I'm running a Pathfinder game over the Internet using a plethora of custom races converted from someone's 3.5 (originally 2.0!) game, so it seemed fairly natural that custom classes would get involved in things. One of the players decided that he wanted to play an Artificer as the race he was playing was heavily technological and very very arcane light. A quick look on the Pathfinder SRD website revealed a conversion of the Eberron Artificer from Tome of Secrets. However when I looked over the artificer class, when read as written it's got a very funky power curve and isn't written very clearly, (Can a 5th level Artificer really cast 3x 1st level spells, 2x 2nd level spells and 1x 3rd level spell in one standard action? Yikes!) so we decided to create our own Artificer via an archetype off Wizard and have come up with the following.
All comments are welcome, I'm looking for balance as well as utility in this class.
Artificer:
An artificer does not cast 'spells' instead he emulates standard wizard spells through technological means, creating an array of devices that 'cast' the spells prepared.
Create Artifact:
Instead of meditating to prepare spells, the artificer must spend an hour recharging power cells, adjusting components and repairing the device(s) he uses, effectively imbuing the item(s) with spells from his spell list. Each spell imbued can only be cast once per day, though the device may be used as many times as it has spells imbued in it. The artificer's devices must be masterwork items, and can be imbued with as many spells as the artificer wants, though only one spell may be cast at a time. The devices may be lent to other people, but to cast a spell on the device requires a Use Magic Device check with a DC of 15 + 2 x the spell's level. (A level 1 spell would be DC 17 while a level 9 spell would be DC 33) This ability replaces Arcane Bond
At 5th, 10th, 15th and 20th level an Artificer may select one of the following abilities. This ability replaces the bonus feats gained at those levels.
Recycle: You may disassemble a magical item and recover some of the materials and energy used to make it, getting back the cost in gp to make the item in raw materials that can only used in creating another magical item. To disassemble an item you must have the appropriate item creation feat needed to make the item
Experimental Device: You may add metamagic effects to a spell imbued into your device without taking the normal spell level increase; however, the effect becomes unstable and requires a d% after use. You must roll higher than the total metamagic increase circumvented times 10% or the device backfires. In the event of a backfire the user of the device takes 1d4 points of damage per level of the spell after applying normal metamagic increases. Thus a maximized magic missile would deal 4d4 damage to the caster. The effect still works as normal otherwise.
Speed Build: Magic items take half the time to build as normal.
Emulate a believer: The Artificer may call upon a god or other force, arcane or divine, to empower a magical item. For the purposes of spell prerequisites he is considered to have any one spell required as a spell prepared. The Artificer must make a Bluff check of DC 15 + the spell's level to gain the spell desired and may only petition for one spell per item. Only spells up to level 4 may be gained reliably this way, any spell of higher level has a 10% chance per spell level to draw the ire of the deity or force. The artificer may petition the specific deity that he follows to reduce the chance of drawing its wrath to 5% per spell level, petitioning a specific deity will restrict the spells available to ones able to be cast by clerics of that deity. The Artificer must have a Wisdom score high enough to cast the spell normally, as well as have a high enough caster level to be able to cast that level of spell. The Artificer must be at least level 10 to select this option
Any item creation feat
