Crafting Armor [Archive] - Wizards Community

Crafting Armor [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Ransolot
04-18-07, 12:30 AM Ok, here is my situation with crafting armor. Just normal armor for this example. Ok, it seems a bit over the top to me and the other people I play with to think about crafting a suit of Full Plate. Here is why:

It says in the PHB that in order to craft any type of armor (Not exact words I know, but crafting in general) you take the base price and turn it into silver. So, for Full Plate, this would be 15,000 silver. Now, from there, this is your target value you need hit in order to finish making the product in terms of weeks.

So, here is my example: I am a lv 3 character, my max ranks in crafting can be 6, with a modiyfier of 2 (Int). So, lets just take the average roll for a craft check, which would be 10. So, that added to my crafting skill is 18. Now it says to take your check result and multiply it by the DC of the craft, which is a DC 18 for Full Plate (10 plus Armor Bonus for the DC). So, 18x18=324. So, that tells me that it would take me roughly (Going by the averages) 46.29 weeks to make one suit of Full Plate armor (15,000/324=46.29).

Can someone tell me why I would even bother to take this skill? It seems a bit over the top. Yes, I understand that I can add 10 to the DC to speed things up, but then I am at nearly impossable odds.

So, just looking for a little feedback here on what others takes are on this issue. Thanks all!!! :D
Thomar_of_Uointer
04-18-07, 03:59 AM 15,000/(18*18) = 46.296

Yeah, that's right. Keep in mind that a suit of full plate is a high-end item with many different components. It's definitely not the sort of thing you craft lightly, being the very best and heaviest armor type. With five apprentices and a masterwork crafting kit, you can reduce that to 27.8 weeks. If you're level 10, have an Intelligence of 16, Skill Focus, voluntarily raise the DC, use ten apprentices, and a +5 tool, you'll be able to cut it down to just 12.2 weeks. However, the payoff is quite good. You invest 500, and get back 1,000 with a year's work in the worst case, where you would normally make a few hundred in a year just using Craft to make money.

So, what does this mean? It means that once a suit of full plate is made, its owner is going to take very good care of it. An untrained laborer might earn enough to pay for that in his entire lifetime (40 years), but won't because he has to eat and sleep. A trained laborer makes that much in 6 years (though he could also make a suit and use the money from selling it to make two for himself in three years). This means that such pieces of armor are either ordered by nobles or simply passed down through families. An good suit of armor may have been fitted and refitted a dozen times as it is passed down from father to son. Full plate, unless it's custom-ordered by the PCs (unlikely, considering the waiting period), is going to have history. Who forged it, who wore it, what they did when it was worn, what pieces of it have been replaced due to fatal wounds, what noble markings it has.

Anyways, yes full plate takes a long time to make, but most craftsmen do it because it's a good payoff and nowhere near as dangerous as adventuring. Adventurers crafting their own items are better off inheriting, being rewarded with, or looting good armor.
Ransolot
04-18-07, 09:29 PM Ok, I must say, you bring up some very good points there. Now I ask this...Where do you get your info from? Is it from the PHB, DMG? If so, please let me know so I can look up this info. It seems like very good info to have. I never knew about the apprentice thing, where do I find that? Thanks much!!!:D
celtredleg
04-18-07, 11:36 PM TYhen, is you want to make it masterwork, so that you can enchannt it, it takes longer. Plus the enchanting time.

If you want to make stuff, either invest a lot of time, or go for easier to make items.

Back in my younger days, I made a fiar bit of armor. It is hard work and takes a lot of time. I never got good enough to make plate, but I can crank out chain. Even that is time consumeing.
Thomar_of_Uointer
04-19-07, 02:52 AM Ok, I must say, you bring up some very good points there. Now I ask this...Where do you get your info from? Is it from the PHB, DMG? If so, please let me know so I can look up this info. It seems like very good info to have. I never knew about the apprentice thing, where do I find that? Thanks much!!!:D

This is almost all from the PHB. Craft and Profession both let you make money by simple crafting, and the PHB has notes on the wages of an untrained laborer. Craft lets you bump up the DC by increments of 10 (my mistake above, the DC could be raised even higher for some of the examples). The aid another action can be used for most D20 checks, and the bonus granted by it is typeless and, by most interpretations, stacks.
And, from the DMG, the magic item tables give entires for bonuses to skill checks.

Now, with regards to apprentices... The Craft rules do not allow for multiple craftsmen to put their checks together. In theory you could have some sort of assembly line process, but that falls under Profession more than anything. The aid another action seems to provide a much cleaner and balanced way to have multiple craftsmen work together. Also, as the DC is very very low, a level 1 expert or commoner can take 10 on it, and it probably represents small and tedious jobs like polishing metal, joining chain links (read the armor descriptions, full plate uses chain, leather, and padding), refining steel, and so on.

Everything else I posted was extrapolation.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Ransolot 04-18-07, 12:30 AM	Ok, here is my situation with crafting armor. Just normal armor for this example. Ok, it seems a bit over the top to me and the other people I play with to think about crafting a suit of Full Plate. Here is why: It says in the PHB that in order to craft any type of armor (Not exact words I know, but crafting in general) you take the base price and turn it into silver. So, for Full Plate, this would be 15,000 silver. Now, from there, this is your target value you need hit in order to finish making the product in terms of weeks. So, here is my example: I am a lv 3 character, my max ranks in crafting can be 6, with a modiyfier of 2 (Int). So, lets just take the average roll for a craft check, which would be 10. So, that added to my crafting skill is 18. Now it says to take your check result and multiply it by the DC of the craft, which is a DC 18 for Full Plate (10 plus Armor Bonus for the DC). So, 18x18=324. So, that tells me that it would take me roughly (Going by the averages) 46.29 weeks to make one suit of Full Plate armor (15,000/324=46.29). Can someone tell me why I would even bother to take this skill? It seems a bit over the top. Yes, I understand that I can add 10 to the DC to speed things up, but then I am at nearly impossable odds. So, just looking for a little feedback here on what others takes are on this issue. Thanks all!!! :D
Thomar_of_Uointer 04-18-07, 03:59 AM	15,000/(18*18) = 46.296 Yeah, that's right. Keep in mind that a suit of full plate is a high-end item with many different components. It's definitely not the sort of thing you craft lightly, being the very best and heaviest armor type. With five apprentices and a masterwork crafting kit, you can reduce that to 27.8 weeks. If you're level 10, have an Intelligence of 16, Skill Focus, voluntarily raise the DC, use ten apprentices, and a +5 tool, you'll be able to cut it down to just 12.2 weeks. However, the payoff is quite good. You invest 500, and get back 1,000 with a year's work in the worst case, where you would normally make a few hundred in a year just using Craft to make money. So, what does this mean? It means that once a suit of full plate is made, its owner is going to take very good care of it. An untrained laborer might earn enough to pay for that in his entire lifetime (40 years), but won't because he has to eat and sleep. A trained laborer makes that much in 6 years (though he could also make a suit and use the money from selling it to make two for himself in three years). This means that such pieces of armor are either ordered by nobles or simply passed down through families. An good suit of armor may have been fitted and refitted a dozen times as it is passed down from father to son. Full plate, unless it's custom-ordered by the PCs (unlikely, considering the waiting period), is going to have history. Who forged it, who wore it, what they did when it was worn, what pieces of it have been replaced due to fatal wounds, what noble markings it has. Anyways, yes full plate takes a long time to make, but most craftsmen do it because it's a good payoff and nowhere near as dangerous as adventuring. Adventurers crafting their own items are better off inheriting, being rewarded with, or looting good armor.
Ransolot 04-18-07, 09:29 PM	Ok, I must say, you bring up some very good points there. Now I ask this...Where do you get your info from? Is it from the PHB, DMG? If so, please let me know so I can look up this info. It seems like very good info to have. I never knew about the apprentice thing, where do I find that? Thanks much!!!:D
celtredleg 04-18-07, 11:36 PM	TYhen, is you want to make it masterwork, so that you can enchannt it, it takes longer. Plus the enchanting time. If you want to make stuff, either invest a lot of time, or go for easier to make items. Back in my younger days, I made a fiar bit of armor. It is hard work and takes a lot of time. I never got good enough to make plate, but I can crank out chain. Even that is time consumeing.
Thomar_of_Uointer 04-19-07, 02:52 AM	Ok, I must say, you bring up some very good points there. Now I ask this...Where do you get your info from? Is it from the PHB, DMG? If so, please let me know so I can look up this info. It seems like very good info to have. I never knew about the apprentice thing, where do I find that? Thanks much!!!:D This is almost all from the PHB. Craft and Profession both let you make money by simple crafting, and the PHB has notes on the wages of an untrained laborer. Craft lets you bump up the DC by increments of 10 (my mistake above, the DC could be raised even higher for some of the examples). The aid another action can be used for most D20 checks, and the bonus granted by it is typeless and, by most interpretations, stacks. And, from the DMG, the magic item tables give entires for bonuses to skill checks. Now, with regards to apprentices... The Craft rules do not allow for multiple craftsmen to put their checks together. In theory you could have some sort of assembly line process, but that falls under Profession more than anything. The aid another action seems to provide a much cleaner and balanced way to have multiple craftsmen work together. Also, as the DC is very very low, a level 1 expert or commoner can take 10 on it, and it probably represents small and tedious jobs like polishing metal, joining chain links (read the armor descriptions, full plate uses chain, leather, and padding), refining steel, and so on. Everything else I posted was extrapolation.