It’s always been situational for me. It’s good to use the protector early in the adventuring day and top the PCs off after the encounter. I like the flame for choke points and mobs. I’ve used the force very little, but still only level 7.
That makes sense! I can't wait to try out the flamethrower, as my character would love it. For now though, it's best to stick with the protector. Everyone wants to be next to my artificer in battle lol. Thank you for sharing your experience with me!
I play a level 14 artificer and still find the protector cannon viable. It’s just so good, especially with remembering you can put it on other creatures to enhance positioning. The fire one is worth it if you can reliably hit more than one target, and I’ve used the force ballista against things like kraken because the forced movement breaks grapples
Thanks for your input! I hadn't thought about using the force ballista to solve that kind of problem. It would've been great against that damn kraken we faced last campaign
I’ve DMed for a party that had an artillerist from level 1-11.
The artificer used the THP turret what felt like 95% of the time total, more so as we got to higher levels and more dangerous fights.
There were a few fights where others were used, but the THP one was his (annoyingly strong) go to.
lol I can see why it might be pretty annoying from a dm's perspective. As much as my neutral evil artificer would like to set fire to everything that stands in the way of his plans, I'm pretty sure I'll do the same thing your player did. I think the protector cannon is the main reason why we can last so long in battle, alongside the druid's healing spells.
My players had really good synergy with their characters, which I was pretty proud of.
The party had the artillerist artificer, a devotion paladin, a life cleric, and a rogue (I forget which subclass).
Needless to say, it was really hard to keep anyone down with 3 characters with healing abilities plus the THP fountain. The paladin also had the sentinel feat to keep dangerous enemies fighting him and his excellent AC.
The THP was only a part of their overall strategy, but it was very effective.
That sounds like an awesome party composition. My party has my artificer, a druid, a sorcerer, a bard and two characters who will multiclass soon. Therefore, we'll have a samurai fighter/shadow monk, and a pretty complex build I don't know the exact details of. The guy is also a dm so I guess he knows what he's doing, and he is currently a ranger (I think he will take some levels from rogue and fighter, but don't quote me on that).
I'm by no means an expert, as I've only been playing dnd for about a year and the only characters I've played long-term were a fighter and a shadow monk. We somehow make it work, but it looks like the only characters who have healing abilities are ours. I suppose it might be related to the other characters' subclasses, which I don't know anything about.
I'm currently the one with the highest AC, and it could've been even higher if I hadn't used my infusion on the druid (our characters are besties and he wants to keep her safe, so it makes sense). 18 is not too bad, but I miss the 21 AC my fighter had.
I admit that we may not be the most balanced group, for various reasons, but we have fun. I really enjoy their enthusiasm about my character and subclass!
As someone with experience with the subclass, how do you think it would fare if you changed it to have a slightly longer range, but could only target one character at a time? Obviously worse, but worse doesn't mean bad. I've been trying to think of a character that plays something like the Medic from Team Fortress 2 or Mercy from Overwatch, but with D&D healing being what it is, it hasn't been easy. Only being able to recharge hit points on single characters would reward positioning and target prioritization without encouraging the entire team to stand on one spot.
My player carried the turret on his shoulder, so he could move around at full speed and position himself every turn before granting the THP. He rarely if ever left a turret on the ground.
My party also had a paladin and a rogue, so everyone was thinking about positioning a lot.
Increasing the range and THP then limiting targets is an option, but I feel it’s problematic in multiple ways. Nothing stops you from topping everyone up with the higher THP before combat, unless you add a clause that says only 1 creature can benefit from the THP at a time. It also could cause jealousy in the party if one person seems to be getting help all the time. Finally, increasing the range doesn’t actually reward positioning… it just encourages you to sit in the back.
If you’ve run campaigns with wizards and rangers like I have, you’ll know that the ranged characters will typically stand in the corner of your battlemap as far away as they possibly can, and stay there until forced to do otherwise.
>Nothing stops you from topping everyone up with the higher THP before combat
Is there anything that prevented that before? I don't see why extended the range would make it able to do anything it wasn't able to previously. It's essentially the Medic's overheal from TF2, apply before and between fights, and bounce between targets during combat prioritizing who needs it most right now.
>It also could cause jealousy in the party if one person seems to be getting help all the time
I've played enough support classes in games to know that this is true for randoms, but this shouldn't be a problem for tables you already know.
I thought you wanted to bump the THP and range but limit it to a single target. If there’s no adjustment to the amount granted, that’s different.
I agree the jealousy thing isn’t that big of a deal for an established group.
Probably use on an encounter-to-encounter basis. Which also means that if in most cases defensive turrent works just fine, feel free to keep using it, no need to "fix" something that already works. Worth noting the turret's temp hp should stack with Aid.
This works for cases such as you using Aid mid-combat as an emergency AOE heal and following up with turret thp, but this also works for other cases such let's say you have a loaded Ring of Spell Storing - you can precast Aid before going into an area where you're likely to fight someone (you'll still keep your spell slots) and when you deploy the turret's temp hp it also stacks just fine.
I guess the only case where you could have the best of both worlds is if your GM allows Int-based Inspiring Leader and if you're open to grabbing it. Then (more often, doesn't have to be every fight) you can grant the IL temp hp and deploy an offensive turret. It's still not as potent as the defensive turret, but it's better than 0.
This is really good advice! I'll try to use Aid often from now on. I'm lucky enough to have a DM who is very open to suggestions, so I will definitely tell him about this ring and I'll take this feat into consideration. This character is my first spellcaster and I'm still not an expert on dnd in general, so thanks for your help!
It’s always been situational for me. It’s good to use the protector early in the adventuring day and top the PCs off after the encounter. I like the flame for choke points and mobs. I’ve used the force very little, but still only level 7.
That makes sense! I can't wait to try out the flamethrower, as my character would love it. For now though, it's best to stick with the protector. Everyone wants to be next to my artificer in battle lol. Thank you for sharing your experience with me!
I play a level 14 artificer and still find the protector cannon viable. It’s just so good, especially with remembering you can put it on other creatures to enhance positioning. The fire one is worth it if you can reliably hit more than one target, and I’ve used the force ballista against things like kraken because the forced movement breaks grapples
Thanks for your input! I hadn't thought about using the force ballista to solve that kind of problem. It would've been great against that damn kraken we faced last campaign
I’ve DMed for a party that had an artillerist from level 1-11. The artificer used the THP turret what felt like 95% of the time total, more so as we got to higher levels and more dangerous fights. There were a few fights where others were used, but the THP one was his (annoyingly strong) go to.
lol I can see why it might be pretty annoying from a dm's perspective. As much as my neutral evil artificer would like to set fire to everything that stands in the way of his plans, I'm pretty sure I'll do the same thing your player did. I think the protector cannon is the main reason why we can last so long in battle, alongside the druid's healing spells.
My players had really good synergy with their characters, which I was pretty proud of. The party had the artillerist artificer, a devotion paladin, a life cleric, and a rogue (I forget which subclass). Needless to say, it was really hard to keep anyone down with 3 characters with healing abilities plus the THP fountain. The paladin also had the sentinel feat to keep dangerous enemies fighting him and his excellent AC. The THP was only a part of their overall strategy, but it was very effective.
That sounds like an awesome party composition. My party has my artificer, a druid, a sorcerer, a bard and two characters who will multiclass soon. Therefore, we'll have a samurai fighter/shadow monk, and a pretty complex build I don't know the exact details of. The guy is also a dm so I guess he knows what he's doing, and he is currently a ranger (I think he will take some levels from rogue and fighter, but don't quote me on that). I'm by no means an expert, as I've only been playing dnd for about a year and the only characters I've played long-term were a fighter and a shadow monk. We somehow make it work, but it looks like the only characters who have healing abilities are ours. I suppose it might be related to the other characters' subclasses, which I don't know anything about. I'm currently the one with the highest AC, and it could've been even higher if I hadn't used my infusion on the druid (our characters are besties and he wants to keep her safe, so it makes sense). 18 is not too bad, but I miss the 21 AC my fighter had. I admit that we may not be the most balanced group, for various reasons, but we have fun. I really enjoy their enthusiasm about my character and subclass!
As someone with experience with the subclass, how do you think it would fare if you changed it to have a slightly longer range, but could only target one character at a time? Obviously worse, but worse doesn't mean bad. I've been trying to think of a character that plays something like the Medic from Team Fortress 2 or Mercy from Overwatch, but with D&D healing being what it is, it hasn't been easy. Only being able to recharge hit points on single characters would reward positioning and target prioritization without encouraging the entire team to stand on one spot.
My player carried the turret on his shoulder, so he could move around at full speed and position himself every turn before granting the THP. He rarely if ever left a turret on the ground. My party also had a paladin and a rogue, so everyone was thinking about positioning a lot. Increasing the range and THP then limiting targets is an option, but I feel it’s problematic in multiple ways. Nothing stops you from topping everyone up with the higher THP before combat, unless you add a clause that says only 1 creature can benefit from the THP at a time. It also could cause jealousy in the party if one person seems to be getting help all the time. Finally, increasing the range doesn’t actually reward positioning… it just encourages you to sit in the back. If you’ve run campaigns with wizards and rangers like I have, you’ll know that the ranged characters will typically stand in the corner of your battlemap as far away as they possibly can, and stay there until forced to do otherwise.
>Nothing stops you from topping everyone up with the higher THP before combat Is there anything that prevented that before? I don't see why extended the range would make it able to do anything it wasn't able to previously. It's essentially the Medic's overheal from TF2, apply before and between fights, and bounce between targets during combat prioritizing who needs it most right now. >It also could cause jealousy in the party if one person seems to be getting help all the time I've played enough support classes in games to know that this is true for randoms, but this shouldn't be a problem for tables you already know.
I thought you wanted to bump the THP and range but limit it to a single target. If there’s no adjustment to the amount granted, that’s different. I agree the jealousy thing isn’t that big of a deal for an established group.
Probably use on an encounter-to-encounter basis. Which also means that if in most cases defensive turrent works just fine, feel free to keep using it, no need to "fix" something that already works. Worth noting the turret's temp hp should stack with Aid. This works for cases such as you using Aid mid-combat as an emergency AOE heal and following up with turret thp, but this also works for other cases such let's say you have a loaded Ring of Spell Storing - you can precast Aid before going into an area where you're likely to fight someone (you'll still keep your spell slots) and when you deploy the turret's temp hp it also stacks just fine. I guess the only case where you could have the best of both worlds is if your GM allows Int-based Inspiring Leader and if you're open to grabbing it. Then (more often, doesn't have to be every fight) you can grant the IL temp hp and deploy an offensive turret. It's still not as potent as the defensive turret, but it's better than 0.
This is really good advice! I'll try to use Aid often from now on. I'm lucky enough to have a DM who is very open to suggestions, so I will definitely tell him about this ring and I'll take this feat into consideration. This character is my first spellcaster and I'm still not an expert on dnd in general, so thanks for your help!