The updated Artillerist out of Forge of the Artificer is the Artificer subclass to pick when you want to say, “Anyway, I started blasting.”
The Artillerist is another one of those Artificer subclasses that blends flavor and mechanics to bring alive the fantasy of “tinkerer who makes a big magic gun.” Like the Armorer, the updated Artillerist gets a fresh coat of paint in Eberron: Forge of the Artificer, and I think it comes out looking pretty solid.
Although the Artillerist has always been a pretty solid subclass. I mean, what’s not to love? A big part of your subclass revolves around creating a magical cannon that you use to rain destruction down upon distant or close up foes. Even the class art for the Artillerist sells that idea.
And because of how Artificers rely on technology to cast their spells, you can flavor a lot of your spells to come from the eldritch cannon. There are a few rough edges here and there, but let’s take a look!
The Updated Artillerist – Get Ready For The Phrase ‘Eldritch Cannon’
Like the Armorer, the updated Artillerist is centered around a single piece of gear. Only in this case, you only need one level 3 feature to unlock its full potential, not two. That feature is Eldritch Cannon. It lets you use a Magic action to create a small or tiny Eldritch Cannon near you, and it can either fire on its own or you can carry it, like the artwork displays.
It can look however you want. Consider it an expression of your personality. Either way, the Eldritch Cannon, whenever you make it, sticks around for only an hour. But what an hour it is.
Your Eldritch Cannon is technically a creature companion. It has an AC of 18, 5 x your Artificer Level in hit points (and you can cast Mending to restore 2d6 hp to it), and it takes your Bonus Action to activate it. When you do, you have three options, a 15 foot cone of fire that deals 2d8 damage, a blast of Force out to 120 feet that deals 2d8 damage, or a burst of protection that gives every creature of your choice within 10 feet of the cannon 1d8 + your Intelligence modifier in Temporary Hit Points.
You can also move the cannon up to 15 feet with the same bonus action, depending on whether or not you’re carrying it. Really the only downside to the Eldritch Cannon is that it is a temporary resource that once you’ve made your first one for the day, takes a spell slot (any level) to restore. However, for 1 hour of combat, that’s probably going to rarely come up. But I can see times where you feel it when you’re out of resources, while the Armorer and whoever else are just hanging out having their gear.
The other level 3 feature you’ll get is Artillerist Spells, which gives you a number of bonus spells that – like the Artificer – are suitable for coming out of a cool magical cannon that you build. Spells like Thunderwave, Scorching Ray, and Shatter, are joined with big blasty spells like Fireball, Ice Storm, and Cone of Cold. You can also get Wall of Fire, Wall of Force, and Wind Wall, as well as Shield. All in all, an incredible list of spells to always have access to.
Higher Level Firepower
At higher levels, the updated Artillerist’s firepower only increases. At level 5, you gain Arcane Firearm – another way to start blasting people. You pick a rod, staff, wand, or martial ranged weapon in your possession and it becomes a focus for your Artificer spells. Whenever you cast a spell through it, you gain a bonus 1d8 to one damage roll. Not bad. A little clunky but not bad.
At level 9, Explosive Cannon levels up your Eldritch Cannon. First of all, the damage and temporary hit points granted by it go up by 1d8, a change from previous editions where it was only damage. And you can also take a Reaction to command the cannon to detonate whenever it takes damage – I don’t know how often you’d use this, but whenever it detonates, it deals 3d10 damage to creatures within 20 feet of it if they fail a Dex save.
At level 15, Fortified Position caps you off with two big benefits. The first is that you can create two cannons with the same Magic Action. You can command both with the same Bonus Action, meaning you get a Bonus Action that potentially deals 6d8 damage and you can still cast your spells per normal, which is a powerful buff in combat. And two, wheever you or your allies are within 10 feet of the Eldritch Cannon, you have Half Cover. Which, for those of you playing along at home, is a +2 bonus to AC and Dex saves.
All in all, the updated Artillerist is a great little subclass for the Artificer. Take it if you want to pour out damage and don’t mind not being up close and personal.
You can check out the updated Artillerist and four other Artificer subclasses in Eberron: Forge of the Artificer!
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