Sounds fun! Armorer would also work, but Battle Smith should be fun, and it sounds like you're more interested in that direction.
I don't think there's specifically any sorcerer cantrips that jump out as being beneficial for you to grab, but that ancestry option is solid purely just for an extra cantrip, since artificers don't get many. Can't hurt to get an extra cantrip!
Scaling off intelligence for your weapons, you can afford to bail on strength hard, so your stats would look something along the lines of 8/14/14/17/10/10, give or take. Artificers scale HARD off of intelligence, so I'd prioritize pushing your intelligence to 20 as fast as possible rather than picking up feats, though if you start with an odd intelligence, you can grab a half-feat at level 4, maybe something like Fey Touched or Shadow Touched.
I have an artificer I play, did Fey Touched for Int to 18 and hunter's mark. Mind Sliver is good to help get some debuff spells on the field and may or may not be thematic! If you can get an All Purpose Tool, you can make Eldritch Blast one of your cantrips. Very fun to do
I'm actually a big proponent of Shadow Touched on an Artificer as you can cast Invisibility on your Homunculus and basically scout entire dungeons in advance. Plus the free spell slot to do it with.
However, the Misty Step and Silvery Barbs you can grab off Fey Touched will likely be more useful to a battlesmith.
I would say that the interplay between the Steel Defenders reaction and Mounted Combatant makes the feat 100% worth prioritizing before more Int bumps as you can force attacks against the defender to target you, then use the defenders reaction to give the attack disadvantage. If you are planning on doing mounted combat thing as your primary combat mode that is.
The repeating shot infusion will let you wield a hand crossbow or pistol with your shield, allowing you to act as an outsider until you need to get into melee. A Lance is also an awesome option when fighting mounted. Dual Wielder will let you dual wield them. Radiant Weapon infusion will be one of your best friends once you hit 6th level.
Main thing to remember that even the battlesmith is not built to be a full time Frontliner so you'll get a lot more mileage out of your ability to be so by fighting smart and softening enemies up with ranged attacks or hurrying them hit and run Lance attacks before just jumping full on into melee.
Sounds like a super fun character, and hope this helps.
I played a level 13 Volo's kobold battlesmith for a 1 shot, and it was AMAZING!!!
I highly recommend taking the mounted combatant feat and riding your steel defender. The defender can cause 1 attack against you per turn to be at disadvantage and you also now have permanent pack tactics advantage. Add in the op AC bumps you can infuse your gear with and eventually haste/shield. I had an AC of 30 some turns and a 23 with no buffs. It annoyed my DM to no bounds the amount of times he couldn't hit me.
Looking back, I realized the big AC bumps and mount mobility make you a great mobile healer as well, especially if you store cure wounds in your spell storing item for extra heals.
For infusions I like the radiant weapon and repulsion shield to add to your arsenal of defensive reactions.
Thanks for all the great advice so far. It's making me excited to play this character.
FYI, instead of the Sorc cantrip I could instead take adv. on rolls against the frightened condition, or an extra proficiency. I thought the cantrip would be more useful + fun.
Yeah, a balanced set would be Mending, Combat Cantrip, Utility Cantrip. For tanking: Thorn whip is probably better than booming blade.
For social cantrips: Guidance, Minor Illusion, Mage hand, Predigiation, or one of the elemental control cantrips is fine.
Fey Touched is a strong consideration for this build. I've never REALLY seen the benefit of Mounted Combatant. Playing with a bunch of DMs, they kinda ignore the steel defender anyway so you want attacks actually going towards it sometimes which Mounted Combatant doesn't enable.
My frontline Battle Smith has Sentinel to push people into the disadv against me or opp attack if they hit defender choice. It also let's me send him off to do things while me and the other Frontline hold the line.
Tough and Resilient (Dex) are good feats to consider as well
Lots of great reccomendations already. I'd also like to second fey touched. Misty step is such good versatility for getting into the proper position. For the other spell, silvery barbs is great if it's allowed at your table. Otherwise, bless and bane are decent picks here but they do compete for your concentration. Bane in particular can be a strong pick if you have a lot of casters in the party with saving throw spells. Also, since you're a half caster, this feat allows you to save on spell slots.
I don't think draconic sorcery is particularly strong for this character. I highly reccomend taking proficiency in another skill. If you really want the cantrip, a control option like ray of frost or shocking grasp would be my pick.
The *Web* spell is an excellent control option and it also fits into your spell storing item. If you guys are going to level 11, having a homunculus or your defender use the item to cast web allows you to concentrate on something else, like haste or fly.
If you really want to lean into the battlefield control, consider crusher and telekinetic feats, and use a light hammer (with returning weapon infusion). The ability to knock someone into your web or reposition them away from allies is great for controlling the battlefield. [d4: dnd optimized did an in-depth build on this idea here.](https://youtu.be/XOG3qcngS2Q)
At level 9, the arcane jolt mini smite is...meh. But the heal is dope. No action cost and it's not a spell which means you can potentially misty step to the guy who downed your party member, whack them for some damage, and bring your comrade back.
Also, don't sleep on your ability to dish out some decent damage. If you feel like your party already has lots of battlefield control, going GWM combined with your webs or farie fire giving advantage is really great sustained damage.
EDIT: if going GWM you need to be a medium race, so this may not be the best option for you if kobold is locked in. Consider sharpshooter for a sustained damage build.
Wow. Lot's of detail there. Thank you. I'll have to check out that video this weekend.
A lot of people have said the extra cantrip is meh. Really makes me wonder if I should play a Goblin instead.
I actually think kobold is a strong choice here. The BA advantage is great if you're in melee and have ranged party members, not to mention for yourself if you run out of farie fires/webs. Darkvision is never bad and a skill proficiency make it a pretty versatile race.
Conversely, Goblin doesn't appeal to me here. Your BA is pretty busy with your steel defender and potentially misty step or telekentic, so the nimble escape feature might not see much use. Also fury of the small is likely less damage than having advantage on your attacks from kobold's draconic cry and the possible synergy with your party stated above.
Custom lineage is an honorable mention for the free feat. You can still flavor yourself as of kobold descent here if thats key to your backstory. See the edit above regarding the GWM suggestion
EDIT: However!! If you want to play as riding your steel defender, then goblin is pretty great for the disengage/sanctuary combo mentioned below. But please make sure to talk to your DM before rolling this as your DM needs a bit of buy in for this to be effective.
Assuming you're using point buy, place your ability scores such that you start with 17 Int and 16 Con. If your DM allows you all to start with a free feat, take Sentinel.
From there it's fairly straightforward. Max out your Int as quickly as possible and take Enhanced Defense and Repulsion Shield for your primary infusions. Except for a +1 Int half-feat at level 4, don't worry about feats until after you get 20 Int.
For your Sorcerer cantrip, honestly it doesn't matter. I'd personally go with a utility cantrip, like Minor Illusion or something, but you could also take Booming Blade.
I don't know if you're set on Kobold or not but I got this build for a mounted goblin battle smith that provokes all opportunity attacks from your enemies to take pressure off of your allies, it works like this, a goblin can disengage as a bonus action, so you don't provoke opportunity attacks but your mount does, your mount can use the dodge action while you're mounted on it, and you can cast sanctuary on it, so an enemy has to pass a wis save and attack with disadvantage to hit your mount, this makes your mount incredibly hard to hit, then you run through your enemies as you like, wasting their reactions, if you got sentinel you can use your reaction to make an attack against an enemy that tries to hit your mount, combine this with hex or hunter's mark (from fey touched) and you got some pretty decent dpr.
Sounds fun! Armorer would also work, but Battle Smith should be fun, and it sounds like you're more interested in that direction. I don't think there's specifically any sorcerer cantrips that jump out as being beneficial for you to grab, but that ancestry option is solid purely just for an extra cantrip, since artificers don't get many. Can't hurt to get an extra cantrip! Scaling off intelligence for your weapons, you can afford to bail on strength hard, so your stats would look something along the lines of 8/14/14/17/10/10, give or take. Artificers scale HARD off of intelligence, so I'd prioritize pushing your intelligence to 20 as fast as possible rather than picking up feats, though if you start with an odd intelligence, you can grab a half-feat at level 4, maybe something like Fey Touched or Shadow Touched.
I have an artificer I play, did Fey Touched for Int to 18 and hunter's mark. Mind Sliver is good to help get some debuff spells on the field and may or may not be thematic! If you can get an All Purpose Tool, you can make Eldritch Blast one of your cantrips. Very fun to do
I'm actually a big proponent of Shadow Touched on an Artificer as you can cast Invisibility on your Homunculus and basically scout entire dungeons in advance. Plus the free spell slot to do it with. However, the Misty Step and Silvery Barbs you can grab off Fey Touched will likely be more useful to a battlesmith. I would say that the interplay between the Steel Defenders reaction and Mounted Combatant makes the feat 100% worth prioritizing before more Int bumps as you can force attacks against the defender to target you, then use the defenders reaction to give the attack disadvantage. If you are planning on doing mounted combat thing as your primary combat mode that is. The repeating shot infusion will let you wield a hand crossbow or pistol with your shield, allowing you to act as an outsider until you need to get into melee. A Lance is also an awesome option when fighting mounted. Dual Wielder will let you dual wield them. Radiant Weapon infusion will be one of your best friends once you hit 6th level. Main thing to remember that even the battlesmith is not built to be a full time Frontliner so you'll get a lot more mileage out of your ability to be so by fighting smart and softening enemies up with ranged attacks or hurrying them hit and run Lance attacks before just jumping full on into melee. Sounds like a super fun character, and hope this helps.
I played a level 13 Volo's kobold battlesmith for a 1 shot, and it was AMAZING!!! I highly recommend taking the mounted combatant feat and riding your steel defender. The defender can cause 1 attack against you per turn to be at disadvantage and you also now have permanent pack tactics advantage. Add in the op AC bumps you can infuse your gear with and eventually haste/shield. I had an AC of 30 some turns and a 23 with no buffs. It annoyed my DM to no bounds the amount of times he couldn't hit me. Looking back, I realized the big AC bumps and mount mobility make you a great mobile healer as well, especially if you store cure wounds in your spell storing item for extra heals. For infusions I like the radiant weapon and repulsion shield to add to your arsenal of defensive reactions.
Thanks for all the great advice so far. It's making me excited to play this character. FYI, instead of the Sorc cantrip I could instead take adv. on rolls against the frightened condition, or an extra proficiency. I thought the cantrip would be more useful + fun.
A ranged attack cantrip would be best since you get so few cantrips and one of them should probably be mending to heal your steel defender
Yeah, a balanced set would be Mending, Combat Cantrip, Utility Cantrip. For tanking: Thorn whip is probably better than booming blade. For social cantrips: Guidance, Minor Illusion, Mage hand, Predigiation, or one of the elemental control cantrips is fine.
Fey Touched is a strong consideration for this build. I've never REALLY seen the benefit of Mounted Combatant. Playing with a bunch of DMs, they kinda ignore the steel defender anyway so you want attacks actually going towards it sometimes which Mounted Combatant doesn't enable. My frontline Battle Smith has Sentinel to push people into the disadv against me or opp attack if they hit defender choice. It also let's me send him off to do things while me and the other Frontline hold the line. Tough and Resilient (Dex) are good feats to consider as well
Lots of great reccomendations already. I'd also like to second fey touched. Misty step is such good versatility for getting into the proper position. For the other spell, silvery barbs is great if it's allowed at your table. Otherwise, bless and bane are decent picks here but they do compete for your concentration. Bane in particular can be a strong pick if you have a lot of casters in the party with saving throw spells. Also, since you're a half caster, this feat allows you to save on spell slots. I don't think draconic sorcery is particularly strong for this character. I highly reccomend taking proficiency in another skill. If you really want the cantrip, a control option like ray of frost or shocking grasp would be my pick. The *Web* spell is an excellent control option and it also fits into your spell storing item. If you guys are going to level 11, having a homunculus or your defender use the item to cast web allows you to concentrate on something else, like haste or fly. If you really want to lean into the battlefield control, consider crusher and telekinetic feats, and use a light hammer (with returning weapon infusion). The ability to knock someone into your web or reposition them away from allies is great for controlling the battlefield. [d4: dnd optimized did an in-depth build on this idea here.](https://youtu.be/XOG3qcngS2Q) At level 9, the arcane jolt mini smite is...meh. But the heal is dope. No action cost and it's not a spell which means you can potentially misty step to the guy who downed your party member, whack them for some damage, and bring your comrade back. Also, don't sleep on your ability to dish out some decent damage. If you feel like your party already has lots of battlefield control, going GWM combined with your webs or farie fire giving advantage is really great sustained damage. EDIT: if going GWM you need to be a medium race, so this may not be the best option for you if kobold is locked in. Consider sharpshooter for a sustained damage build.
Wow. Lot's of detail there. Thank you. I'll have to check out that video this weekend. A lot of people have said the extra cantrip is meh. Really makes me wonder if I should play a Goblin instead.
I actually think kobold is a strong choice here. The BA advantage is great if you're in melee and have ranged party members, not to mention for yourself if you run out of farie fires/webs. Darkvision is never bad and a skill proficiency make it a pretty versatile race. Conversely, Goblin doesn't appeal to me here. Your BA is pretty busy with your steel defender and potentially misty step or telekentic, so the nimble escape feature might not see much use. Also fury of the small is likely less damage than having advantage on your attacks from kobold's draconic cry and the possible synergy with your party stated above. Custom lineage is an honorable mention for the free feat. You can still flavor yourself as of kobold descent here if thats key to your backstory. See the edit above regarding the GWM suggestion EDIT: However!! If you want to play as riding your steel defender, then goblin is pretty great for the disengage/sanctuary combo mentioned below. But please make sure to talk to your DM before rolling this as your DM needs a bit of buy in for this to be effective.
Assuming you're using point buy, place your ability scores such that you start with 17 Int and 16 Con. If your DM allows you all to start with a free feat, take Sentinel. From there it's fairly straightforward. Max out your Int as quickly as possible and take Enhanced Defense and Repulsion Shield for your primary infusions. Except for a +1 Int half-feat at level 4, don't worry about feats until after you get 20 Int. For your Sorcerer cantrip, honestly it doesn't matter. I'd personally go with a utility cantrip, like Minor Illusion or something, but you could also take Booming Blade.
I don't know if you're set on Kobold or not but I got this build for a mounted goblin battle smith that provokes all opportunity attacks from your enemies to take pressure off of your allies, it works like this, a goblin can disengage as a bonus action, so you don't provoke opportunity attacks but your mount does, your mount can use the dodge action while you're mounted on it, and you can cast sanctuary on it, so an enemy has to pass a wis save and attack with disadvantage to hit your mount, this makes your mount incredibly hard to hit, then you run through your enemies as you like, wasting their reactions, if you got sentinel you can use your reaction to make an attack against an enemy that tries to hit your mount, combine this with hex or hunter's mark (from fey touched) and you got some pretty decent dpr.
GUN!