Crafting / Enchanting rate for special materials

[Tatsukun]

Ok, so here’s the story. My DM has ruled that items made of “special materials (IE Adamantine, Mithral, Dragonhide, Etc.)” in most towns, even if the town has a high enough max Gp limit. Thus, I am looking into having an Adamantine weapon made.

I have been spending a lot of time looking at crafting and special materials and it seems just silly to me. Why are “special materials” made using the Craft (something) rate, rather than the enchant rate (1,000Gp / day) ??

Let’s look at an example. . .

In this example, two good friends decide to have a crafting competition. Bob is a master armorsmith [he is level 15 expert, his bonus to craft (armorsmith) is +30]. Dave is a master enchanter (he is a 15th level mage).

The columns are (left to right)…

1)The item Bob will make.
2)The market price of that item Bob will make.
3)The number of weeks it will take Bob to make this ONE suit of armor.
4)The number of +5 suits of armor Dave can make in that time.
5)The number of extra days off Dave gets during this time (because he could finish first).
6)The market price of all the armor Dave can make while Bob makes that one suit of armor.

So, which guy do you want to be?

I understand that the craft rules need to be slow because you can make “around half your check in Gp each week”. So a level one smith can make about 8Gp a week. I like that, but this mechanic gets broken by the huge market prices of “special materials”.

Realistically, what smith is going to spend more than a year crafting every day, 7 days a week, 8 hours a day to make a suit of Adamantine Fullplate in the hopes that someone will buy it. If it's ordered, what adventurer will wait more than a year for his armor to be finished.

Am I actually reading this correctly? If so, what’s a PC to do???

-Tatsu

 

[Janos Audron]

fabricate?

 

[frankthedm]

If it's ordered, what adventurer will wait more than a year for his armor to be finished.

Am I actually reading this correctly? If so, what’s a PC to do???

-Tatsu

Have a year of downtime?

A year is not that big of a deal to a dwarven craftsman. Sure an impatient human may whine about it, but working with adamant should NOT be easy or quick.

 

[Thanee]

There is one big mistake in your thinking...

Dave needs Bob's suit to start with the enchanting process!

You cannot make a suit of adamantine armor by enchanting alone.

Bye
Thanee

 

[frankthedm]

"Realistically, what smith is going to spend more than a year crafting every day, 7 days a week, 8 hours a day to make a suit of Adamantine Fullplate in the hopes that someone will buy it. "


None, would since you have to custom craft full plate for the wearer.


edit, i think there was some arguments in 3.0 days that special materials took as long as masterworked equipment to make

 

[Tatsukun]

There is one big mistake in your thinking...

Dave needs Bob's suit to start with the enchanting process!

You cannot make a suit of adamantine armor by enchanting alone.

Bye
Thanee

Notice, Dave is making non-special material armor. Just masterwork, enchanted armor.

I think the fabricate spell would help, but a mage would have to put points in craft to use it. But I hate to think that only arcane casters can make this stuff. It kind of ruins the "dwarven smiths are the best at using exotic materials" thing.

Finally, while I have played in campaigns where we could get a year off, right now we are playing RttToEE, so no time off for us. I think a year off is hard to swing in most campaigns, especially if it's only one player (PC) who wants to take the time off.

-Tatsu

 

[Thanee]

Nothing to see here...

 

[Thanee]

Notice, Dave is making non-special material armor. Just masterwork, enchanted armor.

Oh, ok.

Well... it's a kind of magic!

But even though the +5 suit is surely more powerful, they are two very different things.

And don't forget, that the mage still needs at least a masterwork full plate armor then. Takes time, too.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Tatsukun]

Yeah, your right, the mage needs the MW armor. That leads me to the Fabricate spell (as has been mentioned here).

When you cast fabricate, you have to make a craft check to make weapons. So, how do people do this craft check in your games?

1-Does the mage need tools / a smithy?
2-Can he get the +2 from masterwork tools?
3-Can someone assist?
4-If so, how many people can assist?
5-Can the mage do it untrained?
6-Can someone else make the check for the mage?

Just to save time, I am thinking this way..

1- Yes, it's a Craft check, so you need tools
2- Yes
3- Yes, it's a skill check.
4- We allow 2 assistants for smithing
5- Sure, you can do Craft untrained
6- I don't know. When you are making a magic item, such as a wand, you can have someone else cast the spells while you make the wand. I am not sure how a collaboration like this effects this spell.

-Tatsu

 

[Treebore]

BTW, 140 weeks is 2 years and about 9 months, not about a year. Assuming a 52 week year.