Pathfinder master craftsman questions

[Efrate]

So a player in my group, our lone mundane has reasons to take up crafting skills and at level 5 chose master craftsman. I am likely going to waive the fact that it's a "prereq" for craft magic arms and armor and craft wondrous because mundanes need nice things, and let it count as both. It's a super low op table of pretty new players, and I'm sure that it won't be abused.

That being said, I do not want to change too much since I'm essentially gifting 2 feats to the player. A few questions.

1. Does the ability to cast spells count as a requirement and therefore would increase the dc of items?

2. Does basic +x weapons and armor have a spell prereq or just the CL req?

3. What craft/profession is needed to make wondrous items? Whichever he used to qualify for master craftsman, or a grab bag of a zillion skills because wondrous come in all shapes and sizes?

Please and thanks.

[Florian]

1) No.

2) Just CL.

3) None. You key Master Craftsman to on Craft or Profession skill when first picking it up, this will then substitute the needed CL and you will always use the chosen Craft or Profession for anything (Yes, you can use Craft: Weaponsmith to hammer out a Cloak of Protection)

[Andor13]

3) None. You key Master Craftsman to on Craft or Profession skill when first picking it up, this will then substitute the needed CL and you will always use the chosen Craft or Profession for anything (Yes, you can use Craft: Weaponsmith to hammer out a Cloak of Protection)

Well, that last one is a GM call, there is no requirement to let Profession: Shipwright allow one make enchanted frilly underwear. But craft skills do overlap, and I would err on the side of generosity. If your player can figure out how to make it apply (and is having fun with that) then go with it, or just ignore it. A spellcasting PC can pretty much ignore crafting skills entirely after all. There is no particular upside to punishing the mundane yet again.

[Florian]

No, it´s not. The prerequisites for the Feat(s) is a chosen skill, it will then work to substitute CL. This is no simulation but only a convenient mechanical stand-in.

[Andor13]

No, it´s not. The prerequisites for the Feat(s) is a chosen skill, it will then work to substitute CL. This is no simulation but only a convenient mechanical stand-in.


Master Craftsman

Your superior crafting skills allow you to create simple magic items.

Prerequisites: 5 ranks in any Craft or Profession skill.

Benefit: Choose one Craft or Profession skill in which you possess at least 5 ranks. You receive a +2 bonus on your chosen Craft or Profession skill. Ranks in your chosen skill count as your caster level for the purposes of qualifying for the Craft Magic Arms and Armor and Craft Wondrous Item feats. You can create magic items using these feats, substituting your ranks in the chosen skill for your total caster level. You must use the chosen skill for the check to create the item. The DC to create the item still increases for any necessary spell requirements (see the magic item creation rules in Magic Items). You cannot use this feat to create any spell-trigger or spell-activation item.

Normal: Only spellcasters can qualify for the Craft Magic Arms and Armor and Craft Wondrous Item feats.

You could, I suppose, squint and read that to mean that you can use Profession: Bullfighter to enchant an off-the-rack masterwork backpack into a Handy Haversack, but I think it makes more sense to read it requiring you to make the item yourself using the relevant craft skill. However I admit it is unclear if the craft skill use requirement is referring to the creation of the item or the enchanting process. Interesting, it never occurred to me that it was a grey area.

A quick google check seems to indicate it was never clearer up in Errata, but I might have missed something.

[thelastorphan]

I generally take this to mean that you use the skill in place of any spellcraft checks. Since that's the only skill you roll during creation. It gets a little silly with some skills I suppose. But it's a feat to do magic Without magic. It can bend immersion a little.