D&D Reveals New Unearthed Arcana Playtest For One Fan-Favorite Class Missing From 2024 Ruleset

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Dungeons and Dragons

Various Artificer Subclasses Including Alchemist and Battle Smith

Dungeons & Dragons is updating its long-neglected thirteenth class - the Artificer. Earlier this year, Wizards of the Coast released a new Player's Handbook for Dungeons & Dragons, providing updated rules for character building and more. While not intended to be a new edition of D&D, the new Player's Handbook contained extensive revisions, with all of D&D's 12 core character classes receiving some kind of update to make them more versatile and provide them with additional resources.

The only class that wasn't included in the new Player's Handbook is the Artificer, a class first introduced to 5E in Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron and later revised in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. However, D&D's designers assured fans that the Artificer would be updated in a future release. Ahead of that release, Wizards shared a new Unearthed Arcana playtest including a rules revision for the class.

Most of the changes are minor, with revisions to spell lists and updated abilities to bring the class in line with other 2024 classes. All four Artificer subclasses also received updates to beef up the Artificer's abilities.

How The Artificer Is Being Updated With D&D 2024 Rules

The D&D Class Has Received Updates To Make Its Ability More Widely Useful

Unlike the Ranger or the Monk, the Artificer did not receive a major rework to most of its core class features. The most notable changes are to the class's Magical Tinkering and Infuse Item abilities. Magical Tinkering now allows players to craft low-cost items quickly, while Infuse Item was changed to Replicate Magic Item and allows players to create certain kinds of Magic Items. Players can convert Replicated magic items into a spell slot if necessary at higher levels. The capstone Soul of Artifice ability also received a boost, no longer requiring a reaction to activate its "cheat death" ability.

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As for the Artificer subclasses, the Alchemist can now produce more Experimental Elixirs, and the high-level Chemical Mastery ability received a buff with extra damage and an innate resistance to damage. The Armorer received a new Dreadnought option as well as a new Armor Replication ability that replaces the existing Armor Modification ability. Perhaps the biggest change comes to the Artillerist's Eldritch Cannon, with the player now able to switch between various combat options every turn instead of choosing an option prior to creating it.

Our Take: The Artificer Still Tries To Do Too Much

Several Artificer Subclasses Need More Than Three Abilities To Stand Out

An image of an artificer wielding crackling armor in Dungeons and Dragons

Ultimately, the core problem with the Artificer remains the same — it's a class that tries to incorporate multiple archetypes and fails to do any of them service. While all the changes made to the Artificer are improvements, the class still lacks a truly unifying concept.

Some of the subclass options (like the Battle Smith and the Armorer) work well with the general premise of the Artificer, but both the Artillerist and the Alchemist could use more than just three subclass abilities to stand out. I'm most interested to see where the Artificer fits into Dungeons & Dragons' future plans, as there's not a clear place for the class in its 2025 book plans.

Source: D&D Beyond, YouTube/Dungeons & Dragons

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