 Motherfucker! Here I am, just editing my next video, Lottie Dotty Dog, getting halfway through the whole process when Jeremy Crawford swoops in like, oh, you're on a schedule? Well, too bad, here's an update to the artificer. By the way, it's Wednesday and you have plans this weekend, so good luck in it done in two days! So howdy, how's it going? Strap on your fucking seatbelts into that bedroom chair, and if you're watching on your phone then strap that in too, because the only reason why I put up with this crap is if it's talking about the class I have been anticipating the release for since the beginning of time, the artificer. As always, keep in mind that a lot of this is just my opinion, and if you think that a hard-working man who's just doing his best should not be tormented by the scheduling wins of his wizards overlords, then maybe smash that like button. But without a way, let's begin. So if you've seen my last artificer video, then you're gonna understand things better than those who haven't, because this new UA is more of an update to the last attempt at crafting this class than a complete reboot, so I'm gonna focus more on what's changed since last time than I am rehashing things that I've said before. Like the last version, we still have all the base abilities, we still have the alchemist and the artillery subclasses, we still have spells that are still cast with tools as their arcane foci, and pretty much all the abilities remain unchanged, so any points I made in the last video will carry over to this video. Unless I missed something, which to be fair is possible, given that everything looks completely normal, but there's always the chance that they changed a numeral here or there, and I glanced over it. But what's changed is that they've inflated the artificer's spell list with spells from Xanathar's guide. They added two new subclasses in the form of the archivist and the battle smith, they added three new infusions, and they tweaked multi-classing with this class, but it's multi-classing, so who cares. But starting with the subclasses, the archivist gives you proficiency with calligraphy supplies and thieves tools, and lets you craft spell scrolls easier, it then lets you create a new arcane focus by etching runes into a non-magical object, and suddenly turning it sentient, which then lets it talk to you, and give you proficiencies and certain skills based on what the object is made out of. You can also summon a small spectral form of it that shines light and can be cast out of, you can overload an enemy's thoughts to do psychic damage and make them susceptible to attacks, and you can even pump spell slots into the actual focus like a smite to do more damage. After that one single class feature, the archivist will later gain abilities to telepathically communicate with anyone holding one of your inventions no matter where they are, and you can eventually turn into pure thought and teleport to either your foci's spectral form or to one of your inventions. I just don't understand what this class wants you to be in either a mechanics or a role-play capacity. The flavor text says that you crave knowledge, so your first instinct is to animate a stick or something to give it life and talk to you, and then you're a frontline fighter because of the smites, but you're also supposed to use the ghost thingy to cast for you, so you're actually a caster, and both of those things eat up spell slots if you want them to be useful, but you're a half caster, so spells aren't the point, but they are, I just, I'm not getting the theme. What's the theme here? Point out to me one fictional character that might have anything to do with any of these abilities, because ironically it seems to me that this class overly focused on the arcane focus has no focus. But moving on from that weirdness, the battle smith knows exactly what it wants to do. It wants to go to war. You start by getting proficiency with leatherworking and smith's tools, and it becomes easier to make armor, and then you gain proficiency with martial weapons and can use intelligence to fight with them because you apparently use your tactical genius to hit things, and you gain an iron defender in the form of a construct that follows you around and bites stuff with its mechanical maw. As you spend your career battling and smithing, both you and your iron defender increase in power, letting you both hit things harder and more often, as well as letting you channel magic into the iron defender to get it to dispense healing in some unspoken, unexplained way. Overall, this class feels the most straightforward out of pretty much all the archetypes. You hit stuff, your robot hits stuff, and every ability assists you in hitting stuff goodlier. I especially want to talk about how I don't really hate the iron defender, despite my usual propensity to dislike artificer sidekicks, because unlike the alchemist, it isn't tacked down without giving a second thought to actually tying it in with the rest of the subclass, and unlike the second version artificer, it isn't a requirement to have. My only big disappointment is that if this is the main version of the rakum sakum robot that we're getting with the whole class, that means that we'll probably never get a dedicated construct archetype that focuses specifically on creating and modifying a companion of our own, just our choice of an unmodifiable rage boy, a tiny pot of greed, a sentient stick with nothing to say, and a turret. The things that might have been. Finally, moving on to the infusions presented in the article, you are now able to upgrade magical wands, and to magically your wands that ignore half cover, you can create ranged weapons, especially crossbows, that will not only fire off infinite ammo, but will also ignore the loading property on said weapon, essentially bypassing the crossbow expert feet's most important feature, and ensuring that even when there are no guns in D&D, you can still create cross guns in D&D. And lastly, at eighth level, you can create a special shield that will knock anyone that manages to hit you 15 feet away at the cost of your reaction, no save required. Honestly, these infusions all sound really cool, and they are perfect examples of the creative possibilities of making an artificer class, if it could just be left in the sun to bake a little longer. Seriously, forget the magic casting, just focus more on the infusions, they're the coolest part about this class. I don't think it's a stretch to say that people who want to play the artificer want to be able to make magical things with crazy and entertaining possibilities, they want a lot of options so that they can mix and match and build and create their artificer the way that they want it, and I think that these infusions are the prometheus fire to make that happen if only they would get the brunt of the attention. My final consensus on this UA is that it feels really rushed, like I still stand by my statement that the last version was a huge step in the right direction, but the thing is you can't just stop at, well, this is a big step in the right direction. You have to actually walk the rest of the way, and this update doesn't. It doesn't change any of the previous criticisms of the class, I'm looking at you, artillerist, you turdy fuck, and it just sort of adds new things while whistling and avoiding eye contact with the fanbase. I don't want to be one of those guys that's just all like, oh you had two months, why didn't you work on this exclusively at your job? All you do is make gains anyway, it can't be that hard, because no matter what it's a job that focuses on public reception, and I know how that feels, but I find it hard to deny that the article is a rushed, hacked-on update meant to quell the hype, when they literally forgot to change the number of subclasses in the description from two to four. Like, yeah, it's unofficial playtesting content, but there has to be some level of decorum. All in all, this update makes me sad, because now I'm worried that the final version is just going to look like this, and I really don't want it to look like this. And hey, maybe you do. If so, more power to you. I'm just giving my opinion, and you shouldn't let that get in the way of you having fun. But you know what's more fun? Subscribe to my channel, liking and commenting, and maybe supporting me on Patreon, if you want me to finally be able to fund that ultimate construct. But yeah, to have you out.