The Engineer Class: A D&D Next Design Experiment (Part 2)

This is my first time trying to design a class for any version of D&D, so go easy on me.  Also, if you missed Part 1 of this experiment, it's here.

***

Engineers are the brains of the outfit--capable combatants who know how to get things done.  They rely on a combination of their own fighting prowess and invention.  They succeed by using hasty or deliberate obstacles and traps to shape the battlefield and force their enemies to go in a direction that best benefits the Engineer’s allies, and when that doesn’t work, they fall back on their knowledge of alchemical concoctions or the simple strength of their sword arms.

Play an Engineer if you want to be a tough, capable jack-of-all-trades, a person who knows a little of everything who can therefore adapt to almost any situation.

Creating an Engineer

You can make an Engineer quickly by following these suggestions.

Background: Artisan (Blacksmith)

Equipment: Scale mail, warhammer, light crossbow, 20 bolts, caltrops (2 sets), construction tools^[1], breaching tools^[2], mule, wooden cart, 5 gp.

Level	Proficiency Bonus	Class Features
1	+1	Engineer's Expertise, Engineering Path
2	+1	Hasty Obstacle Proficiency
3	+2	Alchemy
4	+2	Ability Score Improvement
5	+2	Engineering Path Feature
6	+2	Extra Attack
7	+3	Improved Hasty Obstacles; Deliberate Obstacles and Traps
8	+3	Ability Score Improvement
9	+3	Read magic; Use magical devices; Engineering Path Feature
10	+3	Runic Obstacles and Traps

Class Features

As an Engineer, you have the following class features.

Hit Points

Hit Dice: 1d10 per Engineer level

Hit Points at 1st Level: 1d10 + Constitution modifier

Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6) + Constitution modifier per Engineer level after 1st.

Proficiencies

Armor: Light armor, medium armor

Weapons: Simple weapons, martial melee weapons

Tools: Mounts, breaching tools, see below

Saving Throws: Intelligence

Skills: See below

Engineer’s Expertise

You gain proficiency with breaching tools and in a number of additional skills and/or tool types equal to your Intelligence modifier, choosen from the following lists:

Skills: Athletics, Stealth, Arcana, Search, Animal Handling, Medicine, Perception, Survival

Tools: Abacus, Artisan's Tools, Traps, Navigator's Tools, Climber's Tools, Thieves' Tools

Engineering Path

There are many kinds of Engineers.  Two are presented below.

Heavy Combat Engineer: Also called “Sappers,” heavy combat engineers tend to fight in the scrum, using hasty and deliberate obstacles to shape the battlefield before getting in close and fighting hand-to-hand.

As a Heavy Combat Engineer, you gain proficiency with shields and with construction tools.

Tinkerer: Tinkerers are the inventors of the world.  They tend to fight with ranged weapons, using new and improved sights of their own design and ammunition made deadlier by the addition of alchemical concoctions.

As a Tinkerer, you gain proficiency with martial ranged weapons.

Hasty Obstacle Proficiency

You gain proficiency with Hasty Obstacles.

When you use an action to deploy Hasty Obstacles (such as caltrops, barbed wire, or ball bearings), the DC for the Dexterity saving throw for a creature crossing through the zone of the obstacle equals 8 + your Intelligence modifier + your proficiency bonus. On a missed saving throw, the creature entering your obstacle zone takes piercing damage equal to your Intelligence modifier and is Slowed (save ends). Creatures that can fly or that are immune to piercing damage are immune to this effect.

You can deploy up to 20 linear feet or a 10' x 10' square of hasty obstacles with a single action. Once a specific hasty obstacle has been used, it must be recovered before it can be used again. Recovery takes 5 minutes.

Alchemy

You know a number of alchemical recipes equal to 1 + your Intelligence modifier.  In addition, your alchemical recipes are more potent than standard alchemical concotions, and they improve with experience.  For example, when an alchemical recipe calls for a saving throw, the DC for that saving throw is 8 + your Intelligence modifier + your proficiency bonus.  If an alchemical recipe does damage, that damage is 1d4 for every two levels of Engineer past 3rd level plus your Intelligence modifier (i.e. 1d4+INT at 3rd, 2d4+INT at 5th, 3d4+INT at 7th, etc.).

If you have the proper ingredients, you can mix a number of alchemical concoctions equal to your Intelligence modifier during a Long Rest.

A few sample alchemical recipes are given below, along with a cost for their ingredients.  Your DM may let you develop more.

Alchemical Acid (25 gp)

Make a ranged attack (20’/40) against a single target.  On a hit, the target takes ongoing acid damage equal to your alchemy damage, save ends.  Creatures wearing metal armor or who have metal components make this save with Disadvantage.

Alchemical Fire (25 gp)

Make a ranged attack (20’/40) against a single target.  On a hit, the target takes ongoing fire damage equal to your alchemy damage, save ends.

Alchemical Smoke (15 gp)

You throw or break open a jar of Alchemical Smoke, you create a 20’ radius cloud centered on the spot where the jar was broken.  The area inside the smoke is Heavily Obscured.  The cloud lasts for an hour or until a strong wind causes it to disperse.

Antitoxin (25 gp)

Your antitoxin provides resistance to poison damage for one hour.

Alchemical Poison (50 gp)

As an action, you apply poison to an edged weapon or to a weapon with a point.  On a hit, the target must make a Constitution saving throw or take your alchemy damage in addition to whatever other damage the attack deals.

Lightning in a Bottle (30 gp)

Make a ranged attack (20’/40) against a single target.  On a hit, the target takes lightning damage equal to three times your alchemy damage.

Ability Score Improvement

Choose two ability scores.  These improve by one point each.

Heavy Combat Engineer: Shape Terrain

Your knowledge of the terrain and combat movement allows you to create hasty fighting positions and quickly remove difficult terrain.  

As an action, you can use your suroundings to create a hasty fighting position for yourself or one of your allies, provided that there is something close by that you can use to shape the battlefield.  For example, you might overturn a table and chairs or reposition a large rock or use an alchemical concoction to take down or move a tree.  Regardless, your hasty fighting position is 5’ long, and it gives you partial (half) cover from both ranged and melee attacks coming from that direction.  

You can similarly use an action to remove difficult terrain with explosive alchemy, 2’ linearly per level of Engineer.

Tinkerer: Obscuration and Breaching Specialist 

You learn the Alchemical Smoke concoction if you didn’t already know it already (you can substitute another recipe if you did) and can use Alchemical Smoke as part of another action or as a Reaction.

You can also breach locks and traps using explosive alchemy as part of another action.

Extra Attack

Beginning at 6th level, you can attack one extra time when you use an Action to make an attack.  If you haven’t used all of your movement, you can move between attacks.

Improved Hasty Obstacles

Your Hasty Obstacles deal 1d6 + Intelligence modifier damage on missed DC.

Deliberate Obstacles and Traps

Given time, you can emplace ruinously complex traps and obstacles. The DC to detect and/or avoid your Deliberate Obstacles is your Hasty Obstacles DC.

On a failed save, obstacles/traps you've emplaced deal a number of d6 damage equal to your Intelligence modifier of whatever type the obstacle/trap inflicts (i.e. a fire trap deals fire damage, a pit full of stakes deals piercing damage, etc).  You must describe the obstacles or traps to your DM.

Traps require five minutes to emplace per d6 of damage dealt, but you can hurry the process if you are willing to do less damage. For example, an Engineer with an Intelligence of 18 (+4) could design a trap to deal 4d6 worth of damage; it would take twenty minutes to emplace such a trap. But if that same Engineer is in a hurry, he can spend ten minute and make a trap that deals 2d6 damage instead of using the full 20 minutes to build a trap that is as elaborate as he can make it.

Traps can be visible (i.e. obstacles, in order to force monsters to go where you want them) or invisible (i.e. traps).

As with your Hasty Obstacles, you can emplace 20’ of obstacle/trap linearly or a 10’ x 10’ square.

Read magic; Use magical devices

You can use magical devices as if you were a Mage and can cast arcane spells from scrolls.

Heavy Combat Engineer: Master Weaponsmith (Melee)

Your knowledge of blacksmithing and weapon design allows your to recraft your personal weapon in order to improve its lethality.  Making such improvements to your personal weapon requires approximately one week and access to a forge, but once your modifications are complete, you will have a weapon without peer.  

Describe the way that you’ve improved your weapon to your DM (i.e. adding serrations to an edged weapon).  Once your improvements are made, that specific weapon will deal extra damage equal to your Intelligence modifier.

Note: You can make modifications to magic weapons.  Doing so does not remove the enchantment on these weapons. However, only you can use your weapon to deal the extra damage described above.  This is because your specific modifications are made to fit your own specific fighting style.

Tinkerer: Master Weaponsmith (Ranged) 

Your knowledge of blacksmithing and weapon design allows your to recraft your personal weapon in order to improve its lethality.  Making such improvements to your personal weapon requires approximately one week and access to a forge, but once your modifications are complete, you will have a weapon without peer.  

Describe the way that you’ve improved your weapon to your DM (i.e. adding a custom sight to your longbow).  Once your improvements are made, that specific weapon will deal extra damage equal to your Intelligence modifier.

Note: You can make modifications to magic weapons.  Doing so does not remove the enchantment on these weapons. However, only you can use your weapon to deal the extra damage described above.  This is because your specific modifications are made to fit your own specific fighting style.

Runic Obstacles and Traps

You’ve learned to incorporate Runic Magic into your obstacles and traps.  Your obstacles and traps now use d10s to figure damage instead of d6s.

---

[1] Construction Tools: Block and tackle, chain (10’), hemp rope (50’), smithing hammer, anvil, sledge hammer, shovel, iron spikes (x10), ladder.

[2] Breaching Tools: Crowbar, grappling hook, wooden pole (10’), portable ram.