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I really liked the "MacGyver"-esque feel of these new rules, but I think some aspect have been left open and I think are the following:
**Foraging**
a) Alchemical supplies and Material components are covered, but, while the alchemist kit, as far as I understand*, could be used also for non-alchemists who want to use their Craft (Alchemy) without any bonus, they tend to be quite class-specific... while a ruling about how to forage for raw material for Craft (Alchemy) is missing, even if, in theory, if spell components for spellcasters and ingredients for alchemist could be found, would make sense for raw material to be forageable also for non-alchemists.
b) While probably cannot be described as "foraging", even urban terrain could be a source of harvest-able materials and, obviously, the DM doesn't necessarily want to define what mundane items are in the surrounding area (especially if he's playing an official module). While it would be more "scrounging" than actual foraging and even if the book is about Wilderness, I think even a brief reference or explanation about how to deal with "foraging" in urban environment would have been useful.
May be Survival would have to be replaced with another skill for urban environment, but well...I think even a brief explanation would have been useful...
c) There is a reference to Repair Materials, but no reference to materials to use for crafting (apart from improvised tools)...as said for Craft (Alchemy), I think it is an important aspect that has not been completely covered or, may be, not completely covered.
If one can craft improvised tools, would make sense to be able to craft (and not just forage) a rudimentary weapon....but with the rules as they are this is not possible...
**Salvaging**
I think that salvaging is another amazing rule, but some aspect seems to be "amiss":
a) Salvaged raw crafting material are listed to be usable to craft or repair any item of the "same material", but as far as I know, there is no definite or official ruling about what are the materials who compose the various items...so, while in theory this makes sense, it become extremely vague from the game mechanics point of view...in fact, the only official difference that I know of is the skill required to craft them (like weapons require Craft (Weapons), alchemical items require Craft (Alchemy) and so on...).
b) Some items don't have nor a crafting DC or an officially defined associated Craft skill, but still are man-made...so, in that case, couldn't be defined some official ruling to estimate the crafting DC and/or define the associated skill? Or there is already somewhere?
c) In theory raw crafting materials should be salvageable even from parts of buildings or vehicles, but honestly I don't have ever seen a crafting DC for a building or a vehicle...may be there are somewhere and I am missing them?
d) With raw magic item materials there is a similar issue as for "a", but I think that the explanation "that shares any of the creation requirements as the original" helps defining better the "similarity"...but I was wondering...that would include also the Item Creation Feat requirement? So, for example, wants could be harvested to create wands, potions could be salvaged to create potions, wondrous magic item could be salvaged to create wondrous magic items, etc... ?
e) Frankly I don't understand what it is meant by "...and reduces
the construction time by the proportion of the new item’s raw
materials that are salvaged (minimum 8 hours)...": Does this means that the salvaged materials BOTH could be used instead of gold pieces to cover the raw material cost AND that they reduce the "target" price of the object to craft by their value?
I mean...if I harvest 10 gp of raw materials and I use them to create an object worth 10 gp, I can reduce the crafting time to 8 hours? But still a Craft skill check is necessary, right?
And this minimum could be further reduced with Accellerated Crafting or with a very high Craft skill check result?
So...doubling the DC with the result would reduce to 4 hours, tripling to 3 hours, etc...or not?
In theory would be possible (as above) to spend more raw material than usually necessary in order to accelerate the crafting process?
What do you think about the above said issues?
Maybe I am missing some official rulings somewhere about one of the above-said points?
Thanks,
Skarm