Artificers work in the arcano-sciences, combining both magic and technology despite all the risks. They are masters of their fields, experimenters, and inventors that push the limits of mortal capability ensuring that progress marches on.
Each represents the knife’s edge of understanding though they are their own isolated towers of knowledge and scientific practices, most doomed to become a mere footnote of failed ideas.
Yet more than their individual focuses and methods, it is an artificer’s determination and drive that sets them apart even from their peers—they can fail a thousand times and die satisfied so long as they successfully unlock a mystery of the universe at least once.
Most artificers start their work in a craftsman’s trade or as a scholar, only to discover some idea or problem yet to be overcome that sparks their fascination with science. Although the marvels in their workshops sometimes explode or otherwise cause hazard, artificers are often regarded quite highly due to their skills. Technology is not always welcome however, and occasionally artificers need to work in secret—especially if their pursuits are unsavory or morally gray, or if their inventions are making other work obsolete—but their march of progress is the highest priority, the consequences be damned.
Wizarding schools often accuse artificers of “faking magic”, but in reality they are harnessing the very same arcana through physical laws rather than ancient rote. Where a mage chants magic words invoking old forgotten pacts the artificer grasps upon magic and drives it into reality. Each of their spell inventions is a marvel and the devices of the most elite practitioners are so superlative that in the hands of even a commoner magic does as it is bid. Such a thing is troubling to say the least and mutterings of “banning fake magic” drift among the halls of prestigious magical colleges.
While a great many artificers would like nothing more than to be left alone to their research, experiments take money and the answers they seek are frequently found outside of a laboratory. Adventuring solves both problems for them, providing lucrative opportunities for funding their research and far-off locales where they might find the answers to puzzles both new and ancient.
Alternatively, sometimes the artificer’s answers lie at the bottom of a dungeon or other dangerous locale, and joining up with an adventuring guild is the most logical means to reach it alive.
You can find the instructions on how to create an Artificer here.
- Alchemyst (AA) - The oldest form of artifice, the alchemyst ponders the fundamental nature of things, coaxing revelations out of the bottom of a vial. Many seek the secrets of gold, or the secrets to eternal life, or perhaps simply they strive for knowledge, growing mortal understanding no matter where the research leads them. Before they can reach such lofty scientific heights however, most alchemysts make do with their potions. Mixtures and solutions for curing or causing any ailment, apothecaries and poison brewers offering both the noble and vile fruits of arcane chemistry.
- Arcano-Pugilist (GPG #25) - Some artificers, after a stressful day in the lab, just want to punch things. Others decide to do it as a profession. There are unexpected side-effects to such studies, though, and these artificers eventually find themselves changed.
- Armiger (AA) - The swordsmith hones their craft and their steel, in an unending quest for the perfect blade. The gunsmith tinkers and tests their powders and barrels, anxious to test the limits of new technologies. The war smith hammers out a new and convoluted prototype, ready to test their creation on the battlefield. Armigers and their weapons come in many forms, with many motivations, but their solution is the same. Conflict is always in essence an arms race, and the armiger means to sculpt magic and steel into the best arms mortalkind is capable of creating.
- Bombardier (GPG #0) - Many artificer experiments end in explosive failure but for bombardiers a massive explosion is the goal. From tiny smoke puffs to almighty and awe inspiring conflagrations, bombardiers are masters of the incredibly dangerous explosive sciences. In peacetime they work in demolitions or with fireworks, but in wartime they are the cannoneers, the grenadiers, the feared mad bombers that can simply make things disappear in a roar of fury and thunder.
- Botanotechnician (GPG #25) - Botanotechnicians follow a radical artificer movement, seeking to entirely replace the technology aspect of artificery with technobotany—the cultivation of plants that perform technological functions.
- Combat Engineer (MoAR Comp Pg. 115) - Combat Engineers are artificers specialized in front-line combat. Each builds a suit of armor, a weapon, and an automaton to aid them in battle, but the variety from there is endless and as unique as the individual combat engineer’s tactical style and preferences.
- Elastic Thinker (GPG #29) - Creative thinking and invention requires an amount of mental plasticity that is difficult to achieve. Some study many different disciplines or engage in rigorous physical activity to make the most out of their minds. These artificers seek these effects instead in the mysteries of biochemistry and find that a flexible mind often resides in an equally flexible body. (Reed Richards).
- Field Engineer (PMG FE Pg. 4) - Field engineers are masters of tactical artifice. Frequently finding their work in elite military or espionage units, they are fast-moving, clever, and always full of dangerous surprises. Their improvisational skills go far beyond quickly cobbling together devices. They are perfectly capable of operating self-sufficiently, but their unique skill set is an asset to virtually any team.
- Machinist (GPG #0) - A machinist is a mechanic, a pilot, a shipwright, a grease monkey—a master of motion and all the intricate work needed to make it happen. They know every inch of every vehicle they work on and are able to identify an errant gear or joint by ear alone, and most importantly the miraculous things that a little elbow grease can make happen.
- Scrap Crafter (GPG #19) - A Scrap Crafter can see the machine waiting to be created within the pile of junk, and the possibilities within the humblest of tools. While they often lack formal training, no Scrap Crafter is ever truly without a weapon or a plan, and they’re often only a stolen set of armor and some loose wire away from a dangerous contraption belching lightning and fire
- Stitcher (GPG #0) - With the careful grafting of flesh and a dash of lightning, what once was dead may live again! Stitchers are artificers who delve into the marvelous mysteries of life, death, and reanimated flesh. Many stitchers begin in medical fields but once they see that dead flesh move for the first time it’s hard to ignore the potential of arcano-science. Stitchers may continue to work as doctors and mend the sick, though their true passion now requires corpse flesh as raw material for their experiments. (Dr. Frankenstein).
- Synaptic Surgeon (GPG #21) - At its core, all mental activity stems from jolts of electricity leaping between synapses in the mind. The synaptic surgeon uses inventions that harness these surges of energy, manipulating them in ways that boost allies and hinder foes.
- Tailor (GPG #27) - Any good tailor knows the benefits of a well-tailored outfit—some more than others. While some artificers revel in explosions and grand inventions, Tailors opt for a much more subtle approach, using their deft hands and their skills with a simple needle and thread to carefully stitch items and artifice into their very clothes, concealed and hidden until a time comes that they are needed. Often agents of secret organizations or members of security details, a Tailor always has a trick—or three— up their sleeve.
- Thopterist (MoAR Comp Pg. 118) - Thopterists dream of flight and of life, endeavoring to replicate what nature has already created and perhaps even to improve upon it. The miracle of flight is a difficult magic to unravel, and thopterist workshops are often filled with failed whirligigs and scattered balsa wood models. But once they crack those equations, the world opens up to them with infinite horizons and soon their workshops are abuzz with whirling wings and chittering machines. Each new creation refines their designs, and their facsimiles of life get harder and harder to distinguish from flesh and blood.
- Tinker (GPG #27) - While some artisans choose to specialize in one area or artistic endeavor, there are those who wish to do it all. Known as Tinkers, these artificers consider themselves veritable jacks-of all-trades, skilled in any number of handicrafts and capable of imparting that knowledge onto those who would learn from them. Though their artifice is sometimes less grandiose than others in their field, these artificers are capable of finagling with just about anything to make it work better—or faster.
- Wandmaker (GPG #25) - Wandmaking is a prestigious profession and such craftsfolk generally approach their craft with dignity and perfectionism, leading quiet lives in respected shops. However, many artificers in the field take a more experimental tack with their work.