Help me build an artificer.

[FrozenNova]

Going to do what I can to press myself back into the game with an artificer.
Given that they appear to play best as a jackofalltrades, they don't feel too straightforward to build, but I'll have a go - though my understanding of the underdark changes is purely theoretical at current, and the wiki is out of date in many places now.
I'm aiming for a typical WF ranged artificer with meaningful offensive spells without skimping on crossbows.

32pt 20 WF Artificer
08 str
16 dex
16 con
18 int
08 wis
08 cha
Full ranks in search, disable, umd, concentration, spot (I like spot)
Half ranks in balance, haggle (why not), open locks.

1) Adamantine body
3) Rapid shot
4A) Augment summoning
6) Toughness
8A) Point blank shot
9) Precise shot
12) Improved precise shot (making use of one levelup in dex and a +2 tome)
12A) Improved critical: ranged
15) Maximize
16A) Quicken
18) Insightful reflexes
20A) Empower

Obvious questions -
Should I drop int to 16 in favor of strength and con?
Artificers don't get heavy armor proficiency. Does adamantite body give a penalty?
That's a really unsatisfying feat order, but I can't do much better without playtesting. Improvements welcomed.

If anything else flags itself up, let me know.
I have no idea how to approach epic levels. Advice there would be nice too.

[HGM-Chi]

Going to do what I can to press myself back into the game with an artificer.
Given that they appear to play best as a jackofalltrades, they don't feel too straightforward to build, but I'll have a go - though my understanding of the underdark changes is purely theoretical at current, and the wiki is out of date in many places now.
I'm aiming for a typical WF ranged artificer with meaningful offensive spells without skimping on crossbows.

32pt 20 WF Artificer
08 str
16 dex
16 con
18 int
08 wis
08 cha
Full ranks in search, disable, umd, concentration, spot (I like spot)
Half ranks in balance and open locks.

1) Adamantine body
3) Rapid shot
4A) Augment summoning
6) Toughness
8A) Point blank shot
9) Precise shot
12) Improved precise shot (making use of one levelup in dex and a +2 tome)
12A) Improved critical: ranged
15) Maximize
16A) Heighten
18) Extend
20A) Empower

Obvious questions -
Should I drop int to 16 in favor of strength and con?
Artificers don't get heavy armor proficiency. Does adamantite body give a penalty?
That's a really unsatisfying feat order, but I can't do much better without playtesting. Improvements welcomed.

If anything else flags itself up, let me know.
I have no idea how to approach epic levels. Advice there would be nice too.

This looks decent, and no you don't want to sacrifice int for str or con. Also, I'd switch heighten to quicken for your quickened reconstructs. Arti's only get level 6 spells so heighten is kinda meh on them. Extend is of fairly mariginal value too, and there might be something better there.

[FrozenNova]

This looks decent, and no you don't want to sacrifice int for str or con. Also, I'd switch heighten to quicken for your quickened reconstructs. Arti's only get level 6 spells so heighten is kinda meh on them. Extend is of fairly mariginal value too, and there might be something better there.

True enough. Just realized I forgot insightful reflexes, so that slots in nicely.

[wolfy42]

Hi there:)

I've built a few artificers so far so I might be able to help a bit.

I'm a bit of a fan of the human artificers btw, since you get skill boosts etc, but WF works as well. Early on as non-WF you can take the construct feat that lets you heal from repair spells at a 50% penalty. It drops your natural healing by 25% but that can be compensated with the human bonus.

Late game you can just use heal scrolls which get pumped by your arti bonus anyway (As do your wands etc). WF don't get as many bonuses as they used to after up 14....so you might consider going human/h-elf instead (Since the bonus feat, healing amp, human verse etc are all pretty great).

Human will also get 1 bonus skill point a level...allowing you to max haggle (not a bad idea if it's your first high lvl char). Arti's already have a bit of an edge at crafting, so also having em be good at haggle isn't a bad idea.

If you start at a 16 dex you'll need either a +3 tome, or to put level up points into dex to get improved precise shot. It's very worth it to get long term, so you might want to start at a 17 dex if you don't have a +3 tome already. I wouldn't drop int though, since you can always use the level up point on dex (like you planned) but you might get a +3 tome and not need it after all.

Also don't drop con, you'll need it. Str is easy to keep high enough to avoid becoming helpless so don't worry about it.

Make sure you toss a point into tumble on your first level so you can get bonuses to it from dex etc. It's nice to not need featherfall all the time.

Gotta rush, I'll try and post more later, good luck!

[Mackem]

From the experience of capping one artificer and playing a heavy arti splash to lvl 12 on his next life I would suggest to change feat order to something like this:

1 Point Blank Shot
3 Augment Summoning
4 Rapid Shot
6 Toughness
8 Maximize
9 SF: Evo
12 Imp Crit: ranged
Precise shot
15 Imp Precise Shot
16 Empower
18 GSF: Evo
20 Quicken

You can change Empower and Quicken for some other feats due to your personal preferences.

[gphysalis]

For your epic destiny, you will probably start with fatesinger, to open shadowdancer, and work your way towards Shiradi Champion (the ranged combat one)

The main danger of adamantine body is the arcane spell failure
You could obtain gear to overcome this problem, but at low levels the 35% arcane spell failure from adamantine body would be a lot
(It wouldn't matter too much for buff spells, but failing to cast your repair spells would be bad)

[wolfy42]

Ah yeah, sorry, I didn't see the adamantium body feat.

I'd skip that even as a WF as your a ranged focused build and long term the AC (and minor DR) is not going to matter much. It's really not worth using a feat for and neither is mithril body.

If your WF you don't want to miss out on a reconstruct when you really need it, especially when your using it to keep both yourself and your pet alive while fighting a boss etc.

Long term I'm not really that sure if augment summon is really needed to be honest either. It's great early on, but your pets Str/dex and max hp are going to be huge anyway by late game. You can always switch it out later if you no longer feel you need it though.

If someone else didn't mention it, i'd ditch heighten as well...really don't get much out of it as a artificer.

As mentioned your going to want quicken for sure.....even as a non-wf...it's a huge bonus. Also it's nice to have eschew materials if your lazy....and again you can always swap it out later (nice to have while leveling up etc..and the additional 2sp cost is not noticable.

Metamagic feats will not boost reconstruct (maximize/empower healing/empower) but quicken will...and it's really useful. Having spellpower boosts now from EQ (which does work with reconstruct) and taking enhancements to boost your repair spells will allow you to heal a significant amount of hp...and quicken means you can basically do it instantly. As an artificer your don't have a ton of hp to play around with, so it becomes very important to be able to heal NOW.

I'd make sure I have quicken as soon as you get reconstruct for sure.

Also if you do go for a 19 base dex...you might not want to bother with insightful reflexes to be honest. I always use insightful damage (which means my AB is based on dex) so it's good to have dex boosted anyway. When the diff between dex and int is less then 10...(so less then 5 points more in reflex..and no evasion) then it becomes more of a choice if it's worth it.

[CThruTheEgo]

Your stats are perfect except that your starting wis/cha as a WF will be 6, not 8. If you want to cast offensively, do not drop your int. With appropriate gear you will have enough HP to survive, especially if you are healing with quickened reconstructs. And as long as you are wearing a str item you won't have a problem with carrying capacity. But I would add jump to your skills (you should end up with around 9 full skills with level ups going to int, so you've got the room for it).

The 3 strongest race choices for artificers are human for the extra feat, helf with rogue dil for highest dps through sneak attack, and WF for superior survivability from quickened reconstructs. All 3 are quite viable. It's really a matter of personal preference and playstyle.

An arti's damage comes from several different sources: crossbow, rune arm, offensive spells, party buffs, and the dog. In the early levels most of your damage will come from your crossbow. For this reason you want to frontload your crossbow feats. In the end most of your damage will come from your rune arm and spells so backload your casting feats. The dog is mostly a lever puller and a damage sponge; so while augment summoning is useful at low levels, it isn't nearly as useful at higher levels and is well worth swapping out.

For the most part there are really only 3 spells you will use offensively: blade barrier for AoE damage, tactical detonation for CC, and prismatic strike for single target CC (lightning motes is useful for helping arcanes by adding 15% electric damage against bosses). Heighten only adds 1 DC to prismatic strike but since it targets all 3 saves at least one of them is likely to land, so heighten isn't really needed. Spell DC's for blade barrier and tactical detonation are important, however, and may be low due to arti's only getting level 6 spells. For this reason I would take spell focus evocation and greater spell focus evocation. Also, due to the arti's spell progression you won't have full access to all of these spells until quite late in the leveling process, which is another reason to backload your casting feats. Maximize and empower are both worth it, but you can burn through your sp quickly when using both. So if you are taking both just be sure to have the gear to max out your sp.

I wouldn't take a body feat for the reasons that others have already mentioned.

With level ups going to int you will have about a 10 point difference between dex and int at level 20, so insightful reflexes is debatable. By level 25 with gear and depending on which epic destiny you take, however, you can increase this difference to about 20 which might make it worthwhile. And if you are going shadowdancer you get evasion which makes it an even stronger choice.

All that being said, this is the feat order I am planning for my arti's TR from human into WF.

1) Point blank shot
3) Toughness (could take augment summoning here and swap it out for toughness when needed)
4A) Rapid shot
6) Precise shot
8A) Maximize
9) Spell focus: evocation
12) Insightful reflexes
12A) Improved critical: ranged
15) Greater spell focus: evocation
16A) Improved precise shot (this has a prereq of BAB 11, so arti's cannot take it until level 15)
18) Empower
20A) Quicken
21) Epic spell focus: evocation
24) Great int (I'll be taking epic toughness here but it's a 36 point build so it's easier to qualify for it)

As far as epic levels, I don't think Shiradi Champion is the strongest choice for an arti, but I prefer a more casting focused arti. As I mentioned before most of your damage at higher levels will come from your rune arm and spells. Keep in mind your rune arm is treated as a spell so it's damage is affected by spell power, spell lore, and DC. The greatest weakness of the artificer IMO is being a trapper without evasion. So my plan is to take Shadowdancer as my main epic destiny which grants evasion as a passive ability of level 5. Shadowdancer also allows you to take enhancements in int and I'll end up with a 50 int with max gear, a +3 tome, and all level ups. I'll use Magister's school specialist and Draconic Incarnation's precise evocation enhancements as 2 of my twists of fate for a total of +5 to spell DC's, giving me a 46 DC on blade barrier and tactical detonation and 45 on prismatic strike. The 3rd twist is still up in the air.

I chose that path for evasion. If you really wanted to max out your spell casting capabilities, then some combination of Magister and Draconic Incarnation would probably be the strongest choice. And if you wanted to focus more on your ranged attacks then Shiradi Champion is probably the best choice.

[FrozenNova]

Interestingly I was playing around on a lowbie wf artificer just to test things - I took adamantine body and was suffering zero arcane spell failure on all spells. Not once did the ASF roll become visible or a spell fail, and I tested a variety of buffs, repair, and that level 1 zap. While, granted, an artificer is unlikely to reach high eschelons of AC, the PRR granted by the heavy armor would still be significant.
I forgot, however, that evasion was available as a shadowdancer passive - and I don't want to lock myself out of that with adam body.

I've done the wf / fleshy dichotomoy before, playing a human and wf sorc. Even once I reached heal scrolls, throwing quickened recons was much more to my taste, so I'll be sticking with WF.

Some great advice on feats and level order - just what I was looking for.
Also thanks to CThru for the point on BAB - I suspected it had a requirement but didn't spot it on the wiki.
I'll go ahead and use CThru's feat lineup, possibly grabbing quicken before empower.

[unbongwah]

Arties don't have to worry about ASF with their own spells, but they do when using arcane scrolls, so bear that in mind. Has anyone crunched the numbers to figure out if Mithril Body provides enough AC & PRR to be worthwhile?

Also don't forget Precision works with ranged atks and now provides +5% to-hit and -25% fortification; it stacks with IPS or Archer's Focus (but they won't stack w/each other), so it's the latest hawt feat for ranged builds. :)

[CThruTheEgo]

I'll go ahead and use CThru's feat lineup, possibly grabbing quicken before empower.

Due to the slow spell progression of the arti, you really have a lot of flexibility with the order of the casting feats. If you're going WF you're first and probably most consistent level 6 spell will be reconstruct, and you'll swap between deadly weapons, blade barrier, and tactical detonation from levels 16-19. And from 19 on you'll most likely carry all 4 pretty consistently. So it is rather late in the leveling process that the full combination of casting feats becomes important. I prefer the spell focus feats early on because they affect the rune arm save. Quicken also affects flame turret which has a very slow casting time and some choose to take it early for that. You could even take quicken at 8, maximize at 18, and empower at 20. Keep in mind, however, that the spell focus feats cannot be taken as an artificer bonus feat.

Unbongwah has some good points. ASF does only affect arcane scrolls so it's not very noticeable when you do have it. Also, battle engineer grants -10% ASF. And I haven't kept up with the feat changes so it may be worth fitting in precision. Maybe take it at 24 instead of great int? Or take it at 12 and take insightful reflexes at 24 which is probably when you'll pick up evasion and the bonus to reflex saves will become most important? It looks like I've still got some planning to do myself...

[AbyssalMage]

All that being said, this is the feat order I am planning for my arti's TR from human into WF.
1) Point blank shot
3) Toughness (could take augment summoning here and swap it out for toughness when needed)
4A) Rapid shot
6) Precise shot
8A) Maximize
9) Spell focus: evocation
12) Insightful reflexes
12A) Improved critical: ranged
15) Greater spell focus: evocation
16A) Improved precise shot (this has a prereq of BAB 11, so arti's cannot take it until level 15)
18) Empower
20A) Quicken

Going off memory so forgive me.

1 - PBS or Toughness
3 - PBS or Toughness (Whatever you didn't take at 1)
4A - Rapid Shot
6 - Quicken (Very Important!!! Didn't do it and I regret it)
8A - Precise Shot
9 - Empower
12 - Maximize
12A - IC: Range
15 - SF: Evocation
16A - IPS (Taking this as your bonus feat so you can take SF:Evocation at 15)
18 - GSF: Evocation
20A - Augment Summoning or SF: UMD

Taking quicken at lvl 6 is for two (2) purposes. For uninterpretable Reconstructs ($) but mainly for your level 3 spell Flame Turret (http://ddowiki.com/page/Flame_Turret) ($$$$$) that you get at lvl 6. You can also move some feats around depending on play style so you can get Augment Summoning for Flame Turret but you have limited choices honestly. If you don't plan on using Flame Turret or rarely using it, then quicken can be saved until 20.

[Arkenvis]

Arties don't have to worry about ASF with their own spells, but they do when using arcane scrolls, so bear that in mind. Has anyone crunched the numbers to figure out if Mithril Body provides enough AC & PRR to be worthwhile?

Not really worth it. It's only about 8 PRR at L20-21, and IIRC the AC is only about a 5% "at level" defense over composite plating at the same point. At all levels, Mithral Body lags behind leather/chainmail. Adamantine body comes out worse than medium armors (similar armor bonus, worse max Dex), despite being "heavy". Considering the need for WF to spend a feat for their physical damage mitigation (a rant for elsewhere in light of the new AC mechanics), a WF arty should either go adamantine (and get some AC) or not bother at all.

As a side note, the arty iron defender only gets AC/PRR from docents as though it has composite plating, so if you want your dog to be able to take a beating, invest in every defensive enhancement it can get. The bright side is, since now they get epic levels (and 10 more APs), it should be possible to get both of the iron defender's T2 capstone enhancements.