Crafting armor question

[Tonydd]

Does anyone know roughly how long it would take to craft a full plate armor with a base craft of 12 assuming you roll a 10 at the end of each week(so 22 total)? Maybe I am reading it wrong but it almost seems as if that would take more then 35 weeks at a craft roll of 22 at the end of each week due to its 1500gp base cost, is that right? It just seems super long to me.

[Maezer]

Your math appears good to me. 1500/(19*22/10)=36 weeks of work. It is long.

I don't think the prices listed for armor were created to simulate length of time to create them via crafting rules. Rather they were made with a since of game play value to the benefits of said armor.

Rather the crafting mechanics were formed more around, making wealth over time. And assuming your craftsman can sell the full plate at full retail price, he is going to be making 27+ gold piece per week of his work which is a very good wage in DnD standards.

If you want to simulate faster craft time via the rules. The craftsman isn't making the full plate from scratch. So he has to pay far more than 1/3 the 1500gp in base materials. He's not buying raw iron and tin. He gets a breastplate from the breastplate makers, chainmail from the chainmail maker, leather for straps and buckles from the leather maker. And so on. So that the labor is divided over a several people.

The full plate craftsman combines the elements and puts them together and takes a cut off the top, but not 2/3 of the full retail value (something closer to 27 gp per week of labor, and produce for the customer a new set of full plate in a weeks time rather than 2/3s of a year.

[Tonydd]

But what if a pc wanted to craft a full plate for himself or a party member would that still take 2/3 of a year to do. I have a party member who wants to make a master craft full plate armor (as well as some other items) for another party member. How long would that take him to do in game time?

[Asgetrion]

Tonydd wrote:

But what if a pc wanted to craft a full plate for himself or a party member would that still take 2/3 of a year to do. I have a party member who wants to make a master craft full plate armor (as well as some other items) for another party member. How long would that take him to do in game time?

I suggest that the player discusses this with the GM; if the campaign does not have tight "deadlines" (adventures take place after another without too much spare time in between them), all PCs could spend a month or even two between the adventures crafting armor, making potions, participating in local politics, seeking rare items, researching clues, etcetera. However, if the GM wants to keep the PCs on their toes, or has a very specific campaign outline that has several deadlines for minor and major events, it may not be possible.

I have this very same situation in my own campaign -- the dwarven fighter PC has been crafting a masterwork full plate since the first session. I came up with a compromise: he has a week or two between each adventure for crafting (the rest of the PCs also have activities/contacts/jobs/items they pursue, so this suits everyone pretty well). When the PCs are adventuring, the fighter's parents (who own the most prominent local smithy) are crafting the armor for him (his mom has +12 in Craft (Armor), and his dad +18, IIRC). In the end this pretty much totals the estimated time (36 weeks or so). :)

Of course, this is a dwarven family (and one specialized in crafting armor and weapons) we're talking about! ;)

[JaceDK]

Lots of threads about this issue already, with plenty of good suggestions on how to handle it.

Here are a few:

Thread 1

Thread 2

Thread 3

[Ressy]

I ended up just giving my Fighter (Craftsman with Master Craftsman feat and Craft Wondrous Item) a 1/day item that let him use fabricate. Now it takes him 6 seconds to make any non-magical item covered by his craft skills.