Crafting with special materials

[Bront]

Do you get a discount on the materials cost when you craft the item? I don't see anything that says you don't.

 

[MarkB]

Yes, you should still get the discount on the raw materials. Just make sure you convert the total cost to silver pieces to determine crafting time, and bear in mind that the cost for some items of special materials automatically includes the masterwork quality - so deduct that cost in advance, then make the separate checks for it as per the usual rules for crafting masterwork items.

 

[Bront]

I would probably treat the entire special materials process to that of the masterwork part, just because that makes the most sense to me, but yeah, it's kinda wonky that way.

Thanks.

 

[pbd]

Be careful. I was playing a charater tht took max ranks in Craft armor, was a dwarf (+2 racial bonus), and had a feat equivalent to skill focus (+3 bonus) at tenth level it still would have taken him about 3 yeasr to craft an adamantine breastplate...

 

[Twowolves]

Be careful. I was playing a charater that took max ranks in Craft armor, was a dwarf (+2 racial bonus), and had a feat equivalent to skill focus (+3 bonus) at tenth level it still would have taken him about 3 years to craft an adamantine breastplate...

Or have a wizard with 1 rank in Craft:Armor cast Fabricate and it'll be done in 10 minutes...

 

[Bront]

Be careful. I was playing a charater tht took max ranks in Craft armor, was a dwarf (+2 racial bonus), and had a feat equivalent to skill focus (+3 bonus) at tenth level it still would have taken him about 3 yeasr to craft an adamantine breastplate...

Fortunately, Warforged can work 'round the clock'.

Mithril Heavy Shield - under 8 weeks
Adamantine Mourninstar - Under 22 weeks

Yeah, that's a long time, but it's workable.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Remember, you can up the DC by any increment of 10 in order to Craft stuff faster ...

 

[frankthedm]

Or have a wizard with 1 rank in Craft:Armor cast Fabricate and it'll be done in 10 minutes...

Not if the DM is on the ball! The spell only allows for one craft roll so he'd need to have a +10 on the craft skill if he wants to take 10. And even if one argues 20 castings of the spell should allow the caster to "take 20". There is a penaty for failure so could also agrue taking 20 is not an option.

DC 10+AC for the armor and DC20 for the masterwork component

If you fail by 5 or more, you ruin half the raw materials and have to pay half the original raw material cost again.

 

[Twowolves]

Not if the DM is on the ball! The spell only allows for one craft roll so he'd need to have a +10 on the craft skill if he wants to take 10. And even if one argues 20 castings of the spell should allow the caster to "take 20". There is a penaty for failure so could also agrue taking 20 is not an option.

DC 10+AC for the armor and DC20 for the masterwork component

If you fail by 5 or more, you ruin half the raw materials and have to pay half the original raw material cost again.

Full plate armor requires a DC 18 check. Fabricate is a 5th level spell, so the wizard must have at least a 15 Int. Craft works off of Int. Therefore, with only 1 rank in the skill, the wizard has a minimum of +3, and more likely +5 or more. That's a 40-50% chance of ruining half the raw materials, a 30-40% chance of instant success. This is assuming the DM won't allow any other help, like Aid Another, Masterwork Craft Tools, Guidance, Fox's Cunning or Inspire Competance, the latter three he most certainly should allow, since the casting time of Fabricate is entirely within the duration of those effects. The OP was, I thought, assuming he had the raw materials in hand already.

Any item made of a special material is automatically masterwork, IIRC from the section in the DMG.

In any case, 10 minutes with an almost even chance of ruining half the materials or instantly having the item, vs litterally years of work at the forge.... what would you pick?

 

[MarkB]

Any item made of a special material is automatically masterwork, IIRC from the section in the DMG.

Only some special materials, and this simply means that the cost of the masterwork quality is included in their purchase price. It does not circumvent the need to craft the masterwork quality when crafting the item.