PCs selling crafted items.

[irdeggman]

It sort of depends on what else happens in the multiverse while the wizard is stuck in his tower muttering over esoteric carvings.

If the fighter's wife gets kidnapped two weeks into the creation, is he going to say "Well, the wizard needs another 5½ months to finish his fine dohickey staff. I'm sure Sarah wouldn't mind waiting around...." Probably not.



Life: Its what happens while you were making other plans.

Exactly my point.

While it may only take a few seconds of real time to cover 6 months of game time - what are the PCs that are not crafting items do during that time?

Spending money?

Getting into trouble?

Plying their own professions? (This of course almost forces all PCs to take profession skills just to have something to do during the down time).

If you use the optional training rules then that time could be used for that - but then the crafter has lost out on precious training time himself.


When things are reduced to mere sentences then a lot of the PRGing is lost and we end up with combat oriented games where everyone "resets" between combats. {Hmmm I think there is a game design that follows that pattern already. . . . }

 

[Runestar]

While it may only take a few seconds of real time to cover 6 months of game time - what are the PCs that are not crafting items do during that time?

I don't really feel it matters. While there are apparently players who enjoying fleshing out their PCs this way, it generally comes across as being just too much work for me (translate: not fun). Typically in my games, we like to keep downtime spent in real life terms to a minimum, which usually means just stating what you want done, and making the appropriate changes to your stats. If need be, maybe a one liner to make up the slack.

This way, we can move on to the next arc of our adventure ASAP.

 

[irdeggman]

I don't really feel it matters. While there are apparently players who enjoying fleshing out their PCs this way, it generally comes across as being just too much work for me (translate: not fun). Typically in my games, we like to keep downtime spent in real life terms to a minimum, which usually means just stating what you want done, and making the appropriate changes to your stats. If need be, maybe a one liner to make up the slack.

This way, we can move on to the next arc of our adventure ASAP.

Ahh but in this case it really does matter. The original subject ws pretty much should a crafter be able to make a profit on items he creates? If so then he will make a large amount of money in thhis wave of the hand system of time advancement.

Since the crafter is spending a large amount of time to make an item - what have the other PCs been doing?

The players should start to feel cheated since their PCs didn't get anything accomplished while the wizard was scribing spells into his spellbook, researching spells, creating items. Their PCs should have been able to learn something new, make some money, gain some experience.

I mean all of the characters should have "aged" right? So eventually this process will force them into different age categories (and thus the characters that depend on physical stats are shafted in the long run).

I do agree that going into a lot of detail gets real boring and the only reason it should matter is if a PC is doing something that specifically takes a long period of time to accomplish - like crafting an item. It is just as possible the DM will do a wave of the hand and award some gp and xp to the other PCs for things accomplished during that time as well.

 

[taliesin15]

IMC, I use training for levelling up, a staple of 1st edition. Until you reach 10th level, you need someone higher level than you to train you. Thus, one answer to a mid to upper level party with a Wizard enchanting items is the other characters might be making a bit of money training local lower level characters. Which especially works well if some of them have cohorts. And, in addition, most towns (and to some extent cities) don't have that many options for trainees. IOW, its not like there's a Wizard's school on every street corner or every town.

 

[RonYon]

True enough (except for point about lower level characters bing less likely to survive an encounter) - but the key is where did the adventuring PCs go?

If it is all about short adventure hops around a set town then sure.

But what about those cross-country trips where they won't be back for a very, very long time?

The adventuring PCs aren't going to be back for several months (at the least) and will have gone up 3+ levels in the mean time. What happens to the PC staying behind trying to make some extra coin then? Being 3+ level behind the rest of the group is almost a sure ticket to get killed in most even CR encounters.

The big "leveler" here is the time lost to create the items in the first place. If that is managed appropriately then it is no where as lucrative (or tempting) for the player.

True. This is why I love Inscribe Rune from Ferune. Not only are Runes quick to make(10 minutes, no matter what the level of the spell or caster),
they are also useful for the group.How about a Rune of Truestrike on the fletching of your arrows?

In one campaign, I regularly burned 1/3-1/2 of my slots crafting, but used my profits to buy a crapload of wands.The wands where great, since they made it possible to blow a huge wad of charges , and to have just the right spell available. I could also use them to make my companions more powerful.
As for profit, I told my DM that I would have the party Face do the selling, and he would always check the market to make sure what I was going to craft was in high demand.I never took less than 75% of full market value, and sometimes my stuff was worth more than market value. After all, Runes are a magical trap, and I Inscribed sling stones and arrows, which take only a free action to draw. Draw the stone, activate rune "by accident" and get on with your full turn of wupass.Actions in combat are golden, so the gold rolled in.
The xp part was a wash. It delayed me a little, but even though rewards where ad hoc, and the DM didnt make any allowance for me being a lower level, it was still worth it. Quick, highly profitable crafting, plus an open market for magic items means turning a weeks worth of low level spell slots into a wand of fireballs.I exaggerate a little, but you get the idea.