Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Brimstone 01-24-05, 06:58 PM	Okay...I'm having a bit of a dilema. One of my players is wanting to have craft arms and armor...and he wants to be able to do this while adventuring. I thought, "that's fine...just purchase a portable forge and anvil." Well...apparently, those don't exist in D&D. There's Artisan's Tools...but that's hardly enough, I'd think, to create weaponry. And there's not a thing in the AaEG (which I was very disappointed in :(). So, I was wondering, how are you all handling that particular craft skill in your game? (one of the thoughts I had was making them buy the Artisan's tools which would include hamers and tongs and the like, then two "Tools"...a small portable anvil and a small bellows) <shrugs> Thanks!
DeLoungeville 01-25-05, 10:25 AM	Right now in my campain we have a semi-portable anvil and forge that we "liberated" from a mounted infantry unit. It's not nearly small enough to carry around but fits nicely onto our boat. Some other suggestions. 1. Just say "Tough luck friend, no can do." (i personally hate this option) 2. Do like we have done and give them a semi-portable smith that they can use some/most of the time. 3. Portable hole. Just fill it witht he smithy and tote around. you just need to open the hole and...viola! 4. acording to level and cash restrictions maybe a permanancy (sp?) on a shrink item spell cast on the large portions (anvil and forge) that will allow them to be stored and carried safely (even suspends the forge "as is" so it stays good and hot). Hope this helps. -D
BlackFiend 01-25-05, 01:56 PM	One of my players is wanting to have craft arms and armor...and he wants to be able to do this while adventuring. I thought, "that's fine...just purchase a portable forge and anvil."... Hey Brimstone. You went the wrong direction. Craft Arms and Armor doesn't require a forge...per se. Just a heat source. Craft Arms and Armor is NOT the actual making of the master work item before enchanting it. Its just the enchanting portion. Unless he/she plans to spend oodles of time crafting master work items, all you need to craft arms and armor is: 1. A heat source and 2. Some iron, wood, or leatherworking tools. 3. Supply of materials (i.e. the masterwork weapon or armor or the pieces thereof to be assembled. ) A good bonefire or even a campfire will do for the heat source. Spells could also be used, imo, like a burning hands spell, imo. Thats up to you...the DM. He/She has to come up with masterwork items though. Either by purchase, craft skill, or ...well...from someones cold dead fingers. :0
DeLoungeville 01-25-05, 02:31 PM	You have a good point there. To use the FEAT Craft Magic Arms and Armor you don't need the anvil and such. I was assuming from what the OP said that he was actually refering to the skills Craft:Armorer and Craft:Weaponsmith.
tarkin 01-25-05, 02:42 PM	What he wants is the ability to cast the spell Fabricate. 5th level Wizard spell. Usable 1/day, a magic item that grants it should reasonably be priced at 5 * 9 * 2000 /5 = 18,000 gp. Maybe you up the price because you are negating a limiting factor (mage must have craft skill to be effective with this spell), so 25,000 gp If you want to limit the item to only work on x Craft skill, cut the price down to 5,000 gp. You want to make it work on any of 3 -6 craft skills (armor, weapons, bowyer, fletcher) call it 10,000 gp.
Montieth 01-25-05, 06:51 PM	Years ago, I had a dwarf character that was adventuring out of Water Deep. I invested a lot of skill points for this guy in Craft weapons and the way we ended up working things was that he would come into town and on his down time, he'd take up working for a particular smith whom was pleased to have a dwarf working for him as time permitted. Frar had plenty of ranks (10 at that point) in the skill that he had a better than average chance to be quite productive. Mostly Frar wanted access to the forge to do his own projects but also work with metal. Too long away from the forge, the nose gets cold and the hands get stiff. Hewing Orc necks only warms the heart so much. The arrangement worked well. If I had a character that wanted to work metal out on campaign, it'd be good to have something like a Daerns instant fortress but with a forge built into the tower. The one problem is the noise, smoke and smell. It's quite distinct. When adventuring, you don't necessarily want that to bring a gaggle of nasties down on you unless you can resist their attack. A portable forge is also something that's pretty heavy and takes a little bit of time to set up. If your character is suitably high level, a trade of some excellent/master work materials in exchange for a variation on the Daerns Instant Fortress would be the way to go to me. :D
BlackFiend 01-26-05, 07:33 AM	Tarkin...I KNOW you just didn't create an item that crafts skills weapons, armor, etc...for under 100K gp. Dude...Such a thing doesn't even exist in Faerun! You know better than that! Thats like creating a amulet of perpetual healing or a guantlet of True Striking Hunter's Mercy.
Brimstone 01-26-05, 12:07 PM	Ah, crap...okay, I mispoke. He is a first level cleric of Reorx, the Forge (for those who are familiar with Dragonlance). He has the Craft skill (weaponsmithing) and (armorsmithing). As his morning prayer ritual (to get his daily spells) he wanted to work on the forge/anvil...just hammering away in peity to his god. Eventually he will get the Item creation feats and Craft magical arms and armor feat and such...but for the moment I'm talking specifically about creating mundane (or masterwork) items. His first thing he wanted to create was a new type of armor...something we kind of came up with thanks to the old Dragon Warrior nintendo games...and armored blacksmith apron. What we figured was he could take some kind of leather backed armor (either hide or leather or studded leather or splint mail, etc.) and add the Blacksmith Outfit (or whatever it was called) from the AaEG to it...basically combining the two items. That way he could end up with a function armor which could double as his work apron...which would also triple as his clerics vestments (because of who his god is). But...it's sounding like there can be no item creation from scratch without a forge (I happened to find a portable forge in the Kenzer and Co. book at 500 pounds...so without a portable hole or bag of holding, that's out of the question). But, since most of the above item would be leather working (if he bought the two items whole...or perhaps the blacksmith outfit and a bunch of splint mail armor repair kits) he would at least be able to create this without a problem. Anywho...I'm just kind of prattling on now. Thanks for all your help guys! P.S. By the way, BlackFiend, nice avatar. :)
Beamup 01-26-05, 12:37 PM	If you want him to be able to use the Craft skills on the road, just use Artisan's Tools. By definition they "include the items needed to pursue any craft." Simple, easy, and what the rules say to do. Not entirely realistic, it's true, but realism has always taken a back seat to making the rules usable and balanced. Do you really want to work out items/weights/prices needed for every single Craft? I didn't think so. Just take the easy way out Wizards wrote into the rules for exactly that purpose. Also, if he wants to do this, you might consider giving him a certain budget of time he's assumed to be crafting on the road. Maybe 1-2 hours/day. This doesn't require the entire party to take downtime whenever he wants to make something.