D&D 5E Artificer 5th edition - Dungeon Masters Guild

[collin]

I noticed today the Dungeon Masters Guild has posted a 5th edition re-imagining of the Artificer class. Since I am an Eberron fan, I hastily got a copy and have been looking it over. As I might expected, there are things I like and things I don't like. I like the thought that went into the creation of the class and the uniqueness of it, maintaining that concept of a master craftsman. One thing I don't like right off the bat is the whole gunslinger option. I have never been a fan of firearms in fantasy roleplaying, including Pathfinder.

The link to the post about the Artificer is here:[[http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...Dungeon-Masters-Guild&p=6825370#post6825370]]

I was wondering what thoughts/comments other people had about the class, and if you were to make any changes, what would they be?

Thanks.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

I'm not going to buy that particular content just to comment on it, but Artificers are tricky to make due to the many different concepts that people associate them with.

As likewise an Eberron fan, Artificers for me are essentially the experts in making and using magical items. However for others they are closer to the Dragonlance Tinker Gnomes or the Lantanese in the Forgotten Realms - craftsmen making wonderful, but mundane mechanical contraptions. To me, a wand is an archetypal Artificer weapon, but in other settings where firearms exist, people sometimes associate their use with artificers.

Those two concepts are pretty fundamentally different in terms of vision that trying to make them two archetypes of a single class would be hard mechanically and impossible conceptually in a way that would fit everyone's ideas of what an artificer is.

Even the class' role has no consensus: the official Artificer class fulfils the role in the setting just fine: as a magical expert versed in the creation of magical items.
However people wanting to replicate the 3.5 or 4th edition mechanical capabilities of the class probably need to multiclass.
The 3.5 Artificer was broadly a supporting character, but such a jack of all trades that it could make a passable substitute for most other roles. In 4th ed it was still support, more capable of healing, but less able at replacing other roles.

Some people want the class to be able to blast like a Wizard, some want it to fight like a Fighter, some want it to heal and buff like a Bard or Cleric. Some want it to do all three.

There are, or will be many different versions of the Artificer on the DM's guild. Your best bet is probably to sift through them to find the one that fits your concept of the class best.