Making Craft Work: Ludi Fortes - Strong Games
Making Craft Work: Ludi Fortes - Strong Games
Making Craft Work: Ludi Fortes - Strong Games
Craft Work
Ludi Fortes - Strong Games
www.SpesMagnaGames.com
Table of Contents
Introduction.............................................................................3
Why Craft As Written Doesn't Work....................................3
Bizarre Example the First...................................................4
Bizarre Example the Second..............................................4
Bizarre Example the Third..................................................4
Making Craft Work................................................................4
Table: Item Complexity ......................................................4
Item Complexity..................................................................5
Masterwork Items...............................................................5
Special Materials................................................................5
Table: Special Materials Modifiers......................................6
Tools (or Lack Thereof).......................................................6
Failing a Craft Check..........................................................6
Exceptional Crafting...........................................................6
Taking the Bizarre Out of Those Examples.........................7
Introduction
The rules for the Craft skill don't work very well or make much sense. Just about everyone realizes this,
yet despite moving from version 3 to version 3-1/2 to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, spotting
improvement in Craft is like trying to figure out the square root of orange.
I've often read complaints about Craft in various forums. The general consensus usually ends up being,
yes, the Craft rules are at least rather wonky, but the game isn't Commerce & Craftsmen, so just spend
your skill points on something else that'll actually be useful. As far as consensuses go, that one's pretty
lousy. If a player wants his PC to be a craftsman, that ought to be a perfectly acceptable desire for a
pretty wide range of campaigns.
Wouldn't it be nice if you could find some Craft rules that at least made an effort at making more sense
and tried to fix the wonkiness in the rules as written?
Well, I too think it would be nice, and so I sat down and decided to do just that. I've had these rules laying
around for quite a while. I dusted them off, polished them up, and now you have them too. Should you
have comments or criticisms, please don't hesitate to shoot me an email.
Good gaming!
Mark L. Chance
Spes Magna Games
Very simple
8 hours
+0
Simple
2 days
+2
Moderate
4 days
+4
Complex
1 week
+8
Very complex
2 weeks
+10
Time Unit: This columns tells you how long must be spent working before a Craft check is permitted.
DC Modifier: This modifier is added to base DC 10 of all Craft checks.
Item Complexity
The complexity categories listed on the table above require some defining. Keep in mind that there is a
certain amount of subjectivity at work here.3 The key to item complexity isn't to rely an exhaustive list of
what items belong to which categories. Instead, these rules provide basic category descriptions and a few
examples of sorts of items one might expect to fit
each respective category.
Very Simple: These items are more or less all one
piece or one material of simple shape with no
moving parts. Examples: crowbar, quarterstaff.
Simple: A simple item is largely made of one
material, but it requires a more specialized shape.
Examples: many simple weapons, backpack, most
common articles of clothing, simple traps such as
pits.
Moderate: Moderate complexity items are
characterized by diverse materials or different parts
that must be integrated into a whole. Examples:
Most martial and exotic weapons, bows, all shields,
locks, simple traps using simple mechanical triggers,
acid.
Complex: Complex items have diverse materials, moving parts, different parts, and/or decorative bits.
Examples: Most types of armor, strength bows, crossbows, most vehicles (excluding large ocean-going
vessels), alchemist's fire, smokesticks, tingertwigs.
Very Complex: These are the most complicated items. They require diverse materials, moving parts,
different parts, decorated bits, and/or multiple functions or uses. Examples: ocean-going vessels, unusual
armors (such as barding), antitoxins, tanglefoot bags, sunrods, thunderstones.
Masterwork Items
A masterwork item has a 50% increase in time unit (in addition to the normal increase in cost). For
example, a longsword is a moderately complex item with a time unit of 4 days. Thus, a masterwork
longsword has a time unit of 6 days.
Furthermore, any masterwork item has its Craft DC increased by +4. Thus, the masterwork longsword
faces a DC 18 Craft check4.
Special Materials
A craftsman working with an unusual material (such as adamantine) faces a 50% increase in time unit,
which stacks with the 50% increase in time unit associated with masterwork items when applicable. For
example, an adamantine masterwork longsword has a time unit of 8 days. Also, unusual materials are
harder to work with and increase the item's DC as shown below:
3 It was suggested to me that item size adjust time for crafting. This makes sense. Certainly, a very large
object could be reasonably expected to take longer to craft than a smaller item. At the same time, a
very small item also might be more difficult. This suggestion has merit, but, unfortunately, the game
system doesn't account for item sizes well. If you, the DM, feel an item's size ought to influence how
long it takes to craft, increase the time unit by, say, 25-50% (or more). Just be consistent and up front
about these modifiers.
4 Just to clarify: These rules replace those for crafting masterwork items described under the Craft skill.
Making Craft Work | 5
DC Modifier
Adamantine
+6
Darkwood
+2
Dragonhide
+4
Iron, cold
+2
Mithral
+4
Silver, alchemical
+2
Exceptional Crafting
What happens if you really ace the Craft check? Can a character get finished more quickly than the time
unit? Certainly, but there are limits. For every 5 points greater than the item's DC is the Craft check, halve
the item's time unit, but no time unit can be halved this way more than twice.
In addition to an exceptional Craft check reducing the time unit, the crafter's skill alone can shorten the
task. For every 5 ranks a crafter has in the relevant Craft skill, halve the item's time unit, but no time unit
can be halved this way more than twice.
For example, Erlic is going to craft a clockwork dancer to entertain the king. This is a very complex task,
and faces a DC 20 with a 2 week time unit. Furthermore, Erlic wants to use darkwood for the mechanism,
yielding DC 22 and a 3 week time unit. Fortunately, Erlic has 10 ranks in Craft (clockwork mechanism).
His expertise reduces the time unit to 5 days. He scores a 27 on his Craft check, further reducing the time
unit to 2 days.
Making Craft Work | 6
5 Yes, this is unrealistic. No one finishes a suit of full plate in seven days. The goal of this system,
however, isn't realism, but usability.
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