[3.5] Craft-iness

[MrLich]

Is there any craft system that completely negates xp cost? I already convinced my dm to use the craft point system (UA) for quick creation but she is using a "level up when I tell you" system and would prefer not to deal with xp if she can avoid it.

Any ideas playgrounders?

[MrLich]

I'll take the lack of response as a no. Well what do my fellow playgrounders think about using more craft points in exchange for xp? Maybe two or three (heck maybe ten) craft points for each point of xp cost.

Or am I just a thread killer? Or should I move my inquiry to the homebrew forum and try to brew up a new system?

[SurlySeraph]

Forget where it's from, but there's an option somewhere for replacing xp costs with gold at a 5 gp = 1 xp ratio.

[Hirax]

If it's a 'level up when I say' system, then you should probably just level up a session after everyone else or something like that. If you were using the EXP system, what would happen is that if you got put into a position where everyone level except you because of that small crafting EXP cost, then the next time the party got experience, it is probable that you would catch up, or even end up with more EXP than them, because since you're a level lower, you'd get more EXP from the encounter/session. EXP/levels are supposed to be self correcting, so that the party's level will become equal over time.

[MrLich]

Thanks for the response. I'll have to look into this using gold as xp idea but that could get very expensive very quickly. Still better than losing xp though.

[AslanCross]

It will not necessarily cost an arm and a leg for the items you will probably end up crafting a lot of. For example, a Wizard will probably scribe a lot of scrolls.

Scribing a 3rd level scroll (say, fireball) at Level 5 will cost 187.5 GP by default. It will only burn up 15 XP. (A single encounter would thus give you enough XP to fuel the creation of several scrolls) This means that under the 5 GP = 1 XP rule, you end up spending only an extra 75 GP. Unless your GM is extremely stingy, this should not be so hard.

Of course, the cost increases a lot when you start crafting wands, for example. A 4th-level spell at CL 7 (say, ice storm), costs 10500 GP and 840 XP to craft (an amount of XP which is easy to gain back in the span of a couple of encounters). Using the GP replacement rule will cost this an additional 4200 GP to create.

[Gralamin]

Honestly? Suggest to him to drop the cost. It's been mathematically proven the XP cost is actually an advantage, not a penalty.