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.

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

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

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

Damn, that eyeshadow with those earrings? Slay sis.

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.

"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.

My battlesmith was flavoured as a paladin, who had divinely imbued magic items. Their steel defender was an angel, their arcane jolts were mini divine smites. We are in a fairly high fantasy campaign and I think it has worked really well.

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 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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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 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 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...

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.

Artificer is my favorite class because of the flavor options you can make. I made a artificer who integrated his magical armor into his very body. Grafting pieces of monsters collected and crafted into armor that was then stitched into his very flesh slowly turning himself more and more into a monster. I made an artillerist that was a humble toymaker driven by grief he turned a life sized doll for his daughter into an eldritch cannon so he could hunt down her kidnappers. I made a farmer battle smith whos farming implements were his weapons and half a barn door strapped to his arm as a shield his steel defender was his prized mutated rose bush given life after one too many bandits snuck onto his property. The ultimate old man yelling "get off my lawn!" There are some crazy ideas you can come up with for an artificer and they really can fit any setting with a bit of creativity. I am glad people are still trying to open others to the possibilities this class offers.

My alchemist artificer is a harengon from the feywild. He's smol and cute, and his "potions" are actually just tasty snacks and meals. He fights with a frying pan that deals extra fire damage on a crit.

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"

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'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!

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

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"

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.

My artificer is a glassmaker with a bit of a daydreaming issue. Her eldritch cannons look like a blown glass seahorse (force), goldfish (flamethrower), and lotus flower (the one that gives you temporary hp) She basically animates her little glass creations so she can bring the magic of her daydreams into real life; her class gameplay is all about whimsy, sparkles, and cute creatures who happen to be translucent

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Just got a silly idea of a hopeless drunk Artificer that created his Eldritch Cannon under one of his benders. Waking up with a splitting headache and his wine-flask now running around with chicken legs. He has now memory of what happened and most of those that saw it don't want to talk about it.

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!

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

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!!

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

My first introduction to an artificer being played in anything DnD was Zirk Vervain from Not Another D&D Podcast. He is an alchemist and thus serves as pretty much the primary healer (there’s a wizard with a cleric level too but that only goes so far). Some of his backstory is that he was pretty much an intern doctor before the plot started. So that really helped with kind of recontextualizing what artificers could be and showing their versatility. One of my friends is gonna play an artificer in my next campaign and I’m interested to see how she flavors it and if she’ll lean more into DPS than support. It’ll be really cool either way!

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

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

In the campaign I am running, a fantasy mash up of magic, psionics, steampunk,and cyberpunk we have someone playing a technomacer which is a subclass of artificer. He has come in quite useful even in the middle of battle because he has adjusted our weapons to give them a boost. He has a strong affinity for crystals ,and the world is loosely based on the Jayne Anne Krentz novel series about a planet called Harmony in which all the technology is using a stone they called amber... It just works great. In other campaign worlds you just need to get a little more creative. In Harmony I already had a reason for the artificer class to show up.

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

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

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.

I think another thing people oftentimes tend to ignore is that even in High Fantasy artificers do play a significant role. Orcs in Tolkien’s lore are known to be “clever in the arts of building things for destruction”. Of course, they’d still use catapults, ballistae and trebuchets but there’s a passage where it’s mentioned that the projectiles “burst into flame as they came toppling down”. Don’t tell me that’s not some artificer work there. Considering that Gandalf literally brings fireworks to Bilbo’s party, it’s not that much of a stretch to realize orcs used gunpowder of some sort to do that trick. Even by Morgoth’s time it’s mentioned that “masters of fire” were summoned to “set great engines” to destroy the walls of Falas. It’s ok if people want to play Arthurian tales in their D&D games, and I have no issues with classic Sword & Sorcery, but technology has been part of High Fantasy for as long as High Fantasy has been a thing, it was just a bad guy stuff… but again, if people are playing as Kobolds, Orcs and Goblins, they shouldn’t care that much about it.

My Armorer was a half-elf grad school going on and adventure. She was born without one of her arms, so with her parents being very scientific professors at the school, she got exposed to a lot of science and magic at a young age, finding herself and her powers through the tech of her prosthetic arm and how she can use it for magic. The arm was part silver/porcelain allowing for a more fantasy style machinery. Her armor then came as extensions from that arm she could arrange how she wanted. She is one of my favorites I have ever played, and Yvette will live on forever as a DMPC in all my campaigns now

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

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...

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!

For the Eldritch Cannon flamethrower option, you can also do this. You can flavor it as a Pseudodragon (or other tiny lizard) that you temporarily summon, and to make it shoot out the flamethrower, you pull it's tail each time. Better yet, you can go all Summoner flavor with this, with each effect being a different creature you abuse... Force Ballista can be a monkey throwing rocks, and the Protector option and be a fey creature singing a soothing hymn. And the Eldritch Cannon can take damage that you can heal with Mending. So you can flavor that in a way too that makes some sense. You get woodcarver proficiency, so each summon uses a token or totem that they are bound to. If the summoned creature takes damage, the damage is instead represented by cracks into their token/totem, and you just use Mending on that to "heal"them. At 9th level you get Explosive Cannon. You can simply flavor that as your summons get stronger and so they do more damage. But when you use the detonate option, the summon gets desummoned and a Mephit comes into its place and uses its Death Burst ability and self destructs. And now you have a fully fledged Summoner class, without having to ask your DM if you can play something homebrewed. Edit: Just thought of another one, if you get paint or calligraphy tool proficiencies, then you can also make the drawings in your sketchbook, or the tattoos on your body come alive and behave in similar ways.

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 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.

Made a hexblood battle smith artificer whose creator was a night hag, and they used the night hag powers they inherited to infuse their enemies's souls into a metal statue with ruins all over it. DM loved it♥

My DM wouldn't allow guns in our setting so I played a crossbow wielding battlesmith. She used magic to power her creations and defender. Many of her spells were still magical, they were just channeled through flavored items. Most of her support spells (haste, fly, cure wounds) were flavored as short lived magic items that either injected a serum or ironman-esque contraptions that would latch to her companions. I quite enjoyed playing her.

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.

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.

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

I find it funny how people go "OMG ROBOTS!" but have zero problem with, for example, golems. (Which reminds me of a campaign I run years ago, centeted around an ante-litteram artificer losing control of his wooden golem... The players got to about 1/3 before they realized it was a retelling of Pinocchio!)

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.

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

It’s funny because critical role is the biggest D&D livestream yet they have had a guy who used guns, a guy who built a mechanical golem (as an artificer) and a player playing a construct built by someone else. So it is up to players to build the world and decide for themselves

I played a necromancer/artilerist multiclass. I called him a bonesmith- he used disease and plague to melt the flesh from his enemies and use their bones to create arcane artillery and flavored his cannon as fireworks made in bone casing and if they moved it was me commanding the skeletal hand base to crawl it around. His familiar was just a skeletal hand that rode on his shoulder.

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.

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.

This is why my current artificer is a Totem Pole woodcarver. He's an artillerist and all of his eldritch cannons are these wooden carvings of animals or small totems. He doesn't have ANY metalwork tool proficiencies, and is very in tune with nature. His magic is described as a bright vibrant green color, and he's a botanist. Seriously, he collects rare plants we find on our adventures and brings them back to his garden.

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.

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...

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

One of the two characters I’m currently playing is a tabaxi battlemaster who fights exclusively with his claws, and his tool proficiencies are herbalism kit and weavers tools so he spends his down time making potions and knitting clothes. He was found abandoned in the woods and subsequently adopted as an infant by a pair of retired adventurers, so he grew up in a town of mostly humans and halflings. He developed an interest in fashion and clothes making because a local seamster took an interest in him and enjoyed making clothes for someone with such a unique appearance (almost entirely white fur but with a bit of orange in a couple spots). It’s the first time I’ve played a pure martial character in a very long time, but I’m loving playing him. I think a lot of the value of fighter as a class comes from its roleplay flexibility, as it doesnt necessitate a certain way of life or genre of person. I would never make a fighter who is just. A soldier

Fun with Artificers: an Autognome Battle Smith that rides around on their Steel Defender that’s shaped like a pair of pants. Craft a Saddle of the Cavalier and an Armblade, infuse your armor and shield, then a dip into Cavalier, nab Sentinel and Shield Master. Think “Labyrinth” as you ride around stopping people, pushing them back, and giving out disadvantage like you’re Oprah. “You get disadvantage! You get disadvantage! Everyone gets disadvantage!”

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

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!

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!

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!

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.

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 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 once played an battle Smith in theros. I was a satyr and my steel defender was a glass deer. It was fun explaining how when I cast mending or spend a spell slot how all the peices cobbled and unshattered themselves back together. Or how the force attacks or heals leapt off of its antlers like lightning.

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 KZfaq he forever has proof he's literally been gaming since he was born! 😂

The Princess Bride and Eberron mashup quote made me so happy

I play a Plasmoid Artificer. A Spelljammer race with the steampunk-y class that is Artificer. In a high-fantasy setting that has nothing like guns. He’s an Alchemist, which, as you state, is the easiest to fit into a high-fantasy setting. He’s a straight-laced but easily tricked man who loves his wife and daughter more than he loves himself. He was once human, but fell victim to his own potions, in a disastrous accident that he was sure would be his death. His goal as a character and reason for adventure is to regain his humanity. The last session for that campaign is on the 20th, and I am SO excited.

I just want my parties weren't full of artíficers. It's like if most player's didn't know any other class. I also agree they don't fit D&D base setting (middle ages). They are steampunk (industrial revolution.) 😢

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

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.

Learning that Artificer was a Half-Caster class made me realize that it's just Paladin for Wizards. That helped me break away from some of the aesthetics and "D&D but gun" stigmas when I first realized my mistake. I also realized that Ranger, Paladin, Warlock, and Artificer are all that way. For Druid, Cleric, Sorcerer, and Wizard respectively. Hit with magic, but also Stick of Mighty Beating is on the table.

Thank you for your info. :) Keep it up.

Highly enjoyed your take on the Artificer 🎉

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.

I have been trying to focus on what the players want rather than my ideas of what should be fantasy. This lead to me letting guns be in my game for the first time. The player was so happy to get a musket. I am going to sneak in parts so he can get stronger firearms.

❤ Thank you. I love Artificer and you just made the creativity even better.

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

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!

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

My favorite artificer I've played was for the strixhaven campaign. She was a pink, perky tiefling cheerleader named Cure, who very much fell into the "ditzy genius" trope. She was an Alchemist, and was the party healer. I had so much fun with her

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

(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.

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.

My Artillerist Artificer is a baker who infused magic into his wood oven to make it capable of traveling besides him, since he's a Kobold, it's also kind of its steed, the fire attack is the oven churning out a scorching hot loaf of bread, the force ballista is shotting out a stale loaf that hardened and the defensive buff is the tasty aroma of freshly baked food.