One of the guys in my up coming game wants to play a dwarven smith. Sense the party is on a caravan, I was thinking of letting him have some equipment, like a battery forge, so that he could work while he traveled.
Through some extra labor, we got his smithing skill up to +10 so he can take 10 on masterwork swords.
I know it is a bit out of sink with wealth by level, but, it makes sense that someone so good at smithing would be able to afford the tools of their trade.
More of that I was wondering, from you history buffs out there, do you think ancient people had battery forges? It just seems to obvious to put a fireplace on an ox drawn wagon.
The battery forge is actually an anachronism for medieval times. They didn't see regular use until the American Civil War. The American Revolutionary war had a more primitive version. Prior to that, most forges were stationary and made from stone. We lacked the technology to make steel strong enough to make forges portable.
darth_borehd wrote: We lacked the technology to make steel strong enough to make forges portable. So then they could be possible in pathfinder given the worlds access to higher grade steel or even mithril/adamantium, which would have (theoretically) better heat resistance and overall strength than steel.
So if it was possible but hard in medieval times it could be possible in Pathfinder, but most likely EXTREMELY expensive as the materials necessary to handle the heat would be very pricy.
Alternatively one could make it with standard materials or even poor ones and then have it enchanted to withstand the heat, but that again would mean expense.
So that smith could do it, he would just need to spend some of that wealth by level on his forge.
You could allow a magical forge. A mid-level purchase, Forge in a Box.
That could be the ticket: a point of stress for the game. Maybe his character is a crazy entrepreneur. You know, with only a weeks worth of work a black smith can make a profit of about 200 gold selling masterwork weapons. It takes barely over a month to get to second level wealth. Maybe his dwarf thought he could make a better living on the road.
If we decide his forge is REALLY expensive, magical even, maybe he owes money on it, say to the tune of 10,000 gold pieces. Provided business was good and nothing bad happened, he could pay that back in little over a year or two.
Second though, according to The Ancient World by Richard A. Gabriel, "The need to repair tools and iron weapons brought into existence the blacksmith and his traveling forge. Livy tells us that a Roman army of eight legions (approximately 40,000 men) required 1600 smiths and craftsmen to keep its equipment prepared for battle."
So it sounds like the traveling forge was pretty common in the ancient world, which suits me fine. This however, doesn't change the first part.... it just helps it make sense.
I think it would be fun to have the business as part of the game. It wouldn't take much. I'd just write down what he has and what he needs and how much it costs per month. It keeps itself up as long as their isn't any problems. If all his horses get stolen or something, or his men quit, then he would have one.
Mr.Fishy wrote: You could allow a magical forge. A mid-level purchase, Forge in a Box. Not gonna get my dwarf gal a diamond ring, because that kind of gift don't mean anything. Not going to get her a fancy stein, because my girl has to know that even when I'm sober she's fine.
It's a forge in the box!
It's a forge in a box, babe.
A forge in a box.
Yeah, a forge in a box, girl.
Ice Titan wrote: Mr.Fishy wrote: You could allow a magical forge. A mid-level purchase, Forge in a Box. Not gonna get my dwarf gal a diamond ring, because that kind of gift don't mean anything. Not going to get her a fancy stein, because my girl has to know that even when I'm sober she's fine.
It's a forge in the box!
It's a forge in a box, babe.
A forge in a box.
Yeah, a forge in a box, girl. lmao
I like the idea of the business loan. It allows the DM to introduce interesting NPCs and also if he falls behind on payment, a BBEG.
DrDew wrote: Ice Titan wrote: Mr.Fishy wrote: You could allow a magical forge. A mid-level purchase, Forge in a Box. Not gonna get my dwarf gal a diamond ring, because that kind of gift don't mean anything. Not going to get her a fancy stein, because my girl has to know that even when I'm sober she's fine.
It's a forge in the box!
It's a forge in a box, babe.
A forge in a box.
Yeah, a forge in a box, girl. lmao
I like the idea of the business loan. It allows the DM to introduce interesting NPCs and also if he falls behind on payment, a BBEG. Well, I don't think it should be too hard. Sense he can make a sword every 10 days, I'm going to let him sell as many as two a month, so long as he has 8 made. Any less than that, and he only sells one. That said, at 400 a pop, it would only actually take him a couple of months to pay it back with his skill: I totaled up everything I could think of and I really can't justify more than a 2000 GP loan, including some back pay for his three hired hands.
Still, if he doesn't get the money too the people he owes, they might send a collector. THAT GUY might be a huge a-hole, not really interested in the money.
Dwarves should have no problem adding 100 or 200 years of progress onto an era's appropriate technology.
I don't see anything in the tech of a traveling forge that an industrious dwarf couldn't come up with.
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