Pathfinder 1E What skill for drawing?

[Ahnehnois]

Would songwriting then be a Craft skill as well? Versus singing the song, which is clearly Perform. What about Playwright - where would it fall?

I think the distinction between creating physical product and performing live for people is fairly clear. Even if it's music or theater that you're writing, it's still writing.

Some forms of drawing and painting are done to perform before an audience (those cartoonists at the fair), and art is often displayed in a gallery or showing for an audience.

Those are odd corner cases, but even though they are done in front of people, I think the actual showmanship is not the salient part of that activity, and it's still a craft.

Some skills can go several ways, I think in the end it's just where you want to put it

Always true. These things are simplified to fit into the d20 approach. And, in reality, they draw from all kinds of predicates.

 

[delericho]

What skill would I use for drawing or sketching?

It would be Craft (something). As for what the "something" is, that's not clear. My advice would be to allow anything that sounds reasonable - Craft (drawing), Craft (caligraphy), whatever.

Would songwriting then be a Craft skill as well? Versus singing the song, which is clearly Perform. What about Playwright - where would it fall?

Both would be Craft.

A better corner case might be a type of performance that would include spontaneous creation as a matter of course - Perform (jazz) or Perform (stand-up), or even Perform (DM). In those cases, the performer is also crafting the material as he goes.

 

[Ramaster]

The PCs of a campaign I was DMing once run into a Balor. It muttered something about braking a seal and then Greater Teleported away before they could act.

When they got back to town, they tried making an illustration of the monster to show to an NPC so that he could identify it form them (they were quite new to the game at the time and didn't know that it was a hardcore demon). On the fly, I told them to make a Dex check, since none of them had anything resembling training in any form of art. For a professional artist, Craft seems the most appropriate. But about just some regular guy or gal drawing something up in the moment?

By the way, they all rolled extremely poorly, so I told them that they ended up making a very poor quality crayon drawing, buy the NPC thought I was so cute that he placed it on the fridge with a magnet.

 

[paradox42]

A better corner case might be a type of performance that would include spontaneous creation as a matter of course - Perform (jazz) or Perform (stand-up), or even Perform (DM). In those cases, the performer is also crafting the material as he goes.

An excellent point here. The fact that Craft is modified by INT and Perform by CHA suggests that the line to be drawn is that creative effort is linked to intelligence, whereas getting an audience on your side is a charismatic endeavor, but when you have a situation where both are happening simultaneously... maybe modify one skill with the other bonus if it's higher? So, like, if you have ranks in Perform (GM) but none in Craft (Adventure), you might use your Perform ranks but modify it with your INT score instead of your CHA during the special times when you need to make up a new monster on the fly (like a Balor whose powers got spontaneously reversed because he rolled a natural 1 on a saving throw against a Helm of Opposite Alignment).

Presumably the Perform skill would be what GMs who prefer "storytelling as opposed to statistics" would put most of their ranks into, and Craft (Adventure) would be what "roll players" and serious (or just would-be) game designers put most of theirs into.

 

[Crispy Critter]

Profession: Artist?

 

[Angrydad]

I was leaning towards Profession: Painter/artist personally. However, Craft could work just as well.

 

[captainembewrath]

Well it seems like it would depend on what kind of art you're trying to make really. If it's just sketching/drawing then just Craft: Drawing or Sketching would work like others have suggested. Going beyond that would be other types of skills, depending on how detailed you wanted to get with the various art styles.

 

[Wolf72]

my first thought was profession too

It's an open ended enough skill that you can fit just about anything into it.

 

[Tyler Hills]

Artistry (Int)
You are skilled in the creative arts, following your aesthetic sensibilities to bring to life the wonders of your imagination. Like Craft, Perform, and Profession, Artistry is actually a number of separate skills. You could have several Artistry skills, each with its own ranks. The most common Artistry skills are choreography, criticism, literature (including poetry), musical composition, philosophy, and playwriting.
Like Craft, an Artistry skill is focused on creating something. However, what it creates is not necessarily a physical object; it could be a pattern or blueprint for an item, or a better method for crafting a type of item. Thus, an Artistry (musical composition) check could be used to create a new song, but the important act of creation is the song itself, not the paper on which it is written or even the performance. An artist is not necessarily a skilled performer, though she might be. An artist’s province is the creation of ideas and concepts, and the realization of those ideas in a way that can be enjoyed by others and contribute to the broader culture of the arts. Some art forms (such as painting or sculpture) skirt the line between Artistry and Craft. It’s up to the GM to rule whether certain Craft skills can be taken as Artistry skills instead.
Check: You can create works of art and try to earn a living by impressing possible patrons with your talent and ideas.
Artistry DC
Workmanship
10
Pedestrian work. No one buys your original work, but you get a few odd jobs using your skills—often just repairing or copying someone else’s work. You earn 1d10 cp per day.
15
Pleasing work. In a prosperous city, you find a few who wish to purchase your work, and earn 1d10 sp per day.
20
Impressive work. In a prosperous city, you earn 3d10 sp per day, and may receive an artistic commission from a wealthy or public figure. As a result, you gain a local reputation.
25
Memorable work. In a prosperous city, you earn 1d6 gp per day, and you are likely to attract the attention of wealthy patrons and to develop a national reputation.
30
Masterful work. In a prosperous city, you earn 3d6 gp per day. In time, you may draw attention from distant patrons, or even from extraplanar beings.
Since works of art are products of imagination, masterwork tools are of no use in their creation.