The giff can ignore loading properties on fire arms so if you can convince your DM to let you be a space hippo you won't need a feat

Goodberry enspelled weapon = PEZ dispenser hilt

"Why does the pommel of your dagger look like a black and white beagle?"

9:10 Repeating Shot is also an item now, so you could craft a repeating shot weapon then still have all your other infusion options free.

A dagger of good berries sounds interesting :_Butkobold:, and the mental image I have of a hero swinging a sword and launching a flurry of swords in a giant cone is spectacular.

I think the reason they removed the +2 AC from the level 15 feature is because the defender’s AC is now 12 + INT as opposed to just the original flat 15 is had which means the AC of the defender can be 17 much sooner and maybe even higher if you can get your INT over 20

Heya! Love this, but wanted to point out that Aura of Vitality did have another change. In the 2014 rules, you had to use your bonus action to give out the 2d6 health. In 2024, it's just at the start of each of your turns. Which means it went from needing an action and 10 bonus actions to live up to its max, to just an action. Which is a huge buff to the spell and why I seriously love it now.

My complaint was that they removed the mending healing on the steel defender, but kept it on the artillerist cannons.

One nerf not pointed out is that they removed the possibility to heal with mending the Steel defender.

Here's hoping that my favorite subclass, the Armorer, is the first vid of 2026

A few years ago, I played a gnome Battle Smith whose steel defender was a turtle, which he rode. He went through six iterations of it since he had to remake it when it was destroyed. My favorite destruction was when it was accidentally polymorphed into a bird and flew off (long story). We later had a big enemy literally use the, now deactivated, body of that version as a weapon because when I remade the steel defender, the previous one "died" and thus the polymorph ended. It then fell on this giant's head and hurt him, so he decided to use it to hurt others.

For crafting reasons, Cartomancer feat plus 1 level of wizard means you can cast any spell on the wizard spell list for which you have that level of spell slot, albeit once a day. That still means you can craft a necklace of fireballs as a battle smith though. (As always, this is one to clarify with your DM but RAW this should work)

10:00 it is not a nerf since the AC is calculated differently. You will end up with the same AC as before

6:42  BUT KOBOLD !

You don’t have to multiclass to get a good spell list if you choose a dragon mark with a good spell list !!

Give an enspelled weapon (staff) of goodberry to someone with a fly speed and they can pretend they are Ang when he got his second staff that had a snack compartment 😭

09:40 [Arcane Jolt: Restorative]
 
.  With 2 levels of Warlock:
[Invocation: Fiendish Vigor]
Magic Action = +12 TempHP (at will, no spellslot, no limit)
 
.  Use your turn to buff yourself (Magic Action), then command (Bonus Action) the steel defender to attack you.

.  Repeat
 
-> (×5) healing: 2d6 = from +10 to +60 HP (on one creature or spread to up to 5).
 
This is a less precise, slower & convoluted "Healing Hands" pool of HP.  
Great Combo Feature

i would go for enspelled items with "shield", "absorb elements", "feather fall", and maybe "cure wounds"  . . .

Hope Tiamat got you something evil for christmas

Thank you, it is fun!

New tradition: Christmas battle smith video every year from here on

Thanks to Steel Bond, you're adding your Proficiency Bonus to the defender's ability checks, including Arcana.  Its PB is also the same as yours.  It probably doesn't work this way, but would that mean the defender is proficient with Arcana?  If so, that would mean it could help you with crafting magic items.