Bizarro World Crafting System?

[Conaill]

This again? There should be a rule that says you can't rehash the same topic more than once a month...

Check this thread from just a few weeks ago for more discussion and answers on this topic:

Craft rules make no sense at all

Short synopsis: For a more complex item to have the same market price, it has to take less time to make. If it took the same time to make as the less complex item, the crafter would have to put a higher market price on it.

Roughly, Price = DC x Time, so Time = Price / DC

 

[James McMurray]

And if searching was easy for all of us, things wouldn't get duplicated as often. Not that I'm complaining, I know this place needs supporters to keep it up and running.

 

[Felon]

This is pointed out in The Enchiridion of Treasures and Objects d'Art (a PDF written by The Sigil that's available at RPGNow.com). The EoTaOdA provides some alternate formulas (based on the type of item) that make a bit more sense, but are a bit more complex. I haven't made use of them since I haven't DM'ed since buying it, but I will once I do start DMing again (especially since he included a spreadsheet that does most of the work for you).

Thank you for the tip!

This again? There should be a rule that says you can't rehash the same topic more than once a month...

Now, what was the very first thing I said?

Short synopsis: For a more complex item to have the same market price, it has to take less time to make. If it took the same time to make as the less complex item, the crafter would have to put a higher market price on it.

Well, maybe me am crazy, but that still seems like bizarro reasoning. In that situation the crafter should charge more for the more complex item, if it requires a higher degree of skill and more expensive material components.

Thank you for the link to the old thread!

 

[Conaill]

Well, maybe me am crazy, but that still seems like bizarro reasoning. In that situation the crafter should charge more for the more complex item, if it requires a higher degree of skill and more expensive material components.

Eaxactly. The only way a more complex item could have the same market price is if it took less time to make (barring differences in material costs, etc.

For example, a finely wrought piece of equipment may cost as much as a 10-lb bag of nails, even though the DC to craft nails is much lower. Explanation? The 10 lb bag of nails requires a lot of "busy work", i.e. it actually takes *longer* to craft than the piece of equipment because each nail has to be forged individually by hand. But it's an easier job, so the smith can set his apprentice to craft the nails. The fact that the market price comes out the same is entirely coincidental.

Expensive material components are a topic of debate. My interpretation is that they simply add to the market price, NOT to the crafting time (so a gold ball doesn't take longer to craft than a lead one, it just costs more), with the exception of some specific special materials (adamantine etc) for which you also have to count a MW component into the crafting time.

From what I've read about the Enchiridion, it follows very similar crafting rules as the PHB. Except that they *start* with material costs, DC and time to craft, and from that calculate a market price. (Enchiridon-owners, feel free to correct me on this!) The PHB - purely for simplicity - provides a table of market prices, so you have to work backwards to figure out how long it must have taken to craft that item.

 

[tensen]

If, on the other hand, by 'silvered' he meant coated in silver, that's perfectly possible.

Hmm, but if the item is coated in silver and it hits something that needs the item that the silver is covering... does that second item actually hit the target and affect it? I wouldn't accept that. Otherwise I'd have my monk hold onto a silver piece while they were fighting a lycanthrope <grin>

 

[knight_isa]

Eaxactly.From what I've read about the Enchiridion, it follows very similar crafting rules as the PHB. Except that they *start* with material costs, DC and time to craft, and from that calculate a market price. (Enchiridon-owners, feel free to correct me on this!) The PHB - purely for simplicity - provides a table of market prices, so you have to work backwards to figure out how long it must have taken to craft that item.

It does create new (but similar) market prices, but it also makes the time required to make the item make more sense.

For normal, "off-the-shelf" sorts of things (like blankets, candles, and even standard quality weapons and armor) I think I'd just go with PHB prices, but I think I'd be inclined to use the EoTaOdA for "build-to-order" stuff.