Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 littlekid Mar 27, 2008 1:23:29	So I've been given a week and a half to come up with a new character, and the DM is opening up just about any book. I decided an artificer looked fun, but I'm having a little trouble with what feats to take. Show Books: Almost Any(subject to DM approval), no magazines, and I'm not a fan of psionics. Stats: I rolled 11, 12, 14, 14, 17, 18 Human Artificer CG Starting Level 6 I know at least one person is playing a half-orc cleric, and we'll have either 4 or 5 people playing. I've received no info on where the campaign is taking place yet, so that's still up in the air. Also, I've never played under this DM, so I'm not sure how it's gonna go. I want to do a combo buff/blast and out-of-combat healing, I might also get stuck with skill monkey, since no one in our group really likes playing rogues.
#2 neraagile Mar 27, 2008 1:26:20	You might want to consider Legendary Artisan and Extraordinary Artisan, they are very useful IMO. I got them both at level 1 and was very pleased with myself :P
#3 vicen_korel Mar 27, 2008 1:29:25	My copy of the Energy Sub feat doesn't allow for sonic, only Acid, Cold, Fire, and electric, from the C. Arcane... Just a note that a DM might notice.
#4 littlekid Mar 27, 2008 1:37:44	My copy of the Energy Sub feat doesn't allow for sonic, only Acid, Cold, Fire, and electric, from the C. Arcane... Just a note that a DM might notice. I've seen that in some of the handbooks/faqs, but I don't think it'll matter. If it does, though, which energy would you suggest replacing sonic with? Re:Neraagile I thought about them, and which one would you suggest first? It seems like a coin flip.
#5 neraagile Mar 27, 2008 1:40:42	Re:Neraagile I thought about them, and which one would you suggest first? It seems like a coin flip. Coin Flip? Legendary is reduction of XP/CP the resource you want to keep the most.... Gold can be acquired quite easily depending on your DM....
#6 werebat Mar 30, 2008 18:32:44	You might want to consider Legendary Artisan and Extraordinary Artisan, they are very useful IMO. I got them both at level 1 and was very pleased with myself :P I didn't think you could take those at level 1. I'm playing a goblin artificer. There is a good guide on the Eberron boards. You want the most recent edition. Other feats you might want to look at: PBS and Precise Shot. Worthwhile at low levels and not bad at high levels -- you'll be shooting a crossbow a lot and then firing rays a lot. Whatever the feat is that gives you extra action points. Artificers burn through action points pretty quickly (this is a good 1st level choice IMO). Extra Rings (lets you wear 4 rings at once) -- great feat The feat that lets you cast out of wands as a caster 2 levels higher than your own. At least two metamagic feats (for use with the class ability and the infusion that allows you to use a metamagic feat you know out of a wand) I don't have my build in front of me, otherwise I'd have more advice. Oh, and consider playing a goblin if you plan to cover the rogue/trapper role, like me. Lots of nice bonuses for that. - Ron ^*^
#7 grundle Mar 30, 2008 18:48:36	http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=520855 Artificer Handbook (rough draft) have you read this thread? You really don't need that much Cha. I would switch that with Dex for TWF and Dual Wand Weilder. you're missing extend and persistent spell also, you may consider Warforged for the 1st and 4th substitution levels and the new feat Wand Bonding from City of Stormreach. Allows you to power wands with infusion slots and increases their CL. Also, there's the Alter Self trick. You can Alter Self into a Warforged Charger to get an extra slam, large size, +8 armor, 40 ft. speed. at 6th you can persist 3 spells (5 if you get versatile spellcaster). Persist Swift Haste, Fist of Stone and Alter Self to get +8 Str, 70 ft movement, 2d6 Slam damage, and 4 attacks, and still be able to hold a shield. This can hold you over until your blasting gets up to speed when you get some gold to afford some decent wands. Also, its good to remember that melee doesn't cost anything. Wanding on the other hand, is frickin expensive. Don't waste feats on Point Blank and Precise shot. Those will be useless at 6th level. If you're having trouble hitting stuff, just persist more offensive spells, like Bite of the Wererat (+6 Dex). Wand Mastery is the one that gives +2 CL with wands. don't take any feats that give action points. Just wait until you can get unfettered heroism and then you won't regret saving that feat. For out-of-combat healing, just persist Mass Lesser Vigor. This is how I would make a blastificer: Warforged Artificer 6 Str 14 Dex 17 Con 16 (14 +2 racial) Int 18 Wis 10 (12 -2 racial) Cha 10 (12 -2 racial) 1: Extend Spell, Warforged Substitution Level 1 3: Persistent Spell 4: Quicken Spell 6: Twin Spell 8: Wand Bonding or Energy Sub 9: Wand Mastery 12: TWF, Dual Wand Weilder 15: Extra Rings or Born of Three Thunders maybe? 16: Energy Admixture 18: Empower Spell Now all you have to do is decide whether you want to throw in Legendary Artisan and Extraordinary Artisan and replace other blasting feats. Or you could beg your DM to allow you to use 2 flaws. no offense Werebat, but i disagree with almost every piece of advice that you gave him. :P
#8 alphathegreat Mar 30, 2008 19:26:34	A lot of what you take would depend on how far you think this campaign will go. If you think you'll make it all the way to lvl 20, you really should think very carefully about preparing for it now. I would avoid Energy Admixture. With Quicken and Twin you already have plenty of burn capacity, admixture simply takes a feat slot you could better use elsewhere(and in my own number crunching, Admixture turns out to be less effective the more metamagic feats you pile on, as it only applies to the base spell). Energy Substitution as described in Complete Arcane doesn't allow for sonic(again, if you don't think the campaign will make it to higher levels it might be worth it to skip Energy Substitution altogether, as resistances don't get to be as big a deal til later on). Be careful about Persistent spell: 1. Many DMs will disallow it completely, as it is easily one of the more abused feats for artificers out there(and a good argument has been often made that being able to extend a duration from a few rounds to an entire day is excessive). 2. To do as Grundle suggests, you are essentially removing several of your best infusion slots every day, which reduces your flexibility to handle individual encounters. If you go the persistent route he suggests, expect your wand-wielding to be less than ideal(he makes a good point, though: wands are expensive, especially at lower levels) 3. It takes 2 feat slots to get persistent spell, and you will use extend spell infrequently at best. So if you try it, you're in for a real commitment. 4. Persistent buffing takes foresight. Grundle makes it sound easy, but it's not. If you only have 3 persistent spells active in a given day, you can't "just persist Mass Lesser Vigor," because then you couldn't persist Haste, Fist of Stone and Alter Self. Persisting Bite of the Wererat would mean giving up one of the other three. All of this precludes using your valuable level 3 infusion slots for anything else without more foresight, even if you wait to persist your buffs until the first encounter of the day. I agree about the artisan feats. They are fantastic. If you decide to take them later than earlier, you should seriously limit the number of temporary items you make. Permanent items let you reclaim the xp it took to make them, but you can never reclaim the xp from a used wand charge(and you will generally have more wealth than you have craft reserve to spend it on, especially at later levels). Don't make scrolls, except for the occasional emergency spell. That's what arcane spellcasters are for. Scrolls just waste your craft pool. And finally, remember: just because artificers can be ready for anything, doesn't mean they have to be, nor is it usually a good idea to try. Every class has their time to shine, there's no need to feel like the artificer is any less. You can afford to be less important in some encounters, just as the wizard can. To try otherwise will drain your gp/xp pool fast, and spread you too thin.
#9 grundle Mar 30, 2008 20:24:39	A lot of what you take would depend on how far you think this campaign will go. If you think you'll make it all the way to lvl 20, you really should think very carefully about preparing for it now. I would avoid Energy Admixture. With Quicken and Twin you already have plenty of burn capacity, admixture simply takes a feat slot you could better use elsewhere(and in my own number crunching, Admixture turns out to be less effective the more metamagic feats you pile on, as it only applies to the base spell). Energy Substitution as described in Complete Arcane doesn't allow for sonic(again, if you don't think the campaign will make it to higher levels it might be worth it to skip Energy Substitution altogether, as resistances don't get to be as big a deal til later on). Be careful about Persistent spell: 1. Many DMs will disallow it completely, as it is easily one of the more abused feats for artificers out there(and a good argument has been often made that being able to extend a duration from a few rounds to an entire day is excessive). 2. To do as Grundle suggests, you are essentially removing several of your best infusion slots every day, which reduces your flexibility to handle individual encounters. If you go the persistent route he suggests, expect your wand-wielding to be less than ideal(he makes a good point, though: wands are expensive, especially at lower levels) 3. It takes 2 feat slots to get persistent spell, and you will use extend spell infrequently at best. So if you try it, you're in for a real commitment. 4. Persistent buffing takes foresight. Grundle makes it sound easy, but it's not. If you only have 3 persistent spells active in a given day, you can't "just persist Mass Lesser Vigor," because then you couldn't persist Haste, Fist of Stone and Alter Self. Persisting Bite of the Wererat would mean giving up one of the other three. All of this precludes using your valuable level 3 infusion slots for anything else without more foresight, even if you wait to persist your buffs until the first encounter of the day. I agree about the artisan feats. They are fantastic. If you decide to take them later than earlier, you should seriously limit the number of temporary items you make. Permanent items let you reclaim the xp it took to make them, but you can never reclaim the xp from a used wand charge(and you will generally have more wealth than you have craft reserve to spend it on, especially at later levels). Don't make scrolls, except for the occasional emergency spell. That's what arcane spellcasters are for. Scrolls just waste your craft pool. And finally, remember: just because artificers can be ready for anything, doesn't mean they have to be, nor is it usually a good idea to try. Every class has their time to shine, there's no need to feel like the artificer is any less. You can afford to be less important in some encounters, just as the wizard can. To try otherwise will drain your gp/xp pool fast, and spread you too thin. Born of Three Thunders can get it to Sonic. And the reason i suggested Admixture was simply because there arent that many more blasting feats to get. You bring up some good points: 1. I fully agree with you here. The OP should probably figure out soon if his DM allows persistent spells. The funny thing about this is that Blastificers are more powerful than persistent melee machines. A Blastificer with the right feats can nova when he feels like it and trivialize almost any BBEG encounter. 2. In my experience, there are very few things that the 3rd and 4th infusion slots provide that aren't outmatched by persistent spells. In fact, most infusions have a cast time of 1 minute or an expensive spell component or both. Infusions really are not that versatile, because of the long casting times. Why would you cast a 3rd level infusion when you could use a 3rd level slot to persist a 4th level spell? 3. There's a reason why some people ban it. Its worth it. :D 4. I agree it does take foresight, which is why the best persistent spells are ones that affect a lot of aspects. For example, Swift Haste grants an extra attack, extra move speed, +1 Attacks, AC and Reflex saves. Bite of the Wereboar gives Str, Con, Natural Armor, a bite attack and the power attack feat. Wraithstrike is good for any melee. Fly is good for anyone. And as you get more and more, you will have to decide which ones to pick from. but Versatility is a good thing. You can adapt to things as you go along. For example, I found that my character was outshining everyone in the party so when i got some more slots I added Elation and Mass Lesser Vigor. Your advice is good. Heed Alpha, littlekid!