moon druid can do is actually start casting the powerful druid spells like conjure animals. moon druids only outshine martials at tier 1 due to the CR of the beasts. at tier 2, when martials are expected to pack sharpshooter/great weapon master, the moon druid doesn't get an upgrade until level 6, 9 and 10. and even those shapes don't add as much dmg access to the feats i mentioned do.
4. emboldening bond is indeed a great ability. do i consider it cheesy? not really. it just pads numbers. it doesnt really matter unless you are doing something effective with it (such as boosting a grapple check or boosting a striker who can dole out alot of dmg). protective bond was the more powerful ability of peace clerics and as mentioned its only powerful if the DM sticks to dmg. As a DM, i always employ casters or monsters in my combats that can inflict conditions. protective bond loses value when what the dm does is force saves or get conditions.
5. in terms of giving something to everyone? of course i do. it's just a matter of differentiating the power level. and as mentioned before, jealousy/ego is not allowed at my table. for example, i may give +1 magic items to everyone that they wished for (uncommon) but to the player that's lagging behind i may give him a daern's instant fortress (rare).
6. rogues dont outdamage properly optimized extra attack classes ever except the assassin but only if they get surprise. this is one of the reasons why rogues are considered the 2nd worst class in the game. i could show you numbers if you'd like of generic builds.
7. there are indeed subclasses which are just flat out better than others in all pillars of play. and again i point people to "as long as everyone can contribute and have fun" it doesn't really matter. should the classes be better balanced? sure. but i see nothing wrong with the subclasses you mentioned to the point that they break the game of any prepared DM.
8. what you mentioned in the dynamic of having 1 optimized player with 3 unoptimized ones is where yeah giving better magic items to 3 people may need to happen. or as i tell my friends, get to know your players. do they feel bad about being left behind power level wise? maybe they're just happy to have fun with their friends, RP and crack jokes at the table.
this is less of a problem at an optimizer table where the ratio is 3 optimized players to 1 unoptimized one. You only have to give better magic items to 1 and it's easier to teach 1 person how to optimize than to teach 3. this is the typical player profile at my table due to having vets.
Kool vt
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!
If an object of roughly the same size as the Homunculs was lying on the ground and the Homunculus was to pick it up and move it, it would require the Artillerist Bonus action to do so initially, correct?
Would it then be able to use the dodge action while carrying the object in a following turn? The reason why I am asking is that some DM rules that carrying objects of similar size to the character during your turn(after having picking them up in a previous one) constitutes your action for that turn(you are focused on that specific task). Others are a bit more lenient and say that on the following turn, carrying the object is a free action.
Because RAW, the Homunculus cant take any other action except Dodge, unless the Artillerist spends a Bonus action to command it. Would carrying something during your turn not be considered a free item interaction? Even if it is normally free, the Homunculus is prohibited from using any other action other than Dodge(unless you command it), unlike the Familiar, which can use any action, except the Attack action.
I guess it is worded that way to illustrate the level of autonomy the Homunculus has.
I like the concept though. I have been working on a support character myself and was thinking that Artificer+Peace Cleric was a great option.
Getting 19 levels in Artificer +1 level in Cleric actually provides you with a 6th level spell slot(for upcasting purposes), and still provides you the ASI at level 19.
incorrect. picking up the item and moving it doesn't require the bonus action. it's a free action (object interaction) and move. RAW the homunculus can dodge as their action or you can use your bonus action to do command them to do something else.
@@TheRobversion1 But a free action is still an action. It does not cost your "action" though in terms of action economy, but that is all.
Example, if your character is incapacitated, you can not do any actions. That includes free actions.
If the Homunculus wants to do anything other than Dodge, movement(and only movement) or using it's reaction, it requires the Artillerist's bonus action, RAW.
Otherwise it would have been worded similar to the Familiar.
@@fendelphi fair enough. i think that's a valid reading.
going down this train of thought though opens up cans of worms on free action use for the homunculus such as needing to use a bonus action to ask them to retrieve an item from a container like your backpack such as a potion (now they can't administer that to an ally when it's commonly done that the bonus action is used to command them to administer while they use their free action to retrieve the item).
@@TheRobversion1
The Homunculus is an Infusion that provides you with a "guard dog"(perception) and "scout"(stealth), with 60 Darkvision, decent flying and walking speed, is able to understand all your languages, can attack,
has Evasion and can channel your Touch spells. It is also a bit more durable, is immune to Poison and can be healed with a Cantrip.
As an Infusion, it already provides you with a lot of utility and flexibility.
It is on a similar power(actually stronger) as a 3rd level spell(Tiny Servant).
All in all, not bad for a flying Cauldron. ;D
Also, you can still use the tactic described in the video, with some alteration. You can use your bonus action to have the Homunculus pick up(free action) and move the Eldritch Cannon(s) into a good position as part of the Dash action(60 feet away), then drop the Cannon(no action required). Eldritch Cannons are slow, but has decent health and AC(and due to being "objects" quite difficult to target with various spells), and from a good flanking position can be a valuable distraction.
You can then use your Bonus action next round to attack with the EC, while the Homunculus is distracting in another direction(flying with Dodge and Evasion), getting into positions to assist other partymembers, or hover close to the Eldritch Cannon(s) to provide them with Mending if needed. You can still use your action to cast spells(or heal your constructs with Mending), which give you a lot of flexibility.
On top of that, you could take a single level in Wizard(or the Ritual Caster feat), get Find Familiar with a Hawk, and then have it pick up and fly around with the EC. It can take the Dodge action and carry(free action) the EC without any issue. Which means you could have a Hawk carrying your EC, and the Homunculus acting as a shield(while it uses Dodge), obscuring the target/providing cover(same size as the Hawk, so that is probably a +2 to AC for the Hawk if the Homunculus is between the Hawk and the shooter).
@@fendelphi I think this is where we will disagree now as you're talking about tactics and optimization now. let's address:
1. an infusion slot for a guard dog/scout isn't worth the infusion used slot. take note all artificers can have a familiar by level 2. without dipping into wizard or getting it via a feat. it's baked into the class. the value of the homunculus is better action economy (which you refuted with what you said earlier about free actions costing your bonus action) and the ability to attack. the ability to attack is negated on this build (artillerist) so it was really being used more for the free actions which you refuted (much like how a familiar would be used).
2. the durability of the homunculus is of minor benefit here as it will primarily be flying and away from the party (hopefully outside of AOE range).
3. LOL on it being on the level of tiny servant. tiny servant is completely free action economy. you can use the tiny servant to use items like potions, caltrops, ball bearings, inhaled poisons, spell storing item or attack AND still use your bonus action for something else. moreover, 3 tiny servants + magic stone is one of the best sustained dpr from the bonus action slot in the game. that's 3d6 + 15 per round from your bonus action. that's not doable with a homunculus. they would have to be commanded to pick up the magic stone and commanded again to throw. a tiny servant can pick up the stone (free action) and throw (their own action without the need to command, general orders pre-combat works). tiny servant is one of the best 3rd level spells in the game.
4. what you described in your 3rd paragraph is suboptimal action economy wise. the ideal play here is the cannon is already on the homunculus and the homunculus is flying to start the combat (eldritch cannons have a 1 hr duration and thus can be usually pre-combat cast like most summon spells, buffs, etc). then once your 1st turn comes around, you command the homunculus (free action) to move wherever your desire and take the dodge action (free action that won't cost a bonus action) and then use your bonus action to activate the cannon.
5. the last point on using the homunculus as cover for the familiar is fair but as mentioned earlier, artificers don't need a wizard dip or a feat to pick up a familiar. this tactic while good isn't applicable to some tables as some tables don't bother with cover rules.
at this point, given what you said earlier of free actions costing a bonus action for the homunculus, there's no point to taking a homunculus for an artillerist. the optimal play now is to just strap your eldritch cannon to your familiar and use the homunculus infusion slot for something else more useful.
nice, first maybe
Haha looks that way!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but having 10 casts (with the +5 from INT x 2) from a spell-storing item of a 2nd-level Arti spell - Aid is a 2nd-level Arti spell, yes? I can't see anything in the spell description saying it doesn't stack..
I see nothing stopping me from casting Aid 10 times, plus the healing cannon, to give front-liners a 63 Hit Point boost, 50 of which is for 8 hours
it's not in the spell description because it's a general rule in 5e that effects from the same spell NEVER stack.
so yes you can cast aid 10x but the effects of those won't stack. temp hp from the protector cannon and aid though will stack as these are different effects and 1 isn't a spell.
@@TheRobversion1 ^^^^^ bingo! Trust me, I thought about trying some wonky stuff with aid.
@@ConstructedChaos what's your take on aid + heroes feast? do those stack? in my research i'm seeing alot of conflicting answers.
@@TheRobversion1 I would argue that they do stack and I believe JC agrees with me (Jeremy Crawford not Jesus Christ).
He states that, according to the rules for combining magical effects in the PHB, effects stack if they are from different spells--more or less. Additionally, both spells increase maximum hit points and aren't applying temporary hit points (otherwise you'd just take on the higher temp hp calculation). Ergo, two castings of aid don't stack but casting heroes feast and aid would stack.
@@ConstructedChaos great. that's my thinking as well. some people i've read argue that they don;t stack since they are similar effects (even if they are from different spells).
15:20 To my knowledge, this strategy has been officially ruled out. It was ruled that a familiar could not maintain concentration, so I would not allow a homunculus to do so either. I’ld see the homculus as a physical extension of the caster - so while it could activate a spell requiring concentration for you ( giving you the flexibility and range) , the spell would end if you did not maintain it with your concentration.
I'd love to know where you found this ruling. I've not seen anything from any errata or JC twitter post. So, to my knowledge, this is perfectly fine to do.
What you appear to be referencing is the ability to cast a spell through your familiar. Of course, you can cast spells through the homunculus too but the reason this works is that the homunculus is activating the item and thusly casting the spell themselves. The spell-storing item description states that concentration falls to the creature that uses the item--ergo, the homunculus concentrates.
Agreed with Chaos here. do you have proof of this recent change? I've scoured and couldn't see anything and this has been emphasized by devs that pets/summons even mounts can concentrate. this is a common tactic as well on the chronurgist where the familiar is used to concentrate on an arcane abeyance spell.
The sizes table used in this video is from the wrong edition of the game; Fine, Diminuitive, and Colossal sizes do not exist in 5e.
Ahhh so it is! Thank you for pointing that out! Cookie for you! 🍪
you mentioned adding the temp HP to the Protector. The temp HP only affects creatures, the protector is an object - so it does not benefit from the Temp HP.
The protector cannon's description specifically states that it dishes out temp HP to ITSELF AND creatures within 10ft of it! Easy to miss that!
tiny creature carrying tiny object. there's no issue. i've had a flying cannon since artificer was official. Btw... your homunc is an infusion, the item infused is the gemstone or dragonshard worth 100gp... artificers can use infusions as a casting focus... your homunculus can BE the spell storing item lol.
unfortunately it can't. spell storing item specifies that you have to pick a mundane item. the homunculus item is now considered magical (because you infused it).
@@TheRobversion1 it says you can store it in an item that you can use as a spell focus. the tools required section says you can use one of your infusions as a spell casting focus (no restriction on which infusion). the homunculus servant is an infusion cast on a gem or dragonshard worth 100gp. by RAW, you can use your homunculus' heart as a casting focus for your artificer spells (be creative with how you make that work), which also means that you can store spells in it, and the homunculus can produce the effects by holding it's own heart.
@@greenhawk3796 ah i see now where our disconnect is. you aren't aware that in 5e that an object and a magic object are classified separately. here's the relevant text lines:
"At 11th level, you can now store a spell in an object."
that's spell storing item. which means you choose a non-magical object/item. here's text from infusing an item:
"Whenever you finish a long rest, you can touch a nonmagical object and imbue it with one of your artificer infusions, turning it into a magic item."
so by using homunculus infusion on the gemstone, you have turned that gemstone as a magical object and thus makes it ineligible (normally but i have RAI contrary to this below) for spell storing item.
i didn't disagree with using that gem as a spell focus. only the part about spell storing item. it doesn't automatically mean however that if something is a spell focus you can store spells in it. spell foci are just tools used to substitute needing a variety of material components for spells.
now this is RAW. RAI, JC has mentioned that spell storing item can work with magical objects. here's the difference:
if the spell storing item is a non-magical item, you can use it with the use an object action such as with the thief's fast hands or haste.
if the spell storing item is magical, then you have to take the use a magic item action.
and of course either would react differently in antimagic fields and such. at the end of the day, these details on the rules are irrelevant in actual practice as a spell storing item is best as a passable, tiny item to get the most out of it (we're into optimization now) in combat. the heart of the homunculus isn't a passable item.
@@TheRobversion1 i already know about object v magical-object. It literally doesn't matter though because in 5e the specific overrules the general.
RAW: spell storing item can be an item you are able to use as a focus.
RAW: artificer's can use infused items as a focus.
RAW: your homunculus' heart can be used as a spell storing item.
there's no exemption listed in spell storing item that says the focus cannot be your homunculus' heart, because the raw is that any item bearing an infusion can be used as a focus for your artificer spells, and spell storing item can be any item you can use as a spell casting focus.
if spell storing item didn't apply to infused items, and it only meant tools it would say "any artisan's tool, which can be used as a casting focus"
I'm sorry, but by RAW it works due to the lack of distinction or exemption.
@@TheRobversion1 additional follow up.
spell storing item doesn't store a spell in the traditional way. as with say ring of spell storing, when a spell is cast into it, the spell is then cast by its wearer.
spell storing item does not have you cast the spell after it's been cast into the item. instead, the wearer uses the item to produce the effects of the spell. Since this isn't "casting a spell" by RAW it is also free from counterspell.
I'm almost certain this was an oversight as it would be up to 10 free "spell slots" that aren't casting the spell.
Dragonmark race from Ebberon and a Chronurgy wizard from Exandria, two completely different settings. Not even mentioning one of the contentious overpowered cleric subclasses from Tasha's. If any DM actually allows that you might as well go full homebrew and break the game 10 levels earlier. Very flavorfull build but the worst kind of numbercrunching.
while my own DM doesn't allow setting specific content, i don't think twilight is OP nor do i think that this is the worst kind of number crunching. plus there's nothing wrong with number-crunching. that's part of the fun of the game for a lot of players (hence the popularity of optimization channels, forums, discord, etc).
Sure it is! Dragonmark could easily be forgone too if that's a problem at your table. The key is getting Chronurgy in the mix but, even then, just dual classing as artillerist and peace cleric is pretty great.
@@TheRobversion1 i agree. There is nothing wrong with number crunching. Getting the most out of all your abilities is important. What i dislike is grabbing any overpowered feature in sight, cramming it into one character together with your foot and calling it optimising.
@@artkoz7030 i think imo if it fits within the concept, overpowered or not, its fine.
like for example if i wanted to make a build around telekinesis to execute a force choke/dark jedi/sith concept, i'm typically going to scour feats, races and even other classes to execute that concept the best way i can. no i'm not going to take twilight cleric for example which people find powerful because that doesn't fit my concept. but would i take lucky even if its considered overpowered by alot of folks? sure. that helps me with my telekinesis checks. would i multiclass my sorc to a daolock because i like the cha-based sanctuary+telekinesis combo? yup.
so as long as it fits the puzzle, i have no qualms against it. but yes, if you meant just picking up all sort of overpowered features left and right without any overarching theme or need than just to have all the low level powerful tools at your disposal, then i'm not an advocate for that type of optimization.
I think you've made a mistake about something. Your cannon cannot get its own temp hp points from itself. The cannon, by the rules, is a magical object, not a creature. The protector cannon effect specifies that you select creatures to give the temp hp to. Magical objects should not qualify for this.
Edit: as pointed out below, I was wrong.
I appreciate you double checking but the protector cannon entry specifically states that it “grants itself and each creature of your choice within 10 feet of it a number of temporary hit points equal to 1d8 + your Intelligence modifier (minimum of +1)”
@@ConstructedChaos huh...so it does. I've not been taking advantage of that with my artificer. Granted, Its only been targeted by attacks maybe once or twice in this campaign.
@@Ingwaz_Seishu haha I’ve forgotten before too! That’s mostly why I mentioned it!
I think alot of players miss what Chaos pointed out as DMs would rarely if not never target artillerist cannons so people forget that it has temp hp.
@@TheRobversion1 given that its a magical object, as long as its being carried by someone its kinda hard to target it directly unless they want to waste actions fighting it specifically
They should have just called the artificer the gunslinger (or maybe: gunsmith). Then there could have been an 'eldritch knight' version of it with 1-4 casting (IIRC they didn't even want to give it half casting originally when converting to 5e), and then there would have been plenty of room for a magic item creator who was actually passably good (ie a full caster) at magic.
Pretty much everyone going 'artificer' steers heavily into the 'say hello to my little friend' side of the class, and everything else is an afterthought.
As it stands the artificer is a crime against theme, mechanics, and game design in general.
I respectfully disagree! There are a multitude of ways to create an artificer that doesn’t involve the use of firearms… heck, this one doesn’t. Battlesmith and alchemist specifically have totally unique flavor that doesn’t much lend itself to firearms.
@@ConstructedChaos just call it something else, so we can have an actual properly good (i.e. full caster) magic item crafter. It makes no sense that a magic item crafter has such massively watered down access to magic.
@@rickcarson591 okay so I do agree with that. I wish the artificer had more robust crafting mechanics. But that doesn’t have much to do with your first comment
Fully agree with Chaos here. with that said, i think Wizards didn't want artificers to be full casters as if they were, they'd be the most powerful class in the game and Wizards doesn't want wizards to not be the most powerful class in the game. plus that would've widened the gap between martials and casters further.
if they made the artificer a full caster, they would have watered down alot of the artificer abilities which would kill the design function of the class.
I don't get how every artificer steers into what you said about guns. This is because firearms is banned at most tables and the artificer doesn't have the abilities to support a striker build unlike lets say a gloomstalker. Chaos's artificer is support. my own is a controller/support hybrid. others i've seen in the comments like picking armorer or battlesmith and pumping AC and being a tank. a gun-using striker is the least popular build i've seen. i've seen firearms more on gloomstalkers.
@@TheRobversion1 that's fine, you can have a class like that, but _thematically_ it has basically zero to do with artificing. And currently it prevents us from having a proper artificer class, and YES you would take all the gun shit away from that full caster ... that was the whole point! Call whatever TF this mess of horrible game design is something else and clear the way for a properly magical magic crafter.
It's like if they made a modern setting for D&D and had an auto mechanic class who had barely any car related stuff but was really good at crypto currencies. It's a massive WTF.
You could make a better argument for taking the barbarian class, gutting it and replacing all its powers with it being a good bricklayer, than calling this pile of rules-poop an 'artificer'. If Bard got the full caster bump, Artificer should have too (IIRC they were both 6/9 in 3.5)
Claiming that spells cannot target the cannon because it isnt a creature but then five seconds after that it can gain temp hp from its effect that targets creatures is such a liberal translation of the rules.
It’s not actually. The temp hp literally states that it can go to both creatures and objects.
humunculi can only be taken at 6th lvl.
Not sure where you’re getting this information from but it’s not true. The infusion has no prerequisites and only requires a gem or crystal worth at least 100gp.
@@ConstructedChaos my guess is he has this confused with the 6th level wizard spell create homunculus.
@@TheRobversion1 aaahh that could definitely be the case.
@@ConstructedChaos tbh the names are confusing (much like halfling lucky and lucky feat) but the Yena should've also realized this is an artificer video and you're referring to the artificer infusion not the wizard 6th level spell.
@@TheRobversion1 I am very much aware that the video was about artificers. What I found out is the infusion "was" 6th level. Books don't have errata so when I made the comment I was pulling the information directly from the book. I have since learned that the changed it in an errata.
Broken OP and boring. Why not just give players participation treasure. If you're so powerful that you're basically can't lose you've removed all the danger from the game. The imaginary danger. If you do that you no longer playing dungeons and dragons. There is no reward without risk. The greater the risk the greater the sense of accomplishment if you can think your way around it. You just go in like a bulldozer knocking all the pins over while have a virtual guaranteed victory you've accomplished nothing. The game is becoming increasingly broken in this way not to mention that wizards the coast is a woke company who hates you because you're a white man. Stop buying their products.
Yikes. Lots of really hot takes in this comment. You’re, of course, entitled to your own opinions but I’d like to go on record as disagreeing on basically every count.
This build is strong, yes. And, at times, you might even say it’s broken. However, it doesn’t excel at everything and it will face its own challenges. Even if that weren’t the case, it’s important to realize that this is just another way to enjoy the game.
For example, I win monopoly almost every time I play because I know what properties to buy. Does that mean I’m not playing the game? No, it means I’m good at it.
I won’t even entertain the bit at the end about “woke” companies. What a terrible thing to believe.
Agreed with Chaos here. so many WRONG takes. Why bring race into it? Just go away.
@@ConstructedChaos This guy probably is a DM or has a DM that doesn't know how to adjust encounters, discourages optimizing, doesn't like to have fun and has all sorts of conspiracies about race + wotc.
@@TheRobversion1 my experience online has taught me that stuff like this usually comes from someone that needs to vent and lash out due to other stressors in life. I absolutely disagree with everything they’ve said but I honestly hope they can grow past these feelings and opinions for their own good.
@@ConstructedChaos Well said and very diplomatic. you're definitely more understanding that i am. Me i just think these types of people are toxic and creates more of these divides and kliqs in dnd where there shouldn't be.
anyway what you said right there, is as i told you before, why i'm here most often. you, the person, create the right type of environment and culture. :)