Wait a minute…. This was an engagement arc the whole time!? I wasn’t prepared for this! We’re going to have to book a caterer. Compile a guest list. Schedule cake tastings. Hire a cleric. Where are we going to find a cleric!?

While our lovebirds contemplate the practicalities, what do you say the rest of us spend a moment admiring that ring? It couldn’t have been easy to forge. I mean, if we’re talking 5e then tool proficiencies aren’t so easy to come by. Thief probably spent her starting tool proficiency on Thieves’ Tools (which might be a tautology). That means she must have rolled Stealth, snuck down to the local makerspace, and taken lessons with Celebrimbor between adventures. In other words, if we’re going by the “Training” section on page 187 on the Player’s Handbook, then she’s spent the past 250 days at a cost of 1 gp per day learning her way around a set of Jeweler’s Tools. And that’s not even taking into account the wasted effort she put into learning to sew the last time she sat on that log.

Crafting is a tough nut to crack. You’ve got to contend with issues of in-game economics, representing skill vs. available materials, item power level, and the fact that roll-die-get-item is a supremely unsatisfying mechanic. Sure you can take a note from the 5e artificer or the Pathfinder forgemaster and go the route of crafting-as-class-feature, but then you’re still left with uncomfortable verisimilitude questions. You’re telling me I’m the greatest inventor in all the land, but I can’t make a simple +1 arrow? 

I’ve always liked the idea of background skills as a form of compromise. Gaining incremental improvements to your non-adventuring skills is a nice bonus, offering access to these sorts of “story moment” abilities without disrupting your power progression. You won’t be cranking out holy avengers or anything, but at least you can produce a decent gift around Yule.

What about the rest of you guys though? Have you ever gone in for the “crafty guy” type of PC? What’s your favorite system for the purpose, and what cool stuff did you wind up making? Tell us your tales of finely-wrought forgework down in the comments!

 

GEEKY GREETING CARDS For the holidays this year, Laurel just threw some brand-spanking new limited edition D&D X-mas cards onto her Etsy store. We’re also rocking our ever-popular d20 Class prints. We’re only missing “Monk” and at the moment, and I have it on good authority that Laurel will be working tirelessly to knock ’em out before New Year’s. So come one come all! Get your shopping done early and make a geek in your life happy.

 

ARE YOU A ROLL20 ADDICT? Are you tired of googling endlessly for the perfect tokens? Then have we got a Patreon tier for you! As a card-carrying Familiar, you’ll receive a weekly downloadable Roll20 Token to use in your own online games, as well as access to all of our previously posted Tokens. It’s like your own personal NPC codex!