Post by DM Cyphus on Mar 14, 2006 12:36:06 GMT -5
I am starting this thread for several reasons.
First and foremost: Here is where, when the situations arise (and the will...possibly soon) that I am required to make some type of ruling, I will post my decision so that we may always play by that rule, henceforth. This will give us some consistency, and possibly prevent the players from getting screwed because of some minor fault (though there probably is no fault) in my memory...and possibly vice versa.
Second: Kesson. It's been over a month since Kesson's last post and about three weeks since he's even logged in. I like the character a lot, but I think it may be time to cut the loss. So, here's the issue with Kesson:
I'm writing him out, so to speak, from the group. If he returns, then so be it. If he doesn't, then we're good to go.
That said: I was planning on exploring character concepts and goals every few adventures or so. I'd decided to start with Kesson. Unfortunately, he's no longer about, and though I like the adventure I had going, this was really going to be Kesson's moment to shine. That said, I don't feel like DMing and NPCing the character who's supposed to take the lead on this adventure. I have the one after that planned as well, but it needs some time to pass before I'll let you have a crack at it.
So...I'm contemplating running a published adventure. With experienced players like we have, I wanted to avoid running something someone had played. Has anyone used or run in any of the free adventures from the Wizards site? Also, if you haven't, can everyone keep the temptation at bay to look at the adventure I'm running, since you know where I'm gonna snag it? Or, do you all think published adventures so lame that you'd rather me just take a day or two and write up my own?
I figure we'll take a little break from the tie to Lethtar everyone has in the Pretens to let the group run free a bit and get to know everybody. We'll be meshing a few different personas, and I'd like that to go smoothly. So let me know.
Okay...as for rulings:
1. If you aren't around and we wanna keep things moving, you're gonna have your stuff rolled. That will go for everyone.
2. Sometimes I roll at home with my dice...and I will not always link to my dice rolls online. Why? Because I am the DM. I assure you that rolls are happening. I've yet to need to fudge a roll, and I usually don't like to do that. I'll be honest with you...and there will undoubtedly be times I throw something your way that you can't handle. You can go out in a blaze of Kossuthan firey glory, or you can turn tail and run and live to fight another day. The choice is yours.
3. Item Crafting and Magic Item Creation:
We've updated the Craft skill and Magic Item Creation rules. Here ya go:
Craft (Int)
Like Knowledge, Perform, and Profession, Craft is actually a number of separate skills. You could have several Craft skills, each with its own ranks, each purchased as a separate skill.
A Craft skill is specifically focused on creating something. If nothing is created by the endeavor, it probably falls under the heading of a Profession skill.
Check
You can practice your trade and make a decent living, earning about half your check result in gold pieces per week of dedicated work. You know how to use the tools of your trade, how to perform the craft’s daily tasks, how to supervise untrained helpers, and how to handle common problems. (Untrained laborers and assistants earn an average of 1 silver piece per day.)
The basic function of the Craft skill, however, is to allow you to make an item of the appropriate type. The DC depends on the complexity of the item to be created. The DC, your check results, and the price of the item determine how long it takes to make a particular item. The item’s finished price also determines the cost of raw materials.
In some cases, the fabricate spell can be used to achieve the results of a Craft check with no actual check involved. However, you must make an appropriate Craft check when using the spell to make articles requiring a high degree of craftsmanship.
A successful Craft check related to woodworking in conjunction with the casting of the ironwood spell enables you to make wooden items that have the strength of steel.
When casting the spell minor creation, you must succeed on an appropriate Craft check to make a complex item.
All crafts require artisan’s tools to give the best chance of success. If improvised tools are used, the check is made with a -2 circumstance penalty. On the other hand, masterwork artisan’s tools provide a +2 circumstance bonus on the check.
To determine how much time and money it takes to make an item, follow these steps.
1. Find the item’s price in gold pieces (gp)
2. Find the DC from the table below.
3. Pay one-third of the item’s price for the cost of raw materials.
4. Make an appropriate Craft check representing one day's work. If the check succeeds, multiply your check result by the DC. If the result × the DC equals the price of the item in gp, then you have completed the item. (If the result × the DC equals double or triple the price of the item in silver pieces, then you’ve completed the task in one-half or one-third of the time. Other multiples of the DC reduce the time in the same manner.) If the result × the DC doesn’t equal the price, then it represents the progress you’ve made this day. Record the result and make a new Craft check for the next day. Each day, you make more progress until your total reaches the price of the item in gold pieces.
If you fail a check by 4 or less, you make no progress this day.
If you fail by 5 or more, you ruin half the raw materials and have to pay half the original raw material cost again.
Creating Masterwork Items
You can make a masterwork item—a weapon, suit of armor, shield, or tool that conveys a bonus on its use through its exceptional craftsmanship, not through being magical. To create a masterwork item, you create the masterwork component as if it were a separate item in addition to the standard item. The masterwork component has its own price (300 gp for a weapon or 150 gp for a suit of armor or a shield) and a Craft DC of 20. Once both the standard component and the masterwork component are completed, the masterwork item is finished. Note: The cost you pay for the masterwork component is one-third of the given amount, just as it is for the cost in raw materials.
Creating Items with Special Materials
To create an item with special materials (i.e. adamantine, mithral, dragonshide, etc.), the process is very similar. You must first pay 1/3 the total price in raw materials for the item and have access to the raw materials. The item is then crafted as though it were a masterwork version of the base item. Therefore, if you were to craft a suit of mithral full plate, you would pay 1/3 the amount in raw materials (1,500 for the base armor + 9,000 for the mithral component / 3 = 3,500 gp). You would only need to achieve a gp total, however, for a masterwork version of full plate armor (one check for the base item and a separate check for the masterwork component as outlined above). Upon completion however, the full plate would be mithral full plate and not just a masterwork suit of full plate.
Repairing Items
Generally, you can repair an item by making checks against the same DC that it took to make the item in the first place. The cost of repairing an item is one-fifth of the item’s price.
When you use the Craft skill to make a particular sort of item, the DC for checks involving the creation of that item are typically as given on the following table.
See also: epic usages of Craft.
Action
Does not apply. Craft checks are made by the day (see above).
Try Again
Yes, but each time you miss by 5 or more, you ruin half the raw materials and have to pay half the original raw material cost again.
Special
A dwarf has a +2 racial bonus on Craft checks that are related to stone or metal, because dwarves are especially capable with stonework and metalwork.
A gnome has a +2 racial bonus on Craft (alchemy) checks because gnomes have sensitive noses.
You may voluntarily add +10 to the indicated DC to craft an item. This allows you to create the item more quickly (since you’ll be multiplying this higher DC by your Craft check result to determine progress). You must decide whether to increase the DC before you make each weekly or daily check.
To make an item using Craft (alchemy), you must have alchemical equipment and be a spellcaster. If you are working in a city, you can buy what you need as part of the raw materials cost to make the item, but alchemical equipment is difficult or impossible to come by in some places. Purchasing and maintaining an alchemist’s lab grants a +2 circumstance bonus on Craft (alchemy) checks because you have the perfect tools for the job, but it does not affect the cost of any items made using the skill.
Synergy
If you have 5 ranks in a Craft skill, you get a +2 bonus on Appraise checks related to items made with that Craft skill.
As for magic items:
Magic items are always half of the base price in gp and 1/25 of the base price in XP. For many items, the market price equals the base price. Constructing a magic item takes 1 day for every 10,000 gp of the base price.
Here's a useful little tool Keli put together as well:
www.darkaffair.com/host/Item%20Creation.xls
First and foremost: Here is where, when the situations arise (and the will...possibly soon) that I am required to make some type of ruling, I will post my decision so that we may always play by that rule, henceforth. This will give us some consistency, and possibly prevent the players from getting screwed because of some minor fault (though there probably is no fault) in my memory...and possibly vice versa.
Second: Kesson. It's been over a month since Kesson's last post and about three weeks since he's even logged in. I like the character a lot, but I think it may be time to cut the loss. So, here's the issue with Kesson:
I'm writing him out, so to speak, from the group. If he returns, then so be it. If he doesn't, then we're good to go.
That said: I was planning on exploring character concepts and goals every few adventures or so. I'd decided to start with Kesson. Unfortunately, he's no longer about, and though I like the adventure I had going, this was really going to be Kesson's moment to shine. That said, I don't feel like DMing and NPCing the character who's supposed to take the lead on this adventure. I have the one after that planned as well, but it needs some time to pass before I'll let you have a crack at it.
So...I'm contemplating running a published adventure. With experienced players like we have, I wanted to avoid running something someone had played. Has anyone used or run in any of the free adventures from the Wizards site? Also, if you haven't, can everyone keep the temptation at bay to look at the adventure I'm running, since you know where I'm gonna snag it? Or, do you all think published adventures so lame that you'd rather me just take a day or two and write up my own?
I figure we'll take a little break from the tie to Lethtar everyone has in the Pretens to let the group run free a bit and get to know everybody. We'll be meshing a few different personas, and I'd like that to go smoothly. So let me know.
Okay...as for rulings:
1. If you aren't around and we wanna keep things moving, you're gonna have your stuff rolled. That will go for everyone.
2. Sometimes I roll at home with my dice...and I will not always link to my dice rolls online. Why? Because I am the DM.
I assure you that rolls are happening. I've yet to need to fudge a roll, and I usually don't like to do that. I'll be honest with you...and there will undoubtedly be times I throw something your way that you can't handle. You can go out in a blaze of Kossuthan firey glory, or you can turn tail and run and live to fight another day. The choice is yours. 3. Item Crafting and Magic Item Creation:
We've updated the Craft skill and Magic Item Creation rules. Here ya go:
Craft (Int)
Like Knowledge, Perform, and Profession, Craft is actually a number of separate skills. You could have several Craft skills, each with its own ranks, each purchased as a separate skill.
A Craft skill is specifically focused on creating something. If nothing is created by the endeavor, it probably falls under the heading of a Profession skill.
Check
You can practice your trade and make a decent living, earning about half your check result in gold pieces per week of dedicated work. You know how to use the tools of your trade, how to perform the craft’s daily tasks, how to supervise untrained helpers, and how to handle common problems. (Untrained laborers and assistants earn an average of 1 silver piece per day.)
The basic function of the Craft skill, however, is to allow you to make an item of the appropriate type. The DC depends on the complexity of the item to be created. The DC, your check results, and the price of the item determine how long it takes to make a particular item. The item’s finished price also determines the cost of raw materials.
In some cases, the fabricate spell can be used to achieve the results of a Craft check with no actual check involved. However, you must make an appropriate Craft check when using the spell to make articles requiring a high degree of craftsmanship.
A successful Craft check related to woodworking in conjunction with the casting of the ironwood spell enables you to make wooden items that have the strength of steel.
When casting the spell minor creation, you must succeed on an appropriate Craft check to make a complex item.
All crafts require artisan’s tools to give the best chance of success. If improvised tools are used, the check is made with a -2 circumstance penalty. On the other hand, masterwork artisan’s tools provide a +2 circumstance bonus on the check.
To determine how much time and money it takes to make an item, follow these steps.
1. Find the item’s price in gold pieces (gp)
2. Find the DC from the table below.
3. Pay one-third of the item’s price for the cost of raw materials.
4. Make an appropriate Craft check representing one day's work. If the check succeeds, multiply your check result by the DC. If the result × the DC equals the price of the item in gp, then you have completed the item. (If the result × the DC equals double or triple the price of the item in silver pieces, then you’ve completed the task in one-half or one-third of the time. Other multiples of the DC reduce the time in the same manner.) If the result × the DC doesn’t equal the price, then it represents the progress you’ve made this day. Record the result and make a new Craft check for the next day. Each day, you make more progress until your total reaches the price of the item in gold pieces.
If you fail a check by 4 or less, you make no progress this day.
If you fail by 5 or more, you ruin half the raw materials and have to pay half the original raw material cost again.
Creating Masterwork Items
You can make a masterwork item—a weapon, suit of armor, shield, or tool that conveys a bonus on its use through its exceptional craftsmanship, not through being magical. To create a masterwork item, you create the masterwork component as if it were a separate item in addition to the standard item. The masterwork component has its own price (300 gp for a weapon or 150 gp for a suit of armor or a shield) and a Craft DC of 20. Once both the standard component and the masterwork component are completed, the masterwork item is finished. Note: The cost you pay for the masterwork component is one-third of the given amount, just as it is for the cost in raw materials.
Creating Items with Special Materials
To create an item with special materials (i.e. adamantine, mithral, dragonshide, etc.), the process is very similar. You must first pay 1/3 the total price in raw materials for the item and have access to the raw materials. The item is then crafted as though it were a masterwork version of the base item. Therefore, if you were to craft a suit of mithral full plate, you would pay 1/3 the amount in raw materials (1,500 for the base armor + 9,000 for the mithral component / 3 = 3,500 gp). You would only need to achieve a gp total, however, for a masterwork version of full plate armor (one check for the base item and a separate check for the masterwork component as outlined above). Upon completion however, the full plate would be mithral full plate and not just a masterwork suit of full plate.
Repairing Items
Generally, you can repair an item by making checks against the same DC that it took to make the item in the first place. The cost of repairing an item is one-fifth of the item’s price.
When you use the Craft skill to make a particular sort of item, the DC for checks involving the creation of that item are typically as given on the following table.
| Item | Craft Skill | Craft DC |
| Acid | Alchemy1 | 15 |
| Alchemist's fire, smokestick, or tindertwig | Alchemy1 | 20 |
| Antitoxin, sunrod, tanglefoot bag, or thunderstone | Alchemy1 | 25 |
| Armor or shield | Armorsmithing | 10 + AC bonus |
| Longbow or shortbow | Bowmaking | 12 |
| Composite longbow or composite shortbow | Bowmaking | 15 |
| Composite longbow or composite shortbow with high strength rating | Bowmaking | 15 + (2 × rating) |
| Crossbow | Weaponsmithing | 15 |
| Simple melee or thrown weapon | Weaponsmithing | 12 |
| Martial melee or thrown weapon | Weaponsmithing | 15 |
| Exotic melee or thrown weapon | Weaponsmithing | 18 |
| Mechanical trap | Trapmaking | Varies2 |
| Very simple item (wooden spoon) | Varies | 5 |
| Typical item (iron pot) | Varies | 10 |
| High-quality item (bell) | Varies | 15 |
| Complex or superior item (lock) | Varies | 20 |
| 1You must be a spellcaster to craft any of these items. | ||
| 2Traps have their own rules for construction. |
See also: epic usages of Craft.
Action
Does not apply. Craft checks are made by the day (see above).
Try Again
Yes, but each time you miss by 5 or more, you ruin half the raw materials and have to pay half the original raw material cost again.
Special
A dwarf has a +2 racial bonus on Craft checks that are related to stone or metal, because dwarves are especially capable with stonework and metalwork.
A gnome has a +2 racial bonus on Craft (alchemy) checks because gnomes have sensitive noses.
You may voluntarily add +10 to the indicated DC to craft an item. This allows you to create the item more quickly (since you’ll be multiplying this higher DC by your Craft check result to determine progress). You must decide whether to increase the DC before you make each weekly or daily check.
To make an item using Craft (alchemy), you must have alchemical equipment and be a spellcaster. If you are working in a city, you can buy what you need as part of the raw materials cost to make the item, but alchemical equipment is difficult or impossible to come by in some places. Purchasing and maintaining an alchemist’s lab grants a +2 circumstance bonus on Craft (alchemy) checks because you have the perfect tools for the job, but it does not affect the cost of any items made using the skill.
Synergy
If you have 5 ranks in a Craft skill, you get a +2 bonus on Appraise checks related to items made with that Craft skill.
As for magic items:
Magic items are always half of the base price in gp and 1/25 of the base price in XP. For many items, the market price equals the base price. Constructing a magic item takes 1 day for every 10,000 gp of the base price.
Here's a useful little tool Keli put together as well:
www.darkaffair.com/host/Item%20Creation.xls
