There are still requests for Crafting and profession-related skills, now that 4e has taken them out, and as I try to think about them... I can't come up with why they should be there.
And I mean that for any rpg.
Any RPG.
Though I disagree with your stance, I can see if you play an all combat all the time sort of game, why you might not use them.
But
any RPG? Oy.
Unless you're playing Hammer and Chisel: Craftsman Adventures, I can't see a purpose for having any sort of profession or craft skill.
I find this to be a very exaggerated position. A skill need not encompass a major endeavor in the characters' lives in D&D/D20. A class is there for that.
Why would you spend the time to make mundane items? Even if you are getting half, or even a fifth of market prices, after at what, 3rd level, those prices don't matter.
I'd never use craft or profession skills to make money, or expect PCs to do that.
I would expect them to be used to deal with problems in the adventure. I find the concept that "the only vector that PCs should be using to solve their problems should be combat" to be somewhat wanting. I can create challenges around a great variety of skills.
And, as a GM, I think that a powerful technique of getting players involved in the game is using the "specifiable" skills as a method of letting players define those skills and then presenting challenges to those skills during the course of the game.
On the flip side of the coin, I think that the craft and profession skills are a great venue to expand or specialize the game. A seafaring game should be expecting PCs with profession(sailor), etc., and a GM of such a game should provide challenges against those skills.
"But it's part of my background/personality!" Still doesn't explain the necessity for a mechanic.
I'm not sure we really have grounds to communicate here then. AFAIAC, defining the character is the crux of what a character generation system is about, and if it translates into something a character should be able to do better than someone who doesn't have that background, then there should be a skill for it. If it doesn't fit a non-profession skill, then profession is a nice accommodation for it.
I don't need to take a "Orphan" to designate my family was killed by x.
Is this a serious point or a jab? Has anyone ever suggested an "orphan" skill?
Nor do I need "Lady's Man" to designate my charismatic character as being a woman chaser. Or even "Drunkard" to designate that I immediately go for the alehouse as soon as we roll into town with our swag. (Exceptions made for HERO and SotC, where these have actual impact on the system).
Skills are not a parallel to aspects. Skills are skills. Things you can do.
You must be thinking, "But Rechan! What if my players want to make magical items!" Okay, let me ask you something. Your party has spent the last three sessions hunting down the necessary materials to make a magical widget. They put everything together, and ... roll a 1. Do you honestly plan to say "Sorry, your efforts were in vain. No item."
If a skill is required, then yes. Sort of like "we find the dragon's lair... but we're not good enough to fight him. Do we get the treasure?"
The same question applies if you journey far and wide to the greatest swordsmith in the world, do you expect to have him roll a craft skill to make the weapon?
I expect the "greatest swordsmith in the world" to have a good enough craft skill he could take 10.
In a naval campaign, profession (sailor) would be taken, but then you'd be using that stat so often it just becomes a god-stat compared to the others.
Like BAB is a "god stat" in a "combat-adventuring game"? And nobody would take a class that would slight that "skill"?
Seriously, it takes all types. In seafaring games, some players want to be the sailing hero, some want to be the canny navigator, some are along for the ride. Just like any other character design decision, there are many things you can make your character good at. What do you want
your character to be good at?
The answer may be "To make traps/poisons!" Although there has never been adequate rules for either (1,000GP for a pit!?), unless you scrounge around the 3rd party materials in the first place, so that can't be the answer.
I see a degree of difference between "the 3.x crafting rules need some work" and "there is no reason for craft skills." You've argued one; that does not imply the other.
My ultimate point is, if the purpose is story and fleshing out your character, then why shouldn't the DM just say, "Okay, what you just wanted, you do it."
If that's all there is to it, then what's to keep any other character from doing the same thing? Someone who lacks your character skill and background.
If a chargen system does not provide a fair basis to distinguish between the capabilities of characters, then it has not done its job.
Finally, I ask another question. I am willing to hypothesize that only a small subset of players and DMs would emphasize or strongly use the craft/profession skills. If that is the case (and remember, the question hinges on IF it is), then should they be in the core rules of an RPG?
Only a small subset of people play RPGs in the first place. Why have RPGs?
