155. CRAFTSMAN While it's fine to say that a character is an adventurer or hero in a fantasy campaign, the world around the player characters and heroes must still exist. Mediaeval societies had a great number of people who were skilled craftsmen, men and women who specialized in the making and repair of specific items and specific objects and could charge a decent sum for these objects. The world of DragonQuest is no different than any of these mediaeval societies, and as such the Craftsman is one of the most important occupations that can be found. It is the source of the weapons and armour that the character wears, the food he or she eats, the clothes and shoes that he or she wears, and hundreds of the little items that the character carries around with him or her. [155.1] A character must have at least an average Characteristic that is relevant to the specific craft that he practices in order to take the Craftsman skill. A character is required to have certain minimum Characteristics for specific crafts that he might choose to take. Thus, if a character were to choose to take the craft of Glassblower, he would require at least an average Manual Dexterity. On the other hand, a character who chooses the craft of Stonemason would require at least an average Physical Strength in order to take the Craftsman (Stonemason) specialty (and the GM might rule that he also required an average Manual Dexterity as well). A character who chooses to take a specific field of Craftsmanship and has a Characteristic that is below 15 must expend 10% more Experience Points to progress Ranks. If the character's relevant Characteristic is greater than 22, the Experience Point cost to progress Ranks is reduced by 10%. [155.2] A character who takes the craftsman skill must be able to read and write one language at Rank 8 before achieving Rank 5 in craftsman skill. The language in question may be the character's native tongue (if regional), but it is natural to assume that the character should have achieved this Rank with the Common language. In addition, the character must have learned to read and write a second language at Rank 8 before he reaches Rank 8 in craftsman skill, or he must expend an additional 15% in terms of the Experience Point cost to increase Rank. [155.3] A character with craftsman skill may choose one field of specialty in the skill when he achieves Rank 0, 2, 5, 8, and 10. The list of Craft skills is one that cannot be provided within the context of this particular skill description, but is provided separately. Some examples of a Craftsman speciality would include Potter, Glassblower, Cooper, Cobbler, Weaver, Seamstress (or Tailor), Innkeeper, and Brewer. There are innumerable other crafts available. See the specific listing of Craft specialities. The character has the option to choose a "specialty" within the field of expertise, instead of selecting a new field. Thus, a character who takes craftsman skill and chooses Potter at Rank 0, could specialize in vase making at Rank 2. Note that a character receives a bonus of (Rankx2)% to any assayal done within the field of specialty (such as Potter). If the character chose a specialty within the field of expertise (such as vase making), he receives a bonus of (Rankx3)% to all activities done within that specific specialty area. [155.4] A character who enters the crafts field and becomes skilled as a craftsman, receives a title as he progresses in Rank. A character receives a title in the craftsman field as he progresses Rank, subject to a board of inquiry by the specific Guild in question. The Ranks and Titles are as noted below: Rank Title 0-1 Apprentice 2-4 Journeyman 5-7 Craftsman 8-10 Master While the Rank and Title of a craftsman don't necessarily confer any special bonuses on him, a craftsman can claim an additional amount of money equal to his (Rankx2) in Silver Pennies once he achieves upper Journeyman status. [155.5] A character must have a workplace or shop in order to practice their craft by the time they reach Rank 4, or they may not progress Ranks beyond that point. Once a character reaches Rank 4 in his chosen Craftsmanship area of expertise, the character must have a workplace or shop out of which to operate. The initial setup cost of the workshop or storefront is equal to [2000 + (Rank x 650)] Silver Pennies, for the building costs, and up to 1,000 Silver Pennies in addition to equip it properly with all the required tools and items. The craftsman can pay 20% less than the standard cost, in which case the shop is considered to be "poorly stocked" and suffers a -15% to all craft skill rolls in the shop. Conversely, a shop is considered to be "well stocked" if the craftsman pays at least 1.5 times the standard cost, and gains a modifier of +5% to all craft skill rolls in the shop. The character must pay a certain amount of upkeep per year to keep the shop or workplace running smoothly. The craftsman must pay a sum of 10% of the shop's initial cost in Silver Pennies per year to maintain the shop or workplace. If this sum is not paid, the value of the shop or workplace is devalued by 20% (possibly altering its status as poor- or well-stocked). All craftsman workshops and storefronts are rated by Rank; the Rank of the shop is determined by the Rank of the craftsman at the time that the shop was constructed. The Rank of a craftsman's workshop or storefront can be increased by one for each 3,500 Silver Pennies the craftsman is willing to spend for this purpose. The craftsman can rent out the use of work or shop space to others for a fee of 25 to 50 Silver Pennies per day. It should be noted that the craftsman to whom the shop is lent out must pay for materials and the like, in addition to the rental fee, but sometimes this is dealt with by the renting craftsman paying a percentage of the profits on the item to the owner of the crafts workshop or storefront. If the character chooses to employ others in his workshop or storefront, the craftsman must pay his employees a sum of no less than (Rankx3) Silver Pennies per day. While this is not the fee that is most commonly paid to employees, it is the suggested amount. [155.6] The craftsman has the ability to assay the value of any item that is fashioned through the use of the craft that he specializes in. The ability of a craftsman to assay the value of any item will take an amount of time that depends on the item in question. The minimum amount of time that can be taken for this purpose is (11-Rank) minutes. This might be applicable for the assayal of the quality of a keg of beer or the like, but a building might take a stonemason some (11-Rank) days to assay. The time required for an assayal of value will take a variable amount of time, at the discretion of the GamesMaster. The character has a chance of assessing the value of an item or object, depending on the rarity and scarceness of the item or object in question. The character can only assess the value of an item in his or her field of expertise. The Base Chance of assessing a Common object is [PC + (Rankx12)]%, to assay an Uncommon item has a Base Chance of [PC + (Rankx9)]%, and to assay an item that is Rare or Costly has a Base Chance of [PC + (Rankx6)]%. Examples of the type of items that would be considered Common, Uncommon, and Rare/Costly would include: a vase of good quality (Common); a tapestry made by a master weaver or a vase from another country (Uncommon); and a rare antique vase from halfway around the world (Rare/Costly). If the GamesMaster rolls equal to or less than the success percentage, the character is told the exact value of the item in question. If the roll is greater than the success percentage, the GamesMaster tells the character a value that diverges from reality more sharply as the success roll diverges more from the percentage. An odd result means the quote is below the actual price, an even result means the quote is above the actual price. [155.7] A character with the craftsman skill has the ability to assess the quality of items or objects made within the craft field of expertise and can assess the quality of the materials used for the making of an item or object in a specific field of craftsmanship. The ability to use this particular skill will require some (12-Rank) minutes on the part of the craftsman. It is possible that this could take longer, such as when a wagonmaker is trying to assess the quality of a wagon. This could require a period of time not exceeding (15-Rank) days, but could be an even lengthier period of time for truly large projects, such as bridges and the like. The Base Chance of detecting a flaw of some sort in any piece of craftsmanship is equal to [(PCx4) + (Rankx7) - (Creator's Rankx5)]%. Thus if a Potter of Rank 5 has a Perception of 10, and is inspecting a vase made by a Rank 8 Craftsman, the Base Chance of finding any flaws with the item is equal to 35%. [155.8] A craftsman has the ability to create everyday items and the like with his craftsman skill. The craftsman has the ability to create everyday use items and objects with his craft ability. Thus, a Woodcarver could turn out small statuettes of birds, a Brewer could distill some beer or wine, a Potter could craft a vase or other item, and a Wagonmaker could craft a wagon for travel purposes. The craftsman's ability to create everyday items is dependent on the items to be created and the craftsman's skill. The minimum amount of time required to craft an item or object is (11-Rank) hours of time. The craftsman could take days (to create a bow, if a Bowyer), weeks (to build a wagon, if a Wagoner), months (to build a house, if a Stonemason), or even years (to build a bridge, if an Engineer) to craft items of particular types. The craftsman does not require a roll to see if an item, object or the like of everyday use and value has been created or crafted. However, any given item will have a chance of being flawed. The Base Chance of an item being flawed is equal to (15-Rank)%. If the craftsman has chosen a speciality within the field of expertise, treat the Rank of the craftsman as being 3 Ranks higher for the purpose of determining if the item is flawed. A craftsman has the ability to detect whether he has created an item that is flawed in any manner. The Base Chance of detecting the flaws in one's own work is equal to [(PCx3) + (Rankx8)]% If the craftsman detects a flaw in his own work, he may attempt to perfect the item, if so desired. The Base Chance of doing is so is equal to [(PCx3) + (Rankx6) - (Flaw Percentage). This extra work will add (11-Rank) hours, days, months, or years to the work to be done. [155.9] The craftsman has the ability to craft items of exceptional quality, beauty, or function. This ability is rarer than many would think, and thus requires more time and effort. While the craftsman is able to make items and objects for everyday use, he is also capable of crafting items of quality, function, or value. Thus, while a craftsman can make a jug for holding wine, a tapestry, a wineglass, or a saddle, it requires something special to craft a saddle commissioned by a noble, a detailed tapestry, an exquisite wineglass, and the like. In order to craft an item of exceptional quality, the craftsman is required to make a Creation Roll. In many ways, this is similar to the roll required of an Alchemist or a Shaping Mage when making an item that has unusual properties to it. The minimum time to create an item of exceptional quality is equal to at least +20% of the time to create an item that is normal for that craft field; in some cases, the time taken to create the exceptional item could be increased by as much as 75%. The Base Chance for the craftsman to create an item of exceptional quality is equal to [(WP x «) + (Characteristic x «) + (Rankx2)]%. If the character fails to roll less than or equal to the success chance, the item or object made will be of normal or slightly above normal quality, but will still have taken the full extra length of time that is normally required to craft an item or object of exceptional quality. The chance of creating an item of exceptional quality can be reduced by -1 to -30% due to the difficulty that the GM might feel is required to manufacture the item in question. There is still a chance that the crafted item of exceptional quality is still flawed, and this chance is equal to (15-Rank)%. For every 10 points by which the success roll of creating the item was made by, reduce this chance of a flaw by -1%. Note that the craftsman has a Base Chance of [(PCx4) + (Rankx8)]% of detecting the flaw in an item of exceptional quality that he has made, but cannot repair or tidy up the flaw in question. If a repair is attempted, the item will be treated as being merely of slightly above normal value. [155.10] A craftsman has the ability to repair items and objects that are related to his field of expertise. The craftsman has the ability to repair everyday and exceptional quality items and objects that are related directly to his craft field of expertise. The time required to assess the damage to a given item and to effect repairs to it is usually no less than (12-Rank) hours, but can be expressed as minutes (for truly minor repairs), days, or months, depending on the circumstances of the repair, the nature of the repairs to be made, and the avail- ability of the item or object in question. The Base Chance for the craftsman to repair an item or object is equal to [PC + (MDx2) + (Rankx6)]%. The chance of making a repair to an item can be modified by between -35% and +25%, depending on the nature of the repairs to be made and the difficulty of making the repairs. While it is likely that the GamesMaster will be relatively tolerant towards the players having repairs made to items and the like, it is equally optional for the GM to treat players harshly in terms of time required for the repairs or the difficulty of making the repairs during the course of play. [155.11] A craftsman is able to charge monies for the creation of items and objects, for the assessment of items and objects, and for the repair of items and objects related to his craft field of expertise. The craftsman is able to charge a sum of money for the creation of items and objects, for the assayal of items and objects, and for the repair of items using his craft field of expertise. A craftsman can charge a fee of up to (Rankx5) Silver Pennies for assaying an item or object for quality, value, make, or craftsmanship. A craftsman can charge (Base selling price + Rank) Silver Pennies for the creation of an item of everyday quality and use. If the item is of exceptional quality or value, the craftsman can charge a fee of [Base selling price + (Rankx4)] Silver Pennies for the item in question, but might even be able to charge significantly higher amounts than that for the item in question. A craftsman is able to charge a fee of between 5% and 45% of the item in question that is being repaired. This value could be higher or lower, depending on materials required for the repairs, delicacy of the repairs required, and other factors. [155.12] Because of their nature and facility for dealing with certain areas of expertise, certain races receive a bonus to the chance of success of working in certain craft fields. By their very nature, certain races receive a bonus to the crafting of items and object in specific fields of expertise due to centuries of specialization in the craft and the like. Humans may be permitted to add (Rank)% to all Base Chances involving specific craft fields that are deemed to be more "human" at the discretion of the GamesMaster (such as Farming, Glassblowing, Pottery, and the like). All Dwarves who choose Smithing, Metalworking, or Stoneworking of some sort receive a bonus of (Rank)% to their Base Chances of success in the fields. Elves receive a bonus of (Rank)% to their Base Chances when working with Bowyer/Fletcher or any Woodworking skills in the specific craft of expertise as noted. Other races may receive bonuses to their skill chances with certain fields of expertise at the discretion of the GamesMaster. [155.13] A craftsman does not have to pay any set yearly fees for the maintenance of his craftsman skill. It should be noted that the craftsman must pay for the use of a workshop or storefront to practice his craft if he does not own a workshop or has not yet achieved Rank 4 in the craft in question. See Section 155.5 for more details on this aspect of craftsman skill. ---------- Copyright (c) 1985 John M. Kahane and Kathy Bauer. EXPERIENCE COSTS FOR ADDITIONAL PRIMARY SKILLS IN THE DRAGONQUEST RPG SYSTEM SKILL 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Craftsman 600 250 750 1700 2900 5000 7550 9500 11750 14200 18000