I guess if I'm catching Veilan's point above, crafting can mean "getting something unique as the output", whether we're talking about mundane or magic stuff.
That's seldom been an issue in NWN1 for those willing to treat DMs like customer service staff. "I have X gold, give me an item with Y list of powers." It's also seldom been an issue in NWN1 for those willing to roleplay through the search for a master crafter with a DM, do them some favors, build a relationship, and sort of "quest" towards the privilege of buying something from them. It's probably an issue for those who don't feel DMs should bother with those requests, or if one's too meek to share their goals, intimidated by the DMs, or whatever... since, you know, they don't ask, could be any reason why not.
I was under the impression that "custom looks and feels" of stuff were gladly imported in NWN2, especially given the shortage of pallette choices that presumably exist for such a young game. The assumption being "yes, a smith can use pretty dyes and spiffy up ugly armor so that your PC feels sexier in it, and the smith will do it all off camera because it is terribly boring to do otherwise."
I guess if people want to blow skillpoints possibly better used "staying alive" on discount gear creation, in the abstract, that sounds okay. The normal layers of ALFA rules about twinking I guess can come into play, if it was recognized that level 1 PCs were swimming in masterwork arms and armor. Probably the highest value output of at least arms & armor crafting is masterwork full plate, 1650gp, and as the normal rule of thumb is that a fellow needs to spend 50% of that as cost, I guess you could get into a situation where someone could make up to 825gp per RL week, give or take, if they found a sucker willing to pay full retail. Even if they sold it at 1000gp (making a small 175gp profit), it means the purchaser has expended that 1000gp, saving a lot which can be spent on other pursuits (dozen healing potions maybe). Still, it's only full plate which is this "dramatic" an output, I guess though that if you start blending in special materials, maybe you could end up in other crazy "roll a die, make thousands of gold" scenarios.
Anyhow, the above thoughts were limited to "crafting" as in "making stuff in the appropriate work environment." It's also limited to "mundane" crafting, as while some magic crafting (potions / scrolls) could easily go into a fair "click it and get it" system, items worth over 1000gp typically take one-day-per-thousand to craft, so "clicking" may not be appropriate.
"Raw materials gathering" is probably a different topic, and where peoples' fears of GRINDING probably are most prominent. Grinding resources doesn't always require skillpoints, it requires time and sometimes risk taking. Bashing rocks for "ore." Picking daisies and other stuff for exotic potions, inks, whatever. Skinning animals to eventually cure hides. Maybe leave that to the NPC end... PCs waltzing into mines (which presumably are owned by merchant costers, dwarven clans, whatever) may make no sense in even a fantasy economy. Picking herbs from the forest, well, after two weeks of PCs scouring the woods for such, make 'em all extinct until next year. Hunting may be the same, every hide bearing animal for 100 miles around ends up dead in two weeks if their hide is worth 1gp. Odds are no crafts are so extremely wood-intensive that you'll deforest an entire region of Faerun making, say, masterwork arrows, but hey... a solo PC chopping down a 2 ton tree and trying to drag it back to town since it's worth 1gp might be funny to see.
I think I would recommend treating the topics of crafting, and "getting materials" as separate, since D&D treats it that way as well in most cases. That is where the abstract "half the value of the finished goods" thing comes in. Someone who wants to make a 500gp suit of armor mysteriously spends 250gp in the process, as opposed to breaking it down to "x% of cost on tools/facilities wear and tear, y% on materials like iron, coal, brass, leather, polishes, whatever, z% on miscellaneous." The costs are an abstraction, and it doesn't become "230gp" because you mined 10gp worth of raw iron ore with your own hands, spending another 10gp smelting / refining. That is, no part of the "deal" involves discounting the already "half rate" crafting cost. Even if it did, iron is worth 1sp / pound in Faerun if we use PnP rules, and this is the stuff ready to use... odds are raw iron ore would be worth a tenth that. (
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/wea ... rthancoins)
So if you wanted to make a 50lb suit of masterwork full plate, I guess 50lb of iron would be worth a mighty 5gp... if someone really desperately needed the 825gp cost to fall to 820gp, themselves working a week in a mine and smelting facility, they're playing fantasy monopoly as opposed to D&D. Probably our "all gold" economy doesn't help much either.
Anyhow, I guess the net of this last is that "gathering" can be divided from "crafting", D&D has good rules for crafting, but not a lot on "going out and picking flowers / mining ore / chopping down trees" etc., except for tradegoods price tables, and "Profession (job title)" skills. The crafting of arms and armor one can take pride in is probably where the RP goodness is at anyhow. PCs slugging away for days in a heavily scripted mine to create a maximum 5gp discount on someone's heavy armor-making efforts, that's nuts. Skinning, herb gathering and everything else would probably be even lower profit than iron mining, don't have a price handy for a square yard of hides (maybe Arms & Equipment does), but odds are it's less than iron, and herbs are probably an abstract thing for the "Brew Potion" feat, again, whether they're part of the 50% market price abstract cost, I guess a DM could give a goldpiece off the price or so. Again, if "bringing your own iron" gives you 1/165th off in price of full plate (.006%), maybe "bringing some herbs" can give you 1/165th off the price of a cure light wounds potion (call it a 15 copper piece discount on a 25gp cost).
Raw materials just aren't worth much in D&D unless they're like, Mithral or Darkwood or whatever... finished goods are the stuff people want, and blow skillpoints to get if desperately desired.
PS - went longer than I intended, but I still hope I helped draw a bright line between "gathering copper/silver value materials being worthless", and "actually creating stuff being worthwhile."
