So, I don't venture over here often, but you people are far better at breaking things than my usual crowd. Breaking things is what I'm here for! Also advice. And withering criticism.
I had a DM at RPGX who was running a magic Earth post-apocalypse thing, and he needed an Artificer. Of course, he was just going to use the really boring 3.5 sort of thing where it's a pseudocaster with crafting feats. Boooring. Pathfinder classes have Zazz, and try to be unique from each other. Thus, I set out to conquer one of the great challenges of homebrew: making an Artificer that doesn't suck.
Did I succeed? That's for you to decide. Mainly, I'm curious as to what you really like about it, what fills you with disgust, and things you think should be added. Sadly, the class writeup is full of tables and colors and all sorts of formatting that Just Doesn't Work on these boards, so the full spectacle is over here:
For a short summary: it's a d8HD 6 level 'caster', who crafts spell items with little spells on them. The items take a reasonable amount of time to make, but the Artificer comes with a pool of MP that he can use to reload the items as a Full Round Action(provokes AoO). Thus, he can prepare his stuff at the start of the day Wizard style, or keep some in reserve just in case(or whatever mix thereof). Other people can use his items(at a significant penalty without a class ability to let them do it better), but cannot reload them.
He also gets a Toy, which is a special experiment that serves as his finest creation. It's either a Weapon(exotic ones need you to buy the feat), Armor(Light, though there are abilities to upgrade to Medium and Heavy), or a Shield(again Light, ability to upgrade to Tower). Spell Failure is waived for Light armor and Shields, and it takes a bit of investment to actually get the Toy to a level of heavy armor without failure. That sort of thing is around in the class: he has many options you can take, but generally only one will be prevalent in the final build, because you can't have everything.
Spells-wise, it's mostly a subset of the Sor/Wiz tree, with a list of Artificer Only spells(description only atm, that's a lot of words to type). He's best at utility; while he gets damage spells, he gets them later and weaker than a dedicated 9-level caster. Healing is limited to Mending spells, no undead, summoning is limited to stationary defense bots, and the more mystical spells are dropped in favor of the practical and straightforward ones.
Read it and grow fat! Also suggest things. Suggestions are good.
Your class looks pretty interesting, and I like the amusing way you describe things in it. I'm not sure I can offer much advice to help you, but I can point out that there is a grand list of attempts at the artificer. (Really, at this point I think the only reason Paizo doesn't make this class is because it'd probably be impossible to create without looking like someone else's.) You could always look at some of the ones there and compare and contrast. I'd also advise looking at classes like the Magus for how to power-up things by spell-like abilities and the Rogue and Witch for how you can use things like Schema and Quirks that would be similar to how Talents and Hexes tend to work.
There is also another homebrew called the wandering artist which is pretty interesting.
Haha, there's even a running list. Capital. I was looking more at the Magus for how the Quirks would run, as it's also an every 3 level progression. Rouge Talent/Witch Hex I used for every 2 level progression on the Deckmaster and Monster earlier in the thread.
Haha, there's even a running list. Capital. I was looking more at the Magus for how the Quirks would run, as it's also an every 3 level progression. Rouge Talent/Witch Hex I used for every 2 level progression on the Deckmaster and Monster earlier in the thread.
Ah, okay. Those are also interesting classes!
....added this class to that list...
From 17 to 18, you get 1 more MP? Is there supposed to be some formula?
Having to get EWP for your own weapon you made seems weird.
Important Stats: An Artificer uses Intelligence to determine Max MP(1/2 INT * Artificer Level), Spell Item/Schema DC, and Quirk DC.
The table is weird, if this is the case. You can't know the Int, so the table can't be based on that. Or maybe the MP in the table is different from max MP?
Either way, I recommend not making the Intelligence so important. Yes, it should be important. But you are going to have a hard time balancing the class if the resource pool is an unknown. You could try assuming a "normal" level of Intelligence, and most people will start out with 16-18 Int. But even then, a multiplier 1x higher is a big difference, and I don't know if it's safe to assume that you'll always have 18 Int starting out. (This section of my response is a bit rambly...)
In any event, I recommend having a static set pool, and have the Int bonus added to it. Doing half the bonus is weird by itself too, as very few things do that in the game, and since increasing the bonus is pretty slow, it means the feature doesn't scale so well.
The layout of the class is pretty confusing as well.
Super Tools seems like it's gained disproportionately late for what it does.
What's a Core Schema? Does your Toy need to be the same type as the ones you select? How does that work with Throwing, if most of those weapons can be martial or throwing? (at least, the ones that aren't destroyed on impact...)
Oops, I derped on the MP, thanks. It should be 110 there.
Exotic proficiency is because it was equally awkward to say "Yeah, you get simple prof, but you're going to be taking the free Exotic you get". It's a middle ground between that and not being allowed exotic toys.
Changed it to bonus MP to make it easier to understand. It's like Psionics bonus MP. 1/2 INT * Level, plus the base MP in the table. So yes, it's exactly how you think it should be!
I needed something to fill in the empty level where Super Tools was. Things can be moved around.
The Core Schema is the basic ability of your Toy, which can't be changed, as mentioned in the Artificer Toy description. So a Doom Cannon will always be a Firearm, but a Firearm doesn't have to be a Doom Cannon(it could be a Variant Morph Weapon instead, for example). The Bomb Kit is special, as it doesn't really have a normal base type. It's just a thing that makes the Bomb weapons for you, and those Bombs are throwing weapons, hence Throwing.
Got it, thanks!
An interesting idea over all. Where did you get the idea on layout?
Just a long time working on things like that. Tables and colors and such to make it more readable than a straight wall of text.
I have added in more mechanical descriptions of the new Artificer spells. Some of them are irredeemably silly, such as:
Dramatic Lightning EVOC 0 IMM - Self - Inst As an immediate action, causes lightning to flash behind you when being dramatic. A staple for mad scientists.
Hallucinate ENCH 3 1 SA Will Close - 1 R/MP The target begins to hallucinate wildly. Creatures and objects around them, when examined, appear to be something completely different(DM chooses) and likely very humorous. The attacking barbarian is now Godzilla, the cheese on the table is now a Tiny Cheese Elemental, and so forth. This does not actually penalize them mechanically(these sorts of things tend to work out), but if they don't have a keen memory, it's likely they'll end up interacting with the wrong target in the wrong way.
Give more thoughts! Things you like, things you don't like, things that are Clearly Missing, etc.
Most interesting! (Totally not just bumping this thread. That would be WRONG.)
Why all the color coding?
Why not? It is a feature of the site, and helps clarify where things are.
For example, in the list of class skills each ability score has a different color. What is the purpose of that? Is it a ranking system?