Being able to craft any mundane item, without a single rank in Craft

[Ravingdork]

I recently created a magus artificer, Jackal Maulsons, to replace my old character, who was murdered by Skinsaw Cultists.

I want him to be able to craft most any mundane item with little to no fuss (and am considering picking up the fabrication spell for that reason), but I am unwilling to invest skill ranks into Craft. I feel that with his high intelligence (which will be made higher as time goes on) and other miscellaneous modifiers, I should be able to beat the crafting DCs of most items, particularly masterwork items and those made of special materials.

I was hoping to get advice on jacking up his craft modifiers in other ways. Are there any magical items, feats, or other things that might allow him to be a fairly awesome crafter, even without ranks?

[PSusac]

This is actually pretty easy. If you are high enough level to cast fabricate (9th) then you can do the following:

INT 20 + 2 from level increases = 22 = +6
Headband of Vast Intelligence +6 = +3
Masterwork too/Traveller's Anytool = +2
Crafter's Fortune (spell) +5

This gives you a total bonus of +16
Taking 10 on the roll, you can craft any item that requires a +26 or less.

There may be 1-2 items with a DC of 30 in the book but I can't think of what they are.

For those items that require a DC 30 hire a trained assistant (+2) and a bard to sing to you while you work (+2) or take the leadership feat and have a bard cohort and make sure that your followers are all trained in the whole range of craf skills. This will bring you up to that rare +30.

So that should do you.

[Khrysaor]

Has to be a wand of crafter's fortune since it's not a magus spell.

You could trade out the highlander trait for inner beauty if you don't need stealth as a class skill. Nets a +4 to any craft once per day which should be all you need it for. Drops your stealth by 4 (5 in rocky areas), but you'll have invis to make up for those times you really need it.

You can take additional traits to get that trait for the +4 craft and another trait as well if you wanted to spend a feat instead. Use the second trait to boost perception by 4 as a class skill and +1 bonus.

How are you casting Fabricate as a magus?

Take the arcana to get a valet familiar that comes with cooperative crafting.

Traveller's any tool gives you all the masterwork tools you'll need.

[Khrysaor]

How do you have heroism on the magus list?

[Gregory Connolly]

Yowsa! It looks like you both found a way to craft for 1/4 cost using the downtime system and a game with enough downtime to abuse that you can play in. Then you started with quadruple WBL because of this exploit. You can already craft whatever you want just using PSusac's method above. The only thing you need now is downtime.

[Ravingdork]

Khrysaor wrote:

How do you have heroism on the magus list?

Spell Blending

This is also how I plan to get fabricate. That way I can craft rare mundane items like lightning!

Gregory Connolly wrote:

Yowsa! It looks like you both found a way to craft for 1/4 cost using the downtime system and a game with enough downtime to abuse that you can play in. Then you started with quadruple WBL because of this exploit. You can already craft whatever you want just using PSusac's method above. The only thing you need now is downtime.

It's nearly eight times the standard equipment when compared to a non-item crafter, actually.

[Gregory Connolly]

I didn't do the math, but I meant quadruple what a crafter starts with and 1/4 of what it normally costs not full price, so I was pretty close actually. Characters like this are actually one of the best arguments I have for making the players start at first level. A magus is already stronger than a fighter, but a magus with 7 or 8 times more equipment is crazy. I would love to have a high system mastery group where characters this powerful are normal not broken, but I don't. :(

[Khrysaor]

Ravingdork wrote:

Khrysaor wrote:

How do you have heroism on the magus list?

Spell Blending

This is also how I plan to get fabricate. That way I can craft rare mundane items like lightning!

Gregory Connolly wrote:

Yowsa! It looks like you both found a way to craft for 1/4 cost using the downtime system and a game with enough downtime to abuse that you can play in. Then you started with quadruple WBL because of this exploit. You can already craft whatever you want just using PSusac's method above. The only thing you need now is downtime.

It's nearly eight times the standard equipment when compared to a non-item crafter, actually.

Ah yes, I didn't pay attention to your arcana. Maybe hold off and get both heroism and crafter's fortune when you can cast 4th level spells? That would then give you tons of bonuses along with the other mentions.

+4 trait
+2 tools
+5 spell
+2 familiar
+6 stat (+7 at least if not +8 by level 10)

= +19 with no ranks
Take 10 for 29.

Enough to make almost anything.

[Ravingdork]

I don't plan on holding off. I can always retrain if I need to, to make sure I get the most efficient selection possible.

[Luthorne]

As a human, if you take Fast Learner as a prerequisite, you can take the Improvisation feat to get a +2 bonus on any skill you have no ranks in, as well as being able to use all skills untrained, and if you want to boost that further, you can take Improved Improvisation, which will boost that to +4. Furthermore, you can also take Defiant Luck as a prerequisite to snagging Inexplicable Luck, which will let you get a +8 bonus to a check 1/day, which works quite well for most crafting purposes. All of them are from the Advanced Race Guide.

As was already mentioned, a Traveler's Any-Tool from Ultimate Equipment is 250 gp, and acts as a masterwork tool for everything except craft (alchemy). Cheap and helpful.

A Cracked Magenta Prism Ioun Stone from the Pathfinder Society Primer gives you a +2 bonus on a skill of your choice, and the skill it grants a bonus to can be changed once a day, at a cost of 800 gp.

As was also already mentioned, the 1st level spell Crafter's Fortune from Advanced Player's Guide will give you a +5 luck bonus on your next Craft check, though it is not on the magus spell list. Furthermore, there is a 3rd level spell from Faction Guide called Arcane Reinforcement that allows you to add your ranks in Spellcraft to a Craft check, though it is also not on the magus spell list.

Hope that's helpful.

[Khrysaor]

Wow. That spell trumps all if it's legal for play at your table. Your Spellcraft is now your craft (any) check.

+6 stat
+2 tools
+7 ranks and spell

+15 with almost no investment.

Take it for your 9th level arcana and you'd have:

+7 stat
+2 tools
+9 ranks and spell

+18. This spell wins.

[Ravingdork]

Can you really benefit from a tool's bonuses (such as those from an any-tool) whilst casting fabricate?

[Gregory Connolly]

I don't think you can get equipment bonuses with Fabricate, but who cares because Fabricate.

[Ravingdork]

Wait, does arcane reinforcement add on top of the existing ranks of a craft skill? 'Cause, Jackal has max ranks in 'Craft: alchemy' granting him a +16 modifier with that skill. Are you really telling me he could give himself a +7 bonus to it by casting this spell???

That seems crazy to me, effectively doubling your ranks in a craft skill.

[Khrysaor]

That's exactly what that spell does. Hax. You add your ranks in Spellcraft, that you'll max anyway, to any craft check. Means you can make even more alchemical items even faster.

[LazarX]

The problem with your scheme is that the Craft skills are trained only. You can't default to Int without having any skill ranks.

[Ravingdork]

May want to check again, LazarX. [link]

[Captain Zoom]

LazarX wrote:

The problem with your scheme is that the Craft skills are trained only. You can't default to Int without having any skill ranks.

Craft skills are not Trained only.

Edit: Ninja'd :<

[Luthorne]

Yeah, arcane reinforcement adds your Spellcraft ranks on to Craft checks to make a specific item. So long as you keep chanting while you craft it, up to eight hours, you're good. A great spell for Craft checks if you can afford to burn a third level spell on it.

[Eigengrau]

dot

[PSusac]

Where do you find arcane reinforcement? I can't find it in the OCG

[Lawful Evil GM]

PSusac wrote:

Where do you find arcane reinforcement? I can't find it in the OCG

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