Asmor
First Post
One of the things I've never really liked about the D&D system is the item creation rules. They're semi-realistic, this is true, but I personally don't think they're very fun.
I was wondering if anyone's tried to make a system like there are in many MMORPGs, like World of Warcraft, where you can have skills to forage materials and to produce items.
For example, while travelling between big cities, in addition to rolling for random encounters, characters would be given a chance to make a (survival?) check, DC dependant on the environs and what they're looking for. It would be easy to find herbs in a forest, but would be difficult if even possible to find mineral veins, which would be quite plentiful while going through a mountain pass or exploring a cave. Let's say they get one check to find sources for every mile they go. Higher results would allow you to find rarer materials.
Once they find a source, they could make a harvest check. The DC of it would change depending on the rarity and value of a resource. There would be a certain amount of resource available (in discrete, abstract units, i.e. 10 Wolfsbane), and your roll would determine how much you manage to harvest (25%/50%/100%) (the wasted portion either being ruined or just not found). Sounds like it might bog down game play, but you could easily come up with a table that you could crossreference their roll vs. the resource to determine how much they get.
Finally, they could take their resources they've harvested and create items with them. They should only be allowed to make things that they have the recipe for. For example, 2 Wolfsbane + 1 Violet Snapdragon + appropriate container = 1 dose of Jubjub's Bellyburster Potion.
I'm not so sure I like this system for larger things like armors, but for consumable items I think it works wonderfully. I could picture a party carrying around a box of herbs with them. Faced with evidence that a red dragon awaits them very soon, they stop to mix up a couple potions of fire resistance, but they're careful to make sure they save enough Lily Dew for healing salves in case of emergency.
I was wondering if anyone's tried to make a system like there are in many MMORPGs, like World of Warcraft, where you can have skills to forage materials and to produce items.
For example, while travelling between big cities, in addition to rolling for random encounters, characters would be given a chance to make a (survival?) check, DC dependant on the environs and what they're looking for. It would be easy to find herbs in a forest, but would be difficult if even possible to find mineral veins, which would be quite plentiful while going through a mountain pass or exploring a cave. Let's say they get one check to find sources for every mile they go. Higher results would allow you to find rarer materials.
Once they find a source, they could make a harvest check. The DC of it would change depending on the rarity and value of a resource. There would be a certain amount of resource available (in discrete, abstract units, i.e. 10 Wolfsbane), and your roll would determine how much you manage to harvest (25%/50%/100%) (the wasted portion either being ruined or just not found). Sounds like it might bog down game play, but you could easily come up with a table that you could crossreference their roll vs. the resource to determine how much they get.
Finally, they could take their resources they've harvested and create items with them. They should only be allowed to make things that they have the recipe for. For example, 2 Wolfsbane + 1 Violet Snapdragon + appropriate container = 1 dose of Jubjub's Bellyburster Potion.
I'm not so sure I like this system for larger things like armors, but for consumable items I think it works wonderfully. I could picture a party carrying around a box of herbs with them. Faced with evidence that a red dragon awaits them very soon, they stop to mix up a couple potions of fire resistance, but they're careful to make sure they save enough Lily Dew for healing salves in case of emergency.
