Wilderness Crafting?

[Wierdoom]

Hi,
I am going to start a campaign in which the players are Grippli's on an isolated island, who have to fight against humans attempting to colonize the island. In the campaign the players will have to be completely self-sufficient, and so will have to make almost all of their equipment. For example, making their own arrows. However, I have not been able to find a crafting system system that fits this. I.e, making items without currency and without the proper tools. Does anyone have ideas for a crafting system that would fit this?

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

Welcome to the boards.

If this is going to be an extended campaign, you will need to come up with some pretty solid rules.

A thought that has been wandering around in my head on this topic would be to do a variant on a skill challenge, using Nature for wooden/bone objects and Dungeoneering for stone objects.

The character would have to obtain the raw materials and tools, then put some sweat equity into the project. Each hour they can make a skill check. If they beat DC 10, they 'craft' 1 cp worth of the item. If they beat DC 20, they craft up to 1 sp worth, and if they beat DC 30 they can craft up to 1 gp worth. If the character fails 3 times before working up to the market price of the item, they waste the raw materials and have to start over.

Stone, wood, or bone can be used to make weapons that are normally metal, such as swords. However these weapons tend to be not quite as good. Initialy they have a -2 to damage. Each time the character either crits or fumbles with the weapon, it incurs an additional -2 penalty to damage. Eventually you just have to toss it out.
Magical weapons made of these materials are hardened by the arcane process and do not have this isse.



What would this mean in play? 2 arrows cost 1 cp, so most adventures can make an arrow or 5 in the evening.

Fancier things, like shortbows, which cost 30 gp, are outside thier capabilities.
You could have feats that reduce the sweat equity DC by 10.

This is literally off the top of my head, so don't hold me to its accuracy