Monk master craftsman


Advice


Say I have a Monk (probably a dwarf) who takes the master craftsman feat in order to get Craft Wondrous Item. What would be a good profession or craft to take ranks in to get the neater items? Weaving for bodywraps? Jeweler for amulet of mighty fists?

Any monk specific items that require a monk to make them that I should look at?

Thank you.


Don't know if any monk specific items, bus as a dwarf I would go for blacksmith, due to dwarfs being able to get racial bonus to that...


I'd try and aim for something that would allow for amulets (AoMF, its better at half price), belts(physical stat boost), headbands (mental stat boost), and if my DM didn't think I was pushing it to far, maybe cloak/boots.

Master Craftsman can have some flexibility, but it also needs a little DM adjudication sometimes.


Monk craftsmen.... interesting idea. Feels a bit odd but if you want to go that route, there are some items to tailor your character to level 19 or so. The items could go something like this:

monk's belt

skin of the hero

boots of temporal acceleration

bracers of armor

amulet of mighty fists

gloves of titan grip

ring of divine power

belt of giant strength

ring of the mighty wallop

cloak of shapechange

ectoplasmic fist

-------------------------------------------------

Craft some but try to get the rest or most from defeated opponents. Good luck with the character. Hope it works out.


Bacon666 wrote:
Don't know if any monk specific items, bus as a dwarf I would go for blacksmith, due to dwarfs being able to get racial bonus to that...

If you want your dwarven crafting bonus, jewelry is a better option. You don't need weapons and armor as a monk, but you do need rings and amulets.

That said, you'd probably be better off with cloth or leather as your craft skill in terms of creating monk items. Krigare and equalizer's lists are a pretty good starting place, and you'll notice that they're mostly things that can be made with cloth or leather. A generous GM might even let you make an amulet out of leather, especially if you flavor it properly - an amulet made from the knucklebones or claws of particularly fierce animals would be appropriate for Mighty Fists, and within the scope of a leatherworker, for example. Rings are probably harder to get away with, though.

Sczarni

Bows would be a decent choice for a Zen Archer, but getting the AoMF at half price makes better sense


The equalizer wrote:

Monk craftsmen.... interesting idea. Feels a bit odd but if you want to go that route, there are some items to tailor your character to level 19 or so. The items could go something like this:

monk's belt
Leather

skin of the hero
Leather, although I don't think that's in a book I could use

boots of temporal acceleration
Leather or cobbler

bracers of armor
I suppose this could be leather too.

amulet of mighty fists
This probably couldn't be leather. Jeweler

gloves of titan grip
Leather or cloth, but also not in a book I have?

ring of divine power
I don't think Craft Ring is a feat available to a noncaster via Master Craftsman.

belt of giant strength
Leather for sure!

ring of the mighty wallop
Rings :(

cloak of shapechange
Could be leather, could be cloth

Looks like leathercraft or Profession: Tanner would be a good fit to qualify for the majority of these items.

I should probably have said hardcovers only.


Pharmalade wrote:
The equalizer wrote:


amulet of mighty fists
This probably couldn't be leather. Jeweler

I wouldn't be so sure about that. The description for an Amulet of Natural Armor explicitly says it's made out of leather, so at least some amulets can be. Leather decorated with the claws or fangs of dangerous creatures makes perfect sense for an amulet to enhance unarmed attacks.


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

You don´t have to craft the stuff yourself.

Master Craftsman wrote:

Your superior crafting skills allow you to create simple magic items.

Prerequisites: 5 ranks in any Craft or Profession skill.

Benefit: Choose one Craft or Profession skill in which you possess at least 5 ranks. You receive a +2 bonus on your chosen Craft or Profession skill. Ranks in your chosen skill count as your caster level for the purposes of qualifying for the Craft Magic Arms and Armor and Craft Wondrous Item feats. You can create magic items using these feats, substituting your ranks in the chosen skill for your total caster level. You must use the chosen skill for the check to create the item. The DC to create the item still increases for any necessary spell requirements (see the magic item creation rules in Magic Items). You cannot use this feat to create any spell-trigger or spell-activation item.

You can just buy any masterwork item and then enchant it by RAW.

With a dwarf you can use your +2 jewelry stuff, just add some jewels everywhere where the magic is in.
Otherwise choose something like profession: wondrous items specialist

What you really want is skill focus in this profession or something else that gives you a good boost, because without UMD and other stuff where the magic comes from, the DC will be raised quite a bit. You could always pay a caster or ask the party-magician to help you out there though. Also in some cases you will want to speed up the creation process, raising DC´s further. You should be able to get something around 30 easily to produce the items.


Hah! I suppose Profession: Merchant could be rationalized for just about anything. "I got a buddy down in Slance who specializes in amulets. He'll give me a good deal."

Even so, if I can craft an amulet of mighty fists with leather, then Profession: Tanner it is! Profession because it adds Wisdom to the roll, as opposed to Craft. Even with a racial bonus it won't match my wisdom modifier.

Thanks for your advice, crew!


Hayato Ken wrote:

You don´t have to craft the stuff yourself.

Master Craftsman wrote:

Your superior crafting skills allow you to create simple magic items.

Prerequisites: 5 ranks in any Craft or Profession skill.

Benefit: Choose one Craft or Profession skill in which you possess at least 5 ranks. You receive a +2 bonus on your chosen Craft or Profession skill. Ranks in your chosen skill count as your caster level for the purposes of qualifying for the Craft Magic Arms and Armor and Craft Wondrous Item feats. You can create magic items using these feats, substituting your ranks in the chosen skill for your total caster level. You must use the chosen skill for the check to create the item. The DC to create the item still increases for any necessary spell requirements (see the magic item creation rules in Magic Items). You cannot use this feat to create any spell-trigger or spell-activation item.

You can just buy any masterwork item and then enchant it by RAW.

With a dwarf you can use your +2 jewelry stuff, just add some jewels everywhere where the magic is in.
Otherwise choose something like profession: wondrous items specialist

What you really want is skill focus in this profession or something else that gives you a good boost, because without UMD and other stuff where the magic comes from, the DC will be raised quite a bit. You could always pay a caster or ask the party-magician to help you out there though. Also in some cases you will want to speed up the creation process, raising DC´s further. You should be able to get something around 30 easily to produce the items.

While Hayato has a point, this is one of those areas that, as a player and DM, I go by what I feel is the intent of the feat. And that is that you are so skilled at your craft the items you make yourself become magical.


Hayato Ken wrote:

You don´t have to craft the stuff yourself.

The problem is that per the normal rules for magic item creation, you must use either Spellcraft or "an applicable craft or profession skill" when making the enchantment check for wondrous items, even if you don't craft the initial item yourself. Since Master Craftsman says "you must use the chosen skill for the check" and not "you may use the chosen skill for the check", it's not clear that the feat overrides the need for the skill to be applicable. So, no using Craft: Jewelry to make your magic shoes - you need a skill that actually applies to shoes.


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Let´s look at magic item creation:

Magic Item Creation wrote:


To create magic items, spellcasters use special feats which allow them to invest time and money in an item's creation. At the end of this process, the spellcaster must make a single skill check (usually Spellcraft, but sometimes another skill) to finish the item. If an item type has multiple possible skills, you choose which skill to make the check with. The DC to create a magic item is 5 + the caster level for the item. Failing this check means that the item does not function and the materials and time are wasted. Failing this check by 5 or more results in a cursed item.

...

Magic supplies for items are always half of the base price in gp. For many items, the market price equals the base price. Armor, shields, weapons, and items with value independent of their magically enhanced properties add their item cost to the market price. The item cost does not influence the base price (which determines the cost of magic supplies), but it does increase the final market price.

Of course player and GM need to find a common place and craft also is nicer fluff than profession: "whatever".

BUT this will be hard and you spend two feats at last to get there, so you should get something for it.
Like item creation rules show, you use one skill check at the end of the process. That means you normally can´t take 10 or 20, so there is always a risk. IT also says if "multiple" possible skill checks, you choose. Where master craftsman says "you must use the chosen skill..." it means you can´t use another skill, like another craft or profession or whatever you later got better.

The other point Benly mentioned would make crafting magical items even for casters quite difficult. You don´t have to craft everything yourself of course. You can buy it and enchant it. In the case of master craftsman you buy it and somehow treat it with something or in a way that gives it magical properties.
How else should craft magic arms and armor or craft wondrous items function? (Besides the fabricate spell.)

As a caster you can just use the spellcraft skill. Does that mean you craft a sword with spellcraft? Or let´s say you took profession weaponsmith (besides the fact that this is a WIS skill in a INT dependant class then probably), a smith is not someone that makes bows or any other stuff made of wood. He could eventually smith metal armor, but no leather or wood or other stuff, because that is made by tailors.

The craft and profession skills are tricky by themselves already, i wouldnt mix that up too much and also make it too complicated. It would never match anything in the real world and it doesn´t have too, since its a fantasy game.

If you don´t like it, don´t allow it in your game, but don´t harrass the players later for taking it by making it overly complicated and restrict it. There is already the chance to mess it up if you dice bad and you loose all the money then.

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