I recently just started a campaign and have been playing a low level artificer and I have so many mixed feelings. Am I a spellcaster? Maybe the tank? Or heck, can I heal too? Then I had this realization I can do them all as an Artificer in D&D. So strap in, put on your thinking cap and let's get down and dirty and discuss the Artificer Class in Dungeons and Dragons 5e.
The Basics of Artificer
At it's core, Artificers are the crafty class of Dungeons & Dragons. If you like bringing wild ideas to life, getting to cast spells and take a hit, this class might be a good fit for you to play.
Spellcasting & Stats
Artificers use Intelligence as their primary stat for spellcasting. So when I made my new artificer, I decided to roleplay them as a smart idiot. Essentially I wanted them to be a book smart person who has no street smarts. So what does that look like in stats?
I am by no means someone who does min/maxing on my characters. I build my characters for roleplaying flavor. So in this class I went the following stats.
I did a High Half-Elf for my race. For my racial ability score scores I did a +1 to Intelligence and a +1 to Constitution in addition to the +2 you get to Charisma.
STR 10 | DEX 12 | CON 13 | INT 15 | WIS 10 | CHA 13
So including that, plus our DM let us pick from three level one feats, I picked Observant which I took the +1 to my INT score. This combined made my new stats
STR 10 | DEX 12 | CON 14 | INT 17 | WIS 10 | CHA 16
My goal is to be this super sweet and charming guy who is book smart but is totally oblivious to any social clues around him. Now, understanding that 10 is average, I am not totally helpless, but I do let things go over my head for roleplaying purposes. It's a ton of fun!
By no means is this the most "ideal" build and of course build your Artificer however you want, but this is just an example of how I am building my current artificer in this campaign.
What Does The Artificer Class Get?
This section is going to be more formal and detailed so if you don't like detailed information, this section will be boring (but still helpful!).
Some of the more notable things you will get will be Magical Tinkering and Infuse Items are lower levels. These are two very helping things for both roleplay and game mechanics.
Magical Tinkering
This feature is a ton of fun for roleplaying purposes. Magical Tinkering allows you to imbue some minor magical effect onto a non-magical item. My wife is playing in this new campaign with me and I am determined to awkwardly flirt with her every chance I get (because isn't that what all husbands strive for?).
So in the first session we were all meeting at the bar and I had the bar keep slide me a fork. I enchanted the fork to say "You are beautiful". Sadly, she never picked up the fork. So some random person got a fork that told them they are beautiful and I hope it made their day awesome!
Infusions
Infusions are a beast of a topic, however, they are the core of an Artificer. As you level up you will gain access to new and more powerful artificers to the point of becoming IRON MAN (Insert Black Sabbath sound byte in your head).
At early level you can only maintain two infusions and as you level up, you can maintain more. Infusions can only be done after a long rest too. There are a lot of options to choose from here from increasing AC and Spell Casting modifier to gain a Homunculus Servant even if you wanted. Or if you want to help out your rogue friend, you can infuse their weapon with a returning trait so their dagger always comes back to them!
These are only some of the fun that an Artificer gets to have as they level up. There is so much more to dig into but knowing these things will help you be better prepared for your first Artificer.
Summing Up Artificer & More To Read
As we showed, Artificer is a very versatile class. It's ability to create and destroy in a variety of ways are exciting and different. The way I play my artificer will be different than how you will but we both can have that fun and exciting experience no matter what.
If you likes reading about this basic guide to mastering Artificers, make sure to subscribe to our blog because I am going to be writing detailed blogs for each of the Artificer Specializations. Check them out when they are live!
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