D&D (2024) D&D Background and Origin Feat Article

[Jefe Bergenstein]

But the point is, the character does not make the decision to use it. The character does nothing. The concealed assassin is about to snipe the lucky character with their crossbow when a flock of birds suddenly flies up disrupting their aim.

I'm talking about the actual use of the ability at the table being disruptive and slowing down play. Nothing about in-game fiction.

Expending a resource to force a reroll is more powerful than expending a resource to impose disadvantage. No one is going to make a monster reroll a 4. But you might spend that resource when you were attacked when the roll is still unknown. Because it will end up being a pain in the ass with timing, it will just end up being more powerful than the actual ability is supposed to be.

 

[Lanefan]

Your seem to be unable to imagine any in-game reasons why a being skilled at crafting lets you make stuff for less than an unskilled crafter.

Make stuff, sure. No problem there.

The feat, however, is in reference to buying stuff someone else has made; at less profit to the maker.

 

[Charlaquin]

While I agree with your point, one can argue that the character doesn't have to do anything for Toughness either. It's a passive feat, just like this one.

Sure, but it represents something about the character that ought to be passive - they’re tougher than other people. Getting a discount at a shop is not a passive quality of a character, it’s a decision made by each individual shopkeeper who interacts with the character.

As opposed to Lucky, which IMO is worse than both of these as it has has nothing to do with the character whatsoever. It's pure metagame.

Eh, not my bugaboo.

 

[Yaarel]

Ugh, I hate the 20% discount from Crafter so much. Guess I’ll be busting out the calculator when player shop now.

If you dont mind DM fiat, maybe instead of the 20% discount, let the Tool proficiency grant an advantage to Charisma checks (and-or Intelligence if making arguments from expertise in the subject matter) to "haggle" when making a lowball offer to a merchant.

That way handle it on a case-by-case basis to determine how low the NPC is willing to go. It can be a fun social encounter.

 

[Charlaquin]

If you dont mind DM fiat, maybe instead of the 20% discount, let the Tool proficiency grant an advantage to Charisma checks (and-or Intelligence if making arguments from expertise in the subject matter) to "haggle" when making a lowball offer to a merchant.

That way handle it on a case-by-case basis to determine how low the NPC is willing to go. It can be a fun social encounter.

Yeah, that would be infinitely more acceptable to me, and I’ll probably end up houseruling it to something like that if it works like the wording here makes it sound like it does. It’s still a bit of a strange benefit to gain from a feat called crafter, but that’s of much lesser concern to me.

 

[Micah Sweet]

No, the DM doesn't have to "go with it" and you know that. It is a group game, everyone needs to be happy.

It's a lot of social pressure though.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Far fewer things work like that in the revised rules we’ve seen so far than did in the 2014 rules. Indeed, even by Tasha’s far fewer things were working that way than did in early 5e. It just makes for smoother play to have the decision to reroll come after a roll has actually been made, which is why we started seeing more abilities designed that way later in 5e’s lifecycle and why almost all abilities where you had to decide before the roll have been changed to be after the roll in the revisions. Lucky seems to be a conspicuous exception.

DM: “Bob, roll a dexterity save.”
Bob: “11”
DM: “you step on the trap and…”
Geoff: “Bob gets +3 on his saves due to my paladin aura.”
DM: “…nothing happens.”

Irrespective of the actual mechanics it’s normal for the flow of play to regularly be rewound a little because it’s impossible for everyone to keep track of everyone else’s abilities.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Sorry if this is personal, but I have seen you on the boards having a hard time with 5e. You don’t enjoy the playstyle, but players do. Worse is that it sounds like players don’t stick in your game.

Have you thought about… changing your mind? It would probably bring you a lot more enjoyment.

Seriously? Just...stop being unhappy about it? How is that helpful?

 

[Micah Sweet]

You can simply describe the reason once or twice, then ignore it afterwards, much like any scutwork in D&D. One time it's because of a cosmetic defect, another time it's because they get a friend of a friend discount, another time because the crafter shows them a trick and they vendor is appreciative. Then it just fades into the background so you can get to the actual important part of the game. Like how you don't describe your character putting on pants or eating beyond a few times in a campaign.

If you sit there with your arms crossed, daring them to make you buy in, yeah, the game doesn't work.

Ridiculous. That is the definition of a disassociate mechanic. You're welcome to not care about that, but I do.

 

[Yaarel]

It’s still a bit of a strange benefit to gain from a feat called crafter, but that’s of much lesser concern to me.

The discounts/bargaining apply for raw materials too.

In my games the tool proficiencies are very useful. Where a skill represents a breadth of knowledge, the tool represents depth of knowledge.

So for example, one can gain a tool proficiency in "Riding Horse", a kind of vehicle. Then the character can attempt any check relating to horses with proficiency. Checks include, repairing a saddle, nutrition and caring for horses wellbeing, trivia about who won races and who breeds the fastest horses, knowledge of magical horses, haggling to purchase food or lodging for horses, scalping tickets to a horse event, almost anything. The character becomes the go-to for the topic "horse".

The same applies to any tool.

Tools are alot of fun and it looks like this DM discretion can continue into 2024, as well as the new useful rules for regular tool uses.