Early Look: Artificer Changes & Renegade Mastermaker

[Soleran100]

Also, radiant servant isn't the best example for your case: radiant has no maximum caster level for cure wounds spells in their tier 5. This can make cure serious and cure critical wound spells almost as good as (if not better than with enough spellpower) heal and mass heal. Radiant servants have a ton of cheap, effective heals.

Those heals have a VERY expensive cost, the RS tree costs a ton to fill out. No one in their right mind goes full RS since you lose tons of points you can use to make yourself effective in the rest of content.

It seems as though the arti is going to be a suoer effective healer in heroics.

[fmalfeas]

Those heals have a VERY expensive cost, the RS tree costs a ton to fill out. No one in their right mind goes full RS since you lose tons of points you can use to make yourself effective in the rest of content.

It seems as though the arti is going to be a suoer effective healer in heroics.

RS and Warpriest are MoTU era trees. They aren't even Swashbuckler-grade. They're remnants from when power levels were much more brutally restricted.

Same with AoV and Warsoul.

So I'd say that making /any/ comparisons between a modern tree and those is like comparing the modern tree to...Season's Herald.

As for concerns about the power of the temp HP thing, isn't that 20 seconds of uptime every 180 seconds? That's not OP. It's a 20 second window of going full DPS because you have the buffer to survive without kiting or spamming heals. It's a tool that allows a brief burn, or bails out a fight that's going to pot. Those temp HP don't have the Shining Through thing of lasting far longer than the cooldown if not depleted, so odds are that a few seconds after the last pulse, they go bye-bye.

[Hilltrot]

WHOA, values WAY out of line with other enhancement trees. This should DEFINITELY be scaled down.

Compare to Radiant Servant: Incredible Healing: The maximum caster level of your Positive Energy Spells are increased by 1/2/3.

Compare to Angel of Vengeance: Zealous Faith: The maximum caster level of your Fire, Force, Light, and Physical damage spells are increased by 1/2/3.

You can do this, you can turn Artificers into bona fide healers, and then you can see the number of divine characters shrink. Artificers are supposed to be akin to bards: jack of all trades, master of none.

Compare to Radiant Servant: Incredible Healing: The maximum caster level of your Positive Energy Spells are increased by 1/2/3.

wrong

RS also gets .5/1/1.5 universal power plus 1/2/3 postive power. Even with that, it is better to raise the Radiant Savant to 3/6/10. All that amounts to is 3/6/10 additinal points of healing. That isn’t additional dice. And one can only take advantage of it be being pure.

[tsotate]

Along with others, I think it'd be a real shame to get rid of the iron defender death debuff. It is nice flavour and makes you think about when to use.

You misspelled "spend exactly enough in Arcanotechnician to get rid of" above.

[fmalfeas]

When to use the pet without it? NEVER outside of Normal.

[PsychoBlonde]

Those heals have a VERY expensive cost, the RS tree costs a ton to fill out. No one in their right mind goes full RS since you lose tons of points you can use to make yourself effective in the rest of content.

It seems as though the arti is going to be a suoer effective healer in heroics.

Until they finish the Cleric tree pass, that is.

[Jasparion]

Until they finish the Cleric tree pass, that is.

FVS updates announced in 2016. Still no confirmed time when they will be done.

It is crazy to leave classes/races/gear/whatever unbalanced when the fixes to re-balance can be years apart.

[mr420247]

FVS still don't even have a single SLA but i knew they would finish arti first knew it

So finish arti skip druids and give us a real sorc pass ek can use necro-forged amp and a harm-recon sla with

Maximum double cast dps potential ty

[HastyPudding]

FVS still don't even have a single SLA but i knew they would finish arti first knew it

So finish arti skip druids and give us a real sorc pass ek can use necro-forged amp and a harm-recon sla with

Maximum double cast dps potential ty

I'm actually with you on the sorc/wiz pass. Those super high damage numbers you see in epics? That's not from sorcerers or wizards, that's from epic spells like ruin. The actual offensive spells wizards and sorcerers use have limited use in epics unless they're of the 'DC caster' variety (finger of death, mass hold, etc). I rarely see arcane casters in epics using spells like fireball, acid rain, or frost lance to any major degree.

[macubrae]

I understand that there will be a few changes in the future to pets and they need them, so there may possibly be a few tweaks to pet owners, I'm looking forward to this too. But as it stands the new tree looks to be in line with some of the other upgrades that the other classes are getting. Arti's came out a bit OP, be it only in heroic but none the less, even as a splash they can add plenty. Can they heal better then this one scenario, sure, can they possibly tank better then a bad tank, maybe. There are still people that don't pug and aren't in big guilds and this is the answer to how do I play until I meet a group I gel with. Mainly in heroics, but we'll see how they scale the spells.

[Memnir]

[chant]RUNE!-ARM!-SOUNDS!!! RUNE!-ARM!-SOUNDS!!! RUNE!-ARM!-SOUNDS!!! [/chant]

[fmalfeas]

I'm actually with you on the sorc/wiz pass. Those super high damage numbers you see in epics? That's not from sorcerers or wizards, that's from epic spells like ruin. The actual offensive spells wizards and sorcerers use have limited use in epics unless they're of the 'DC caster' variety (finger of death, mass hold, etc). I rarely see arcane casters in epics using spells like fireball, acid rain, or frost lance to any major degree.

I've used Fireball effectively in epic ravenloft on a sorc...but I wouldn't in a group. That's right, it's a solo-only thing. Why? Because everyone else is going to do so much more damage, so much cheaper, that it's just wasting SP.

[Ladislaio]

Hello! SteelStar here.

General Changes:[/B]
[*]Construct Essence remains the same.[*]Improved Construct Essence now functions like Construct Exemplar does presently on Live, granting full Construct species typing. It's available with 12 Artificer levels, and as an Artificer class feat.

Very nice improvement.

[*]Construct Exemplar is no longer part of the line with the other two. It now adds +20 Repair Amp and +10 MRR. It is available to any character level 20+.

Any character? As in even a non-warforged non-arti halfling pale master?
Even with just the 10 MRR this feat is stronger than Bulwark of Defense or Epic Damage Reduction.
(Is there going to be some love given to these epic "tank" feats also since this seems to be a partial tank pass to?)

[*]Combat Expertise is added to the Artificer Class Feat list.

What about the (likely never taken) +4 to all saves defensive stance?

Artificer: Renegade Mastermaker Tree
Renegade Mastermaker is the third tree for Artificers. It focuses on improving your Repair spells, your Curative Admixture spells, personal Defense, and building things to buff you and your allies.


Cores:

• Core 1: Each core ability in this tree grants you +10 Maximum Hit Points, +5 Positive Spell Power and +5 Repair Spell Power.
• Core 2: While in Medium Armor, Heavy Armor, or Adamantine Body, your equipped armor grants you a +4 Shield bonus to AC and immunity to Magic Missiles.
• Core 3: Curative Admixture: CSW SLA. 4 Spell Points. 8 second cooldown.
• Core 4: +30 Repair Amplification. +50 Maximum Hit Points.
• Core 5: Radiant Forcefield SLA. 30 Spell Points. 3 minute cooldown.
• Core 6: +2 CON, +2 INT. +10 PRR, +10 MRR, +3 Caster Levels with Admixture and Repair Wounds Spells. Active: Unbreakable Forcefield SLA: For 6 seconds, you take -95% damage from all sources (except Untyped damage). 3 minute cooldown.

These are some pretty strong cores.

Tier 1:

• Curative Admixture: CLW SLA. 4/3/2 Spell Points. 12/8/6 second cooldown.
• Repair Light Damage SLA 6/4/2 Spell Points. 4/3/2 second cooldown.

I like the general focus on SLA's for heal/repair in the tree, but it really makes Radiant Servant feel underwhelming.

Tier 3:[*]Reinforced Armor: The Armor Class bonus you gain from armor or docents is increased by [15/30/50]%.

This is at a lower tier than either the StD or SaD trees have it. Will it stack with these two like they stack with each other?

Tier 4:

[LIST][*]Reconstruct SLA 35/30/25 Spell Points. 30/15/6 second cooldown. Shares a cooldown with other Reconstruct SLAs.

I really hope this doesn't share the bug with the BF SLA where sometimes it decides to cast at CL:1

[*]Embed Component: Construct Essence or Warforged Required. +5/10/15 MRR and +2/4/6 Constitution. You can no longer use Evasion, Druid Wild Shape feats, or Primal Avatar's Tree form. (Rank 3: In addition, you do not incur the Attack Bonus or Spell Point cost penalty from Combat Expertise.)

There is no spellpoint cost with CE. It ups the cool downs of your spells by 3x (and stacks with tensers, so a tensered tank has REALLY LONG cd's on their spells)
Will you also no longer be able to use the stance from Aasimar when you take this?

[*]Renewal Construct: 25 Spell Points: You create a drone set to disperse protective potions. Every 2 seconds for 20 seconds, you and nearby allies gain a Determination bonus to Temporary Hit Points equal to 25 hit points per Artificer level. Level 20+ characters receive twice as many hitpoints. 2 minute cooldown.

This is FAR too strong for a t4. I'd rather it be replaced with just the same thing as Brillance from ES, as trying to balance this so it is useful but not OMG NOBODY DIES (for a little bit) seems unreasonibly difficult. Considering that the Sent Weapon ability for temp hp on rage and the LGS tripple pos are both 1k hp on a difficult cooldown this seems... a lot. At 20s / 2min downtime you could (in theory) have a party of 6 keep this running all the time, which isn't a direction I think this game should go. I could be wrong tho.
Also please consider how amazingly weak the temp HP is from the other(non-warlock) tank trees (EK, SaD, Warchanter, and the barb trees)

[*]CON/INT

Tier 5:
[*]Curative Admixture: Cure Critical Wounds SLA. 5 Spell Points. 12 second cooldown.[*]Instant Fix: You perform nearly-instantaneous repairs, dispelling most forms of Crowd Control and taking the effects of a Greater Restoration spell. May be used while helpless. 3 minute cooldown.[*]Paragon Body: You no longer suffer Arcane Spell Failure from armor. You gain +4 to Fortitude Saves, +20% Racial bonus to maximum hit points, and are immune to most forms of knockdown.

As Aasima & StD are Comp bonuses, SaD is sacred, and Unyielding Sent is Insight, this should stack with them.
Child of the Mountain (dwarf tree) does not have a listed type. From the combat log
(Combat): You gain 2% Maximum Health and +1 to Fortitude saves, but suffer -1 to Reflex saves.
Will this also stack?
I'm also going to assume (hopefully correctly) that the LGS set hp% will stack.
I REALLY LIKE the knockdown resistance

[*]Regeneration Construct: You are surrounded by arcane energy capable of repairing damage and breaking down constructed materials. Allies (equal to your Artificer level) are Repaired for 1 hit point per 3 Artificer levels as long as they are near you. Enemies vulnerable to Rust damage take the same amount in Rust damage. This lasts for 3 minutes + 3 seconds per Caster Level. 50 Spell Points. (This is a Repair analogue to Positive Energy Aura, expect it to work almost identically.)[*]Mastermaker: Your Repair Wounds spells have no maximum caster level.
[FONT=verdana]

The t5's in this tree make it the strongest tank tree t5 option.

Overall I quite like this tree. It shows a real care about what you want on a utility-arti-tank, and I hope that it goes live with something like what it currently looks like. I really enjoy playing utility tank builds and this gives me so much I want, so yay for that!

I don't like how this kinda brings to light how weak some trees are, such as the fighter's StD tree or (in particular) the cleric's Radiant Servent tree.(Which is great in heroics where you can get turn undead to work well, but once you hit "endgame" the DC for turning stuff gets far to high for it to be useful for that, while the rest of the tree is underwhelming).

I'm very excited about reforging my ubertank into something that uses this tree
(Currently favoring 13 arti - 6 paladin - 1 (monk/fighter/wizard/warlock))(dwarf of course, but for flavor not mechanical reasons)

Side note - "fun" baba raid group - 12 artis in this tree, you huddle and sync the temp hp tick and not care about the hp debuff. A few spec into the aura also to cover "heals". Would take a bit of time to get done but... yeah. Please change the temp hp ability before I do this.

[Wongar]

From a defensive / tanking perspective this tree is massively more powerful than anything else that exists. It's like it takes most of the best tanking things from Stalwart Defender/Sacred Defender, Radiant Servant, Enlightened Spirit, and Nature's Warrior and rolls them all up into one tree. And it all seems to stack with what is already out there. And the only "drawback" to getting it all is you "have" to be a construct. 15 Arti/ 4Pal / 1 Sorc/Wiz will likely be outclassing any other possible tank build

Consider from this tree alone with 15 Arti you get:

+105 Maximum Hit Points (4 cores + 50 core 4 + 15 Tier 1)
+50 Positive Spell power (4 cores, 15 Tier 2, 15 Tier 4)
Permanent Shield Spell
Armor Mastery
50% Armor bonus from armor or docents
Massive Temp HP (Renewal Construct)
+2 CON (Tier 3/4)
+6 CON (Embed Component)
No Combat Expertise penalty
No Arcane Spell Failure from armor
+4 to Fortitude Saves
+20% Racial bonus to maximum hit points
immune to most forms of knockdown

Coupled with massive self healing from
Repair SLAs - uncapped
Repair Spells (on separate cooldown?)
Reconstruct SLA on a 6 sec cooldown
Reconstruct Spell (on separate cooldown?)
Cleric type aura for repair
Lots of repair spellpower

Additionally from native spells with no ASF
"Fulltime" Tenser's Transformation (Full BAB = full armor PRR, +4 Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, +6 Armor Class)
Radiant Forcefield
Master's Touch (easy Tower Shield)

And from Arti:
All scrolls for buffs, heals, etc (no ASF)
Traps
Feats

Pick up standard defensive stance from Paladin and AC from Sorc/Wiz, and Ascendant Bond from Aasimar and you have more total defense than any other build could dream of achieving:
+20 CON, 100+ base HP, 70% HP bonus = massive HP pool
Ability yo reach 500+ AC (ref https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...enloft-Edition and swap AC from fighter for AC from new tree)
Better self healing then a cleric with all the SLAs and Spells on short cooldowns + aura + temp HP

If this tree had a displacement SLA and a little more PRR it would be everything a tank could dream of having - all wrapped up in one tree.

Unlike most trees - there also seems to be very little "filler" or AP spent on things you don't really need in order to get to the next level. In other words - every AP you spend is something you want. Compare that with say Radiant Servant where it is often required to take several expensive, little used enhancements to get to the Tier 5 aura.

I think the best of multiple trees + several other difficult/impossible to get enhancements is a bit too much for one tree. Especially considering that everything in this tree seems to stack with other defensive trees - you can't have two defensive stances from Fighter/Pal but you can have a defensive stance and everything from this tree.

Since it mirrors a defensive stance - consider making it one so it can't be stacked with Fighter/Paladin or add the ability to have both Fighter/Paladin stances active at the same time so there are still some choices to be made. (Thou this tree still brings so much more to the table than Stalwart/Sacred Defender it's hard to see not strongly considering it for a dedicated tank build)

Dropping Reinforced Armor to Tier 3 from Tier 4 will kill most of the Pal/Fighter tank builds and make them Pal/Arti or Fighter/Arti because they can now get everything they got before plus easy/cheap perm shield, more HP, more Positive SP, and a free feat for combat expertise all for less AP.

[Tilomere]

Curative Admixture spells have had their Spell Point costs adjusted.

Arcanotechnician Changes:
[*]Thaumaturgical Battery is replaced with new Admixture: Haste SLA (uses similar cooldown/SP costs to Haste, exact numbers TBD)

The tree has 0 synergy with either AT or Ranged BE. It has no electric or force spell power, caster levels or DCs on offensive abilities, and no melee or ranged damage or damage buffs, no tactics boosts. It seems like you are trying to force synergy by nerfing the healing and mana efficiency of the other two primary builds, but that isn't synergy. It's an AP tax, or just simply a nerf.

In contrast, cleric Radiant Servant has synergy with offensive casting, since investment in radiant servant gives universal spell power, and with water domain, positive spell power gained can be used for damage. In heroics, you can AoE nuke for 900 with the Radiant Servant - Water synergy at level 16, or roughly 1/3 of mob max hp due to that synergy. In addition, radiant servant contains potent attacks against undead, which are common in DDO.

I understand that melee BE need healing SLAs and defense to survive, and having both cheap spell and SLAs available would be overpowered, so that AT and ranged BE must be nerfed when spells are nerfed.

The stronger BE builds are generally only T4 AT for Endless Fusillade, then rogue for sneak damage, and fighter for crit multiplier and more damage. This is because arti lacks enough base damage. Consider adding raw damage +1, +2, +3, +4, +5, and +6 stacking raw damage into the cores, for a total of +21 raw damage, double for melee (+42).

The stronger AT builds are generally only AT for caster levels, then splash other classes for a second offensive enhancement tree, and is more or less incapable of completing harder dungeons with lightning immune mobs. Consider adding 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24 stacking universal spell power to the cores, for a total of 84 USP, for use with runearms or blade barrier or tactical detonation, and for better synergy with non-lightning epic spells.

If you want to compare it to other "defensive" trees, even stalwart defender has block and cut to add double strike and defensive sweep which literally doubles your auto attack dps since it allows you to hit a second target, on top of strength and other utility like item defense. If stalwart defender didn't synergy with kensai or vangaurd, it would just be an AP tax to play the game.

It seems like you went out of your way and nerfed the multiclass ES warlock splash to prevent AT artificers from having a secondary damage tree with healing and tankyness to make this seem more viable. Now you are nerfing AT and Ranged BE healing, to make Melee BE more viable. However, melee BE lacks both damage and healing/tankyness, and this tree is an AP tax of say, harper KTA, and as a result fixes healing/tankyness but makes the lack of damage even worse for melee BE.

Obviously ranged BE and AT are good but not top builds like warlock for heroic leveling, but melee BE requires the most love. So if you are going to AP tax all 3 builds and put their healing in this tree, this tree should refund some of that tax, and provide extra love to melee BE.

The first construct essence feat is still a noob trap, in that it prevents healing efficiently with any mode of healing. The line should start with improved combat Essence at level 8, then construct exemplar at level 12.

[Arkai]

[chant]RUNE!-ARM!-SOUNDS!!! RUNE!-ARM!-SOUNDS!!! RUNE!-ARM!-SOUNDS!!! [/chant]

+1, please, bring the charge sound back. We were asking for this before but got no response.

In the other hand, the new tree looks awesome. I hope you don't make any changes, it seems cool and fun enough.

[Ziindarax]

From a defensive / tanking perspective this tree is massively more powerful than anything else that exists. It's like it takes most of the best tanking things from Stalwart Defender/Sacred Defender, Radiant Servant, Enlightened Spirit, and Nature's Warrior and rolls them all up into one tree. And it all seems to stack with what is already out there. And the only "drawback" to getting it all is you "have" to be a construct. 15 Arti/ 4Pal / 1 Sorc/Wiz will likely be outclassing any other possible tank build

Consider from this tree alone with 15 Arti you get:

+105 Maximum Hit Points (4 cores + 50 core 4 + 15 Tier 1)
+50 Positive Spell power (4 cores, 15 Tier 2, 15 Tier 4)
Permanent Shield Spell
Armor Mastery
50% Armor bonus from armor or docents
Massive Temp HP (Renewal Construct)
+2 CON (Tier 3/4)
+6 CON (Embed Component)
No Combat Expertise penalty
No Arcane Spell Failure from armor
+4 to Fortitude Saves
+20% Racial bonus to maximum hit points
immune to most forms of knockdown

Coupled with massive self healing from
Repair SLAs - uncapped
Repair Spells (on separate cooldown?)
Reconstruct SLA on a 6 sec cooldown
Reconstruct Spell (on separate cooldown?)
Cleric type aura for repair
Lots of repair spellpower

Additionally from native spells with no ASF
"Fulltime" Tenser's Transformation (Full BAB = full armor PRR, +4 Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, +6 Armor Class)
Radiant Forcefield
Master's Touch (easy Tower Shield)

And from Arti:
All scrolls for buffs, heals, etc (no ASF)
Traps
Feats

Pick up standard defensive stance from Paladin and AC from Sorc/Wiz, and Ascendant Bond from Aasimar and you have more total defense than any other build could dream of achieving:
+20 CON, 100+ base HP, 70% HP bonus = massive HP pool
Ability yo reach 500+ AC (ref https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...enloft-Edition and swap AC from fighter for AC from new tree)
Better self healing then a cleric with all the SLAs and Spells on short cooldowns + aura + temp HP

If this tree had a displacement SLA and a little more PRR it would be everything a tank could dream of having - all wrapped up in one tree.

Unlike most trees - there also seems to be very little "filler" or AP spent on things you don't really need in order to get to the next level. In other words - every AP you spend is something you want. Compare that with say Radiant Servant where it is often required to take several expensive, little used enhancements to get to the Tier 5 aura.

I think the best of multiple trees + several other difficult/impossible to get enhancements is a bit too much for one tree. Especially considering that everything in this tree seems to stack with other defensive trees - you can't have two defensive stances from Fighter/Pal but you can have a defensive stance and everything from this tree.

Since it mirrors a defensive stance - consider making it one so it can't be stacked with Fighter/Paladin or add the ability to have both Fighter/Paladin stances active at the same time so there are still some choices to be made. (Thou this tree still brings so much more to the table than Stalwart/Sacred Defender it's hard to see not strongly considering it for a dedicated tank build)

Dropping Reinforced Armor to Tier 3 from Tier 4 will kill most of the Pal/Fighter tank builds and make them Pal/Arti or Fighter/Arti because they can now get everything they got before plus easy/cheap perm shield, more HP, more Positive SP, and a free feat for combat expertise all for less AP.

I agree that the abilities in this tree are quite potent, but warlock still has artificer beat on tanking ability. If not for the group temporary Hp buff, it would be a subpar option because Enlightened Spirits get Displacement, two AOE Burst damage attacks, full BAB (on being pure), passively regenerating temporary hitpoints (based on aura frequency), and light spell power to boost damage. I played a bladeforged warlock who was quite the power house (until he made contact with Legendary Elite content).

That being said, the "ultimate" cyborg/robot tank build would not, in my opinion, use T5 Renegade because tiers 1-4 provide the base for a quality build. Fighter, Paladin, and Artificer could stack their defensive bonuses. Alternatively, you could make an Artificer 15 / Warlock 5 build - take Tiers 1-4 of Renegade, Tiers 1-5 of Enlightened Spirit, deadly weapons with rune arm and light damage imbues (not counting special munitions) - you lose out on critical multiplier bonuses at heroic level (but then again, my Bladeforged Warlock felt pretty powerful without a heroic-level critical multiplier and threat range boost, and I was using him to swing greataxes around - fun build!), but gain much in the way of survivability (with the option of dabbling in soul eater for melee/ranged/spellpower and some free SLA's).

[elvesunited]

Thoughts .....

Streamlining the Construct Essence feat line is a good thing.

So "Uncaring master" is free now but arty dogs still remain mostly useless.

Curative Admixture: Cure Critical Wounds has a spell component that can't be purchased from stores so pretty much only for Tier 3 Renegade Mastermaker

For abilities with long multiple minute cooldowns, the benefits need to be strong enough and last long enough to make it worth the spot on the hotbar. Radiant forcefield and Unbreakable Forcefield? Eh not enough. Warding construct? No. Renewal Construct? actually yes. That's strong enough to justify a 2 minute cooldown clickie on my hotbar. Instant Fix would too as I could put on a secondary hotbar like I do remove curse potions and the like.

Renegade Mastermaker really needs heavy armor feat as a core ability.

I have the same issue with Mastermaker that I have with Radiant Servant. Once you have enough power to heal yourself or an ally to full with a single spellcast then what is the point of further healing power?

Renegade Mastermaker is all defense and zero offense. That's generally a losing strategy except for two cases. A team tank which renegade Mastermaker isn't really equipped to do despite some defensive enhancements. Or team healer which despite the convertor enhancement is an issue for a repair focused caster. Distance attackers don't need it and would probably never consider going deep into Mastermaker, but melee artificers could use some additional offense.

All these mentions of construct drones makes me wonder. How many drones are you allowed to have operational at one time? Can they be targetted by an enemy or hit by area effect damage and destroyed? Why not an offensive style construct drone that performs like a favored soul archon?

[Lokeal_The_Flame]

You "need" to spend THREE points in Harper to get access to hit AND damage using Int. There's this third level spell called "Insightful Damage", you know.

Granted, Know the Angles is pretty darn tasty, so if you spend EIGHT WHOPPING POINTS you're getting 1.5 stat damage with your best stat, incidentally the same stat that you use for your spell points AND casting DC's.

There isn't a single other class in the game that gets access to ALL of that so cheaply.

Meanwhile if you are ranged you automatically get to use dexterity in the same way.... without the need to use spells for such. Dexterity is not only the stat used for ranged damage but it is also already the stat used for helping determine an artificer's armor class. Along with the automatic ranged feats and the fact that you must actively choose the bastard sword feat to use a bastard sword....... well this just makes the ranged builds more over-powered in more ways than one while further strangling the potential of a Melee artificer, especially since one of the core gains of this tree are in defences. As if it's not bad enough that melee artificers are homeless in the epic destiny trees unless of course you consider the Divine Crusader tree..... but let's face it, it falls short. I've tried many times to play a Melee artificer using ALL of those spells to artificially imitate viability, but not only is it not really viable without SP pots, but it is too high maintenance and still extremely unbalanced when compared to the ranged builds. Ranged builds already offer the safety of distance, not everyone likes ranged as being primarily ranged evokes a feeling of cowardice for some like myself and quite frankly it can put a bad taste in one's mouth. Historically speaking, repeating crossbows only really dealt damage via strong poisons, their ability to pierce is pathetic as is their range, meanwhile Bastard swords are valued by sword enthusiasts, reenactors and collectors for their reach and function as an effective sword. When you throw magical enchantments into the equation, this should only further be the case.

A special Artificer restricted (Meaning no multiclassing allowed) Bastard sword that has a construct variation of vampirism (Scaling with repair amplification or healing amplification depending on which is higher, and equalling the power of Scion Of Shadowfell's vampirism), deals damage to constitution and wisdom, has a legendary version of the Trap The Soul proc, has two red augment slots, is metaline, is aligned, has force damage on hit, has a bludgeoning AOE damage proc chance, uses the Intelligence stat for hit and damage, and offers full BAB when equipped would not be asking for too much at this rate...

Melee artificers and ranged artificers should have their potential for weapon DPS be balanced between them.....

[Nuryam]

Looks nice!

Just TR-ed out of my Construct Exemplar (Elven Shadow Marked L12 Arti, L6 Paladin, L2 Fighter, SWF with Bastard Sword/Rune Arm in Fury of the Wild ED) build due to lack of PRR, max HP's and Pre-L30 reconstruct option. Gonna give it a spin again when this tree hits live for sure! Not sure if I would take Construct Exemplar again with the intended effect described above (even though it's in line with similar feats).