Craftsperson
A smith, carpenter, or weaver who knows a trade inside out: sure hands, a patient mind, and few words.
| Role | Difficulty | Key stats | Hit points | Mana | Spells given |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Everyday folk, maker | Hard | Dexterity | 3 | 1 | none |
Plays like: Makes, mends, and takes apart gear with two trades of their choice; a poor fighter.
Starts with: a hand axe (wielded); a knife; a pair of leather gloves (being worn); a leather apron (being worn); a pair of leather boots (being worn); 2 wax candles; a food ration; 25 gold coins (see Starting kit).
See also: The patron and Crafting.
How to play
You make things. Pick two trades as a new character; each trains a craft skill and comes with its tools. Make, mend, and salvage your own gear, and from level 12 a patron in Cēaptūn buys your best work. You are a poor fighter, so start with the easy dungeons and let your work arm you.
Levels
A bonus talent at levels 10, 20, 30, 45, 55, from Scholar or Grit or Delver.
Two bonus talents at character creation, from Crafts, taken before the others.
| Level | Ability | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Time served | each trade you take at creation is trained +6 more |
| 1 | Eye for the make | an item’s description reads its make: what salvage would give of it if every check went well (50% of each material’s weight, a gem whole; never the odds), how many more improvements the anvil or a knife could give it, or that it is damaged, and how hard its main material is to work (“very hard” for a work of +4 or more, “hard” for +1 to +3, “soft and easy” for -2 or less) |
| 6 | Waste not | salvage gives back 75% of each material’s weight (everyone else: 50%), and a failed recipe gives back 100% of its stock and inputs (everyone else: 50%; a failed brew is still spent on its murky draught); a failed Temper or Whittle damages nothing: the item stays as it was, though the attempt still counts toward the next one’s difficulty |
| 12 | Patron | a patron in town commissions Fine (or better) arms and armour from your trades, advances the stock, and pays 100 % of the piece’s worth (see the patron) |
| 18 | Make do and mend | active (on a damaged thing you carry, not worn or wielded, anywhere, with no anvil or tool; 10 minutes of work, cut short by anything that would stop a rest): one check, 2d12 plus the modifier of the stat of the craft that works its main material and that craft’s points (a stat alone, untrained), against 10 plus the material’s work. Made, the damage is gone (the improvements it lost stay lost, and the next attempt at the anvil is as hard as before); failed, nothing happens to it, and you may try again. It never destroys anything. Refused, with no time spent, for something worn or wielded, protected, unpaid, or of a material no craft works (cloth, glass) |
| 25 | Trapwright | active (a rig from the rig list, then a direction): a trap is rigged on the cell beside you, from arrows, a billet of wood, or a pit dug with the digging tool you have ready; what it kills is your kill. See Rigging traps |
| 32 | Field forge | active (aimed in a direction, at open ground beside you, 60 minutes of work; no mana, cooldown, or check): an ingot of any metal you carry is set on a heap of stones there, a makeshift anvil that serves every recipe and Temper as a forge’s anvil does, and stays for good. Interrupted, nothing is made and the ingot kept. Refused, with no time spent, without an ingot, on the overworld, or where the ground is not open floor |
| 40 | Quick hands | every craft takes 50% of its time: recipes (after Fletcher’s share), Temper, Whittle, cutting and setting gems, salvage, and the craftsperson’s own works |
| 50 | Master’s hand | +4 to the margin of a made check as its grade or a gem’s cut is read: every grade and every cut comes 4 sooner; whether the work is made is unchanged |
| 60 | Maker’s mark | the arms, armour, and jewellery you make bear your mark, whatever their grade: each is worth 50% more (and your patron pays for that worth), and it holds one enchantment more |
Abilities
A craftsperson works their trades better than anyone, and their class abilities change the rules of Crafting. The burgher who buys their best work is on The patron.
Trades
A craftsperson learns no craft from the class
itself. Instead they pick two trades as a new
character, before their other talents: the Talents step asks “Choose a trade”
first. Each trade trains its craft skill at 3d6, and
Time served adds 6 to that, so a trade starts at 9 to 24.
Each also comes with the tools of the trade. A craftsperson may spend an ordinary pick on a
third trade too. Their skills grow fast: three skill rolls a level,
and a roll on a trade throws the die one step up.
Eye for the make
Eye for the make works whenever you look at an item’s description. It adds a line on what salvage would give of it if every check went well, a line on how many more improvements the anvil (for metal) or a knife (for wood) could still give arms or armour, or that the thing is damaged (and, once you have Make do and mend, that your own hands could mend it), and a line when its main material is hard or soft to work. Like Appraise, it also tells you how many enchantments the item can bear. It never tells you the odds, or how often a smith has worked the piece before. With Waste not it counts the three quarters salvage then gives back.
Waste not
From level 6 a craftsperson has Waste not: nothing is lost in their hands but time.
- Salvage gives back three quarters of each material’s weight instead of half (still at least one piece). The hardwood quarterstaff on Salvage gives 8 billets instead of 5. A gem’s fate is unchanged: a failed check still chips it, and a natural 2 still shatters it.
- A failed recipe gives back all of its stock and inputs instead of half. A failed batch gives back all its wood and metal. A failed brew is still spent on its murky draught.
- A failed temper at the anvil, or a failed whittle, damages nothing, even on a natural 2: the item stays as it was, and a damaged item is never destroyed. The attempt still counts, so the next one is as hard as it would have been.
Patron
The patron (Patron, from level 12) is a well-to-do burgher at the Gæsthūs in Cēaptūn who commissions Fine work from the craftsperson’s trades, one piece at a time, hands over the stock for it, and pays its full worth on delivery. See The patron.
Make do and mend
Make do and mend (from level 18) mends a damaged thing you carry, anywhere, with no anvil and no tools. Choose it in the abilities menu, then the item. It takes ten minutes. If something comes into view, you stop, the item is untouched, and the time is lost.
When the time is up you make one check: 2d12, plus the modifier of the stat of the craft that works the item’s main material (Strength for metal, Dexterity for wood and leather), plus what that craft skill gives you, against 10 plus the material’s work. Untrained in the craft, only the stat counts. A steel sword is 10 to beat, mithril 14, wood 9.
- Made: the damage is gone. The improvements it lost stay lost, and the next attempt at an anvil is just as hard as it would have been.
- Failed: nothing happens to it. It stays damaged, and you can try again.
It never destroys anything. You cannot mend something you wear or wield (take it off first), a protected item, goods you have not paid for, or something of a material no craft works, like cloth or glass. If you are trained in the craft, the check may earn it a training mark.
Trapwright
Trapwright (from level 25) rigs a trap on the cell beside you: a tripwire from arrows, stakes from a billet of wood, or a pitfall dug with your pick. A creature your trap kills is your kill. See Rigging traps.
Field forge
Field forge (from level 32) makes an anvil wherever you are: a makeshift anvil from one ingot and an hour’s work.
Quick hands
From level 40 a craftsperson has Quick hands: every craft takes half its time. That is every recipe (an enchanting too), a temper at the anvil, a whittle, cutting and setting a gem, salvage, Make do and mend, Field forge, and rigging a trap. A long sword takes half as long to forge, and salvage five minutes instead of ten. A ranger’s Fletcher halves arrows too, and the two together make them in a quarter of the time. Gathering herbs, foraging, scribing, and deciphering are not crafts and take as long as ever. The times the game shows are the halved ones.
Master’s hand
From level 50 a craftsperson has Master’s hand: when a check is made, 4 is added to its margin before the grade or the cut is read. A failed check still fails, and a natural 2 still fails or shatters the gem. So a Fine piece comes from a margin of 2, Marvellous from 8, and a Masterwork from 16, and every cut comes 4 sooner. The grade tables above and the cut tables under Gem cutting have a “With Master’s hand” column. Setting a gem, batches, and brews have no grade and are unchanged.
Maker’s mark
From level 60 what a craftsperson makes bears their mark. Every weapon, piece of armour, shield, tool, ring, and amulet they make is marked, whatever its grade, plain ones too. Ingots, batches of arrows and stones, and brews are never marked. Its description says so: “It bears Brakka’s mark.” Its name does not change.
- Worth: a marked piece is worth half again (+50 %, rounded down), on top of its grade. A marked Fine steel long sword is worth three times a plain one. A marked piece that is later damaged is worth half of that.
- The patron pays for that higher worth: a marked piece fetches half again what the same piece unmarked does (The patron).
- Enchantments: a marked piece can bear one more (Capacity).
The mark stays for good: tempering, damage, and mending never take it away.