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The battlesmith is back and it got some
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really much needed updates from the 2014
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version of the artificer. Most of the
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tweaks are actually pretty small. Like
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they're going to feel subtle. They're
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not going to feel like huge changes when
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you read the subclass, but really
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they're they're huge. The biggest
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changes were to the steel defender
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itself. Just the changes on the math.
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The armor class now scales with your
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intelligence modifier, so it will become
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more durable as you get stronger. Its
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damage is slightly better and again
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scales off your intelligence modifier
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instead of your proficiency bonus. So
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like it's it's much more tied to your
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intelligence than it was. Its AC is
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better. Its damage is better. It loses
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exactly two hit points, but who cares?
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The AC is better. That'll make up for it
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just fine. At level five, the
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battlesmith's version of extra attack
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allows you to trade one of your attacks
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to have your steel defender attack a
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second time. So you can command it as a
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bonus action to move, attack, use its
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bonus action, whatever. And then during
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your attack, you can have it attack a
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second time. Since it's doing like 1d8
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plus two plus your intelligence, it very
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well be doing more damage with its
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attacks than you are. So in a lot of
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cases, that's a really good trade. Just
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let your steel defender do the fighting.
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I think overall just the small changes,
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the mathematical changes to the steel
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defender and the change to extra attack
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really make this subclass more of what
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it was supposed to be in the 2014 rules.
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Like this was the pet artificer and
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really it was a a marshall artificer who
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could use intelligence for attack and
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damage who happened to have a pet and
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you could get a pet from a homunculus
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servant. So there really wasn't much
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point to the subclass even though it was
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objectively pretty good. the new version
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feels much more realized, much more like
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it it hits the fantasy both mechanically
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and narratively of what it is trying to
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be. So, I do think this is a much better
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version of the subclass. It's not
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insanely powerful, but it's going to
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feel effective and it's going to feel