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I had a few new ideas for expanding the player economy. They include new additions and restrictions. Mostly they aim to tie different skills together, so your abilites are greatly altered by your skill choices.

Suggestion 1: Blacksmithy Skill Checks

It makes sense to me, that even the most skilled master smith in the world can't make absolutely everything, he has to know something about what he's making in order to make it. Therefore, it makes more sense to me to force a skill check associated with whatever weapon a blacksmith is trying to craft, along with the normal Blacksmithy check. For example, a smith with 100 Blacksmithy and 100 Swordsmanship, would have no trouble at all making an exceptional katana, but one with 100 Blacksmithy and 10 Swordsmanship would have a really hard time. If you had 100 Blacksmith and at least 60 in every weapon skill (the max for non-specialized skills) then maybe you'd be able to make a weapon of any class exceptional for a tenth of the time. You'd still end up wasting way more ingots than if you'd chosen to specialize. The reason I think this could help is that your average blacksmith on WoD is way too powerful when it comes to weaponcrafting. Just because you're a great smith doesn't mean you're automatically an awesome swordsmith, shieldmaker, armorsmith, macesmith, etc. It means you have mastered the general skills of crafting with metals. Sure you can probably slap together whatever you need, its just not going to be that great unless you know something about it.

Example:
A smith with 100 in Swordsmanship and 60 in all others would be able to make exceptional Swordsmanship weapons 100% of the time, while able to make exceptional weapons of other types 10% of the time.

Suggestion 2: Carpentry Expanded with Skill Checks

As it is, it seems that Carpentry is an underused skill, as most people make a mule for their furniture and such. I believe that Carpentry could be made a viable skill again if it were combined with a Magery skill check, much like Tinkering already is.

Specifically, I believe Carpenters who are also Mages should be able to craft staves and bows out of reaper and ent heartwoods. There would be a very high Magery check requirement, as a successfully created ent or reaper staff or bow would be very useful. Also, there would be a major difference between ent and reaper weapons.

As ents are purely fighting creatures and reapers are purely magery creatures, a staff made from reaper heartwood might not be as much use to a macefighter as it would be to a mage. Ideally, a Carpenter/Mage could craft an Ent-Wood Quarterstaff or a Reaper-Wood Mage Staff (or any staff). The Ent-Wood Quarterstaff would function as a randomly-generated magical quarterstaff, with a minimum damage and skill bonus of +2. Effectively, players would be able to reliably craft at least a Fine Quarterstaff of Might, given the right skills. It would still be called an Ent-Wood Quarterstaff, but magical identification would reveal its bonuses. A similar system would work for Reaper-Wood Mage Staff's, except there would be a skill bonus of either Magery or Macefighting, picked randomly, and at least Fine of Might. Note I put the damage minimum at Might rather than Quality, because an exceptional weapon is already of Quality, and these are definitely better than exceptional.

I imagine there could also be a way to fortify a Druid or Necro staff with Ent or Reaper heartwood, given very high skills in Magery and Carpentry and possibly an additional check in Animal Lore or Necromancy. The possibilities of expanding this skill are endless.

I am unsure about what an ent- or reaper-crafted bow would have as bonuses. Possibly an Ent-Wood Bow would function like a Fine Bow of Might and Archery, with a bonus on Strength, while a Reaper-Wood Bow would function as a Fine Bow of Might and Archery, with a bonus on Dexterity or Intelligence, randomly, with the damage minimum still being of Might.

Please post comments and suggestions.

also how bout for the Blacksmith or whatever weapon smith if they have high magery have a mondo random chance to make a magic weapon maybe due to the relationship of being around magic all the time randomly imparts magic on what they are makin not sure what to do with the other trade skills but would add a little spice to a couple of them make them more wanted

Long ago fletching was stripped as a skill and merged with woodcrafting. Now you want to force us who think of ourselves as bowyers, and not carpenters, have magic. Please, no. Maybe make crafting better bows based on archery, but not on magery, please.

Adroi Andune wrote:Long ago fletching was stripped as a skill and merged with woodcrafting. Now you want to force us who think of ourselves as bowyers, and not carpenters, have magic. Please, no. Maybe make crafting better bows based on archery, but not on magery, please.

I'm missing something here. Where did I say you would be forced to take Magery as a skill option? This is still your choice. It just enhances Carpentry as Tinkering is already enhanced. As it is, Tinkering is the only skill capable of producing a magic item (jewelry).

Well I dont want to write a long drawn-out explanation of things, but here's a few points to think about:
- Player-made magic items have been struck down in previous threads already
- What sort of char would a mage-carpenter be? Can't see a big burly man in a long flowing robe with an axe in one hand and a stick in the other fitting in well to the game's "reality." (Let's not go into the reality discussion though)
- The suggested change to blacksmithy would make muling the skill a bit more costly, but still common. The extra cost would come either in skill slots (imagine a smith with fencing, mace, and swords as his primaries) or in the ingots consumed in failures.

Not trying to discourage new ideas, but I dont think these would be easily integrated. Any creation of magic items would be a major balance issue.

Edgewood Dirk wrote:I am unsure about what an ent- or reaper-crafted bow would have as bonuses. Possibly an Ent-Wood Bow would function like a Fine Bow of Might and Archery, with a bonus on Strength, while a Reaper-Wood Bow would function as a Fine Bow of Might and Archery, with a bonus on Dexterity or Intelligence, randomly, with the damage minimum still being of Might.

Please post comments and suggestions.

This seems to suggest it would take a mage character to create the finest handcrafted bows. Wouldn't an archer who crafts bows have a far superior knowledge of creating such bows?

Adroi Andune wrote:

Edgewood Dirk wrote:I am unsure about what an ent- or reaper-crafted bow would have as bonuses. Possibly an Ent-Wood Bow would function like a Fine Bow of Might and Archery, with a bonus on Strength, while a Reaper-Wood Bow would function as a Fine Bow of Might and Archery, with a bonus on Dexterity or Intelligence, randomly, with the damage minimum still being of Might.

Please post comments and suggestions.

This seems to suggest it would take a mage character to create the finest handcrafted bows. Wouldn't an archer who crafts bows have a far superior knowledge of creating such bows?

That would be true, if such a carpenter was working with normal wood. However, the focus of the idea is that it would take a mage to understand the magical properties inherent in Ent and Reaper wood.

Wolfie:

Actually, there is a precedent in the fantasy genre for a Carpenter/Mage. The character is Lerris in L.E. Modesetts series "The Magic of Recluce". Magic in that world was based on Order vs. Chaos, and he imbued the staff he crafted with pure Order, creating an incredibly light and strong staff.

Edgewood Dirk wrote:Blacksmithy Skill Checks

Well, I really can't see any major effect that this would have other than making blacksmithing a 'mule required' skill, which in the end would probably wind up being a lot less fun...

Suggestion 2: Carpentry Expanded with Skill Checks

Magery is already an over-picked skill. Making it essentially a requirement for crafters wouldn't exactly be a positive step. If you check the Upcoming Changes page, there most likely, someday, will be an Enchanting skill (don't hold your breath, though ) What exactly that skill will do, I'm not entirely certain yet, but it most likely will add some rather interesting options for crafted items...