Artificer

Artificers are inventors, tinkerers, and alchemical visionaries who blend arcane science with ingenuity.

In a world where magic pulses through metal and crystal alike, artificers are the architects of innovation—turning gears, runes, and Galarium into tools of wonder and war.

From enchanted prosthetics to devastating arcane engines, their creations reshape the battlefield and redefine what magic can be.

Where wizards study spells, artificers build them.

This version of the Artificer class reimagines the inventor by building upon the robust foundation of the 2014 design, keeping the core Infuse Item system—now enhanced to allow careful modification of existing magic items within defined limits—and iconic high-level magic item interactions like Magic Item Adept and Savant central to its identity.

It preserves the classic Intelligence-based spell preparation formula while integrating select modernizations for smoother play. Key updates include adopting the versatile temporary item creation mechanic for The Right Tool for the Job, an improved trigger for Flash of Genius, and expanding the Spell-Storing Item to encompass 3rd-level spells.

Uniquely, this iteration introduces subclass selection at Level 2 for earlier thematic focus. Replacing the passive Tool Expertise at Level 6, the new Power Infusion feature grants dynamic, tactical choices: players can either temporarily boost their active infusions via Infusion Overcharge or strategically recover spell slots at a cost using Infusion Siphon.

The result aims to deliver the quintessential inventive and supportive Artificer experience, enhanced with more engaging decision points, refined utility features, and broader interaction with the magical equipment found during adventures.

Becoming an Artificer...

As a Level 1 Character

• Gain all the traits in the Core Artificer Traits table.

• Gain the Artificer's level 1 features, which are listed in the Artificer Features table.

As a Multiclass Character

• Gain the following traits from the Core Artificer Traits table: Hit Point Die, proficiency with Tinker’s Tools, proficiency in one skill of your choice from the Artificer’s skill list, and training with Light and Medium armor and Shields.

• Gain the Artificer’s level 1 features, which are listed in the Artificer Features table. See the ©2024 Wizards of the Coast LLC 2 multiclassing rules in the Player’s Handbook to determine your available spell slots, adding half your Artificer levels (round up).

Level 1: Magical Tinkering

You have learned how to invest a spark of magic into mundane objects. To use this ability, you must have Tinker's tools in hand. You then touch a Tiny nonmagical object as an action and give it one of the following magical properties of your choice:

• The object sheds bright light in a 5-foot radius and dim light for an additional 5 feet.

• Whenever tapped by a creature, the object emits a recorded message that can be heard up to 10 feet away. You utter the message when you bestow this property on the object, and the recording can be no more than 6 seconds long.

• The object continuously emits your choice of an odor or a nonverbal sound (wind, waves, chirping, or the like). The chosen phenomenon is perceivable up to 10 feet away.

• A static visual effect appears on one of the object's surfaces. This effect can be a picture, up to 25 words of text, lines and shapes, or a mixture of these elements, as you like.

The chosen property lasts indefinitely. As an action, you can touch the object and end the property early. 

You can bestow magic on multiple objects, touching one object each time you use this feature, though a single object can only bear one property at a time. The maximum number of objects you can affect with this feature at one time is equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of one object). If you try to exceed your maximum, the oldest property immediately ends, and then the new property applies.

Level 1: Spellcasting

You have learned how to channel magical energy through objects. See the Player’s Handbook for the rules on spellcasting. The information below details how you use those rules with Artificer spells, which appear in the Artificer spell list later in the class’s description.

Tools Required. You produce your Artificer spells through tools. You can use Thieves’ Tools, Tinker’s Tools, or another kind of Artisan’s Tools with which you have proficiency as a Spellcasting Focus, and you must have one of those focuses in hand when you cast an Artificer spell (meaning the spell has an “M” component when you cast it). 
After you gain the Infuse Item feature at 3rd level, you can also use any item bearing one of your infusions as a spellcasting focus for your artificer spells.

Cantrips. You know two Artificer cantrips of your choice.

When you reach Artificer levels 10 and 14, you learn another Artificer cantrip of your choice, as shown in the Cantrips column of the Artificer Features table.

When you gain a level in this class, you can replace one of the artificer cantrips you know with another cantrip from the artificer spell list.

Spell Slots. The Artificer Features table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your level 1+ spells. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a Long Rest.

Preparing and Casting Spells. You prepare the list of artificer spells that are available for you to cast, choosing from the artificer spell list. When you do so, choose a number of artificer spells equal to your Intelligence modifier + half your artificer level, rounded down (minimum of one spell). The spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots.

For example, if you are a 5th-level artificer, you have four 1st-level and two 2nd-level spell slots. With an Intelligence of 16, your list of prepared spells can include five spells of 1st or 2nd level, in any combination. If you prepare the 1st-level spell Cure Wounds, you can cast it using a 1st-level or a 2nd-level slot. Casting the spell doesn’t remove it from your list of prepared spells.

If an Artificer feature, such as from your subclass, grants you spells that you always have prepared, those spells don’t count against the number of spells you can prepare each day via this feature, but they otherwise count as artificer spells for you.

Changing Your Prepared Spells. Whenever you finish a Long Rest, you can change your list of prepared spells, replacing any of the spells there with spells from the artificer spell list.

Spellcasting Ability. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for your Artificer spells.

Level 2: Artificer Subclass

You gain an Artificer subclass of your choice. A subclass is a specialization that grants you features at certain Artificer levels. Your choice grants you features when you choose it at 2nd level and again at 5th, 9th, and 15th level. For the rest of your career, you gain each of your subclass’s features that are of your Artificer level or lower. 

Level 3: Infuse Item

You've gained the ability to imbue items with certain magical infusions, increasing their potential.

Infusions Known

When you gain this feature, pick four artificer infusions to learn. You learn additional infusions of your choice when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown in the Infusions Known column of the Artificer table.

Whenever you gain a level in this class, you can replace one of the artificer infusions you learned with a new one.

Infusing an Item

Whenever you finish a long rest, you can touch a nonmagical object and imbue it with one of your artificer infusions, turning it into a temporary magic item. You can also apply an infusion to an object that is already magical, enhancing its existing properties, unless otherwise specified. An infusion works on only certain kinds of objects, as specified in the infusion's description.

However, if you apply an infusion that grants a bonus to attack and damage rolls (such as Enhanced Weapon, Radiant Weapon, Repeating Shot, or Returning Weapon), Armor Class (such as Enhanced Defense or Repulsion Shield), or spell attack rolls (Enhanced Arcane Focus) to a magic item that already provides a bonus to the same value, the combined bonus from the magic item and the infusion cannot exceed +2 before you reach 10th level in this class, and cannot exceed +3 at 10th level or higher; if applying the infusion would exceed this cap, the infusion fails and cannot be applied to that specific item. 

For example, at level 6, your Enhanced Weapon infusion provides a +1 bonus. You could apply it to a +1 weapon to make it +2 in total, but you could not apply it to a +2 weapon. Infusions that provide other effects can typically be applied to magic items without this restriction, provided the item meets any other prerequisites.

If the infused item requires attunement, you can attune yourself to it the instant you infuse it. If you infuse a magic item that already requires attunement with an infusion that also requires attunement, the item uses only a single attunement slot. If you decide to attune to the item later, you must do so using the normal process for attunement (see the attunement rules in the Dungeon Master's Guide).

Your infusion remains in an item indefinitely, but when you die, the infusion vanishes after a number of days equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of 1 day). The infusion also vanishes if you replace your knowledge of the infusion.

You can infuse more than one object at the end of a long rest; the maximum number of objects appears in the Infused Items column of the Artificer table. You must touch each of the objects, and each of your infusions can be in only one object at a time. Moreover, no object can bear more than one of your infusions at a time. If you try to exceed your maximum number of infusions, the oldest infusion ends, and then the new infusion applies.

If an infusion ends on an item that contains other things, like a bag of holding, its contents harmlessly appear in and around its space.

Level 3: The Right Tool for the Job

You've learned how to produce exactly the tool you need.
As an Action while holding Tinker’s Tools, you can create one item in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of yourself, choosing the item from the following list:

See the rules for the item in the Player’s Handbook. Though the product of magic, the item is nonmagical, and it vanishes after 1 hour. 

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest.

Level 4: Ability Score Improvement

You gain the Ability Score Improvement feat or another feat of your choice for which you qualify. You gain this feature again at Artificer levels 8, 12, and 16.

Level 6: Power Infusion

You have learned to temporarily push your infusions beyond their normal limits or draw power from them. Choose one of the following options:

• Infusion Overcharge. You can use a bonus action to touch an item bearing one of your Artificer Infusions, excluding the Replicate Magic Item infusion. The infusion is overcharged for 1 minute, granting it a temporary benefit detailed in the "Overcharge Effect" section of that infusion's description. You can use this bonus action a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of 1), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

• Infusion Siphon. You can use a bonus action to touch an item bearing one of your Artificer Infusions. The infusion on that item becomes suppressed (inactive) until you finish your next long rest. When you suppress the infusion, you regain one expended Artificer spell slot. The maximum level of the spell slot you can regain is determined by the infusion's minimum Artificer level requirement, as shown below. Once you use this bonus action, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest.

  • Infusion Minimum Level 3rd (No Prerequisite): Regain a 1st-level spell slot.

  • Infusion Minimum Level 6th: Regain up to a 2nd-level spell slot.

  • Infusion Minimum Level 10th: Regain up to a 3rd-level spell slot.

  • Infusion Minimum Level 14th: Regain up to a 4th-level spell slot.

Level 7: Flash of Genius

You've gained the ability to come up with solutions under pressure. When you or a creature you can see within 30 feet of you fails an ability check or a saving throw, you can take a Reaction to add a bonus to the roll, potentially causing it to succeed. The bonus equals your Intelligence modifier.

You can take this Reaction a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest.

Level 10: Magic Item Adept

You’ve achieved a profound understanding of how to use and make magic items, granting you the following benefits:

• You can attune to up to four magic items at once rather than three.

• If you craft a magic item with a rarity of common or uncommon, it takes you a quarter of the normal time, and it costs you half as much of the usual gold. (referencing the Downtime rules for Crafting Magic Items, found in sources like the Dungeon Master's Guide (Chapter 6) or Xanathar's Guide to Everything (Chapter 2))

Level 11: Spell-Storing Item

Whenever you finish a Long Rest, you can touch one Simple or Martial weapon or one item that you can use as a Spellcasting Focus, and you store a spell in it, choosing a level 1, 2, or 3 Artificer spell that has a casting time of an action (you needn’t have the spell prepared).

While holding the object, a creature can take an action to produce the spell’s effect from it, using your spellcasting ability modifier. If the spell requires Concentration, the creature must concentrate. The spell stays in the object until it’s been used a number of times equal to twice your Intelligence modifier (minimum of twice) or until you use this feature again to store a spell in an object.

Level 14: Magic Item Savant

Your skill with magic items deepens, granting you the following benefits:

• You can attune to up to five magic items at once rather than three.

• You ignore all class, race, spell and level requirements on attuning to or using a magic item.

Level 18: Magic Item Master

You can now attune to up to six magic items at once rather than three.

Level 19: Epic Boon

You gain an Epic Boon feat or another feat of your choice for which you qualify. 

Level 20: Soul of Artifice

You have developed a mystical connection to your magic items, which you can draw on for aid. 

You gain the following benefits:

• Magical Guidance. You gain a +1 bonus to all saving throws per magic item you are currently attuned to.

• Cheat Death. If you're reduced to 0 hit points but not killed out-right, you can use your reaction to end one of your artificer infusions, changing your Hit Points to 20 instead of 0.