D&D 5E Basic Build Series: Artificer

Author: Tatersalad810

The Artificer can built in a number of ways, varying sharply between the Artificer subclass choices. The core chassis lends itself to a control and support role, mixing its highly customizable abilities and half-caster Spellcasting. This build, part of our Basic Build Series, uses the Artillerist specialization to maximize our mix of control, party buffing, and utility.

Race: Human (Variant)

Ability Score Increases – +1 Con, +1 Int. 
Feat – War Caster. We will be casting a lot of concentration spells. This will help our concentration saving throws when we get hit. 
Skill – Stealth. This skill is useful for every party member to have.
Languages – Common and Dwarvish. The language choice doesn’t really matter, as it is campaign dependent and should be discussed with the DM. It can be useful to speak different languages from the rest of the party, or to have one obscure non-Common language that the entire party shares, so you can converse without the NPCs knowing what you’re talking about.

Class: Artificer

Tools – Mason’s tools, thieves’ tools, tinker’s tools.
Skills – Investigation, Perception. With Intelligence as our primary Ability Score, we might be the best at the oft-used Investigation in the party. Perception is the most used skill in the game and important to every character.
Magical Tinkering – With respect to power, this is basically another cantrip.
Ritual Spellcasting – This will impact our spell selection.
Spellcasting – Spellcasting is a centerpiece of the Artificer class. Note that you are a prepared spellcaster, so you have access to the Artificer’s entire spell list, and can change your preparations at every long rest. While this guide will include a template spell list, if you know you’ll be in a situation where a different or more circumstantial spell would be more useful, you can freely change your prepared spells for a day and swap it back once it is no longer useful.

Cure wounds – This is only used when an ally gets knocked to 0 HP, which is a common occurrence at level 1.
Detect magic – This is just a good ritual that every party needs.
Faerie fire – This is our big contribution to combat as advantage will help the entire party.
Acid splash – This spellmay not appear to do very much damage but the opportunity to target two creatures comes up often enough for it to be worth it.
Thorn whip – We’re taking this to pull enemies around the map into environmental hazards, over cliff edges, into allied crowd control spells like grease or web. This cantrip can reshape the battlefield so allied spells like sleep, entangle, grease, and others are more effective. 

Ability Scores

8 Str, 14 Dex, 15+1 Con, 15+1 Int, 10 Wis, 8 Cha

Background (Custom)

Skills – Acrobatics, Arcana. Acrobatics for escaping grapples. Arcana is perhaps the most useful “knowledge” skill for the vast amount of magic phenomena a D&D party regularly encounters, and you will be good at it.
Tools – Bagpipes, weaver’s tools. Picking bagpipes is critical here! They will be useful for infusions as a wind instrument proficiency. 
Feature – Guild Membership. Lodging and food if necessary, and a source of potential patrons, allies, or hirelings.  
Creator’s Note – Making a custom background is RAW, the PHB on page 125 states, “The sample backgrounds in this chapter provide both concrete benefits (features, proficiencies, and languages) and roleplaying suggestions. To customize a background, you can replace one feature with any other one, choose any two skills, and choose a total of two tool proficiencies or languages from the sample backgrounds.” Using this, we are making a custom background and using the Guild Artisan feature.

Equipment

Artificer Starting Equipment

• Two daggers
• A light crossbow and 20 bolts. Our crossbow will be our main source of damage until we can afford a shield, which we buy as soon as we can.
• Scale mail
• Thieves’ tools and a dungeoneer’s pack. The dungeoneer’s pack weighs a whopping 61.5 lbs, which puts us over our 120 lb carrying capacity. Sell or dump some of the contents if this matters in your game.

Guild Artisan Background Starting Equipment

• Tinker’s tools
• A letter from your guild
• A set of traveler’s clothes
• A belt pouch containing 15 gp

Purchasing Goals

• A shield as soon as possible
• Bullseye lantern 
• Healer’s kit, potions of healing
• Tools with which you are proficient
• Half plate armor
• Block and tackle

Level 1 Strategy

We are going to be filling out our spell list for our entire build with a variety of options that allow us to proactively protect or buff our party or remove debilitating debuffs applied by enemies. Right now, however, all we have is faerie fire. In a typical combat, we will assess if this is a combat is where we need to faerie fire, then fall back on casting either acid splash on two targets or thorn whip for yanking enemies around. Cure wounds for emergencies. Using your crossbow from far away is often valuable as well, especially if you don’t have your shield yet.

Level 2 Artificer 

Infuse Item – Mind Sharpener, Replicate Magic Item (alchemy jug), Replicate Magic Item (goggles of night), Replicate Magic Item (spellwrought tattoo (1st level)).
Mind Sharpener – Backup infusion. We’ll probably use this later, especially if you have an ally you can put it on that is regularly dropping concentration, and you want to convince them that maintaining concentration is strong!
Replicate Magic Item (alchemy jug) – Backup. If this would ever be useful, you have it. When you have downtime, you may be able to bottle some poison to sell. 
Replicate Magic Item (goggles of night) – Primary use each day. As a human, we lack Darkvision.
Replicate Magic Item (spellwrought tattoo (1st level)) – Primary use each day. As a common magic item, this is allowed according to Rules as Written.

Our first use for our daily tattoo will be for find familiar. Then on any downtime days you have, tattoo an ally, and give your whole party familiars over time. After find familiar, we will pick up sleep as it is a powerful control option at this level and does not cost our concentration to cast. If another party member has sleep you can take something like bless or fog cloud to help your party members attack or stop a pack of wolves from having advantage on their attacks. If you are permitted to choose gift of alacrity with your tattoo spell, that would be very optimized. A ceremony tattoo can also produce income during downtime days (holy water).

Spell Changes: +absorb elements.

Absorb Elements – A valuable additional layer of defense for any character.

Level 3 Artificer

Artificer Specialist – Artillerist.  Our subclass now gives us a large jump in power.
Eldritch Cannon (Artillerist feature) – Flamethrower, Force Ballista, Protector. We will primarily want to create the Protector Eldritch Cannon, as party-wide temporary HP for a bonus action is extremely strong and the offensive options do not mitigate as much expected damage as constant temporary hit points will. We can drop cure wounds since we now have the cannon.
Tool Proficiency (Artillerist feature) – Woodcarver’s tools.
The Right Tool for the Job – If you do not have all the tools you are proficient with already, this will allow you to produce the tool you do not yet have.
Spell Changes: +grease, +shield, +thunderwave, +mending, –cure wounds, –thorn whip.

Grease – A good non-concentration control option.
Shield ^D – An extremely good defensive option for us provided by our subclass.
Thunderwave ^D – An okay spell you should only cast occasionally, like if you need to blast a group of enemies away from yourself or squishier allies.
Mending – This will keep our Eldritch Cannons repaired for free, but if you notice your DM isn’t ever targeting it, swap it on level up back to thorn whip.

Level 3 Strategy

The Protector Cannon is the first of what will be our three core tactics for this build. It will provide a solid amount of temporary hit points each round to multiple party members for a bonus action, proactively mitigating a ton of damage. In a typical combat we will want to either cast a control or debuff spell with our first action, use our Protector Cannon to get the party some temporary hit points, and possibly use our familiar to try and give a party member’s attack advantage with Help actions. On subsequent turns we will either be using further spell-based control, taking the Dodge action, or using acid splash on two targets. We now have strong reaction-based defenses for elemental damage and attacks in absorb elements and shield, though spell slots are still in short supply for us. Don’t use them lightly yet, especially if we can soak a hit with our refilling reserve of temporary hit points.

Level 4 Artificer

Ability Score Improvement – +2 Int. By buffing Intelligence, we get two additional spells instead of one, and our spell DC increases by 1. 
Spell Changes: +alarm, +identify.

Alarm – This is a handy ritual to protect the party from ambushes during rests.
Identify – This is sometimes a useful tool to deduce how a magic puzzle or trap works in a dungeon. The material component is not consumed when you cast this, so spam it whenever you have time.

Level 4 Strategy

For our Replicate Magic Item infusion granting a spellwrought tattoo, if you are still using it to cast sleep once per day, it is time to upgrade to bless or gift of alacrity, as you’re likely not going to fight anything with low enough hit points to be affected by sleep at this level.

Level 5 Artificer

Arcane Firearm (Artillerist feature) – Acid splash now does 2d6 + 1d8 damage, which isn’t great damage on one creature, but it’s solid when you’re targeting two creatures. Thorn whip now does 2d6 + 1d8 damage and pulls enemies up to ten feet, not great damage but pretty good for the control value the cantrip offers.
Spell Changes: +scorching ray, +shatter, +web, +thorn whip, -detect magic, -acid splash.

Scorching ray ^D – This does not deal do a lot of damage, despite dealing an extra 1d8 from Arcane Firearm on one of the damage rolls. We can get more value out of our second level slots!
Shatter ^D – This is an okay spell, which we’ll be using to blast when several low HP enemies are clumped together. Use sparingly. This spell emits ‘a sudden loud ringing noise’ and some DMs may rule this attracts the attention of other hostile enemies deeper in the dungeon. You may wish to ask your DM about it!
Web – This is hands down our best second level option and we’ll be primarily using this in combat to control the battlefield with area denial and debuffing.
Thorn whip – We’re swapping back into this cantrip for the ability to pull enemies into our web.

Level 5 Strategy

The web spell is the second of our three core tactics for this build. It is one of the best spells in the game for its level, as the restrained condition will waste enemy actions while allowing your allies to hit more reliably. The difficult terrain may force enemies to take the Dash action in order to reach the party in melee. You may be able to position yourself on the battlefield such that you can thorn whip enemies back into the web. Doing so can be very effective.

Level 6 Artificer

Tool Expertise –  We’re now very good at finding any hidden passageways in dungeons using our mason’s tools and Investigation.
Infuse Item – Mind Sharpener, Replicate Magic Item (alchemy jug), Replicate Magic Item (goggles of night), Replicate Magic Item (pipes of haunting), Replicate Magic Item (pipes of haunting), Replicate Magic Item (spellwrought tattoo (1st level)), Spell-Refueling Ring. We’re listing our new infusion setup here and at each level where our infusions get a major bump in infusions known, number of infused items, and available infusions.
Mind Sharpener – Backup. We’ll probably use this later, especially if you have an ally you can put it on that is regularly dropping concentration, and you want to convince them that maintaining concentration is strong! 
Replicate Magic Item (goggles of night) – Primary use each day. If you haven’t acquired a normal pair of goggles of night, and you can buy them, do it so you can infuse something else.
Replicate Magic Item (pipes of haunting) – Primary use each day. This item will help us blast fear in an area of effect without using concentration and without hitting our allies. This, plus your Protector cannon, and your spells will help mitigate a lot of potential damage. At the end of every long rest, remember to re-infuse your pipes instead of rolling dice to recharge them.
Replicate Magic Item (pipes of haunting) – Primary use each day. Yes, we are taking this twice, because having 6 uses of this every day allows us to use this or web to debuff our enemies in almost every single combat. Wait, can you do that? More discussion on multiple Replicate Magic item infusions in Strategy, below.
Replicate Magic Item (spellwrought tattoo (1st level)) – Backup. Use as needed to replace your familiar.
Spell-Refueling Ring – Backup. We’ll use this later, especially if you have an ally that has a third level slot they can recharge with it. Using it for an extra web every day is okay, but there is better value to be had giving this to a full caster ally with better spells.
Spell Changes: +rope trick.

Rope trick – We’ll add rope trick as extra insurance for safe short rests in hostile territory. If the party has resting options and you find rope trick is unnecessary, aid, enlarge/reduce, lesser restoration, levitate, and pyrotechnics all have handy uses. Depending on your reading of this spell, it may have combat applications, which will be discussed in a future article.

Level 6 Strategy

The pipes of haunting infusion is the final core tactic for this build. This item creates a debilitating debuff for your enemies, allowing us to apply fear in a large area of effect several times a day to further reduce the damage the party will take. It’s important for us to position ourselves between our enemies affected by fear and any of our squishier allies to protect them, using our movement to dip near allies and drop some temporary hit points as needed. In a typical combat now we are firing on all cylinders. We will want to either cast a control spell or use our pipes of haunting with our first action, use our Protector Eldritch Cannon, and engage our Helpful familiar. Subsequent turns will either be using pipes of haunting if we used a spell, taking the Dodge action, or the best cantrip for the situation.

I thought you can’t infuse the same item twice!?

Ok, we have to dive into the rules here a bit:

The Replicate Magic Item infusion specifically lets you learn it multiple times, with no qualifying or clarifying restrictions. The above language originally appeared in Eberron: Rising from the Last War, and was reprinted in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything unchanged (alongside a number of changes and rewording for various Artificer features). Compare this directly with the final version playtested in Unearthed Arcana (right) to see how it would’ve been worded if the intent was to force Replicate Magic Item choices to be unique.

Each of your infusions can only be in one object at a time. But here, we are selecting the same infusion option twice. We still need two separate mundane items to infuse and each can only hold a single infusion. Pipes of haunting A goes into one bagpipes, and pipes of haunting B into another.

Should you or your DM find this somehow unconvincing, or they understand the argument but wish to houserule it, we recommend you select a few other the “backup” infusions suggested as your “primary” options when we list a duplicate choice. One pipes of haunting is still better than zero and you can select your own “backup” options to taste.

Level 7 Artificer

Flash of Genius – This feature will be used primarily on saving throws for allies concentrating on spells, or against extremely debilitating effects like paralyzation, Vampire Charm, and so on.

Level 8 Artificer

Ability Score Improvement – +2 Int. By buffing Intelligence, we get two additional spells instead of one, and our spell DC increases by 1.
Spell Changes: +aid, +lesser restoration.

Aid – This is a good party protection spell.. If you have an ally that is at 0 hit points this will bring them up and increase the total hit points of two more allies. Alternatively, you may use it as a rest cast if none of the full-casters in the party are capable.
Lesser restoration – We’re using this in an “in case of emergency break glass” situation when an ally fails their save against a debilitating poison that has a secondary condition like paralyzed or unconscious.

Level 9 Artificer

Explosive Cannon (Artillerist Feature) – Flamethrower and Force Ballista Cannons are still typically worse than the Protector Cannon even with a damage buff here, but detonating our Cannon if it’s not on your person and doing a mini-fireball isn’t completely useless. In most situations keeping the Eldritch Cannon on your person and not exploding it is more optimal, though.
Spell Changes: +fireball, +revivify, +wind wall, -faerie fire.

Fireball ^D – Fireball needs no introduction. It’s not as effective as it was at level five, but you’ll still blast small stuff with it effectively.
Revivify – Another “in case of emergency, break glass” spell. If your party has a couple of people who can cast this already, take tiny servant or fly.
Wind wall ^D – This spell is good when getting shot at by a lot of annoying ranged enemies but it’s going to sit on the back burner in most other situations.

Level 10 Artificer 

Magic Item Adept – Attuning to four magic items a good ability. If you haven’t already, talk to your DM about how they want to handle (permanent) magic item crafting. At the very least you can craft scrolls using your Arcana proficiency very quickly, to have some breathing room with your party buff spells or more opportunities to cast web.
Infuse Item – Enhanced Defense, Mind Sharpener, Replicate Magic Item (goggles of night), Replicate Magic Item (pipes of haunting), Replicate Magic Item (pipes of haunting), Replicate Magic Item (pipes of haunting), Replicate Magic Item (spellwrought tattoo (1st level)), Spell-Refueling Ring.
Enhanced Defense – Backup. Enhanced Defense on your front-liner at this point is worth infusing because +2 armor is very hard to come by.
Mind Sharpener – Backup. Why doesn’t that other caster have adequate concentration protection yet?
Replicate Magic Item (goggles of night) – Still primary if needed.
Replicate Magic Item (pipes of haunting) – Still primary.
Replicate Magic Item (pipes of haunting) – Still primary.
Replicate Magic Item (pipes of haunting) – Primary use each day. Yes, we are taking this a third time now because having 9 uses of this every day allows us to use this multiple rounds in a single combat, which is a strong insurance plan against a particularly brutal encounter. The wording of pipes of haunting is such that you may use a different set of pipes to frighten a creature that made their saving throw on the fear effect. If your DM use a house rule that causes a save on one set of pipes to affect the saves on different sets of pipes, stick with two instead. Use Enhanced Defense instead of a third set of pipes, and add Helm of Awareness.
Replicate Magic Item (spellwrought tattoo (1st level)) – Backup.
Spell-Refueling Ring – Backup. Now that we’re in the realm of fifth level spells (soon to be sixth level spells) this is less useful, but an extra conjure animals, hypnotic pattern, or spirit guardians is an extra conjure animals, hypnotic pattern, or spirit guardians.
Spell Changes: +tiny servant, +acid splash.

Tiny servant – Tiny servant is an interesting spell that works really well if you’re creative. The servants can carry and throw nets to restrain enemies or use certain items like ball bearings, caltrops, vials of acid, alchemist’s fire, dynamite, or the spell storing item we get next level. Extra actions add hazards in the battlefield that impede enemy movement and pepper damage adds up to a very useful artificer. Like aid, it is also worth rest casting.
Acid splash – Bringing back acid splash for those opportunities to hit two targets with it. If you already have this and thorn whip, because you have not needed mending, take guidance instead.

Level 11 Artificer

Spell-Storing Item – You know how we said web was a central aspect of this build? How about we have 10 more of them to our arsenal? We’re now giving our familiar our Spell-Storing Item so it can spam web and then flee. This is excellent value and definitely the best spell of our options available. If the combat is insane enough, you can also cast web yourself and have two webs out before you start spamming your pipes. If we’re really feeling spicy, your familiar can cast web, drop the item, let one of your tiny servants pick it up, and the servant can cast another web. Suddenly we’ve wrapped the entire battlefield in restrained conditions and difficult terrain. Anyone have a spare thorn whip, Repelling Blast, spirit guardians, Grasp of Hadar, Crusher, Telekinetic?

Level 12 Artificer

Ability Score Improvement (Feat) – Resilient (Wis). Several of the nastiest effects in the game at high level are tied to Wisdom saving throws, so this helps to patch what would otherwise be a big hole in our defenses.
Spell Changes: +dispel magic, +fly, –alarm.

Dispel magic –  Dispel magic isn’t something we want to be using regularly per se, but when we need it we’ll be very glad to have it. 
Fly – This spell is situational, but in those situations it’s amazing. Your melee party member will love being able to engage the flying enemy or your spellcaster party member will love being able to get away from trolls as they rain down spells from out of reach. Another trick in your back pocket makes one a valuable party member. If your party has fly, add haste instead.

Level 13 Artificer

Spell Changes: +ice storm, +wall of fire.

Ice storm ^D – This spell is not very good most of the time, but difficult terrain against a bunch of melee enemies will force Dash actions, and forcing Dash actions instead of Attack actions against you or your party members is decent.
Wall of fire ^D – This spell can work very well in the right situations with a party with lots of push and pull effects. Cast wall of fire and force a saving throw, and then your ally casts thorn whip to yank them across it or uses Repelling Blast to hopefully push them through it to deal even more damage. Teamwork!

Level 14 Artificer

Magic Item Savant – Congratulations, you can now use any magic item in the game. Go get a staff of power or something. Also any scroll you find in a loot hoard is now a scroll you can use. Remember you have to make a DC check to cast something higher than the highest spell level you can normally cast though.
Infuse Item – Enhanced Defense, Helm of Awareness, Mind-Sharpener, Replicate Magic Item (bag of holding), Replicate Magic Item (goggles of night), Replicate Magic Item (pipes of haunting), Replicate Magic Item (pipes of haunting), Replicate Magic Item (pipes of haunting), Replicate Magic Item (spellwrought tattoo (1st level)), Replicate Magic Item (winged boots), Spell-Refueling Ring.
Enhanced Defense – Primary use now each day. Enhanced Defense to stack AC on your front liner at this point, 2 armor is very hard to come by.
Helm of Awareness – Backup. You could use this on yourself or a caster ally to make sure a large area debuff or area denial spell can be dropped on turn one of combat to shape the battlefield to your liking before the enemies can even take a turn.
Mind-Sharpener – Backup.
Replicate Magic Item (bag of holding) – Backup. Use this if your party needs to haul a lot more loot than normal, like gold from a dragon’s hoard.
Replicate Magic Item (goggles of night) – Still primary if needed.
Replicate Magic Item (pipes of haunting) – Still primary.
Replicate Magic Item (pipes of haunting) – Still primary.
Replicate Magic Item (pipes of haunting) – Still primary.
Replicate Magic Item (spellwrought tattoo (1st level)) – Backup.
Replicate Magic Item (winged boots) – Backup. Flight on an ally is good for a variety of reasons and not having to use a third level slot on fly is also good.
Spell Changes: +Otiluke’s resilient sphere, +guidance.

Otiluke’s resilient sphere – We’re using this to either take one big enemy out of the fight or protect a ally that’s taking focused fire, like a Wizard who is concentrating on wall of force. Fabricate is very good for turning mundane items like cotton/silk into linens/textiles or metals into jewelry with the tool proficiencies we have, on your downtime days you should use this on those days.
Guidance – Concentrate on this out of combat as much as possible to get an extra 1d4 on initiative rolls or other ability checks.

Level 15 Artificer

Fortified Position (Artillerist Feature) – We’re now using a Flamethrower Cannon and a Protector Cannon at the same time. Flamethrower isn’t always ideal because lots of things resist fire, but you’re sometimes on the front-line and in melee, often so there’s good opportunities to hit multiple things. Force Ballista is good for pushing things around your webs/other hazards, and pushing enemies away from allied casters so they don’t have to disengage, so if you’re finding the Flamethrower isn’t very useful due to resistance/immunity to fire or friendly fire risks, swapping to Force Ballista is a good deal as well. Just keep the Protector Cannon going at all times.

Level 16 Artificer

Ability Score Improvement (Feat) – Lucky. This is mainly going to be used as yet another defensive tool when we fail particularly nasty saving throws.
Spell Changes: +faerie fire.

Level 17 Artificer

Spell Changes: +cone of cold, +transmute rock, +wall of force, –faerie fire.

Cone of cold ^D – Cone of cold actually deals pretty good damage for the slot, but cones are harder to place than spheres and you have better things to use your fifth level slots on. Blowing up a bunch of minions is still blowing up a bunch of minions though.
Transmute rock – We’re taking this to reshape a battlefield in a pinch if needed (without concentration!)
Wall of force ^D – One of, if not the best fifth level spell in the game. This is hard control: no saving throw, something is out of the fight unless they can teleport out. Combine with another party member casting damage over time spells (sickening radiance et al) to microwave your enemies to death. Your primary use of your fifth level slot.

Level 18 Artificer

Magic Item Master – Wow, more magic items! Neat. Get a Staff of the Magi to go along with your staff of power! A lot of campaigns are overflowing with magic items at this point, so you’ll get more mileage out of this in those games than games where that’s not the case.
Infuse Item – Enhanced Defense, Helm of Awareness, Mind Sharpener, Replicate Magic Item (bag of holding), Replicate Magic Item (goggles of night), Replicate Magic Item (pipes of haunting), Replicate Magic Item (pipes of haunting), Replicate Magic Item (pipes of haunting), Replicate Magic Item (ring of protection), Replicate Magic Item (spellwrought tattoo (1st level)), Replicate Magic Item (winged boots), Replicate Magic Item (winged boots), Replicate Magic Item (winged boots).
Enhanced Defense – Backup. By now your party may have found some magic armor that lessens the value of this.
Helm of Awareness – Primary use now each day.
Mind Sharpener – Backup.
Replicate Magic Item (bag of holding) – Backup. You might already have a permanent one but at this point you might even need a second handy because the loot hoards can be enormous.
Replicate Magic Item (goggles of night) – Still primary if needed.
Replicate Magic Item (pipes of haunting) – Still primary.
Replicate Magic Item (pipes of haunting) – Still primary.
Replicate Magic Item (pipes of haunting) – Still primary.
Replicate Magic Item (ring of protection) – Backup. Buffing your or an ally’s saving throw, even by only +1, is still good in this stage of the game. It can be the difference between constantly debuffed from a big bad or being able to contribute at full strength.
Replicate Magic Item (spellwrought tattoo (1st level)) – Backup.
Replicate Magic Item (winged boots) – Primary use now each day.
Replicate Magic Item (winged boots) – Primary use each day. Spread your wings and fly, party.
Replicate Magic Item (winged boots) – Backup. If a third party member needs it some day, then you have it.
Spell Changes: +greater restoration.

Greater restoration – Our highest level “in case of emergency, break glass” spell. Greater restoration is absolutely necessary in this stage when enemies often have curses, seriously debilitating charm effects or Ability Score or hit points maximum reductions. Another character in the party may be able to cast it already, but who can cast it on them?

Level 19 Artificer

Ability Score Improvement (Feat) – Alert. Going first when you have control spells is extremely important so you can shape the battlefield before any allies enter melee range or before any hostiles have a chance to cast their own spells.

Level 20 Artificer

Soul of Artifice – You now have a cool +6 to Strength, Dexterity, and Charisma saving throws and +12 to Constitution, Intelligence, and Wisdom saving throws. If you have a Paladin nearby, that becomes +11 and +17, respectively. This is a very nice capstone!
Spell Changes: +freedom of movement.

Freedom of movement – Our final “in case of emergency, break glass” spell we can pick. This is nice to counter whatever just paralyzed your friend.