After a first level adventure, the PCs acquired a halfling sidekick (NPC) who, as a boon, would cast Mending occasionally on their gear. One of the players shrugged. "Not much of a bonus," he said, "my stuff never gets worn out."
It suddenly occurred to me: there's no "wear and tear" on items in PF. I'd assume this is WAY more hassle and bookkeeping than players/GMs want. Still, what would be the point of having this spell if it's little more than a footnote, an afterthought? Does anyone have an easy way to simulate wear & tear?
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I have used Mending to repair a wagon wheel, when we found some NPCs with a broken down wagon. My prankster bard has it as a known spell, because he's found that repairing damage done always has to be part of apologizing for pranks that go too far.
But you're right that it's not really something that comes up very often.
I always like to have it prepared because when you need to fix something, you generally really need to fix it, so having it as an option is nice.
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Also, it's heavily dependant on play style. Like most other circumstantial spells, it depend on how much of that stuff the DM incorporates.
I often incorporate broken stuff in adventures I run - for example, locks in not-so-used-dungeons are often rusted shut, increasing the DC to pick them by 4 unless someone uses mending or similar method to fix them.
Mending is pretty effective, for a cantrip, but has more roleplaying value that "power". I did use it on a cache of destroyed art objects once, in an adventure path, turning a valueless find into a valuable treasure!
My primary magic weapon - on which I had spent a feat - took enough acid damage from a monster and gained the broken condition. The available GP limit in town prohibited me hiring someone to fix it with Mending. I had a go an entire level until one of my party's casters could select the Spell. I had to use a MW weapon that entire time. Now that its over and done, I can say that I lived through it, no big deal. There wouldn't have ever been any stress if someone had simply picked a useless spell like Mending.
All of the casters I have ever played had Mending, even if for only mundane purposes.
I played a bard that liked to use nets. I found mending to be invaluable as in later levels, most monsters would just break the net on their turn (was still useful because the monster either suffers a penalty or they waste a turn).
Mending and Prestidigitation (with its ability to clean) are the only reasons Wizards are the only adventurers who don't look like murderous hobos after an adventure.
Wand of Mending (or even Make Whole). Fairly cheap, should be readily available, saves you from having to memorize the spell all the time for that one time you need it NOW. Also available in Eternal Wand (uses per day rather than charges) for those with constructs and the exceedingly clumsy.
Ironically I have a PC in a homebrew that crafts constructs. My GM is allowing me to spend money to put advanced abilities or powers into them, and is willing to custom-design with me. The very first one I want to make is a homunculus that doesn't look like a little monster but a doll-sized angel; it's special power would be to cast Mending or Make Whole, depending on GM's approval. Thus it would be my "combat medic" for my bodyguard construct, flying over to heal it in or after combat.
My concern was more about lower level stuff though. For example, I have a homebrew setting with a city that is all but engulfed in a tangled, wild forest. This place is called the Gnarl and is full of thorns, brambles and other snags. There's nothing RAW though that says if a PC passes through an area of rough terrain in a forest setting, his clothing, gear or other stuff may get ripped, torn or scratched. Yet it stands to reason that this may easily be the case, especially with the fluff on the Gnarl.
But then when a player just shrugs and says there's no mechanical need for me to have Mending, I really have nothing to refute him with OHTER than specific monsters or occasional AoE's.
There's nothing in RAW that says that characters stink if they don't buy soap and bathe occasionally either. That doesn't mean I don't give the players diplomacy penalties for wandering out of a sewer and attempting to ask a random noble for information while literally covered in...stuff...
Sometimes a little realism thrown in can make "useless" spells more useful, if your players are into that kind of thing (which mine are). :)
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In my current campaign, metal is extremely scarce. The players are starting to catch on to the fact that this is due to huge populations of rust monsters. Anyway, it's Stone Age tech level until people figure out more Precursor stuff. (The druids in the party don't mind. The fighter is the only one raving about Aberrations bringing down civilization.)
So they're using obsidian weaponry, and that stuff has the Fragile property; meaning it gets Broken on a '1'. Being able to repair your weaponry after a fight is pretty nice.
For regular wear and tear, I assume PCs are maintaining their equipment during downtime--it's not something that really needs to be roleplayed.
Mending (and make whole) is useful though, besides sunder, for repairing broken objects in dungeons and the like.
As a house rule, I also assume mending has a similar cleaning function as prestidigitation so divine casters can clean off uck as needed. This is something my players tend to pay attention to so that's what I've set up (explicitly because a cleric player of mine complained they didn't have prestidigitation for its cleaning effect).
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My Archaeologist Bard's first spells I learned were Mending and Prestidigitation; she found pottery shards, etc, cast Prestidigitation to clean them then Mending to fix the artifact. Saves a whole lot of work for her actual Archaeologis duties, =)
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Use it to re-assemble clues in an investigation, or the shattered macguffin items in an item hunt.
When you gotta, you really gotta. Although for shattered magic items you might need Make Whole.
Fix a door as it is being battered down by an unfriendly type individual, whilst the other characters do "something®" that needs doin'.
Tricky with the casting time of 10 minutes though...
Sneak weapons into a restricted place in non-descript broken pieces and then re-assemble them...huzzah have at you!
Nice!
Annoy a caster of Shatter with your renewable 0-Level spell.
Casting time's a bit long for combat though.
Heroicly strike the chains off a bunch of captives...and then repair those chains on the previous captors.
Awesome!
Plug a hole in a sinking ship, or mend the hole in the bucket...dear Liza dear Liza.
Put a really cool model ship inside a now-seamless glass bauble...impress your friends!
Make a habit of getting really inebriated (in character) and repeatedly (like all night) throw your wine glass down and shout OPA, cast mending...rinse repeat.
Hit the flea markets, buy up some broke-arse trash and go Antiques Roadshow on it.
Good times.
Repair that old rickety bridge abutment, after heroicly using your Knowledge (Engineering) check to identify the structural defects that would have resulted in your party going for a drop and sudden stop.
Tricky with the weight limit, although maybe with K:Engineering you can convince the GM that you're only looking at the weight of individual components of the bridge.
Remember that letter that you weren't supposed to read with the now-broken sealing wax? Hurray for snooping...cast mending.
Very good.
I like your ideas. And I like mending; hurrah for open-ended spells.
It suddenly occurred to me: there's no "wear and tear" on items in PF. I'd assume this is WAY more hassle and bookkeeping than players/GMs want. Still, what would be the point of having this spell if it's little more than a footnote, an afterthought? Does anyone have an easy way to simulate wear & tear?
It is just one of many things in the game not directly related to combat that facilitates role playing.Like anything in the game, if your group does not use it then feel free to delete it.
I know in the group I play in, it certainly is not used every game but none of us would have a caster character who did not have access to it. It just makes sense that the usefullness of the spell in the day to day life of the character would make it a must have for many people.
Much like prestidigitation which is a spell I have on every character who can take it as well. It has too many convenience applications for the characters non combat life to pass by.
Heh, I had a sorcerer that had it chosen because most 0-level spells are just for fun anyway.
It came in handy on MANY occasions, particularly with rope. There are a lot of times in which rope gets cut (sometimes on purpose, such as for impromptu traps).
Also recouped the damage done to an attacked glass-works, and made a lot of rich friends.
My cleric used it once to repair a window after breaking into a building.
Ironically I have a PC in a homebrew that crafts constructs. My GM is allowing me to spend money to put advanced abilities or powers into them, and is willing to custom-design with me. The very first one I want to make is a homunculus that doesn't look like a little monster but a doll-sized angel; it's special power would be to cast Mending or Make Whole, depending on GM's approval. Thus it would be my "combat medic" for my bodyguard construct, flying over to heal it in or after combat.
My concern was more about lower level stuff though. For example, I have a homebrew setting with a city that is all but engulfed in a tangled, wild forest. This place is called the Gnarl and is full of thorns, brambles and other snags. There's nothing RAW though that says if a PC passes through an area of rough terrain in a forest setting, his clothing, gear or other stuff may get ripped, torn or scratched. Yet it stands to reason that this may easily be the case, especially with the fluff on the Gnarl.
But then when a player just shrugs and says there's no mechanical need for me to have Mending, I really have nothing to refute him with OHTER than specific monsters or occasional AoE's.
I'd see brambles as no worse than a whip. As long as the PCs are wearing some kind of armor, it isn't going to get damaged from some thorns.
Now, the wizard in a cloth robe might have some snags and such happen, but then, they tend to have prestidigitation anyway.
We used to play with the critical miss rules where you would roll damage as normal, but you did the damage to your weapon instead.
E.G. I roll a 1, then I roll damage, lets say, with a greatsword. It has a hardness of 10, so I roll my 2d6 + STR and do, idk, 12 damage. My sword would take 2 damage to its what, 10 hp per inch of thickness or something. Mending and repairwork worked like heals on the weapons.