I have been unable to find any information regarding this, but - with the Wondrous Item Feat - can a PC create an item with a reduced cost if they have all of the materials available?
The Construction Requirements typically feature:
. "Craft Wondrous Item"
. Spell(s)
. Cost of materials (...gp)
But what if you already have all of the materials at hand?
For example, a Cyclops Helm described as a, "helm made from the husk of a cyclops’s shrunken head".
If my character encounters a Cyclops, successfully kills it, cuts off its head, and then meets the requirements for shrinking its head (possibly a Religion or History Check for understanding how primitive religious/ cultural shrunk heads).
With this, I would assume that the character does not have to pay much more towards the Cyclops Helm. Perhaps half of the Cost, due to the materials already being attained.
This is not in an attempt to reduce the crafting time of the object. The crafting time can remain the same for the initial price (for the Cyclops Helm, it is 2,800gp).
Rather this is an attempt to take into play the imagination of material gathering and realistic play-style. Realistically, how many city vendors will be selling Cyclops heads???
Another example would be the Eagle Cape (a cape made from lots of large eagle feathers). Could the character hunt down several Eagles and retain their feathers? Or, purchase the feathers from a shop?
What do you guys think? Should the cost be reduced if the materials required are already at hand?
Harvest Parts
I think this feats does what you want to do. I know you are looking for a reasonable ruling RP-wise, but if you want to implement a houserule, maybe use the formula that is given in this feat and let them make appropriate checks without the feat.
Have in mind still that most of the material components does not consist of the material, but of the magical ingredients (whatever those are) that give the wondrous item ist power.
GM discretion. Strictly speaking the cyclops head has no value, it is just a required component worth 0gp. The materials isn't just the material required for the item, but magic paraphernalia.
I would treat it as a treasure item reducing the cost by a modest amount 5-10% maybe.
I assume that the vast majority of the cost going into making wondrous items isn't the cyclops heads and eagle feathers, but the magical reagents and other bits of unobtanium needed to actually make those heads and feathers magical.
A GM could rule that certain trophy's from monsters slain (or anything else found) could be used as a certain amount value when used in crafting a item, but that would be a specific GM choice and isn't covered by the rules.
What the rules say, is that you have to have 2,800 gp worth of 'magical stuff' to make a cyclops helm. It doesn't say how much of that cost would be acquiring a shrunken cyclops head (for all we know, cyclops heads go for dozens for a copper, and the 2,800 gp is all in herbs and ointments that are used in the enchanting process.)
So your GM 'could' give you a bonus as treasure if they want to, but they certainly aren't required to or necessarily expected to. One of the reasons for this is that if all cyclops heads can be sold for 1400 gp to mages wanting to make cyclops helms, then if the GM wants to throw 20 cyclops at a party, he is giving them an additional 28000 gp in treasure. Another reason is that it simplifies matters for crafters if they don't have to acquire a laundry list of specific items with prices (or that could be obtained in other ways) in order to craft everything, they just spend the gold and are good to go.
AS I said, GMs can (and often will) work with you on this, but it isn't a 'rule'.
Prof. Löwenzahn wrote: Harvest Parts
I think this feats does what you want to do. I know you are looking for a reasonable ruling RP-wise, but if you want to implement a houserule, maybe use the formula that is given in this feat and let them make appropriate checks without the feat.
Have in mind still that most of the material components does not consist of the material, but of the magical ingredients (whatever those are) that give the wondrous item ist power.
In all my searching I had't managed to find that, so thank you for posting that! It does incorporate a more realistic element to the game.
@Johnico I understand that the majority of the cost goes into the creation of the item, so I could be deemed rather pedantic for seeking easier crafting alternatives. My GM has created quite the Sandbox world, every few weeks he allows us to do certain things (e.g: search for a Cyclops for materials for an item, find a nice town to purchase a house, etc.), so I was hoping to spend these extra days/ sessions spent searching for materials that would allow me to craft fun items for my teammates.
Aye, I think it does make sense to attribute the majority of the costs towards other materials required for the crafting of the item (especially when some items cost tens of thousands of gp, yet appear as a scrap of cloth). Otherwise, Crafters/ Builders could become quite overpowered (if they are within a group of dedicated hunters/ scavengers).
However, an item could be completely worthless on the market, yet be absolutely necessary for an item to be created. Running with the example of the Cyclops Head: a marketer might be repulsed by the idea of spending a single copper on the item; yet to a Wizard who requires it for a spell/ item, it is priceless!
I do like the idea of obtaining certain materials as a necessity for the crafting of an item, so I may ask to have this incorporated into play. Rather than just declaring that I'd make an item out of thin air, the GM would say that I would need "x" amount of materials to reduce the price by "x" amount (e.g: Cyclops Head; Pure gold for a magical crown; a diamond for a ring; etc.).
It may unnecessarily complicate matters, but I think it does add some flavour to the game. I do like the idea of dragonhunterq's suggestion of the 5-10% reduction to price. It makes more sense than "wasting" a Feat on Harvest Parts (which can, at a max of CR20, remove 4000gp from the price).
Thank you for the advice!
greenwizard333 wrote: What do you guys think? Should the cost be reduced if the materials required are already at hand? The cost is 'reduced' by whatever you could sell those materials for. So a cyclops helm's cost could be offset by whatever cost the DM rules a cyclops head is worth [likely not much]. The best guess would be the harvesting trophies rules from the new wilderness book.
So for a cyclops , you're looking at 300gp dc 20 craft, 360gp DC 25 know (local).
For the eagles, 25gp, dc 16 craft. [no Magical Affinity for greater component price]
As a GM I build this into the treasure for monsters where I think it is appropriate. Killed a pyrohydra with a "treasure budget" of 2000gp? Collect 250gp of pyrohydra blood, useful in crafting items that produce fire or bestow regenerative abilities, or easily traded as a commodity in any decently sized settlement. Basically, I use the guidelines for talismanic components in Ultimate Campaign. I find this adds flavour without unduly changing the balance of wealth and item crafting (which is already potentially quite powerful).
I'd be willing to give you a few freebies for component ideas that I hadn't thought of (like the cyclops skull) but you shouldn't expect a significant increase in your treasure over time without some kind of mechanical cost or counter-balancing limitation. Keep in mind that a 5% discount on crafting component costs is officially worth a trait.
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