I've been trying to make a item/construct crafter arcanist and i need some advice on a few things. I cant figure out what feats and exploits and traits I want. 20 point buy, human race, these stats.
Str 7
Dex 13
Con 14
Int 18 (16+2)
Wis 11
Cha 14
I don't want to change from being an arcanist, but the stats and race i am willing to change. Any advice is appreciated.
1st making constructs is an out of combat thing. You need to figure out what you want to do in combat. Preferably something that doesn't require many feats as you will be using up 3 fairly early on
Common Caster styles from least to most feat intensive. Note most all casters use all of these types of spells. I'm talking about specialization. Generalists prefer the top part of the list
Buffer
Battlefield control
Debuffing
Summoning
Blaster
The blood arcanist archetype with the impossible bloodline would be good for any crafter including a construct crafter. Note that the blood arcana can be used to buff your constructs with spells like heroism, it doesn't have to be used offensively against constructs.
I'd go with a small race so that you can easily ride constructs you make. Ratfolk might work well, the core small races don't have an intelligence bonus but charisma isn't wasted on an arcanist.
Useful exploits would be the same as for other arcanists. Potent magic, dimensional slide, spell tinkerer, metamixing, maybe school understanding if there's a wizard 1st level school power you want (e.g. Evocation/Admixture if you want to blast away sometimes).
7 str is fine. He is getting craft wondrous items. There is a whole list for improving carrying capacity. Also he's making constructs who can also carry stuff. Also for the spellbook use secluded grimoire(spell)
I would argue human is better. He is going to be pretty feat starved early. Also most constructs worth crafting are large size.
Dump the cha. Bump your int by 1 more point then make your wis and/or dex an even number. You should be putting your 4 level boosts into int so try to keep every other stat an even number
For arcanist I would avoid any archetypes. Simply put there are enough good exploits that they can fill your exploits and then some till at least level 13. Also there isn't to much benefit to being an artificer. Impossible bloodline really is bad. I might wildblood for it as a sorcerer artificer but only because I would have to in order for the character concept to work. You have a spellbook and can gain an extra craft feat via exploits
If you have not interest in blasting, you should use school understanding on void(if your dm accepts the really silly wording) or foresight
I think I'm going to use eldritch heratige to get the arcana of the impossible bloodline, buffing and healing my constructs sounds good. I'm bringing down cha by one to boost dex to 14. Going human because I need the feats early on. I plan on Buffing allies during combat. At higher levels I'll run out of good exploits, any arcane discovered that are recommended?
Eldritch heritage doesn't give you the blood arcana, just the bloodline abilities. It Blood Arcanist also takes up a number of your discoveries which reduces the need to agonise there.
Cha 13 is indistinguishable from Cha 5 as far as arcane reservoir is concerned. If you're dropping it below 14, you might as well take it to 12 to boost your wisdom to 12, or lower if you're not going to get a double-stat headband.
The bloodline arcana is simply not worth it. Before investing 4 exploits to get it try and find at least 5 spells you would prepare regularly that are affected by it. You can already heal them with make whole btw. There are enough good exploits that it only starts getting iffy around level 15
As for construct count I would recommend capping at 3 combat constructs at a time. Even then your GP will be stretched thin. 1 or 2 would probably be better long term.