Crafting items without feats

[Ascalaphus]

(It's probably come up before, so if you have links to relevant old threads, I appreciate those.)

I've got two gripes with the magic item creation system as is right now. I'd like to hear other people's ideas about a change to it.

The one gripe is that if found items can be sold for half price, and new items can be crafted at half price, then item creation basically turns into melting down found stuff for the stuff you really wanted, at a feat/time tax.

The other one is that I just don't see myself making a lot of items of any one category; I'd make a few Wondrous Items, one or two Rods, a couple of magic weapons, but not a lot of each type. Yet I'd be spending lots of feats to make all that.

So, this is the direction I'm thinking in:

1) Items to be enchanted must be hand-made by the enchanter, using the relevant Craft check, before enchanting with Spellcraft. This encourages some specialization. Luckily for Wizards, Craft is a class skill. This is mainly an RP thing.
2) Crafting items is full price for the magical component, not half price. This encourages keeping useful found items instead of "melting them down" to make your own all the time.
3) Every time you gain a level, you may take one free Item Creation Feat that you qualify for (in caster level and prerequisite feats etcetera).

So, instead of paying a feat/time tax to supply your party with discount magic, instead you'd be able to make a more varied batch of magic items but it would be profitable to keep more of the found items. This might also (depending on DM-generated treasure) cut down on the Big Six prevalence.

In this system, Master Craftsman serves a minor function: it opens up some itemcrafting to non-casters at a far less punitive price in feats, although you now also need to learn some Spellcraft.

Well, what do you think? Could this work? Would it create significant problems or imbalances?

[Mike J]

I think it is workable, but may not have the results you want/intend.

Craft is a class skill for all classes. One side-effect of what you are suggesting is that characters will have to put ranks in all kinds of Crafting skills - armor, weapons, leather working, wood working, blacksmithing, etc. to build the base items. Which is fine if you think players have excess skill points to burn.

There are only 8 crafting feats in the Core book (12 total in the SRD). All have a caster level requirement of some sort, mostly at odd numbered levels. Rather than one free crafting feat a level, you might as well give characters all crafting feats for free when they meet the requirements. It will be more or less the same thing.

I don't think this will impact the "Big Six" issue. Players will still want/need their "Big Six" bonuses. In most games, players are perfectly happy to sell all loot items at half price to buy Big Six items at full price. Profitability isn't a consideration. An item that provides a +10 bonus to a skill/ability you don't care about is always worth less than an item that provides a +1 to something you do care about. That is the core of the "Big Six" issue.

As a player, I'm not sure I'd even care about item crafting if the item costs full price and it requires time to make. So, I can either go out and buy an item now or wait some amount of time (to craft it) and pay the same price? Thanks, I'll buy the item right now and save myself the dice roll and time.

I don't think what you are suggesting will break the game or anything. Just that it may not have the desired effects. If anything, it may discourage crafting.

[NicolasNix]

Our group agrees with there being too many categories to require a feat for each one. We have house ruled that there is only one feat required for crafting - the Craft Magical Items feat. This feat lets you craft items from any category, so long as you meet the level requirements.