Crafting with Mirabai and Jayde Moon FAQ:
1. Where can I find the basic rules for crafting?
Find them at the SRD, here.
2. Can I get an example of how this system works?
150' of Silk Rope:
We look at the price of Silk Rope (table on the right, scroll up just a touch) and see that it is 10 GP per 50'. 150' of Silk Rope therefore costs 30 GP.
You have the Craft Silk Rope Skill at 8.
First we price the item in Silver. 30 GP = 300 SP. This is our Silver Goal.
Then we find the DC of the item in the Crafting Chart at the SRD page listed in FAQ #1. We see that there is no DC for Silk Rope, but let's go ahead and use our thinking caps and determine that Silk Rope is a High Quality Item. This gives us a Craft DC of 15.
Now we pay 1/3 of the item's price in the cost of Raw Materials. 1/3 of 30 GP is 10 GP! It costs 10 GP to make a 150' length of SIlk Rope. In this case it's probably some… oh, I dunno… silk. Maybe you need to rent a station at the Local Rope Maker's Guild (they'll break your legs if you're a scab!). Buy some food for your Spider's to make silk. Who knows? We'll go a bit more into the Raw Materials buying part of this later. The important thing is that I deduct 10 GP from your funds.
Now, make a check to approximate 1 weeks worth of work. Roll your skill against the DC given in the table. Remember that your Craft Silk Rope Skill is an 8. The DC is 15. You roll the skill and score a:
- 17! Success! Now multiply your roll (17) by the difficulty (15) to see how far towards your Silver Goal (300) you've advanced! Let's see… 15… 17… carry the 3… now the 10s… that's 105 and 150… totals to 255… Alright! We have attained 255 out of 300 points towards our Silver Goal! Sweet.
- 13. Failure. However we only failed by 2, so we simply made no progress this week.
- 7.
BOOOO!!!! We failed the check by more than 5! That means we lose half of our Raw Materials and have to re-buy them in order to continue our Crafting Odessey together. In this case, shell out another 5 GP!
So we made a roll, it was a success and VOILÀ!!! You are now the proud owner of a 150' length of Silk Rope!
The End.
3. But I wanted to make a Masterwork Silk Rope!
That's not a question.
4. What if I wanted to make a Masterwork Silk Rope?
Better.
We see that creating a Masterwork item carries two components, the Item itself and a Masterwork Component. So you roll for the item first, as we laid out in FAQ #2, then when that is finished, we roll for the Masterwork Component. We note that the Masterwork Component cost is 300 GP for weapons and 150 GP for Armor… no price given for Silk Rope!!! Well, right this very moment, we'll go ahead and assign a price of 400 GP for the Masterwork Component of non-Armor, Weapon items (ie Tools!). We're also going to install the Case-by-Case Common Sense Rule for what can be made with the Masterwork Quality (Masterwork Wooden Tent Stake?). Also, in this case, it's Masterwork Component per base unit of the Item (50') so it'll be that price x3.
So, after that minor tangent…
We now assign a Silver Goal for our Masterwork Component (Silk Rope = Not Weapon, not Armor, thus 400 x3 GP = 1200 GP) which in this case is 12000 SP (Wowzah!).
Then we follow the rest of the rules, with the DC of Masterwork components being 20, the cost of Raw Materials an extra 600 GP in this instance, and rolling our skill to reach our Silver Goal of 12000.
5. When do we make the rolls?
We personally would prefer you to state an intent to make an item, and then have you make ALL the rolls up front, to determine how long it will take you and how much it will cost. Then, we'll tell you what real life Day your item will be ready, as well as deduct the Gold from your PC.
6. I had enough Gold for the initial Raw Materials, but failed a roll in the process and don't have the Gold for replacing what I ruined. Can I continue rolling?
Yes. But you owe us that Gold before you can get the item.
7. Wait a minute… there's no Craft Silk Rope Skill!!! What do I do about that?
State your intention to replace a Craft Skill with the one you want. We'll notate that and then your Craft Skill will be that skill. Note that you will lose out on the original skill. There is no going back.
8. Do I have to RP out the actual crafting process?
Not any more than you need to RP out sleeping, eating your meals, hitting the jakes, wenching, cleaning, equipment maintenance, etc.
All of this can be assumed to take place during those times you aren't logged on.
However, you can definitely expect to see some sort of reward if we know you are actually RPing out some of the process. Maybe you spend a few minutes after you log on and before you log off heading to the Smith and RPing out hammering on your lump of steel or something. That reward might be in the form of experience for your character (bringing you closer to the next level and thus closer to a slightly higher base Craft Skill) or some sort of additional bonus to the item (if we can clear it with standards, those stingy guys!), etc. Our discretion always.
As a quick response to If you don't want to RP alchemy, then why play an alchemist?
Our stance is that you are not playing an Alchemist. You are playing an Adventurer with Classes (like Wizard, Priest, Fighter, etc) that happens to have an interest in Alchemy and may even be quite good at it. However, their main focus is being a Wizard, Priest, Fighter, etc. Because that's how you got that Class. PCs are special people with Special Abilities.
9. Speaking of Bonuses, what are the Bonuses for Masterwork Items, why are they so expensive?
Masterwork Tools provide a +2 Skill Bonus (non-magical). So our Silk Rope would provide a +2 Climbing Bonus. +2 is the highest Skill Bonus allowed as a non-magic bonus to Skill. However, ALFA standards does not make a difference between magic and non-magic in their pricing standards. Thus, the Masterwork price for the bonus is 400 GP.
Masterwork Weapons get +1 AB, this goes away if/when the item is made into a magical item (becomes part of the overall +1 Enhancement).
Masterwork Armor gets a -1 to the ACP. This stays if/when the Armor is enchanted.
Masterwork Shields get a -1 to the ACP… but the engine says, "Screw you." Still, you need the Masterwork Component to Enchant the Shield.
10. Can I make money crafting stuff?
Yes, you can. However, note that Crafting and Profession are two different things and they do not Cross-Over. There is not really Profession(Alchemist) skill. The D20 SRD states that Craft is used when you are creating something. Profession is used if nothing is created by the endeavor. There is some fudge factor here as something like 'Baker' would fall under Profession. If you are uncertain, ask before you take the skill.
So to make money, you craft your item and then you sell it. Who will buy it? Another player might purchase an item you make. Maybe they commission it! When this is happening, you set your price. Players are reminded to please keep in mind that Twinking (Rule 2.7.3) is applicable here. Paying someone 400 GP for a Masterwork Sword is cool. Rolfson the Level Ten paying Gilbert the Level One 10,000 GP for a Masterwork Silk Rope is not.
Selling to NPCs will be handled on a case-by-case basis, requiring some RP interaction between your PC and the NPC. There will be several meta-considerations that will have an impact on the success of your attempts to do this. An example might be a crafter who is vastly underwealth as per ALFA standards might have an easier time selling his wares than a crafter who is vastly overwealth as per ALFA standards.
Once your Crafting Skill reaches a certain level, we may also work out, on a case-by-case basis, a 'lifestyle' that your character lives in, outside of loot acquired through adventuring, that reflects his Master Craftsman level of skill.
All of this will take into account ALFA standards.
11. So, how do I make money with my Profession Skill?
Not really a Crafting Question, but related, so we'll answer it.
If you have the Profession skill, we will try to work out some sort of 'lifestyle' that your character lives based on the Skill level and how much time we agree that your character can realistically devote to the profession.
Maybe you have a shop, maybe you live in a big house. This is something that will also have to be worked out in a way that we maintain the integrity of ALFA Standards.
12. What sort of Crafting Space do I need? Can I purchase Smithing Shop so I'm not renting a stall somewhere?
It is assumed that you can find a Crafting Space to pursue any sort of Mundane Crafting. You can save up and purchase your own Shop and even Craft your own Masterwork Crafting Tools for the Shop. Don't expect us to make an actual Crafting Location in the server, you'll just have to go around telling people you have one and explaining why you never actually take them there.
These are RP effects that have no bearing on the Mechanical Process of crafting. Raw Materials includes the rental space but owning a space does not lower the cost of Raw Materials.
13. Can I make Magic Items?
Yes! However, this is a different beast from crafting mundane or Masterwork items. The basics are located here. See the second post.
There are a few changes from that in our process:
You don't have to RP the crafting. We simply do not expect you to log on and stand in front of a table emoting for X amount of days that you cast the spell and hop on your left foot and pluck the chickens feathers and howl at the moon and eat worms.
The SRD states that a Crafter must spend 8 hours of his day crafting the magic item and can use the rest of his time as he sees fit and that days do not have to be consecutive. For our part, we are tweaking this to state that each day of crafting must be fully devoted to crafting the item, however, the days of crafting need not be consecutive. We'll see how this plays out and either change it back to the original, leave it, or tighten the restrictions. The purpose is to keep mages from becoming Item Pumping Factories.
Logging onto the server on a crafting day to RP the crafting can result in certain little bonuses, as stated before.
14. Hey, that post says we have to learn crafting with Mithril IG somehow, it also says Masterwork must be placed on the item during it's original creation. Is this true?
There are quite a few Special Materials and it's not interesting to us to force you to find Master Crafters to teach you how to manipulate every type of Special Material. Once you have the ability to craft a Masterwork Item, we assume that you can pique the interest of a Master Crafter enough for them to teach you, off-camera. Whether it's one guy who knows how to work with all the Special Materials or it's a bunch of guys is up to your own imagination.
As for the second part, yes, you must declare Masterwork at the creation of the original item. Further, while you roll for the original item first and then roll for the Masterwork component, the IG reality is that you are making it all at the same time. Thus, if you get halfway through the Masterwork Component and for some reason quit the process, you do not have a regular item just because you finished the rolls for that item first. You have an unfinished, unusable piece of garbage (that you may decide to finish one day…).
15. That post also has a table that limits my Crafting Magic Item ability by my level. Do we follow that?
That table is based on ALFA Wealth Standards, which it just seems like a really good idea to follow. Stands to reason that if a Level X mage shouldn't be awarded a Y Bonus Item that they shouldn't be able to make one, either.
16. I have a lump of Ironclay that I want to make into a suit of Ironclay Full Plate. Does this affect the initial cost of Raw Materials?
Yes, but only for the Material itself. We will work out how much of the Raw Materials Cost your Raw Materials will cover.
Keep in mind that Special Materials add their own cost to the finished product and will be taken into account in the Crafting Process. For example:
Mithril Chainmail is a suit of Masterwork Chainmail that adds 4000 GP instead of 300 to the standard price of Chainmail. So you will need 1333 GP worth of Mithril and have to reach a Silver Goal of 40000 for the Mithril Portion at a Crafting DC of 20 (Masterwork DC).
So if you wanted to make a suit of Mithril Armor and had no Mithril, you'd need to fork out 1/3 the cost of the base armor and 1333 GP for the Mithril.
We'll probably also institute some sort of 'availability' roll to determine whether your Crafter can locate the Special Material in the City at any given time, if you don't already have some.
17. Can failing a Skill check result in anything worse than losing Raw Materials?
In many cases, no. However, an extremely abysmal failure may result in some sort of consequence that we will work out on a case-by-case basis.
For example, needing to actually roll a 20, even with modifiers, to succeed on a Craft Weapons roll and then rolling a 1 might result in a nasty Forge Burn, or failing by more than 10 while making Alchemist's Fire may result in an explosion. Etc.
18. Can I make 'Progress by the Day'?
You can indeed choose to make progress by the day. We change your Silver Goal into a Copper Goal and roll accordingly.
19. Can I repair items?
If it comes up, yes.
20. Can I 'Rush the job'?
You can voluntarily add 10 to the DC. This has the result of speeding up the process, but it also raises the Ruin Threshold by 10.
21. Do I have to be a Spellcaster to be an Alchemist?
At this moment, the answer is Yes. Warlocks are included in this. This may change as we don't see why you need to be a Spellcaster to do this, so we'll probably make a fuss to Standards about it. The Real World has plenty of Alchemists who aren't Spellcasters. Somehow we still managed to get dynamite and napalm and bug spray and high fructose corn syrup.
22. So when can I expect to see my personalized crafted item in-game
First of all, if you want a custom toolsetted item as a result of your craft roll, you will have to toolset it yourself and submit it to the appropriate HDM for inclusion into the mod. As of now, any item that is IG has to be included in the mod. That process takes time. The HDM is busy putting in everyone's content.
Many items that you would craft are already in the toolset. If you craft a Masterwork sword, I can give your character a Masterwork sword. I can even rename it to "Masterwork Sword Crafted by Versace".
23. Can I "Take 10" on a crafting roll?
Yes! It is our feeling that eventually there comes a time when a craftsman who takes his time with his craft simply won't make any mistakes, and will always successfully craft his item. Mistakes are made when the craftsman is pushing himself to craft faster, in this case represented by not taking 10, or adding 10 to the DC.
There also comes a time when a craftsman is so good at his trade that he can push the envelope and still manage perfection nearly every time.
#24 When can I start making Masterwork Items?
Only Magic Item Crafting will be limited by the Wealth Standards Table. If you can craft Masterwork Siege Canons at level 1, go for it.
#25 What are the bonuses associated with Special Materials?
Without going into all of the various ALFA alterations, the basic Special Materials statistics can be found here.
Keep in mind that some of these don't work quite properly with arrows. It is outside the scope of this FAQ to go into it.
The End.
Feel free to ask any additional questions in this thread.
