Magic item crafting changes in PF?

[NineThePuma]

Hey all, I might be getting involved in a PF game, and I've been in a Crafty mood lately. What sort of changes happened in the switch?

[The Random NPC]

You don't have to spend XP for crafting. Otherwise, I don't believe anything has changed.

[Yora]

So it's just magical (literary) money duplication?

[NineThePuma]

Did the gold cost go up or anything?

[The Random NPC]

I can't check the srd here at work, but I believe the only thing that changed was no longer needing the XP. The gold cost didn't change, and neither did the craft time.
Edit: I remember something about the craft DC increasing if you don't have the correct spells as well.

[Kol Korran]

you also need to pass a skill check:


Originally posted by the pathfinder_OGC:
Skill Check: Successfully creating a magic item requires a Spellcraft check with a DC equal to 10 + the item's caster level (in other places it says 5+ CL). Alternatively, you can use an associated Craft or Profession skill to attempt this check instead, depending upon the item being crafted. See Magic Item Creation for more details on which Craft and Profession checks may be substituted in this manner. The DC of this check can increase if the crafter is rushed or does not meet all of the prerequisites. A failed check ruins the materials used, while a check that fails by 5 or more results in a cursed item.

[Yora]

Being able to convert money into almost any item you could want at no loss of value seems kind of cheap to me.

Mage mart is bad, but this seems even worse. Craft Magic arms and Armor, and the party can always have exactly the armor and wepons they want.

[NineThePuma]

So... Everyone is an Artificer now?

[The Random NPC]

So... Everyone is an Artificer now?

Pretty much, though they also changed the Artificer class, I don't recall how.

[NineThePuma]

They made it more broken.

I can't recall what about it was. Something about infinite charge wands?

[Doug Lampert]

Being able to convert money into almost any item you could want at no loss of value seems kind of cheap to me.

Mage mart is bad, but this seems even worse. Craft Magic arms and Armor, and the party can always have exactly the armor and wepons they want.

So just like 3.5?

Seriously, you people are talking as if the XP cost in 3.5 had any possible relevance whatsoever! Amazing. XP is a river, you go down a level for one adventure and catch up. Baring deliberate waste of XP you can not craft enough to be down more than one level or to stay down a level for long. You don't have enough money.

Now I gather in Pathfinder a specialist wizard can craft wands of spells from his baned schools without any help, and never really needs to worry about spell prerequisites, so those are noticable improvements to your crafting ability (the most powerful ability of full casters really needed to be yet further buffed), but the lack of XP cost is a triviality.

[Gnaeus]

Now I gather in Pathfinder a specialist wizard can craft wands of spells from his baned schools without any help, and never really needs to worry about spell prerequisites, so those are noticable improvements to your crafting ability (the most powerful ability of full casters really needed to be yet further buffed), but the lack of XP cost is a triviality.

You do need to worry about spell prerequisites for Scrolls and Wands and (after the errata) potions. Otherwise, it is just a spellcraft check, with a DC which is trivially easy for any wizard and most sorcerers or other crafters (Especially if you can get a masterwork item of spellcraft +2 to help with the checks).

Personally, I like the rules change a lot. As Doug says, the exp was rarely decisive in 3.5, but having to track my exp separately from everyone else in the party and get different exp amounts for half of the adventures was an extra step in bookkeeping that I don't miss.

[Basket Burner]

So just like 3.5?

Seriously, you people are talking as if the XP cost in 3.5 had any possible relevance whatsoever! Amazing. XP is a river, you go down a level for one adventure and catch up. Baring deliberate waste of XP you can not craft enough to be down more than one level or to stay down a level for long. You don't have enough money.

Now I gather in Pathfinder a specialist wizard can craft wands of spells from his baned schools without any help, and never really needs to worry about spell prerequisites, so those are noticable improvements to your crafting ability (the most powerful ability of full casters really needed to be yet further buffed), but the lack of XP cost is a triviality.

It actually did have relevance. You would run out of XP before you ran out of gold, so you don't get everything at half cost.

[Baroncognito]

Mage mart is bad, but this seems even worse. Craft Magic arms and Armor, and the party can always have exactly the armor and wepons they want.

I've got a number of item creation feats, but I've never been able to find the time to actually craft in the game. We're always on the road or busy with something else.

[Doug Lampert]

It actually did have relevance. You would run out of XP before you ran out of gold, so you don't get everything at half cost.
No you won't. Seriously, you will run out of gold first. Even if crafting for the entire party you will run out of gold first.

A level 1 patrol encounter gives the wizard enough XP to craft over 900 GP worth of items, and gives the entire party enough stuff to craft about 300-600 GP (since you sell at half price). It doesn't really change at higher levels except that more of the loot is in stuff that you sell for half price and you may be down a level which increases XP by roughly 50%.

Editted: I goofed, it's 1,800 GP worth of crafting for 1/4th the XP from EVERY level 1 encounter. And if every bit of loot the entire party is in cash and used to craft you can use a third of that. You need to be EPIC level to run out of money.

You just don't get enough cash, even selling every bit of found gear for the entire party and having one guy craft to run out of XP till the higher levels. When the rest of the party is level 20 and you are level 19 your can craft 600,000 GP worth of stuff with the XP you earn during that SINGLE LEVEL! You don't have the downtime to do that even if you somehow have the money.

Played by the book the XP cost is a joke as a limit.

DougL

[Doug Lampert]

I've got a number of item creation feats, but I've never been able to find the time to actually craft in the game. We're always on the road or busy with something else.

Get a Ring of Sustenance and craft while the rest of the party sleeps. It takes 8 hours to do a day's worth of crafting, it takes 1 hour to prepare spells, it takes 2 hours to sleep with the ring. That leaves 13 hours a day for adventuring and there's no penalty for crafting in the field BtB.

[Baroncognito]

This work is generally done in a controlled environment, where distractions are at a minimum, such as a laboratory or shrine. Work that is performed in a distracting or dangerous environment nets only half the amount of progress (just as with the adventuring caster).

So I'd get four hours of progress for those eight hours of work.

The GM did not, however, offer me the option of "If the caster is out adventuring, he can devote 4 hours each day to item creation, although he nets only 2 hours' worth of work. This time is not spent in one continuous period, but rather during lunch, morning preparation, and during watches at night." He insisted that all crafting be done in uninterrupted four hour blocks, and that's just something I could never count on.

[El Dorado]

I've got a number of item creation feats, but I've never been able to find the time to actually craft in the game. We're always on the road or busy with something else.

It's possible to craft items on the road but it can be a slow process.


The caster can work for up to 8 hours each day. He cannot rush the process by working longer each day, but the days need not be consecutive, and the caster can use the rest of his time as he sees fit. If the caster is out adventuring, he can devote 4 hours each day to item creation, although he nets only 2 hours' worth of work. This time is not spent in one continuous period, but rather during lunch, morning preparation, and during watches at night. If time is dedicated to creation, it must be spent in uninterrupted 4-hour blocks. This work is generally done in a controlled environment, where distractions are at a minimum, such as a laboratory or shrine. Work that is performed in a distracting or dangerous environment nets only half the amount of progress (just as with the adventuring caster).

[Doug Lampert]

So I'd get four hours of progress for those eight hours of work.

The GM did not, however, offer me the option of "If the caster is out adventuring, he can devote 4 hours each day to item creation, although he nets only 2 hours' worth of work. This time is not spent in one continuous period, but rather during lunch, morning preparation, and during watches at night." He insisted that all crafting be done in uninterrupted four hour blocks, and that's just something I could never count on.

So what? Try anyway. What's the downside if you are interrupted, being interrupted just costs you time, it doesn't cost any of the components.

I SERIOUSLY doubt that you're never having 4 hours without an encounter.

[Baroncognito]

Well, that campaign is currently on hold because the DM doesn't have time to do world building as well as game, so now we're doing a module in which I'm a ranger. But even that's on hold now, because, as of this month, the DM has two kids, rather than one.

But I might see if my Mystic Theurge concept would be able to incorporate item creation into it... provided we can find more people for that game.