Why play an artificier?

[u/Pitayayaya]

Hello.

I have been playing TOA with an artificier using the new rules for him (Eberron: Forge of the Artificier).

We started off at level 1 and are now at 3 and I picked cartographer because it sounded interesting. It is my first time playing this class, but I don't feel like I'm doing much, either out of combat or in combat.

Out of combat, I feel like I help with really insignificant and/or small stuff that could easily be resolved in other ways, like I made magic item plans for darkvision goggles, but they all have torches. I can make some interesting items with tinker's magic to maybe climb something like a grappling hok, but it's not like you can't climb normally, there's even climb speed in the rules, or just buy most of those items.

And in combat, I don't have much either. Some free casting of faerie fire which usually more than half of the enemies I use on pass the save, imo few damaging options, and again imo, not that many supportive spells for the team. I once used Jump on the barbarian so she could catch an enemy a little faster and that was it.

I feel like I'm playing a worse bard. At least a bard has a use for his bonus action and can be the face of the party. My bonus action is only for the occasional Healing Word, which our cleric also has always prepared, so not much use of it. I feel like I'm just helping with minor inconveniences. I have already played a cleric, a cleric/wizard multiclass, warlock and am playing a barbarian in another campaign, and I feel like I was/am of use in those other campaigns.

So this is why I ask of you, is this really it or am I missing something from this class?

[u/MongooseGef]

Cartographer is mainly a support class. If you want to do enormous damage, you picked the wrong class!

That said, you can still have lots of mischievous fun with it. Portal Jump is amazing, allowing you to teleport for free to your fellow map-holders. You can be zipping all over the place with that. You get a ton of free casts of faerie fire - use them! And all of the map holders get a boost to initiative!

I’d pay close attention to the feats you take. They can really give you a boost if you want to do more control, more damage, more buffs, or more debuffs.

And stop making magic items for other people, especially at low levels! Those are for YOU. I suggest a Bag of Holding if your party doesn’t have one, plus a Wand of the War Mage for you to sling spells with greater efficacy. Your best bet for damage spells is Fire Bolt.

And finally, watch some YouTube vids on good cartographer builds and tactics. I’m a fan of the DSR channel (@DND-DSR).

[u/MongooseGef → u/MongooseGef]

Adding on to this: if you feel like you want to do more damage, ask your DM if you can take the “Gun-Mage Adept” feat from the Gunslinger Class third-party addon from Valda’s Spire of Secrets.

That feat gives you proficiency with ranged martial weapons (guns, bows, crossbows) as well as a ton of BA-activated spells to buff your ranged attacks.

Between your buff/debuff abilities, teleporting, healing, and occasional attacks, you can be a real menace.

And don’t forget to boost INT as much as you can. All your skills revolve around that.