I revised the original post based on playtesting. Basing the Craft rules on the Earn-a-Profit rules was elegant but didn't do what players wanted. They don't want to craft things to earn a profit or even a price break; they want to craft things so that they can have the things and say that they crafted it. Thus the new Craft system takes less time, but costs a lot more, and is a more traditional "table of example DCs" system as opposed to an abstract mathematical system.
I also removed the bit about Background Skill Modifier and rephrased this as a +5 bonus to ability checks. It's mathematically equivalent but much easier to say and understand. This also gives the system more flexibility since the Background Skill is no longer tied to any particular key ability. It turns out that using the Background Skill directly is the least common use: It is far more common at my table for players to roll PHB skills and then apply a +2 bonus for their Background Skill to that roll. So, that aspect of the rule has been emphasized, and Background Skill Modifier and Checks have been eliminated.
-- 77IM
As before, here is the previous version of the rules, so that the above conversation makes sense.
I also removed the bit about Background Skill Modifier and rephrased this as a +5 bonus to ability checks. It's mathematically equivalent but much easier to say and understand. This also gives the system more flexibility since the Background Skill is no longer tied to any particular key ability. It turns out that using the Background Skill directly is the least common use: It is far more common at my table for players to roll PHB skills and then apply a +2 bonus for their Background Skill to that roll. So, that aspect of the rule has been emphasized, and Background Skill Modifier and Checks have been eliminated.
-- 77IM
As before, here is the previous version of the rules, so that the above conversation makes sense.
Originally posted on this thread: Crafting... can anyone make anything in 4E? - EN World D&D / RPG News
Please let me know what you think. I just rewrote this system to try to make it easier to read. My goal was to have an open-ended skill list that allowed people to make mundane items and small sums of money in a very short time period, but was financially vastly inferior to killing monsters and taking their stuff.
Background Skills
Background skills represent ordinary, everyday talents and interests of characters. Most people in the world are not adventurers out slaying monsters -- for these people, high ranks of Acrobatics or Arcana are not as useful as the ability to grow crops, mend shoes, sail a ship, or play a lute.
What qualifies as a background skill is ultimately up to the DM, but may include crafting skills, professional skills, art and performec skills, knowledge about a particular area, skills pertaining to social groups or status, or any other specialized form of knowledge that isn't well represented by normal skills, but isn't terribly useful during an adventure either. The DM decides whether a background skill is appropriate to the campaign, and which ability score it uses as a key ability.
Sample Background Skills
Don't feel constrained by the skills on this list -- feel free to make up new background skills that you think would be interesting.
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, 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)
Acquiring Background Skills
Background skills aren't essential to the life of an adventurer or necessary for the workings of the game, so you don't get any trained background skills from your class or from the Skill Training feat.
Starting Background Skills: All player characters start with two background skills. The DM can modify the number of background skills based on the needs of the campaign. One idea is to give all characters a number of background skills equal to their Intelligence modifier (minimum 1); this gives Intelligence back some of the utility it had in previous editions, but could cause some characters to have many more background skills than others. Another idea is to reward players who describe their characters' backstories well by giving them bonus background skills. Maybe all characters get 1-2 background skills, but a player who writes up a particularly detailed and interesting character history is entitled to 3 or 4 background skills. In some campaigns, certain background skills may only be available to certain races and classes (for example, maybe dwarves can't be sailors or eladrin can't be mud-wrestlers).
Feats: Characters can take the Background Skill Training feat to gain two more background skills.
Background Skill Checks
Your background skills have a modifier, just like regular skills: 1/2 your level + the key ability of your background skill + 5. This is used for making background skill checks (1d20 + your background skill modifier). The DM decides when such checks are called for, using the rules presented below as a guideline.
Untrained Background Skill Checks: An untrained background skill check is just 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.
Using Background Skills
Most of the time, your background skills stay in the background -- little things to help flesh out your character's personality and story, and give them a bit of flavor. These skills do have a few mechanical benefits, however.
Skill or Ability Check Bonus: When using a normal skill (one of the ones listed in Chapter 5: Skills), or making an ability check, you get a +2 background bonus if the skill or ability check is somehow related to one of your background skills, in the DM's judgement. For example, if you have Background Skill (Dalelands Knowledge), you would get a +2 bonus on all History and Streetwise checks relating to the Dalelands. If you have Background Skill (Singing), and you're trying to impress the duke by singing a song, you might get a +2 bonus on your Diplomacy check to influence the duke. If you have Background Skill (Chef), you might get a +2 bonus on Nature checks made to forage for food in the wild. If you have Background Skill (Lawyer), and you threaten someone with legalese (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/welcome), you get a +2 bonus on your Intimidate check.
Background Knowledge: You can use background skills to make knowledge checks, as described in Chapter 5: Skills. Follow the guidelines given there. If both a normal knowledge skill and a background skill apply in the situation at hand, it's best to use the normal knowledge skill, and have the background skill provide a +2 synergy bonus to the check.
Perform Tasks: Some tasks may require one or more background skill checks to complete. The DM sets the DC for these checks, following the guidelines in the DMG.
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). 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.
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 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 the construction cost of the item, the item is completed. (Any excess money earned can be converted into more items or kept as money.) An item's construction cost is usually half the market price of the item, but the DM can rule that certain items are more or less expensive to craft than their market price would indicate; for instance, the construction cost of 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.
Feats
BACKGROUND SKILL FOCUS
Benefit: You get a +3 feat bonus all your background skills checks.
BACKGROUND SKILL TRAINING
Benefit: You are trained in two additional background skills.
Special: You can select this feat multiple times, adding two new background skills each time.
