It’s been a while since I touched MyDDO blog, but I finally found something to talk about. FEATS! Specifically for the artificer! Artificers are blessed with a high frequency of feats.

Basics about Feats

Before I go into detail about feats for the arty, I should explain feats. Feats are special abilities that give your character an edge in the game. Your character gets one feat upon creation, then one at every 3 levels; this means you get a Character Feat at 1st, 3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th, 15th, and 18th levels.

Some classes automatically gain free and specific class feats based on their class level, these are called Auto-Granted Class Feats. There are also classes that let you select a bonus feat, and these are called Class Bonus Feats.

Certain races and classes get additional feats:

• Humans get one additional generic feat slot at 1st level.
• Half-Elves get an additional race-specific Dilettante feat at 1st level. These feats are similar to taking one multiclass level.
• Fighters get a bonus feat at 1st and 2nd level and every even-numbered fighter level thereafter, taken from a list of combat-oriented feats.
• Monks get an extra feat at Monk level 1, 2, and 6, taken from a list of martial arts feats.
• Rogues can select an extra feat at Rogue level 10, 13, 16, and 19 from the list of Rogue Special Ability.
• Wizards get to choose a bonus feat at levels 1, 5, 10, 15 and 20, taken from a list of spellcasting-oriented feats.
• Artificers get to choose a bonus feat at levels 4, 8, 12, 16 and 20, taken from a list of Artificer bonus feats.

Artificers and Feats of Awesome!

Here’s the breakdown by Artificer level. I’ve also included when you get character feats:

• 1st - Artificer Construct Mastery, Inscribe Infusion, Rapid Reload, Unleash Iron Defender, Reanimate Construct, Trapfinding, Character Feat
• 2nd - Rune Arm Use
• 3rd - Character Feat
• 4th - Trapmaking, Class Bonus Feat
• 5th - Retain Essence
• 6th - Character Feat
• 8th - Class Bonus Feat
• 9th - Character Feat
• 12th - Artificer Skill Mastery, Character Feat
• 15th - Character Feat
• 16th - Class Bonus Feat
• 18th - Character Feat
• 20th - Class Bonus Feat

For the Artificer Class Bonus Feats here’s what you can take, provided you can meet the pre-reqs:

• Augment Summoning
• Construct Essence (Pre-req: NOT a Warforged)
• Adamantine Body (Pre-req: Warforged)
• Improved Fortification (Pre-req: Warforged)
• Mithral Body (Pre-req: Warforged)
• Mithral Fluidity (Pre-req: Warforged)
• Improved Critical: Ranged
• Power Critical: Ranged
• Weapon Focus: Ranged
• Point Blank Shot
• Rapid Shot
• Improved Precise Shot
• Precise Shot
• Shot on the Run
• Any Dragonmark of Making (Pre-req: Human)
• Any Skill Focus
• Any Metamagic Feat

Synergistic Feats you can take with as a Character Feat:

• Toughness - arties get d6 hit dice for hit points which mean you’ll have Hit Points much like rogue. Taking toughness a few times well help your durability
• Insightful Reflexes - this is especially handy if you plan on multi-classing into rogue in order to gain Evation AND you have a higher INT bonus than your DEX bonus
• Mental Toughness & Improved Mental Toughness - if you are taking your arty down the spell caster route, you’ll find yourself spending lots of mana on buffs. And spend more mana on repair for your Iron Defender, and even more, if you are Warforged. You can always trade this out later during higher levels.
• Quicken Spell - if you move around and find yourself under fire, you’ll want this feat so you can cast spells without being interrupted.
• Maximize & Empower Spell - these two feats will increase the damage output of your offensive spells. Great with spells like Blade Barrier, Blast Rod, Lightning Motes, and Tactical Detonation
• Spell Focus Evocation - This feat makes it harder for enemies to resist the casters spells. It adds +1 to the difficulty class of the spell. Since most of what the Arty cast’s is evocation, that’s the school you select.

Some Oddities and Caveats I’ve found with feats and the Arty:

• Extend Spell feat & Item Spell Buffs - As far as I can tell, the item spell buffs (cold iron, elemental weapon, etc) aren’t extendable.
• Augment Summoning & Flame Turret - Though it’s a summon, it’s not a summon that can be augmented. Works fine on your dog, hirelings, and other non construct summons.

Overall, selecting feats for the Arty is quite fun. Such a broad selection can lead to different paths that can suit any play style and all within a single class build.