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View Full Version : Brainstorming for revisions to the Crafting system (3.5/PF)



Deepbluediver
2012-12-10, 05:16 PM
I've got some stuff I should be posting from my long-comatose core-class fix, but my flash drive has decided to go into meltdown so instead I'm gonna work on something else.

The crafting system in D&D 3.5 can be...a little wonky (I have not studied Pathfinder's revisions). Some people make it work just fine, some people avoid it like the plague, and some players manage to break it so badly the local economy comits hari-kari just to end the madness. I've got a few ideas for altering the crafting system so it can be a little more standardized, but since making our own arms and armor was never very big with my groups, I'd like to run some stuff by the forum first to see what people think. This is just an overview, so I don't have any details really set in stone. Feel free to ask as many questions as you like since, again, this is incomplete, and provide feedback on anything or everything.


Professions- not PC skills!
A profession is a job. NPC's go to work 5-7 days a week, live in a town, raise a family and hope to never ever (EVER please-be-to-Pelor) see a dragon. They can hold down steady jobs, your borderline-psyco murder-hobo does not.
Professions are entirely absent from the PC class lists. If your character decidedes to settle down for a quiet life of retirement (maybe after that last dungeon crawl has left him blind in one eye and missing a limb) he can pick up professions with NPC class-ranks.

Profession checks are made daily, and the Ability score associated with a profession check differs depending on what profession is being worked at. Here are a few examples:
{table=head]Profession|Ability|Labor|Wage
Farmer|
CON|untrained|Copper
Miner|
STR|untrained|Copper
Tailor|
DEX|trained|Silver
Carpenter|
STR|trained|Silver
Scribe|
INT|trained|Silver
Dancer|
CHA|trained|Silver
Jeweler|
DEX|highly-trained|Gold
King's steward|
INT|management|Gold
Ship's Captain|
WIS|management|Gold[/table]

A PC can make an untrained "profession" within the borders of a town or city to impress the resident children or earn a few free drinks at the local tavern, but they can't earn money at it. Rolling badly attracts the attention of the town guard.

Repairing Equipment- also not a PC skill!
There are no longer Craft-skill checks, for any class. Instead there is a skill named "Repair" which represents repairs made to equipment while in the field. It is not a class skill for most classes (the Artificer is the notable exception) because lets face it, all those so-called heroes are usually much better at breaking things than fixing them.

The time for a repair check is based on the size of an object (larger objects take longer) and the DC is based on the value of an object.
The way it works is you make a Repair check, and if you fail you can't make another check for an hour/day/week as you mull over what is broken and how to correct it while you go about other tasks. Once some time has passed you can make another check, and if you succeed you then expend the listed time and the cost of any materials needed (doing away with wasted materials and time). A single successful repair check can restore up to 50% of an objects HP, and any other special features the DM deems repaired

Proposed tables spoilered below (open to adgustments, of course)
{table=head]Item Value (gp)|DC to Repair
<1 gp|5
1-3 gp|6
4-6 gp|7
7-10 gp|8
11-15 gp|9
16-25 gp|10
26-50 gp|11
51-100 gp|12
101-200 gp|13
201-350 gp|14
350- 500 gp|15
501-750 gp|16
751-1,000 gp|17
1,001-1,500 gp|18
1,501-2,000 gp|19
2,001-3,000 gp|20
3,001-5,000 gp|21
5,0001-10,000 gp|22
10,001-20,000 gp|23
20,001-35,000 gp|24
35,001-50,000 gp|25
50,001-75,000 gp|26
75,001-100,000 gp|27
100,001-135,000 gp|28
135,001-175,000 gp|29
175,001-250,000 gp|30
250,001-500,000 gp|35
500,001-1,000,000 gp|40[/table]

{table=head]Size|Time to Repair|Failed check
Fine|10 minutes|1/ hour
Diminutive|20 minutes|1/ hour
Tiny|30 minutes|1/ hour
Small|1 hour|1/ day
Medium|4 hours|1/ day
Large|12 hours|1/ day
Huge|3 days|1/ week
Gargantuan|1 week|1/ week
Colossal|2 weeks|1/ week[/table]

Crafting- sort-of a class
As mentioned, crafting is no longer a normal skill, and with rare exceptions for really crude or simple objects, you must be a trained Craftsmen to make items.

All crafting is broken down into one of 4 categories- Alchemy, Magic, Mundane, and Weapons & Armor.

Alchemy- brews potions, poisons, and magic oils
Magic- crafts scrolls, wands, rods, and staves, and places enchantments on equipment
Mundane- tools, instruments, architecture & engineering all fall in this category, which is the least-used by adventurers
Weapons & Amor- kind of self-explanatory, I think

neither Alchemy nor Magic requires you to be a caster of any kind

Craft checks
Making a craft check is very simple- roll the appropriate number of dice and add appropriate modifiers (no ability score contributes to craft checks)
The total number is what percentage of the object you have successfully crafted. When your total rolls reach 100%, the object is done.
For every 10 points by which you exceed 100, you reduce the time that crafting check takes by 30 minutes, to a minimum of 1 hour.
Additional time for unusually complicated or difficult items is at the DM's discretion. (for example, building a ship would require an entire crew of laborers and take several months, the craft check might merely represent the amount of time it takes to draw up the plans)

A Craft check takes 8 hours, and usually you can make only 1 per day.
Optional rule: If you work yourself to exhaustion (12 hours), you can make 3 checks every 2 days, but you must also make a fortitude save at the end of each day (DC 15, increasing by 1 each day in a row you work franticaly and do not rest). Failure means you do take 1d4 non-lethal damage and do not recover any HP when you sleep that evening. Failure by 5 or more means you take 1 point of Constitution damage which you do not recover until you stop working at such a breakneck pace.

Optional Rule: In my book, no ability score really contributes to crafting significantly more than any other. For crafting checks of either Mundane items or Weapons and Armor, add your total ability modifiers except for your Charisma modifier. For crafting checks of either alchemical or magical items, add your total ability modifiers except for your Strength modifier.

Becoming a Craftsmen (aka alchemist, magician, blacksmith, tailor, shipwright, etc)
Earning ranks in Craftsmen is sort-of like earning ranks in any other class, except the Craftsmen ranks do not provide an increase to BAB, saves, or other class features, and instead of experience from adventuring you need to spend time practicing your craft instead of running around fighting wolve/bandits/undead/dire wolves/demons/half-dragon wolves/half-tarrasque-wolves/:P/etc.

Practicing your craft in order to improve your skill requires you to work at it for at least 2 days out of every 4 (or 6 months out of a year, if you want to spend the rest of the time adventuring). To earn money at your craft (via profession checks) you must work at it at least 3 days out of 4.

{table=head]Time|Level|Crafting Dice|Special|Rank
1 month|1|1d20|Bonus Crafting Feat|Apprentice
2 months|2|1d20+1d10|Profession +1|Apprentice
6 months|3|2d20|Bonus Crafting Feat|Journeyman
1 year|4|2d20+1d10|Profession +2|Journeyman
2 years|5|3d20|Bonus Crafting Feat|Artisan
3 years|6|3d20+1d10|Profession +3|Artisan
5 years|7|4d20|Bonus Crafting Feat|Master
7 years|8|4d20+1d10|Profession +4|Master
10 years|9|5d20|Bonus Crafting Feat|Grand-Master
15 years|10|1d100+5d20*|Profession +5|Grand Master[/table]
*yes that's the intended value

Crafting
When you earn your first rank of Craftsmen, you learn to make 3 items associated with your trade. Each level when you are ranked apprentice and journeymen you learn 3 additional items, 4 new items for each level of artisan or master, and 5 new items for Grand Master.
You may experiment and practice to learn new items beyond this limit. Each additional item you want to learn to craft usually takes a month to learn; time which does not contribute towards improving your rank.

You can also craft an item by following some one else's instructions, but you do not learn to make this item on your own.
Alchemy items are made with recipes, magic items from formulas, mundane items from blue-prints, and weapons or armor from schematics.

Time
This is the amount of time you must spend practicing BEFORE you achieve this level from the previous one. This means (for example) that in order to become a level 2 Craftsmen, you must practice for at least 3 months.
(if I've done the math right, achieving the highest rank takes nearly 50 years)

Crafting Dice
This is how many and what number dice some one of this level rolls for their crafting checks.

Special
You get a crafting bonus feat at every odd number level of Crafstmen.

Starting at level 2, you gain a +1 competency bonus to profession checks made in a profession associated with your crafting type. This bonus increase by 1 every even numbered level.

Rank
Mostly for fluff, atm.


Tools and such
Crafting checks require, at a minimum, and appropriate set of tools to make (hammer and chisel, needle and thread, alchemists kit, carving knives, etc). If you can convince your DM that your character can reasonably perform the task in question without tools, they may make an exception. Usually attempting to use make-shift tools in this manner gives you a -5 penalty on your check.

If you have access to a workshop, forge, laboratory (alchemy) or a rune-circle (magic) you gain a +10 bonus on your check. Particullarly well-appointed locations (found in large cities, attached to universties, or hidden away in forgotten corners of the world) may provide a +20 bonus.



Ok, I need to take a break for a little while, let me know what you think. When I come back, more on the individual crafting sets.

Deepbluediver
2012-12-10, 05:17 PM
Reserved for additional ideas.