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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jester David" data-source="post: 6727702" data-attributes="member: 37579">Originally posted by wrecan:Only in a game where the differentiation matters. Being a mediocre smith vs. a great smith matters only in a few situations that seem totally alien to the sorts of playing D&D envisions....1) You are a businessman trying to set up a shop and make a living. Your artisanship may help you get backers to finance your project and customers to buy your wares.D&D doesn't work well for this sort of game. Being a smith is an individual activity, and D&D is a team game. The game doesn't want the other players twiddling their thumbs while the PC blacksmith is negotiating with his coal suppliers and the iron minesfor materials before heading off to the blacksmith guild to review his compliance with the guild's work mandates.This could all be a background, which means it doesn't happen at the game, but in the downtime between sessions. And for that you just need the DM and player to agree beforehand about the background, just like the DM and player need to agree if the player wants his PC to have an interesting relative or strange hobby.2) Some weird city is having a blacksmith contest in which blacksmiths from all over the land are going to compete in weird and utterly arbitrary ways, such as "Who can make more horseshoes in an eight hour day!?" and "Make me a sword while my judges rate you." And again, this is a peculiarly individual event, when D&D is supposed to be a team endeavor. if you can turn this into a team competition, then you have what D&D already has -- a skill challenge, likely using Endurance, Athletics, Streetwise, and History, with circumstantial bonuses for PCs with an appropriate Background.</blockquote>

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