[Tome of Secrets] Artificer Weird Science Inventions

[caith]

Had a quick question about these little dealies...hope it's in the right thread.

I am a bit confused about building a higher level Artificer, and how it effects the per day usages of inventions. I am not sure whether the usage per day actually grows with level, or if you have to basically scrap an invention and create a new one to get additional usages out of it.

For example, for simplicity's sake I take all the inventions and make them Cure spells. At level 5 I'd have 3 with CLW, 1 with CMW, and one with CSW. Now the first CLW i would have made at 1st level, so it would have 2 charges(1 + 1/2 creator's class level rounded up). The 2nd I would have made at 2nd level, and thus would have 2 charges. The third I would have made at 3rd level, so it would have 3 charges, and so on. At 5th level, does each of those items still only have that limited number of charges, the charges that it had when I originally built it? Or does each item I created now have 4 charges, as they are considered to be rated off my current level? I am sure this does not come off very clearly but it is a somewhat complicated subject, I hope I presented it in a fashion that is understood.

[Charles Tolliver]

caith wrote:

I am a bit confused about building a higher level Artificer, and how it effects the per day usages of inventions. I am not sure whether the usage per day actually grows with level, or if you have to basically scrap an invention and create a new one to get additional usages out of it.

For example, for simplicity's sake I take all the inventions and make them Cure spells. At level 5 I'd have 3 with CLW, 1 with CMW, and one with CSW. Now the first CLW i would have made at 1st level, so it would have 2 charges(1 + 1/2 creator's class level rounded up). The 2nd I would have made at 2nd level, and thus would have 2 charges. The third I would have made at 3rd level, so it would have 3 charges, and so on. At 5th level, does each of those items still only have that limited number of charges, the charges that it had when I originally built it? Or does each item I created now have 4 charges, as they are considered to be rated off my current level? I am sure this does not come off very clearly but it is a somewhat complicated subject, I hope I presented it in a fashion that is understood.

The rule says: "They are able to be used reliably a number of times per day equal to 1 plus half the class level of the artificer who built the device (rounding up, naturally)", so they don't have charges, per se, that's just the number of times they can be used reliably per day. Theoretically, the device can be used until the user fails a roll and it breaks down. Since reliability is a function of the level of the builder, not the user (anyone with Use Magical Device can use the device), the number of times the device can be used reliably doesn't increase when the artificer gains a level.

Additionally, the artificer should rebuild devices when going up a level to increase the number of times they can be reliably used and to take advantage of the level bump in the spell itself -- as in your example of Cure Light Wounds, CLW "cures 1d8 points of damage + 1 point per caster level", so it makes sense for the artificer to take advantage of the extra point per level.

[caith]

Another question here...does using a Weird Science Invention provoke an AoO?

[Charles Tolliver]

caith wrote:

Another question here...does using a Weird Science Invention provoke an AoO?

It depends on how you design the device. In general, it would probably be best to stick with trigger- or voice-activated devices since they don't provoke AoO.

[IsaiahOs]

My Questions:

1. How do you calculate the price? Does each spell added like 50 charges in a wand?

2. Does the Artificer Have any proficiencies?

3. How many inventions can be made? For instance: can I make 2 different items with 3 1st level spells, 1 2nd level spell and 1 3rd level spell?

[Charles Tolliver]

IsaiahOs wrote:

My Questions:

1. How do you calculate the price? Does each spell added like 50 charges in a wand?

2. Does the Artificer Have any proficiencies?

3. How many inventions can be made? For instance: can I make 2 different items with 3 1st level spells, 1 2nd level spell and 1 3rd level spell?

Check out the Tome of Secrets errata thread. There is no cost beyond getting materials to put the device together. The devices themselves are "MacGuivered" (i.e., put together on the fly: take a broken dagger, some mandolin strings, a dirty sock and a potion vial, put it all together and you've built yourself a sonic blaster that emulates Sound Burst).

The table in the book tells tou how many devices you can build.