The same character in my How much ore... thread is thinking about making a few bits of armor. I had taken ranks in Profession: Smith to give my character a little synergy boost to his stonecunning and understanding of metals and such, and now I'm thinking I might him to craft a few items using those skills.
After comparing Craft and Profession in the books, it seems to be oddly overlapping, weighted on the crafting side. Craft can pretty much do everything Profession can do, so long as there is a product to be made.
So, would it be allowable for a profession check to be made instead of a craft checkwhen attempting to create an item? It seems this would have to be plausible... otherwise blacksmith npcs with ranks in profession and no ranks in craft would just stand in their shop, pumping bellows, supervising apprentices and making money without being able to actually produce anything.
If it's not plausible, and craft is mandatory for making an item, it seems that profession is by far a weaker skill, because it can only accomplish half of what craft can. The difference in ability checks (wis vs int) between the two skills further bothers my common sense. A genius fool can make a masterwork set of mithril full plate, but a wizened old smith with a successful business of his own is befuddled by the process of fabricating a horseshoe? bleh.
After comparing Craft and Profession in the books, it seems to be oddly overlapping, weighted on the crafting side. Craft can pretty much do everything Profession can do, so long as there is a product to be made.
This text is found verbatim in both skills, but craft goes on with creation specifics and DCs, where-as this is pretty much it for Profession.SRD said:Check: You can practice your trade and make a decent living, earning about half your check result in gold pieces per week of dedicated work. You know how to use the tools of your trade, how to perform the craft’s daily tasks, how to supervise untrained helpers, and how to handle common problems. (Untrained laborers and assistants earn an average of 1 silver piece per day.)
So, would it be allowable for a profession check to be made instead of a craft checkwhen attempting to create an item? It seems this would have to be plausible... otherwise blacksmith npcs with ranks in profession and no ranks in craft would just stand in their shop, pumping bellows, supervising apprentices and making money without being able to actually produce anything.
If it's not plausible, and craft is mandatory for making an item, it seems that profession is by far a weaker skill, because it can only accomplish half of what craft can. The difference in ability checks (wis vs int) between the two skills further bothers my common sense. A genius fool can make a masterwork set of mithril full plate, but a wizened old smith with a successful business of his own is befuddled by the process of fabricating a horseshoe? bleh.