I Got Yer CRAFT Skill right here! :)

[Scribble]

So I was thinking that it never made much sense to me that someone who took "craft" as a skill could build just about anything. In real life this is rarely true... So I was happy craft was ditched... But then I thunk, hey there could be some use to it... And realized something like the alchemy or ritual system would work well.

A character first takes the "tinker" feat which gives him the ability to build stuff. Then the character can purchase the nessesary blueprints of whatever he wants to make.

I haven't fully thought out the numbers and such... but what do you guys think?

Tinker
Heroic Tier
Benefit: You can craft objects and equipment. You must have the appropriate blueprints.
Special: Taking this feat gives you a +5 bonus to any checks you make while using blueprints.



Wagon Blueprint
Level: 1
Category: Vehicle Creation
Time: Variable See Text
Component Cost: See below
Market Price: 70 gp
Key Ability: STR

Use this blueprint to build a wagon. The cost of the materials is the same as that of purchasing a wagon. The time it takes is based upon your skill check.

15 3 weeks
20-25 2 weeks
26-30 1 Week
30+ 1 Day


Reinforce Vehicle Hull
Level: 1
Category: Vehicle
Time: 3 days
Component Cost: See below
Market Price:
Key Ability: STR

With this blueprint a character can consider the vehicle materials “reinforced” increasing its hit points by ½

The cost for materials for this project cost ¼ the original vehicle cost.

 

[Danforthe]

I think it would probably work fairly well. It fits in with the 4E design of having to collect recipes of one types or another. The example above might be a fairly common sort of thing that adventurers might not be interested in but things like weapons, armour or more exotic gear would be just as sought after as previous additions. In fact, done right it could replace the 'Enchant Item' ritual with lots of sub-rituals meaning players could mix and match items as they went. Which would be good for capmaigns where characters are forced to scrounge for specific items more than just finding them or making them. The knowledge of being able to make every magic item (barring artefacts) in the game with one ritual is probably a bit much.

And even though you only have one example I'd give each item a buil time of short, medium, long, etc and have them refer to a table rather than write it out for each one. And for larger projects you could have a set of rules for a workforce (minimum, maximum and time differences). Hmm, then rules for specialist items, workplaces (forges, etc), apprentices...

You should definitely do it up, test it and sell it as a pdf.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Aside from the craft system in my blog, I always liked the idea of using a "skill challenge" like approach to it, using multiple skills for crafting.

- History: Traditional crafting techniques.
- Arcana or Nature: "Science" of crafting. What's the melting point of iron, how do I calculate the weight this piece of wood has to sustain in my construction.
- Thievery: Complex Mechanics. (Clockworks, Firearms). Also Alchemy.

Supplementary Skills:
- Athletics: Bending material (Iron)
- Endurance: When doing physical difficult work (smith)
- Perception: Spot potential flaws in your construction

Though I still think that generally speaking, a failed challenge should not cause a "failure" to build anything. It just means you took more time and/or expended more resources then strictly necessary. I particularly like that about your approach. A good result reduces the time required, not mean total failure...