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After looking at a few threads, I found a lot of good ideas, but nowhere where they were compiled and fully explained, so I decided to try my hand at piecing together an Artificer conversion. A lot of this is taken from other conversions, converted from the Eberron Campaign Setting book, or based on ideas from other threads/individuals. I'm looking for critique so please let me know if you think this is too powerful, too plain, et cetera.
FYI, I run an Eberron campaign that is on the verge of making the leap (from 4th edition) into Pathfinder and I wanted the Artificer player to have comparable options to the rest of the group, so here's what I've got:
Alignment: Any
Hit Dice: d8
Class Skills: Appraise, Craft, Disable Device, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (engineering), Knowledge (the planes), Profession, Perfeption, Spellcraft, Use Magic Device.
Skill Points: 4 + intelligence modifier
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Artificers are proficient with all simple weapons, with light and medium armor, and with shields (except tower shields).Infusion: An artificer is not a spellcaster, but he does have the ability to imbue magical infusions. Infusions are neither arcane nor divine; they are drawn from the Aether. They function just like spells and follow all the rules for spells. I intend to come up with an Infusion list based on Pathfinder spells, but at this point am too lazy to do so. I intend to do it as the player progresses, consulting him (as a DM himself and a very reasonable player) for what he thinks would make sense for the list, and what spell level it should appear as on the list.
Class Features
Bonus Feats: Any time an Artificer gains a bonus feat, he can choose any item creation or metamagic feat, or from the following list. He must meet all prerequisites for the feat, but he uses his Artificer level as his caster level for Metamagic and Item Crafting feat requisites. Bonus feats: Arcane Strike, Combat Casting, Deft Hands, Eschew Materials, Magical Aptitude, Skill Focus (Disable Device), Skill Focus (Use Magical Device), Skill Focus (Spellcraft)Another conversion had the artificer getting a bonus feat at every odd level, while yet another one had them getting the item creation feats as bonus feats as they become available. I figure this alternative gives flexibility while sticking to the flavor of the class)
Artificer Knowledge (- Allows the Artificer to use Detect Magic and Read Magic at-will as a spell-like ability.lifted from another conversion
Artisan bonus - +2 to Use Magic Device for any kind of item for which he has the prerequisite item creation feat.
Disable Traps - The Artificer is able to use Perception to locate traps, and Disable Device to disarm magic traps. Forgive my noob-ishness, but can somebody explain to me how this is A) different from a rogue, and B) different from any other class?
Item Creation - Can create a magic item even if he doesn't have the spell that is used for it. Must make Use Magic Device check (DC 20 + caster level) to emulate each spell. Caster level for item creation is equal to the your Artificer level.
Artificer Domain (Ex) - At 1st level, the Artificer gains access to the Clerics Artificer Domain. His effect Cleric level is equal to his caster level for these powers, and uses Intelligence in place of Wisdom for determining how many times he can use Artificer's Touch. He only gains the spell-like abilities from this domain.
Craft Homunculus (Ex): At 4th level, an artificer can create a homunculus. He must emulate the spell requirements (arcane eye, mending, and mirror image) as normal for making a magic item, and he must pay the usual cost of 1440gp (though he can spend points from his craft reserve). An artificer can also upgrade an existing homunculus that he owns, adding 1 Hit Die at a cost of 2,800 gp.
If an artificer gives his homunculus more than 6 Hit Dice, it becomes a Small creature and advances as described in the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary. The homunculus also gains 10 extra hit points for being a Small construct. An artificer’s homunculus can have as many Hit Dice as its master’s Hit Dice minus 2. No matter how many Hit Dice it has, a homunculus never grows larger than Small.Retain Essence (Su): At 5th level, an artificer gains the ability to salvage the essence from a magic item and use those points to create another magic item. The artificer must spend a day with the item, and he must also have the appropriate item creation feat for the item he is salvaging After one day, the item is destroyed and the artificer adds 50% of the gp it took to create the item to his craft reserve. These points are lost if the artificer does not use them before gaining his next level. At 9th level, the artificer can salvage 75% of the value, and at 13th level he can salvage the items full value. Essentially just converted the xp cost into gp, and added the progression from 50% value up through 100%
Metamagic Spell Trigger (Su): At 6th level, an artificer gains the ability to apply a metamagic feat he knows to a spell trigger item (generally a wand). He must have the appropriate item creation feat for the spell trigger item he is using. Using this ability expends additional charges from the item equal to the number of effective spell levels the metamagic feat would add to a spell. For example, an artificer can quicken a spell cast from a wand by spending 5 charges (4 additional charges), empower the spell by spending 3 charges, or trigger it silently by spending 2 charges. The Still Spell feat confers no benefit when applied to a spell trigger item. An artificer cannot use this ability when using a spell trigger item that does not have charges, such as prayer beads.
Metamagic Spell Completion (Su): At 11th level, an artificer gains the ability to apply a metamagic feat he knows to a spell completion item (generally a scroll). He must have the appropriate item creation feat for the spell completion item he is using. The DC for the Use Magic Device check is equal to 20 + (3 × the modified level of the spell). For example, applying the Empower Spell feat to a scroll of cone of cold, creating a 7th-level effect, has a DC of 20 + (3 × 7), or 41. An artificer can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + his Int modifier.
Artifice Mastery: At 14th level, an artificer can take 10 when making a Spellcraft or Use Magic Device check, even if stress and distractions would normally prevent him from doing so. This ability circumvents the normal rule that a character may not take 10 on a Use Magic Device check.
I feel like there's too much going on at lower levels and not enough at higher levels, and I need a capstone ability. I also feel like there are probably too many features and it would be too powerful, but I'm not sure what to shave off or nerf. Any thoughts, suggestions, ideas, or critiques are more than welcome.
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The only problem with this is that if you can sell the item for 1/2 base price it's better to sell than retain essence.
The gp it takes to make an item is 1/2 of it's base price, the same amount you can usually sell it for.
This has been the bane of trying to convert this ability since XP costs have been removed.
That's a really good point, which hadn't occured to me. In that case, I'd probably change it to 70%/85%/100% to keep a progression, but give it a benefit over straight selling.
Personally I've gone the route of having them transfer abilities/charges from one item to another, later becoming the ability to transfer the cost of the item sacrificed to an item with the same prerequisites, and finally allowing full transfer of the cost of the item toward a new item.
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That's another good idea, I'll run both by the player and see which he feels would work just right.
The spell-like abilities from the Artifice Domain is a nice addition.
I thought so too, but I can't claim it as my own idea.
I'm not entirely clear on what levels you are granting the item creation/bouns feats or how many exactly the artificer is getting. Without knowing that for sure it's hard to determine what (if any) dead level the class may have and how powerful it is.
It might not be clear, but where it says "Artificer Table" in the OP, it's a link to an image. Any time the table says bonus feat, those feats are selected from the list (item creation/metamagic/etc).
The (3.5) Eberron Campaign Setting base Artificer is a bit thin on high level abilities, mostly due to a lack of high level abilities that are focused on item creation and use.
This is why I wanted to spread the features out just a tiny bit more and make some of them get progressively better as the artificer gains levels.
As for a capstone, not all classes have one (for example the Cleric).
I know, but they're just so nifty that I would love to give him one. It probably won't make any difference, since the campaign itself definitely won't go all the way to 20, but still, it's the principle.
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I ended up changing the Retain Essence set of skills with your suggestion, including your name. I reworded some of it but I think I retained the principle. Let me know if you think I missed part of that, and what you think in general.
I also added what is basically a Bardic Spells Known progression (at table). I haven't worked out the details of the fluff but I figured that their spellcasting abilities would basically match the bards, but with a vastly different spell list and using Intelligence instead of Charisma.
I haven't devised the spell list yet. I intend to let the player take a look at what I've written and ask him to pick out a bunch of spells he wants, and feels would be appropriate, and I'll take a look at them and (based on the trappings he comes up with) judge them on a case by case basis. If I think one is particularly in line with Artificer fluff, I might reduce it's spell level, or if I think it's a stretch for the Artificer to use it, I might increase the spell level. That portion of the class is (and probably will remain) still very flexible and undefined for me.
Looks allot like what I was playing with. i even started a thread awhile back with the same bonus feat progression, for the same reasons. It was never commented on, so I just dropped the idea at the time. Retain essence is certainly tricky. A clunky mechanic is to just allow them to transfer spells that have been cast in the creation of the old item into the new items. Another is to allow the spell level to be used & 'shaped' into the new item. If you went that route, might be better to call it scavenge essence. Might even make it so that a spell cast into the old item, makes it so that you don't have to make a Use Magic Check to cast it into another item. You could just make it focused by scribing scrolls off of the spells cast into the item. That could be used without cost, but the destruction of the item. Or the artificers sucks the spell out of the item as if casting a one charge wand. Could do either option until all spells are sucked out of the item. Or combine all of these into the idea as different uses for the ability.
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The link from my previous post has been updated for the minor details that were pointed out. I used a lot of information you posted, Xorial. Your posts and Freesword's posts provided the majority of my conversion, all I did was format them in a way that the player could comfortably look at and read, and add a few small ideas of my own.
Glad somebody got some use from what I really thought was a good idea for the feats, even if you never saw my thread on it awhile back. :D
I really like what you did with my ideas. It really gives the feel of savaging items to make new ones, but eliminates the whole 'printing money' loophole. I feel this is really turning out to be my favorite conversions. If you are going the bard route on spell progression, then you may want to consider shortening the times to cast infusions. Somebody put a houserule out on the boards before about changing the times for all 1 minute casting times to 1 round. Was a good idea for a game with no action points. Would make even more sense for this spell progression chart. He knows fewer infusions, so now he can have basically the same casting times as other 'casters'.
An idea that might be worth looking into is maybe an option to restore wand/staff charges with infusions, similer to spells, or maybe grant the artificer the option to gain a few freee charges X times per day.