balistafreak
2010-05-10, 10:34 PM
As a change from my normal Vow of Poverty characters, I'm now trying to pimp out an Artificer. However, when deciding what items to start with, I ran into a question.
When you start an Artificer out at a level other than 1st, how do you deal with the Craft Reserve?
Assuming the character came fresh into that level, his Craft Reserve would be full for that level: a 6th level Artificer would wander in with 150 points in his Craft Reserve. As much of this as wanted can be spent before the adventure begins.
However, how do you deal with the points that would have been used in earlier levels? How much of it can be reasonably expected to remain from the previous level? In standard adventuring, chances are you'd splurge all the remaining points from the previous level into some utility wands or scrolls or something before leveling, but when creating a character at a higher level, it's a bit fuzzy. Getting ALL the cumulative points is preposterous (how did the character even make it to his current level without using any of his craft reserve, much less on items that are still relevant at his current level?) but deciding how much is left over from the previous level is not.
Perhaps it was an "easy" level, and nearly all the Craft Reserve is left for use on items; perhaps it was a "hard" level and none is left at all.
Personally, I'm going to go in the middle leaning towards "hard"; something along the lines of half to a quarter of the previous level's Craft Reserve can be used on items still in the character's possession - with the caveat that these items were crafted at, well, the previous level. So a 6th level Artificer's remainder scroll of Fireball would be made at 5th level for a 5d6 Fireball. (Never mind that this is a complete waste. :smalltongue:)
However, that still doesn't answer the question of using Craft Reserve on permanent items that remain useful, like Eternal Wands. This is yet another question that needs answering. :smallannoyed:
Are there any official opinions on this? What rules have been widely established/preferred by your group?
When you start an Artificer out at a level other than 1st, how do you deal with the Craft Reserve?
Assuming the character came fresh into that level, his Craft Reserve would be full for that level: a 6th level Artificer would wander in with 150 points in his Craft Reserve. As much of this as wanted can be spent before the adventure begins.
However, how do you deal with the points that would have been used in earlier levels? How much of it can be reasonably expected to remain from the previous level? In standard adventuring, chances are you'd splurge all the remaining points from the previous level into some utility wands or scrolls or something before leveling, but when creating a character at a higher level, it's a bit fuzzy. Getting ALL the cumulative points is preposterous (how did the character even make it to his current level without using any of his craft reserve, much less on items that are still relevant at his current level?) but deciding how much is left over from the previous level is not.
Perhaps it was an "easy" level, and nearly all the Craft Reserve is left for use on items; perhaps it was a "hard" level and none is left at all.
Personally, I'm going to go in the middle leaning towards "hard"; something along the lines of half to a quarter of the previous level's Craft Reserve can be used on items still in the character's possession - with the caveat that these items were crafted at, well, the previous level. So a 6th level Artificer's remainder scroll of Fireball would be made at 5th level for a 5d6 Fireball. (Never mind that this is a complete waste. :smalltongue:)
However, that still doesn't answer the question of using Craft Reserve on permanent items that remain useful, like Eternal Wands. This is yet another question that needs answering. :smallannoyed:
Are there any official opinions on this? What rules have been widely established/preferred by your group?