Tweak: Artificers start with wand of frost, not flame

[TeshiAlair]

Alternatively, magic darts if reason 1 is too strong.

Reasons:

1. Artificers are generally considered on the weak side overall, and frost helps with more early game threats (Adders, imps)

2. Starting with a wand of flame as one of the main perks of the class makes them unnecessarily crippled early game if they want to go Dith, who is a fairly good god choice given the short blades start (and in general), particularly since the wand of random effects is also discouraged.

[Sar]

Artificers are very strong. 2 is a good point though!

[Berder]

Artificers should abandon their short blade as soon as they find a decent non-shortblade, because short blades are awful.

Artificers are one of the strongest classes. From turn 1 they are capable of taking down an adder, gnoll, ogre, or even stronger enemies. If a black mamba spawned on D1, an artificer could simply enslave it and walk away.

[Lasty]

Alternatively, magic darts if reason 1 is too strong.

Reasons:

1. Artificers are generally considered on the weak side overall, and frost helps with more early game threats (Adders, imps)

2. Starting with a wand of flame as one of the main perks of the class makes them unnecessarily crippled early game if they want to go Dith, who is a fairly good god choice given the short blades start (and in general), particularly since the wand of random effects is also discouraged.

The Dith thing is perhaps a point, but 1) isn't really. Flame does a fine job on adders and the only imps that can reasonably be called a threat (white imps). It also works well on fast zombies, phantoms, and ice beasts. There aren't any actually-scary monsters that resist fire until you start getting to fire drakes, mottled dragons, etc.

[Sprucery]

I know more selections upon character creation are generally not wanted, but would it be terrible if Artificers could select either flame or frost wand?

[duvessa]

i'm pretty sure wand of flame and wand of frost are literally identical against an adder

[dowan]

Except the frost slows them sometimes

[Arrhythmia]

Actually, it doesn't.

[savageorange]

It doesn't?

.. what.

Why?

[spudwalt]

Pretty sure it's only freezing-branded attacks (i.e. melee attacks) and freezing clouds and maybe Ozocubu's Refrigeration that slow down cold-blooded creatures. Just dealing cold damage isn't enough - it has to be one of those methods.

[Sar]

Freeze also works.

[TeshiAlair]

Huh. Coulda sworn I got the slowdown message from throw frost before.

That aside- even if the only downside to having wand of flame instead of frost is the Dith thing, I think that's a valid reason to make the switch personally. It just feels unnecessarily weird.

[dowan]

I could have sworn throw frost slowed cold blooded creatures, at least at one point. But I have been wrong before...

The dith thing seems like a decent reason, although you're making them less effective vs early undead with a wand of frost.

[partial]

darts too weak?

I think ideally it'd be an elementally neutral weapon

[byrel]

Also, EH slows too. Oddly enough.