One of Dungeons and Dragons players’ favorite things about the tabletop RPG is how conducive it is to making characters that simply couldn’t exist in real life. Not only can people play a gnome wizard or an elfin criminal rogue in DnD, but they can also explore backstories and personalities that they don’t embody in real life. Some experienced players describe the pastime as a combination between writing, acting, improvisation, and strategizing.
While most people associate the Dungeons and Dragons setting with Tolkeinesque medieval fantasy, there are plenty of different settings, conversion projects, and homebrew options for people who want to try something else. One popular official source is the world of Eberron, which includes a class called the artificer. The newest DnD sourcebook, Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, made artificers more official than ever, and also outlined some new rules for subclasses.
Whether a player is welcome to play an artificer at their table is up to the DM’s discretion, since all the new features in Tasha’s Cauldron are optional. If artificers are an option, the player can choose from four subclasses if they’re using Tasha’s Cauldron, including the protector/medic/repairman combo found in the Battle Smith. This specialty also gets a cool companion called a steel defender, and the lore that in Eberron, Battle Smiths built the original Warforged. Here are some options players may want to look at and consider when building a Battle Smith artificer.
The ability most important to artificers is no doubt Intelligence, and Tasha’s Cauldron makes it clear that characters with an Intelligence less than 13 can’t even take levels in this class. After that, Dexterity and Constitution are most important, and it can be difficult to choose between the two. Dex will be useful in boosting the artificer’s armor class, or AC, and in making checks with the tools the character is proficient in. Each artificer subclass has a certain set of tools that they rely on, like alchemist’s tools for the Alchemist and smith’s tools for the Battle Smith. Constitution should still get some boosting, though, especially for Battle Smiths, who aren’t optimized for sticking near the back lines and spell-slinging from afar in combat.
Wisdom, Strength, and Charisma just aren’t as useful to artificers, especially Battle Smiths, who can use their Intelligence to make attack and damage rolls with magic weapons. Doling out the points or dice rolls to these stats is generally up to how the player wants to flavor their character, like if they want to make their Charisma lowest to reflect someone who lived in hermitage away from others, for example. It’s worth pointing out that a Wisdom skill that is at least neutral at +0 is useful for any character, since Perception checks are so common in DnD.
At third level, when an artificer specializes into Battle Smith, they can create a steel defender that is friendly and obedient to them and their party. The choice to determine the defender’s appearance and whether it is bipedal or quadrupedal is up to the player, and is explicitly flavor text. The stat block says the construct is of Medium size, meaning that it’s about 4-8 feet long or tall. The steel defender has the same initiative as its Battle Smith but acts right afterward, giving the player time to make their character’s move and then follow it up with support from the construct. At level 15, the construct can inflict damage when deflecting an attack, and goes up to a base of 17 for its AC. This construct and mechanic duo make a perfect addition to DnD campaigns using Eberron lore, or other settings that the DM wants to introduce some more technology into.
The Battle Smith can use their steel defender, special spell list, and Arcane Jolt feature (at level 9) to fulfill a support role for the party. Outside of battle, their access to smith’s tools make them a great candidate for mending various tools, or creating the artificer infusions the class is known for. For players that want to play an artificer that is a mix between full support focusing solely on healing and (de)buffing, and a player on the front lines dealing tons of damage, the Battle Smith is a great option for an artificer specialty in DnD.
Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything is available now.
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