Alternate Artificer (A.k.a. The Inventor) 2.1 patreon preview

So let's start with... this is a preview version. I promised folks I'd post an update version, but there's a lot left to do for this version - I haven't even gotten into the Runesmith/Cursesmith/Fleshsmith updates, and there's more to do in a few other sections. It turned out I had very large piles of feedback to parse here.

It should be noted that 2.1 is not the version that will appear the Compendium even once it is done... 2.1 is the version that will serve as the primary testing version for the Compendium - there will be at least 2-3 updates prior to the compendium version.

NOTE: This is a temporary document while we have a beta version. Do not save this link (or do, just know that it won't be correct in the future). This is just for previewing what is in so far as I told folks I'd update them :D This link includes both the main document and expanded toolbox.

That said... there's a lot here, so let's get into it:

Artificer 2.1

General

• All instances of forced movement have been clarified they allow attacks of opportunity or not. Feel free to keep treating these as you did previously if you disagree with any of them, this just the clarification of how I would rule these.

Spells

• Arcane Weapon is no longer concentration.
• Awaken Rope added
• Returning Weapon added (from Expanded Toobox)
  

Gadgetsmith

• You can set the radius of smoke bomb to 5, 10, 15, or 20 feet depending on the amount of disruption you would like (to make it play nicer with allies that may want less smoke than you).
• Crossbow spider/Autonomous Crossbow merged and reworked.
• Changed Boomerang of Hitting to Ricocheting Weapon; the "of Hitting" moniker was always a bit silly. Changed it to be a ranged thrown weapon like a dart rather than a melee thrown weapon, raised the damage to 1d8, but it now deals half damage to a second target (instead of full damage). It not longer specifically a boomerang, being whatever sort of bouncy returning weapon you want.

Design Notes: I wanted this to be more useable without making it significantly stronger. This is still one of the best options against multiple targets, but not it's a bit better against single targets.

• Impact Gauntlets reduced to a d6. They were always over budgeted being Special, Finesse, and Light at d8. The comparable Power Fist gives up the Finesse property, but I felt keeping Finesse and dropping to d6 made more sense for Gadgetsmith.

Design Notes: It's still a very good weapon, but this helps even the playing field a bit - Lightning Baton and Ricocheting Weapons higher base damage make them viable alternatives for people that don't want to focus on the special property, and for folks that are building around the special property, losing the 1 damage of the top makes sense in terms of balance, especially with some of their new tools.

• Repeating Crossbow can make two disadvantage attacks if you don't have advantage (previously you could make two normal attacks if you had advantage, you can effectively still do this).

Design Notes: The wording here is regrettably a little complicated as there's a lot of corner cases where if you had advantage + disadvantage, you could use this special attack without any penalty. It may seem strange to buff what some people consider the strongest gadgetsmith weapon, but this doesn't really buff it's interaction with Sharpshooter (as you will almost never want to take a sharpshooter shot with disadvantage), which is what people are usually referring to when viewing it as the strongest weapon.

• Lightning Generator is once per turn and now only works with spells.
• Added Gliding Cloak
  

Golemsmith

• Arcane Barrage armament moved to unrestricted, reworked to scale stronger.
• Flamethrower armament moved to unrestricted, reworked to scale stronger.
• Expanded Frame reduced to an 5th level upgrade.
• Mechanical Wings no longer reduces the speed of large golems to 25 feet.
  

Infusionsmith

• Changed how Deflecting Weapon works. Moved to 5th level upgrades.

Design Notes: Deflecting Weapon was very strong. This was more merited in the olden days when it was made, as Infusionsmith was weaker - they have a lot of options to buff up their AC now, making it very likely to succeed. This is buff to the deflection power, but will reduce their offensive power when using it this way. This is a change that buffs and nerfs it, but overall is expected to be a nerf.

• Loyal Weapon added as an unrestricted upgrade (from Expanded Toolbox)
• Infused Elements demoted to Expanded Toolbox for further review.
• Animated Shield moved to 5th level.
  

Thundersmith

• Mortal Shells moved to a 9th level upgrade.
• Elemental Swapping moved down to a 9th level upgrade.

Design Notes: There was no compelling reason to keep these at as a high level as they were. Lowered them to make them easier to reach.

Warsmith

• Clarified Integrated armor cannot be removed but confers no penalty when resting in it.
• Merged Arcaneware and Wiseware (Expanded toolbox) in Artificial Guidance.
• Emergency Protocol can now run your armor a number of turns equal to your intelligence modifier (instead of 1).
  

Fleshsmith

• Intelligence (Medicine) checks was moved form the Doctor to Fleshsmith's proficiency.
  Expertise in Medicine was folded directly into Perfection of Mind.
• Doctor Upgrade replaced with Dissection (which does the remaining aspects of the Upgrade).
• Field Surgery has reduced lethality (as it no longer pseudo requires doctor).
• Pressure Points now requires Perfect of Mind (instead of Doctor).
• Safe Revival Technique prerequisite is now Field Surgery (instead of Doctor)
• Dark Miracle no longer has an upgrade prerequisite.

Feats

• Innovators Upgrade reworked.

Design Notes: It now is limited to Unrestricted Upgrades the first time you take it, 5th level upgrades the second time, etc, so it is no longer dependent on when you take the Upgrade, but rather how many times you've taken it. This has the convenient side effect of limiting Artificer from getting multiple 9th level spells in all normal cases. Still fiddling with this change, but this is the direction I'm leaning.

Expanded Toolbox

Note: This is not yet complete! Most of the remaining changes will happen here!

• Runesmith added.
• Class Features section added.
• New Generic Class Wide Upgrade option added: Shield Proficiency.

Potionsmith

• Napalm can no longer be ended early by expending your movement (it can still be ended early by taking an action).

Warsmith

• Sentient Armor: Wiseware and Arcaneware combined into the new main document upgrade Artificial Guidance.
• Sentient Armor: Assume Control expanded and buffed.
• Sentient Armor: Contingent Response can cast spells up to 2nd level now.
• Sentient Armor: Telepathic Uplink Added
• Integrated Armor: Iron Constitution replaced by Construct Constitution
• Integrated Armor: Iron Fortitude added
• Warsuit: Wire Acrobatics added.
• Piloted Golem: Ablative Armor folded into the Piloted Golem upgrade, but it now gives disadvantage on dexterity saving throws and initiative checks. You can no longer be targeted by spells that require a humanoid target (but can be targeted by spells that target constructs). You can still be healed though, as that does not require a humanoid target and you are not considered a construct.
• Piloted Golem: Iron fortress ported from Golemsmith for them.

What's next?

This will continue to get updates until 2.1 fully goes live to the main versions of the documents on Monday morning. If you have feedback, get it in soon :D

Tinkering should be update tomorrow evening.

We may see a new spell or minor item this weekend.

The Kickstarter

We are in the last week folks! It going excellently, but if you have somehow not heard that I'm running a Kickstarter and it's cool, check it out!