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<blockquote data-quote="Greenfield" data-source="post: 6041092" data-attributes="member: 6669384">My experience is almost 180 degrees off of yours.Item crafting is a powerful tool, particularly for consumable magic, such as Scrolls, Potions, Wands and Staffs.&nbsp; The demand is high and constant.At low levels, that Wand of Cure Light is a life saver, and frees the Clerics from the &quot;Healerbot&quot; role that someone else complained about in another thread.Craft Wondrous is really &quot;Craft Anything&quot;, and we've actually had to pare it down a bit, shifting broaches and amulets into Forge Ring (making that feat &quot;Craft Magical Jewelry&quot;.)&nbsp; Consumable wondrous items such as salves, dusts,&nbsp; candles and such were shifted to Brew Potion.The item crafting Wizard in the party became the wealthiest character in the game, since he could essentially double the value of any cash type loot he received, at the cost of a bit of time and Exp.&nbsp; And the way the Exp per level in 3.* worked, if he slipped back a level from the party, he'd earn more Exp per encounter until he caught up.&nbsp; The &quot;cost&quot; was a self correcting problem.The DMs had to work to reign in his crafting, just to keep treasure levels under control.&nbsp; Fabricate allowed him to hit a major town with a stockpile of Master worked bows and weapons, a nice item within the economic reach of a lot of NPC types, and highly desirable for any noble seeking to keep his level 1 and 2 soldiers and guards well prepared.By the book, you pretty much can't make any money crafting magic items.&nbsp; The material cost is half the market price, and you can only sell them for half the market price, leaving you with a profit margin of zero.Non magical items, however, have a material cost of one third market, yet sell for half.&nbsp; That leaves a common profit margin of one sixth market.&nbsp; As a DM I try to discourage PCs from becoming merchants, either through transport or via crafting.&nbsp; Magic grants them a huge advantage and their ability to accumulate wealth is staggering.And in any version of D&amp;D, wealth translates to good gear, and good gear is more than half of what makes most PCs what they are.&nbsp; Too much wealth unbalances the game.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Greenfield, post: 6041092, member: 6669384"] My experience is almost 180 degrees off of yours. Item crafting is a powerful tool, particularly for consumable magic, such as Scrolls, Potions, Wands and Staffs. The demand is high and constant. At low levels, that Wand of Cure Light is a life saver, and frees the Clerics from the "Healerbot" role that someone else complained about in another thread. Craft Wondrous is really "Craft Anything", and we've actually had to pare it down a bit, shifting broaches and amulets into Forge Ring (making that feat "Craft Magical Jewelry".) Consumable wondrous items such as salves, dusts, candles and such were shifted to Brew Potion. The item crafting Wizard in the party became the wealthiest character in the game, since he could essentially double the value of any cash type loot he received, at the cost of a bit of time and Exp. And the way the Exp per level in 3.* worked, if he slipped back a level from the party, he'd earn more Exp per encounter until he caught up. The "cost" was a self correcting problem. The DMs had to work to reign in his crafting, just to keep treasure levels under control. [I]Fabricate[/I] allowed him to hit a major town with a stockpile of Master worked bows and weapons, a nice item within the economic reach of a lot of NPC types, and highly desirable for any noble seeking to keep his level 1 and 2 soldiers and guards well prepared. By the book, you pretty much can't make any money crafting magic items. The material cost is half the market price, and you can only sell them for half the market price, leaving you with a profit margin of zero. Non magical items, however, have a material cost of one third market, yet sell for half. That leaves a common profit margin of one sixth market. As a DM I try to discourage PCs from becoming merchants, either through transport or via crafting. Magic grants them a huge advantage and their ability to accumulate wealth is staggering. And in any version of D&D, wealth translates to good gear, and good gear is more than half of what makes most PCs what they are. Too much wealth unbalances the game. [/QUOTE]

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