Squee913's page

oh... the take 10 rule kinda makes my whole argument pointless. So, if my player devotes skill points and feats to it, she should be able to take 10 and make almost anything she has access to. Problem solved! Thanks!

I see. Makes sense I suppose, though I wonder if the DC is too high. I agree it should be harder for a muggle, however an Artificer isn't really a muggle. They just view magic from a more scientific stand point and infuse it into their devices. In addition, forcing them to invest in separate crafting skills is already a huge disadvantage over the one spellcraft skill casters need (the system actually tells you what craft skill you need for what items). In addition, they would need to spend a feat for each skill focus. I am still new to pathfinder (not my first time GMing, but my first time GMing pathfinder, and I am uncertain what you mean by "+5 item bonus". If that means an item that adds a bonus to a skill, they would need to find such items for each crafting skill as opposed to one that boosts spellcraft. Finally, we also have to take into account that much of the time used for crafting needs to be devoted to building weird science devices so they can't craft as much as others.

Everything you said makes a lot of sense, but when you compare those percentages to a same level wizard that has basically 0% chance of failure, it just seems like a huge penalty for a class designed for crafting. Perhaps starting with a DC 10 and going from there?

So, I have a player who is trying out the third party Artificer class.

Artificer

Now, I know a lot of people don't like this class because it was confusing and seemed broken. A bit of research, however was more than enough to clarify most things (no, you can't just put 10 spells on every weird science device) and most of the broken aspects are easily solved by having a decent player/Gm relationship (ZOMG, they could totally mix this spell and that spell and break the game... or they could just not. Because the GM and player agreed not to do silly things like that.)

Once you establish such limits, it seems like an ok class. The only confusion I have is when it comes to item creation.

"At second level, an artificer’s invention ability expands to include the creation of true magic items, even if the artificer does not have access to the prerequisite spells. The artificer must make a successful Craft check (DC 20 + caster level) to emulate each spell normally required to create the item. "

Am I missing something here, or does this make crafting items damn near pointless for a class that is designed to make things? they need to use a craft skill to simulate the spell... what craft skill? Is this a special skill they need to take in addition to each other craft item skill they will need? If so, who would bother doing that?

This means that if a lvl 4 artificer wanted to make a scroll of a lvl 2 spell, they could, at best, have a +12 to a DC 24 roll. THEN they need to actually roll to craft the item? And if they fail at either point, they just wasted time and gold? This is a 60% or higher failure rate and seems way to harsh. Why don't they just use the normal crafting rules? They already built in what to do if you don't have the required spell. Why isn't it just a DC 5 +5 for every spell needing to be replicated?

I am asking because I really feel like I am missing something. I have already told the player they would need separate crafting skills for each type of magical item in addition to the feat, since they do not have spellcraft. Would I be breaking the game if I just let them use the regular DC 5 +5 for each spell required like every other spell caster?