But my father was a blacksmith! – Crafting in 4E

Hi there.  My name is Rob, a.k.a. “A Hero”, from A Hero Twice A Month.  While I can be a chatty DM at times, I am not the ChattyDM.  Still, he was nice enough to let me post my thoughts about crafting items while he is off on his GenCon hiatus.

When the game designers at Wizards of the Coast decided to trim the skill list down from more than thirty-six skills in D&D 3E to a mere seventeen in D&D 4E, it was inevitable that many skills would not make the cut.  Most of them were simply rolled into more general skills, like Hide and Move Silently being combined into Stealth.  This makes sense to me since I always felt the skill list in D&D 3E was a bit bloated.

Notably absent from the D&D 4E skill list is the Craft skill.  To some extent this makes a lot of sense, since Craft was more of a background skill which rarely came up in adventuring (barring the occasional use of the Fabricate spell).  Still, I think it is a shame it is gone.  There is something nicely thematic about a dwarf forging his own weapons or an elf crafting additional arrows during the time between adventures.

The need for a crafting mechanic is even more necessary if you look at the creation of magical items.  According to the Player’s Handbook, Mountain Armor is created when “Dwarf armorsmiths combine the elemental earth of their mountain homes with other metals to craft this heavy armor.”  A wonderful bit of flavor text which adds a lot to the feel of the suit of armor.

If you look at how it would be created in game though, the process is somewhat disappointing.  Let’s say you want to create Warplate Mountain Armor +3.  First, you buy Plate Armor.  Then acquire 17,000 gold pieces worth of Alchemical Reagents or Residuum.  Cast the Enchant Magic Item Ritual and touch the item.  Presto, you now have Warplate Mountain Armor +3!

It is just not quite the same, is it?

I have found that skill challenges can be used to add a little of this flavor back without completely rewriting the rules.  While it may seem odd at first, skill challenges were created to determine the success or failure of non-combat situations.  So it helps to look at different types of crafting simply as different types of skill challenges.

So how do you go about creating an appropriate skill challenge for the item being crafted?  Like any skill challenge, it is just a matter of determining the Setup, Level, Complexity, Primary Skills, and Outcome.

Designing a Crafting Skill Challenge

Setup

To craft an item, the character needs the appropriate tools and raw materials.  Appropriate tools could be as simple as fletching knives to make a bow or could be as complex as needing access to a dwarven forge for the aforementioned Mountain Armor.  Raw materials have a cost equal to half the purchase price for mundane items.  Magic items still require the components for the Enchant Magical Item ritual.  However, the item is treated as two levels lower on the magic item price chart.

Level

Level is equal to the items level.  Mundane items are generally considered level one.

Complexity

1. Horseshoes, Shovels, and other basic items.
2. Simple Weapons, Military Weapons, Heroic Tier Armor, and most Heroic Tier magic items.
3. Superior Weapons, Paragon Tier Armor, and most Paragon Tier magic items.
4. Epic Tier Armor, and most Epic Tier magic items.
5. DM’s discretion.  This level may be needed for exceptionally complex magic items like the Apparatus of Kwalish.

Suggested Primary Skills

Crafting Metal Armor/Weapons: Athletics, Endurance

Crafting Bows/Crossbows/Arrows: Nature, Perception

Crafting Cloth/Leather Armor: Nature, Endurance

Additional primary or secondary skills should be chosen based on what is being crafted.  For example, Eladrin armor would likely have Arcane as a secondary skill because of the Fey origin of Eladrin.

Outcome

Success allows you to craft the item for the reduced cost in materials listed above.  Failure causes you to waste half of the necessary materials.

Example: Crafting a Longbow

Setup

Appropriate bowyer tools and 15 GPs worth of materials.  Each roll requires one hour of time.

Level

As a mundane item, a longbow is level one.

Complexity

2 (Requires six successes before three failures)

Primary Skills: Nature, Perception

Nature (moderate DCs): Carving a bow requires insight into how to bring out both the strength and suppleness out of the wood.

Perception (moderate DCs): A flaw in the wood has been the downfall of many a bow.  Perception allows you to avoid these errors.  However, no more than half of your successes can come from perception.

Insight (hard DCs): Many elves believe that carving a bow is a spiritual matter.  If you make a successful insight roll at the beginning of the challenge, you can gain a +1 bonus to all rolls during this challenge.  This roll can only be made once.  If multiple people are assisting they can each make this roll, but it only applies to the rolls they make and does not stack with other characters bonuses.

Special (Elf): Once during the challenge, an elf may use his Elven Accuracy to reroll a skill check.  You must use the second roll, even if it is lower.  If multiple elves are assisting in the creation of the bow, they may each only use this ability once.

Success

The longbow is created at the reduced cost.

Failure

The longbow is ruined.  One-half of the materials are lost.

Example: Crafting Warplate Mountain Armor +3

Setup

Because of the nature of Warplate Mountain Armor, access to a dwarven forge within an appropriate mountain stronghold is required.  Raw Materials, Alchemical Reagents or Residuum equal to 9,000 GP are required.  Access to the Enchant Magical Item ritual is required, although it can be cast anytime after the armor is completed since the component cost is paid for by the crafting process.

Alternatively, the DM may allow the crafting of this armor by dwarves without the Enchant Magical Item ritual.  In this case I recommend dropping the cost by only one level on the chart to 13,000 GP.

Each roll requires one hour of time.

Level

Level thirteen

Complexity

3 (Requires eight successes before four failures)

Primary Skills: Athletics, Endurance

Athletics (moderate DCs): Strength of arm important at the forge.

Endurance (moderate DCs): Working at a forge requires a great deal of endurance.  At least two of the successes must come from an Endurance skill check.  However, if an Endurance skill check is failed, the next roll made for the skill challenge is at a -2 penalty.

Dungeoneering (hard DCs): Understanding the ways of the mountain are essential to creating mountain plate.  A successful Dungeoneering skill check adds a success and grants a +2 bonus to the next Athletics or Endurance Skill Check made for the skill challenge.

Arcane (hard DCs): By sensing the shifts in the elemental forces at work in creating mountain plate, you can cancel one failure incurred.  This may only be attempted once during the course of the skill challenge.

Special (Dwarf): Dwarves get a +2 racial bonus to the checks required in making Mountain Armor.

Success

The armor is created at the reduced cost.

Failure

Half of the raw material/component cost is lost and the armor is ruined.