We shall discuss the Artificer class in the Dungeons & Dragons 5e role-playing game. What are the benefits of playing the character class of Artificer? Does playing a Artificer have a down side? How should one properly play the Artificer class?
For any wondering, 5E Artificers are Unearthed Arcana material at this time. They're not in the PhB or any officially ready to play source.
The base class is a support chassis. They get some useful spells and rituals, a mechanical animal companion, and free magic items.
From there, the subclass greatly changes the character's primary role. The Gunsmith is a ranged damage dealing character, and gets some area of effect abilities at higher levels. The Alchemist doubles down on the support role, able to dish out poisons and potions of varying effect.
The one thing I was disappointed about with this class is it failed to come along with reasonable magic item crafting rules, or class based support for the same. The primary reason to be an artificer in earlier editions had nothing to do with combat ability, but rather their predilection for making things.