Crafting and time management

[michaelmichael]

Suppose you have a druid out in some wilderness area someplace. They want to craft something woodsy, say, staff of the woodlands. If they have only nature to work with, how long does it take? In standard rules there is a base price and cost to create, but if gold is removed from the equation, what is left?

I suppose I am asking for a reasonable interpolation of the 3rd edition price table approach with the second edition "eye of newt" approach to crafting magical items. To what extent can a party "do it's own legwork" on the supply side of item creation? Unless the item is actually made out of the gold itself, the table amounts represent a certain level of value. How much of that value is labor of assembling or processing more mundane fare, and how much is strict rarity? Obviously it should depend on the setting, but perhaps some more general rules could be made for filling in the holes.
:thog:

[Zaq]

You want the honest (but pretty rulesy) answer? The gold isn't meant to "represent" anything specific. It's meant to be a cost. It's what prevents your Druid from just crafting whatever the hell they want to craft, breaking WBL into even tinier pieces than usual for a crafter.

Of course, if you take the same (somewhat jaded) view as I do, namely, that GP is not a unit of gold but in fact a unit of power (which can be interpreted however you wish) . . . eh, still doesn't help much, but I thought I'd mention it.

[Rei_Jin]

I'd be asking for survival and knowledge nature checks to find what he needs to make the item... the cost would determine the DC. I would also make it very clear to the character in question that the balance demands something in return for what he is taking, so he's got plot requirements to fulfill, probably requiring the use of said staff.