D&D: New Artificer Subclasses Confirmed!
The Artificer will be debuting in Eberron: Rising from the Last War in November with three subclasses, and we’ve got all the details inside.
Eberron: Rising from the Last War will take players into the magitech-fueled world of Khorvaire, where kingdoms recover from a last great war, while dealing with the industrial revolution, but with magic. Alongside that, there will be spies, intrigue, mysteries, conspiracies, plots, drunken prophecies, libel, and schemes which might set two brothers in deadly hate, the one against the other. But we aren’t worried about whether Edward or Richard is the nobler brother (neither of them is, they’re all villains but that’s another matter). In the midst of all that, the Artificer will be making its debut as the first new class since the PHB for 5th Edition. You can find the announcement here:
The announcement comes at about twenty nine minutes in, where Greg Tito confirms the initial three subclasses. If you’ll recall though, the Artificer has previously seen four different options:
The Archivist, who summons a magical intellect, which is basically a magic AI that does things for you and makes you more of a battlefield controller and caster
The Alchemist, who uses a homunculus and makes magic potions happen through chemistry
The Artillerist, who shoots a magic gun
The Battlesmith, who forges magitech weapons but uses them in melee
Of all of these, the Archivist is left out. Despite the Alchemist testing lowest in the audience feedback surveys, the fact that they make potions and the D&D audience is too frightened of AI means that the most boring choice makes it in. Why have a cool psionic intellect that raises questions about consciousness and what it means to be truly alive, or a Creator when you could instead throw acid at someone like a boring jerk.
Not that I’m biased or anything. I’m sure the Alchemist will be fun to play, and the Battlesmith remains a boss no matter what. All of these premiere in November, where we’ll be sure to compare them to their previous incarnations–though for the most recent iterations you can check right here.
Happy Adventuring!
