Connie Thomson's latest gaming article at Geek's Dream Girl is all about using the Craft skill to your character's advantage.
I found this line thought provoking within the context of the article:
"Adventuring and saving the world is your character’s job"
So for a character with average or low INT, are not those skill points best suited in skills which help you do your job better? I agree that from a character development perspective craft can be valuable, but from a mechanics of "doing your job" well perspective, can you afford the craft skill at the risk of not maximizing your odds of doing your job well?
In can see, however, a very entertaining character who has one skill point in craft something who is very confident in their expertise and can't see why everyone else doesn't appreciate their skill.
I found this line thought provoking within the context of the article:
"Adventuring and saving the world is your character’s job"
So for a character with average or low INT, are not those skill points best suited in skills which help you do your job better? I agree that from a character development perspective craft can be valuable, but from a mechanics of "doing your job" well perspective, can you afford the craft skill at the risk of not maximizing your odds of doing your job well?
In can see, however, a very entertaining character who has one skill point in craft something who is very confident in their expertise and can't see why everyone else doesn't appreciate their skill.
It's interesting that you quoted only half of the sentence. The full sentence, along with the next two sentences are:
Adventuring and saving the world is your character’s job – shouldn’t they have something to do in their downtime, too? Putting a couple of ranks in a Craft adds depth and personality to your character. It gives them a creative outlet, a way to relax, and something to keep their hands busy on a quiet night at the inn.
She only mentions putting "a couple" ranks in a Craft skill, which by most ways of accounting is only 1 more than the 1 you suggest.
As for not maximizing your odds of doing your job well, she goes on to explain how putting points in a Craft skill can help your character do their job well.
It's interesting that you quoted only half of the sentence.
That's the part of the sentence which seemed to present the counterpoint to the article.
As for not maximizing your odds of doing your job well, she goes on to explain how putting points in a Craft skill can help your character do their job well.
And they are very creative ways too. As an adventurer, however, if I was forced to decide between a rank in Perception or Craft, I would go with Perception because that helps me see a stealthy enemy or find a hidden trap. Both things, if not done well, could mean the end of my life. I'm not opposed to putting a rank or two in craft, but I would prioritize skills that maximize my chance of staying alive when presented with a life or death situation.
I'm not opposed to putting a rank or two in craft, but I would prioritize skills that maximize my chance of staying alive when presented with a life or death situation.
But you never know how that life or death situation will present itself. When the only way to get past the ancient brass dragon without a fight is with expertly baked cookies, and everyone thought Craft: Cooking was a waste of skill points...
I found this line thought provoking within the context of the article:
"Adventuring and saving the world is your character’s job"
So for a character with average or low INT, are not those skill points best suited in skills which help you do your job better? I agree that from a character development perspective craft can be valuable, but from a mechanics of "doing your job" well perspective, can you afford the craft skill at the risk of not maximizing your odds of doing your job well?
In can see, however, a very entertaining character who has one skill point in craft something who is very confident in their expertise and can't see why everyone else doesn't appreciate their skill.
If your character has a low INT score then they are probably aren't a good multi-tasker, and you should stick to what you know, smashing goblins.
however if your INT score is average or better, then you probably were learning a trade of some sort before smashing goblins turned out to be much more profitable. Be it good old profession (farming) or something more exotic, children of the middle ages did not sit idle.
Another way to look at it is that a low INT score means your character has trouble retaining information. After he stopped plowing fields and got into goblin-smashing all that profession (farming), craft (knitting), profession (sailor), profession (scribe) information bled out of his ear as he learned to swing a big sword. The moderate to high INT characters of course have better memories.
I remember an interesting character in my game who had Craft (Cooper). he was a barrel maker. Came in hand a few times.
To me, characters that don't have interests aside from "killing monsters and taking their loot" aren't interesting characters. They're the equivalent of a video game character, in that while they may have a name and a semi-unique appearance, all they do is hack and slash and blast while you tap the buttons. Sure, that can be fun. Heck, that's basically what Diablo and Diablo II are, and they're great fun.
But sitting down at the roleplaying table and actually playing a character - one with their own interests, and hobbies, and histories - is where the pen and paper RPG really takes off for me, and provides an unequaled experience. It's just one simple question: "What does my character do to relax?"
Even the normal skills offer all kind of opportunities. Say the ranger or barbarian hunts for the pot, and brings back a dead elk. Well, if they have Craft: leatherworking, they could brain-tan the hide to provide a really soft, comfortable leather. Or boil it in water to harden it for use in leather armor - especially if say the fighter has Craft: armorsmithing. Instead of just a hide to throw away, now you've got a trade good or something to sell when you get back to town.