New Prestige Class - Artisan

[mindrider]

If it makes things any easier, the Artisan levels need not be used for combat spellcasting, or any spellcasting for that matter, except when enchanting items for crafting.

[kevL_s]

very first appearance of an artisan I don’t have a clue what I’m doing Lol

read: i have to figure the minutia of a few class-related .2da’s

 
re. Spellcasting Progression: it appears that casterlevel and spells are handled auto by the 2das + the hardcode … so getting the casterlevel for crafting should also be auto.

[kevL_s]

spellcasting progression appears to work

[kevL_s]

have yet to think up a package and it seems good to go (beta)

 
feat progression:

                                 Level
FEAT_SKILL_FOCUS_CONCENTRATION   1
FEAT_SCRIBE_SCROLL               1
FEAT_CRAFT_MAGIC_ARMS_AND_ARMOR  2
FEAT_CRAFT_WONDROUS_ITEMS        2
FEAT_SKILL_FOCUS_SPELLCRAFT      3
FEAT_BREW_POTION                 3
FEAT_SKILL_FOCUS_LORE            4
FEAT_CRAFT_WAND                  4
FEAT_SKILL_FOCUS_CRAFT_ALCHEMY   5
FEAT_SKILL_FOCUS_CRAFT_ARMOR     5
FEAT_SKILL_FOCUS_CRAFT_WEAPON    5
FEAT_SKILL_FOCUS_CRAFT_TRAP      5

 
description:

Artisan

(PRESTIGE CLASS: This class is not available at character creation and must be unlocked by meeting special requirements, listed below.)

The Artisan is a dedicated enchanter and skilled craftsman. There are 5 levels available as an Artisan, at which profession he is then considered a master.

An artisan is typically thought of as a potter, weaver, blacksmith, or similar. In a world where magic is real, however, an artisan has a greater potential by exploiting the disciplines of an alchemist and artificer. He pursues the paths of both magical as well as mundane crafting. By doing so he hones his spell-casting abilities, though not as proficiently as a dedicated spell-caster, and gains familiarity with lore and devices, and may choose to develop above average skills in the crafting and use of traps.

Requirements:

Classes: A level in one of the following: Bard, Cleric, Druid, Favored Soul, Sorcerer, Spirit Shaman, Wizard, or Warlock.

Skills: Lore 8 ranks. Spellcraft 8 ranks.

Class Features:

• Hit Die: d4

• Base Attack Bonus: Low.

• High Saves: Will.

• Weapon Proficiencies: Artisans gain no weapon proficiencies.

• Armor Proficiencies: Artisans gain no armor proficiencies.

• Skill Points: 6 + Int Modifier.

• Class Skills: Appraise, Concentration, Craft Alchemy, Craft Armor, Craft Weapon, Craft Trap, Disable Trap, Lore, Set Trap, Spellcraft, Use Magic Device.

• Spells per Day/Spells Known: When an Artisan advances in level, the character gains spells per day (and spells known if applicable) as though he had gained a level in whatever spellcasting class gave initial access to the Artisan class. If the character has more than one applicable spellcasting class, one of those classes must be chosen when first becoming an Artisan.

• Bonus Feats: At 1st level, the Artisan gains the Scribe Scroll and Skill Focus Concentration feats. At 2nd level, he gains the Craft Magic Arms and Armor and Craft Wondrous Items feats. At 3rd level, he gains the Brew Potion and Skill Focus Spellcraft feats. At 4th level, he gains the Craft Wand and Skill Focus Lore feats. At 5th level, he gains the Skill Focus feats for crafting Alchemy, Armor, Weapons, and Traps.

 
note: the skill-requirements basically mean that min entry level is L6.

This PrC is intended to fast-track a character into Crafting

[kevL_s]

sidenote: think I found an exploitable bug (in the engine, i think…)

testing multi-class with a Wizard 3 / Sorcerer 2 / Artisan +

feats involved: Practiced Spellcaster (Wizard), Artisan Spellcasting (Wizard).

 
oh, the wiki notes it already:

Practiced Spellcaster

the bug - described at the bottom of the page - is that you can increase caster-level beyond total HD.

[Aqvilinus]

Hmm, I thought Kaedrin fixed this bug, but he seems to have fixed it only for Rangers/Paladins, using a custom GetCasterLevel function for them.

[kevL_s]

okay that makes sense. After tallying up the relevant class and its spellcasting progressions, he does something like this:

int iHd = GetHitDice(oCaster);
if (iHd > iPaladin)
{
    if (GetHasFeat(FEAT_PRACTICED_SPELLCASTER_PALADIN, oCaster))
        iPaladin += 4;

    if (iPaladin > iHd)
        iPaladin = iHd;

    return iPaladin;
}
return iHd;

// in GetCasterLevelForPaladins() 'cmi_ginc_palrng'

 
but, that requires changing a multitude of spellscripts (etc) … maybe i’ll exploit it now that i know about it hehe

there is more that goes into caster-level / spell-power, like epic levels are not 1:1 and a feat Spellcasting Prodigy. gah It’s all borked but at least it doesn’t CTD. :\

[kevL_s]

beta is in the Vault

https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn2/other/artisan

[kevL_s]

Historically an Artisan would craft only in one area your class would be to broad. Something like a Master Weapon smith or Master Armorer. These people would be Masters of their craft. Your class is to broad. An Artisan is the greatest of the Masters. In our world there have been very few people that would be a Master in several fields such as Leonardo da Vinci or Benjamin Franklin. Just food for thought about not over balancing the game. Good Luck with your new class.

tbh, I agree. It quickly became something to recognize - due to how different mundane crafting is from magical crafting - eg. a common blacksmith vs. Merlin the wizard

In fact i deliberately suffixed several files with “arts” - for “artisan” - thinking that eventually perhaps the class could be split into Artisan and Artificer - “artf”

yet … quite apart from the extra time/effort/thought-process that’d be required to split the class … the Artisan class at present is so miniscule that splitting it would render it insignificant and unworthy for a player to waste a class-slot on. That said I’m sure that Artisan/Artificer classes could be puffed up substantially in various ways … possibly giving rise to further mission creep: The Alchemist, The Blacksmith, The Potter, The Glassblower, The Enchanter, the dot dot dot

anyway, my party is currently ~L10 in SoZ and I need a “crafter”

[kevL_s]

CHANGELOG:

Ver 1.1 - 2018 may 1

feat: Channel Muse (boosts crafting skill by 3*Artisan Level once per day for 1 minute per casterlevel)

Dialog.Tlk
#10004 - add Channel Muse description to class description
#10015 - “Channel Muse” string
#10016 - Channel Muse description

Cls_Feat_Arts.2da
#28 - FEAT_ARTISAN_CHANNEL_MUSE - auto at artisan level 1

Feat.2da
#9021 - FEAT_ARTISAN_CHANNEL_MUSE

Spells.2da
#1221 - SPELLABILITY_CHANNEL_MUSE - spellscript: arts_channelmuse.nss/.ncs

[rjshae]

Hmm. At 1st level that feat already seems better than a Skill Focus feat, as you can swap it around to different crafting skills. At higher levels it seems like it would get massively abusive. One rank in Alchemy? No problem; now it’s +31 ranks.

[kevL_s]

yeh it’s op. Maybe not as bad as you’d think tho; PC has to be 6 hd to get it (requirement for the PrC), and there’s only 5 levels, so max +15.

it can be backed off to 2*level with a simple change in the spellscript

from a personal perspective, my party is approaching 15th level, i want to craft Mithral, and my crafter s*cks.

[kamal]

Maybe if it was 1 item per day or week or something it would be more balanced. It’s not a stock class though, so if someone wants to use it and it’s op, then fine by me.

[kevL_s]

my opinion at the moment? The shed is built, it can be painted later.

eg, turning it into a regular “must be chosen” feat is another single digit change that could help bring it into line

 
the class needs playtesting … i whipped up the feat while waiting for the telephone repair guy

[kamal]

Well yeah YOU whipped it up while waiting for the telephone guy, that’s because you have five levels in Artisan: Coding.

/I just throw spaghetti code at the wall and hope something sticks.

[kevL_s]

lol

[mindrider]

Thanks kevL_s, this is great!!! Exactly what I had hoped for. I just finished the Original Campaign and am into MotB with my Artisan PC. I have not noticed any problems with it. I never tried the Wizard class before this and now I cannot imagine being a Wizard without Artisan. Crafting is one aspect of NWN2 that I quite like, NWN1 crafting was a mite too limited for my tastes. IMHO you did an excellent job implementing it. And I like the modifications you made.

The only thing I never really used was the channel muse. If I could have used it to raise my spellcaster level for 30 secs or so at the Magician’s workbench, I might have used it. Just a thought.

Regardless, this mod is a keeper. Thank you so much!!

BJ

[kevL_s]

ChannelMuse is for so-called mundane crafting (not enchanting). Sometimes i like to start an item from scratch: mold+ingots… craft… item+gems+spell… enchant.

that really makes an item “mine” – i tend to keep it and upgrade the properties of that unique item.

 
ps. 'welcom

if the class were expanded to 10 levels maybe there’d be room for increasing casterlevel, but it’d be hard a bit klunky to prevent it from being exploited in combat situations

[kevL_s]

void DoMagicCrafting(int iSpellId, object oCrafter)
{
    // ...

    // kL_add: Artisan gets +1 ECL w/ Familiar out ->
    if (GetLevelByClass(CLASS_TYPE_ARTISAN, oCrafter)
        && GetIsObjectValid(GetAssociate(ASSOCIATE_TYPE_FAMILIAR, oCrafter)))
    {
        TellCraft(". Artisan casterlevel boost for Familiar");
        ++iCasterLevel;
    }
    // End_Artisan_bonusCL

    // ...
}

i’m such a cheater <g>

[kevL_s]

Hmm. At 1st level that feat already seems better than a Skill Focus feat, as you can swap it around to different crafting skills. At higher levels it seems like it would get massively abusive. One rank in Alchemy? No problem; now it’s +31 ranks.

hey Rj

I was just playing my FavoredSoul6/Wizard3/Artisan4 (companion) and yeh it immediately struck me as OP. Am thinking that a better algorithm is

rank + ArtisanLevel * 1 @ L1
rank + ArtisanLevel * 2 @ L3
rank + ArtisanLevel * 3 @ L5

so …
AL1 = +1
AL2 = +2
AL3 = +6
AL4 = +8
AL5 = +15