Want a cheap adamantine plate?

[Atherlos]

I'm making a battlesmith and looked into the item crafting rules. I feel that the only feasable way to make expensive non-magic items is via magic (fabricate).

Lets assume a non-caster character level 10 char has a craft bonus of +25 (low-moderate number with the right eq), and wants to craft an adamantine plate mail (normal craft DC 20, upped to 30 for faster creation). Each week would let him craft for a worth of about 1000 sp (skill check 35 * craft DC 30 = 1050 sp) = 100 gp. An adamantine plate is worth 16500 gp so this would take 165 weeks, or more than 3 years of full time crafting, and cost 1/3 in materials, i.e 5500 gp. Crafting time could be shortened to about a year with the forge from races of stone.

Or, he could visit a spellcaster with fabricate and the craft skill, supply the raw materials (5500 gp), pay for the spellcasting (50gp x 9 = 450 gp), and have it the same day for 5950 gp.


[Strictly speaking, I think the masterwork component should be crafted separately from the armor component but I'm not sure if this applies when using adamantine since all eq crafted must be masterwork and it's already included in the extra material cost]

Comments?

 

[Atherlos]

On a side note, I'm looking for ways to heighten my caster level. I'm currently thinking cleric 4, blacksmith 2, practiced spellcaster, and the ioun stone that gives +1 caster level.
This would give a caster level of 15 (cle4=4, blacksmith2=6, Pr. spellc.=4, ioun stone=1), enough to create intelligent +5 weapons with special abilities.

I also think there are two feats in races of faerun for dwarves (shield and gold respectively) that give +1 caster level for item creation.

Are there other ways to increase caster level for item creation?

-- Atherlos

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Craft times are "realistic" but are a terrible mismatch for typical campaigns. Is three years an unreasonable time to create a non-magical item fit to be worn by a king? No, not at all. But obviously few PCs will take craft skills if the DM insists on injecting realism so arbitrarily in a very magical fantasy world.

One of my DMs lets players increase their craft rate by 10 gp per 1 xp spent. (I think he allowed 1 xp to be spent per skill rank.) You are getting comparable wealth generation to the magical craft item feats, except you are using skill points. Seems very fair in play.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

I'm making a battlesmith and looked into the item crafting rules. I feel that the only feasable way to make expensive non-magic items is via magic (fabricate).

I agree.

[Strictly speaking, I think the masterwork component should be crafted separately from the armor component but I'm not sure if this applies when using adamantine since all eq crafted must be masterwork and it's already included in the extra material cost]

I've gone 'round about with at least one other person here on how it should work. We basically decided that, given the way the rules are written, either way would work fine.

The masterwork component of any suit of armor is 150gp worth of progress.

So, the two methods are:

1) Find the cost of the item you wish to make, and break it into a material / armor piece and a masterwork piece. For a suit of adamantine full plate, the total cost is 1,500gp (base armor) + 15,000gp (adamantine heavy armor) = 16,500gp. The material / armor piece is 16,350gp, and progress would be against a DC of 18 (10 + armor bonus). Then, after finishing that, you'd craft the masterwork component, 150gp worth, against a DC of 20 (standard MW DC).

2.) Find the cost of the item you wish to make, and break it into an armor piece and a material / masterwork piece. For the same suit of adamantine full plate, you'd need to make 1,500gp worth of progress against a DC of 18 (10 + armor bonus), and then 15,000gp worth of progress against a DC of 20 (standard MW DC).

For the character you mentioned above (Craft +25), the first option would take 168 weeks - just over 3 years. The second would take 158 weeks, or just under 3 years.

If you allowed all progress on the armor to be made at the highest possible DC, it would take 157 weeks - not that much different from option 2.

 

[Tatsukun]

For our game, we decided that crafting Adamantine (or Mithral, or whatever) armor / weapons takes no longer than steel.

You make the same craft rolls and take the same time to make a masterwork item of any metal. But, you have to pay the extra cost in materials.

So in the case of Adamantine Full Plate, you have to make 1,500gp worth of progress against a DC of 18 (for the armor), and then 150gp worth of progress against a DC of 20 (for the masterwork part).

So, with a +25 craft you are looking at about …

DC 28 * a result of 35 (taking 10) = 980 Sp / week, or about 15 weeks.
<HOUSE RULE- We also allow you to raise the DC by any amount you want, so in our game you could raise the DC to 35 and you would be looking at about 12 weeks>

And for the masterwork component…

DC 30 * 35 = 1050 Sp / week, for about two weeks of crafting. <Or, in our game, one week>

The cost is one third of the price (1,650 / 3 = 550) plus the materials (15,000) for a total cost to create of 15,550 Gp.

It makes these items much more expensive to make, but possible to make in the timeframe of our campaign.

-Tatsu

 

[UltimaGabe]

This would give a caster level of 15 (cle4=4, blacksmith2=6, Pr. spellc.=4, ioun stone=1), enough to create intelligent +5 weapons with special abilities.

You are, of course, aware that Practiced Spellcaster can't increase your caster level higher than your Hit Dice, correct...?

 

[Trainz]

Where can I find that "blacksmith" class ?

2 levels of it gives you an effective +6 caster level for creating magic items ???

 

[Atherlos]

Concerning caster level, there are 4 levels of fighter before the battlesmith (not blacksmith, sorry) kicks in so practiced spellcaster should work fine. I am a bit unsure of the stacking with battlesmith levels, but those are allowed to surpass character level, so I don't think there will be issues such as with the wild mage (discussion in another thread).

Battlesmith is in Races of Stone (prereqs from memory: Endurance, Craft WS or AS 10 ranks, must be a dwarf, BAB 5). Each level counts as 3 caster levels for item creation solely, probably only applies to arms & armor. They receive craft magic arms and armor as a bonus feat at level one, and gain some bonuses in self-made eq. Full BAB, good fort save, d10, 2 skill points. It's a 5-level PrC.

Have you ever had players use the materials (1/3 price) + NPC spellcasting method I mentioned above? Or PC spellcasting for that matter. Sounds perfectly legal, but just so.. dull.. compared to doing the crafting oneself.

-- Atherlos