Craft/Profession rules [lite]

[77IM]

Overview

• Everybody starts with 2 free background skills of their choice.
• These can be whatever you want, as long as they are useless crap, like baking pies or subsistence farming or being the son of a duke.
• Most of the time, background skills just provide a +2 bonus to some other, more useful skill.

Background Skills
A background skill is an area of expertise or domain of knowledge that isn't very useful to an adventurer and isn't represented by the skills listed in the PHB. They represent the ordinary, everyday talents and interests of characters.

Whenever you make a skill check or ability check, if you have a relevant background skill, you get a background bonus (+2 to a skill check or +5 to an ability check). The DM decides whether or not a particular background skill applies; some checks might actually require a particular background skill (for example, forging a sword might be a Strength check that requires a background skill of blacksmithing or weaponsmithing to even attempt). If multiple background skills apply, the bonuses do not stack.

Each character starts with a background skill relating to their race or homeland (for example, dwarves start with a "Dwarf Knowledge" background skill, while humans from the kingdom of Merubia start with a "Merubia Knowledge" background skill). In addition, each character can select two additional background skills representing their upbringing, hobbies, or pre-adventuring career (see the list below for ideas).

Sample Background Skills

Crafting: armorsmith, baker, boyer, carpenter, chandler, fletcher, haberdasher, leatherworker, tailor, weaponsmith
Profession: accountant, bartender, clerk, farmer, horse trainer, lawyer, mercenary, merchant, sailor, scribe, teacher
Social Groups or Status: noble etiquette, heraldry, military procedures, traditions of a particular tribe or ethnic group
Performance: dancing, juggling, singing, percussion instruments, poetry recital, stringed instruments, wind instruments
Art: composition, painting, sculpture, writing
Domestics: cleaning, cooking, gardening, sewing, mending
Area Knowledge: a single city, town, stretch of countryside, small kingdom, particular astral domain or feywild realm, or any region that is sufficiently smaller than the area in which the campaign takes place (for example, if your campaign takes place in the Dalelands, then you could not have Dalelands Knowledge as a background skill; but if your campaign spans the entire Forgotten Realms, of which the Dalelands are a small part, then Dalelands Knowledge may be appropriate)
Other: feel free to come up with whatever background skills are appropriate to your character


Advanced Uses for Background Skills

Earn a Profit

If your background skill is one which can be used to make a profit, you can make skill checks to try to earn a living. Each week that you practice your craft, you can spend 10sp on materials and other expenses, and then make a background skill check. You earn 1sp per point of your result (so if your result is less than 10, you actually lost money this week). If you want, you can instead spend 15gp on materials and expenses, and earn 1gp per point of your result (but you must make this decision before making your background skill check). Or, if you're really good, you can spend 20pp and earn 1pp per point of your result. You can Take 10 on the check if you are earning sp, but not if you are earning gp or pp -- high-stakes industries are a bit more volatile than everyday enterprises.

A week of work is roughly 8 hours a day on the job for most of a 7-day week -- possibly more or less for some jobs, but always too much time to have any left over for adventuring. If you're in a hurry, or are highly skilled, you can attempt a week's worth of work in 1 day, but the materials cost is the same as it would be for 1 week, and you take a -5 penalty on your check. Your trade may have additional requirements to be profitable -- for example, a merchant needs a market to buy and sell goods, and won't earn any money in an uninhabited wasteland. A sailor needs to spend some time sailing, etc.

Crafting Items

If your background skill relates to crafting items, you can make a check to produce an item or repair a broken item. This requires time and materials, as well as appropriate tools and facilities.

Tools and Facilities: Smithing requires a forge, alchemy requires a lab, shipbuilding requires a shipyard, etc. If you don't have the right equipment, the task takes twice as long and you get a -2 penalty on the check.

Materials: The raw materials for crafting cost as much as the market price of the item (margins are tight these days...). If you're only repairing a broken item, the raw materials cost is 1/5 the market price. If your crafting fails, you can re-use the same raw materials (unless you are crafting in a hurry; see below).

If you're short on materials, or trying to make a profit, use the "Earn a Profit" rules, above, to create your raw materials; any profits you earn become raw materials that you can use in your crafting.

Time: The DM decides how long it takes to craft an item, using the table below as a guideline. If you're in a hurry, you can get the task done in half the time, but you take a -5 penalty on your check, and if you fail, you ruin half your raw materials due to carelessness.

[u]Object (Example)                                                      DC / Time[/u]
Simple object (candle, arrow, rope)                                   10 / A few hours
Typical object (sword, wagon, clothing)                               15 / A few days
Complicated object (plate armor, sailboat, clockwork)                 20 / A few weeks
Especially large object (building, ship, large quantity of weapons)   +0 /  x 5
Especially fine object (masterwork armor, jewelry, mansion)           +5 /  x 5
Repairs repairing a broken item                                       +0 /  x 1/5

Making the Check: Make an ability check (with a +5 bonus for an appropriate background skill; some types of crafting may be done "untrained," such as simple repairs). The DM decides the check DC, using the table above as a guideline. If you succeed, you craft or repair the item. If you fail, you may try again using the same raw materials (unless you're in a hurry, in which case half the raw materials are destroyed). You can Take 10 on the check unless you're taking penalties on your check (for insufficient tools, being in a hurry, or other hindrances).

If you have mastered the Enchant Magic Items ritual, you can use these rules to craft any magic item that you would be capable of enchanting. This winds up having the same cost as just performing the ritual, but allows you to use raw materials instead of alchemical reagents, and may be more appropriate to low-magic campaigns.


Feats

BACKGROUND SKILL FOCUS
Benefit: Your background bonus when making a check for which a background skill applies increases to +3 for skill checks and +8 for ability checks.

BACKGROUND SKILL TRAINING
Benefit: You are trained in three additional background skills.
Special: You can select this feat multiple times, adding three new background skills each time.

MASTER CRAFTSMAN
Prerequisite: At least one background skill that allows you to craft items, level 4.
Benefit: Crafting non-magical items using one of your background skills (not "untrained" crafting) takes half as much time and raw materials. You can craft magic items appropriate to your background skills as though you had the Enchant Magic Items ritual, but at the normal time and cost.

 

[mattdm]

Special: All characters start with this feat at 1st level.

In addition to their regular 1st-level feat, right?

 

[77IM]

In addition to their regular 1st-level feat, right?

Yup. I should probably make that an optional rule separate from the actual feat to reduce confusion. "Hi Players! Here's my list of house rule feats you can take ... read through them very carefully, in case you get any for free at 1st level." Nah, that part's better as a separate rule.

-- 77IM

 

[Verdande]

I was gonna post in here and question why you wanted rules to cover something that you could easily answer using DM fiat, but then I realized how simple, easy, and modular it is.

I love it, and if my players weren't bloodthirsty hackmasters, I'd probably add it to my game.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

This looks like a decent shake at crafting/background rules...but I have two comments:

1> A 'background' skills, presumably learned as you grew up, I don't like the idea that they can be retrained.

2> Crafting items. I think there needs to be an extra layer of complexity, literally, added to making things. 8 days to make Plate Armor from iron seems to be really really fast. I would suggest that {a} when trying to make something specific, extra 'earnings' beyond the goal are lost.

And {b} introduce three categories of 'stuff':
Simple stuff, like arrows, wooden bowls, and knifes, can be crafted in days. Generally these are items that you take a single piece of stock and whittle it down to shape. Simple stuff is always crafted in silver peices.
Difficult stuff, like blankets, clothing, crossbows, can be crafted in weeks. Generally these are items that you take stock {wool} to create a base form {yarn} and then craft the final product {clothing} or have multiple parts that fit together in in a rough fashion. Fancy Difficult stuff can be crafted in gold pieces, but is generally crafted in silver pieces.
Complex stuff, like masterwork weapons, metal armor, ballistae, siege engines, can be crafted in months. Generally these are items that the stock has to be converted to a base form and then refined into multiple parts, which are then combined together into the final product. Complex stuff is always crafted in gold peices.

Selling stuff always depends on the market available. This market may modify our check when you attempt to make a living on a background skill, or may even negate it.

IIRC, an older edition stated that your normal NPC merchant earned about 1gp per day. This breakdown would get pretty close to that amount.

Using this, Hrothbert has the choice of spending a bit over a month making his own armor for about 1/5th the cost, or just paying full price for some bloke to make it.
That settles a bit better with me

 

[77IM]

1> A 'background' skills, presumably learned as you grew up, I don't like the idea that they can be retrained.

This logic could apply to any of the retraining rules, though. How does one "forget" any skill or feat? It's fair for the DM to say, "Retraining breaks verisimilitude too much, so it's not allowed," but I'd rather DMs impose that sort of restriction, rather than have the rules impose it.

Still, I just rewrote the entire system and I left out the part about retraining. The feat can presumably be retrained following the normal rules unless the DM decides otherwise.

2> Crafting items. I think there needs to be an extra layer of complexity, literally, added to making things. 8 days to make Plate Armor from iron seems to be really really fast.

I don't really know how long plate armor takes to make, but consider that Hrothbert is a level 13 character with a Strength of 19 -- with a check bonus far beyond that of your typical blacksmith. If he were level 1 with only a 16 Strength, it would have taken him a little over 7 weeks to craft that armor.

If you think it should take longer, the DM is free to increase the construction cost of the item. In the new version, I tried to make this more clear.


Thanks again for your feedback!

-- 77IM

 

[77IM]

Original version (so that the comments above make sense)

Heroic Feat:

BACKGROUND SKILL TRAINING
Benefit: You are trained in two background skills. What qualifies as a background skill is ultimately up to the DM, but may include crafting skills (such as armorsmith, baker, boyer, carpenter, chandler, fletcher, haberdasher, leatherworker, tailor, weaponsmith), professional skills (such as accountant, bartender, clerk, farmer, horse trainer, lawyer, mercenary, merchant, sailor, scribe), knowledge about a particular area (no larger than a city or a region of the countryside), skills pertaining to social groups or status (such as noble etiquette, heraldry, military procedures, traditions of a particular tribe or ethnic group) or any other specialized form of knowledge that isn't well represented by normal skills, but isn't terribly useful during an adventure either. Your DM decides whether a background skill is appropriate to the campaign, and which ability score it uses as a key ability (typically, Intelligence or Wisdom).

You get a +2 bonus on any normal skill checks or ability checks related to one of your background skills. You can also make background skill checks:

Background Skill Check: 1d20 + 1/2 your level + the key ability of your background skill + 5 (if trained) + 3 (if focussed)

The DM sets the DC of the background skill check, and determines the effects of a successful check. In general, background skills let you know information relevant to your background, similar to a knowledge skill, and may be required to perform specialized tasks relating to your background. The DM may allow you to make an untrained background skill check for a background skill you don't have, which is the same as an ability check. However, the very nature of background skills means that many tasks associated with them require specific training and can't be attempted untrained.

If your background skill is one which can be used to make a profit, you can make skill checks to try to earn a living. Each week that you practice your craft, you can spend 10sp on raw materials, and then make a background skill check. You earn 1sp per point of your result (so if your result is less than 10, you actually lose money this week). If you want, you can instead spend 15gp on raw materials, and earn 1gp per point of your result (but you must make this decision before making your background skill check). Your trade may have additional requirements to be profitable -- for example, a merchant needs a market to buy and sell goods, and won't earn any money in an uninhabited wasteland. A sailor needs to spend some time sailing, etc.

A week of work is roughly 8 hours a day on the job for most of a 7-day week -- possibly more or less for some jobs, but always too much time to have any left over for adventuring. If you're in a hurry, or are highly skilled, you can attempt a week's worth of work in 1 day, but the materials cost is the same as it would be for 1 week, and you take a -5 penalty on your check. You can Take 10 on the check if you are earning sp, but not if you are earning gp -- high-stakes industries are a bit more volatile than everyday enterprises.

If you are crafting items, you can decide to keep the items instead of selling them on the open market. You need to state ahead of time what sort of item or items you are crafting, and the money you would have earned from background skill checks instead represents progress you are making on the item. When you've earned enough money through background skill checks to cover half the cost of the item, the item is completed. (Any excess money earned can be converted into more items or kept as money.) The DM can rule that certain items are more or less expensive to craft than their market price would indicate; for instance, the cost of crafting ritual components is equal to the cost of the components (not half price). You can't use background skill checks to create magic items, but you can create mundane items and then use the Enchant Magic Item ritual on them.

Example: Hrothbert the dwarf wants to create a magical suit of armor. He is level 13 and trained in Background Skill (Armorsmithing), which is based upon Strength (the DM decided that force of your arm and the quality of your training matters more than raw Intelligence when working armor), and has a Strength of 19. His total Background Skill (Armorsmithing) modifier is +15 (6 for 1/2 his level + 4 for his Strength + 5 for being trained). Hrothbert rents a forge and buys some iron, for a total cost of 15gp, and spends a week hammering away. He rolls an 8 on 1d20 for a total check result of 23. Since he is making platemail, which normally costs 50gp, he needs to score 25gp worth of check results to complete the armor. Hrothbert is 2gp shy (he's got a nearly full set of platemail -- it just needs a little more work on the ankle guards) so he decides to spend one more day on it. He spends another 15gp, and rolls a 16, for a total result of 26gp worth of crafting (because of the -5 penalty for being in a hurry). That's enough to finish the platemail and produce another 24gp worth of armor -- so he decides to make 24gp worth of guantlets and sells them immediately, pocketing the 24gp of profits (these sales are part of the normal activity of being an armorsmith and doesn't take up any extra time or energy). Hrothbert has now spent a total of 6gp (24gp worth of profits, minus 30gp expenses) and 8 days to produce his platemail. Finally, since Hrothbert has the Ritual Caster feat and knows the Enchant Magic Item ritual, he goes out and buys 17,000gp worth of alchemical reagents. He then spends an hour performing Enchant Magic Item on the platemail, turning it into +3 mountain platemail, a level 13 item and dwarven specialty.

Special: You can select this feat multiple times, adding two new background skills each time. You can use the normal retraining rules to change which two background skills you know. You can select "Skill Focus (Background Skills)" as a feat, in which case the +3 feat bonus from Skill Focus applies to all your background skills.


Optional Rule: Every player character gets the Background Skill Training feat for free at 1st level, in addition to their normal 1st-level feat. The two background skills they select represent the character's upbringing, pre-adventuring career, hobbies, and interests. If they want more background skills, they can spend normal feat slots to take the Background Skill Training feat multiple times.

Optional Rule: Background skills come in pairs. If a player can't decide on both skills, let them leave one skill open and decide later. They can even leave both skills open, if you're using the option to give every character Background Skill Training for free at 1st level. A player can later assign their unselected background skills at any time except during an encounter. Once chosen, changing your selection of background skills requires you to use the retraining rules.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

I don't have any references for how long plate mail takes to build. The usual discussions on these board revolve around how long it takes to craft a Masterwork LongSword {katana}. According to the Discovery channel's show on bladesmithing, it takes about 6 months from start to finish with 2 master bladesmiths and a bunch of apprentices to take raw metal and turn it into a Katana. I figure thats the far end, with the war-ready Orc weapons knocked off in a couple of hours. That range is based more on the quality {cost} of the weapon that it is on the skill of the crafter.

I also vaguely recall something about armorsmiths working for a year on the noble nights armor. Maybe they were all level 1!

I will slide this past my 4e DM and see what he thinks..
not that I plan on crafting anything soon, but just in case!

 

[77IM]

That is a good point about the katanas. Those suckers take time. What's worse, under the current system, a lousy craftsman could simply spend a very long time and eventually wind up producing a katana just as good as a master smith. I'm tempted to add some sort of DC or penalty system for producing such goods -- but now that I think about it, it may be easier to just use specialized skills. For example, Background Skill (Katana Smithing) may require you to have Background Skill (Weaponsmithing), and Background Skill (Weaponsmithing) can't be used to create katanas. Since the selection of background skills is totally governed by the DM's Judgement, that sounds legit.

...

And now, for some maths:

My goal for the "Profits" system was not to produce a medieval economy or even a working fantasy economy, but to give heroic PCs some rules for non-heroic money-making that were both believable and less profitable than adventuring. Here's how it works out. (Remember that earning sp costs 10sp and you can Take 10 on it; earning gp costs 15gp and you can't Take 10.)

- Imagine that the average peasant has a 13 in his highest stat (it's the top of the 3d6 standard array) and that he has a background skill that matches that stat, and is level 0. He'll have a +6 modifier. This means that if he is working in silver pieces, he can take 10 and earn 6sp per week, which seems about right for lower-class toil such as subsintance farming, herding, manual labor, begging, or being the village cobbler. If the person works in gold pieces, he earns an average of 1.5gp per week. This requires substantial up-front capital (you need 15gp buy-in just to play) and carries some risk -- a run of bad luck and you can deplete your savings down to less than 15gp. This amount of earning makes a ton of sense for merchants and innkeepers, educated professionals like clerks and scribes, traveling performers, or specialized craftsmen like blacksmiths and inner-city tailors.

- Of course, that assumes NPCs are built like PCs, and they're not. An NPC with a background skill modifier of +4 or less basically must work in silver pieces, as they are statistically likely to lose money if trying to earn gold. An NPC with a modifier of +14 or more has no reason to work in silver pieces, as rolling for gold will always at least break even. Such a person would earn an average of 9.5gp per week plying their trade -- a sum that quickly adds up, and could easily represent a wealthy merchant or banker, or a sought-after advocate or entertainer. The +14 modifier probably doesn't come from class levels; it probably is assigned by the DM based on the needs of the game (you know, the same magical way that monster mathematics works in 4e).

- None of these figures directly accounts for cost-of-living. My assumption is that this is either already taken care of for the character, or it's part of the weekly expenses (e.g. a farmer lives in a farmhouse and part of his farming activities includes maintaining that house).

- Where does this leave PCs? Well, at 1st level, assuming a +3 in the relevant stat, they can earn an average of 3.5gp per week, just hanging around town. That's not a lot, but it's enough to spend a month or two forging a decent weapon. The most a 1st level PC could have is a +13 modifier -- +5 for training, +5 for max stat, +3 for Skill Focus. That's an average of 8.5gp per week, which is nice, but STILL not as good as defeating a single 1st-level encounter.

-- 77IM

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

I like that math... and your 1st level PC with a +13...well, they invested pretty heavily to earn those 8 gp per week

For the DC/penalty for masterwork/fancier stuff.. you already have the -5 for working in gp. Perhaps an additional -5 for masterwork/special items. This puts the low skilled crafter out of business of making Katana's while still maintaining the simpleness of the system.