To Craft wondrous item or not to Craft wondrous item

[AngelOfFaith]

OK, so I'm a level 11 Sorc + Incantatrix and I'm trying not to break the game too much(I'm not even considering Polymorph). I don't think I'm good at making an optimized build anyway. And my DM is ok with using any book except Tome of Magic so here's my question: is Craft wondrous item worth replacing my old Arcane Mastery[CA 73]? Is it not good to be able to craft half the Magic Item Compendium? I've saved up on a bit of gold and while going through the pages I couldn't help but wonder why don't I just cut the prices in half and give xxx XP a piece? Eternal wands with spells my Wizard friend can cast, Crystal Mask of Mindarmour for 5k gp, heck I have enough in the bank for the smallest Belt of Magnificence. And my DM really hates long delays so he ruled that item creation doesn't take more than a couple of days. Just imagine what could happen if I convince him to allow Knowstones. Or maybe I should take Craft Staff and make myself a Runestaff or two...
Is it worth it a feat plus some of my XP for the ability to give myself and the party items at half price and never again depending on a city's gold cap?

[sleepyphoenixx]

If you have the time to craft and aren't especially feat starved, yes.
Unless your DM lets you custom order everything you want and/or strictly adheres to WBL so you're not really saving any money since he'll just reduce your loot.

[Deophaun]

Craft Wondrous Items is probably the best item creation feat in the game. If I could only pick one, that would be it.

It also has some little-utilized synergies with Brew Potion and Scribe Scroll, where you can actually change their form to anything else you like so long as they are mechanically identical. During a seafaring campaign, I used Scribe Scroll and CWI to make scrolls out of scrimshaw, which was highly advantageous as whale bone is much more water resistant than parchment, and I could even weight them to make them float or sink.

[AngelOfFaith]

So I'm guessing I'm going to retrain something in order to get that... Is that really the best option for a creation feat? A lot of stuff need just that one but aren't Forge Ring or Craft Rod any good?

[sleepyphoenixx]

So I'm guessing I'm going to retrain something in order to get that... Is that really the best option for a creation feat? A lot of stuff need just that one but aren't Forge Ring or Craft Rod any good?

Rings needs CL 12, and you aren't going to craft that many of them. Rods are similar, in that you usually aren't going to carry around sackfuls of them.
Wondrous items however fill any item slot besides armor, weapon and rings. And you can combine them. They also fill the most variety in effects (and costs) available, so the feat is useful at pretty much any level.

[atemu1234]

I like craft contingent spell more but in core, CWI is very useful.