Excerpt: Self-Forged

This week we get a preview paragon path pertaining to artificers. The good news is that this means that between now and date, that if anyone is actually playing a non-houseruled single-classed artificer that there is finally an "official" paragon path to snag at 11th-level.

Self-forged are 4th Edition's renegade mastermakers, and are artificers that augment in order to crib all the warforged's racial features. You start out by replacing your arm with a battlefist (mine looks like Hellboy's arm), and then gradually work your way up the chart: you get a +2 against ongoing damage at 11th-level, and can both attach warforged components and take 10 on death saves at 16th-level.

The battlefist is a mace category weapon that deals 1d8 damage and gets a +3 proficiency bonus. You can use Enchant Item, Disenchant Item, and Transfer Enchantment on it, but cannot destroy it with any ritual (only remove whatever bonuses you gave it). Thats pretty much what I would expect, but I'm glad Wizards added in the non-destruction clause since it'll make things clearer for people that actually needed that degree of clarity.

As for powers, battlefist smash deals 3[W] and pushes the target equal to your Con modifier and also causes it to grant combat advantage. Not bad for an opener.
Self-repair is a standard-daily that heals you for your bloodied value. Very nice.
Finally, flailing gauntlet is your typical Hellboy-Nazi bad guy attack, where you launch your fist at an opponent. It says that its connected by a chain of force, but I think that a normal run-of-the-mill chain will do just fine, thank you. Its only got a range of 2, but targets Fort, deals 4[W] damage, and knocks the target prone. Oh, and for the rest of the encounter it gains reach 2 as an effect.

All in all I like it. Unlike the renegade mastermaker in 3rd Edition, the battlefist here is useful and the rest of the powers help compliment the entire theme. It gives me an idea for a minotaur artificer-tactical warlord when someone else runs an Eberron campaign...

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