Are there any spells/items (besides tools) that boost crafting checks? 3.5

[incog64]

Thanks in advance.

[FactualArcher]

Magecraft, from the Eberron campaign setting, boosts craft checks. There are other spells that boost all skills, like Wieldskill and Divine insight. They should work as well.

[Chronos]

And also spells that help all Int-based checks, like Mechanus Mind. Or any spell that increases Int, like Fox's Cunning.

[Biggus]

Races of Stone (p.166-7) has magic forges, mostly useful for armour- and weaponsmithing but some of them can be used for other things too.

Spells mostly don't last long enough to be any use. Heroism could work if you can find someone with a high enough caster level to keep it going all day.

Some items such as a Stone of Good Luck or a Pale Green Prism Ioun Stone boost all skill checks.

[ShurikVch]

Spells mostly don't last long enough to be any use. Heroism could work if you can find someone with a high enough caster level to keep it going all day.
No need: you doing check at the very end of the day(/week) of work - nothing in the rules says work must be continuous and non-stop (our character must eat sometimes, right?)
Just use the spell right before the check - no matter how long you crafted the item before it

Spells:
Adept Spirit (Cleric 2, Sorcerer/Wizard 3; Magic of Incarnum) +2 insight
Dragonblood Affinity (Bard/Sorcerer 3; Dragons of Faerûn) +2
Focusing Chant (Bard 1; Spell Compendium) +1 circumstance
Fox's Cunning (Bard/Jester/Sha'ir/Sorcerer/Wizard 2) +4 enhancement bonus to Intelligence
Good Hope (Bard 3/Wu Jen/Charm/Joy 4) +2 morale
Guidance of the Avatar (https://web.archive.org/web/20161101181037/http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/sb/sb20010504a) (Cleric 2) +20 competence
Ray of Hope (Bard/Cleric 1; Book of Exalted Deeds) +2 morale
Share Talents (Bard 1, Cleric/Ranger/Sorcerer/Wizard 2; Player's Handbook II) +2
Skillful Moment (Bard 1, Sorcerer/Wizard 1; Dragon #350) allow to take 20

Items:
Dwarven Work Song (required Bardic Music; Dragon #301) +6 competence bonus; 1200 gp
Hammer of the Weaponsmith (Magic of Faerûn/Races of Faerûn) +10 circumstance bonus on Craft (weaponsmithing); 2055 gp
Knife of the Bowyer (Magic of Faerûn) +10 circumstance on Craft (bowmaking); 2055 gp
Tongs of the Armorer (Magic of Faerûn/Races of Faerûn) +10 competence on Craft (armorsmithing); 2055 gp
Vial of the Last Gasp (Complete Adventurer) +4 Insight bonus to Craft; 2200 gp

[Biggus]

No need: you doing check at the very end of the day(/week) of work - nothing in the rules says work must be continuous and non-stop (our character must eat sometimes, right?)
Just use the spell right before the check - no matter how long you crafted the item before it


Wow, your DM must be a pushover if they let you get away with that.

[Bullet06320]

Wieldskill – PGF (Initiate of Gond 1) - This spell imbues the subject with a touch of divine guidance, granting it a +5 competence bonus on a skill check of your choice. A subject that has no ranks in the designated skill functions as if it had 1/2 rank in the skill and therefore is considered trained in it

Channel Celestial and Channel Greater Celestial - BoED - Channeling rules: The mortal can use its own skills and the celestial's skills.
And planar binding a throne archon can get you channeling too.
Astral Devas, Planetars, Solars Titans and Dwarf Einherjar all have craft skills

Imbrue spell – Dragon 336 (Sorcerer/Wizard 9) allow to bind Elemental or Outsider (called in by planar binding) to a mortal host for 1 day/level
the host has access to all the bound creature's Intelligence-based skills.
find apropiate crafters to use thier skills

Leech Ghost Skill – Ghostwalk (Sorcerer/Wizard 5) - the bearer may use the ghost's skill ranks instead of his own as desired, regardless of the nature of the skill

Telkiira (LEoF 156): Contains 10 ranks in four int- wis- or cha-based skills. Elf only

and here's a weird ability i found
be a Yak-folk MMII
Body Meld (Sp): Once per day a yak folk can merge its body with that of a humanoid or giant of Small to Large size. The process works only on humans, elves, dwarves, halforcs, and any creature of the giant type. The yak folk shares all the victim’s knowledge, memories, skills, feats, and extraordinary abilities, but none of its spell-like or supernatural abilities. The yak folk retains all of its own supernatural and spell-like abilities.

[ShurikVch]

Wow, your DM must be a pushover if they let you get away with that.
As alternative to what, exactly? Using Vermin Lord's Hivemind for CL in five digits? (1 min./CL, 1 week = 10080 min.) Yeah, it would be so much more DM-friendly...

[pabelfly]

Created this thread (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?654100-How-to-speed-up-Armor-Crafting) a while ago about crafting armor quickly. Maybe you'll find it useful.

[Anthrowhale]

Skillful Moment (Bard 1, Sorcerer/Wizard 1; Dragon #350) allow to take 20

In particular, this one allows you to take 20 as a standard action, whether or not the skill allows that.

I also like Loresong (Dragon #335) as an alternative to Guidance of the Avatar. It provides a smaller bonus which grows with caster level reaching parity at caster level 32 (nontrivial, but there are many ways to optimize there), However, it allows checks on untrained skills, works for the duration of the spell, and is persistable.

[Shinoskay]

And also spells that help all Int-based checks, like Mechanus Mind. Or any spell that increases Int, like Fox's Cunning.

No one mentioned tears to wine... a staple for any crafter. +2 to all int checks

Theres also anything that gives aid other benefits, some people will allow unseen servant or the similar spells to aid you (giving +2)

visualization of the mind may also, possibly, help.

[ShurikVch]

OP says "besides tools" - but Master class (War of the Lance) able to create masterwork tools with bonus up to +10

[icefractal]

As alternative to what, exactly? Using Vermin Lord's Hivemind for CL in five digits? (1 min./CL, 1 week = 10080 min.) Yeah, it would be so much more DM-friendly...You can do crafting by the day, so lasting eight hours would be enough. In PF1 you can do it in four-hour blocks by taking +5 DC, can't recall if there's an equivalent to that in 3.5.

And yeah, generally speaking I would (as a GM) require a buff spell to last the duration of the action you're buffing. Or pro-rate it at least - lasts 1/4 the time? Gives 1/4 the bonus. For the same reason that, say, casting Haste once won't significantly decrease your travel time between cities.

That said, those buff spells are all applicable when you're crafting via Fabricate.

[Bohandas]

Guidance (clr 0, drd 0) provides a +1 bonus to any one skill check, attack roll, or saving throw

[ShurikVch]

You can do crafting by the day, so lasting eight hours would be enough.
Which is still CL 480 (presuming min./CL; multiply it by 10 if round/CL)
What - Persistent Spell? Most of those spells aren't persistable...


And yeah, generally speaking I would (as a GM) require a buff spell to last the duration of the action you're buffing. Or pro-rate it at least - lasts 1/4 the time? Gives 1/4 the bonus.
Would you limit in similar way Diplomacy (Mediation) or Heal (Long-Term Care)? Both of those are of "full day" variety
Also, Perform (earn money by playing in public) and Survival are may be full day too (and for Handle Animal and Profession - "full week"...)

[Anthrowhale]

Which is still CL 480 (presuming min./CL; multiply it by 10 if round/CL)

Just to emphasize, Skillful Moment says:

On the round after you cast this spell, you may take 20 the chosen skill as a standard action.
By RAW, this allows you to take 20 in circumstances that normally preclude that and to only take a standard action in doing so. Being able to take 20 on an all day skill roll as a standard action from a level 1 spell make Fabricate seems rather slow, specific, and underpowered.

[icefractal]

Which is still CL 480 (presuming min./CL; multiply it by 10 if round/CL)
What - Persistent Spell? Most of those spells aren't persistable...Are they specifically spells for the purpose of boosting Craft checks? If not, maybe they just aren't suited to that task. The same way that Haste isn't suited to speeding up travel.


Would you limit in similar way Diplomacy (Mediation) or Heal (Long-Term Care)? Both of those are of "full day" variety
Also, Perform (earn money by playing in public) and Survival are may be full day too (and for Handle Animal and Profession - "full week"...)Yes, I would. Long-duration tasks are harder to boost than short-duration ones. Why is that so strange?

[ShurikVch]

Are they specifically spells for the purpose of boosting Craft checks? If not, maybe they just aren't suited to that task. The same way that Haste isn't suited to speeding up travel.
Let's see:

Bigby's Helpful Hand
...
Level: Sorcerer/wizard 1
...
Duration: 1 hour/level (D)
...
The spell grants you a +2 competence bonus on Craft, Disable Device, and Open Lock checks for the duration of the spell.
It does specifically grant Craft bonus - but, below the CL 8, unable to last for the whole workday

And yes, Haste totally can speed up the travel - as long as it's in effect long enough


Yes, I would. Long-duration tasks are harder to boost than short-duration ones. Why is that so strange?
Mediation may be rare example of non-broken usage of Diplomacy
Heal skill is lagging so behind the magical healing I see no reason to restrict it even more
Survival bonuses are so rare - especially day-long
And while there are some spells which give bonus to Handle Animal - literally none of those lasts for a week!

[incog64]

Thanks everyone.

[icefractal]

It does specifically grant Craft bonus - but, below the CL 8, unable to last for the whole workdaySeems like a Rope Trick situation then, where to get the most benefit you need a higher CL than the base. Also anecdotally, I've seen a number of GMs use a Craft check for when the PC wants to repair/improvise/understand something, with that being just one action or a few minutes' worth of work. But that may technically be in homebrew territory.


Mediation may be rare example of non-broken usage of Diplomacy
Heal skill is lagging so behind the magical healing I see no reason to restrict it even more
Survival bonuses are so rare - especially day-long
And while there are some spells which give bonus to Handle Animal - literally none of those lasts for a week!It's not a balance thing, and I like buff-mancy, both as a player and GM. It's just that duration is an important factor in that, and not every buff applies to every situation.

And incidentally, Handle Animal has uses that take a round or less. In fact, even training is done at the rate of 3 hours / day, so an hours / level buff (or even 10 minutes / level with a high CL) could apply to it. Like to clarify, I'm not saying that a single application of the buff has to last that long, you just need to maintain it for the entire duration.

[ShurikVch]

Seems like a Rope Trick situation then, where to get the most benefit you need a higher CL than the base.
Then how about the Vial of the Last Gasp?

This is actually the necromantically preserved last breath of some famous figure, trapped in a vial. A vial of the last gasp allow the user to draw strength and knowledge from the dead creature. Anyone who unstoppers the vial and inhales its vapors (the equivalent of drinking a potion) gains 1d8 temporary hit points, a +2 enhancement bonus to Strength, and a +4 insight bonus on checks using one Craft, Knowledge, or Profession skill possessed by the deceased. (However, the vapors in a vial of the last gasp do not allow an untrained user to make use of a trained-only skill.) The creator specifies the skill to which the bonus applies upon creating the item; it is usually the skill in which the deceased has the greatest number of ranks. In addition, the fumes increase the user's effective caster level by 1. These effects last for 10 minutes.
If Bigby's Helpful Hand, at the very least, eventually get the whole 8+ hours duration - then Vial of the Last Gasp always would stay at "10 minutes"? but still grants bonus on Craft checks...

[Jack_Simth]

Seems like a Rope Trick situation then, where to get the most benefit you need a higher CL than the base.Well, taking a few seconds to recast seems like a reasonable thing to ask of a DM. I mean, at oh... third level? Taking a break of a few seconds twice over the course of an 8 hour work day (or three breaks over twelve hours, if your DM likes to house rule in some history - the eight hour workday is a relatively recent development) doesn't seem like it'd be a big deal.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

People have mentioned fabricate, but there's another major boost that the spell gives you. If you want to use Craft in a shorter period of time, you raise the DC by +10 to craft more quickly. Fabricate and the greater version thereof allow you to do so in seconds instead of days, weeks, months, years, or even more. That's potentially a HUGE reduction in the Craft DC, which only goes up and up and up the longer the item would have otherwise taken. Like, by (potentially) several orders of magnitude. So it could easily be the greatest "boost" to your Craft skills it's possible to have.

[Bohandas]

And while there are some spells which give bonus to Handle Animal - literally none of those lasts for a week!

guidance has a limit on how long you can take before you discharge the spell but arguably no limit on how long the check you discharge it for can take