RMajere
04-25-2009, 08:00 PM
Well I have a problem so I'll appeal to the greater knowledge of my peers to assist me in making a ruling.
I'm currently running a game set in the Scarred Lands. One of my players (playing a paladin) is going for a setting specific prestige class, called the Mithril Knight. One of the things this class gets is the ability to forge a magical mithril longsword without spending either gold or experience to do so.
The problem comes in when making the calculations for figuring out the amount of time it'll take for her character to forge this blade in game.
To determine how much time and money it takes to make an item, follow these steps.
Find the item’s price. Put the price in silver pieces (1 gp = 10 sp).
Find the DC from the table below.
Pay one-third of the item’s price for the cost of raw materials.
Make an appropriate Craft check representing one week’s work. If the check succeeds, multiply your check result by the DC. If the result × the DC equals the price of the item in sp, then you have completed the item. (If the result × the DC equals double or triple the price of the item in silver pieces, then you’ve completed the task in one-half or one-third of the time. Other multiples of the DC reduce the time in the same manner.) If the result × the DC doesn’t equal the price, then it represents the progress you’ve made this week. Record the result and make a new Craft check for the next week. Each week, you make more progress until your total reaches the price of the item in silver pieces.
If you fail a check by 4 or less, you make no progress this week.
If you fail by 5 or more, you ruin half the raw materials and have to pay half the original raw material cost again.
Mithral: Mithral is a very rare silvery, glistening metal that is lighter than iron but just as hard. When worked like steel, it becomes a wonderful material from which to create armor and is occasionally used for other items as well. Most mithral armors are one category lighter than normal for purposes of movement and other limitations. Heavy armors are treated as medium, and medium armors are treated as light, but light armors are still treated as light. Spell failure chances for armors and shields made from mithral are decreased by 10%, maximum Dexterity bonus is increased by 2, and armor check penalties are lessened by 3 (to a minimum of 0).
An item made from mithral weighs half as much as the same item made from other metals. In the case of weapons, this lighter weight does not change a weapon’s size category or the ease with which it can be wielded (whether it is light, one-handed, or two-handed). Items not primarily of metal are not meaningfully affected by being partially made of mithral. (A longsword can be a mithral weapon, while a scythe cannot be.)
Weapons or armors fashioned from mithral are always masterwork items as well; the masterwork cost is included in the prices given below.
Mithral has 30 hit points per inch of thickness and hardness 15.
Type of Mithral ItemItem Cost ModifierLight armor+1,000 gpMedium armor+4,000 gpHeavy armor+9,000 gpShield+1,000 gpOther items+500 gp/lb.
By this calculation the amount of time it will take, in game, to forge a mithril longsword is approximately this:
15gp = price of longsword
+1000 gp = price of Mithril - 2 lbs (1000gp) for mithril being half the weight of steel
which equals 1015.
But as per stated in the rules, you have to take this price and convert it into silver peices. So that's about 10,150 sp.
Now assuming that the player has maxed out her ranks in craft at 10th level (13 ranks) and has an intelligence modifier of +1, and has the circumstance bonus of masterwork tools needed to complete the task (+2 circumstance bonus) and has an ally around to cast guidance (+1 bonus to skill check) which gives her a total bonus of 17 to her Craft (weaponsmith) skill.
Assuming she takes a 10 and the result is 27 x 15 (the DC needed to craft a longsword) the result is 405.
That being said, the end result is that it's going to take her approx 25 weeks to craft the sword by RAW (to use an acronym that I don't like).
Now, unless I misread something, misinterpreted something, or my calculations are totally off, I don't see how this is going to be possible in game. I'd like it to happen in the span of one adventure, but I don't see how that's possible, unless I do some DM magic and make it work.
So does anyone know of another method of crafting rules for 3.5 DnD or am I left to try and come up with something on my own? Any and all help will be appreciated. Thanks!
I'm currently running a game set in the Scarred Lands. One of my players (playing a paladin) is going for a setting specific prestige class, called the Mithril Knight. One of the things this class gets is the ability to forge a magical mithril longsword without spending either gold or experience to do so.
The problem comes in when making the calculations for figuring out the amount of time it'll take for her character to forge this blade in game.
To determine how much time and money it takes to make an item, follow these steps.
Find the item’s price. Put the price in silver pieces (1 gp = 10 sp).
Find the DC from the table below.
Pay one-third of the item’s price for the cost of raw materials.
Make an appropriate Craft check representing one week’s work. If the check succeeds, multiply your check result by the DC. If the result × the DC equals the price of the item in sp, then you have completed the item. (If the result × the DC equals double or triple the price of the item in silver pieces, then you’ve completed the task in one-half or one-third of the time. Other multiples of the DC reduce the time in the same manner.) If the result × the DC doesn’t equal the price, then it represents the progress you’ve made this week. Record the result and make a new Craft check for the next week. Each week, you make more progress until your total reaches the price of the item in silver pieces.
If you fail a check by 4 or less, you make no progress this week.
If you fail by 5 or more, you ruin half the raw materials and have to pay half the original raw material cost again.
Mithral: Mithral is a very rare silvery, glistening metal that is lighter than iron but just as hard. When worked like steel, it becomes a wonderful material from which to create armor and is occasionally used for other items as well. Most mithral armors are one category lighter than normal for purposes of movement and other limitations. Heavy armors are treated as medium, and medium armors are treated as light, but light armors are still treated as light. Spell failure chances for armors and shields made from mithral are decreased by 10%, maximum Dexterity bonus is increased by 2, and armor check penalties are lessened by 3 (to a minimum of 0).
An item made from mithral weighs half as much as the same item made from other metals. In the case of weapons, this lighter weight does not change a weapon’s size category or the ease with which it can be wielded (whether it is light, one-handed, or two-handed). Items not primarily of metal are not meaningfully affected by being partially made of mithral. (A longsword can be a mithral weapon, while a scythe cannot be.)
Weapons or armors fashioned from mithral are always masterwork items as well; the masterwork cost is included in the prices given below.
Mithral has 30 hit points per inch of thickness and hardness 15.
Type of Mithral ItemItem Cost ModifierLight armor+1,000 gpMedium armor+4,000 gpHeavy armor+9,000 gpShield+1,000 gpOther items+500 gp/lb.
By this calculation the amount of time it will take, in game, to forge a mithril longsword is approximately this:
15gp = price of longsword
+1000 gp = price of Mithril - 2 lbs (1000gp) for mithril being half the weight of steel
which equals 1015.
But as per stated in the rules, you have to take this price and convert it into silver peices. So that's about 10,150 sp.
Now assuming that the player has maxed out her ranks in craft at 10th level (13 ranks) and has an intelligence modifier of +1, and has the circumstance bonus of masterwork tools needed to complete the task (+2 circumstance bonus) and has an ally around to cast guidance (+1 bonus to skill check) which gives her a total bonus of 17 to her Craft (weaponsmith) skill.
Assuming she takes a 10 and the result is 27 x 15 (the DC needed to craft a longsword) the result is 405.
That being said, the end result is that it's going to take her approx 25 weeks to craft the sword by RAW (to use an acronym that I don't like).
Now, unless I misread something, misinterpreted something, or my calculations are totally off, I don't see how this is going to be possible in game. I'd like it to happen in the span of one adventure, but I don't see how that's possible, unless I do some DM magic and make it work.
So does anyone know of another method of crafting rules for 3.5 DnD or am I left to try and come up with something on my own? Any and all help will be appreciated. Thanks!