The Bone Cobbler (Artificer)
“And now, with the restraints in place, with all the alchemical reagents prepared, and using a bolt from the Plane of Negative Energy, I command my creation to live! Live!! Liiiiiive!!!”
PDF Link | D&D Beyond: Bone Cobbler, Undead Minion
Art Credit: https://www.artofmtg.com/art/tezzeret-artifice-master/
Art Credit: https://www.infectedbyart.com/contestpiece.asp?piece=1560
Not all undead are put together neatly using magic. Some undead are crafted by bolting and sewing the sawn-off pieces of dead bodies together, seeking only the best materials to use for undead warfare. The tools to hack, sew, and nail together leathery flesh and hardened bone are most closest to those of a cobbler, and so this kind of artificer necromancer — since relying so thoroughly on the physical craft to do magic makes each an artificer for sure — is properly known as a Bone Cobbler. Most Bone Cobblers are so enamored with the power and utility of the undead form that they even make themselves more undead, crafting a magical prosthetic made of undead flesh and bone to defend themselves and channel their magic with, replacing one of their original limbs with this grisly new undead appendage.
To fill out the spell list of always-prepared necromancy spells to cast through its bone arm, the Bone Cobbler has a few spells from the same upcoming compendium that it appears in, The Impermissicon, all which have already been previewed: spasm, hemorrhage, and grave soil. This artificer has a variety of offensive spells that range from simple damage-dealing to more complex debuffing effects, rather than defensive or support spells. The 3rd-level features for this subclass are modeled after the 3rd-level features for the Battle Smith artificer to help ensure relative balance. Instead of proficiency with all martial weapons and the ability to wield them using Intelligence instead of Strength or Dexterity, the Bone Cobbler gains access to just a single special weapon that provides a bit more power than most one-handed weapons at the cost of not gaining access to any other bonus weapon or cantrip options. And rather than a steel defender construct to accompany the artificer, a Bone Cobbler is partnered with a very-slightly weaker Undead Minion of their own design and construction.
The Battle Smith’s ally has the benefit of a powerful defensive reaction that can be used to support the other PCs, fitting the theme of that subclass. By contrast, the Bone Cobbler’s ally has a reaction and traits that match this subclass’s themes of debuffing enemies and selfishly protecting the artificer and their minions. The Undead Minion doesn’t have the ability to heal itself and it has 1 lower AC than the Steel Defender, but it does have the Undead Fortitude and Undying Devotion traits, giving it comparable survivability and decision-making. While the Undead Minion can’t be used to repair the artificer’s other creations, it can wield, wear, and activate the artificer’s creations (or at least the magic items), opening up unique avenues for creative item usage with a Bone Cobbler and their minion. It can even wield ranged weapons that the artificer is proficient with, such as crossbows, but it has poor Dexterity and so it won’t be very accurate or deal good damage at any great distance.
When the artificer reaches 9th level, they gain access to the animate dead spell (which they always have prepared) at the same time that they gain a bonus to the spell (with a design similar to the Necromancy wizard) and the ability to heal themselves, their minion, and their other undead. The Bone Cobbler specializes in making undead that are more durable than other necromancers’ creations, and their ability to restore their creations’ deathly form using only a bonus action forms a major part of that specialty. Since the artificer can use this feature to heal themselves as well as their Undead Minion, it enables them to use either themselves or the minion as a meatshield in combat when skeletons and zombies don’t suffice. Once they reach 15th level, they receive one of their most powerful features: Ghoulish Strike. Using this feature, the artificer or their minion can imitate a ghoul or ghast, paralyzing their enemies with the mere touch of a claw. This potent class feature works like a paladin’s smite — you decide to use it after the attack hits, so you can choose to save it for a critical hit if you want double damage, or you can use it early to attempt to paralyze a foe and open them up for automatic critical hits through paralysis. Because it can’t be used twice in the same fight, you can’t use it to set up a critical hit and use it on that critical hit!
The Bone Cobbler can even be multiclassed with the School of Necromancy wizard to build a necromancer that focuses entirely on animate dead and the minions created by it. They would receive the bonuses from both the Bone Cobbler’s 9th level feature and the Necromancer’s 6th level feature, allowing them to create more powerful skeletons and zombies than any other build at the cost of the highest level spells for both classes. This is a great build for anyone looking to build a consummate necromancer that relies entirely on their special undead minion and the minions summoned by animate dead to carry them in combat. To maximize the power of your undead, you could even place your epic levels into the Oath of Decay, an upcoming paladin subclass to be found along the Bone Cobbler in The Impermissicon, if you have the right ability scores to multiclass. Since the Bone Cobbler already features a melee bone claw to use with smites, its easier to combine with that death knight paladin to create a formidable captain for an army of augmented undead. That’s the kind of build flexibility that you can expect when playing Dungeons and Dragons using D&D Unleashed!
PDF Link | D&D Beyond: Bone Cobbler, Undead Minion
