Combat Effectiveness of Artisans

[Muir]

Having played with some of the new trap grenades, I can reasonably say you should give the new trap rules a look over...

I have, and while I don't have any rules design issue with them, they don't really hold any appeal for me that isn't covered by alchemy+archery. Traps, and legerdemain specifically, require someone on plot staff at your chapter being into them to really be a fun part of the game. Otherwise they get overlooked really easily.

I think I've encountered, since the 2010 national event, 3 traps that weren't my own and precisely zero tagged locks. They were cool and awesome to see, but not a really strong return on build investment in terms of fun. I don't often use damaging traps of my own either, because it seems a pretty nasty faux pas to be constantly causing holds to check trap diameters. It's a 'your mileage may vary due to local game' issue for sure, but has rather curbed my enthusiasm.

 

[markusdark]

Traps, and legerdemain specifically, require someone on plot staff at your chapter being into them to really be a fun part of the game. Otherwise they get overlooked really easily...

I don't often use damaging traps of my own either, because it seems a pretty nasty faux pas to be constantly causing holds to check trap diameters. It's a 'your mileage may vary due to local game' issue for sure, but has rather curbed my enthusiasm.

I agree completely. But that is up to plot staff as well as players to ask for locks, traps and other things for them to overcome - and be able to do it without the use of spells or the fighter disarm (Blow someone up, cure light wounds him, repeat). I have witnessed some interesting usages of legerdemain at events - most recently at the Big West Regional Event - only allowing people with it to move and replace tiles to unlock passages. Guess just been lucky with plot members who also enjoy traps and puzzles.

I also agree that using traps in combat is, IMO, wasting time and dropping people out of the moment as they try to figure out who was in the diameter when it went off while not getting others to shift about and so on while reading what the trap did. Not to mention most triggers (aka mousetraps) would rarely be heard during combat.

My usages have always been out of combat or what happened to set off combat as I didn't want to stop the flow of the game with holds being called during combat. If a combat was ensuing and I knew they were approaching my traps, I would simply disarm them or set them off myself so as not to cause such pauses. With the changes, this helps greatly although 'on the field' may still cause some issues. And so much for sitting your enemies on the side of the long table with the traps wired underneath it.

As for the original topic of this post though, I will also support that the Artisan was designed for players who did not want combat characters but to still be effective in the game. But with the caveat that they could still be effective as support characters. An artisan with a 4th level Celestial slot and a lot of Create Scrolls could produce a book of dragon's breaths to use on the field.

I mentioned elsewhere about once building an Artisan Battle Rod that had multiple dosages of two types of potions at each end of it and four types of scrolls, stacked 10 high on the outside of it that I could 'read and peel' during combats.

 

[Muir]

Yeah, the changes seem great for 'murder whoever came into my bunk', but less so for doing anything selective like setting up one door in a building to murder whoever comes through it while everyone else stands safely at the other end of the room.

 

[Draven]

I mentioned elsewhere about once building an Artisan Battle Rod that had multiple dosages of two types of potions at each end of it and four types of scrolls, stacked 10 high on the outside of it that I could 'read and peel' during combats.

What do you use for vial phys reps for the Potions?

 

[markusdark]

What do you use for vial phys reps for the Potions?

The red straws from Burger King hold exactly 1/4 ounce of liquid. I tape the potion tags around cotton swabs and then pull out a swab from the straw before delivering the potion. The rod holds 13 straws per side.

 

[Draven]

The red straws from Burger King hold exactly 1/4 ounce of liquid. I tape the potion tags around cotton swabs and then pull out a swab from the straw before delivering the potion. The rod holds 13 straws per side.

Bravo, sir.

Bravo.