Editing Artificer (section)

===5th Edition===
The artificer would make it way into [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]] as the very first full class to be introduced outside of the [[Player's Handbook]]. However, its unusual focus and the new rules set meant it took a ''long'' time to get a finalized version done, as WotC made a conscious decision to avoid posting revised versions of classes in official splatbooks - for good or ill (see the [[Ranger]] debacle). As such, the artificer made frequent appearances in [[Unearthed Arcana]], and took until November 2019 for an official version to debut. This ultimately does fit with how Artificer is an [[Eberron]] thing and there are twelve base classes in 5E Core with Eberron's recurring twelve plus one motif.

Wizards seemed to take an approach to the Artificer similar to a that of a genetic learning algorithm, by throwing random stuff at the wall that is the fanbase and recollecting whatever sticks. Each iteration of the artificer was a very different creature from all the others, and in the end it took ''five'' iterations before there was a finalized version.

====Mark 1 Prototype: 2016====
The Artificer was introduced as a subclass for the Wizard during the pilot re-release of Unearth Arcana, themed on [[Eberron]]. People pretty much decried it because it offered nothing new besides a bunch of magical items, a matter of contention because of how underwhelming those were. These items also cost you spell slots, which any sane Wizard would be better off spending on actual spells they wanted.

::''Infuse Potions (2nd Level):'' Starting at 2nd level, you can produce magic potions. You spend 10 minutes focusing your magic on a vial of mundane water and expend a spell slot to transform it into a potion. Once you have expended a spell slot to create a potion, you cannot regain that slot until the potion is consumed or after 1 week, at which time the potion loses its effectiveness. You can create up to three potions at a time; creating a fourth potion causes the oldest currently active one to immediately lose its potency. If that potion has been consumed, its effects immediately end.
::''Infuse Scrolls (2nd Level):'' At 2nd level, you can also tap into your reserves of magical energy to create spell scrolls. You can use your Arcane Recovery ability to create a scroll instead of regaining expended spell slots. You must finish a short rest, then spend 10 minutes with parchment, quill, and ink to create a spell scroll containing one spell chosen from those you know. Subtract the spell's level from the total levels worth of slots you regain using Arcane Recovery. This reduction to your Arcane Recovery applies until you use the scroll and then finish a long rest.
::''Infuse Weapons and Armor (6th Level):'' Beginning at 6th level, you can produce magic weapons and armor. You spend 10 minutes focusing your magic on a mundane weapon, suit of armor, shield, or bundle of twenty pieces of ammunition, and expend a spell slot to infuse it with magical energy. The magic item retains its enhancement for 8 hours or until used (in the case of magic ammunition). You can infuse only one item at a time; if you infuse a second one, the first immediately loses its potency. Once you have expended a spell slot to create such an item, you cannot regain that slot until the item becomes nonmagical. The spell slot you expend determines the type of weapon, armor, or shield you can create.
::''Superior Artificer (10th Level):'' Starting at 10th level, you can create a second magic weapon, suit of armor, shield, or bundle of ammunition using your Infuse Weapons and Armor ability. Attempting to infuse a third item causes the oldest one to immediately lose its potency. You can also create one additional potion or scroll using Infuse Potions or Infuse Scrolls.
::''Master Artificer (14th Level):'' On reaching 14th level, your mastery of arcane magic allows you to produce a variety of magic items. You can create a single item chosen from Magic Item Tables A and B in chapter 7 of the Dungeon Master's Guide. It takes you 1 week to produce such an item, and you must rest for 1 month before using this ability to craft another item.

====Mark 2 Prototype: January 2017====
As part of a wave of Unearthed Arcana released during January/February 2017, Wizards decided to repay the Artificer concept a visit...

This Artificer is an  [[Intelligence]] based [[Third Caster]], gaining even fewer spells than the Paladin or Ranger.

::''Magic Item Analysis (1st Level):'' You are able to cast Identify and Detect Magic as rituals at any time without any cost. 
::''Tool Expertise (2nd level):'' Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any check you make that uses any of the tool proficiencies you gain from this class.
::''Wondrous Invention (2nd, 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th level):'' You gain the power to craft certain magical items to use at each level. As in legit items from the DMG without worrying about cost since they never made any.

At 3rd level, you pick between the Alchemist and Gunsmith subclasses.

====Mark 3 Prototype: February 2019====
The third playtest version of the 5e artificer finally released around February 28/March 1 of 2019, with WotC claiming that heavy snowfall had prevented any UA material from being released in those two months of UA. WotC's laziness aside, how did it look? Well...

This version of the Artificer remains an [[Intelligence]] based [[Half Caster]], which must have a set of either thieves tools or artisan's tools to hand in order to use them as a focus - without those, it can't cast its spells. It's a [[Vancian Casting|Prepared Caster]], and needs to spend 1 minute fiddling with their tools per spell level for each spell on their list in order to change out their prepared spells. It has the following base class features:
::''Magical Tinkering (1st Level):'' You can use your tools to transform a tiny, mundane item to perform some magical effect, such as storing 6 seconds of audio-recording, emitting a specific smell or noise, shedding weak light, or displaying a small visual effect. You can keep these "tinkered" items enchanted indefinitely, and sustain a number of them equal to your Intelligence modifier.
::''Infuse Item (2nd Level):'' You can create temporarily enchanted items. The number of different Infusions you know, and how many you can sustain simultaneously, is determined by your artificer level. Infusions are permanent until you end them, you try to exceed your sustainable infusions (at which point the oldest is cancelled), or you have been dead for a number of days equal to your Int modifier (1 day minimum). Infusions consist of the following:
* Boots of the Winding Path (requires 4th level): You can enchant a pair of boots so they can teleport you to a spot you previously were at within 15 feet.
* Enhanced Defense: Enchants a shield or a suit of armor to give you +1 AC when equipped, +2 from 12th level onwards.
* Enhanced Weapon: Enchants a simple or martial weapon to grant you a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls, +2 from 12th level onwards.
* Many-Handed Pouch (requires 4th level): Enchants 2-5 pouches so that the contents of one can be accessed from another, so long as they are within 100 miles of each other.
* Radiant Weapon (requires 8th level): You can enchant a simple or martial weapon to grant you a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls, shed bright light up to 30 feet when desired, and attempt to blind an attacker as a reaction to being struck by a melee attack.
* Replicate Magic Item: Lets you build an equivalent to one of a number of different magical items from the PHB, with your options increasing as you level up.
* Resistant Armor (requires 8th level): Allows you to enchant a suit of armor so it can grant [[Damage Reduction|Resistance]] to either Acid, Cold, Fire, Force, Lightning, Necrotic, Poison, Psychic, Radiant or Thunder.
* Returning Weapon: Allows you to enchant a simple or martial throwing weapon to grant you a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls whilst also returning to your hand after being thrown.
::''Tool Expertise (3rd Level):'' You double your proficiency bonus when using tools.
::''Arcane Armament (5th Level):'' You can attack twice per round, if you are using a magical weapon.
::''The Right Cantrip for the Job (10th Level):'' You can swap one artificer cantrip that you know for another artificer cantrip whenever you complete a short or long rest.
::''Spell-Storing Item (18th Level):'' When you finish a long rest, you can place a 1st or 2nd level artificer spell in a simple weapon, martial weapon, or tool. Any creature holding the enchanted item can cast that spell with an action. The item remains enchanted until it has been depleted by use (it holds "charges" equal to twice your Intelligence modifier) or you use this feature again.
::''Soul of Artifice (20th Level):'' You can attune to up to 6 magic items at once. You also gain a +1 bonus to your saving throws per magic item that you are attuned to.

At 3rd level, you choose a subclass. This version of the artificer features the [[Alchemist]] and the '''Artillerist'''. For the former, see its page. For the Artillerist...
::Bonus Spells: Shield (3rd), Thunderwave (3rd), Scorching Ray (5th), Shatter (5th), Fireball (9th), Wind Wall (9th), Ice Storm (13th), Wall of Fire (13th), Cone of Cold (17th), Wall of Force (17th).
::''Tools of the Trade (3rd Level):'' You gain proficiency with Smith's Tools and Woodcarvers Tools, can use Rods/Staffs/Wands as spellcasting focuses for your artificer spells, and require only a quarter of the normal time and half the normal gold to make a Wand type magical item.
::''Arcane Turret (3rd Level):'' You can summon a turret-like [[construct]] minion for free 1/day, or by casting an artificer spell of 1st level or higher. You can only have 1 turret at a time. Turrets can be armed with a flamethrower, a force ballista, or defender shields; you choose which when you summon your turret. It acts based on your commands, and as an action you can command it to self destruct, potentially dealing Force damage to all creatures within 10 feet.
::''Wand Prototype (6th Level):'' When you complete a long rest, you can imbue a nonmagical wooden wand with the ability to cast an artificer cantrip of your choice until the end of your next long rest. You can only have one such proto-wand at a time, until you reach level 14, when you can have two of them at once. Nobody other than you can use these proto-wands.
::''Fortified Position (14th Level):'' When you or allies are within 10 feet of your Arcane Turret, you count as having half cover. You can also summon 2 turrets at once.

====Mark 4 Prototype: May 2019====
The 4th version of the Artificer was an expansion upon the Mark 3. Aside from tweaking the [[multiclassing]] rules (now you round your artificer levels up for determining spell slots) and reworking the artificer's spell list, mainly by incorporating spells from the Xanathar's Guide to Everything [[splatbook]], the new version featured three new Infusions - Enhanced Wand, Repeating Shot, and Repulsion Shield - and two new subclasses; the '''Archivist''' and the '''Battle Smith'''.

New Infusions:
* Enhanced Wand: Boosts up a wand so its wielder gains a +1 bonus to spell attack rolls (+2 if the artificer is 12th level or more), and ignores half cover when making spell attacks.
* Repeating Shot: Affects a Simple or Martial weapon with the Ammunition trait, giving it a +1 attack and damage roll bonus and negating the Loading trait - instead, it magically produces ammo each time it's fired (stray shots disappear, so you can't produce endless ammo for others to salvage).  In light of the Gun Smith's removal, it's a nice touch for many fans.
* Repulsion Shield: Imbues a shield with +1 AC and the bearer can, once per encounter, after being hit by a melee attack, use their Reaction to push the attack 15 feet.

'''Archivists''' are specialists in recovering, preserving and accessing information, which was already a job done by both the [[diviner]] and knowledge clerics. The elusive pinnacle that each pursues is the creation of an artificial mind to store information in.

'''Battle Smiths''' are basically an even tankier version of the Artillerists; their whole subclass revolves around creating a [[golem]]esque pet to beat the shit out of their enemies for them and keep them from getting squished whilst they lay buffs onto their allies.

====The Final Result: November 2019====
Released in Eberron: Rising From the Last War, the Artificer has seen its final published form. This marks the first fully-fledged, officially released class for 5th edition... 5 years after it was released. This final form takes lessons learned from the previous two prototypes, and refines them down to a smooth final product. [[skub|That's not to say it's a perfect refinement]]. The Archivist is oddly absent from the final release, but this may have been due to fan backlash, or possibly held back for inclusion in whatever psionic content ever gets an official publication. 

If you have played with the previous prototypes, you'll find the final release to be more or less what you were expecting. There are a number of noticeable tweaks though.
*Artificers get more Infusions Known, beginning with 4 and capping out at 12 at level 18.
*You also get more Infused Items, capping out at 6.
*Right Cantrip For the Job gets replaced with Right Tool For the Job, which allows you to conjure up a set of artisan's tools using an hour of work. This feature is moved down to 3rd level.
*Arcane Armament is gone.
*Tool Expertise is moved up to 6th level.
*7th level gives you Flash of Genius, which lets you add your INT mod to your or an ally's ability/saving throws as a reaction.
*10th level gives you Magic Item Adept, which gives you a 4th attunement slot and quarters the time to make and halves the gold needed to make a common or uncommon magic item.
*Spell Storing Item is now an 11th level feature.
*14th level gives you Magic Item Savant, which gives you a 5th attunement slot, and allows you to ignore class, race, spell, and level requirements to attune to items.
*18th level gives you Magic Item Master, which gives you a 6th attunement slot.
*Your capstone, Soul of Artifice, gives you the +1 saving throw bonus of the other one and allows you to cheat death by ending one of your attunements to bring you down to 1 HP instead of 0 HP.

'''Alchemist'''
*In an attempt to make the Alchemist more like an Alchemist, they axed the Alchemical Homunculus (which now any Artificer can take), and gave them the ability to make '''Elixirs'''. At the end of a long rest, or by using an action and burning a spell slot, you can charge a flask with liquid and roll for which of 6 effects it has: Healing 2d4+INT mod HP, increasing walking speed by 10 ft for 1 hour, giving a +1 AC bonus for 10 minutes, adding a d4 to every attack roll or saving throw for a minute, granting a 10ft flying speed for 10 minutes, or granting the ability to cast Alter Self for 10 minutes. If the elixir was created using the long rest method rather than the spell slot method, you don't get to pick which of these effects the potion does, the material forcing you to roll randomly instead.
*Restorative Reagents at 9th level gives anyone who drinks one of your Elixirs 2d6+INT mod temp hit points, as well as the ability to cast Lesser Restoration for free.
*Chemical Mastery at level 15 gives you both Greater Restoration and Heal as freebie spells, in addition to resistance to poison and acid damage.
'''Artillerist'''
*Arcane Turrets are now called Eldritch Cannons, can be made to be size Tiny and can be held (so you can have your GUNtificer again), and don't necessarily have to have legs anymore. They now last for an entire hour or until destroyed. The Flamethrower now deals 2d8 Fire damage upfront.
*Wand Prototype at level 6 has been replaced with Arcane Firearm at level 5, so combined with your cannon you can go John Woo guns akimbo. Instead of a flat bonus to damaging spells, it is now a 1d8 bonus to damage.
*Explosive Cannon at level 9 boosts the damage of all Cannons by 1d8, and allows you to detonate your cannons, dealing 3d8 force damage on a failed DEX save. In theory, this allows you to make a tiny sized flamethrower that you can also [[Awesome|throw at people like a grenade.]]
*Fortified Position at level 15, in addition to letting your cannons provide half cover, lets you have 2 cannons out at once. ([[TTS|Lord]] [[Rogal Dorn|Adorable]] approves)
'''Battle Smith'''
*The Iron Defender is pretty much the same, except it deals force damage.
*To make up for the lack of Arcane Armament, you just straight up get Extra Attack at 5th level.
*Arcane Jolt is now a 9th level feature, and the dice is bumped up to 2d6. Otherwise, it works exactly the same.
*Improved Defender at level 15 now grants +2 AC to your pet, in addition to bumping up the dice of Arcane Jolt to 4d6.

New and Changed Infusions:
*Boots of the Winding Path are now a 6th level infusion.
*Enhanced Wand is now Enhanced Arcane Focus, allowing rods, staves, and wands to be enhanced.
*Homunculus Servant, as hinted above, is now a generic infusion. It loses the ability to enhance friends and shoot acid, but gains a ranged force attack and can deliver touch spells on your behalf.
*Radiant Weapon is now a 6th level infusion and has 4 charges to blind people with as a reaction. 
*Replicate Magic Item's levels have been adjusted, granting new options at 2nd, 6th, 10, and 14th. There are also a couple of new Eberron-flavored options, like prosthetic limbs, Warforged wand sheathes, and a ROCKET FIST.

February 2020 finally saw the Artificer gain a new archetype in the '''Class Archetypes 3''' UA in the form of the Armorer. This lets you use heavy armor, which is just as well since you'll be using it for your class. This turns it into literal [[Power Armor]] with one or two varieties: The Guardian for close combat and protection or the Interceptor for speed and built-in shooting. Or stealth.

The archetype provides everything the artificer would need to be a heavy armor user (proficiency, ability to ignore strength requirements) and a proper tank (bonus action to gain temporary HP equal to level, inflict disadvantage on struck enemies), except for failing to give the enemy an actual reason to actually attack the armorer and not just ignore him in favor of juicier targets.

In other words, the damage output is very lacking. While the armorer does get to use Int for attack rolls, this ability is strictly limited to the integrated weapons of the armor - the fists and the launcher. The weapon typing of these further limits feats the armorer can use to boost damage.
The spell list is quite good, though, and the armorer gets additional infusion slots for the armor, which counts as four slots.

Mind you, there is some nice out of combat role playing potential here - wearing concealed full plate armor to the king's banquet will surely leave the artificer the only heavily armored party member among the fine cloth wearing attendees...

The Armorer became official in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything.

====The Semi-Official Subclasses====
[[Keith Baker]], not being content to leave [[Eberron]] in the hands of [[Wizards of the Coast]] for 5e, took his own shots at 5e Eberron [[splatbook]]s with [[Exploring Eberron]], a general setting expansion, and [[Dread Metrol]], an Eberron/[[Ravenloft]] crossover splatbook. In both, he added a bit of love for his setting's iconic class.

'''Forge Adepts''' are a special branch of the artificer found amongst the ''daashor'', the ur-[[goblinoid]]s of Eberron who still practice ancient techniques of magically infusing their soul into their arms and armor. At 3rd level, they get free Smith's Tools proficiency, the feature Battle Ready (proficiency with martial weapons, can use Int as attacking stat when wielding magic weapons) and their iconic feature, Ghaal'Shaarat. This lets them infuse a portion of their soul into a simple or martial melee weapon as part of a long rest, giving it +1 to attack and damage rolls (+2 from 8th level, +3 from 13th level) and the Returning property (if it's a throwing weapon). They pick up an Extra Attack at level 5, and at 9th level they gain the Runes of War feature, which lets them activate a 30ft aura Intelligence modifier times per day. This aura grants +1d4 acid, cold, fire, thunder or lightning damage to the artificer and all allies within it, and lasts for 1 minute (concentration). Finally, at 15th level, Perfect Weapon lets them lower their Ghaal'Shaarat's bonuses to gain a corresponding amount of Armor Class. Also, they can either give their Ghaal'Shaarat +1d6 acid, cold, fire, thunder or lightning damage, or give themselves Pysychic Resistance and immunity to Charm and Fear whenever they complete a long rest.

'''Mavericks''' are casting-focused artrificers who basically try to be more spell-based and less gear-based. As in, their starting features at 3rd level are Cantrip Specialist (+1 cantrip, you can swap out 1 cantrip each time you complete a long rest) and the hilariously broken ''Arcane Breakthrouhts'', which gives the artificer '''complete access to another class's spell list'''. You still can only cast up to 5th level spells, but still, that means you can use all the [[Cleric]], [[Wizard]], [[Bard]], [[Paladin]], [[Ranger]], [[Warlock]] or [[Sorcerer (Dungeons & Dragons)]] stuff... '''and''' you add another class's spell list to your "Breakthroughs" at levels 5, 9, 13 and 17. Yeah, a 17th level Maverick can cast '''five separate classes worth of spells''', on top of their artificer spells. They also got a bonus spell slot for each spell level that can only be used to cast a Breakthrough spell.  5th level gives them Cantrip Savant, which gives a level-based bonus (+1, +2 at 9th, +3 at 15th) bonus to the attack roll and spell save DCs of their artificer cantrips, and lets them swap out a cantrip on the fly by spending an action... okay, they can only do it 1/day, but still. 9th level gives them two features; Superior Breakthrough (cast a Breakthrough spell as if using a +2 level slot for free 1/short rest) and Work in Progress (can swap out a prepared artificer spell for another artificer spell as an action 1/short rest). Finally, 15th level's Final Breakthrough gives the artificer a 2nd Breakthrough Spell Slot for all five spell levels.

'''Mastermakers''', found in the Dread Metrol splat, are focused on [[cyborg]] engineering. These artificers are the ones who specialize in melding flesh and metal and stone to make them work, and are basically adapted from the old-school Reconstructed prestige class. At 3rd level, mastermakers get 4 features; Tools of Integration (proficiency with heavy armor and smith's tools), Mastermaker Spells (a set of bonus spells, focused on buffs), Prosthesis Expertise (can create a permanent prosthetic limb whenever they finish a long rest), and Battlefist. This replaces one of the mastermaker's arms with a magical prosthetic that functions as both a simple melee weapon (can use Str or Int for attacks, does 1d10 + Str/Int bonus bludgeoning, upgrades to 2d10 damage from 9th level, can be targeted for infusions) and as a spellcasting focus for artificer spells. A mastermaker can give their battlefist the Finesse, Thrown (20/60) or Reach properties whenever they complete a long rest. At 5th level, they gain an Extra Attack. At 9th level, Improved Battlefist means they gain +1 infusion slot that can only be used on their battlefist, and their battlefist a) can carry 2 infusions at once, b) grants +2 AC, and c) can be infused with weapon and shield-specific infusions. Finally, 15th level grants them the Construct Apotheosis; Resistance to Poison and Psychic Damage, Immunity to Poisoned, can count their type as Construct when they want to, and can cast Antilife Shell and Investiture of Stone through their battlefist 1/day each.