Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="kenjib" data-source="post: 706378" data-attributes="member: 530">Do you think?  I thought, more realistically, that an item would be of extremely high quality mostly because the craftsman is highly skilled and has knows the best techniques.  Secondary would be spending more time and using better materials -- certainly not to the point where it would require 150 times the cost in craft time and materials.  If anything, it seems to me that the high price for a high quality item would have more to do with demand than with costs.To consider more low technology production, think of something like pottery.  Many potters today use essentially the same technology (with the exception of some of the dyes, paints, and finishes) that they would have used 5000 years ago -- clay, a wheel, a kiln, and paint.  Part of what makes a high quality work of pottery stand out is the craftman's ability to create a uniform shape, and coax shapes from the clay that a lesser craftsman cannot.  He also has the taste and vision to produce works that are more well proportioned and aesthetically pleasing.  It's not so much that he uses special clay that costs 100 times as much, and takes twenty times as long to finish.  Before you suggest that the difference are due to ornamentation (expensive inlay, leaf, intricate detail work, etc.) I would point out that the benefits of a masterwork item are practical above all.  They work better.  Being more highly ornamented is secondary to this and not necessary, in my view.I agree with you.  I was just trying to highlite the factors at play on both sides of the coin so as to open the field of discussion.  Where do you think this balance works best?  Do you like the current rules?  They certainly seem mechanically sound to me, if aesthetically displeasing.</blockquote>

Verification