D&D team takes another stab at the game’s most controversial class

Wizards of the Coast’s Dungeons & Dragons development team is making another attempt at revising one of the game’s most beloved and most controversial character classes: the artificer. Thursday’s Unearthed Arcana release, available now on the D&D Beyond website, is the second try in just three months at putting out some new rules and soliciting fan feedback on the class. The announcement was accompanied by a nearly 20-minute video featuring interviews with lead rules designer Jeremy Crawford and game designer Makenzie De Armas. A survey to provide feedback opens on March 4.

The original 5th edition version of the artificer class was released in 2019 as part of Eberron: Rising from the Last War, a reboot of Keith Baker’s award-winning design released for 3.5 edition in 2002. The industrious class allows players, among other things, to create their own magical items. That and other unique skills have tended to throw off the game balance on occasion, which could be one of the reasons that the class was not included in the revised Player’s Handbook (2024).

Highlights of this playtest packet include a new subclass for the artificer, called the cartographer. The map-making class plays into the themes of the post-apocalyptic Eberron setting, where players are trying to explore a mysterious and hostile world. It also gives players access to some interesting fast-travel options. In addition, this Unearthed Arcana also noodles with the class’ spell list, both innately known spells and spells that can be applied through tinkering. And while Wizards developers taketh away just a little bit there, they also giveth in the form of “new spell and magic items compatible with” the class, according to the YouTube description.

However this playtest shakes out, fans should expect an updated 5th edition artificer to make an appearance at Gen Con with a new sourcebook for players and DMs titled Eberron: Forge of the Artificer, with a wider release on Aug. 19.