Just gonna link it since I can't figure out how to put tables in here...
And for those that don't trust or want to use links, here's the non-formatted version.
Craft Skill
My first attempt at a simplified (maybe...), more realistic craft skill.
Complexity Various Weapon Armor Alchemy DC Mat. Cost
Very simple belt pouch club padded dye 5 1/6
Simple iron pot dog slicer hide tinder twig 10 1/5
Complex manacles bow / sword chain mail alchemist fire 15 1/4
Highly Complex lock x-bow Full Plate tanglefoot bag 20 1/3
Mind-boggling clockworks repeating x-bow locking plate sun orchid elixir 30 1/2
Masterwork +10 x2
Special Material * Varies
1. Find the item’s price in gold pieces.
2. Find the item’s DC from the above table.
3. Pay the appropriate fraction of the item's cost for raw materials.
4. Make an appropriate Craft check representing one day's (8 hours) worth of work.
If the check succeeds: If the result minus the DC doesn’t equal the price, then it represents the progress you’ve made this day. Record the result and make a new Craft check for the next day. Each day, you make more progress until your total reaches the price of the item in gold pieces. If the result minus the DC is more than the price (e.g. double or triple the price of the item), then you’ve completed the task in less than 8 hours (e.g. one-half or one-third of the time).
If you fail a check by 4 or less: You make no progress this day.
If you fail by 5 or more: You ruin half the raw materials and have to pay half the original raw material cost again to continue working on the item.
If creating a poison, trap, or volatile substance (e.g. alchemist's fire), and you fail by 10 or more: You have exposed yourself to the dangerous substance(s) you are working with and suffer the results as if affected by the finished product. This may result in being poisoned, trapped, starting a fire, etc.
Create Masterwork Items: You can make a masterwork item: a weapon, suit of armor, shield, tool, etc. that conveys a bonus on its use through its exceptional craftsmanship. To create a masterwork item, simply pay twice the cost of the raw materials and increase the DC by 10. The masterwork quality cannot normally be added after an item is made, though there are exceptions i.e. firearms.
Concentrating: Most poisons and some alchemical items may be concentrated. This is represented by applying the masterwork quality multiple times. In such a case, stack the added DC increase and the multiplied material costs. For each time the masterwork quality is applied, raise the poison or alchemical item's save DC by +2. Usually, it is possible to concentrate a substance even after it is made.
For example: Dragon Bile (save DC 26, material cost 300 gp) is a simple substance (craft (poison) DC 10). Adding the masterwork quality twice would increase the save DC to 30 (26 + 2 + 2) and the craft DC to 30 (10 + 10 + 10) while costing 900 gp in materials (300 + 300 + 300)
Special Materials: Working with some special materials such as mithril or alchemical silver increases the complexity by one category, up to a maximum of 'Mind-Boggling'. Special Materials cost a set amount as indicated in the Pathfinder Role-Playing Game Core Rulebook. With few exceptions, you must use special materials during the creation of an item and cannot add them after the fact.
Repair Items: You can repair an item by making checks against the same DC that it took to make the item in the first place. The cost of repairing an item is one-half of the raw material cost of the item. (Optionally, you could calculate the raw material cost per hit point and use that for the repair cost).
Working Together: You cannot usually get help creating very simple objects. One other person may "aid another" when working on simple objects. Complex objects may split the work and the cost (and thus the time) between two characters. Highly complex and mind-boggling items may be split between any reasonable number of characters (ask your DM)
Action: Usually does not apply. Craft checks are made by the day. A high difference between the Craft Check and the item DC combined with a low cost does allow for checks to be made faster than one day. Regardless, checks should take at least one minute.
Try Again: Yes, but each time you fail by 5 or more, you ruin half the raw materials and have to pay half the original raw material cost again.
Special: You may voluntarily subtract 5 from the indicated DC to craft an item and pay twice the raw material cost. This allows you to create the item more quickly (since you’ll be subtracting a lower DC from your check) by buying nearly complete components. You cannot reduce the DC to less than 5, nor is this an option when concentrating a poison or alchemical item. To make an item you must have appropriate equipment. If you are working in a city, you can buy what you need as part of the raw materials cost to make the item, but alchemical equipment is difficult or impossible to come by in some places. Purchasing and maintaining an alchemist’s lab grants a +2 circumstance bonus on Craft (alchemy) checks because you have the perfect tools for the job, but it does not affect the cost of any items made using the skill.
Examples
Apprentice [Blacksmith, bower, etc...]
Level 1 Expert:
+1 Rank
+2 Ability
+3 Class Skill
+3 Skill Focus
+2 Tools
+10 Taking 10
==
21 Skill Check
Weapon Examples
Complexity DC Cost Item Price Mats Time to Complete One Item
Very simple 5 1/6 Club 0 0 1 Minute, the minimum
Simple 10 1/5 Dagger 2 0.4 1 Hour, 27 minutes
Complex 15 1/4 Long Sword 15 3 2 Days, 4 Hours
Highly Complex 20 1/3 Heavy X-bow 50 16.7 400 Hours (50 8-hour Days)
Mind-boggling 30 1/2 Repeating Light X-bow 250 125 Nearly Impossible
Armor Examples
Very simple 5 1/6 Padded 5 0.8 2 hours, 30 minutes
Simple 10 1/5 Hide 15 3 1 Day, nearly 3 hours
Complex 15 1/4 Chain Mail 150 37.5 25 days
Highly Complex 20 1/3 Full Plate 1500 750 4 years, 40 days
This seems like a long time to create highly complex items like full plate, but this is for an apprentice. A master on the other hand...
Master [Blacksmith]
Gnome, Level 5 Expert:
+5 Rank
+2 Ability
+3 Class Skill
+3 Skill Focus
+2 Tools
+8 (four apprentices "aiding another")
+10 Taking 10
+2 Master Craftsman feat
+2 Gnome
==
37 Skill Check
He would only take 214 days, 2 hours, and 17 minutes to make a suit of full plate. This work could be split between, say, four blacksmith teams and be completed in less than 2 months, or less than 1 month working 16 hours per day.
Strangely, Gnomes are the best craftsmen (+2 racial bonus to a craft skill), with Elves (and potentially humans, half-elves, and half-orks) being the second best due to a racial +2 Intelligence bonus. Dwarves have nothing to recommend them really, other than tradition. Perhaps make stone cunning's +2 bonus also apply to crafting metal and stone...
Personally, I think the PF craft skill rules are perfectly fine as is, and less complicated. Not to mention easier rules, and aside from that.
To increase the speed of crafting, you can just house rule a few things like gold piece works, or allowing them to work more than 4-8 hours a week/day.
Just gonna link it since I can't figure out how to put tables in here...
And for those that don't trust or want to use links, here's the non-formatted version.
Craft Skill
My first attempt at a simplified (maybe...), more realistic craft skill.
Our group just assigned a multiplier to certain crafts. For example, a weaponsmith is a x2 craft and an alchemist is x3. Multiply the silver piece per week on craft progression, as well as the money the craftman makes a week as well (we did the same for professions - lawyers make more than maids).
Our logic being, some craftsmen are more valuable than others, and some things are more valuable than others, but don't necessarily require more labor. Most other solutions we came up with were needlessly complex. It might not be 'fair' that a armorsmith makes more than a carpenter, from a game perspective, but historically they _did_, and it doesn't affect player characters much anyways.
As for raw materials cost, we defaulted to final cost of item - cost of labor = raw materials cost. This has the strange effect of making high DC items cost more in raw materials...which kinda made sense as you'd want the best materials for the most difficult to make items.
You should check out my Mundane Masterwork Enhancements.
You'd probably like. lol They are posted on this board.