What Would a Raptoran Smithy Look Like?

[Amphetryon]

The setting is FR; the specific setting is Halruaa, in the village of Maeruhal. The Raptoran in question represents the "Expert 6" town member listed in the Shining South supplement (p. 139) in my take on the place.

How would you expect a smithy in such a place, run by a Raptoran, to look, and to function? My players are welcome to add input, if they desire.

[Cieyrin]

I'd expect a lack of stairs, as the Raptoran can just fly to different levels, so they save room for more equipment where stairs ordinarily would be. Maybe some ropes would be around for those who aren't so airily gifted, if he's conscious of their needs.

I'd expect there to be quite a bit of leatherworking work equipment and not so much in the way of heavy armor, since it precludes flight without some serious work to be able to fly with it (read: feats invested). I'd expect a preponderance of spears and bows and other piercing weapons, likely polearms, to bludgeoning weapons, though the ratio of slashing weapons may remain the same. Definitely skewed towards swords than to axes, though, since they're more accessible to being a piercing weapon. Mithral would probably be the most prevalent special material about, though perhaps some glassteel if the Raptorans have trade with the Avariel, though I'd imagine that to be most likely special order only.

[Amphetryon]

Thanks, Cieyrin. Any other thoughts from the forum?

[Treblain]

Yeah... if I were a raptoran smith, I would be super-careful in my smithy. No way I'm messing around with my wings unfurled in an enclosed space full of sharp objects and intense flames.

[Coidzor]

I'd expect a lack of stairs, as the Raptoran can just fly to different levels, so they save room for more equipment where stairs ordinarily would be.

Unless all of his apprentices can fly or are also 6 HD raptorans, that's not going to work.

[tyckspoon]

I'm going to be boring and say it probably looks a lot like any other smithy. The raptoran's personal quarters may be designed to his preferences, but the work space is subject to certain practical restraints- he still needs an anvil, he still needs a forge, he still needs a quenching trough, and it's probably still going to be a relatively open design building/have a lot of windows to allow the heat of the forge to dissipate and not bake the people inside, so altogether it'll probably be a pretty familiar layout to anyone who's been in a smith's workspace before. Even the wares he has already available for sale likely aren't too different from the standard human/whatever smithy, assuming he has mixed-race custom and doesn't serve only other raptorans.

[Canine]

Races of the Wild talk about Raptoran forges being located in "pits, caves, or stone structures separate from their living quarters"; perhaps you could use a nontraditional location to give the smithy a unique feel.

Since the Raptorans diving charge only works with piercing weapons, I suspect those would be in high demand, and the weapon selection in general would favor light weight weapons.

Treblain makes a good point about having wings near the forge, perhaps the Raptoran smith could have some sort of funky leather apron/covers for his wings.

[supermonkeyjoe]

You have to consider, did the raptoran build this smithy or inherit it from a (possibly) non-raptoran smith, also is it a blacksmith, weaponsmith, armoursmith or all of the above?

[deuxhero]

since it precludes flight without some serious work to be able to fly with it (read: feats invested).

Fighter and Cleric alreddy have sub levels that give up heavy armor for flying in medium that really should be usable by any class with heavy armor prof.

[Cieyrin]

Fighter and Cleric alreddy have sub levels that give up heavy armor for flying in medium that really should be usable by any class with heavy armor prof.

I was thinking of the feats from Races of the Dragon but those work, too.

As for the concerns for apprentices, I was thinking solely of the smith and that's also why included ropes for those not flighty. I also didn't see any mention of apprentices in the original post, so I assumed a sole smith.