D&D 5E How often do you use tool proficiencies?

[DND_Reborn]

We very rarely use tools outside of downtime, other than thieves' tools during infiltrations/crawls. For us, they are not as valuable as skills so when the choice comes, we pick skills. Now, if a tool or kit is part of a subclass or background, that is fine and about the only way we get them.

 

[billd91]

In Pathfinder I played the Iron Gods adventure path, and my character's goal was to build a sword as a dowry for his fiancee's father, using exotic materials from crashed spaceships. I'd kinda hoped it would be an ongoing element of the plot, but the GM never really engaged with it, and somewhere around part 4 of the AP I made a quick skill check and had a nifty sword that was, like, useless to the party, since we had laser guns and rocket launchers. Maybe that soured me to the whole conceit of tools and crafting in games.

There's the rub. You had an idea and nobody else, particularly the GM, engaged with it. If you've got the GM on board (and anyone else who wants to be involved or do something similar), it's not hard to do - though some APs if particularly mobile and not based in a stable location - might make it harder than others.
One of my players (a half ogre barbarian) wanted to be a cook in the Shackled City AP campaign I ran - it's largely city based so I set him up in a relatively stable job at one of the pubs. We worked it into the play of the campaign in a number of ways, including a cooking competition in a city festival. In the Council of Thieves AP campaign I subsequently ran, one PC had an herbalism shop, complete with an assistant on staff. Again, it was a city-based campaign and so we were able to do it just fine. That campaign also featured a halfling cos-playing gigolo, but enough said about that here...

I like it when my players come forward with some normal aspect of life they want to play up in a campaign whether it's a profession or a craft. I'll do my best to make time for it. And that's mostly what it takes - not extra rules structures or anything. A skill check here or there is really all that's necessary for any mechanics if any questions of consequence come up. The real work is in setting up some ideas and then working them into the flow of the game.

 

[bedir than]

As a DM when I set up exploration or social obstacles I don't care how the PCs get past that obstacle -- skill, tool, magic, class feature, racial feature. It is up to the players to tell me how they are approaching the problem. I find that the ones that use their tools tend to be more invested in all three pillars than those that don't use them.

As a player I find that tools help define my backstory even more than backgrounds