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Is the Lightning Launcher from the Armorer Artificer affected by the Spell Sniper Feat? If not, how can you increase it range?

Reason: The Armorer's "Arcane Armor" (if we are to actually rationalize a game of "lets pretend" with rules and dice) by nature is magical, so the effects should emulate certain spells for its functionality. After all, the core concept of the Artificer is to build things that emulate magical effects but count as "magical" for all intents and purposes. For their Lightning Launchers you could "rationalize" that it is made with the knowledge of spells and modifying them for the desired effects like Shocking Grasp as a ranged attack with reduced damage or Lightning Lure with reduced damage and without the "Get Over Here!" effect. Its a "magic" simple weapon emulating a spell effect. So why not "rationalize" that the feat Spell Sniper might work with it?

Thomas Markov
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Jhyarelle Silver
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    Please do some research before posting questions. The answer to this question is immediately obvious from reading the Spell Sniper feat. Please put some effort into researching your questions before you post them. – Thomas Markov Aug 09 '21 at 17:39
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    Do you have any reason for thinking it does or doesn't? Or that it should or shouldn't? Showing what tripped you up when trying to figure this out yourself? – Someone_Evil Aug 09 '21 at 17:41
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    What is unclear about the rule in the book? I don't see it. – Trish Aug 09 '21 at 18:05

1 Answers1

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Spell Sniper and the Lightning Launcher do not interact in any way

Spell Sniper states:

  • [...] When you cast a spell that requires you to make an attack roll, the spell's range is doubled.
  • Your ranged spell attacks ignore half cover and three-quarters cover. [...]

From this, we can conclude that Spell Sniper impacts two things:

  1. Spells you cast that require attack rolls
  2. Your ranged spell attacks

The Lightning Launcher states:

[...] It counts as a simple ranged weapon, with a normal range of 90 feet and a long range of 300 feet, and it deals 1d6 lightning damage on a hit. [...]

No part of this says it can qualify as you casting a spell nor as a ranged spell attack, in fact, it is explicitly called a weapon and not a spell. It does not interact with Spell Sniper in any way.

As far as I know, there is no way to increase a weapon's maximum range, though the Sharpshooter feat does remove disadvantage from attacking at long range.

As far as taking creative liberties and adding rules interactions that the designers did not intend goes, you are, of course, free to do whatever you want. I would personally avoid having the Lightning Launcher count as a spell or count as spell attacks because that would radically change the way it interacts with numerous features throughout the game.

Exempt-Medic
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  • Question has been updated, this answer should definitely address the assumptions that are being brought to the table; dealing with the feature text seems like a secondary objective at this point. – Thomas Markov Aug 09 '21 at 18:22
  • You asked for it, so you were obliged. It'd be rude not . – Jhyarelle Silver Aug 09 '21 at 18:25