Enhancing an Arcane Bonded Item with spells not on your spell list

[Velxir]

Hey All,

So I have a few questions regarding enhancing an arcane bond. According to the FAQ, if you have a bonded item as your arcane bond, you can follow the crafting rules to enhance your item, assuming you meet all pre-requisites:

FAQ

FAQ wrote:

A character with the arcane bond class feature may create a bond with any item he owns, either magical or mundane, as long as the item falls within the categories permitted by the arcane bond ability (the cost for bonding with a new item still applies). If a caster later wishes to upgrade an existing bonded item, he may do so for the cost (not price) of the final item as listed in the item's statblock.

For items which can be enhanced incrementally (such as weapons or a ring of protection), the caster must meet all prerequisites for the item as outlined in the item crafting rules. For example, a nonmagical bonded dagger can be enchanted to a +1 dagger for 1,000 gp instead of the normal 2,000 gp, but the caster must be at least 5th level (a prerequisite for the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat). To upgrade the item further to a +2 dagger, the caster must have a caster level of 6 or higher (three times the item's enhancement bonus).

A bonded item that is enhanced must still conform to all the campaign rules for access to and upgrading of magical items. The final and total price of the item (not the cost) is used on the Fame chart to determine whether a caster can apply such an enhancement to a bonded item.

There is a part under the magic item creation that states this:

Magic Item PRD

PRD wrote:

Note that all items have prerequisites in their descriptions. These prerequisites must be met for the item to be created. Most of the time, they take the form of spells that must be known by the item's creator (although access through another magic item or spellcaster is allowed). The DC to create a magic item increases by +5 for each prerequisite the caster does not meet. The only exception to this is the requisite item creation feat, which is mandatory. In addition, you cannot create potions, spell-trigger, or spell-completion magic items without meeting their spell prerequisites.

So say I have a wizard with an amulet. He wants to turn it into an amulet of natural armor. An amulet of natural armor requires Craft Wondrous Item, Barkskin spell, and caster level of enhancement desired * 3. Lets assume he is level 3, so he meets the caster level pre-reqs for a level 1 amulet. He also has any crafting feats required per arcane bond as long as the caster level is high enough, which 3 is fine for Craft Wondrous Item. Problem is, he needs barkskin. So with that in mind I present the following questions:

1) Can a wizard buy a spellcasting service to meet the pre-requisites for the item.
2) Does he need to do this for each enhancement?
3) If the wizard does a scenario with a druid, can the druid in his party cast the spell for him?
4) Can the wizard use a potion or UMD a scroll to meet the pre-requisites
5) Does the wizard need to successfully roll the UMD check in order to use the scroll in the presence of a GM
6) Does a wizard need to roll a successful craft or spellcraft check in order to get the bonus
7) Can a wizard forgo knowing the spell to increase the DC of this craft check but still meet the pre-reqs for creating the item
8) Can a wizard fail hard enough on the craft check to make their arcane bond a cursed item?

Thanks for reading and I look forward to your input

[SCPRedMage]

When using Magic Item Creation feats, the only time you actually need the spells that are listed as prerequisites is when you're making a spell completion or spell trigger item; otherwise, not having the spell simply increases the DC of the Spellcraft check.

As to cursed arcane bonds, theoretically, yes, but considering that most wizards are going to have a Spellcraft bonus in the area of level+6 or higher, and the base DC is only 5 + caster level, unless they're missing at least four prerequisites (and how often do items even HAVE that many prereqs?), the likelihood of them failing bad enough on a take ten to result in a cursed item is pretty much nil.

So basically, technically possible but practically impossible.

For the other questions, we look to Ultimate Campaign.

Ultimate Campaign wrote:

Cooperative Crafting

If you need another character to supply one of an item’s requirements (such as if you’re a wizard creating an item with a divine spell), both you and the other character must be present for the entire duration of the crafting process. If the GM is using the downtime system from
Chapter 2, both you and the other character must use downtime at the same time for this purpose. Only you make the skill check to complete the item—or, if there is a chance of creating a cursed item, the GM makes the check in secret.

If the second character is providing a spell effect, that character’s spell is expended for the day, just as if you were using one of your own spells for a requirement. If the second character is a hired NPC, you must pay for the NPC’s spellcasting service (Core Rulebook 163) for each day of the item creation.

Basically, if you want to work with another character, you can, and you can even hire an NPC to do it, but they have to work with you every day (meaning you'd have to pay for the spellcasting services each day the item takes).

[Velxir]

You can take 10 on spellcraft checks to craft items?

[SCPRedMage]

Velxir wrote:

You can take 10 on spellcraft checks to craft items?

What makes you think you can't?

[Velxir]

Whoops, I assumed taking 10 was like taking 20 where you keep trying until you succeed. Just read it again.

Taking 10: When your character is not in immediate danger or distracted, you may choose to take 10. Instead of rolling 1d20 for the skill check, calculate your result as if you had rolled a 10. For many routine tasks, taking 10 makes them automatically successful. Distractions or threats (such as combat) make it impossible for a character to take 10. In most cases, taking 10 is purely a safety measure—you know (or expect) that an average roll will succeed but fear that a poor roll might fail, so you elect to settle for the average roll (a 10). Taking 10 is especially useful in situations where a particularly high roll wouldn't help.

Sounds like there isn't anything stopping you from doing that. Awesome.
Thanks!

[kinevon]

Yep, there are only a few things that can prevent you from taking 10:

Combat or heavy distractions. Note: Being high on a cliff while climbing is not a distraction on making a climb check. Also, having a climb speed usually means you can take 10 when others cannot.

UMD: The skill itself says that you cannot take 10 on it at all.

Swimming: Bad weather prevents taking 10, but swimming in something fairly placid shouldn't be an issue. And, if you have a swim speed, you can take 10 when others cannot.

Also, you cannot Take 10 when doing an Aid Another action, you have to roll.

There are a few things that overcome these limitations, like the Bard Jack of All Trades ability.

But, overall, when doing crafting or crafting-like things, you are going to be in a non-combat, placid environment.