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S3 Ep 14: Class Review - Artificer · Bards and Barrels

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Let's dive into the wonders of the artificer, the masters of magic and innovation.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's time to motion up.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: Hey! And there's the opening double crack of an eye.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's time for another episode of Bards and Barrels.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: These two are about to fall off their chairs.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: You blew me up.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_03: Blew you up.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_02: Apparently, I don't you gave the sign that some crack already happened.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_02: I got lost.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_02: I got scared.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Brett doesn't know how to read hand signals.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_02: You were late.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: Your hand signal was late.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what you're I don't know what you're talking about.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: I was on the beat.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: Technically.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: I'm the director, so you waited.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: You go and I drop my damn hand, boys.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, excuse me.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man, it's time for another episode of Bards and Barrels.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: Tonight we're gonna dive into another class review, one of our last ones, uh, as we explore the artificer tonight.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh as always, I'm Ross along with me, Brett, and Phil for the ride.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: Gentlemen, how are we doing?
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: As they are busting another guy.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: This is gonna be a great episode.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: Oh good.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: How many beers do you have open over there?
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Too many.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know I had that one sitting there.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, artificer.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: Are we good to go on that one?
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe perhaps.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a fun one.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_03: Got the silver bullets locked in load.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: Artificer would totally have that too.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, first thoughts, boys.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, what do you what are you thinking about uh the artificer these days?
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh this is kind of the odd one.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Out of all the classes that we've done, like people don't play this one.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't really know much about artificers before kind of prepping for this episode.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_03: I think that I have not watched someone like I don't know, I just haven't watched a lot of people play Artificer.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think it was that common of a class, maybe.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it wasn't in the core rule book initially.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: And that might be part of it, but well, actually, I think that has everything to do with it because I mean, if you don't have Toshes or you don't have access to Toshes, it's really hard.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you aren't gonna find that class if you're on DD Beyond and building a character.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's not a Lord of the Rings character, it's not a Lord of the Rings character.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, right.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that throws a little bit off of like it's a different setting that this is stemmed from.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like this comes from uh Eberron.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of where this class stems from a lot of times.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: Although I I think you could make an argument that it it it could be high fantasy, like blacksmiths could easily be artificers, which are gonna be in every high fantasy setting somehow.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_03: It can too, but artificer also is one of the best classes, maybe besides Ranger, that fits in a world that uses firearms.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, true.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that makes sense.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_03: So I think it could go that way too.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_03: Like you could really make it like into a gritty style of a campaign as well.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_03: It could fit into, or post-apocalyptic, something like that.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_03: Steampunk.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: Speaking of that, my character that we're gonna meet later, I totally imagine him having the bowler hat and like the welding glasses on.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's a lot of like mad max type of stuff.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, with a artifacts.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh let's talk a little bit about pros and cons.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we can bounce back and forth, but what do you guys got?
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: Who wants to start with a pro and then we'll kind of go from there?
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I'll do a pro.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like I this fits my style of play really well.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's this is more of a uh like an uh support support class, helping the whole party out, kind of doing the odds and ends, like filling gaps.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: I really like that type of play style, and that's a big pro for me.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_03: I think too that this really plays into versatility, so it is a great support character, but you can choose where or how, I guess maybe you want to give that support.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_03: You can build it to do some damage, they make great healers, they can be just a utility spell caster.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I think one of the options even lets you almost build like a tank.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_03: So you really can support your party in multiple ways, kind of depending on how you build this.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I think one one of my pros was just that this was a cool class for many of the same reasons you guys are talking about.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: Just because, for to your point, Brett, it's not like every other class that's in there, it's very different of class.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's that's cool in its own right.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: But that kind of leads to my con, which is it's kind of a jack of all trades, master of none.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like anything the artificer could do, you could almost have somebody do better to a degree.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like any of your like artificer has some spells, which we'll talk about here in a little bit, but even all the way up at like high levels, wizards just gonna kick their butt.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_03: I also think, too, that especially maybe as a new player, this class takes a little bit of preparation.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_03: So, as far as like, hey, how do I craft magical items?
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_03: What kind of spells am I preparing?
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_03: Some of that can be a little time consuming and potentially challenging for new players.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Anything that any class that requires you to prepare spells is a little bit more involved.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: I think yeah, well, so one of my cons was complexity, and I I think that uh you guys are hitting this all over the place, and and it's really for like a first-time player.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: There's so many things that's like if I just want to play the game and swing my sword at something, this is not the class to do that with it's not, but this is the class on the pro side too.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_03: That's like they're great problem solvers because they have all this ingenuity and like can creatively find solutions to hard challenges as well.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: But as a first-time player, it can be a little tough.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: And you can buff your your fellow teammates, party members, you can uh set traps, you can do all sorts of stuff to control what is happening without necessarily being the one to deal the damage.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_03: And I love how I love how Brett said it plays well into his playstyle too, because it there's so much room for like personalization as far as how what your building manifests, or like what using your tools looks like when you cast spells, or like when you infuse an item, you know, how how is that manifested in that item?
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_03: So there's really a lot of like role-playing opportunity in that as well.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: All right, let's talk a little bit about pop culture references.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: Where do we see this uh in places that people would you know pretty actively recognize this an artificer?
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think the biggest one out there would be Iron Man.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, totally.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Tony Spark, yeah.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's the big one.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, other ones, MacGyver.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, easily could be a that one was a really close one.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Rick Sanchez from Rick and Morty.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Edna Mode.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like I should have had a burp loaded up right there.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Edna Mode from The Incredibles, Forge from X-Men, uh Honey Lemon from Big Hero Six.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: An alchemist.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh another alchemist, Snape from Harry Potter.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, or even Leo Valdez from Prissy Jackson, a son of Hefhe Hephaestus.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_03: What do you guys think about like Q from James Bond?
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Oh.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: I would I would 100% be behind Q.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: I think that makes sense, right?
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the only real thing we know about Q is that he's a tinkerer and he builds all the fun things that Jesus gets.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_03: So it has to be.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_03: One thing I was kind of going back and forth with today, and we'll see what you guys think, but I like the potion side of Artificer as well, which I guess we didn't talk about a lot yet, but we will a little later.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but someone like uh uh Miracle Max from The Princess Bride who creates like this miracle pill, right?
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_03: Like is he cleric?
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_03: Not really.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_03: So I almost think he almost fits in with this, and he like uses the big to get Wesley to breathe, the big air thing, too.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_03: Like for me, he fits this.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_03: Kind of with some mediocre deception skills, exactly.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh let's talk a little bit about quick build.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, Brett, what does the quick build look like for the artificer?
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so for the quick build, you can uh it's pretty easy.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: You go with intelligence, followed by constitution or dexterity, uh, and then choosing the guild artisan background.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: I don't really have anything to say about that.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know why we didn't like that question.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_03: So I think intelligence totally makes sense because uh that's your spell casting um ability for this class.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_03: One of the things I'm curious about, and I guess I didn't look to see.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_03: Obviously, we don't have new rules for this class yet.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_03: Everything is still just based in Tasha's.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_03: So I'd be really interested to see how maybe their idea for the quick build background might change.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_03: Because the guild artisan as it's known doesn't exist anymore.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_03: But there's an artisan background now, and backgrounds grant you much different things today than what they did in Tasha's.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_03: So be very interested.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_03: Well, not much different than Tasha's, but definitely much different than 2014 rule book, right?
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm curious to see how that'll change.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and like Phil mentioned, as as of when we're recording this, um, this is the Artificer is not in the 2024 players handbook.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: So it's I've seen some rumors that maybe it's gonna come out with a next generation of a new Eberron book down the road coming down the eventually.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure it'll come back, but it's not in that first version.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we're still rolling off of the 2014 for 2014 version right now.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: So first level artificer, you get the plus two proficiency bonus, you get your spellcasting ability where you get two cantrips, two first level spells.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but the main thing that you get is your magical tinkering.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: Phil, can you want to fill us in a little bit on magical tinkering?
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_03: Tinker tinker.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so magical tinkering, basically, this is how you can invest some of your magic into mundane objects, right?
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_03: So there are a couple prerequisites to this.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_03: You gotta have tools, right?
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_03: Either thieves tools or artisan's tools that you're proficient with, something like that that you're going to use to kind of imbue this item with magic.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_03: At first level, you're talking about making an object shed bright light for five feet, and then like another five feet of dim or something like that.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_03: They're small things initially.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, you can do things like continuously emitting an odor or you know, some sort of a a wind sound, chirping sound.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_03: So things like that that can only be perceived up to 10 feet.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_03: They're kind of small when you start, but it grows over time.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: So hopping back to our pop culture references really quick.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: When you mentioned Leo Valdez, and I'm a big fan of Percy Jackson, and the Lost Hero series was excellent.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: He was in that.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, in the books, I vividly remember him.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like he constantly is doing things with his hands, like he'll just pull parts out of his pocket and then he'll build like a little frog or something that hops around.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like, this is what I think magical tinkering is.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he had like a little fanny pack or something with a whole bunch of stuff in it, and then he was always just grabbing stuff out of the bag and just putting it together and making whatever he needed in the moment, and that's really what an artificer does.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so that's a little bit about uh the the magical tinkering that you get at first level as an artificer.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: But the the big things that you get, Phil, and I'm gonna hand this Brian back over to you, uh, are the specialists that an artificer can become.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so specialist, when we think of an artificer, is gonna be similar to like picking a circle as a druid or uh picking a school as a bard, right?
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's kind of your big thing.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_03: What is your specialty as an artificer?
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_03: And Tasha's right now is our only kind of source book for an artificer, and there are four choices that we have in there.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so we have the alchemist, the armorer, the artillerist, and then the battlesmith.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_03: And they each have their own flavor, but your alchemist is you can kind of think of this one almost as your potion master type.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_03: So they're an expert at combining regents to produce mystical effects.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_03: So their creations can give life, they can leech it away, you gain proficiency with alchemist tools, you gain a whole another set of spells.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_03: This one is really good at I would say it's kind of your healer style of alchemist.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_03: You get healing word, you also can cast ray of sickness against your enemies at third level.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_03: So you start picking up some of those pieces, eventually, you get powerful enough to cast rays dead.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_03: So that's kind of where this one leads into.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_03: You do get a create experimental elixir.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_03: So to me, this is like kind of that Miracle Max style of character.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um, after a long rest, basically, you get to create or fill an empty flask full of a potion or an elixir.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_03: It could be a healing one, one for swiftness, one for flight.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_03: There's some different options.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_03: Um, they've got a you can roll a d6 to randomly choose that.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you can become an alchemist savant.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_03: So as you're using your alchemist supplies as your spell casting focus, you get to actually add a bonus to one of the roles for your spell.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_03: So there's a couple requirements there too.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_03: You either have to be restoring hit points, um, or if you're dualing damage, it's either got to be acid, fire, necrotic, or poison.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_03: So um, once again, it really leans into that style of a character.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_03: Um, by the time you get all the way to the top, 15th level here is chemical mastery.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_03: You can cast greater restoration and heal without costing you a spell slot, which is pretty sweet too.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, the armor next one up, so obviously specializes as an armorer modifying their armor to function almost like a second skin.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_03: So in this case, um, you get proficiency with heavy armor, and your spells here are a little bit more on the damage dealing side.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_03: So at third level, you get magic missile and thunder wave.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_03: Um, eventually you gain greater invisibility, wall of force.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_03: The cool part about the armor really is the arcane armor, though.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_03: So you make your armor a conduit for your magic, you turn any suit of armor that you're wearing into arcane armor, as long as you have your Smith tools, and uh you can continue to kind of strengthen that armor as you gain levels.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_03: So one of the cool pieces, uh, right at third level, when you get that arcane armor piece, is you actually get armor model.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_03: It lets you start to customize that armor, so you can choose to either be a guardian or an infiltrator, and as they sound, one is a little more defensive and one's a little more on the offensive side of the field.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_03: Um, at fifth level, with this particular one, you can gain an extra attack.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_03: So that's not something that you got as um the alchemist, but that you can get as the armorer.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_03: And then as you continue to grow in levels again at ninth, uh you gain more armor modifications.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_03: So now that armor counts as separate items when you start infusing it instead of just one general piece of armor, so you can put multiple infusions into your armor, and then at 15th level, depending on whether you picked guardian or you picked infiltrator, you gain another benefit as well uh to your armor.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_03: Then the artillerist, uh, this is your distance, I would say, kind of distance attacker style um of play with an alchemist.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_03: So uh you gain proficiency with another set of tools here.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_03: This one's the wood carver's tools on this side, because this is the one that lets you create cannons.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_03: You can create an Eldridge cannon.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, this is also the um specialist class that gains access to the fireball spell in case that's important to you.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_03: Um at ninth level, you can cast fireball.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: Is that even a question?
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_03: Everyone needs to know that.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_03: At third level, you can cast shield, and at ninth level you can cast fireball.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_03: Like, what else do you need to know?
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but the eldridge cannon is awesome.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_03: So the reason that you can kind of gain proficiency with your wood cover's tools is you can create these little eldridge cannons.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_03: They can be either small cannons or they can be tiny cannons you can actually hold in your hand.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_03: You can only create one at a time initially.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but you can choose whether that's going to be a flamethrower, a force ballista, or a protector, which actually can buff teammates.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_03: It gives them temporary hit points if you go that route as well.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_03: Um at fifth level, you gain the arcane firearm.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_03: Let's you turn a wand, a staff, or a rod into a arcane firearm, basically a conduit for your destructive spells.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_03: You get to add some extra damage to something that is cast through that.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_03: At the ninth level, you gain explosive cannon.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_03: So you can tell your cannon to detonate, and it does 3d8 force damage.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't know why, but I thought you were like, you can tell your cannon to F off.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, kind of, that is what you're doing a little bit.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_02: You can also tell your cannon to move.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think I said that earlier.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_03: So it's not you can have your cannon on legs, it can move, and then you can have it self-destruct, which is pretty cool.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: Interesting.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and then lastly, at 15th level, fortified positions.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_03: So you've mastered a well-defended emplacement right now, and you're going to use your cannon basically to help your allies that are close to it, is the way that that one works.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_03: And then the last specialist is the battlesmith.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_03: Um, this one to me would fit better almost in a large-scale war type of scenario, but it's kind of a combination protector, medic, uh, they repair materials, personnel, aid in battle.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_03: Um so some spell-wise, here you get shield early on.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_03: At the 17th highest level, you're getting banishing smite and mass cure wounds, right?
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_03: This is much more designed almost to be, yeah.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_03: I think of it like as a general.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um, the cool feature in here is the steel defender.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_03: So basically, you get to create this steel construct that actually can assist you in battle as well.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and you gain an extra attack at fifth level.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, at ninth level, uh, you get arcane jolt.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_03: So basically, you learn some new ways how to channel that arcane energy to either harm or to heal.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_03: So um you can cause extra force damage, or you can have some healing energy flow into another teammate as well for them to get some hit points back.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_03: And lastly, at 15th level, here you get improved defender, uh, which means that your steel defender and your archangel both become more powerful.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_03: So you can bump the armor class on your steel defender, making it even harder to hit.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_03: And whenever it uses one of its attacks, uh it does extra force damage as well.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_03: So pretty cool option, too.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: Nice.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: I I I feel like it's not quite as diverse as some classes that we've seen where like you can take this and become anything.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's like there's very specific paths, but there's not a whole lot of diverting once you're in a path.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_03: Oh no, not really.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_03: You're kind of stuck there.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this one uh since it's a newer class, like it was introduced with Tosh's, it's not quite as robust as some of the others.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I do want to to uh before we move on to our characters, we need to talk a little bit about infusing items.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: So as a uh at second level, an artificer gains the ability to infuse uh or imbue mundane items with magical infusions.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and the the reason I want to bring this up, and it's not particular, I mean you can basically create magical items for your party, is what you can do.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: So if you want to create uh, you know, I think one of the options is like a boots of stridine or something like that.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: You could take a random pair of boots and make a magical item for your party.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's also funny a little bit to think about that, you know, does every magic shop in Feirun have an artist in the back room that they're just like, here's some here's some boots, make magical items for me.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_01: More gold.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_02: Never even thought of that.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's like, where do they get them from, right?
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like some of them certainly would have like ancient backgrounds, like this handed down from some wizard who did some shit some point in time.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: But really, that magical pair of boots is not 500 years old.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: It probably was made by Barry in the back room yesterday.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, that was random.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_03: But I love that now.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like as you go into town, I'm gonna start rolling to see if there happens to be an artificer in town, and if not, nothing extraordinary exists.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: No magic oh no, that's how you know all the weapons are stock, no plus one weapons.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: That means we're not gonna get magic weapons, Ross.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like you can lose everything.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: Those infusions though can be really cool.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like some of them can just be like adding a plus one to a weapon or stuff like that.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but you can also take replicate magic item and just make a magic item just wherever.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like if you need to have a bag of holding and you haven't found one yet, take that as one of your infusions and you can just have a uh a bag of holding at will.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_03: And if our buddy Matt is listening to this particular episode, there's no way ever that I will allow the school silver flade, whatever school katana to be duplicated.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_03: Never mind.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like there needs to be a side quest just to make sure we have a backup about.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: You must find an artificial from another realm.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: And those and those ones that we've been talking about are only at second level.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: So then you can get higher level infusions as well, uh, which scale up at sixth level, tenth level, fourteenth level, uh, and get even more powerful um later on.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: I I like the idea of the the hormonculous servant.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: It just makes me think because I know there's some people out there who play Fortnite.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's like when you wander around the Fortnite map and you hire a character.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: That's literally what you're doing is hiring a character to walk around with you and shoot people.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: So the Humunculus Servant is kind of like the familiar that a wizard can get, but it can actually do some damage.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: Or and it's a little bit more powerful than uh maybe a familiar is, but um, there's some cons to it as well.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: Which you know, the humuculo servant is kind of interesting because that is fairly similar to what the battlesmith does with that steel defender.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_03: It is interesting.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think my favorite infusion is the spell refueling ring.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yep.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_03: Because basically, you as long as you're wearing the ring, the creature wearing it gets to recover one expended spell slot as an action.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, so once you have infused an item, right?
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_03: It doesn't necessarily lose that.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_03: It says once it's used, the ring can't be used again until the next dawn.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_03: It does require attunement, but if you gave a spell caster, you created three of these babies, and they attuned just to those three things, they could recover three spell slots.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's oh yeah.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: And with artificers, there's a there's ways you can unlock additional attunement slots.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, so you can get up to six attunement slots, which is interesting because they don't have that many spell slots compared to other spell casters.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: However, attunements right, and a lot of the things they're gonna be building and making are gonna require attunements, so it makes sense that you're gonna need more, but would it what if you had an artificer that wasn't too bright?
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: So, like instead of making three different things to attune to, he just makes like three pairs of jeans and he walks around with three pairs of pants on all the time.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, speed negative 10.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's the artificer who has the intelligence as the dump stat.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, totally.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh okay, so it's time to talk a little bit about uh our characters.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: Brent, why don't you kick us off tonight?
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: I love that that's so speaking of dump stats, we're gonna talk about our characters.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I you know um I built a tobacc to baxi artificer, um, and I went with kind of a hybrid.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I took the new 2024 Tabaxi, um, which allows you to have a small tobaxi, which is kind of like a cat.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: I took intelligence as my top stat, uh, ended up with a 16, so a plus three to intelligence.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but then I took dexterity as my number two, so a 14 or a plus two uh on decks.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: And that is kind of setting me up because I'm going to go the uh the alchemist route, and I was thinking that this little tiny cat person can dart in and out throughout the battle and just kind of deliver healing to all to the the teammates, um, just kind of scamper in and out, and with as a small character, you can hide behind other characters and take some cover like that as it from well.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but outside of that, uh kind of normal things, I took Firebolt and Mage Hand, Cure Wounds, Expeditious Retreat, which I thought would be really handy, because then I could take the dash as a bonus action.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: Smart, yeah.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: So really being able to zip in and out um throughout a battle and jump as well.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: So lots of mobility for me.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, uh, I'm actually gonna go next since you did a lot of talking.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'll give you a little bit of a good thanks.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: So uh I created a uh uh mountain dwarf uh named Rudley, uh, which I love that name.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: So he I may end up using this character at some point.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but his scores, I actually interestingly enough, I did not have intelligence as my um number one.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: So I actually did dexterity and strength and then and then I I did.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to do something that was a little bit different.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_01: Also, also, dump stat for this guy is charisma, Phil.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, hey, that was my someone send help.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: Somebody look outside.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: It might be snowing.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I guess depending on when this episode drops, it might literally be snowing outside.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: How bad was your dump stat?
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh negative one.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: So he does not like talking to people.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: I gotta have a negative two.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: You and I, the two charisma people, have negatives in our charisma.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: What is your charisma?
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: Just out of curiosity.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: Negative three.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: No, plus zero.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Phil's gonna be doing all the talking, that's gonna be a that's scary.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: I I'm just very curious to see how he turned his artificer into a rogue because we know he'll try.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so Rudley's spells.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I took uh for my two cantrips, I took create bonfire and booming blade.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_01: I kind of figured he would be going the artillerist route, more of like uh the puncher, uh also fireball.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if I've had a character that's had fireball yet.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: TBH.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: What are you even doing with your life?
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: I don't I find other ways to entertain myself.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you very much.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but I did think something that was that was kind of clever for an artificer.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: My first level spell, I took Absorb Elements.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, which, if you've never used Absorb Elements, is basically when you get attacked with a spell that does a certain type of damage.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, the next attack that you do, you can do one d6 of that damage back to whoever you're attacking.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: So it could be that person, it could be anyone, anyone else.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I thought that was kind of cool that an artificer who needs elements and needs materials can absorb that and then use it back.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I thought that's cool.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's kind of a clever use of that.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, otherwise, my inventory is pretty basic.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: I since he's a mountain dwarf, I took um just a dagger and a light hammer.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: Again, artificer and a hammer.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: I thought that made sense.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: And he has scale mail on, so as a level one character, he has a plus two to his initiative, and he has an 18 on his armor class.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: So he is one hefty little mother trucker.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_03: So that's what I can.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_03: 18 makes sense, yeah.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_03: So now I understand your scores, they make sense.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, he uh yeah, I'll just leave it at that.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I uh created uh I think I've decided that the pronunciation of this name is going to be Horzier.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_03: Uh like the singer?
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_01: Who's Hosier?
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_03: Uh it's Hosier.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_03: It's spelled H-O-R-Z-I-R-E, but I don't like Hosier.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_03: I don't like Horzai.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_01: I've always said Hozier.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so have I, but then I watched a video.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry, side by everybody.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not even listening to you guys.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like over here processing his name.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay, Kim Gier.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, yes.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Horzier.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_03: Uh the tiefling artificer.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_03: Uh who really, unlike the Singer, only has a plus zero to his charisma.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_03: But a plus three to his intelligence.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_03: Not sure about the singer, but uh I rolled poorly for me.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_03: Uh oh.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_03: Oh wow.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_03: So intelligence was my highest.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I had to dump uh some of my ability score improvement in there to get up to a plus three, but we're at plus three, sixteen there.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_03: And then uh I rolled two thirteens and gave an extra point to each of those in con and dex to get me to plus twos in con and dex, because we all know that decks needs to be at least as good as your con, if not better, always, because rogue, and all the others were tens and elevens, so zero, zero, and zero to strength, wisdom, and charisma.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_03: Very nice, and it was I was very disappointed with that role, but I stuck with it.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um so I want Horzir to be the alchemist style of artificer.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_03: Um, preferably my initial thought is like as a tiefling guild artisan, he like sort of was gonna try home brewing and then realized that he kind of had a knack for it, but he could maybe do more and wanted to get kind of into the potion side of like what are the restorative properties that beer contains, because we all know it helps.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and that kind of leads him down this path.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_03: So that's like where I see him going.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um, spell-wise, then I went on the restorative side, so um cantrip-wise, you don't have great choices, but uh mage hand because it's cool.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_03: Mending because we're working with things that potentially could break and need mended.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I think maybe from a background, I chose the guild artisan background.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_03: I got I have Thaumaturgy as well, and Chill Touch, which chill touch comes from my T Fling background.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yep, is or the species.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I got chill touch.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_03: And then first level wise, cure wounds.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, I really liked uh Tasha's caustic brew because I thought that it would kind of feed into the beer slash potion making kind of background, and then detect magic.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_03: Just I feel like as we're tinkering with items or imbuing items, it's helpful to be able to maybe use that.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_03: So it's kind of why I went that route.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_03: I just imagine him being like, shit, did I did I put something on that pair of boots?
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, I did.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you could have had like six or seven beers by then.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: So that's oh my god, that is so true.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_02: Uh actually, so uh weapons uh weapon-wise, we went with uh we get a crossbow, light crossbow.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, okay, great.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_03: What I wanted though, and for for my other simple weapon, uh, was a boomerang.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_01: Nice.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_03: I like that.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_03: It does squat for damage, basically.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_03: But one D4, it's like having a dagger, but cooler.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_03: So that's what I went with.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_03: Uh boomerang, crossbow light, uh mace, and um, I think we only got one choice for a pack.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_03: So nothing else really big there.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_03: I did um I chose the scale mail over the studded leather.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_03: So it puts my AC up to a 16 because my dex is only plus two anyway.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_03: So uh and that's yeah, that's it for me.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like if you have a have a character who uh took a boomerang, and bless you for doing that, that you need to homebrew a spell or something called like the spirit of Irwin that would boost your animal handling and your boomerang damage.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_01: I like it.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Ike.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta say crikey whenever you use either one.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_03: You has suddenly become Australian.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_03: As of right now.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_03: We'll see ya.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: I have a bonus character as well.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: So in our homebrew campaign that we have resumed lately, Ragnarok Follow the Gods is what we're calling it.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we have our main characters, which are up to like level 13 right now.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: But as a side mission, we're also adding like a level one character and a level five character.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but we were instructed to have a level five character that was connected to our main character, and so I came up with Elwyn, who is uh another follower of Gond, similar to my main character, Ari, who is a human warlock, uh genie warlock, ever eaty.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_00: Who's gond?
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, I literally just mouth bat.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but Elwyn is a artillerist artificer, so he is able to use the Eldritch cannon.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: So that is where Elwyn and Ari both follow that Eldritch power, um, just coming at it from different kind of skill sets.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_00: Ari's not that smart.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: Elwyn is, so he's able to make those creations where Ari had to kind of work with uh some sort of deity to gain that uh magic inside of him.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: I like that.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_03: That's awesome.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's cool.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: So um, even at level five though, um Elwyn is already rocking a 19 or a plus four intelligence.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: So dang.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_00: Good little start.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: Good some good got some good roles for that uh for that one as well.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_00: Nice, I love that.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_03: Someone else, I'm gonna make someone else DM that character.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_03: Wait, I think that's me.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's you, buddy.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see how that one goes, but I'm excited to use him.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_01: Cool.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh all right, boys.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh great work on the characters.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_01: I loved all of that.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, what are your final thoughts on the artificer before we get out of here?
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: I still feel like I don't I don't really know how it's gonna play.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: I agree with that, yeah.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_03: I'm trying to think of even agreed.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_03: I 100% agree with that.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_03: I I think it would be fun to try to play it.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_03: I would be worried about doing it a disservice almost like not playing it appropriately, just because I I feel like you've gotta be on your toes.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like sure.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: Be ready to be creative, find solutions.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um there's there's more than one way to do what you're trying to do.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: You, me, me, you.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_01: I was just gonna say, I I I think I think that stems a little bit from so it's like we've seen almost all of the other class types played pretty heavily.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like by the time we got to building one, even if we had never done one, we had an idea of how they should be played.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_01: This is one where you just don't see it often enough to really have a handle on how should it be played.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I will say I am really excited about being able to play one of these, and I'm I'm really looking forward to seeing where it goes.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but uh I would not recommend this for a first-time player.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like, that's one this is not one that you have enough um background of how you could could play it because like even all the pop quality references that we did have, it none of them were exactly like a DD artificer.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: Right, they didn't always necessarily have magic, right?
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: DD artificers are a lot of those other ones like Iron Man who have like the tech side of things, but they also have magic in DD, which is just a little bit different, and you kind of kinda have to adapt what your expectations are.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, most of the the pop culture references we had it really embody the tinker part of it, but yeah, the magical part of it.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_03: I think what I find challenging potentially about it too is the preparation piece, and I feel like a lot of what we get into is like make a decision in this moment and with the artifice, or you if you're gonna imbue an item or something like infuse an item, you kind of have to have that plan before the time.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and a lot of the stuff is ritual-based.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_00: So it's gonna need you can't do it in the heat of battle.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_00: Takes time.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that's gonna do it for this episode of Bards and Barrels.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_01: You can listen to past episodes of the show anywhere podcasts can be found.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_01: You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube at Bards and Barrels.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see you soon.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_03: Grikey