Here’s How Dungeons and Dragons is Changing the Artificer Class

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Dungeons & Dragons has released details about updates to the Artificer class in the upcoming Eberron: Forge of the Artificer book. While players familiar with the Artificer from previous editions of Dungeons & Dragons will recognize much of the class, key features like Infuse Item, Flash of Genius, and Soul of Artifice have been significantly revised.

The new sourcebook, Eberron: Forge of the Artificer, updates the Artificer class—the 13th official class in Dungeons & Dragons—to align with the game’s latest rules released in 2024. Originally planned for release on August 19th, the book was delayed until December 9th due to a problem with the printing process.

Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition 2025 Artificer Changes

Just weeks before it’s released, Dungeons & Dragons has revealed a comprehensive overview of updates to a specific class. Some abilities have been tweaked and enhanced, while others have been significantly revised or cut altogether. Players familiar with the D&D Artificer Unearthed Arcana will likely see similarities, but these are the changes that survived playtesting and will be included in the final version of the class.

Class Feature Level What’s New
Spellcasting 1
  • Can replace one cantrip each Long Rest.
  • Number of prepared spells is now a fixed number in the Artificer table.
Tinker’s Magic 1
  • New feature that replaces the old Magical Tinkering
  • Grants the Mending cantrip.
  • As a Magic action with Tinker’s Tools, create useful mundane gear (Rope, Torch, Caltrops, etc.) that lasts until your next Long Rest. Uses per Long Rest are equal to your Intelligence modifier.
Replicate Magic Item 2
  • New feature that replaces the old Infuse Item
  • Learn plans for creating magic items by level tiers.
  • Create one or more magic items after a Long Rest from plans you know; attune instantly if required.
Artificer Subclass 3
  • Cartographer subclass added; Alchemist, Armorer, Artillerist, and Battle Smith updated.
Magic Item Tinker 6
  • New feature that replaces Tool Expertise with benefits that expand your Replicate Magic Item feature
  • Charge Magic Item: Expend a spell slot to restore charges to a replicated item.
  • Drain Magic Item: Dismiss a replicated item to gain a spell slot.
  • Transmute Magic Item: Swap one replicated item for another plan once per Long Rest.
Flash of Genius 7
  • Now triggers specifically when a creature fails an ability check or saving throw.
Magic Item Adept 10
  • Reduced crafting time/cost benefit enveloped into Tinker’s Magic feature.
Spell-Storing Item 11
  • Can now store an Artificer spell up to level 3 that casts as a Magic action from the item; can no longer have a Material component that is consumed.
Advanced Artifice 14
  • New feature that combines part of the old Magic Item Savant with the following:
  • Refreshed Genius: Gain a use of Flash of Genius when you finish a Short Rest.
  • Removes the ability to ignore class, species, spell, and level requirements to attune to items.
Magic Item Master 18
  • No change.
Epic Boon 19
  • Choose one Epic Boon feat, or another feat of your choice.
Soul of Artifice 20
  • Reworked to grant the following benefits:
  • Cheat Death: When you drop to 0 Hit Points, you can dismiss Uncommon or Rare replicated magic items to gain Hit Points equal to 20 times the number of items you dismissed.
  • Magical Guidance: Regain all uses of Flash of Genius after a Short Rest as long as you’re attuned to one magic item.

As a big Artificer fan, I’m really excited about some of the updates! The Spell-Storing Item is way more useful now, letting me copy up to third-level spells. They’ve also renamed Magic Item Savant to Advanced Artifice, which is a bit clearer, and it now gets a Flash of Genius use back on a Short Rest – that’s a huge quality of life improvement. Plus, we can swap out a cantrip every Long Rest, giving us more flexibility. And just like the other classes in the newest books, Artificers get an Epic Boon at level 19, which is awesome for character progression!

Several skills have also been changed significantly. Magical Tinkering is now Tinker’s Magic, which teaches a simple repair spell and allows the Artificer to make some common items without cost. Also, instead of the previous Infuse Items ability, Artificers now use Replicate Magic Items, meaning things like Boots of the Winding Path are created as regular magic items instead of being unique to Artificers.

The Magic Item Tinker ability, which replaces Tool Expertise, now allows characters to restore the power of magic items using spell slots, convert items into spell slots, or quickly change their equipment. The Soul of Artifice feature has also been updated: its life-saving ability now lets players sacrifice more powerful magical items, but it no longer grants a bonus to saving throws. Instead, all uses of Flash of Genius are refreshed after a short rest.

The new Dungeons & Dragons sourcebook, Eberron: Forge of the Artificer, officially releases on December 9th. However, players who have a Master or Hero level subscription to D&D Beyond will get early access on November 25th or December 2nd, respectively. Over the next few weeks, fans can also look forward to detailed blog posts about the Artificer subclasses featured in the book.

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2025-11-22 11:07