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<blockquote data-quote="humble minion" data-source="post: 9422047" data-attributes="member: 5948">Yeah this, 100%.&nbsp; Crafting is, in my preferences, a story element rather than a part of the routine 'win the next fight' gameplay loop.I mean, The Crystal Shard, which was the first ever D&amp;D novel i read and was what sucked me into the whole hobby in the first place, has an important scene where Bruenor crafts a magic hammer (and not just any hammer, a Dwarven Thrower, which was a one-step-down-from-artifact level big deal in AD&amp;D!)&nbsp; It's not a powergaming choice for him, it's a story element, a way a gruff and uncommunicative dwarf of few words demonstrates his love for a boy he's come to look on as a son.&nbsp; He makes the hammer with precious materials that he's hoarded for many years for just a project like this, and the text specifically says that he's undertaking a masterwork and will likely never create anything like this again.&nbsp; But he also does it in (if i remember right) a single sustained and draining effort, not 3-10 years of full-time work as the 5e rules would have it take.I have a habit of building characters around crafting skills, and it's been a bugbear for me how badly they work.&nbsp; I have a gunmage character in my Iron Kingdoms game who is min-maxed to hell for tailoring.&nbsp; Her ancestry is via disgraced nobility, and she's very ambitious to make her place back into the aristocracy, and clothing design and fashion has been her doorway into that.&nbsp; Or there was my illusionist PC for an abortive Dragonlance game, who was an itinerant painter specialising in portraits of the wealthy and powerful, but who I'd planned was going to get unhealthily obsessed with truly capturing the definitive image of some NPC who'd had a major impact on history, maybe Soth or someone.&nbsp; Or there was my Midgard PC, a dwarven drunken master monk who was a fervent worshipper of the Midgard goddess of beer, and who adventured to discover lost ale recipes or brewing artefacts from overthrown dwarven strongholds.&nbsp; Of COURSE she'd be brewing her own beer.In-game crafting shouldn't (in my opinion) be about churning out hundreds of low-value things.&nbsp; It should be in service of the plot or of characterisation.&nbsp; It should be about how to draft the big important things that are important to the story.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="humble minion, post: 9422047, member: 5948"] Yeah this, 100%. Crafting is, in my preferences, a story element rather than a part of the routine 'win the next fight' gameplay loop. I mean, The Crystal Shard, which was the first ever D&D novel i read and was what sucked me into the whole hobby in the first place, has an important scene where Bruenor crafts a magic hammer (and not just any hammer, a Dwarven Thrower, which was a one-step-down-from-artifact level big deal in AD&D!) It's not a powergaming choice for him, it's a story element, a way a gruff and uncommunicative dwarf of few words demonstrates his love for a boy he's come to look on as a son. He makes the hammer with precious materials that he's hoarded for many years for just a project like this, and the text specifically says that he's undertaking a masterwork and will likely never create anything like this again. But he also does it in (if i remember right) a single sustained and draining effort, not 3-10 years of full-time work as the 5e rules would have it take. I have a habit of building characters around crafting skills, and it's been a bugbear for me how badly they work. I have a gunmage character in my Iron Kingdoms game who is min-maxed to hell for tailoring. Her ancestry is via disgraced nobility, and she's very ambitious to make her place back into the aristocracy, and clothing design and fashion has been her doorway into that. Or there was my illusionist PC for an abortive Dragonlance game, who was an itinerant painter specialising in portraits of the wealthy and powerful, but who I'd planned was going to get unhealthily obsessed with truly capturing the definitive image of some NPC who'd had a major impact on history, maybe Soth or someone. Or there was my Midgard PC, a dwarven drunken master monk who was a fervent worshipper of the Midgard goddess of beer, and who adventured to discover lost ale recipes or brewing artefacts from overthrown dwarven strongholds. Of COURSE she'd be brewing her own beer. In-game crafting shouldn't (in my opinion) be about churning out hundreds of low-value things. It should be in service of the plot or of characterisation. It should be about how to draft the big important things that are important to the story. [/QUOTE]

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