Do Artificers REALLY belong in D&D? 

My Artillerist was an old lady that knitted spells, and her Eldritch Cannons were just crocheted beanie babies of D&D monsters. A beholder that looks like a deflated soccer ball, rolling around shooting beams. A dragon flamethrower. A Unicorn that defends people with rainbows. Honestly it was SUCH a fun character. Adelaide Clydesmare, what a legend.

Damn, that eyeshadow with those earrings? Slay sis.

I once made an artificer who used cook's utensils as his arcane focus, wore a tabard with flames on it, had spiky hair, and was all about bringing his enemies to "flavour town"

Armorer: HAUNTED ARMOR PUT GHOSTS IN THE ARMOR, INFUSE YOUR ARMOR WITH THE SOULS OF THE DAMNED, PUT GHOSTS IN YOUR DAMN ARMOR

My girlfriend played in a campaign recently where she was a Thri-Kreen Artillerist Artificer, and since shes an irl entomologist, she themed everything around bugs and grafted bug parts, with some runic magic mixed in! Her eldritch cannon was a beetle that latched onto her back like a backpack and it was so cute

I think it’s worth pointing out just how well the Artificer can be reflavoured as a witch. All the infusions feeling like witchy trinkets, the alchemist brewing potions in a cauldron, the eldritch cannons walking around with Baba Yaga’s hut’s chicken feet, the steel defender being a reanimated familiar, the armourer’s armour just being a heavily enchanted apron. Tools required can allow for an alchemist supply, herbalism kit or cooks utensils to be used as a focus, all of which could just be pulling spells out of a cauldron.

Tbh EVERYONE should be reflavouring their spells, not just artificers. Non-mechanical theme changes are tons and tons of fun. My very first character was a genasi fire mage evocation wizard. When he cast "Fly" he used flame jets to propel himself because i thought it would be cool. The table loved it

I'm glad you realized that the flavor is just that. There's tons of ideas for how to flavor the Artificer for an LOTR style setting. 1. Armorer- Old man or lady that is too infirm learns how to enchant armor to act as their body. They could be missing limbs that the armor replaces or just simply need additional assistance due to age. 2. Artillerist- Toymaker that brings their toys to life. You could get a whole quasi santa type vibe going where his turrets are animated toys that do things. Small wooden or lead toys soldiers with bow and arrow, a small animated dragon that flies to the target for the Scorching rays and fireballs, etc. 3. Alchemist- The witch is pretty straightforward, or you can make a master crafter of high Quality alcohol. The experimental elixirs are new recipes that are being tried out and are kept in their own brewing batch. Potion and booze could have enough similarities to make a natural connection point between the 2 and you could have the healing potions you make be high qaulity mead that the party likes more because it tastes better than a normal healing potion. 4-Battle Smith- One of the smaller races tried joining a knightly order but was rejected because they were too small to effectively mount and control a warhorse, so they devoted themselves to study to show up the knights and made their own smaller warhorse out of stone. If you make it an uncontrolled mount you could flavor the character similar to Sir Diddymus from Labyrinth while keeping the defenders attacks, or just have it use it's mobility to get around faster and stand watch while sleeping. The options are plentiful and it's only a lack of imagination that keeps the artificer in the steampunk setting. **Edit** You can get a little wild and crazy with multiclassing too. Bard+Battle smith= your defender is an animated set of instruments that play while you sing. Battle Smith + Paladin= You become a holy knight on your animated steed. battle Smith allows you to use your Int instead of strength allowing you to leave that at minimum requirement. Barb+ Artillerist= You fashion healing totems that you can carry with you into battle to make you even more durable. Rogue+ Alchemist= You make your own poisons and disguises and are very good at it. Minimum int is all that needed, burn spell slots to make more potions that you can pick what the effects are for a little flight, shape shifting for disguises, etc.

I got inspired by Luz from the Owl House to make an artificer who casts with their painter's supplies, I took an alchemist artificer and re-flavored the potions as glyphs, I still had the alchemists tools to "make paint". This character felt very different from what you expected an artificer to be like. I only wish we got more subclass options.

The “classic blunders” gag had me nearly spitting out my soda I was laughing so hard! Love The Princess Bride so a reference is always welcome!

I genuinely appreciate how you approached explaining the Artillerist since it is a wonderful archetype. I played one myself that I worked with my DM to make sure wouldn't break the world setting. My artificer was a kobold who used to salvage and repair discarded items like lamps and vices because she found them fascinating. As a result, she was highly gifted at essentially transforming items into other items. She was eventually imprisoned and released as part of a work program in a form of rehabilitation. Her Eldritch Cannon were actually her prison manacles which she imbued with runes and added additional segments into. The runes would essentially use arcane energy to give the manacles a new shape, acting as an arcane amplifier for her abilities. Her Arcane Firearm was very similar. If you can imagine a metal rod looking like gun-shaped stick that a child would play with, it was essentially that. It didn't have the capability to fire on its own but acted as a condenser for energy, allowing her to generate more energy with her spells without expending anything additional. Her whole gimmick was the transformative nature of magic and how it could enable new items and ideas to be given shape and life. I think this was a fun way to approach an artificer in a high fantasy setting because it isn't too unlike a wizard going out and developing their own unique magic after years of study and practice.

I’ve never had a problem with standard Artificer flavor but a prominent character on the list of ones I’d like to play sometime is a “deflavored” artillerist artificer who’s a witch. She channels her magic through earth and stone and all her spells and abilities are flavored as using them. Her cannons are constructs of rock and ground shaped like tiny dragons shooting fire/beams as though they were breath weapons. She infuses items by taking rocks with runes carved into them and trying them to the item. Her bag of holding is always half full of dirt she’s picked up along the way and whenever she pulls an item out it looks like she’s pulling a vegetable out of the ground. When she cast Firebolt she taps a rock with her staff causing it to launch towards her target and catch fire along the way. And as a Vuman she picks up Magic Initiate- Druid for Mold Earth and Druidcraft for extra nature-y flavor.

The thing about Artillerist is that their primary set of tools (every artificer subclass has one bonus tool proficiency) are woodcarving tools. Those cannons are absolutely meant to be wooden!

Sauron was an Artificer. Always made sense to me as a high fantasy class.

Exactly! I came to the same conclusion while I was prepping for my Planegea campaign (prehistoric fantasy/stonepunk) in the beginning of this year. One of my players decided to play as a Dwarven Battlesmith Artificer. Luckily for him, there's lots of potential for crafting with stone and bone and it's easy to reflavor the Artificer's Infusions as stone age objects. We reflavored the Steel Defender to a stone golem ;D

"clockwork things are too steampunk" In 1515, Leonardo Da Vinci was commissioned by Pope Leo X to design and construct a golden mechanical lion to present to the king of France, the lion is recorded to have strode forwards, roared, and then it's chest sprung open spilling lilies out at the feet of the king. If you need an artificer that fits the wonky, indistinct, perpetual late-medieval to high-renaissance fantasy theming of D&D, then Da Vinci is a pretty solid shout.

Artificers are so much fun to flavor! I like to pick a set of artisan's tools to specialize in (not necessarily linked to the subclass) - my dragonborn alchemist is a master of cook's tools and candymaking, and takes advantage of her fire resistance to directly handle molten sugar and create magically-infused confections. I ended up getting into candy-making IRL and passed out sweets in game when I cast spells on my allies.

Almost anything can be reflavored to fit into almost any campaign. That’s one of my favorite things about D&D-it’s so easy to change the flavor details and end up with something that feels completely original. I’ve actually been floating a campaign idea around in my head where the PCs are dolls and stuffed animals who fight to protect a child from the monsters under the bed. Mechanically, it won’t be any different from a traditional D&D campaign, but the flavor will give it a completely different feel. Imagine a teddy bear healing their comrades with a hug, or a fashion doll using their accessories as weapons.

Gotta be honest, at least half the stuff in DnD doesn't belong in DnD

As for battle smith, I played a retired ships cook who fought alongside their mechanical cast-iron stove. A guardian during the day, cooking delicious meals at night.

I love the idea of a Druid Artificer who reshapes plants into living constructs, weaving gems into them for arcane powerups, now and then mixing in the blood and bones of animals and monsters to imbue the constructs with their natural abilities. Some are covered with moss to be sneaky, some are huge lumbering trebuchets for a siege, some are used like a terrifying but expendable "zerg-rush", and some are even made of root and used to burrow like snakes underneath castle walls...

notes on using battle smith for Geppetto and Pinocchio: 1. steel defender is a creature. 2. magical tinkering allows a creature to tap on the imbued object to play a short pre-recorded message. 3. that message can be "I'm a real boy"

This video feels so helpful, and not just regarding artificers! But also in general, finding ways to bring in flavor through different interpretations of the mechanics you're using. It was something that just hasn't come up for me personally in tabletop gaming... But a case of reflavoring the Arcane Trickster subclass in Dimension 20's current campaign really sparked my interest. So it was awesome to see this!

I loved the discussion about the Alchemist because everything described is pretty much exactly what I did with a recent character of mine! They were an army medic, and had settled down as a local doctor in a small village before getting involved with the adventuring party via an old soldier friend (the party's fighter.) I flavoured all their spells via herbs and concoctions, and described them carrying a big thick medicine bag everywhere with them. Things like Acid spells were them pouring peroxide on enemies, healing spells were salves, temp HP was bestowed using painkillers, things like that. It was great fun playing them, and I discussed with my DM about what "components" I could get from monsters we slew, or scavenging plants, etc. to add extra roleplay after every combat encounter.

I love that you pointed out that a lot of the game's constructs already come from wizards. I totally get having trouble seeing past flavour and aesthetic, but at the end of the day an artificer building a steel construct and a wizard animating a golem aren't as different as they may seem.

I knew the INSTANT you mentioned Armorer that The Stormlight Archive would get brought up! Can confirm Shardplate is literally magical power armor, and it's one of my favorite examples of how to make something like that feel more fantastical and less factory-made within a fantasy setting.

Left out a part of the artillerist that most people over look which is the fact that the cannon can also give temporary hit point *every round*. That means that if you position your party correctly then you can gain a damage buffer that's constantly refreshed.

I'm glad you got the chance to talk.about this. I'm playing an Artificer right now who's focus is more on the tool side of the class. Mastering crafting techniques and finding the latent magic in materials to then combine into spells, infusions, or whatever!

I started RP with Artificers and also played with Pathfinder. So, Artificers from Ebberron was fun. We didn't play it as guns. We played it as they are the people who make all the magic items you are buying magic items. That seemed to work well.

And the even less known saying is "Never go in against a Basalt caecilian when death is on the line." (Campaign 3, episode 73)

I take inspiration for the artificer from a light novel called "Let this grieving soul retire". The alchemist is the richest in her party from selling her potions, but in battle, she uses essentially a flesh golem to fight, her steel defender.

That ad about the Young Adventurer's Guide series was the most wonderfully and naturally implemented sponsorship ad I've encountered. Well done, and thank you!

Other characters an Artificer could be: - A dwarven runewriter, an elvish magewright, a goblin shaman, a nonmagical medical doctor, a warsmith, those hobgoblin dudes in ebberon - the whole shaman class in WoW, the apothycary's from WoW, the antiquarian from DD, a witcher, a mandalorian - Crescent moon, Trap, Saw, Spears, Blinkblade and demolitionist from the *haven series - The tinkerer class in gloomhaven is a pretty neat example of what a fantasy inventor might look like, same for like Kehli from Descent

11:22 - "You could play Geppetto and have Pinocchio be your Steel Defender." So... I actually do kind of have a character I've been working on that fits this description. They're not literally Geppetto, but it's very much that vibe - and I did even consider doing this exact thing of making them an Artificer with a reskinned Defender, but I had talked myself out of it because the class a whole still didn't QUITE feel like it fit the flavor I was going for with them. I have been struggling with how to mechanically represent what this character had become for a while now - and as much as the thought of trying to homebrew something for them myself feels daunting - I cannot manage to be satisfied with any of the core class or multiclass options I have considered for making them function the way they do in my head.

Your eye makeup is on point in this video! So fun! And always valuable, hugely educational content

This really made me think differently about Artificers! Great video as always ~ And I would love to see your unique take on fighters :3

Holy crap, the Pinocchio comment made me think about flavoring Lies of P Pinocchio into an artificer. So easy too, he's literally just an Artillerist who's eldritch cannon is a prosthetic arm. Doesn't even have to be a fully articulated arm either. I love this idea now, oh my God, i need to make it happen

Re: The concept of the Eldrich Cannon - in One Piece, a certain character's cannon 'ate' an animal-transformation type Devil Fruit, and subsequently transformed into a Dachshund that shoots explosive baseballs. It makes no more sense in-context except that it's absolutely ridiculous and fun at the same time. The sky's the limit when it comes to flavour!!

Hey Ginny, really appreciate how you look for the fun in roleplaying, even when it's something you don't think you'll care for (fighters are a really fun blank slate to me, you can learn to love them ;) Currently working on lore for a civilization of wizards that shape plants and flesh, and this video is perfectly timed to remind me how well Artificers will fit into that!

Really fun episode! I havent seen the books in local stores but then again, didnt know to look for them. Im not a big fan of the Steampunk vibe so I gave my Artificer a "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" feel. This worked on so many levels, so to speak. We really enjoy your varied subjects and cosplay creations. Hope you and yours have a good summer.

My first play in DND 5e I ran an artificer because it was new to me. But when I talked with the GM about how I would flavor the guy, we came to the idea of being a runesmith. I carved my spells in to items, rather than building items out of odd bits. We even ended up deciding that the languages I based my etching in would impact the damage types for some homebrew selections, which led me to take the Eldritch Adept Feat and pick up Eyes of the Rune Keeper. Not exactly a typical pick for your one Invocation on that one I imagine. So, my character had a motivation to travel around looking for lost ruins to uncover lost languages, and to study the languages of all types which still thrive in the world. Perfect hook to get out and adventure with the team. And my flavor all naturally fit the world aesthetic of typical high fantasy flawlessly.

Love the cassette earrings 😊 And when you mentioned a wand with legs, I immediately had the mental picture of a walking stick insect!

i once made my battle smith as an ex forge cleric that learned how to infuse objects with magic (i flavored the creed around taming a lesser fire elemental and placing it in the forge to create magical items) and the steel defender was a ram shaped armor infused with the his lesser fire elemental companion that could be estracted and placed in an anvil/forge to create items. basically the steel defender was an armor moved by an elemental. for the infusion he used the power of the elemental to inscribe magical runes on the armors or weapons of his friends, it was really fun and perfect for an high fantasy setting.

Excellent video! Re-theming, re-skinning and homebrewing D&D is the key to it's longevity. Also love the earrings. :D

And this is why Artificer is one of my favourite classes: It so open to flavouring of everything. In fact, the flavouring it already suggests is that the spells cast have different flavouring from all the other classes. Their whole thing is that even normal spellcasting is done by channeling energy through stuff. With a plant-based homebrew subclass (that frankly could mostly be re-flavoured as something else), I have a character I made that uses the Spelljammer-related Astral Drifter background, and mentally to me her spells are all flavoured as being derived from a bunch of exotic plants from different worlds, either in seed form or cuttings, just waiting for a bit of magic to awaken their unusual properties to create the spell effects.

I was thinking, "There's no real way not to think of Armorer as anything but Iron Man" but as soon as I heard Shardplate I immediately forgot about Iron Man's comparison

I've been recommended the occasional video recently, and i've watched and enjoyed them well enough. But that "maybe i'll learn to love fighters... unlikely" bit got me, this is my people, subscribed.

"Does it have to be a STEEL Defender?" I'm playing a Battle Smith in an Icewind Dale campaign, and her whole gimmick is she uses paint magic for everything she does. Her main cantrip is Thorn Whip, which has been effectively renamed to Paint Whip for her, as she just lashes out a long glob of paint to attack with. And her Defender? Well he's a creature that my character literally painted into existence. All her spells are concocted with special dyes that allow her to paint the effect into fruition. Cure Wound? Well just add some red dye and you have a custom-made -Potion- Paint of Healing. I could go on, but I think this gets the idea across enough.

Oooo as someone whos fav class is artificer the "its all just steam punk :/ it doesn't fit fantasy" mentality has always been one of my biggest pet peeves, and I'm so glad you made this video to convince others how untrue it is! If your setting has any magic items it HAS artificers! Dwarven runecraft, enchanted items, elven craft, living rugs as you said, there's so much you can do and is done by artificers in a high fantasy setting, and I really wish WoC had done more to illustrate that when bringing artificers over in Tasha's. Either by putting more effort into outlining at least a few non-steampunk options in the flavor text or putting in one or two more subclasses that focused on other kinds of artifice: like a charm/ward maker or something more elvish/druidic. I had one artificer who was more of a gardener, growing their little companions from specially curated seeds that released pollen of different effects; they were an artillerist and usually used the healing 'bot'. I had another who did glasswork and each 'bot' was a windchime with a magic scroll hanging from its chimes that activated on the ting. I've heard others make living dolls and more vodo esk artificers, I've heard of people having 'armor' that's like the venom symbiote but as a homunculus, or others that choose to give it all the flavor of blood magic carving runes into their own skin! Taxidermy necromancers, magical food, literally weaving the weave, magical jewelry, it just goes on and on! I just AHHHHHHHHHH once you take that half step to considering the possibilities of what an artificer actually is, there's SO MUCH cool stuff you can do, and its tragic to me that to so many the artificer is just the mechanical sparky sparky boom man...

Mad props for the Princess Bride reference!! Yet another reason to love Ginny Di and her sense of humor ^_^ Keep it up, Ginny!!

Your eye makeup is on fire in this video Ginny! Reminds me of my BG3 character. I loved the cassette earrings too!

There is a homebrew class feature replacement for artificer that I rather like, "When All You Have is a Hammer". It replaces "The Right Tool for the Job" and lets you pick a type of artisan's tools that you can now use in place of any tool that you're proficient in. I feel that it is a great addition that makes it easier to base an artificer character around a single craft that doesn't have its own subclass. I have made two artificer characters with this homebrew class feature: First was a lizardfolk alchemist that specialized in cook's utensils. I did a lot of re-flavoring with him. He had two daggers, a light hammer, a throwing axe, and a shield that were reflavored as a knife and fork, a rolling pin, a cleaver, and a wok, respectively. I had also flavored mage hand, levitate, and flight spells as being a result of him pulling out a pie that gave off an uplifting scent seen in old cartoons. I had actually come up with the homebrew class feature because I didn't like how the mechanics of Alchemical Savant wanted me using the alchemist's supplies instead of the cook's utensils that I wanted to. Second was a gnome artilerist that specialized in painter's supplies. An artilerist artificer artist. He painted stuff into existence like Adeleine from the Kirby series. Arcane firearms were just adding bristles to a wand/rod/staff to convert them into magical paintbrushes. There is another fun artificer character that I recall making that didn't exactly use this rule, but I had did a lot of re-flavoring with. Mechanically, it was a UA kender artillerist. Flavor-wise, it was a kenku salesman. I went with the UA kender race because of its Kender Ace racial trait that allowed it to reach into a container and pull out a random object that will last for an hour. Combine this with the ability to use the bag of holding that I have as an infused item as a spellcasting focus, and I was pretty much doing the "pull whatever I need out of my bag" thing. I had chosen kenku to be what my race was flavored as because I liked the idea of doing a sort of mad libs sales pitch after being exposed to the Deltarune character known as Spamton G. Spamton.

I made a Battlesmith crossbow user for a dark fey wild campaign I was in. Longest campaign I was a part of. Over the course of a year his story evolved and I turned him from an artificer, to a wizard, to a different type of wizard. As his story changed I tried to change his class to match it. For my final arc I planned to return to artificer (sort of like him accepting who he is, long plot story) and giving his wizard powers to his familiar so she can keep herself safe and help out. Basically become an artillerist artificer and my "familiar" becomes the turret. So imagine a little bird person casting fire bolts and shielding everyone. Unfortunately my time in that campaign is over, and I never did get to learn how my characters story ended. I really miss P'wish.

Your initial feelings around Artificers is completely understandable - I obviously have a background with Eberron, But I too have issues with how Artificers have been incorporated into 5e by art and flavour - I agree that the artillerist is the biggest flavour hurdle for the class. Eldritch Cannon and Arcane Firearm definitely needed different names and more varieties of illustrations to make the 'guns' feel only being one option of many. I am glad this book got you in a new mindset about the class!

I got the basic/main set of 4 at a garage sale for a couple dollars and it was an awesome find. My daughter loves flipping through to learn about the world, creatures, classes, spells, etc. It definitely seems like a great book for helping players of any age understand the world with all of the confusing mechanics out of the way. It could be the perfect way to help a new player decide their character if you're going to make their character sheet for them, like when you had your parents play. It gives a way to see more art of the classes and get a more simplified/straightforward description of what that class does, without 3-6 pages of information to overwhelm you. I definitely want to get the other books, it's fun to have them on the shelf.

The alchemist as a masked plague doctor is my jam. It radiates off such a classical dark-fantasy medieval vibe, it's the best!

I'm playing a Tortle Artificer/Wizard, treating it more as a hedge wizard natural scientist. He uses calligraphy tools to draw up plans, experiments, and notes, and that works as his spellbook. He inks runes and glyphs onto objects for things like infusions, and does some papercraft/origami for spell effects like conjuration. Going to make him a BattleSmith/Abjurer eventually, with a Steel Defender like a clockwork coconut crab.

The artillery artificer in my current game it's in eberron Had a great line in our last game " I cast gun prepare to meet god" when he said this the whole table ERUPTED in laughter and has been a campaign highlight so far

When you started talking about the armourer and how their main thing is magical armour that goes on and comes off in a moments notice, my first thought was someone who uses their magic to weave together iron filings into a solid peice of armour. Yes it would look a lot like Ironman from infinity war, but it would make sense because wizards are already gathering powdered iron for spell components, so theoretically you could gather iron filings from blacksmith shops. Plus because it's magic utilizing material components for a spell it wouldn't break immersion

This is such a good video. Thanks for bringing it up. Artificer is one of my favorite classes and it bugs me when people say it doesn't fit in when it totally does. Inventors and innovators have always been a thing, and in the world of fantasy this could be even more interesting. Most of my artificers use magic runes, slapping them on items or using them with their tools to get effects. But you covered stuff like that in the video so I won't ramble more than I have. Thanks for sharing and God bless. Also you hair is AMAZING.

So happy to see someone talking about how artificers can fit into any setting. I've been playing a high fantasy artificer for a while now. My Kenku Artillerist, Graverobber has always aspired to be a powerful necromancer but lacks a certain talent with channeling raw, unfocused, magic. As a result they use parts from exhumed bodies to craft their magic items. Their eldritch cannon is a spider crafted from two skeletal hands attached at the wrist and a skull serving as the abdomen. The skulls mouth opens to reveal a gem that fires bolts of magical energy.

My opinion on artificers has varied over the past few years. I really didnt want them in my game at first but one of my players brought me his artificer Rony Krats and talked me through the flavor and characteristics of the pc and I was immediately convinced. Watching him play the pc over the next year or so helped cement my new opinion. So yes. Artificers belong in D&D and I'm a little bummed they wont be a core class in the new PHB for 5.5e Thanks to my charismatic friend Sean, I have seen the light and it is glorious.

I've had two artificer adjacent characters in my time (i use a different system, but its effectively the same). The first was an alchemist ex gladiator who became the healer of the party and effectively the party dad. The second was a little kobold who cobbled together porcelain and discarded magic rings from outside of a magic school to create a suit of armour that had wild reactions that they couldn't predict.

Thanks Ginny! I had the same Steeampunk misconception of the Artificer. Thanks for setting me straight and giving me some great ideas! Oh, and love the cassette tape earrings!

One of my favorite tropes is where technology has started to advance and disrupt traditional fantasy settings. It plays with an interesting dynamic of magic vs science as opposed to magic or science vs humanity. It’s a conflict between the mysticism of the past and innovation of the future. I’ve never had an issue with the artificer for that reason.

Not gonna lie; I am totally obsessed with the idea of the moonshiner artificer now! I'll be rolling that one up later today!

I am playing a minotaur artificer in an Exandria campaign right now, and absolutely loving it! Thanks for this vid though - great points raised!

I once played a Battle Smith firbolg, who used runes learned from his druidic/nature-based roots and his wood carving tools to craft his infusions and contraptions. His Steel Defender was actually a large, hand-carved wooden construct, à la Mokujin from Tekken

As far as the artificer's armor, it's pretty much a transformation mechanic, you could have it be an armor made of bones that protect you as a necromancer or that your shadow materializes, or that it's made of starlight, or that it's some kind of living thing you fuse with, etc...

As far as the "Steampunk/Science-based magic", like you pointed out, the artificer was introduced into 5E by way of the Eberron book, which revolves around many of those themes. I still hold that there's room for an "artificer/tinkerer" class in a more standard high-fantasy setting, but one that's more based around an alchemy/apothecary background rather than a mechanic/engineer one would probably be a better fit for that kind of setting. Also, those earrings are WILD!

Great video! I was also in the "artificers feel way to steampunk for my vibe" camp. Thanks for the eye opening perspective!

One thing this made me think of is how both flavors exist in the setting of Blades in the Dark and can even be played, but they feel very different in many ways despite both making things that generally violate the laws of physics. In the game I played in ages ago, my characters (you can play multiple in that system and switch between them session by session) included both an alchemist/artificer who could make drugs, poisons, alchemical preparations and electropunk gadgets, and an enchanter who could make wards and bindings, as well as other oddball things like magic darts that could free the spirit from a Hull. In Blades, they were a Leech and a Whisper, but in D&D they would both make sense as artificers.

Highly enjoyed your take on the Artificer 🎉

I had the same feeling as you with Artificers. Thank you for this enlightening view on how they can fit into my homebrew world. I love these little books and agree they look great on my bookshelf. Soon my grandson will be of age where these will be nice to share with him. After all, he's been part of our family D&D games since he was born. Dangling in front of his mom and dad why we adventure! Since our game is posted on RU-vid he forever has proof he's literally been gaming since he was born! 😂

My Artificer's eldritch cannons are all constructed of wood, twigs, and vines and typically perch on her shoulder, as until she got roped into being part of an adventuring party, she was a lone traveler, refining the maps of the region. The Artificer is a fascinating utility class with so many ways to flavor them, they can fit in just about any setting you'd like.

Eldritch cannon is a magic automated sentry backpack on a squirrel familiar. The shield "cannon" is just a floating orb of light that pulses every now and then to provide and refresh a magical shield on all your allies. Armorer artificer, except the armor isn't physical armor, it's suped up permanent mage armor. Magical ethereal micro barriers that cover each limb either reflect attacks or warp light around them to make you harder to see.

The Princess Bride and Eberron mashup quote made me so happy

Honestly this is one of your best videos I’ve seen. You really made me think about this class differently

my battle smith was summoning golems from stone and sand, while siphoning magical energy from magical weapons to be able to swing with twohanded sword masterfully and putting part of own soul to fuel magical runes in artificers infusions. I love that class

I needed this video. I feel into the same blunder. Also, I had to look up Khorvair. Nicely done.

I have the exact opposite problems with most martial classes. Conceptually I love the idea of an adventurer who manages to go toe to toe with powerful mages and giant mosters just by virtue of being stronger, faster, tougher, or more skilled than should be feasible. I just don't like how mechanically simple almost all of them are (optionally apply a buff like Rage or Hunter's Mark, then attack as often as possible) and how little they usually get to do outside of combat.

A couple of artificers ideas I’ve had that don’t fit the mold. Necromancer pirate: this is a battle smith/ necromancy wizard gish that summons a crew of undead to man his ship and his steel defender is another one of his undead thralls A artillerist wand maker who hopes to collect and make magical wands and staves who hopes to one day get his hands on a staff of the magi. All of his spells and cannons are differently designed wands and staves. A cleric/ shaman type figure that calls upon the powers of nature or divinity to bless the armor or weapons of their comrades to strengthen them and they seek to gain the power and knowledge to be a good leader and guide for their people. A lizard folk battle smith who specifically builds tools and weapons out of natural materials such as wood, stone and bone. His steel defender is built out of the skeletons of beasts and foes he defeats. It’s not morbid, it’s recycling.

We had an artificer in our epic level campaign join part way through He had a little mechanized robo-lizard (Arcane cannon) that was named Caustic and we just loved him immediately. His species was a homebrew thing from the setting that had been noted as "the lizard people that used to rule the world" before they took themselves out with their hubris, inventors of Warforged, ect ect Most of our artificers in setting have been researching the ancient magics the galadons had made prior. With runestones to cast our spells, humunculi made with runes stitched or carved into their bodies and the like. We do have a steampunk one making clockwolves, but most of them just build their stuff around runes and magic crystal "bullets"

Me: *about to comment asking if Ginny has read stormlight* Ginny: I’m referring of course to shardplate

Thank you for that video! Artificers have a lot of potential for reflavouring and it's sad that many people dont see it!

I played a warforged artillerist artificer as a high-fantasy Golem. He wasn't technically a warforged, he was a construct with a mysterious past and no memory, and vague backstory hints that it was either a group of wizards that either created him and his kin, or merely re-assembled parts they found in some ancient forgotten ruin. He's now obsessed with the mystery of life and how to create it, so his cannons are either magically enhanced and up-armored animals(Rats with godzilla-esque spines, Hermit crabs with metal shells that hold flamethrowers). As he leveled up he got better, so he (mercifully) stopped experimenting on living things and started animating nearby inanimate objects.

I found a homebrew subclass for the Artificer Armorer, called the Clothier, which used non-armor clothing/costume instead of the Heavy or Light options. Unfortunately it's not balanced/workable as-is, but I *LOVED* the idea of it for flavor: *A Changeling Artificer Armorer- Infiltrator flavored as a Clothier, who essentially could change both their physical appearance AND their garments/light armor at will, as the ultimate schneaky-schneak. With Spy/Investigator background, depending on the campaign. *A High Elf Artificer Armorer/Alchemist flavored as a Clothier, a wealthy noble renowned among all the upper classes for her exquisite hand-woven, hand-embroidered garments she wore & sold. Her work as a councilwoman for the guild had garnered her enough respect, in addition to her popularity/fame as the source of THEE finest fashions, to travel as a diplomat. Her own clothing was always impeccable for the occasion (she could secretly change/prestidigitate at will), & her magic was discreetly & literally woven into the items she made. She could conceal a sewing needle & silk thread within the embroidery/hem of her outfit to always have her "tools of the trade" at hand to cast, w/o even needing to be IN her hands. I'd thought about leaning into the elves-w/-bows fencing-nobility bit to make her an archer/duelist whose rapiers & arrows acted as gigantic sewing needles as she fought, weaving uncannily through her enemies defenses to find their weaknesses, should she be attacked & not wish to reveal her casting ability. PLEASE, SOMEBODY, MAKE THIS A LEGIT SUBCLASS!!!

Gosh your eye makeup is so spot on this video. I feel like Artificers only really "belong" if the DM works with you to achieve it. I don't see why high fantasy should be technologically restricted, but it can feel out of place if the setting makes you stick out like a sore thumb. Overall such a fun class to base characters around in my opinion!

I've always seen the Steel Defender subclass as a golem-maker, most of the time, and golems have been in there seen the 1st ed Monster Manual. I had an Artillerist whose mobile "cannon" looked like a small statue of a dragon and the attack was its breath weapon. He named it "Henry" and I RP'd him as spending some of the evening downtime polishing and cleaning Henry, then putting down a small model of a pile of coins. "I know it's fake, but Henry doesn't, and I don't want him to be sad."

I absolutely love playing the idea armorer - warforged and essentially being an animated armor all together. When your body is magical in essence, using it as arcane focus seems all too natural. When i played an artillerist, my eldrich cannon was literally a walking stool with a crossbow attached. And something to mention, steel defender is medium creature. It doesn't have to be steel or dog. You can literally have a mini-me like doctor evil from Austin Powers.

I had a warforged armorer artificer that I favored as a Lich’s Grisgol (a golem powered by a Lich’s phylactery), and the flavoring the magic as either consuming the souls stored in the phylactery of channeling a Lich’s raw power was probably the most fun I’ve had playing a character.

The idea of an artificer always made sense to me. Magic items are very common in most fantasy settings and artificer is the one that makes them. Flavour is just that, flavour.

Guns not so much but I guess my history with Wizardry and Might and Magic put Artificers strongly in D&D, and MtG artefacts were always my fav when I played

I played an Artillerist Artificier in a one-shot. They had a Homunculus Servant as one of their infusions that took the form of a tiny clockwork dragon. And the Eldritch Cannon was flavored as being an exo-skeleton for the Homunculus.

My sister is a middle school teacher who isn’t that familiar with D&D. They were selling these at the book fair and she bought one as a sort of beginners guide. She also lent it to her boyfriend when he was just learning D&D. The game and its mechanics and lore and pretty intimidating. I think having an easy-to-digest intro book like this is helpful and neat! Glad you talked about them!

(context this is me before watching the video) Oh Ginny I oh so do wonder what you're going to say about my most beloved class. Jk I know you mean well.

Artificers were originally a setting-specific class for Eberron only. Unfortunately like most setting-specific PC things (Aarakocra, Warforged, Thri-Kreen, etc) people nicked it and started using it in all the settings. D&D players often don't really want to fit within game settings as written, and instead just play what they want to play... and Wizards have kinda rolled with it.

I remember when I was DMing a campaign based off of Darkest dungeon’s aesthetics (which in all fairness does have guns) we had two artificers. The one was a Yaun Ti alchemist that took the looks of a plague doctor, and he used his natural resistance of poison to help him make different concoctions to help the party, and it worked with the theme super well. The other was a Dhampir Battle smith, and her “steel defender” was a stone gargoyle she named Sampson (we loved him). She has a very Van Helsing vibe, using a magical crossbow and different gadgets that were specialized from being a monster hunter while allowing Sampson to just lunge at creatures and be kind of the party’s off tank. Both of these characters are ones that I loved (though I just enjoyed that campaign and the players entirely anyways) and were fun and creative ways to go against the mold of what an artificer may be!

Artificer has always been my favorite class. So underrated, and there's so much potential. They really have the option to be what you want you want them to be, probably more so then other classes. Like I kinda want to play an Armor that is a paraplegic, and their armor is the only way to actually move around. Or a gnome or even something like a Pixie that builds their own Mecha... Or a snake oil salesman (Alchemist, even though it really needs some tweaks) that hesitantly joins the party and supports them on the sidelines. It's such a great class... you can really build it to be totally supportive to other players, or be greedy and use all the buffs on yourself. There's a lot of fun and open options that can really fit any theme when you give it a little thought.

Artificers clicked for me when I saw that eldritch cannon can be fired from anything you choose to designate as your arcane firearm. I did a level 18 mini campaign as an artificer with a Staff of the Magi as my firearm, and the character was effectively somebody who'd wanted to be a wizard when she was young, but didn't have the theoretical mind for it... but she DID have a talent for the more hands on and applied work of an artificer. So she has a collection of magic items that make up the difference, but looks rather like a wizard. A wizard with a breastplate.