Professions DND

[Barbarian Horde]

Skill: Profession... Can I just make up something appropriate for my skill set? Or can I find a list somewhere that my google fu skills missed.

[Vhaidara]

You can, but bear in mind that Profession is generally doing work for silver pieces/week. So, to use an example from an old PbP I was in
Profession (warmage) is blasting rats for silvers.

Some have actual uses
Executioner is a super coup de grace
Sailor is actually used to pilot a ship
Siege engineer is used to operate siege engines.

[jedipotter]

There are no real lists out there, just a couple vague ones.


Profession is a great skill. But it depends on the DM.

Profession can really be a ''mini wish'' tied to the profession. For example:

Cook: You can now all about foods, what is spicy, what mixes well and so on. You can also make a check to know if an food item is poisonous A check can identity a type of meat or other such thing.

Farmer: Any and all general farm activities. Milk a cow or goat. Kill and prepare a chicken. Care for any type of farm animal. Knowing if a plant is poisonous. Making all sorts of farm tools.

Sailor: You SO know how to tie a knot...lots and lots and lots of different kinds of knots. How to waterproof something. Minor carpentry.

[Troacctid]

You can put down anything you like as long as it's something that could plausibly be done professionally. For example, I gave one of my characters ranks in Profession (Supervillain). He was retired, but he still did some consulting work on the side, helping aspiring evil geniuses to build up their brands.

Profession checks aren't rolled frequently in most D&D games because the rules hardly ever call for them--it's up to the DM and the players to decide if and when they might become relevant, and players don't often invest a lot of ranks into professions, so it just doesn't come up.

If you do invest ranks in it, you should be entitled to roll it in situations like the ones jedipotter mentioned. If you're lucky enough to have trained in a profession that turns out to be useful in the campaign, or if you're clever enough to come up with creative applications for your skills, you might actually get some decent mileage out of it, depending on the DM.

[JDL]

There's Profession: Gambler 5 ranks as a prerequisite for the Fatespinner prestige class too. You know it's fantasy when you can reliably make money from gambling.

[Vhaidara]

There's Profession: Gambler 5 ranks as a prerequisite for the Fatespinner prestige class too. You know it's fantasy when you can reliably make money from gambling.

It's being a professional gambler. So card counting and cheating :smalltongue:

On a more serious note, it kind of abstracts the bluff/sense motive/sleight of hand used in an actual gambling scenario. Remember, this is before things like slot machines. So this is more shell games (unrigged) and card games

[Tarvus]

IIRC the only Professions that have been fleshed out properly are Sailor (Stormwrack. Mentioned. Every. Darn. Page. but theres a nice summary on pg. 87), Miner (Races of the Dragon pg. 98) and Siege Engineer (Basic only, Heroes of Battle pg. 65).

If you want to base your profession of choice on something in canon, I'd start with those.

If you are just looking for a list of professions though, there are many but none of them besides the 3 mentioned are really mentioned by the rules in any specific capacity. I do remember/could find references to architect, armorer, cartographer, cleaner, clerk, cook, embalmer, engineer, farmer, herbalist, hairdresser, launderer, maid, masseuse, midwife, miner, nursemaid, pilot, sailor & scribe. I also have a vague memory of Professional(Astrologer) as a prereq for a class? But that could be 3rd party.

[Troacctid]

Profession (Astrologer) is for Sublime Chord, from Complete Arcane. It's an exceptionally powerful prestige class, so I suppose that makes Astrologer one of the better professions. I believe there's also an issue of Dragon Magazine that has rules for using astrology to write horoscopes.

[Barbarian Horde]

I decided on Jester as profession. I've got three perform skills. Oratory, Comedy, String Instruments. Hopefully as a Jester; Looking for information on anything I want wont come off as suspicious seeing how a fool of a minstrel is asking. Maybe getting away with insulting & teasing people(NPC) as part of a jest. As far as I'm aware minstrels get exceptions to being considered someone suspicious. They are the main source of information that Commoners, Bandits, and Nobles have for sources of information.

[Vhaidara]

Here's the problem with using a profession to represent your performs
Professions make you silver pieces/week
Performs make you gold pieces/day

[Barbarian Horde]

So I should just skip profession and just use perform checks?

[Vhaidara]

Yep. Professions are for fluff and commoners, except for the ones up in the thread (Sailor, Miner, Siege Engineer, Executioner, and PrC prereqs)

[Barbarian Horde]

Ok well the game I'm in hasn't officially started (4 hours from now) thankfully. I'll redistribute those points. Appreciate the help.

[SiuiS]

You can, but bear in mind that Profession is generally doing work for silver pieces/week. So, to use an example from an old PbP I was in
Profession (warmage) is blasting rats for silvers.

Some have actual uses
Executioner is a super coup de grace
Sailor is actually used to pilot a ship
Siege engineer is used to operate siege engines.

Executioner? Could you explain?

[Barbarian Horde]

EXECUTION EQUIPMENT
Execution of prisoners, far from light and hope of rescue, is something all creatures fear when venturing into realms where vengeance or brute malice holds sway. Despicable overlords and despotic states alike enjoy particularly cruel forms of execution, deriding even the idea of lesser penalties. And even an otherwise enlightened society may find that vengeance is more important to it than reformation of the convicted. And so the executioner’s profession never lacks for work. The executioner seeks death for the condemned with a swift stroke. Sometimes, death by torture is the command given to the executioner, but in such a case he will often remand the client to a torturer to carry out the sentence. However, many execution devices are also extraordinarily painful for those destined to feel their cruel, final embrace.

RULES OF EXECUTION
The condemned must first be secured by being tied in place, pinned in a grapple, or successfully restrained in a stationary execution device. If restrained in an execution device, the condemned can attempt to make a Escape Artist check every round against the DC noted in Table 3–2, unless magically held or otherwise helpless. If grappled, the condemned can attempt to break the grapple normally.
Once the victim is secure, the executioner can attempt the chosen method of execution. The executioner makes a Profession (executioner) check against the DC given for the device on Table 3–2. If the check is successful, the condemned is slain according to the nature of the device. If the executioner fails, the execution is botched, and the executioner can make another check the following round. Botched attempts deal the damage noted for the device, so the condemned may be killed even if the executioner botches the attempt. Prideful executioners—which includes most of them—take it as a personal point of dishonor if they kill the condemned on a botched execution.
Execution Devices as Weapons: Some execution devices, such as headsman’s axes, make adequate melee weapons. In melee, such an item deals normal damage for an item of its kind (such as a greataxe) and cannot kill instantly. Most other devices of execution cannot be used in melee.
Masterwork Devices: Masterwork execution devices provide a +1 circumstance bonus on the executioner’s Profession(executioner) check. They cost twice as much as the versions given in Table 3–2.
BOVD. Pg. 39

[Vhaidara]

Executioner? Could you explain?

Short version, Profession (Executioner) check can be used as an instakill (more so than coup de grace) on a helpless target. It's like DC 19.

[Vaz]

DC18.

It is not available by RAW in combat, there is no listed action for it however. It cannot be performed in combat either, as the executioners sword/axe states it becomes a greatsword/axe in combat.

[Snowbluff]

DC18.

It is not available by RAW in combat, there is no listed action for it however. It cannot be performed in combat either, as the executioners sword/axe states it becomes a greatsword/axe in combat.

You have to ready a strike, so it's a standard action.

[SiuiS]

Short version, Profession (Executioner) check can be used as an instakill (more so than coup de grace) on a helpless target. It's like DC 19.

That is a terribly silly and clever little twist. Haha.


You have to ready a strike, so it's a standard action.

Readying an action is not itself a standard action, is it?

[Thurbane]

The Profession (X) skills mentioned in A&EG are - architect, armorer, cartographer, cleaner, clerk, cook, embalmer, engineer, hairdresser, launderer, maid, masseuse, midwife, miner, nursemaid, pilot, sailor & scribe.

[Snowbluff]

Readying an action is not itself a standard action, is it?

It can only be a standard action, IIRCurmudgeonC. :p

[Vaz]

You have to ready a strike, so it's a standard action.

You do? I did not see a reference to readying a strike, simply that a suitably restrained target can have a profession executioner check made agaisnt it.

[Andezzar]

You do? I did not see a reference to readying a strike, simply that a suitably restrained target can have a profession executioner check made agaisnt it.This alone makes it pretty useless except as a means of generating money (as other professions). Even if combat has not started and your opponent is helpless you still have to restrain him before executing him. If he is helpless anyways, you could just use a coup de grace.

[Svata]

But its better than a coup de grace. It gets around regeneration, for one, and they don't get a save, for two. And DC 19 is quite easy to achieve.

[Coidzor]

This alone makes it pretty useless except as a means of generating money (as other professions). Even if combat has not started and your opponent is helpless you still have to restrain him before executing him. If he is helpless anyways, you could just use a coup de grace.

A potential way to kill Emerald Legionnaires though, I suppose. If you can get them grappled.

[Snowbluff]

You do? I did not see a reference to readying a strike, simply that a suitably restrained target can have a profession executioner check made agaisnt it. On a successful Profes- sion (executioner) check, the condemned dies instantly. If the executioner fails the attempt, the headsman’s axe deliv- ers a coup de grace against the condemned (automatic criti- cal hit, and the condemned must succeed on a Fortitude save or die). The coup de grace simply completes the execu- tioner’s task more messily.

Headsman’s Axe: When specially sharpened and held with the proper technique, a greataxe (or a greatsword) can serve the executioner as the instrument of execution. The condemned is restrained, with the neck vulnerable to the strike readied by the executioner.

There are actually a bunch of way to restrain your target, like Animate Rope. You only have to pin or tie them up, first.

[Vaz]

As far as I'm concerned, that is fluff. The paragraph reads like it, and there is a clear distinction in the books between rules and fluff.

There aren't rules on how to use it, for example, those are contained in a different paragraph, which mirrors that used by most (if not all) 3.5/late 3.0 publications.

I am AFB as well, but there is no getting past the rules which state that it becomes a Greataxe in combat.

[Snowbluff]

It's not fluff. It describes the rules required to use the ability with conditions and game terms. Otherwise the entire skill is not valid, which isn't true at all.



I am AFB as well, but there is no getting past the rules which state that it becomes a Greataxe in combat.
Any GS or GA will do, as long as you use the correct technique.