Artificer

Version 0.28: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Artificers are attuned to gadgets, mechanics and magic elicited from arcane items, as opposed to casting magic themselves. As a consequence, they enter the Dungeon with an assortment of wands. Artificers are skilled at evoking magical items, and also understand the basics of melee combat.

An Artificer is an Evocations specialist. Wands are their tool of choice, and they bring a few with them to the Dungeon.

Preferred Races

Deep Dwarf, Kobold, Spriggan, Draconian, and Demonspawn are the recommended species if you pick an Artificer Background.

Starting Equipment

Some species may receive different items based on their unique restrictions.

• +0 club
• +0 leather armour
• Wand of charming (15 charges)
• Wand of flame (15 charges)
• Piece from Xom's chessboard (15 charges, rechargeable)

Starting Skills and Stats

These are adjusted by your species' aptitudes.

• Fighting: 1
• Short Blades: 1
• Dodging: 2
• Stealth: 1
• Evocations: 3

Choosing Artificer adds 3 to your starting Strength, 4 to your starting Intelligence, and 5 to your starting Dexterity.

Strategy

Artificer is a versatile background. It is important to both be liberal with your wand charges and save them where possible. You should use your weapon to kill easy enemies and use wands against tough opponents.

Your charming wand is useful for dealing with groups (such as orc bands or swarms of killer bees) early on. Your flame wand is useful for reliably (albeit slowly) killing enemies from range, particularly if they're standing in or near water, but 15 charges won't last long.

The piece from Xom's chessboard should not be written off as useless - it has the potential to haste, berserk, or turn enemies invisible, which means it is best used on a staircase (or behind a door, if the monster cannot open them) so that you can easily escape should something go sour. However, it can hex troublesome monsters, and help conserve your more reliable wand charges. Due to its random targeting, Xom's chesspiece is best used in fights against a single monster.

Artificers can choose many paths to pursue through the game; pretty much whatever path you choose, your evocations will be a useful supplement to your main skills.

History

• Prior to 0.27, artificers began with the removed wand of random effects instead of the randomly-targeted piece from Xom's chessboard.
• Prior to 0.14, artificers began with scrolls of recharging identified.
• Prior to 0.10, artificers could start off the game with a +0 leather armour, a bread ration, and either a rod of Striking (8 charges) or their choice of a wand from Magic Darts, Frost, Flame, Confusion, or Enslavement (15 charges each). If they chose a wand, they also started with a wand of random effects (15 charges). If they chose a non-damaging device (wand of enslavement or wand of confusion), they started with a +0,+0 dagger.