Dracophile's page

Do you feel they're broken somehow?

Not at all. I love the class and find that it's very well balanced.

It's specialized for my Forgotten Realms campaign; specifically a Lantanese version.

I decided that I did not wish to have Infusions in the Realms at all. They're strictly an Eberron flavor device. Also no creatures with the living construct type.

So I wanted to create a wizard which was specifically geared towards item creation.

I felt that keeping the wizard's abyssmal combat capabilities made a decent balance to the wild number of skill points and feats they'd get with the Artificer skills/feats. However, spells are more potent, varied, and all-around more flexible than infusions. So, to balance that, I decided to knock them down to a few specific schools. In the case of the playtesting first PC they're Abjuration, Transmutation, Conjuration, and Evocation. I liked the addition of Evocation to act as a bit of a flavor reminder of the class' departure and difference from a standard Artificer ie; still a wizard.

So, the end result I came up with was

BAB: Wizard
Saves:Wizard
Skills:Artificer
Armor/Weapon:Blend, character learns to cast w/out ASF in Light Armor
Hit Dice:Wizard
Class Features:Artificer
Spells:Wizard, but limited to 4 specific schools. Still considering a -2 towards caster level &/or skill checks when using UMD to activate items from the other spell schools.

I dunno, but with a bit of fluff and some specialized Feats...I think I have a Dragon Mag submission LOL

Peace

Draco

Any thoughts or suggestions?

I'm wondering if limiting the available schools is a good balancing factor. If so, would knocking it down to 3 or 4 be best?

Considering also allowing the arcane casting in Light Armor...just something about a wizard in a leather work apron casting spells while fixing his golem LOL

Any help would be greatly appreciated
Peace
Draco

I was wondering what you folks would think about trying to make the Artificer class fit as a variant Wizard.

I was thinking along the lines of eliminating the Armor/weapon proficiences and going with the Wizard armor/weapon info. Use the Wizard's BAB progression, HP, and save progression.

Eliminate the Wizard bonus feats and possibly require the character to drop two schools, much like a Specialist. That might be too much...not sure.

In return, he'd have the Artificer's Craft Reserve and ability progression (Artificer Knowledge, Item Creation feats, etc.)

Perhaps a reduction in spells/day would be good too...but it seems the Artificer and Wizard have a similar spells/day progression, so I'm not sure that's vital.

Essentially, the only thing I see making such a character stronger than a normal Artificer is that they're using spells instead of infusions and would have a broader repertoire.

After further consideration, I'm wondering if actually limiting the Arcane Artificer to a solid 4 schools wouldn't be more balanced; Abjuration, Conjuration, Evocation, and Transmutation.

Wizard AB
Wizard saves
Artificer skills
Artificer feat/class feature progression
Limited Wizard spellcasting (4 schools only)

What do you think?
I'm dying to create a Wizard with the crafting capabilities of the Artificer...I don't like infusions over spells for my campaign.

Thoughts?

Thanks a bunch, Mike. That clears it up quite well for me.

Peace

Draco

It certainly did help, Mike. If nothing else, you confirmed my assessment of the Dragon as a PC.
Couple more questions for ya;
1)How badly do you think it would unbalance things to allow a Gold Dragon to begin multiclassing as a Sorcerer earlier than 13th level? And would the innate level stack at that point, or would that still, realistically, have to wait until 16th level?

2)So...*looks about shiftily* Any chance of getting that Steel Dragon PC Class worked out? ;-)

Thanks for all your work!
Peace
Draco

First, let me say that I enjoyed the two Mike McArtor articles on Dragon PCs very very much. Thoroughly.

I have a few questions, however.

First, it seems to me that a Dragon in the party has a rather...narrow role. Their class skills aren't terribly diverse and, aside from some nice bonuses, they're basically muscle.

That is if I'm correct and (for example) a Gold Dragon doesn't start casting as a 1st level Sorcerer until 16th level.

They're essentially very interesting, very colorful fighter types.

Can someone help me find some other roles for a Gold Dragon in a party? One of my Players has a 4th level Gold Dragon...and I can already see the novelty wearing thin for both her and the rest of the party.

Also, not being able to multiclass until 11th or 12th level further nails down the Dragon's focus as muscle.

Finally (and maybe y'all can't help with this one), did I read correctly in Races of the Dragon (disappointing book, sadly) that one can reflect a child of two different Dragon species by simply adding the half-dragon template to a Dragon?

Does that make sense? Isn't that like saying that Dragons SHOULD breed outside their race cuz their children will automatically be far more powerful?? That seemed a bit odd to me....

Edit: Of course now I can't find that in RotD...so maybe I was dreaming

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Peace
Draco

*wipes a tear*

No clues? No help? :( It's just one wee little Dragon ;-)

Nice side-step Sean! LOL Masterfully done.
I'm really curious to see how he applies that Polymorph ability that every GH wyrmling gets.
A dangerous thing in the hands of any lowbie PC, to be sure.
Seems that something more akin to a 'humanoid form only' power might be a bit more appropro, at least until Adult or so.

Thoughts?

*scans the crowd for Mike*

Ok, not really..but it got your attention, didn't it? ;-)

Here's what's on my mind.
I absolutely loved (and made good use of) the article in #320 detailing the playing of metallic dragons as PCs.

In issue #339 we come across a personal favorite of mine, the Greyhawk/Steel Dragon.

I was wondering if either of the aforementioned authors might gift us with a break down of the levelling/class skills/etc of the Steel Dragon as a PC!

*crosses fingers*

Peace
Dracophile

The Chaos Monk from Issue #335 is a very nice variant, IMO. Kudos to Tim Hitchcock for his work on that.
Just had a few questions and was looking for some clarification.

1)I noticed that Slow Fall progression goes right from 40 to 60 feet. I've been assuming that that's a typo and the Chaos Monk should gain Slow Fall 50' at 10th level. Is that correct?

2)The 4th level Ki Strike gives no descriptor. I've been assuming magic. Correct?

3)Does the Chaos Monk lose things like Wholeness of Body and Diamond Body in favor of the Class Features listed in the table?

I've been assuming all these are accurate, but didn't want to short my Player :D
Thanks again Tim

Dracophile