Tarag's Forge: Fine Weapons & Armor to save your life

Boddynock · Jun 23, 2008

OOC (Stonegod): Since Tarag's away, he won't be able to craft the armour for you any time soon. If you want to leave the order he can get onto it as soon as he gets back (but who knows when that will be?)

Perhaps one of the other crafters - if there's anyone in town at the moment.

stonegod · Jun 23, 2008

Boddynock said:
Perhaps one of the other crafters - if there's anyone in town at the moment.

Everybody else is gone, AFAIK. Any Xir doesn't have enough right now to buy it outright. I was hoping you'd have an NPC apprentice or such.

I'll save the cash for now---might be quicker to get gp and pay full price.

Boddynock · Sep 9, 2008

OOC: Since I neglected to post here at the time that Tarag went on his latest adventure, this is a marker to say that he left the building on 08/02/17, as demonstrated in this post.

He's made the usual arrangements with Hardin to mind the Forge while he's gone.

Richard Rawen · Jun 5, 2009

A human, dressed in leathers and wearing an ornate bastardsword at his hip, enters the shop.
"Hey Hardin, is Tarag around?"

[sblock=OOC: ]Richard has returned at last! So, what can he spend some craft points (and time) working on, since the RDI is hopping around like ... oh, wait, it's just kinda laying there

lol, anyways, Richard can get some good out of the downtime, I hope.[/sblock]

Boddynock · Jun 6, 2009

Hardin looks up as the lanky human enters. He frowns in recollection and then says, "Richard, right? How's the sword? No, Tarag's still not back, and I'm gettin' a bit toey - I have other things I need to do."

"Say, you're not interested in taking over here for a while, are you? I can fill you in on the day to day running of the place, if you like, and you can call on me if you need to go off adventuring or something. It's just that my wife's been on at me to finish the extensions to the house, and I really need to make a start on it."

"I wouldn't be suggesting it, except that Tarag said that you could use the forge if you needed to while he was gone. Look, the job pays 3 gold a week, and you can make whatever you want for yourself, so long as you pay for materials. Think about it!"

OOC: Richard, Tarag's likely to be off for some time yet. This is just to give you the opportunity to follow up on our earlier discussion about apprenticing to Tarag. I'm assuming that you'd be prepared to put a skill point towards either Craft (Weapon) or Craft (Armor). As T's apprentice, you wouldn't have to meet the requirements for opening your own shop - see under the Job System here.

Edit: OK, I've just read your RDI post and your reply to my email. Welcome on board!

Richard Rawen · Jun 8, 2009

Richard is amazed by this turn of events,
"Well, I ... " The confusion and surprise clearly writ on his large boyish face gradually change to an equally large smile.
"Wow, that'd be great! I suppose I'll need to learn the pricing and details such as that, but I'd be glad to take a turn at the forge and mind the store if you like."

OOC: I'm assuming whatever I can dig up in the SRD will do for pricing? Or do we have some secret site for merchancts

?

Boddynock · Jun 8, 2009

[sblock=Richard Rawen]OOC: Simple weapons and armour are sold at SRD prices, with no profit going to us (except that this is the mechanism which pays our wages week by week

). That mechanism doesn't require any input from you - the idea is that Richard's continually making the simple stuff, and that we get enough customers in to keep the business ticking over.

Anything Richard wants to make, he can sell, if he can find a buyer for it. (Finding a buyer can be tricky - there's a set of splint mail which has been on sale for over a year real time, and nobody's expressed any interest in it. Better to find a buyer, then craft the piece.)

The business will pay any initial outlay for materials. Any subsequent costs (if, for example, Richard fails a Craft check) are Richard's responsibility. Any profit will be divided equally between Richard and the business.

As an example: a customer wants a heavy crossbow (list price 50 gp) and is prepared to provide Craft Points for it.

Shop price is, therefore, 70% of list price, or 35 gp.

Material costs are one third of market price (= 16.67 gp).

Richard successfully makes a DC 15 Craft (Weaponsmith) check and produces the crossbow. This takes one day. The customer helps (you know this bit ).

You take half the CP (total CP = 10% of list price) off your quota. The customer pays the other half of the CP.

Of the 35 gp which the customer pays, Richard keeps 17.5 gp and the shop gets the other 17.5 gp (which, after an initial outlay of 16.67 gp, means a grand profit to Tarag of 0.83 gp).

Now, say that Richard fails that DC 15 check. That means that half the CP and half the gp cost are wasted, and he can't try again until the next day. In that case, Richard bears any extra expense (in CP and in gp) himself.

Here are the details of the DCs for creating various items. Note that the SRD says that the MW component is treated separately, and it has a DC of 20. ENWorld's Rules & Mechanics entry on Craft Points, however, says that a crafter uses either the DC of the item or the DC of the MW component, whichever is higher. In this case we follow ENWorld rules.

Tarag has a sliding scale of prices for items forged, as you know. See the first post for details, and please stick with that.

Since Richard only has one rank in Craft (Weaponsmithing), I think it would be a good idea for him to avoid being too ambitious. With his bonus in Int, he gets a +2 on Craft (Weaponsmith) checks - not a lot. I think it's about time the business purchased some MW artisans tools, if it hasn't already. That'll give another +2, for a total of +4. If you can get the customer to give you a successful Aid Another, that's +6, and it's starting to look a bit healthier.

Still, keep in mind that Tarag is very jealous of his reputation, and stories of inferior work coming from his Forge will send him through the roof!

Whew! That's much more long-winded than I started out to be but I think it covers most of what you need to know.

The shop has a tradition of payday being Wednesday (see first post), so I'll make an entry to reflect the fact that Richard's now receiving Hardin's pay.[/sblock]After going over the details of the Forge's day to day running, Hardin reaches under the counter and brings out a bundle wrapped in fine chamois. He hands it to Richard, saying, "I must have known you were coming. I went out just yesterday and bought some new tools. It's always amazed me that Tarag is prepared to work with the tools he's had here. Don't get me wrong - they're all right but they're not in the same league as these beauties. Have a look. Feel the heft of that hammer. Beautiful work! Yes, I thought it was high time the Forge had a set of MW tools!"

With that, Hardin removes his apron, hands it over to Richard, and says, "I'll be off now. Don't forget what I told you. You can call on me whenever you need to. Just, please, give me a little time to get on with my building chores. Good luck!"

He walks out, briskly rubbing his hands, and Richard is left standing in the centre of the smithy. Now it's up to him.

Richard Rawen · Jun 9, 2009

Listening attentively, Richard makes careful mental notes of all he is told.
After Hardin leaves the young man notes his sword, still upon his hip.
Removing the Masterwork blade he ties his apron on and then scans the store... 'Where can I put this, that it may show example of Tarag's good work, and also be available should I require it?'
Finally he settles upon a prominent shelf, just between the work area and the front counter. He takes his time to set the blade just so and then starts to work.
Richard spends days developing his skills, his own set way of placing the tools, moving the metal... soon he's gotten used to the daily pace and filled the basic repairs and small tool and miscellaneous orders that comprise the shops mundane yet sustaining work.
'I hope to see someone with a real weapon order soon,' the young man thinks, his eagerness still fresh with the change in his profession. 'No matter what, it beats having zombies tearing at your throat!'

Scott DeWar · Jun 16, 2009

A human walks in, rather non discript in appearence, dressed in an explorer's outfit.

"Hellow! is the one know as Tarag the armorer about?"

His weaponry and armor suggest that he has seen battle from blades, his clothing signs of some travel over rough terrain.

Richard Rawen · Jun 16, 2009

Richard meets the man at Tarag's, "Hello! 'Names Richard, I'm minding the forge for Tarag while he's, uh, away on business." Richard suppresses a smirk, proud of his diplomatic turn of phrase, then realizes he's paused mid thought, and hurries on with his speech, his face growing serious.
"I heard you mention Mithral, which is, to be quite blunt, not something I've ever worked on, er, that is with, before.
I'm more focussed on weapons for one thing, and though I am capable of making armor if that other fellow is confident of his abilities to work such a rare metal, I wouldn't want to bluff you into thinking I have that confidence." The young man shrugs a bit, "Not yet anyways."