Summary

  • Deal with artificers' spells and infusions strategically to properly challenge them without ruining the fun or killing their character.
  • Pay attention to their subclass to anticipate their tactics and adjust combat accordingly, as each subclass offers different strengths and weaknesses.
  • Create varied obstacles in dungeons and clear places of distracting objects to force artificers to think creatively and adapt outside their usual tricks.

Artificers are an interesting and unique class in Dungeons & Dragons. They use the magic from the setting and apply it to tinkering, creating or enhancing objects with magic, and are even capable of making weapons and armor more powerful than ever. They're essentially magical scientists.

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Their potential is almost unlimited given all the options they have, and an artificer in the hands of a particularly creative player can be a total game-changer for them and the whole party, and not much can be done with all their infusions. How do you properly challenge an artificer in your game, then?

The goal is to ensure your player is being properly challenged. Be careful not to exaggerate when dealing with them and annulling all their tactics, which can potentially end their fun, if not kill their character.

5 Deal With Their Spells

Counter Those Spells

Artillerist Artificer Art via Wizards of the Coast

Though not as prevalent as a wizard or a sorcerer, artificers can cast spells, being able to reach fifth-level spells eventually — in other words, they're half-casters. That means that any tricks that involve stopping someone's casting work here.

Counterspell will always be useful in these situations, along with anything that creates an antimagic area, like a Beholder or a spell like Antimagic Field. This way, you're cutting a part of what they can do in combat.

In situations where they have a Concentration spell going, you can use Dispel Magic or simply attack them over and over until they lose concentration or go unconscious from all the beating. Multiple attacks through minions who can keep up with the artificer or fight from afar work well here, as well as a character with a powerful attack that deals great damage all at once, like someone who can Smite to cause enough damage they can't beat their Concentration saving throw.

4 Pay Attention To Their Infusions

Antimagic Works Here, Too

Kenku Artificer by Dave Greco

Infusions are the reason artificers are so versatile. While they can't have all of them (to ensure game balance), there are so many options that a group of two or three artificers can do wildly different things depending on which ones they take.

So, pay attention to which ones they have and whether they have changed it for another one (they can replace one whenever they level up). An infusion with a +1 to weapon attacks, for example, can be easily countered by increasing the enemy's AC (armor class), while a Homunculus Servant can be more complicated for adding an extra creature in the fight, but you could use tactics such as area spells to hurt it along with the players.

Another important detail is that the infusions are all considered magic items, which means that antimagic fields will also remove the magical effects from the objects and render them useless. However, the same does not apply to Arcane Armor or Steel Defender, at least not rules as written.

3 Pay Attention To Their Subclass

Their Utility Varies A Lot

Izzet Chemister by Svetlin Velinov

Artificers also get even more versatility thanks to their subclass options. While they all offer extra utility to themselves or allies, the way each of them goes about it is relatively different, and an alchemist, an artillerist, a battle smith, and an armorer will fight very differently from one another.

Alchemist

An alchemist can give a lot of support and utility to their allies, from healing to extra effects that will stack with the infusions as well. Luckily, the potions are consumable, and if you raise the difficulty, the party will use them more often, and the artificer will need to rest before making some more.

Artillerist

Artillerists will cause a lot of extra damage thanks to their cannon, which is also a bit hard to hit, and will have a decent health pool when your artificer's level is high. At low levels, an area attack or focused fire on the cannon is enough.

At high levels, you may want to consider ignoring it and taking the artificer down, as the cannon requires the artificer's bonus action to attack, and they can't give it orders while unconscious. They're still easier to destroy than taking a character at full health, so it's up to you which of them is the better target at the moment.

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Battle Smith

Battle smiths have similar strengths and weaknesses thanks to their Steel Defender, which is essentially an invocation to help them in battle. They're easy to take at low levels and harder as the game progresses, and they also need the artificer's bonus action to attack enemies properly.

Don't worry about seeing these cannons or defenders along with a Homunculus. Not only do the cannon and the defender come from separate subclasses, but the Homunculus also costs the character's bonus action to be used.

Even if the artificer can technically have both a Steel Defender and a Homunculus on the battlefield at the same time, only one can be controlled per turn.

Armorer

Armorers are also tricky since they can be effective at either melee or ranged combat. Still, the player can only swap between these fighting styles during rest, so the player will have to decide which method they prefer for combat, and you can adjust things based on whether they're a melee fighter or a ranged combatant.

2 Create Varied Obstacles In A Dungeon

Artificers Are Also Useful Out Of Combat

Renowned Weaponsmith by Eric Deschamps

It's always good to keep your dungeons or any other dangerous locations varied. Otherwise, your players will be aware of what they'll fight against. For instance, if all you do is constant surprise attacks, your artificer will likely just make a Helm of Awareness and be done with it, or if reaching places is usually an issue, they can prepare a Rope of Climbing.

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Sure, you can't predict everything your players do, but once you start noticing the patterns in how they solve their issues — and the artificer's infusions, as we mentioned before — you can create obstacles outside of combat that challenge their usual methods, forcing them to think outside the box to deal with the situation at hand.

1 Clear Places Of Objects

Eliminate Distractions

Art via Wizards of the Coast

Big, empty battlegrounds are always fun for a boss fight. That also prevents the artificer from tinkering with the objects to create random effects. Granted, these are all harmless, but they can be good to distract enemies if your artificer is creative enough.

While encouraging such creativity is a good thing, you can still cut it in moments you want combat to be particularly challenging, ensuring the same idea of forcing the player to think outside the box rather than rely on their usual tricks.

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