Craft

Craft (Int)

Like Knowledge, Perform, and Profession, Craft is actually a number of separate skills. A character 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: A character can practice his trade and make a decent living, earning about half his check result in gold pieces per day of dedicated work. He knows how to use the tools of his 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 a character to make an item of the appropriate type. The DC depends on the complexity of the item to be created. The item's size and relative complexity determine how long it takes to make it. The item's finished price 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, the caster must make an appropriate Craft check when using the spell to make articles requiring a high degree of craftsmanship (any item with a Craft DC of 15 or higher).

A successful Craft check related to woodworking in conjunction with the casting of the ironwood spell enables the caster to make wooden items that have the strength of steel.

When casting the spell minor creation, the caster must succeed on an appropriate Craft check to make any item with a Craft DC of 10 or higher.

All crafts require artisan's tools to give the best chance of success. If the character has only improvised tools, he suffers a -2 circumstance penalty. On the other hand, mastercraft artisan's tools provide a +1 or greater 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 crafting time and DC from Table 4 below, or have the DM determine them.
  2. Determine the item's size and complexity, and find the resultant modifier on Table 5.
  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, the character has completed one day of work. For each 10 points by which the check exceeds the DC, he accomplishes an extra day's work. The crafting time can be reduced to half in this manner.

If the character fails a check by 4 or less, he makes no progress that day.

If the character fails a check by 5 or more, he ruins one-quarter the raw materials and has to pay one-quarter the original raw material cost again.

If the crafting time is one week or more, the character can instead make Craft checks by the week. A failed roll of 4 or less means he loses 2 days of work that week; a failed roll of 5 or more means that he failed twice that week and must pay one-quarter the item's raw material cost again. For each 10 points by which he exceeds the DC, he reduces the crafting time by 2 days (this is for a seven-day week; if you use a different length of time, reduce the time by one-third of the week, rounding down).

Optional: Instead of making multiple checks, the character can make a single check. He can't take 10 on this check – it must be a d20 roll. This is an "all or nothing" check – success means he makes the item; failure means he doesn't make the item, and all the materials are wasted. In either case, it still takes a normal amount of time to make the item, though Step 4 from above applies.

Creating Masterwork Items: The character can make a mastercraft item - a weapon, suit of armor, shield, or tool that conveys a bonus on its use through its exceptional craftsmanship, not through being magical. A mastercraft item costs three times normal because of the materials and craftsmanship used, has a Craft DC 4 higher than normal, and takes 1.5 times longer (round up). Everything else (paying 1/3 the base cost, making Craft checks by the day, etc.) remains the same. So, for example, a +1 mastercraft longsword would be DC 20, cost 60 gp, and take 23 days. See the Mastercrafting rules for more details.

Repairing Items: A character can repair an item by making a Craft check against the same DC that it took to make the item in the first place, -5 (since he's only fixing it, not making it anew). The cost of repairing an item is one-fifth of the item's price.

Making a Forgery: A character can create a forgery of an existing item - something made of lesser materials and/or craftsmanship, but which can be passed off as the real thing. The DC to create a forgery is the same as to create the original item, -10 (if the crafter is using lesser materials) or -5 (for the same/similar materials). A forgery can be determined only through the use of an Appraise check.

Aid another: You can't have more people working on an item than three time the item's size category relative to the crafters - that is, up to three humans (Medium) can work on a suit of human-size armor; 12 could work on a small house (Huge); 96 could work on a small castle (Titanic). By "work on the item" this means adding their bonuses as per aid another - this provides a decent guideline for DMs. For items whose sizes aren't listed on the chart, simply extrapolate by doubling the number allowed for each greater size category.

(Note: The easiest way to determine relative sizes is to assign point values to each worker and the item itself - for example, a Tiny worker or object would be 1, a Small 2, etc.)

Table 1: Worker Size Equivalents

Object Size
Worker Size Tiny Small Medium Large Huge Gargantuan
Tiny 3 6 12 24 48 96
Small 2 3 6 12 24 48
Medium 1 2 3 6 12 24
Large 1 1 2 3 6 12
Huge 1 1 2 3 6

The DCs for commonly made items can be found on the table below.



Table 2: Common Item Craft DCs
Item Craft Skill Craft DC Crafting Time Complexity
Very simple item (wooden spoon) Varies Varies1 1/2 day Simple
Simple melee or thrown weapon Weaponsmithing 122 2 days2 Simple
Light armor, buckler, light shield Armorsmithing 10+(2*AC bonus) Special3 Simple
Longbow or shortbow Bowmaking 12 5 days Simple
Typical item (plowshare) Varies 10 1 day Moderate1
Medium armor, heavy shield Armorsmithing 10+(2*AC bonus) Special3 Moderate
Acid Alchemy1 15 1 day Moderate
Martial melee or thrown weapon Weaponsmithing 152 5 days2 Moderate
Composite longbow or shortbow Bowmaking 15 10 days Moderate
Crossbow Bowmaking 15 10 days Moderate
High-quality item (bell) Varies Varies1 10 days1 Difficult
Comp. longbow or shortbow w/high Str rating Bowmaking 15+(2*Str rating) 10+Str rating days Difficult
Exotic melee or thrown weapon Weaponsmithing 182 7 days2 Difficult2
Alchemist's fire, smokestick, or tindertwig Alchemy 20 2 days Difficult
Heavy armor, tower shield Armorsmithing 10+(2*AC bonus) Special3 Difficult
Complex or superior item (lock) Varies Varies1 15 days1 Complex
Antitoxin, sunrod, tanglefoot bag, or thunderstone Alchemy 25 3 days Complex
Poison Alchemy Varies4 3 days Varies4
Mechanical trap Trapmaking Varies5 Varies5 Varies5

1 Find the item's size on Table 3 and cross-reference that with the complexity level to determine the DC. The times listed are only guidelines; the DM can adjust them as he sees fit for a given item.

2 Reduce the DC by 2 for light weapons, and add 2 for two-handed weapons. The time given is for Medium one-handed weapons (i.e., sized for a Medium person). Times are halved for light weapons and doubled for two-handed weapons, and further modified by their size as noted on Table 4.

If the character is crafting an exotic weapon that is also a racial weapon for his race (a dwarf making a dwarven waraxe, e.g.), it is treated as a martial weapon for purposes of the DC and time. Bastard swords and whips are treated as martial weapons for crafting purposes.

3 Armor takes 3 days per point of AC bonus, multiplied by x3/4 (light), x1.5 (medium), or x3 (heavy), round up (e.g., leather is 4 days, chainmail is 23 days; full plate is 72 days, etc.). Shields take 1 day per point of AC bonus; steel and tower shields take an addtional day.

4 Poison Craft DCs and complexities vary by composition. See Crafting Poisons

5 Traps have their own construction rules.

The table below provides a guideline for assigning Craft DCs. Treat items of rarer/more valuable materials (mithril, adamantine, gemstones, etc.) as being one complexity level higher.


Table 3: Craft DCs Based on Size and Complexity
Complexity
Size Simple Moderate Difficult Complex V. Complex
Tiny and below 5 10 15 25 35
Small 10 14 18 23 30
Medium 13 18 21 27 35
Large 16 21 25 35 45
Huge and above 20 25 30 40 50

Size: This is the item's size. Most items are fairly obvious – Light weapons (sized for a Medium wielder) are Small, one-handed are Medium, and two-handed are Large; armor is treated as the same size as the wearer. Other items can be assigned easily according to their size. Alchemical items are treated as being Tiny.

Simple: Items with no moving parts, which are generally fairly common and easy to make. Simple weapons, common household items, and light and (most) medium armors are simple items.

Moderate: Items made from materials that are not as common (and are thus harder to find/work with) or a variety of common materials. Most jewelry, heavy armor, martial and exotic weapons, masterwork simple weapons, or a simple hut are moderate items.

Difficult: Items with a few moving parts, a high degree of detail or craftsmanship (most masterwork items), made from rare or hard to acquire materials, or made with a variety of uncommon materials or using an unfamiliar design. Intricate jewelry, exotic weapons, most masterwork items, a telescope, or a house are Difficult items.

Complex: Items with a high degree of detail or craftsmanship or a large number of moving parts, or are made from a large number of (usually rare) materials. A small machine, a superior lock, a complicated mechanical trap, a magical construct, or a castle are complex items.

Very Complex: Very complex items are almost unheard of in a normal D&D world; they are items that are generally large in size, with a huge amount of moving parts, and/or require technology (or magic) far beyond what is known, and take years, if not decades or even centuries, to build. These are typically items created by a lost civilization, or those created by an advanced society, are beyond the reach of most PCs. A a steam engine, or a huge magical orrery (a device that depicts the planets and sun in accurate detail) are very complex items.

Assigning Crafting Times: A good rule of thumb for crafting times is to subtract 10 from the Craft DC, then apply the appropriate multiplier from Table 4 (round any fractions up). This table is not used for items with crafting times listed in Table 3.



Table 4: Crafting Time Multipliers
Complexity
Size Simple Moderate Difficult Complex V. Complex
Tiny and below 1/4 1/2 2 4 8
Small 1/4 1/2 1 2 4
Medium 1/2 1 2 4 8
Large 1 2 4 8 16
Huge and above 2 4 8 16 32

Crafting Time Modifiers (Optional): The DM can appply modifiers from Table 5 to an item's crafting time if the character is making the item for the first time, or working with new materials. The numbers are in days, though if the time to make the item is measured in months, this modifier should be added as weeks instead of days.



Table 5: Crafting Time Modifiers
Complexity
Size Simple Moderate Difficult Complex V. Complex
Tiny and below 1d3 1d6 2d8 3d10
Small 1d2 1d4+1 2d4 2d6 3d8
Medium 1d4 1d6 1d8+1 2d8 3d6
Large 1d6 1d8+1 2d6 3d6 3d8
Huge and above 1d8 2d6 2d8 3d8 4d8

Action: Does not apply. Craft checks are made by the day or the week (see above).

Try Again: Yes, but each time the character fails the check by 5 or more, he ruins one-quarter of the raw materials and has to pay one-quarter the original raw material cost again.

Special: A dwarf has a +2 racial bonus on Craft checks that are related to stone, metal, or gems, because dwarves are especially capable with stonework, metalwork, and gemcutting.

A gnome has a +2 racial bonus on Craft (alchemy) checks because gnomes have sensitive noses.

To make an item using Craft (alchemy), the character must have alchemical equipment and be a spellcaster. If he is working in a city, he can buy what he needs 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, but it does not affect the cost of any items made using the skill.

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