[3.5] Mundane crafter optimization

[TallerSpine]

So, I am just playing around with a mundane crafter and thought it would be fun to optimize. The crafter is 6th level. Here is the build I am considering to maximize his mundane craft skill (in at least one craft):
Setting: Eberron
Classes: Cleric 1/Artificer 5
Race: Human
Ability scores: 18 in Int, +1 for ability score increase at 4th level, +1 for middle aged (I considered +3 for venerable, but I want him to be strong enough to hold his tools, and a -6 to STR, DEX, and CON means he would be unlikely able to continue swinging a hammer all day long)
Domains: Artifice Domain (+4 to all craft skills), Craft Domain (Gain skill focus in a craft as bonus feat)
Traits: Specialized (+1 to Craft: Armorsmithing, -2 to all other craft skills)
Feats:
1st: Least Mark of Making (+2 to craft checks), Words of Creation (+4 sacred bonus to craft checks) , Two additional feats from Flaws, Skill Focus (Craft: Armorsmithing) (Bonus domain feat)
2nd: Scribe Scroll (Artificer)
3rd: Brew Potion (Artificer), another feat
4th: Craft Wondrous Item (Artificer)
5th: Craft Homunculus (Artificer)
6th: Craft Magic Arms & Armor (Artificer), Leadership
Equipment:
Masterwork Artisan's Tools for Armorsmithing (+2 circumstance)
Fancy Forge (Stronghold builder's guidebook) (+2 circumstance)
Eternal Wand of Magecraft (+5 competence)
Skill Enhancement Infusion (Cast 8 times per day, Cohort is a bard with Inspire Spellpower to give +1 caster level) (+5 circumstance)
Motivate Intelligence (Cohort has a level of Marshal to get Charisma bonus to Intelligence checks) (+5 untyped)

Total bonus for Craft: Armorsmithing: 9 ranks, +5 Int, +4 Artifice Domain, +2 Least mark of Making, +3 Skill Focus, +1 (Specialized), +2 (Tools), +2 (Forge), +5 (Magecraft), +2 (Aid another from cohort), +5 (Skill Enhancement Infusion), +5 (Motivate Intelligence) = +49 Craft: Armorsmithing

Can I get this bonus any higher?
Edit: Because the character is an NPC, his wealth will only be 5,600gp, so a 2,500gp item to give a +5 competence bonus (while nice) is more expensive than an 820gp Eternal Wand of Magecraft (which can give both himself and his cohort the +5 competence bonus every day).

[Melcar]

So, I am just playing around with a mundane crafter and thought it would be fun to optimize. The crafter is 6th level. Here is the build I am considering to maximize his mundane craft skill (in at least one craft):
Setting: Eberron
Classes: Cleric 1/Artificer 5
Race: Human
Ability scores: 18 in Int, +1 for ability score increase at 4th level, +1 for middle aged (I considered +3 for venerable, but I want him to be strong enough to hold his tools, and a -6 to STR, DEX, and CON means he would be unlikely able to continue swinging a hammer all day long)
Domains: Artifice Domain (+4 to all craft skills), Craft Domain (Gain skill focus in a craft as bonus feat)
Traits: Specialized (+1 to Craft: Armorsmithing, -2 to all other craft skills)
Feats:
1st: Least Mark of Making (+2 to craft checks), Human Bonus Feat, Two additional feats from Flaws, Skill Focus (Craft: Armorsmithing) (Bonus domain feat)
2nd: Scribe Scroll (Artificer)
3rd: Brew Potion (Artificer), another feat
4th: Craft Wondrous Item (Artificer)
5th: Craft Homunculus (Artificer)
6th: Craft Magic Arms & Armor (Artificer), Leadership
Equipment:
Masterwork Artisan's Tools for Armorsmithing (+2 circumstance)
Fancy Forge (Stronghold builder's guidebook) (+2 circumstance)
Eternal Wand of Magecraft (+5 competence)

Total bonus for Craft: Armorsmithing: 9 ranks, +5 Int, +4 Artifice Domain, +2 Least mark of Making, +3 Skill Focus, +1 (Specialized), +2 (Tools), +2 (Forge), +5 (Magecraft), +2 (Aid another from cohort) = +35 Craft: Armorsmithing

Can I get this bonus any higher?

Check out Dragon #358 for crafting feats!

[Telonius]

A Potion of Guidance of the Avatar is a quick way to get +20 Competence.
(EDIT) Since you're an Artificer, you could just craft up a Wand or Scroll of it, as well.

[TallerSpine]

A Potion of Guidance of the Avatar is a quick way to get +20 Competence.
(EDIT) Since you're an Artificer, you could just craft up a Wand or Scroll of it, as well.

This is great for Fabricate when the crafting takes place instantly. But, since the spell offers a one time craft bonus that must be used within a minute of casting, it seems like it would be difficult to benefit long-term mundane crafting efforts.


Check out Dragon #358 for crafting feats!

Was there more than one crafting feat in the issue? I only found one. It was the Artisan Craftsman feat which grants the ability to learn minor tricks to add to crafted items. Were there other feats that I missed? (That one is awesome, though)

[ShurikVch]

How about to "rearrange" levels to something like Artificer 5/Cleric 1 (or Artificer 1/Cleric 1/Artificer 4)
This way you will be able to spend the 1st-level bonus feats on: Extraordinary Artisan (Eberron Campaign Setting): materials gp cost discount 25%
Legendary Artisan (Eberron Campaign Setting): XP cost discount 25%
Apprentice, Craftsman (Dungeon Master's Guide II): A craftsman grants his apprentice a +2 competence bonus on all Craft checks and a 10% discount when he purchases raw materials for items he makes (including items made with the Craft skill or with an item creation feat, but not spell components or services).
3rd-level feat: maybe, Magical Artisan? Another 25% discount is always good, even if just for one feat...

[ExLibrisMortis]

I had a thread on this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?570571-Worldbuilding-Through-Optimization-A-Trip-To-Sindri%92s-Forge). I missed the Artifice domain, though it doesn't stack with magecraft (due to being a Competence bonus).

[TallerSpine]

I had a thread on this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?570571-Worldbuilding-Through-Optimization-A-Trip-To-Sindri%92s-Forge). I missed the Artifice domain, though it doesn't stack with magecraft (due to being a Competence bonus).

According to the SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/domains.htm), the Artifice domain's bonus is untyped.

[TallerSpine]

Hmm, in Oriental Adventures, there is the Ancestor feat Great Crafter (+3 to all Craft checks for having Kaiu of the Crab clan as an ancestor). In Forgotten Realms, there are regional feats Mercantile Background (+2 Appraise and one craft check) and Artist (+2 Perform and +2 to one craft check).

[ExLibrisMortis]

According to the SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/domains.htm), the Artifice domain's bonus is untyped.
The Artifice domain is from the Eberron Campaign Setting, and in that book, the bonus is Competence. Unless there's an update somewhere, the SRD is wrong.

[ShurikVch]

Hmm, in Oriental Adventures, there is the Ancestor feat Great Crafter (+3 to all Craft checks for having Kaiu of the Crab clan as an ancestor). In Forgotten Realms, there are regional feats Mercantile Background (+2 Appraise and one craft check) and Artist (+2 Perform and +2 to one craft check).Well, since you're OK with [ancestor] and [regional] feats - from different settings! - there are some more:
Craft Expertise (Dragon #339): When making a Craft skill check you double the monetary value of the progress you make in a given period.
Cultured Courtier (Dragon #318): +2 on Diplomacy, Sense Motive, and single Craft or Perform skill
Exceptional Artisan (Eberron Campaign Setting): When determining the time you need to craft any item, reduce the base time by 25%
Favored in Guild, Arcane (Dungeon Master's Guide II): The guild subsidizes the creation of magic items, reducing your raw material costs by 5%
Guerilla Trapsmith (Dragon #342): +2 on Craft (trapmaking)
Shipborn (Dragon #323): +2 circumstance on Craft (shipbuilding)
Startouched, Stirge constellation (Dragon #340): +2 bonus on Craft (alchemy)
Superior Sense of Smell (Dragon #324): +1 on Craft (alchemy)

Also, Dwarven Work Song (Dragon #301) gives +6 competence "in the tasks of mining, digging, or smithing", and costs 1200 gp; so how about the bardic cohort (or just hireling)?

Darkspire College of Thaun (Players Handbook II): Affiliation Score 21-29 allow, when crafting a magic item, scavenge materials from the college - spend only 90% of the normal gp cost to craft an item. Since donating a magical item which cost at least 1000 gp gives +2 to Affiliation Score, and you're Artificer... Just say your character already was affiliated for <insertnumber> years (no more than 3 items/year) :smallwink:

P. S. I was a bit amused by the fact: for the thread called "Mundane crafter optimization", OP barely suggested anything which wouldn't ping in arcane sight, or shut down by the AMF

[Melcar]

Check out Dragon Magazine #339

[Ruethgar]

You should contort your views to I don’t know, like how creative the Mother of Monsters is so she’ll give you two feats to try and buy a shuffle. You also get I think 3 feats from cleric and one from artificer that can theoretically be retrained but can definitely be shuffled. Find yourself a devil of crafting and twist the words of the Mercantile Background feat to buy Faustian pact feats cheaper. Also, shuffled elf.

Regardless of the method, Magical Artisan feats on Extraordinary and Exceptional Artisan will make your mundane crafting faster and cheaper. Also, if you want to keep it mundane, see about switching the artificer crafting over to Ravenloft devices instead of magic. Makes them more expensive and potentially deadly to use, but anything for science!

As to the Dragon Magazine feat, I’m pretty sure you have to pick which trick you get with the feat so you would have to take it multiple times, but Reinforced armor is pretty nice and cheap +1 AC if nothing else.

[TallerSpine]

Too bad I cannot add one level of Bard to get Music of Making (it requires 9 ranks of Perform, so it would need to be the 6th level feat, which is already reserved for leadership).

[Ruethgar]

If we are truly talking Optimization, then 74 Bloodline levels for free before level 2 will get you 74 more skill points(since human skill points go off level and not ECL or HD). Then you could branch out to other crafts. Also, you gain +1 effective Bard level for Bardic Music if you have a masterwork lute so don’t need a bard level for music of making. Assuming Dragonlance is available, you can boost that to a +5 bardic music level legendary lute.