By Amhairghen Faithliaig.
[i]Lord Brodmin looked down at the scrawny merchant, who seemed to squirm somewhat under his gaze. “Did you manage to fill my order, Gallen?” he said.
The merchant responded with an oily smile. “But of course, your lordship. I have it in the back; if you would care to join me?...”
Brodmin needed no further invitation. He swept around the side of the stall as if he owned the tent beyond, parted the flap and strode inside, followed closely by the merchant Gallen, who closed and secured the flap as he entered, sealing it not only from casual view, but also from all manner of eavesdroppers. It was a marvelous tent, and he had long since ceased regretting its cost.
“Well?” said Brodmin, “Where is it? I do hope you aren’t just wasting my time, Gallen. I cannot abide having my time wasted!”
“Calm yourself, your lordship,” said Gallen, grabbing a silk-panelled box from under a pile of rolled-up rugs, “and behold, a wonder of the world!” His voice had now taken on the silken tone used by merchants everywhere, most notably when they are sure of a sale. And then he opened the box.
“An adamantine rapier, forged from triple-refined metal and to the third degree of mastery, created by the great elven master of bladesmiths, Heirinal Galanodel. Signed and marked at the base of the blade, as you can see. I assume this satisfies, your lordship?” He now wore the amused smirk known to all paying customers, the one that roughly translates as “Gotcha!”
“Perhaps, perhaps, my good merchant,” said Brogmin, though it was clear to both of them that the deal was as good as done. “And what were you thinking of taxing me for this little beauty? Houses, lands, jewels perhaps?”
“Oh, those and more, your lordship. For I’ll not take less than four hundred thousand pieces of gold for this beauty, and you can say of that what you will. And no, before you ask, it has no magic. This is just pure quality, all the way. I’ll take payment at your pleasure, my lord.”
Brogmin listened to this in mute shock, and then sat in mute silence for several seconds as his face reddened. He was shaking with barely controlled fury as he whispered his angry response through gritted teeth. “And why should I pay such a price, for something that you wholly attest lacks even the slightest trace of magic? This is outrageous!”
“Oh, really,” said Gallen, in his slightly amused way. “Observe, your lordship, if you will.”
At this, he slowly drew an adamantine dagger. Then he lifted the sword and its sheath from the box, placing the sheath aside and holding the dagger in his left hand as he grasped the rapier in his right. Then he struck the edges of the two weapons together. The upper half of the dagger fell away, cleanly shorn.
“Triple-refined adamantine is to normal adamantine what hot steel is to butter. Of course, it will not be so effective against enchanted adamantine weapons, but it could still shear through those made of lesser materials such as steel or mithral. And if that wasn’t enough to convince you, the Duke of Weyt offered me four-hundred and fifty. I was sorely tempted, I must say. But alas, a deal is a deal. Of couse, if you lack interest…”
Brogmin’s temper had cooled as a result of this demonstration, but flared again at the mention of his rival’s offer. He barked his reply, at first angrily, and then steadily calmer. “No! No, I will pay your price. High as it is, I will pay it. Bring it to my palace tonight, and I will reimburse you. And thank you for your loyalty in bringing it to me first.” Images of Weyt’s overlord holding a broken mithral rapier and an embarrassed expression began to waft through Brogmin’s mind. He began to smile.
“A pleasure as always, my lord,” said Gallen, as he opened the tent flap and let Lord Brogmin out. “A pleasure…”
Though seldom noticed, the masterwork item is a core of fantasy roleplaying, particularly in the Dungeons and Dragons game, where only masterwork goods are suitable for enchantment, and therefore every magical item is automatically a masterwork. But the concept of the masterwork itself is taken for granted, and as such is treated in a very unrealistic fashion.
According to the standard rules, a masterwork item requires the creator to succeed at a skill check in the relevant skill to make an item, and then a subsequent skill check in the same skill with a predetermined DC of 20 in order for the item to be produced as a masterwork. If these rules are followed, any character with 10 ranks in a Craft skill (which can be achieved as early as 7th level) and average Intelligence can create a masterwork version of any item that they can make, simply by taking 10. And characters with masterwork tools or higher Intelligence scores can create masterworks even sooner.
Is this justifiable?
In short, the answer is yes, and for a very simple reason. In any given campaign world, the vast majority of craftsmen are not going to be adventurers, but simply folk who have settled down to a life in a given industry to produce quality goods for paying customers. There will be few non-adventurers who will ever be skilled enough to create masterwork goods, meaning that the masterwork item will still be seen as an achievement.
So far, the rule is sensible and conforms to a general realism similar to what we see in our own world. But the realism only carries so far, for as any artist or artisan will happily admit, there are masters… and then there are Masters.
In the real world, crafts, arts or professions occasionally manage to produce individuals whose skill has reached such a high degree that their works are unparalleled for excellence. Their mastery is so great that their very name attached to a work is enough to make it priceless. Da Vinci, Van Gogh and Rembrandt are names known to everyone in the Western world, and for good reason; their works were of this standard. And in every case, their mastery was the result of phenomenal trials coupled with an innate talent for their craft and a tremendous will to excel.
In the game world, it is the adventurers that face such trials, that possess such a will to excel, and that have any real chance of developing through effort and magic their innate talent at various crafts. This is reflected in their ability to achieve phenomenal scores in various skills, finally reaching 23 ranks in class skills prior to achieving epic status. With access to appropriate magic items, upper-level adventurers may even be able to achieve Craft skill checks as high as DC 60 (23 ranks, +5 Intelligence bonus, +2 masterwork tools, +20 insight bonus via moment of prescience spell, and taking 10).
Unfortunately, here the standard rules break down. According to them, a masterwork represents the pinnacle of a given craft, and therefore a character cannot produce better than a masterwork. Instead, higher Craft checks merely give characters the ability to make a masterwork faster, since the gold piece value that they can craft in a day is equal to the DC of the Craft check. In the real world, however, more skill doesn’t just lead to faster creation of masterworks, but also to better masterworks.
The purpose of this article is to supply what the standard rules currently lack: a coherent system for creating and valuing such superior masterwork items.
Degrees of Quality
As already stated above, an item is a masterwork if its creator succeeds at a second Craft check with a DC of 20 during its creation, in addition to the original Craft check to create the item. However, the standard rules declare this as the limits of craftsmanship. So how do we transcend them?
Extrapolating from the standard rules is the first and best place to start, as doing so is not only easiest on both DM and player, but also makes the most sense in terms of game play. To do so, we have to first determine what separates superior masterworks from their lesser cousins. And the answer is simple: quality.
But how do we determine the quality of a masterwork?
If a standard masterwork requires a second Craft check with a DC of 20 to create, superior masterworks are going to require their second checks to be much higher. Ideally, such items should be to masterwork items what masterworks are to standard items; thus, a second-degree masterwork would require a second Craft check with a DC of 40 to create. This is achievable with magical aid by mid-level adventurers, or without such aid by upper-level characters.
Of course, using this simple extrapolation means that we don’t actually have to stop at merely second-degree. A third-degree masterwork is also possible at non-epic levels, provided the character can acquire the appropriate magical aid to meet a second Craft check with a DC of 60 during its creation. And at epic levels, where infinite skill progression is at least theoretically possible, even higher degrees of quality can be produced.
The Price of Perfection...
Of course, higher-degree masterworks, like everything, have to have their limits. In the real world, there’s no such thing as infinite ascension in anything, especially craftsmanship, and the game world should contain at least this much realism. So where do we draw the line? When is better simply not possible?
The answer comes down to economics. Simply put, creating a higher-degree masterwork is about excelling in craftsmanship, and as such is something that cannot be rushed. It is slow, delicate, tedious work that requires the best raw materials and the most diligent attention to detail. Because of this, it costs a fortune in resources to do… but also produces a product that is correspondingly more valuable.
Because of the labour and resources involved in their creation, higher-order masterworks are astoundingly valuable. Producing a standard masterwork adds 300gp to the market price of a weapon, 150gp to the market price of a suit of armour or shield, 100gp to the market price of a musical instrument and 50gp to the market price of anything else. Creating a second-degree masterwork multiplies this additional value by a factor of 30. Thus, second-degree masterwork weapons add 9,000gp to the weapon’s market price; armour and shields add 4,500gp; musical instruments add 3,000gp; and everything else adds 1,500gp.
This cost increases exponentially, such that the market price of a third-degree masterwork is 900 times that of a standard masterwork, that of a fourth-degree is 2,700 times that of a standard masterwork, and so on.
As usual, characters crafting such superior items must spend ½ their market value in resources to create them, and can complete as many gold pieces worth of work on such items per day as their Craft check result. Thus, their creation is painstakingly slow, growing exponentially more so the finer the item to be produced.
…And its Benefits.
Of course, with creating such items being such an expensive and time-consuming endeavour, the players’ characters are going to want to know that they’re getting some value for their money. And indeed they are…on multiple fronts.
Firstly, second-degree and higher masterworks are, as stated, extraordinarily valuable, due both to their quality and their rarity. As such, a character that makes or finds them is guaranteed of finding a buyer rapidly, and a maker is likely to find themselves developing a large number of clients and contacts that can help them with more than just gold.
Secondly, higher-degree masterworks are marks of prestige, and are likely to grant bonuses to Diplomacy checks when dealing with the right kinds of people (career soldiers are certain to be impressed by a warrior who wears second-degree masterwork chainmail or carries a second-degree masterwork sword).
Thirdly, higher-degree masterworks are simply better items, providing benefits similar to those of masterworks, but of a higher order. Higher-degree masterwork weapons get better nonmagical bonuses to attacks, armours and shields have reduced armour check penalties, musical instruments improve the Perform check of the player even further, and tools give better bonuses to Craft checks. Higher-degree masterwork gems and jewellery are more beautiful, with finer detail, fewer flaws and perfect shapes.
Table 1: Masterwork Weapon Values and Benefits.
Degree Market Price Modifier Benefits
1st +300gp +1 nonmagical bonus to attacks.
2nd +9,000gp +2 nonmagical bonus to attacks.
3rd +270,000gp +3 nonmagical bonus to attacks.
4th +8,100,000gp +4 nonmagical bonus to attacks.
5th +243,000,000gp +5 nonmagical bonus to attacks.
Table 2: Masterwork Armour Prices and Benefits.
Degree Market Price Modifier Benefits
1st +150 gp -1 to armour check penalty.
2nd +4,500 gp -2 to armour check penalty.
3rd +135,000 gp -3 to armour check penalty.
4th +4,050,000 gp -4 to armour check penalty.
5th +121,500,000 gp -5 to armour check penalty.
Table 3: Masterwork Musical Instrument Prices and Benefits.
Degree Market Price Modifier Benefits
1st +100 gp +2 to Perform checks.
2nd +3,000 gp +4 to Perform checks.
3rd +90,000 gp +6 to Perform checks.
4th +2,700,000 gp +8 to Perform checks.
5th +81,000,000 gp +10 to Perform checks.
Table 4: Masterwork Tools Prices and Benefits.
Degree Market Price Modifier Benefits
1st +50gp +2 circumstance bonus to Craft checks.
2nd +1,500gp +4 circumstance bonus to Craft checks.
3rd +45,000gp +6 circumstance bonus to Craft checks.
4th +1,350,000gp +8 circumstance bonus to Craft checks.
5th +40,500,000gp +10 circumstance bonus to Craft checks.
Table 5: Masterwork Gem Prices and Quality.
Degree Market Price Modifier Quality
1st +50gp Perfect shape and proportions, flaws
minimal and difficult to see with the naked
eye.
2nd +1,500gp High polish, need magnifying glass to see
flaws (very small).
3rd +45,000gp Superior polish, need jeweller’s loupe to
see flaws (almost invisible).
4th +1,350,000gp Exquisite polish; need magic to find flaws
(microscopic).
5th +40,500,000gp Unbelievable polish, totally flawless.
Masterwork Jewellery Prices and Quality.
Degree Market Price Modifier Quality
1st +50gp Fine workmanship.
2nd +1,500gp Fine and intricate workmanship.
3rd +45,000gp Fine and intricate workmanship, with
great detail of a kind extremely difficult
to produce.
4th +1,350,000gp Fine, detailed and intricate workmanship,
with detail in seemingly impossible places
or of inexplicable quality.
5th +40,500,000gp As above, but with detail on top of
detail, all of inexplicable quality and much
of it in seemingly inaccessible places.
The Time Factor.
Time is a major factor when crafting higher-degree masterworks, especially those of the fourth and fifth degree; the vast majority of creatures either do not normally live long enough to produce them, or could only produce them by devoting their entire lifetime to the doing, leaving out such things as free time, holidays and their social lives. Does this make them impossible?
If we add nothing further to these rules, then the answer would be yes for all but outsiders, who are naturally immortal and so do not see time as mere mortals do. While there would certainly be enough fanatical craftsmen amongst the outsiders to see some highest-degree masterworks produced, it would be no fun for the players if their characters had to become outsiders in order to follow this path. So how can we reduce this temporal element?
Fortunately, the higher degrees of masterwork items are by their very nature only accessible to epic-level characters, whether they are making or buying them. And an epic feat already exists that, if adapted to simple craftsmanship, could quite easily solve this problem. This feat is the Efficient Item Creation epic feat, and below I have included the adapted version for craftsmanship of nonmagical, higher-degree masterwork goods.
Efficient Craftsman [Epic]
Choose one Craft skill that you know. You are preternaturally efficient when producing the goods of this craft.
Prerequisites: Any Craft skill 24 ranks; either Skill focus or Epic Skill Focus in the same Craft skill.
Benefits: Choose any one Craft skill that you know. From now on, you can produce a number of gold pieces of work per day equal to your Craft check x 10. You can also take 10 on this Craft skill at all times, regardless of disturbances.
Normal: You cannot take 10 in conditions likely to cause distraction, and you can only craft a number of gold pieces of goods per day equal to your Craft check result.
Special: You can take this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take it, it must apply to a different Craft skill.
Option: Better Materials.
As the old saying goes, “the best goods require the best raw materials,” and your players may like their characters to have the further option of working from refined raw materials.
Refined materials are in every way the equivalent of masterwork raw materials (even requiring an appropriate Craft check result in a relevant skill to prepare), and as such can also be refined to higher degrees than simply the first. Such materials gain significant benefits from the refinement process, but like their masterwork item counterparts, they are phenomenally expensive and consequently take a long time to prepare.
The refinement process has few restrictions, although there are some substances that simply cannot be refined. In essence, since the process is about removing traces of undesirable material from the raw material in order to end up with a purer raw material, the process of refinement cannot be applied to any substance that cannot be so culled. Thus, wool, flour and metals of all kinds are open to refinement, but wood, horn and hides are not.
Refining of metals requires the Craft (metallurgy) skill, while refining of most other raw materials can be accomplished by a Craft check in the relevant auxiliary skill (such as weaving for refining of fibres or confectionery for flours and sugars)
The benefits of refining material vary from substance to substance, and depend largely upon the original nature of the substance. Refined metals typically gain an extra 2 points of hardness and 10 hit points per inch of thickness for each step of refinement, while wool and other fibres create softer and lighter clothing and refined flours produce sweeter, smoother baked goods.
In addition, special materials will provide further benefits. Refined mithral armours and shields increase the maximum Dexterity bonus of their wearer by one point per degree of refinement, yet mithral weapons gain no greater benefit from refinement. Adamantine armours increase the damage reduction they bestow upon the wearer by 1/- per degree of refinement. Adamantine weapons increase their ability to penetrate hardness, penetrating any hardness lower than their own (any hardness below 22 for first-degree refined adamantine, hardness 24 for second-degree refined adamantine, and so on).
The refining process is expensive, however, and some products may simply not be worth refining, gaining too small a benefit for the effort and cost required to refine them. Perishable goods such as flours especially suffer this restriction. Market price modifiers for refined raw materials are given below, and these are added to the per pound price of the raw material in question.
If the material carries a unit cost per item (as adamantine does) rather than a per pound price, this unit price becomes the per pound price for the refined item, with the refinement cost being added to this as normal.
Refined Raw Materials Price Modifiers.
Degree Market Price Modifier
1st +50gp/lb
2nd +1,500gp/lb
3rd +45,000gp/lb
4th +1,350,000gp/lb
5th +40,500,000gp/lb
The Adamantine Ceiling.
In real terms, even at epic levels and with the noted corrections in this article, it is simply not possible to produce anything beyond a 5th degree masterwork, due to the time and economic constraints of such an activity. So expensive and time-consuming are they, that players may well wonder why they should bother striving for them.
In my campaign, I have provided both the ultimate incentive and the ultimate discouragement for such achievement: ascension to godhood. I rule that any character whose devotion to their craft is so great that they would strive to produce a 5th degree masterwork deserves to become a god of their craft. Further, I rule that such a character has no choice as to whether or not they take up the burden of godhood; their devotion to the act decides their choice.
Of course, it would be an injustice to the players to be completely arbitrary in this, and so as a DM I allow them fair warning; at the commencement of plans to create such an item, I have a divine messenger of an appropriate god deliver the warning. If the player still wishes their character to walk down this road, then the god in question typically becomes their sponsor, setting challenges during the process and providing aid as appropriate for a quest for divinity.
Why Use These Rules?
As a Dungeon Master, I have found that using these rules has vastly enriched my campaign, as both player and non-player characters now have a reason to possess extraordinarily high Craft skills, and extremely valuable goods can now have their value more easily explained, not by virtue of their size or magical powers, but by virtue of sheer craftsmanship.
My players have also enjoyed it, and one has even used her immaculate longbows to gain her a place in a royal court as bowyer and fletcher to the King! From their perspective, it gives them something to hunt for other than magic, and allows non-magical classes their own special way to produce items of power.
It has also allowed my campaign to have a more integral history, complete with famous craftsmen and artists, and it has given the players something other to quest for than the usual run-of-the-mill mound of gold, bag of jewels or fancy staff. And that has made gaming more fun for us all.
Finis.
Overall:
Good work, but I think that you have to reduce the pricing a bit.
Table 1: Masterwork Weapon Values and Benefits.
Degree Market Price Modifier Benefits
1st +300gp +1 nonmagical bonus to attacks.
2nd +9,000gp +2 nonmagical bonus to attacks.
3rd +270,000gp +3 nonmagical bonus to attacks.
4th +8,100,000gp +4 nonmagical bonus to attacks.
5th +243,000,000gp +5 nonmagical bonus to attacks.
Ok this is quite a good idea (why did no one come up with it before now
) - Do the magic and non magic bonuses stack?
- Do the non magic +s count to cost?
- Does this raise the possibility of a +9 sword???
Now this could lead to a few problems but possibly (no XP at epic play) not as many as I think. However there could be a few ways around it
[INDENT]Option 1 - The magic bonus does not stack with the craftsmanship bonus
Option 2 - Ignore the problem, everything stacks
Option 3 - The Caster doing the enhancement has a chance of ruining the other fellows fine work - he must make a craft roll for any item of level 2 or higher. on a failed roll he has dropped the level by 1 to a minimum of 1 for every 10 points he failed by (rounding up). The DC is a guess but maybe MW level squared times 10? Therefore a MW level 2 has a dc of 40, MW level 3 has a DC of 90 etc[/INDENT]
Y'know someone is going to try. Just be ready to have the assassins guild be notified when some poor slobs life work is ruined by the ham fisted mage...
BTW if this is addressed in your post sorry but i missed it.
Two other points.
1. This reduces the need for a magic craftsmen base (the "magic Wal-Mart" syndrome). A sufficiently skilled artisan can (without magic or experience points) create a suite of full plate that is almost a second skin.
2. It reduces the fear party receives from anti magic fields and disjunctions.
Also, an idea on how to make 5th degree masterwork items or better: multiple crafters. A father passes down the sword he's been working on since becoming a master craftsman (balancing that with other projects) and gives him the task of completing that. Failing that, he is to pass it down to his son. Etcetera etcetera, generations later, it has been completed, and can be kept as a family heirloom and/or lost to the sands of time, only to be found by epic-level PCs (when they're up to it).
And, you seem to be forgetting that many races besides humans have a lot longer time with which to spend on making one item. Don't you think a devoted elf can complete a high-degree masterwork item in his 600ish years of adult life?
Again, overall, it was a very well-presented, well-written, thought-provoking post. For me, that's all that matters. *****
A truly stunning system you've worked out!I'm not quite sure if the casual gamer would be willing to spend 243 million gold for a +5 attack bonus, but the more RP-dedicated souls should definitely enjoy this.
I am curious though as to what benefits, if any, would be given for wearing clothing made with such a degree of skill as the improved masterwork? bonuses to charisma checks for anyone who would be impressed by fancy garb?
Also, would the improved degrees of masterworking have any effect on any enchantment of the item? I would think that if a weapon must be high quality to enchant in the first place, that having one of even higher quality might make the enchantment process easier, perhaps.
Finally, I can't help but wonder what happens when Lord Brodmin's rival gets jealous and has a wizardly servant cast shatter on that 400,000gp weapon? ;)
As usual, characters crafting such superior items must spend ½ their market value in resources to create them, and can complete as many gold pieces worth of work on such items per day as their Craft check result.
First, when making a Craft check, you pay 1/3 of the raw material cost, not 1/2. Also, to determine how much progress you've made, you compare your Craft result times the Craft DC to the silver cost of the item, and that is per week, not per day.
Otherwise, a very well thought-out system, and one I like a lot. Many people don't think masterworking more than once is worth the price, but they see soon enough when they're stuck in an antimagic field!
Second question: What about an object that would make the creator a deity, but instead of the object being completed by one man it is done over multiple generations, his eldest son inheriting the unfinished project? I know that such works exist in real life, and was wondering what the take on such things would be by your rules?
What is the DC to refine material?
and
When dealing with refined mitheral, do you use the original weight, or the new weight when determining the price?
I do like your concept, but with the nature of the current D&D system, a few things need to be explicitly accounted for.
1. Sunder is very easy. These higher than masterwork items need something to assist in making them difficult to sunder. Or perhaps, that is part of its nature.
2. How is a +3 nonmagical longsword superior to a +3 magical longsword?
Magic is not a poor man's polish to be placed on a blade...its supposed to state high forms of magic embedded into an already exceptionally crafted item.
Show a distinction to make this worth while. Already the nonmagical is 3 fold or more the cost of a magical. Why? Because it can function in a non-magic zone? Show more distinction. This might be more a matter of description and flavor, than actual value.
The crafting costs should NOT reflect this heightened value then. The paint Van Gogh used is as good as any great painters paints, no matter how good the work of art will be. The cost for Van Gogh to create his masterpiece is no greater than the cost for a any other masterpiece made by a lesser master of the art. Material costs should be the same as a masterwork item, imo. No difference. I would see a difference how ever in TIME to create such an item, and perhaps technique. but not material cost.
Your costs make sense for weapons, but are totally out of sync for gems and jewelry. If a flaw can't be seen, then a flaw can't be seen. Unless every gemsmith is using magical tools to inspect every natural gem, its by eyesight and experience. We know that Spanish Gold Doubloons have a higher percentage of gold alloy than refined gold coins produced now. But back then, there value would be no different. To them, they looked and handled exactly the same. Only their weight was different...ours being a bit more heavier than theirs...but on a very minute scale of difference. Their would also be a difference in malleability due to refinements of production.
1. You say the result of a craft check is the number of gp worth of work accomplished in a day. It is in fact the number of sp worth of work accomplished in a week.
2. You have referred to the bonuses for masterwork weapons as a "nonmagical masterwork bonuses to attack". As phrased, those proposed rules are inconsistent with the standard masterwork rules, which provide an "enhancement" bonus. More importantly, unless you standardise the terminology, the bonus from masterwork and the bonus from making the weapon +1 will stack, for a net bonus of +2.
Efficient Craftsman [Epic]
Choose one Craft skill that you know. You are preternaturally efficient when producing the goods of this craft.
Prerequisites: Any Craft skill 24 ranks; either Skill focus or Epic Skill Focus in the same Craft skill.
Benefits: Choose any one Craft skill that you know. From now on, you can produce a number of gold pieces of work per day equal to your Craft check x 10. You can also take 10 on this Craft skill at all times, regardless of disturbances.
Normal: You cannot take 10 in conditions likely to cause distraction, and you can only craft a number of gold pieces of goods per day equal to your Craft check result.
Special: You can take this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take it, it must apply to a different Craft skill.
Actually, your understanding of how the Craft skill works in regard to cost seems at least a bit flawed unless I somehow skipped some part or another: characters "normally" (that is, by the book) produce an amount of work equal to their skill check (if it equals or surpasses the check DC)
When that’s just my humble opinion, but i do have to say i really like that idea and agree with you a lot.
Weapon enhancement is a touchy subject. How much is enough? When does it cross the line? I think that a 5th degree Masterwork item should indeed represent the pinnacle of the craft; but for 243,000,000 gp? That seems way too steep. Why not charge that much for magical enhancements then? Surely a +10 magical weapon would outshine that 5th degree masterwork weapon, putting it to shame in all aspects.
I believe that the pricing should be somewhat lower. Now, I don't think that it should necessarily cost less than magical enhancements, but it should be somewhat equivalent. While the idea of such high-quality weapons being extremely rare is indeed rather romantic, it fails to pan out on a mechanical level. Simply put, the benefits of your masterwork weapons is sorely lacking when compared to the cost.
Other than that, bravo.
My idea of fair pricing:
Masterwork - 300 GP
Masterwork II - 3,000 GP
Masterwork III - 30,000 GP
Masterwork IV - 300,000 GP
Masterwork V - 3,000,000 GP
2nd degree masterwork items would increase there critical threat range by 1
3rd degree masterwork items just gain the bonus as listed
4th degree masterwork items increase the critical multiplier by 1 (x2 becomes x3, x3 becomes x4, etc.)
5th degree masterwork weapons increase the threat range by another 1
One can see just how bad this gets if one plays Baldur's Gate 2, or any other D&D crpg in which NPCs drop all of their equipment when they die, not just random things.
So, a new idea came to my mind. I'd like to make an items magical enhancement bonus a function of the craft skill, while special enhancements would be magical. A Fighter with the craft skill could forge a +1-+5 sword, or even an epic +6 sword, but not a +1 flaming sword.
Likewise, I've begun to ponder making magic item enhancement a function of craft and knowledge/spellcraft skills rather than a feat; this is simply because, over time, my fellow DMs and I have seen far too few item crafters, even when we give sufficient down time. Our players, and us ourselves, simply don't see item creation to be beneficial enough to give up precious feats.
So we're considering doing work to the pricing system on magic armors, weapons, and shields to allow us to make the enhancement bonus portion a non-magical function of it's craftsmanship. We'll even allow for an item to be "reforged" (or in the case of a wooden weapon, reworked with oils and what-not).
All and all, I think your system is a good start. Does the masterwork bonus stack with enhancement bonuses? If not, you may run into the same situation as 3.0 Adamantine.
When you mention the master painters, you removed two important elements, fame, and rarity. Van Gogh, Rembrandt and Vermeer (Da Vinci is a very special case I'll deal with in a bit.) all died in poverty. They created their master pieces on shoe string budgets. The value of their work increased only after they were dead for some time. Materials wise, the paintings are not extraordinary. Time wise they each had their own working processes, but they all managed to create numerous master pieces with in their human life times, and none of them achieved godhood for their efforts or dedication. Mainly they got disgruntled family members, but that's another story.
It is the fame of the craftsman coupled with the rarity of the work that give the market value. In this case you are better off rolling a series of checks that have nothing to do with crafting. For instance a series of perform/diplomacy/bluff checks for the seller and a series of appraise/knowledge history/sense motive checks for the buyer. This is actually what you wrote about in the narrative, rather well I might add.
So now, like modern accounting you have two valuation models for an asset, cost (actual cost of materials) vs. market (what someone is willing to pay above/below cost). You've actually called your pricing structure market value and can be applied to the selling process, but should not be applied to the crafting process.
As the old saying goes, “the best goods require the best raw materials,” and your players may like their characters to have the further option of working from refined raw materials.
Refined materials are in every way the equivalent of masterwork raw materials (even requiring an appropriate Craft check result in a relevant skill to prepare), and as such can also be refined to higher degrees than simply the first. Such materials gain significant benefits from the refinement process, but like their masterwork item counterparts, they are phenomenally expensive and consequently take a long time to prepare.
The refinement process has few restrictions, although there are some substances that simply cannot be refined. In essence, since the process is about removing traces of undesirable material from the raw material in order to end up with a purer raw material, the process of refinement cannot be applied to any substance that cannot be so culled. Thus, wool, flour and metals of all kinds are open to refinement, but wood, horn and hides are not.
Refining of metals requires the Craft (metallurgy) skill, while refining of most other raw materials can be accomplished by a Craft check in the relevant auxiliary skill (such as weaving for refining of fibres or confectionery for flours and sugars)
The benefits of refining material vary from substance to substance, and depend largely upon the original nature of the substance. Refined metals typically gain an extra 2 points of hardness and 10 hit points per inch of thickness for each step of refinement, while wool and other fibres create softer and lighter clothing and refined flours produce sweeter, smoother baked goods.
I'm going to start by speaking to weaving because it is what I know.
To make a master work wool cape.
Master Farmer (renown for raising prize winning sheep. Time=breeding program +1 year)
Master Wood Worker (most weaving and spinning tools are made of wood. Time=crafting time of tools)
Master Spinner (not the same as a weaver but one person may process this and the following skills. Time=cleaning, carding and spinning appx. a month)
Master Dyer (trade secret dye recipes Time=gathering/growing dye stuffs-a year, dying-a week )
Master Weaver (Time= warping, dressing loom, weaving - a month)
Master Fuller (felting process which would actually make the cloak heavier, warmer, and fairly water resistant. Time= a week)
Master Seamstress (Time = sewing, beading embroidery - 1 to 6 months)
That's seven people. If you use your market price formula for each step of the process, each master craftsman taking the time and costs you have figured then the Emperor is indeed going to be naked. Even he couldn't afford it.
Likewise, no one would live long enough to make master work items. Reserving the crafting of such to long lived species is a great disservice to humans in the game, especially since you have already referred to RL human masters. Mortality sucks enough without saying it is impossible for a human to achieve artistic greatness.
Also you have confused refining with preparation. Metals are not simply refined, they are alloyed. Pure gold/silver is just about useless for crafting. It's too soft. Trade secret alloys would be worth more than pure metal any day of the week, especially with gold, since different alloys make different colors.
Leather, is a function of the health/quality of the animal and the skill of the tanner/dyer. The quality of horn would also be contingent on the quality of the animal. (Care to apply master work to breeding/training animals? Another issue...)
Grown products (food, fiber, medicines, dye plants, wood) would all be a function of the skill of the farmer and the processor. For wood, knowing which trees to cut and when, how to saw, dry and store it is all work that is subject to master work skill levels.
So, for cost, use the present formulas, but if you want to add quality materials, put a variable premium of 20 to 100% as desired.
However, I think the easiest way to value master work items is forget the formulas. Just decide what you want the item to cost. Market value is all you need. This is the fun part, because there are a wealth of magical origin materials; phase spider silk, dryad wood, solidified medusa tears, gold dragon scales, etc. You are going to have to make up costs for these types of materials anyway, why not make your prep time easier and pick a number. If a player wants to make an item, make them describe it and then make up a cost/time requirement (probably subject to bartering with the player).
Also, bonuses are great and useful, but if you make it sound cool, (which it seems you are quite good at doing) then the players are going to like the item anyway.
ex. DM: You find in an ebony box a sheathed dagger.
Player: I take it out of the sheath.
DM: The blade is shiny black, with what looks like green gold etchings of water lilies on it. You notice it is much lighter than a steel blade. The dwarf peeks under your arm and says it's obsidian. The bard takes a look at the engraving and tells you that is the mark of the water nymph Amaqua. (Insert legendary backstory.)
Player: Cool.
You've hooked them without telling them that the master work quality is +3. That's just icing on the cool factor at this point. You can add the bonus to their attack rolls and see how long it takes them to figure out just how good Amaqua's dagger really is.
Now, let's get back to Da Vinci as a special case. There are those who transcend their times. Their work drags culture along behind it kicking and screaming to a new mode of thought, a whole new way of perceiving the world, a new concept of beauty, a leap rather than an evolution. Works by these genius' are in a class by themselves. Here's where your concept of moral becomes god is of value. This creator should have an impact on almost every aspect of your campaign world, if you are willing to let them. This goes beyond creating a masterpiece, this is master thought/idea/spirit. Pricing an item by such a person? Throw out the math, it's useless. Could even Bill Gates buy the Mona Lisa? This is adventure material, not something merely to be bought in a market tent.
The big secret about artists, you listening?
They make it up. D&D at its best is an art. Granted playing with the numbers, creating a system is an art of sorts, but for ease of play especially with something as variable as master work crafting, fame and rarity, it is just as easy and valid to pull a number out of your
Otherwise, I quite like the idea. Though the idea of a 243 million gold piece weapon does seem a bit out there. Possibly consider powers of 10 instead of powers of 30?
1) these stats are extremely underpowered for their price. You have a +2 MW longsword going for 9000g... while having a magic +2 longsword would be 1000g cheaper and do an additional damage. Thus, unless the player is uber-high RP, they have little or no incentive outside RP to buy it. As it stands in the real world, Michelangelo is one of the greatest artists out there, but if somebody else could whip up a painting of the same caliber, and have it actually move around within the picture.... Well, Mikey wouldn't be so famous. My point is that weapons like you're describing would not sell for the prices you're listing them as. They take more skill to make, don't function as efficiently, don't have nifty special abilities, and are more expensive. Nobody would ever realistically buy one of these things.
BUT! I think I have some ideas that would help you out. Let’s say for the sake of balance that once a weapon gains the +2MW level that its gone through some kind of tempering that makes it impervious to enchanting (so it can never become a magic weapon from that moment onwards).
But also, lets say that we can now add on 'non-magical' enchantments. Example: diamond edge. Adds 2 to your damage, and lessens your crit range by 2. That sounds like a solid +2 ability to me. The trick here is to make sure that the ability list isn't just a clone of the magic ability list (which is why Diamond Edge works like this, and it’s not a rip-off of keen). Have a list that includes at least 3 different abilities for each modifier (hopefully more for +1 and +2) and you're set.
I'd like you to notice that this system also eliminates the sheer uselessness of DR/Magic. When non-magical items are worth using, there's actually a chance that you're lv10+ party will actually be hindered by DR/Magic.
On the other side, if you wanted to be a bit more complicated, you could make it so certain enchantments can only be put onto blades of a certain MW level. For example, say for RP purposes that Vorpal is such a volatile enchantment that the sheer magical power would not be able to be contained in a normal MW sword. To be able to successfully enchant Vorpal onto a weapon, it would need to be at least lv.3 MW, or else the weapon and all the enchanting materials are destroyed when the enchanter tries to place the magic into the blade. If you want to be mean, you could have the enchanter take damage from a magical explosion even.
But in either situation, you need to lower the prices... for the love of pelor lower the prices! The NPCs (and probably some of the PCs) are begging you!
I also disagree with your descriptions of gemcutting. Even by grace of being a NORMAL (1st degree) masterwork gem, it should be near flawless, not
Perfect shape and proportions, flaws minimal and difficult to see with the naked eye.
Normal: You cannot take 10 in conditions likely to cause distraction, and you can only craft a number of gold pieces of goods per day equal to your Craft check result.
Usually if you wish to calculate crafts by the day you use copper, and silver if you calculate by the week. I believe that it would be better to have the feat multiply the normal silver piece by ten (essentially allowing you to calculate your crafting with gold). Think of it this way: A level 21 crafter with 24 ranks, masterwork tools, skill focus, and a +5 intelligence mod can take 10 to get a 44 on a craft check. This allows them to quick craft to produce 176 gold pieces per week using the normal rules. With your feat, they produce 17,600 gold pieces per week. With mine, they produce 1760 gold per week.
Just my 2cp,
Master Keebs
I do think; however, that the system you've provided should provide some system to increase the Masterwork level to +6 and beyond for epic levels.
Why? Because that would make sense with how the system is currently. In Epic Levels there's no limit to high a person's level can progress. There's no limit to how high one can jump, or how good at doing damage someone can be.
Now, one could say that unless one puts a limit somewhere that the item no longer becomes special and that it's now just numbers. But, whoever is DMing can make their own call on that. If that Dm doesn't like non-magic weapons above +5 then s/he can make a rule to apply it to a campaign. Don't shortchange people who might not feel as the other Dm. Provide the base rules for expansion for everyone and let the people who want to use them and those who won't want to use them, won't use them. You can very easily add your personal input at the end stating that you feel that it may be good for DMs to set a limit on how high the masterwork item can get.
One thing I'd like to comment on is that I reckon, with the way you've outlined the multiples to create the higher degree masterworks, you've effectively eradicated from them ever being made.
Also, one thing I'd like to clarify, would these bonus apply against the +10 limit of weapons or would they stack?
BluePoint, would you reason that you could apply this higher masterwork to alchemy in a similar fashion? And if you can, what kind of bonuses would it provide?
First, the issue of raw materials. It's true, woods and hides can't be 'refined' as such, but this doesn’t mean they have no chance of improvement. It simply means that more exotic techniques would be used. For example, at higher level checks, the added cost might include hiring the service of a magic user to bind materials back together after the imperfections had been removed, the use of exotic ingredients with which to cure the material, or rental fees on specialized and unusual equipment.
Also, since high quality materials are by nature less common and possessing unusual properties in comparison to ordinary materials of the same variety. As such, each degree of improvement to a material ought to bring a corresponding increase to the difficulty of working with such materials. I would apply a cumulative +5 per level of improvement to the difficulty of all craft checks made when working with such a material. Thus, even the most poorly made of items would be as good as masterwork when made from fourth degree materials, with fifth degree surpassing even that.
I'm a little iffy on the idea of giving someone godhood because they can make a sword as well as a mage, not even counting enchantments that can put a sword effectively beyond +5, but taking the absolute best materials and making an absolutely perfect sword (a DC of 125, I might add)...that would be an act worthy of divinity. Heck, I can see any DC of 120 or more being godhood, but it should take at least that.
Well, there's my two cents. Everyone's entitled to an opinion, and I don't know that you'll like mine, but I wanted to put my thoughts out there. Thanks for the awesome idea. I plan to use it in my campaigns.
According to the standard rules, a masterwork item requires the creator to succeed at a skill check in the relevant skill to make an item, and then a subsequent skill check in the same skill with a predetermined DC of 20 in order for the item to be produced as a masterwork. If these rules are followed, any character with 10 ranks in a Craft skill (which can be achieved as early as 7th level) and average Intelligence can create a masterwork version of any item that they can make, simply by taking 10. And characters with masterwork tools or higher Intelligence scores can create masterworks even sooner.
This is completely wrong. You cannot take 10 or 20 when creating an item using the craft skill. You cannot do this because failure on any craft check effects the outcome of the item being crafted. Any skill that has negative effects on failure is a skill that one cannot take 10 or 20 when using. Also, when crafting, one must make a skill check every week (or every day if they so choose) while making the item itself, not just one check and then another check for masterwork. Again, they have to succeed every week at a craft check against the DC of 20 until the item is completed. If they fail by 4 or less points, they make no progress for the week. If they fail by 5 or more they use up half the raw materials for the item as well as they make no progress for the week.
Here is how to craft a masterwork long sword:
You take the items price, convert it into sp (150 sp for a longsword), the DC for crafting a sword is 15.
You have to pay 5 gold up front (or 50 sp) to buy the raw materials.
Every week, you make a craft (weaponsmith) check. If you succeed, you take your check result and multiple it by the DC. This number equals the progress you made for the week. The item is complete when the progress equals the cost in silver pieces. That is, if I get a 20 on my check to craft a sword, I take that and multiple it by the DC of 15, to get 300 = I crafted 1 longsword in a half a week’s time.
So I can craft a sword, but I’m making a masterwork sword so it is not finished and I have to keep working. The cost of the masterwork component is 300 gp for a weapon (3000 sp). I have to pay 100 gp (1000 sp) up front in raw materials for the masterwork component. I keep working on the sword and my new DC is 20, I get a 20 on my check for the next week. 20 x 20 = 400, so I make 400 sp on my process and have 2600 sp of work left to do on this. I have about six more weeks of work at this rate to make it as long as I keep succeeding. If I fail a DC check by up to four points (16-19) then I make no progress for the week. If I fail by more than four points, I use up half the raw materials and have to spend that much money again to continue progress on the item; lets say I had it down to 1500 sp and I get a 15 on my craft check, I need to replenish half the raw materials or add 500 sp back to my total, so I have 2000 sp to go because I failed.
Making a masterwork is a timely process, the weaponsmith pretty much has to suck up the loss in profits they might make for the duration of the time they spend making the masterwork item.
They cannot take 20 one day to complete a masterwork item and be done with it. Just the same, if they keep trying, they will eventually craft the item – but it might cost more than its worth in the end. Without a craft rank of above ten with a good ability mod to the craft check, it isn’t worth the price to try and make a masterwork item – and thus, only those at the pinnacle of their craft will attempt to make masterwork and, thusly, succeed at doing so.
1) Creation cost. I don't buy into that "really really good objects, even mundane ones, cost zillions of gold to make" story. For me, high degree masterwork items depend solely on one's craftsmanship; of course top-grade materials must be used, but not resources measured in millions of gold pieces. Therefore, I suggest translating a (large) portion of extreme monetary costs into experience point costs. This introduces the fluffy bit about the artisan investing a portion of his own soul into his creation, instead of just pouring cash into it. The gp-XP ratio when assigning the XP cost should probably be higher than the 25/1 of magic items.
2) Market price. Similarly, wizened little guys with legendary crafting skills don't go around selling their life's works for piles of gold. Exceptional objects are made to practice one's crafting art, and not to earn phat l00t. They're given away, and not sold. Of course you can't just give a +4 weapon to a PC, you have to tax his resources a little. How do you do that? Make it a quest. The old man of the mountain would give his sword only to those who vanquish the undead monstrosity that's been plaguing the southern forests for centuries. The PCs that finish the quest don't get to loot the foe's corpse for treasure, but instead get the masterwork object as a reward. The gp values that you offer would be used only as GM guidelines to assess at which level the items could be introduced.
3) Bland benefits. Simply providing a numerical bonus to attack rolls or skill checks isn't worth the hassle, IMO. If you're going into this greater masterwork business, you need to come up with more flavorful item mundane properties, equivalents (in cost and creation difficulty) to the numerical bonuses. For example, a masterwork slashing weapon could have its critical threat range increased by one point, effectively becoming a higher grade (+2) masterwork weapon in terms of cost and Craft DCs. The SWRPG Arms and Equipment Guide offers some ideas on item customization (pg. 5-6), though the cost adjustments would need to be heavily modified for D&D. There are modifications that increase damage while lowering the attack roll, improve hardness and hit points of the item, or increase the range increment of ranged weapons; a number of magical properties could also be simulated (in addition to "lesser keen" above).
I have applied similar rules to games in the past, although I didn't put as much effort and detail into it as you have. Well done by the way
.One thing I would like to add is the concept of "below average" items. Such as rusty swords, dull daggers, warped arrows, out-of-tune instruments, etc. Although it is rare that the PCs would ever have to use such items, bringing it up from time to time is fun, and it adds to the depth and reality of the world.
...WOW. This is incredible. The only problem I can foresee with this is the nonstacking of masterwork effects with magical ones (A silly restriction in my opinion to begin with, but there regardless). Perhaps if that were removed, it would be more suitable.Costs on non-magical enhancements should be significantly more than magical enhancements, however your costs are astronomical and would never come into play in a normal game. Multiplying by 10 for each additional + would make more sense, capping out at 3 million for a +5. This would allow a character to spend 3,000,000 to get a 5th degree masterwork and an additional 100,000 for +10 magical bonuses. This would yield a +15 item, but at a very high cost which is clearly in the epic range. Although the bonuses would stack, I don't feel this is too powerful given the epic cost.
The bonuses granted should be more powerful than what you have. For example, your 5th degree masterwork weapon is +5 to attacks, but a +5 magical weapon is +5 to attacks AND damage. I do agree that the bonuses should be fixed for each level, as opposed to selected like magical enhancements, because this will give the masterwork system a different flavor. Perhaps other bonuses can accrue such as improved hardness/HP at 2nd level, increase crit multiplier by 1 on a nat 20 at 3rd level, so on... This would make the extra cost grant more than simply +X to attack and might actually be worthwhile for an epic character to obtain.
This is completely wrong. You cannot take 10 or 20 when creating an item using the craft skill. You cannot do this because failure on any craft check effects the outcome of the item being crafted. Any skill that has negative effects on failure is a skill that one cannot take 10 or 20 when using.
No. You should check up on those pesky rules before making harsh statements.
From the SRD:
"Taking 10: When your character is not being threatened or distracted, you may choose to take 10.
"Taking 20: When you have plenty of time, you are faced with no threats or distractions, and the skill being attempted carries no penalties for failure, you can take 20. "
In other words, yes, you can take 10 on a Craft check even though there's a penalty for failure. You just can't take 20. Just like the original poster said.
However, the same would not be true of a weapon mastercrafted to the second degree. Therefore it would only make sense that a weapon mastercrafted that perfectly would stack with magical enchantments.
One thing though is to make sure that players can't get mastercrafted weapons past the first degree very easily etc. For example, in my Eberron game a bugbear player has a greatsword left over from the Dhkaani empire mastercrafted to the second degree, adamantium, and refined to the first degree. However, it would be disrespectful to magically enchant it, bordering on heresy. But those bugbears given these swords all eventually go down the path of Kensai so that while the sword is not technically magically enchanted, it has the same effect for him.
A basic quality improvement, possibly called "Reinforced" or "Balanced", would make the +1 enhancement bonus apply to damage as well as attack bonus, and would be a requirement before adding any other mastercrafting bonuses. Plus anyone wanting to add both mastercrafting effects and magical effects would need both the "Balanced" mastercraft enhancement and the +1 magical enhancement, which would only stack if the pricing of mastercrafting reflects in the pricing of magical enhancement (and the other way around).
The basic 50/150/300 GP for mastercrafted items would be for masterwork +0 quality, so it could cover a +0 to +10 range, much as magic covers a +1 to +10 range on top of masterwork +0. Masterwork bonuses wouldn't beat DR/magic, but would function in an antimagic field or similar effect, so that should balance. Pricing for equal bonuses on mastercrafted vs magically enchanted items should be equal. You can have mastercrafting improvements worth +1, +2, +3, or +4 bonuses, just as with magically enchanted bonuses.
Someone did state that it could be more difficult to apply enchantments to items of more refined craftsmanship (thus effectively combining mastercrafting and magical enchantment plusses for the purpose of determining all costs). Though it's logically cumbersome, the idea would work. Reforging a mastercrafted item with magical enchantments would require additional caution (at the risk of breaking the enchantments, or worse, setting them off), and would definitely risk ruining the existing mastercrafting, thus justifying the ever-mounting cost of improvements. (This is how pricing of one reflects in pricing of the other, as stated above.)
Obviously the time needed to mastercraft such an item would be exorbitant... unless you had the right tools. Just as the One Ring (tm) was forged in the fires of Mt. Doom (tm?), the mastercrafter would require extraordinary resources such as control of a volcano (or similarly hot magical forge), tools capable of refining an edge to microns (under his expertise), etc. This is where the GP cost of mastercrafting comes into play. Then there's the XP cost, in the form of wear and tear on the mind and body of the mastercrafter. The time-to-create rules would need to be streamlined to deal with such superbly expensive items, but they should still take longer than their magical counterparts. Let's say twice as long. I'm not really sure on this one.
Then there's setting the skill DCs. A DC of 20 is for the base +0 masterwork. For each improvement, raise the DC by +5, to a total of DC 70 for a +10 mastercrafted item. It corresponds with the original reasoning, only scaled for a +10 system in pre-epic range.
Oh, and the flavor text was wonderful.
Everything in this post is my opinion and/or suggestion. Please forgive the interchanges of "mastercraft" with "masterwork" and "enchantment" with magical "enhancement".
EXCELLENT!!!
Finally, I've succeeded in getting people to think outside of the square, to ask questions about why their treasures are worth what they are, and about how they can quantify quality of treasures to give them more gaming flavour.
Now, a lot of you out there had issue with the way I priced the various degrees of superior masterworks, saying that the 30-fold price increases were way too steep. If you think so, and you wish to use a 10-fold price progression, then more power to you. But before you do, let me spell out the reasons why I chose this price progression.
At 10-fold progressions, a 2nd-degree masterwork weapon is only going to cost an extra 3,000 gp. It has taken its crafter probably most of their lives to become skilled enough to make such an item, and yet, any character of 5th level or above is likely be wealthy enough to purchase it without too much issue. Following in this vein, just about every senior adventurer could be expected to be positively dripping with 2nd- or 3rd-degree masterworks of this or that, provided they can find enough crafters to make all of these superior items (highly unlikely).
At 30-fold progressions, however, a 7th-8th level character will still find the price of a 2nd-degree masterwork to be steep, and that of a 3rd-degree to be exorbitant. This is as it should be; these items are meant to cost the earth, because they are extremely rare and valuable due to the very limited number of craftsmen who can produce them.
And as to complaints at a sword worth 283 million gold pieces, why not? After all, how much would you pay for the personal sword of the God of Swordsmiths, stolen from his very side (since that's about the only place you'd be likely to find such a weapon!)? And 4th-degree weapons are extraordinarily rare items, found only in epic realms and rarely sold only for cash. Does your player want such a weapon, but hasn't got the millions? Then think of something that its maker (or current owner) would want more than a huge mound of cash...
Secondly, there were fears that the benefits of such items were too minor to justify the expense of them, and in some ways I have concurred with this opinion. But for the most part, this complaint comes from a lack of imagination on the part of the complainant. Let's face it, how strong an adventure hook is a 3rd-degree masterwork item? from finding it, purchasing (or pilfering) it, enchanting it through to keeping it from being pilfered or taken through conquest, it's an adventuring hook designed to keep both DMs and players busy for a very long time indeed.
However, some of this complaint was justified. Superior masterworks are, after all, better-quality items, and should reflect this more strongly than they did in the original article. For this reason, I have included the following simple patches to make such items truly superior:
1. Increase the hit points of any superior masterwork item by 10 hit points per degree of masterwork above the first. Such items are no harder than their normal counterparts, but they are tougher and therefore likely to survive more brutal punishment.
2. Decrease the arcane spell failure chance of superior masterwork armours by 5% for every degree of masterwork beyond the first. These armours are so comfortable and provide such ease of movement that they are much less likely to interfere with the somatic gestures required by many arcane spells.
3. Superior masterwork weapons are better-built, so in addition to the hit-point patch described above and the non-magical enhancement bonus to attacks described in the original article, increase the threat range of such weapons by one point for each degree of masterwork beyond the first. This should stack with (but not be doubled by) the threat range increase of the keen special quality or the Improved Critical feat.
Thus, a rapier has a threat range of 18-20, a 2nd-degree masterwork rapier has a threat range of 17-20. If these were enchanted with the keen quality or wielded by someone with the Improved Critical (rapier) feat, the rapier would have a threat range of 15-20, while the 2nd-degree masterwork rapier would have a threat range of 14-20.
Following this rule, you will find that these weapons will be prized above plain-old magical weapons despite their hefty cost, as they are more likely to survive damage and more deadly when wielded than their more common magical counterparts.
4. The market cost of enchanted superior masterwork items remains the same, as these properties are in every way identical. However, the cost of enchanting such superior masterworks may be lessened, at the DM's discretion. I personally suggest reducing the cost of adding an enchantment to an item by 10% for every degree of masterwork beyond the first. Since enchanting an item costs half its market cost plus 1/25th of market price in XP, this would reduce costs according to this scale:-
2nd-degree masterwork:- 45% of market price and 90% of usual XP requirement.
3rd-degree masterwork:- 40% of market price and 80% of usual XP requirement.
4th-degree masterwork:- 35% of market Price and 70% of usual XP requirement.
5th-degree masterwork:- 30% of market price and 60% of usual XP requirement.
I hope these patches give you all out there some ideas of better ways to add superior masterworks to your games; after all, I've been playing them in my games, and they've been an abundant source of adventure hooks, creative characterization and DM humor from the start. After all, what do you think your player's reaction might be, if that rare and ultra-fine sword of his was stolen? Chuckle, chuckle, chuckle....
1) I agree that magic and mundane bonus should not stack. However, if you disagree, turn it to your advantage. A non-epic magic weapon/armor is limited to 10 'pluses'. If you want the magical +5 to hit or AC, that's half of your allotment right there. With these superior masterwork items, you can put the minimum +1 enhancement, and use the other +9 for other effects.
And, of course, as mentioned before, you have less to fear from anti-magic and the like.
2) When I use this in my campaign, I will not do straight pluses to hit. Instead, I would use the creator the ability to choose from a set of bonuses to give the weapon or armor, at the rate of one bonus per level of masterwork.
Weapon:
+1 to hit (no limit)
Increase damage die (1d6 becomes 1d8, etc. limit 1)
+1 to critical threat range (limit 1)
+1 to confirm critical, and +1 damage on critical hit (limit 2)
+2 Hardness and +10 HP (no limit)
+1 to AC (limit 1)
Armor:
+1 to AC (no limit
+5 to max speed and -10% weight (does not increase wearer's speed, no limit)
-5% chance of arcane spell failure (limit 2)
+1 Max Dex bonus, and -1 Skill Check penalty (limit 2)
+2 Hardness and +10 HP (no limit)
DR 1/- (heavy armor only, limit 2)
That way the crafter can personalize their creation, and the DM an vary masterwork treasure.
The sheer cost of this system is outstandingly harsh. In keeping with your article, I will point to real life whilst trying to explain why this is insanely off. The DMG tells us that a common labourer earns 1sp per day of work. That amounts to about $50 US (The 1sp is barely enough to permit survival for the worker and a small family. $50 US reflects this in my eyes). This makes 1gp roughly the equivalent of $500 US.
Assuming these exchange rates are roughly accurate, then a Greatsword would cost about $25,000 US, rather steep, but what I imagine would be fairly accurate. (Note a good quality sword these days costs about $1,000 US, considering that in Medieval Europe access to ores and the increased difficulty in crafting, I think a Multiplyer of 25 to be reasonable.)
Now if a Greatsword: 50gp = $25,000
Then a Masterwork Greatsword: 350gp = $175,000 (Now we can see why it is called a "Masterwork" sword, and we should have a new outlook about them when it comes to roleplaying, compare a normal family car to an expensive sports car.)
If we keep your pricing then...
a 2nd-Degree masterwork Greatsword would cost $4,525,000
a 3rd-Degree masterwork Greatsword would cost $135,025,000
a 4th-Degree masterwork Greatsword would cost $4,050,025,000
and a 5th-Degree masterwork Greatsword costs $121,500,025,000!!!
I just can't see anyone ever paying this much for a Sword. The U.S. Presisdent of today is the equivalent of a Medieval Emperor, and even George W. couldn't afford most of these swords. And Bill Gates wanted to purchase a sword of this quality he would probably have to sell a large chunk of Microsoft.
I mentioned that d20 already provides a system along similar lines, (you'll find it in Star Wars RPG) it is called the Mastercraft System. The way it works is simple, adding a +1 to any quality of an Item doubles said Item's cost. So a mastercraft Greatsword with a +1 to hit would cost 100gp.
Adding a further +1 to hit or a +1 to damage would raise the price to 200gp. The total + that an item can have to any one quality of an item is 3.
A fully developed mastercraft Greatsword (the best possible greatsword) would have +3 to hit, +3 to damage, +3 to hardness, and maybe +3 hps?, such an Item would cost 204,800gp or in modern day currency, $102,400,000. (Pretty steep but you could see some collectors paying as much.)
If you do NOT believe this is expensive enough, trying keeping the masterwork quality as the first mastercraft. So a mastercrafter can add +1 to hit on a greatsword, but this first +1 costs +300gp, then the next +1 would double the first cost. Doing this would make the final cost of a "+12" greatsword 716,800gp or $358,400,000.
Anyway just an alternative, as I said I am an avid supporter of superior masterwork Items, but I find the appeal of the d20 mastercraft system a more attractive option than forking out 243 million gold for a mere +5 to hit.
My suggestions are:
For pricing, scaling should be exponential, as it is for magical items that grant bonuses. Thus, the factor by which you multiply the usual benefits of a masterwork item should be squared, and then multiplied by the usual masterwork component cost of whatever masterwork item you're crafting. For example, a masterwork weapon that grants a +3 enhancement bonus on attack rolls should cost 2,700gp more (9 x 300gp). An armor that reduces armor check penalties by 5 should cost an extra 3,750gp (25 x 150gp). While these costs might seem quite low in comparison with magic items, it's important to remember that non-magical items should never be significantly more expensive than magical items of the same variety, if only because these items require no feat to make and take a significant amount of time to create (as opposed to magic items that merely require 1 day per 1,000gp in its market price). The armor I just mentioned would take a craftsman with a +10 modifier (your average 3rd-level expert with a skill focus) almost two years of dedicated work to complete. A +5 masterwork weapon would take over three and a half years for a craftsman of this caliber to make.
Of course, PCs might get these downtimes cut shorter at higher levels. A 10th-level dwarf craftsman with a skill focus could make that +5 masterwork longsword in a bit over 1.5 years. That's still a lot of downtime for PCs.
The issue here is mostly about how available such items should be. At some point, it's going to be in every PC's advantage to buy a lot of these masterwork items, if only because they're cost-effective. As a rule of thumb, I would have these items have a virtual cost 10 times the actual price for the purposes of determining whether an item can be bought within a city's GP limit. Furthermore, I would limit the number of masterwork items a starting high-level character can have according to their level and the cost of these items. You simply multiply the cost of the masterwork items by the character's level, and this figure can never go above the character's starting gold.
Many years later, an old man steps forth from his workshop. He says to his mail-order bride (centuries ago his bloodline had evolved away from any social skills whatsoever) "Wife. I finish armour. My ancestor finally rest now. Life work complete." His wife puts down the newspaper and says "Have you read about this "Manhattan Project? Sounds nifty."
-G
The system could continue up to +10 as the magic system, not allowing more than a +5 attack bonus as the magic system only allows a +5 enhancement bonus to damage and attack rolls, but the additional +5 being for other banal means of addition (such as diamond edging for an increased critical threat range).
There is also the problem of craft DC's. Personally I consider a DC 40 check to create a +2 masterwork item too steep. Just as a +10 effective bonus magic sword is possible pre-epic, so should be a similar non-magic version.
I understand the uniqueness that you were striving for in stepping away from magical crafting... but it seems to me that it is easier and more balanced to base it off of the existing way to enhance items.
Magic items have gold costs; masterwork items have gold costs. Magic items have XP costs; masterwork items on the system given above have XP costs. Magic items need certains spells and feats to be created; masterwork items need craft DC's. Magic weapons work against damage reduction/magic; masterwork weapons/items are effective even in an antimagic field. As long as one keeps the system consistent, the two will remain balanced against one another.
In that, one could base the craft DC's on required caster level to create magic items with enhancement bonuses; the base DC to craft a [+1] masterwork item is 20, for anything above that, a craft DC equal to three times the effective non-magical enhancement + 20 is needed to create the item. The DC to craft a sword with an effective +2 non-magical enhancement bonus would then be DC 26, +3 a DC 29, +4 a DC 32- all the way to +10 at a DC 50, difficult but manageable.
Keep in mind that this is only suggestion; however, I find it illogical to create an entirely new system when an existent one with some tweaking would serve the purpose.