Renegade Mastermaker Preview v3

[Steelstar]

Hey, folks. Thanks for all of the feedback in Round 1 of Lamannia. There was a lot of varied feedback, but a few specifics appeared frequently:

• Too many SLAs
• Some abilities not feeling like they're worth taking, especially the Constructs
• Battlefist being an important part of the P&P Prestige Class
• Not having enough to do outside of healing
• Not enough in the low tiers to make the tree worth splashing into

We've tried to address a lot of this where possible - The following should be close to what you see in Round Two of Lamannia, though we have a bit of time left to make adjustments if feedback gets in fast enough. I've highlighted changes in Yellow.

(Left out the General/Arcanotechnician/Admixture changes. These haven't changed since last time.)


Artificer: Renegade Mastermaker Tree
Renegade Mastermaker is the third tree for Artificers. It focuses on improving your Healing, personal Defense, some Melee, and building things to buff you and your allies.



Removed from previous preview:

• Stronger Admixtures (worked into Cores)
• Repair Light Damage SLA
• Repair Moderate Damage SLA
• Instant Fix

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 Alchemical bonus to AC and immunity to Magic Missiles.
Core 3: Curative Admixture: CSW SLA. 4 Spell Points. 8 second cooldown. Passive: Your Admixture spells gain +4 to their Maximum Caster Level.
Core 4: +30 Repair Amplification. +50 Maximum Hit Points. +2 Max Dex Bonus while in Medium Armor, Heavy Armor, or Adamantine Body Passive: Your Admixture spells gain +6 to their Maximum Caster Level.
Core 5: Radiant Forcefield SLA. 30 Spell Points. 3 minute cooldown.
Core 6: +2 CON, +2 INT. +10 PRR, +10 MRR, +3 to Max Dex Bonus while in Medium Armor, Heavy Armor, or Adamantine Body. Active: Mass Unbreakable Forcefield: For 6 seconds, your entire party takes -95% damage from all sources (except Untyped damage). 3 minute cooldown. (This is a separate cooldown from the non-Mass version).

Tier 1:

• Curative Admixture: CLW SLA. 4/3/2 Spell Points. 12/8/6 second cooldown.
• Easily Fixed: +10 Healing Amp, +20 Repair Amp
• Supporting Construction: While in Medium or Heavy Armor (or Adamantine Body), +2/4/6 PRR.
• Skills: Repair/Heal/Balance
• Toughness: +5/10/15 max hp

Tier 2:

• Kinetic Discharge: Active Melee Cleave Attack: On hit, +1/2/3[w] and 2d6 Force damage. This damage scales with 200% Melee Power. 10 second cooldown.
• Mighty Slam: Single Target Melee Attack: +1/2/3[w]. You may stun the target for 6 seconds. Stunned creatures are considered helpless. A successful Fortitude save negates this effect. (DC: 10 + INT modifier + Sunder Modifiers). Requires an equipped Rune Arm to use.
• Armor Mastery: +1/2/3 Armor Class and Armor Max Dex Bonus
• Converter: You create a small device that floats near an ally. Target player, hireling, or Druid Wolf pet at touch range takes 100% base healing from Repair spells for the next 3 minutes (or until target dies). This overrides their innate base healing from Repair spells for the duration. 3 minute cooldown.
• Action Boost: Action Boost: Defense OR Action Boost: Saving Throws

Tier 3:

• Conjure Component: 10 Spell Points:You conjure a large number of components that stand in for the Potion requirements in all of your Admixture spells. These expire on logout.
• Battlefist: You empower your Rune Arm to devastate a target with a powerful strike. Single Target Melee Attack: +3[w], if the target is under the effect of Mighty Slam's Stun, it takes 1d3 Sonic Damage per Artificer level, 1d3 Force Damage per Artificer level, and is knocked down for 10 seconds with no save. This damage scales with 100% Melee Power. Requires an equipped Rune Arm to use. (This is also gettng a cool new animation.)
• Reinforced Armor: The Armor Class bonus you gain from armor or docents is increased by [15/30/50]%.
• Shielding Construct: 30 sp: You create a construct that shields you and your allies. You and nearby allies (at the time of activation) gain the effects of the Shield spell for 2 minutes. Cooldown: 2 minutes. This effect is dispelled by Antimagic.
• CON/INT

Tier 4:

• Kinetic Charge: Passive: Any time you hit an opponent in Melee, you have a chance of gaining a stack of Kinetic Charge. Each stack grants a +1 Shield Bonus to AC for every 3 Artificer Levels you have. This stacks up to five times (for a potential total of +30). Stacks decrement by 1 every 15 seconds, and gaining a new stack resets the duration. Toggle: When this ability is toggled on, using Kinetic Discharge will clear all stacks of Kinetic Charge and slow (both movement and attack speed) all affected (non-boss) enemies by 10% per stack cleared for 10 seconds.
• Reconstruct SLA 35/30/25 Spell Points. 30/15/6 second cooldown. Shares a cooldown with other Reconstruct SLAs.
• 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.
• Warding Construct: You create a drone set to counter magical spells. Every 10 seconds, you and nearby allies gain a +3 Alchemical bonus to Saving Throws vs. Magic and +3 Alchemical bonus to Saving Throws vs. Traps that lasts for 10 seconds. 4sp Activation. This construct (and its effects) last indefinitely until dispelled by relogging, Death, or Antimagic.
• CON/INT

Tier 5:

• Curative Admixture: Cure Critical Wounds SLA. 5 Spell Points. 12 second cooldown.
• Multiselector: Forcefield
  
  • Unbreakable Forcefield: For 6 seconds, your target takes -95% damage from all sources (except Untyped damage). 3 minute cooldown. (This is a separate cooldown from the Mass version).
  • Reactive Forcefield: When you drop below 50% hitpoints, gain the effects of Unbreakable Forcefield for 6 seconds automatically. 90 second cooldown. (This is a separate cooldown from the non-Mass version).
  
  
• Paragon Body:You no longer suffer Arcane Spell Failure from armor. You gain +4 to Fortitude Saves and +20% Racial bonus to maximum hit points.
• Regeneration Construct: You are surrounded by arcane energy capable of repairing damage. Allies (equal to your Artificer level) are Repaired for 1 hit point per 3 Artificer levels as long as they are near you. This construct (and its effects) last indefinitely until dispelled by relogging, Death, or Antimagic. 30sp Activation.
• Mastermaker: Your Repair Wounds spells have no maximum caster level.

[grausherra]

The tree seems a little less manic now.

Any chance of fiddling with the numbers of Supporting Construction in Tier 1? Rangers for example in tempest pick up +3/+6/+10 from improved parry.

[edrein]

This looks a lot better Steelstar, thanks for listening to the feedback and making adjustments.

That being said; I like the concept of the Battlefist ability but think it might work better as an actual weapon imbuement with a chance to proc the knock down effect.

Edit: Why the Anti-magic portion? If the construct is a separate entity from the player why not allow it to simply persist (as it not having to recast it) but 'silence' the effect during the Anti-Magic effect?


Also is there any chance that you can make that Half Elf Artificer Dilettante give Rune Arm access either innately or when you take the T2 version in the racial tree? This would open the door for quite a few new interesting build types.

Bonus points if you also consider allowing certain thematic runearms to not break druidic oath such as Corruption of Nature.

[grausherra]

certain thematic runearms to not break druidic oath such as Corruption of Nature.

I would say that is the 1 runearm that thematically would HAVE to break druidic oath.

[Steelstar]

Also is there any chance that you can make that Half Elf Artificer Dilettante give Rune Arm access either innately or when you take the T2 version in the racial tree? This would open the door for quite a few new interesting build types.

There was a time we'd tried to prototype giving that to Half Elf Arti Dilettantes and Gnomes; however, the Rune Arm System has a few things baked in that hard-scale with Arti levels. So you'd fire your Rune Arm for 1d6x(Actual Arti Level)... or effectively zero damage.

Might be able to put together a more open system someday that would allow for that, but probably not in the near future.

[edrein]

Additional thoughts: Please drop Kinetic Discharge to T1 for parity to Eldritch Strike.

Change Kinetic Charge and Regenerate Construct to every 2 artificer levels rather than every 3. This is mostly due to our heroic levels capping at 20, not 30. IE: More benefit for pures if the scaling is even than odd.

Better melee power scaling on damage effects: If there's one thing I've noticed and felt keenly across the board with every class pass, is that most of the time you all miss the mark on melee power scaling. The bear tree is currently suffering greatly due to this atleast on the first Lamannia preview it was. Bump the Battlefist melee power scaling to about 300%, let us test it at that value on Lamannia before using the 100% value please. As 1d3 x 100% isn't going to be a really noticable damage proc.

[Claver]

[*]Battlefist: You empower your Rune Arm to devastate a target with a powerful strike. Single Target Melee Attack: +3[w], if the target is under the effect of Mighty Slam's Stun, it takes 1d3 Sonic Damage per Artificer level, 1d3 Force Damage per Artificer level, and is knocked down for 10 seconds with no save. This damage scales with 100% Melee Power. Requires an equipped Rune Arm to use. (This is also gettng a cool new animation.)

This is awesome...particularly the new animation part

I'm am significantly more interested in the tree now as a primary focus of a character build rather than as a supplement to some other tree

[edrein]

There was a time we'd tried to prototype giving that to Half Elf Arti Dilettantes and Gnomes; however, the Rune Arm System has a few things baked in that hard-scale with Arti levels. So you'd fire your Rune Arm for 1d6x(Actual Arti Level)... or effectively zero damage.

Might be able to put together a more open system someday that would allow for that, but probably not in the near future.

I was thinking more along the lines of the damage imbuement rather than actual rune arm use in the initial run.

But on the subject wouldn't it be wiser to use character level for Runearms? Atleast in the concept of once you hit epic levels for calculations. I mean it sort of benefits splash builds, but at the same time the majority of Runearm 'oomph' as it is held behind the class itself.

Edit: Doesn't the Dilettante also provide 'artificer levels' as far as items and casting is concerned? Or does that not apply to the runearms per your post? Definitely seems like a strange limit on the technical end.

[Steelstar]

Additional thoughts: Please drop Kinetic Discharge to T1 for parity to Eldritch Strike.

Change Kinetic Charge and Regenerate Construct to every 2 artificer levels rather than every 3. This is mostly due to our heroic levels capping at 20, not 30. IE: More benefit for pures if the scaling is even than odd.

Better melee power scaling on damage effects: If there's one thing I've noticed and felt keenly across the board with every class pass, is that most of the time you all miss the mark on melee power scaling. The bear tree is currently suffering greatly due to this atleast on the first Lamannia preview it was. Bump the Battlefist melee power scaling to about 300%, let us test it at that value on Lamannia before using the 100% value please. As 1d3 x 100% isn't going to be a really noticable damage proc.

A 20 Arti using it is getting 20d3 Sonic + 20d3 Force, multiplied by Melee Power, multiplied by Helpless bonuses (this will only ever land if the target is under the effect of Mighty Slam's stun!). Going to keep an eye on it where it is for now.

[edrein]

A 20 Arti using it is getting 20d3 Sonic + 20d3 Force, multiplied by Melee Power, multiplied by Helpless bonuses (this will only ever land if the target is under the effect of Mighty Slam's stun!). Going to keep an eye on it where it is for now.

Hmm, I suppose that's reasonable and I'll have to give it a whirl. Still not a fan of making it an active attack, especially one that relies on Mighty Slam's stun effect being on the target. If it's going to remain like this, can we get the damage portion to apply as a cleave/burst centered on the target? As of right now things are feeling a bit heavy on the single target portion overall for melee artificers.

[ForgettableNPC]

Steelstar: Hey look! Battlefist!

Me:




Okay in all seriousness.

I do like having more offensive options, this is good, I'm okay with trading in the lower-tier Repair SLAs for those. Now we just need a good source of Melee Power to take advantage of them...but none of the Arti trees give any melee power with their Enhancements.

Cores are better, yay.

Shielding Construct...good when it's needed, but not like a must-need buff for every situation. Upside is being able to keep it up indefinitely, but when you compare it to a level 1 Shield Spell that has a longer duration than the construct...At least it's a mass buff, so classes that can't handle magic missiles without outside help might find it useful with a Mastermaker in their party.

Warding Construct: Better. Less issue about the difference between effect duration and cooldown.

Hmm, not sure if I'll ever be inclined to take the Unbreakable Forcefield multiselector since it's on double the cooldown of the Reactive one. Depending on how long its casting time is, it might not be worth it to take considering you want it to go up when your target is in the middle of taking a lot of damage, and casting time might make it come in too late.

Regeneration Construct: So no more Rust damage to constructs, but lasts potentially forever. I'm kind of okay with this since if you're looking to heal yourself, there's no problem. Maybe one non-construct ally while you have the Converter on them. But considering you can only convert one ally every 3 minutes, I don't think people will be relying on this to heal their allies so much.

[Eelpout]

I was thinking more along the lines of the damage imbuement rather than actual rune arm use in the initial run.

But on the subject wouldn't it be wiser to use character level for Runearms? Atleast in the concept of once you hit epic levels for calculations. I mean it sort of benefits splash builds, but at the same time the majority of Runearm 'oomph' as it is held behind the class itself.

I think the damage imbuement would certainly be the right amount of a perk for a dilettante. I am by no means a build expert, but I think using character level for runearms would be too much. It would give a half-elf mechanic a bit too much with the full potential of runearms and not having to splash.

[Maelodic]

This is going to be a fun tree - good work on refocusing it! I also like the power added- it looks like you've done it in a unique way rather than adding raw stats.

[edrein]

I think the damage imbuement would certainly be the right amount of a perk for a dilettante. I am by no means a build expert, but I think using character level for runearms would be too much. It would give a half-elf mechanic a bit too much with the full potential of runearms and not having to splash.

I rarely ever remember to use my runearm as is. To me the damage imbuement on attacks is a large part of the appeal and why I had made the original suggestion. I had made the secondary one about character level for helping scale runearms better in epics, the dilettante and any form gnome might get would probably be wise to scale at half character level if artificer levels aren't present.

[edrein]

I would say that is the 1 runearm that thematically would HAVE to break druidic oath.

"This magical device, found in Eveningstar's hospital, seems to somehow have been altered by the magical plague afflicting the villagers. When worn by an Artificer capable of channeling energy through it, it infects them with a benign version of the disease, temporarily toughening their skin for as long as the rune arm is worn."

Given the text and the effects on the item, I'd actually argue its one of the most 'druid appropriate' runearms as its more 'attuned' to nature rather than being merely a magical construct. The most thematic runearms to break Oath would be Lucid Dreams and Machination of Madness, despite loving the concept of some mad druid flinging bees at people, due to their extra-planar nature.

List of Druid Appropriate Runearms:

• Corruption of Nature
• St. Mur'ay's Fire
• Khyber's Fury
• The Pea Shooter
• Arm of the Archons
• Archaic Device
• Knives Eternal

[Aelonwy]

Okay please tell me there is a new rune arm that looks like a giant's fist in our future.

[Arkat]

At least make it 10 seconds...for all of them.

[zehnvhex]

Hi Steel!

Thanks for taking the feedback and rolling with it. We're making progress! Still not quite there yet.

Some further suggestions that haven't been mentioned:

1 - The conjure components for admixtures is pointless. The SLA's don't have a component, you won't use the normal versions over the SLA's in any given circumstance so that means it's really only useful for disease/poison admixtures and I'm willing to bet if you pulled the number of Artificers in the game that use those spells you'd get an imaginary number because they simply don't exist. Something different needs to go here.

2 - Converter on a 3 minute cooldown is very problematic. I imagine there are scripting/engine limitations here. Is there any chance we could make it a toggle of some sort? You may need to change your target occasionally, or you cast it on someone, they die and then you're stuck without someone to heal for 3 minutes. 3 minutes is long enough that I'm constantly going to be wondering if it's about to wear off, etc...it's just going to be one of those enhancements that are nice but obnoxious to use.

I want this to be an ability and a good one, but you need to find a way to make it not awful/annoying to have to keep up.

3 - Can we make shielding construct something a little more unique and useful rather than a spell everyone has easy access to anyways? Maybe something like stacking 1 dr/- per 2 artificer levels, double in epics?

4 - Regeneration construct is weak still for a T5. The problem is that while conceptually creating an ability similar to positive energy aura sounds neat it neglects the problems that are

- Positive Energy Aura is already kinda weak for a T5 so your'e copying a kind of awful ability
- Players have ridiculous amounts of heal amp to at least make it useful
- Nearly everyone can be healed. Waforged aren't really meta so repair is kinda...meh?

If Converter affected your entire party that would make it at least somewhat useful. Since converter is single target that makes a T5 AE repair kinda chump.

I would consider having it add a temp hp determination bonus equal to your int score every 2 seconds. Similar to warlock brilliance but for Arti int.

5- Mastermaker is currently literally garbage. Nobody cares about max repair levels. For a T5 in a tree about being an awesome cyborg hybrid this is underwhelming at best and insulting at face value.

Let's try to make it something exciting.

Mastermaker: You spells gain the effect of Quicken Metamagic at no additional cost. In addition, your admixture spells are now quickened as well and gain an effect similar to precise shot and will now clip through enemies.

This would address the issue of slow cast speeds for admixtures, offer something interesting and unique and make it worth considering.

Anyways...

We're going in the right direction. Let's keep going!

[edrein]

Hi Steel!
2 - Converter on a 3 minute cooldown is very problematic. I imagine there are scripting/engine limitations here. Is there any chance we could make it a toggle of some sort? You may need to change your target occasionally, or you cast it on someone, they die and then you're stuck without someone to heal for 3 minutes. 3 minutes is long enough that I'm constantly going to be wondering if it's about to wear off, etc...it's just going to be one of those enhancements that are nice but obnoxious to use.

4 - Regeneration construct is weak still for a T5. The problem is that while conceptually creating an ability similar to positive energy aura sounds neat it neglects the problems that are

- Positive Energy Aura is already kinda weak for a T5 so your'e copying a kind of awful ability
- Players have ridiculous amounts of heal amp to at least make it useful
- Nearly everyone can be healed. Waforged aren't really meta so repair is kinda...meh?

If Converter affected your entire party that would make it at least somewhat useful. Since converter is single target that makes a T5 AE repair kinda chump.

I would consider having it add a temp hp determination bonus equal to your int score every 2 seconds. Similar to warlock brilliance but for Arti int.

2. Definitely in agreement over the cooldown.

4. I'm in agreement that the amount is low for the effect. I personally think it should be about 20 base healing + 1 per artificer level. This means you're looking at ticks of 40 before repair amp and/or reaper reductions. If it's pumping out a base 40 for a pure artificer before repair spell power, repair amp, and/or reaper I think it'll be in a good place. The same place that Positive Energy Aura needs to be bumped up to as well.

On the other end of the spectrum, I don't think a full temp HP bonus route would be worth it. If it popped for say a good 20-40HP and 20-40 temp HP on each tic, then I'd like it as effect. It's thematic and makes sense, it doesn't directly compete with warlocks (in the sense that it'll be the next best thing in comparison) but it adds a niche for party support.

[Requiro]

<snip> I've highlighted changes in Yellow. Great![/COLOR][/LIST]

Some questions:
- Core 3 and 4 - passive maximum caster levels are cumulative?
- What is a cooldown for: Might Slam and Battlefist?
- Unbreakable Forcefield – work on your or only your alies?

And Some thoughts:
- Core 6 – Great improvement.

- Easily Fixed – Good T1 ability, but maybe add some Repair Spell Power? Or maybe 1-2% Repair spell critical?

- Mighty Slam – It’s will be great in heroic CC ability, but because of save I don’t think it will be useful on epics

- Battlefist – Great ability, but again – requite Mighty Slam, so because of Fortitude save may be useless in Epic

- Shielding Construct – Nice mass spell, but unfortunately very low duration. Basic duration of Shield Spell is 5 minutes. Maybe 1/1/1 AP for 2/4/6 second and doubled in Epic? And remove that cooldown to 10-15 second. You will not spam this ability for 30 sp.

- Warding Construct – With so short duration (10 sec.), why not made it passive like other auras?

- Unbreakable Forcefield – very long cool down, average for T5 ability, especially with Core 6 for pure artificer.

- Reactive Forcefield – If this ability are designed like a life saver, then if should be activated when HP drop to 20-30%. 50% is when you start healing yourself, and not waste of this precious ability. I suggest drop activation on 20% HP and increase duration to 10-12 second. That will give you time to heal yourself.

- IMO both Forcefiled ability are average/week for T5.

- Regeneration Construct: Average to low Healing capability. Can’t be mata and don’t do any damage. I suggest add rust damage (that will affect only enemy’s constructs) and add passive 2% Repair Critical spell.