Dungeons and Dragons Lore: Artificers in the Forgotten Realms 

Hey guys, got a bit of a challenge for you below the timestamps, check it out! Timestamps and Spoilers Below: 0:07 Intro, Become a Member! 0:30 Artificers Exist in Forgotten Realms! 1:40 What is an Artificer? 2:41 Class Breakdown 6:17 Lantan 7:16 DR to BC/AD, Sarrukh Empire, Batrachi 9:09 Human Empires: Imaskar and Netheril 10:02 Artificer Dragons, Giants, Dwarves, Elves, ETC... 11:59 The Dracorage Mythal and Sammaster 13:44 Kobold Artificers 14:23 The Religion of Gond, His churches, and Enemies 18:28 The Cult of Shattered Peaks 21:02 The Imaskari Empire 23:26 Storehouses of Old Netheril Knowledge: MT. Talath, Library of Raumark, Candelkeep 24:39 Or...Just ask the guys who were there. Like, Share, Comment, Subscribe, Hit the bell icon, Join us on the Discord (link in description) So about that challenge. AJ has a series that is covering the Netheril Empire (Link below) that he mentioned in the video. He has the first part done but is holding off on part 2 and 3 cause there doesn't seem to be enough interest. The video is sitting at around 700 likes and 12,622 views. I want to see if we can get that up to 1000 likes or at least 14000 views before December is up, and maybe we can get a part 2. If your with me, check out the video, leave a like, share the video around, and lets get a part 2! History of Netheril (Part 1): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-aPf6f6y3eCw.html

Artificer = wizard's lab tech and magical appliance repairman.

I love how digging a deep enough hole in almost any D&D setting can result in untold adventure and/or potential apocalypse.

Write a book already dude, Fantasy stories or just D&D/Pathfinder modules. You've got enough of us to kickstart it.

My personal favorite character that I’ve ever played is a Lantanese Gondite Half-Gnome Half-Dwarf Artificer named Ivaldi the Experimentalist. He’s a cold hearted businessman who runs a magic item shop in Waterdeep called Ivaldi’s Wondrous Workshop, as well as shop in Skullport named The Beast Bazaar that sells exotic and dangerous creatures and takes commissions to make custom made creatures for high paying customers by blending creatures together to create chimeric hybrids and half-live constructs via magic, alchemy, and technology. He frequently ends up adventuring to find and procure sources of rare ingredients and materials for his arcane inventions. His alignment is best described as “Lucrative Evil”. He once ended up in Ravnica due to a lab accident that transported him to another Crystal Sphere. While there he worked with both the Semic and the Izzit, using his unique biology to gain access to Semic resources in exchange for letting them study him, and using his innate intelligence and knowledge of foreign magic used by Artificers from Toril to earn the respect and cooperation of the Izzit.

I cant get the idea of a snooty high elf artificer paranoid about people stealing his secrets out of my head.

My wizard player is a seeker of ancient netherese artifacts and is currently on a quest into the anauroch desert to find historical texts and discover how to cast 10th level spells. He is also looking into multiclassing into artificer. This video is super useful. Thank you for posting it

In the same cave where they discovered denisovan they found carved and worked Jade that dated back at least 40,000 years in fact it baffled most of the archaeologists as it clearly show signs of being machine worked but it was found in such a location in such a way to leave no doubt to its age

As I was just creating my new campaign world, I wanted to incorporate the practical applications of magic and alterations of the arcane. It has always been a necessity to have the Artificer as a fully realized class in The Forgotten Realms to fill in the blanks of downtime for powerful, studious arcane users. This draws the difference between magic felling like Harry Potter vs. Full Metal Alchemist or Avatar the Last Airbender.

wow this was sooner than i expected, THANKS AJ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Artificers are so cool! I always wanted to play one but didn’t know the background lore/rules for the class. Thanks for making this video AJ!

This is just what I need

This was really cool. So much inspiration for my artificer characters. I made an artillerist who loves experimenting with magic weapons and armor.

As always, grate content! I've never played this class as I still play 3.5. However I'm a great fan of themed wizards specialized in magic crafted items such my recently dead steampunk-necromancer gnome. That was a mad one.

Yay! My Koblod Artificer concept has some narrative precedent behind it!

This one was so deeply nerdy! Loved it!

This made me interested in trying an artificer. particularly a scaly artificer. I like the idea of a lizardfolk, or kobold, or maybe tortolla questing for the knowledge of their ancestors. sounds interesting. I might give it a go.

26:00 "Human! Don't speak to me or my son ever again"

Frankie from one piece would be a great example of what a very powerful artifacer could do

Yes, yes, and more player character classes please

I homebrewed something like these in the 80s for my campaigns, not nearly as rich of a history. They were Tinkers and Technomancers, pretty much the only magic users that nonmagical races can be. I'd love to be a player in a Forgotten Realms game now just to play the official AD&D version classes I made decades ago. Great video AJ, I actually saw the empires you described in my mind.

you finally hit my favorite class man .and the artilirist and alchemist are classics in my circle but i look forward to taking the battle smith for a drive

AJ: This is super helpful for the Anauroch Campaign that I am currently running! I already had planned a group of kobolds digging under the desert on the orders of a blue dragon floating in the clouds in an upside-down tower and wreaking havoc on trade routes through the area. Now I have some new connections to add. Thank you!

We have a artificer 10/ wizard 3, who under normal circumstances can only cast 3rd level spells, but he is currently attuned to a staff of the Magi, the Robes of the Archmagi, and rings of elemental control (fire and air), needless to say he puts most 18 level wizards to shame.

Not used to getting a comment in this early. Great video AJ, can’t wait for more about artificers incoming videos. A humble request for an upcoming topic at some point in the future: apotheosis in the forgotten realms, how to achieve Divinity in dungeons and dragons.

Thanks for explaining the Netheril story. It makes the world much more understandeble.

This gave me reason to open up artificers to more races. I had originally resticted them to rock gnomes. Great video.

It made me a bit peeved when they added Ravnica and the Izzit but didn’t add Artificer. I understand that the class plays a bigger role in the Eberron setting, thus why they waited until RFTLW to make it an official class, but the Izzit are literally a guild of Artificers so it would have been nice to see it as a class when the Ravnica book came out.

You know, the Archivist subclass that wasn't in the Ebberon book but was in the last UA version would also work well for a lot of locations in Faerun where scrolls and such are commonly produced for sale.

Super Huge help. Doing a campaign in the Silver Marches with my two young sons and couple of their friends ages 10 to 12. Trying to walk that line between larger story and player freedom of will. Your breakdown helped tie up some larger lose ends and even created some plot twists.

My next homebrew campaign is definitely going to have a level 20 Artificer equivalent as the players patron/quest giver. My mind is blown open with the possibilities of this class, and here I thought it was brand new to basically give us a Rick and Morty/Iron man esque character type

One of my favorite Videos to date, please continue.

Love the Artificer, been a fan of its idea since I'd read about them in mtg, Karns my boy.

Love your vids, AJ, please keep it up!

Hajimie from Arifureta, best example of an OP artificer

With how many magical items are purchased from NPCs, and how long it takes a level 20 character to craft them. Of course Artificers must exist in these high magic planes of existence.

Another fantastic video! Could you do a video on the Primordials?

Artificers are my new favorite class. Please make more videos on them.

Thank you for another great video!

This is going to be interesting! ☺

Thank you AJ love your work. I have always been interested in the artiflicer class and it's history. Would love to hear more of the subject.

Gond is an NPC in my campaign. I hope to bring my party to Lantan in the coming sessions. One of my players is following Gond.

Really like it a lot of info that was enjoyable. Please dive deeper if you can!

The campaign im running right now is 2nd ed. Netheril with the starting point in modern Waterdeep...going into Netherils past is alot of fun we have had contact with a powerful Dwarven lord who uses Artificing as a class,hes a a real badass! This stuff is easy to run in 2nd ed esp dealing with the Arcanists of the age!

something i like to do with magic items is that while buying them is possible, said items are either prohibitively expensive, or they need the character to have a certain amount of lifeforce (i.e level, and make the two equivalent is not new in d&d), if not It would impose a fortitude save and inflict force damage on a result or something similar. Also, unless it is a speciality of the shop or common like basic healing potions, most magic item are order-made wich can take some time, but it is possible to reduce said time by helping gathering components. It allow me to rework the economy of the setting making magic items that do not cost a castle while avoiding players getting their hands on too much items.

I am planning on reskinning an artificer as a Vivisectionest.

Do Kara Tur!

I love your videos. Very informative. More Eberron related stuff please.

I love artificers and have rolled quite a few as NPCs ranging from hedge wizards who couldn’t figure out how high magic worked but found a way to make it happen through to a degree through the knowledge of how metals, crystals, and alchemy intertwine to do wonderful things….. to the mad scientist that uses magic to corrupt the world around it. I may have to roll one as a PC or a dual class for the next time I have a character death and need a backup.

This is exactly why I'm planning on setting a campaign that is set around 100 years in the future and everyone is rediscovering technology and starting to reindustrialize. A magic industrial revolution brought on by rediscovery and a catastrophy that is unrelated to the above.

In Rashemen there is also the Vremyonni (also called 'old ones'). Male spellcasters are basically seconded into a secret facility where they toil away making magical items and constructs for the witches of Rashemen.

In my games artificers embrace their engineering nature and use their spell points to build gadgets during downtime, they spend time coming up with a blueprint and then can use their spell points to create gadgets based off of those blueprints, infusions are not limited by an arbitrary number, but require special ingredients making for fun kill quests or hooks to dungeons. Pros: carry as many "spells" as you can carry and create as many infusions as you want Cons: takes extra time to build a blueprint that allow the use "spells" and the gear has weight, as well as infusions are harder to create

Can you do a video about Pazuzu? I find him to be a really interesting Demon Lord, especially with that Kenku legend. I want to use him as a Friend and/or Great Old One Warlock Patron for a Kenku but I can't find any talk about him. I'd love a video to pull lore/personality/history/etc from for my game.

Elminster's forgotten realms provided an interesting insight into the church of Gond in between the spellplague and the second sundering. Apparently the gondar priest comply to a secret creed where they are encouraged to covertly "eliminate" or disestablish organisations and magic users that deride or hate the works of Gond. They are essentially engaging in a shadow war against magic and magic users including the church of Mystra. This may have changed after the second sundering, with the return of Lantan and the High House of Wonders assuming new leadership. Definitely a good starting point for players who want to create an artificer for a forgotten realms setting.

Loved the video AJ! Loved all this lore alot!

Justin Baskall, you’ll need a cup of coffee for these timestamps. So much info.

I like that picture at 6:17. The dragon looks really neat

The class psionicist was an interesting one to play. You had to make contact with another's mind to attack. They could read minds, move things, affect fires, and many other things with their mind. Awesome class to play!

Excellent video! I'd love to hear more of your take on Artificers.

You should do 3.5 psions or erudites. It would divide you audience just like it did with players. Might not be a good idea but I would definitely watch.

This was some amazing content!!! I'm starting my artificer soon and this gave me so much reason to be in Faerun. thank you!

EDIT: The answer is ShardMind. Thanks every1. I'm looking 4 the video you did on a humanoid Crystal race w psychic abilities? that I think we're similar to ginosi where they were somehow linked to a different plane but still from the material plane. They were looking to complete a link or some kind of structure. They were a possible player race 4 homebrew.

oh yes and more

Artificers were created to reduce the number of high-level mages that it would take to create the hundreds of thousands of magical items that exist in every game world. In second edition, the ability to cast Permenancy was the point where a character could begin making magic items and it wasn’t a low-level spell. The priesthood of Gond made smoke powder and therefore firearms possible and still somewhat rare in the FR setting.

Lantan reminds me of Kalidesh from Mtg. Warforged and Aetherborn sound very similar, except one is definitely a bladerunner.

Dr. Doom is one of the most powerfull Artificers in pop fiction

Very cool idea for ruins and looting adventurers!

Just imagine orc artificers. If an orc monarch managed to shape orc culture to gather knowledge to build an army then said monarch could have an orc artificer on hand.

I very much enjoyed the latest instalment

Artificers sound a lot like Effigy Masters, except they aren't creating construct-like creations...although I'm sure that's not out of their reach.

This is absolutely amazing!! exactly what i needed and the only video on youtube that fits the bill for my artificier research. THANK YOU!

Remenber in 3.5 & 2 ad&d edition exist the prestige class of Gond, the techsmith (Faiths and pantheons 3.5), Artificer gnome(Magic of faerun 3.5) Gond-Holy Builder (Warriors and priests 2 ad&d) and Gondsmen (Faiths and avatars 2ad6d), wonderful video man !!!!! i really love this video because you talk about the artificers in faerun :D i share this video with my friend, Nice work!!!!!

so wait, if Lantan is back after being wiped out by the spell plague what about citys like Kholtar and the Shar, are they back to normal?

1:33 you cant tell me thats not doc Emmett brown's PC

I agree but isn't the whole point that these previous civilizations had wonderous technology that we can find rather then the players just creating them one a whim

Are you going to talk more about alchemist and artillerist class

Good video!

Woohoo i can build my insane warforge necromatic artificer, building friends out of spare parts, building skeleton koopa-esque minions incased in mithiral with runes of reassembling.

Really enjoyed this video and subject

more artificers cant be a bad thing,

The two who hit dislike must be drinkin haterade. ALL HAIL TMG ALL HAIL AJ THE LOREMASTER

More!👏👍

Gatlin Gun with wands of [element] orb O.o

Had to get that Candlekeep promo in there.

I hope to use this as inspiration for my Dwarven Forge-Cleric. I orrigionally wrote him as a cleric of Gond (godess of the craft), but am considering making his patrion deity Moridin (cheif deity of the dwarvish panthion) instead.

How about a Monk of Gond, a martial artist who specializes in found weapons. I’m thinking about some stuff I’ve seen Jackie Chan do, with ladders and shopping carts and the like….

AJ Pickett

The title Forgotten Realms had to do with a connection to Earth and that connection being forgotten.

I very much enjoyed this video, as I've had some issues with the Artificer Class, after it was introduced in 5e. I think my greatest problem is that it didn't feel like it was there, before, and so various other classes coveted their exploits. I didn't envision the Lord High Artificers as these Artificers, but ad powerful Wizards; the magic available to Artificers simply isn't ip to snuff with some of these things. Even powerful Wizards might struggle to forge golems, and some of the magic required is pretty high level, as would be portal network crafting, but current Artificers seem to give up the upper threshold of magic ability in order to embrace a wider array of options; they can use some arcane AND divine magic, and I've been annoyed when a player wanted to perform feats like those, or the antics of Trobriand, because they thought he was an Artificer, when he wad actually an archmage. I struggle to see where they fit in, when the world is already full of arcane craftsmen, and enchanter. My other complaint is even more petty; I'm not a fan of 5e characters making their own items. It rarely comes up that they want to forge their own armor, or weapons, if they'll just be mundane, bur I feel even some simple magic items can really upend the difficulty of most campaigns in the players' favor, and so I strive to keep control over what they find, and when. I'm not a fan of 4e, but I gladly take advantage of the fallout from the Spellplague to say many magic items were lost, and current 5e practices that make crafting more not monetarily advantageous to smiths, so the "magic marts" that dotted every streetcorner of 3e Waterdeep are now mostly gone, and most surviving items are collected in tropes of rulers, and other organizations. Parties can get some access, and few other people have need of such things, but when the system already seems to favor the players so much more than 3e did, I guess I struggle to let go of old habits, and let my groups have fun at what I guess I sometimes see as my expense. It doesn't speak well of me, but it's another thing I've sort of disliked about this new class.

Gosh if I had my pick of any 6 magic items....what would I get?

FN great video as always bro

Do you have information on Bregan Daerth in Luskan?

There are Artificers in Torel? Oghma has artificers in his ranks?Hmm a certain NPC from my last campaign could be multiclassing artificer.

That's my boy in the thumbnail I don't own that card lol

I've often been curious about the name of that bagpipe-sounding music you sometimes use in the background.

Hey AJ ... I did a little math. I'm starting a project set in EARTH 2021, present day, this moves the timeline to 1222DR. So what happens in the Forgotten Realms for the past 271yrs. You talk about the Dragons coming back into power. I know that Elves & Dragons are long lived, but what would the terrain and events look like some 200 years into the future from the stand point of what the Forgotten Realms is currently played in. To them in their current year you said was around 1495 or so. In human terms this would be like going from the time of George Washington to president day. This is in the neighborhood of 10 Generations in Human terms.

Where did you find the picsure on 5:53? or what search words where jused? I realy feel that in one of my campaings that would be perfect reference picsure to juse.

Where did you find out the info about the song dragon and the soothing song?

Could you maybe do a update for the armorer cause I mean we all wanna be iron man lmao

Inspiring