Crafting Headband and the Fabricate Spell

[Zahir ibn Mahmoud ibn Jothan]

I was perusing the Fabricate spell and wondering what use it might have, in that it (possibly) can't create MW items, and requires an appropriate Craft skill check.

This led me to ponder the merits of the following plan:

For 2k, one can create a Headband of Vast Intelligence, which has its inherent skill being a Craft skill.

At 9th level (Fabricate is a 5th level spell), the wizard presumably has at least a 15 INT, so with the headband a +3 INT modifier, +3 for Craft as a class skill, and 9 ranks in Craft, for at least a total of +15. Another +2 is easy with a MW tool appropriate for the craft.

This makes it pretty easy then for a PC wizard to reliably produce crafted items.

The Masterwork Transformation spell then can be used to turn the creation into MW.

I don't personally see a problem with Fabricate making items using special materials, but I understand some do.

What problems do people see with this approach?

What suggestions or improvements?

[Damon Griffin]

I see no problem with it. There's the obvious limitation -- and I don't think you overlooked this -- that it'll all work to craft one type of item: weapons or armor or leather goods, etc. If you expect to do a lot of crafting of multiple types of time-consuming items, bump the headband up to +4 or +6 and buy additional sets of craft-appropriate MW tools.

[Zahir ibn Mahmoud ibn Jothan]

Damon Griffin wrote:

I see no problem with it. There's the obvious limitation -- and I don't think you overlooked this -- that it'll all work to craft one type of item: weapons or armor or leather goods, etc. If you expect to do a lot of crafting of multiple types of time-consuming items, bump the headband up to +4 or +6 and buy additional sets of craft-appropriate MW tools.

Well, you COULD do that, but for the price of a +4 headband, why not make 4 +2 headbands for different crafts?

For the price of a +6 headband, you could make 9 +2 headbands for different crafts.

Yes, my thought is to have multiple headbands around.

[Damon Griffin]

Zahir ibn Mahmoud ibn Jothan wrote:

Well, you COULD do that, but for the price of a +4 headband, why not make 4 +2 headbands for different crafts?

For the price of a +6 headband, you could make 9 +2 headbands for different crafts.

Yes, my thought is to have multiple headbands around.

It would be cheaper, but you'd never get more than the +1 bonus from the headband; for the added investment you get +2 or +3 to all the associated Craft skills.

Also, there's that 24 hour delay for the granted ranks to kick in, every time you switch headbands. Mechanically not that big a deal, but something else to factor into your wizard's schedule. You could fabricate multiple items a day by casting multiple spells, but not fabricate multiple different types of items by switching out headbands during a single day.

EDIT: Some other things you could use to bump up that Craft check --

28,000gp flawed pale green prism ioun stone - +1 morale bonus on attack rolls, saves, skill checks, and ability checks

20,000gp luckstone - +1 luck bonus on saving throws, ability checks, and skill checks

???gp - Hire a bard of 3rd to 11th level to inspire competence while you cast fabricate

???gp - Have someone with at least one rank in the appropriate Craft cast bestow insight on you for an insight bonus of up to +6