Which crafting feat will save you the most money?

[PapaMojo]

As the title says, which feat will save you the most cash, taking into account how expensive the item group typically is, and how many items of that group you're probably going to make throughout your career (lets say leveling from 1-20). For example, staves are expensive, though I've heard you usually only craft around four during your career.

[MindTheGap97]

I think Craft Wondrous Item is the safest bet, everyone needs Wondrous Items and some important ones tend to be really pricey, so I think it is the one that saves you the most money.

[Elkad]

It's not even a contest. Everyone in the party wants/needs multiple items from the Wondrous list.
Stat boosters, resist cloaks, natural armor amulets, flight items, utility gizmos ranging from Feather Tokens to Mirrors of Mental Prowess.

9 item slots, plus slotless items, all in Wondrous.
It'll be rare for the whole party to want items out of any other category except rings.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

Wondrous for pure monetary value. Arms and Armor can come a close second, if you have a lot of martials in your party.

[Calthropstu]

For psions, craft cognizance crystal. You will never stop needing cognizance crystals.

[Malroth]

But psions have quantaum character sheet built in, so Craft Cognance crystal is only needed during prolonged downtime and can be replaced with a combat feat on a day's notice.

[Quertus]

From my experience playing crafty characters, Craft Wondrous Item is far and away the most used item creation feat, with Arms and Armor coming in second.

However, to save money? That's a different question. Hmmm... I'm sure someone has a crafting guide somewhere, but... Hmmm... Seems most everything I can think of (like Efficient Item Creation or whatnot) requires or works best in conjunction with taking Craft Wondrous Item first. Although not a crafting feat, Mercantile Background isn't bad on its own (and I love combining it with shopping for things like XP components).

[Calthropstu]

It actually depends on your late game really. Saving the most money works on your biggest ticket item. Wonderous item could be it if you go for a bunch of +5 stat boosting books. But if your big ticket item is a keen flaming burst vorpal sword, then arms and armor is the way to go.
If your big ticket item is an intelligent quickened metamagic rod able to cast disintigrate at will, then craft rod is it. If your big ticket item is a ring of elemental command of each type, craft ring is the way to go.

Essentially, figure out what your most expensive items you want on your character at high level and get the feat to make them. Any item creation feat can save you hundreds of thousands of gold.

[unseenmage]

Craft Contingent Spell because it obviates much of what Craft Wondrous would be protecting you from. :P

[PapaMojo]

Aye, wondrous item is obviously the best, the character I'm asking this question for is definitely gonna take it, but what's the rating for the other feats? In particular, I'm trying to decide between craft rods or craft staves (he's a wizard).

[Elkad]

Aye, wondrous item is obviously the best, the character I'm asking this question for is definitely gonna take it, but what's the rating for the other feats? In particular, I'm trying to decide between craft rods or craft staves (he's a wizard).

Depends on his innate metamagic capabilities. If he's building for metamagic, he may not need the rods. If he wants a bunch of rods(especially expensive ones like Quicken), it may be worth it.

Having staves as a Wizard is mighty handy. They are the same price as wands, but you can put a spell of any level in them, can explicitly make them with less charges (technically they use more charges, but it amounts to the same thing), and they use your own caster level.

25 Teleport scrolls at CL9 is 14,062gp. A Staff of Teleport that uses 2 charges per Teleport (25 uses) is 8,437.5gp. And it uses your own caster level once you get past L9, so you can take more creatures a greater distance. Plus the combat advantage of being activation instead of completion. Since Teleport is one of those spells it hurts to prep most days, but you might want several of them on any given day, it makes a great staff candidate.

If you want a simple Wand of Magic Missiles at CL9 (the 5 missile cap), its 3,375gp. A staff is 3000gp, because you can make it at CL8 (the minimum for a staff), and still get 5 missiles out of it if you are 9th level. Which you are, because you had to be 12th level to take the feat. Which means you also get the SR penetration, etc.

If Craft Staff didn't have the CL8 minimum, there wouldn't be any reason to take Craft Wand, other than early access.

[Calthropstu]

Aye, wondrous item is obviously the best, the character I'm asking this question for is definitely gonna take it, but what's the rating for the other feats? In particular, I'm trying to decide between craft rods or craft staves (he's a wizard).

Again, what is your ultimate goal for items?
Craft wonderous is very good for most adventuring groups, but if you craft "the usual" stuff, it might save you a grand total of 50k. It's the BIG stuff where the real money is saved. Weapons and armor shoot into the stratosphere, and intelligent items can go into the millions WITHOUT becoming epic items.
So the real answer is "all of them."

[unseenmage]

...and intelligent items can go into the millions WITHOUT becoming epic items.
...
Could you please explain, I am unfamiliar.

Was my understanding that an items entire price, from the base adamantine, oerthblood alloy, dwarvencraft sword to the enhancement bonus, item intelligence, and the Caryatid Column construct it is created as a part of ALL contribute to its epic item status insofaras price is concerned.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Depends on whether you're being selfish or kitting the whole party.

Selfish;

Wondrous item
Staff
Rod
Wand
Ring*
Arms & Armour
Scroll+
Potion

Party gear ho;

Wondrous item
Arms & Armour
Rod
Staff
Ring*
Wand
Scroll+
Potion

*ring would be higher if it was available at a lower level.
+scrolls are so cheap that the opportunity cost just isn't worth it unless you get it for free, i.e; wizar 1.

[ericgrau]

If downtime is limited then it doesn't matter as you will only save 500 gp a day regardless. With the sole exception of potion. Fun trivia, you can put multiple spells on one "scroll" (one single rolled up piece of parchment), and thus hit 1,000 gp even with low level spells. But if you have tons of downtime then wondrous item has the most variety. And then you may want a 2nd feat to save even more money.

Below is based on crafting for both yourself and the party, and the number of useful options available times their cost. i.e. the total gp value of stuff you'd want to craft before wanting different gear. Price alone isn't really a factor because you can find useful items at all price points in every category. Rather the question is how useful is it at that price point and how many items will you actually want to craft at that price.

I'll say:

Wondrous item: Has a huge variety.
Arms and Armour: Many classes use weapons and they're expensive. Spell storing is nice to as a caster to pump them up even further. As under-rated as AC may be, armor & shield AC is by far the cheapest way to protect yourself. Much cheaper than the equivalent miss chance all the way through +5. And it scales faster than the buff spells and it's cheap, so even on a cleric it's worth it. But yeah, since AC is so cheap, weapons are the bulk of this feat.
Staff: Best way for a caster to make himself more powerful, at least among core. Actually you'll probably want some of the top splatbook wondrous items first, and then a staff. Let's you spam the most abusable high level spells and do crazy things. With 3 major deciding rounds in most fights, it's unlikely you'll run out of charges before you'd sell permanent gear.
Ring: Like wondrous item but fewer useful options.
Rod: Ditto and even fewer.
Scroll: This is above wand because there are a LOT of useful scrolls and very few useful wands. If you don't have an ally with UMD the only one I like is invisibility. All else I scroll. In rare cases wand might be higher. It's extremely handy to have every low level utility spell available. Only reason this isn't one of the most powerful feats is because you can just buy your scrolls and this feat won't save you much gold compared to others.
Wand: Explained in scroll.
Potion: Unfortunately you may only brew 1 potion a day. While dirt cheap 50 gp level 1 potions are highly under-rated for making use of spare non-caster actions, it's always better to buy them than to burn a feat to save 25 gp a day.


Utility scrolls are extremely handy and I've used them to great effect before. I once was in a caster campaign at level 5 where the DM gave us all 3,000 gp in scrolls. Others said they'd figure out theirs later. Halfway through that session I was done figuring mine out and they were so useful and frequent that other players started wondering which spells I cast were actually my spells known. If I was in a party of all casters again I might be a theurge with scribe scroll simply to supply the entire party while saving lots of gold at all levels. I'd also write summaries so that others could likewise see what each one does so they know how to use them effectively. Even then it'd be behind wondrous item and later staff. But it'd make 3rd place I think (and 2nd at low level).


Aye, wondrous item is obviously the best, the character I'm asking this question for is definitely gonna take it, but what's the rating for the other feats? In particular, I'm trying to decide between craft rods or craft staves (he's a wizard).
Staves hands down. Most metamagic rods aren't really worth the cost. Lesser extend is nice, and etc. for low level utility. But on high level spells the price is awful. So you'll only save a few thousand gp ever. Like quicken... "omg 2 spells a turn!" Even after crafting discount, spending 1/4 your WBL to quicken 3rd level spells can't be done until you're casting 6ths & close to 7ths. The quicken feat is almost as powerful for 0 gp. Even half WBL doesn't work until you're casting 5th level spells. Besides lesser extend I'd get craft rod for non-caster allies and there are few options there.

For staff as pointed out pick spells that you might not want every day and/or may want several when you do want it. Besides teleport, wall of force is nice. High level spammable divinations are also a consideration for destroying the plot: most days you use zero, but one day you use 5 and solve everything. Likewise for other high level utility like illusions (but also every school). If you have a party rogue or gish, staves are also wonderful to give them access to high level spells. Additional full-ish casters in the party? Yes, please.

[Spore]

A neat trick I have read about was Craft Magic Arms and Armor along with a decent archer. Craft Bane Arrows for every enemy type you will encounter. a handful of each should give a huge buff. can't remember but Bane Arrows should be possible as +1 ammunition (rather than +1 Bane, or +2), so you keep your bow up to snuff with a 'vanilla' bonus and add flavor with your arrows. there are many useful weapon enchantments that have niche uses and will likely never see use without your archer just giving 3 phase locking arrows to give the slower wizard enough time to cast a proper dimensional anchor on the villain.