A class based crafting flavor proposal

[respawnaholic]

I've been here close to 5 years now, and in that time for a variety of reasons I've found one of my main characters having picked up every crafting skill to a greater or lesser extent except for enchanting. As anyone who has ever devoted any time to the crafting system can attest it can be very fun in its own right, but also extremely time, and logistically intensive so I had the idea of maybe giving each class an up front 1 level boost to a crafting skill as a way of easing new characters into the crafting system as well as adding some flavor to each class that doesn't involve pure combat abilities.

My thinking goes in the character log thingy maybe boosting one (possibly 2) crafting skills to LVL 1 at start after a new character is made. Maybe possibly adding a second LVL 1 skill based on race if the idea gains any traction. Either way limit it to maybe two bumps total.

Fighter, Paladin : +1 smithing (to represent maintaining and repairing weapons.)
Barbarian : +1 leatherworking (to represent fixing and repairing all those loin cloths, and also so some class has leatherworking as a base skill.)
Cleric, Monk : +1 herbalism (to represent concocting various poultices and potions, ceremonial wines, etc., also they cant ALL spend all day casting cure disease, cure wounds, remove poison, etc.)
Rogue, Bard, Sorcerer: +1 Alchemy (to represent poisons and such possibly)
Wizard: +1 alchemy, +1 enchantment ( my intent here is to give a pure, or specialist wizard a tiny bit of a flavor advantage over a sorcerer, but also possibly representing the mental discipline and intense study of a wizard over simply being cool and gifted like a sorcerer)
Druid, Ranger: +1 herbalism, +1 woodworking (Both classes are supposed to be do it yourself types in an outdoors setting. Giving them 2 crafts seems natural.)

Dwarf, Gnome : +1 smelting
Elf, Half Elf : +1 carpentry (half elf only because benefits wise their the red-headed step children of the NWN universe.)
Halfling : +1 herbalism (yes, this would potentially give a class a 2 level bump but herbalism is a popular skill anyway and really...is there anything more adoreable than halflings running around picking flowers and mushrooms...unless their also named Brumbat?)
Caliban : +1 alchemy (same as a above, but due more to calibans being in close proximity to noxious and toxic sludges from a very early age ))

[respawnaholic]

Ok really. 95 views and no one has a yay or nay one way or another?

[Feronius]

I very much like the general suggestion, actually. A great initiative and very thought out idea as well.
Although I do think you should give every class and race equal amounts of bonuses for balance sake.

I must say I'm not a huge fan of your reasoning behind some of the choices for the classes though.
I'll just go through them one by one, since that gives you a much clearer overview of the feedback.
(Some of these might be identical with yours by the way, just listing them all to have a complete list.)



Fighter, Paladin: +1 Smelting, 1+ Smithing (Most warriors knew basic weapon repair.)
Barbarian: +1 Curing, +1 Leatherworking (Barbarians make their own armour or the lack of it.)
Cleric, Monk: +1 Herbalism, +1 Carpentry (Gathering or growing herbs. Maintenance to their chapels and monestaries?)
Rogue: +1 Herbalism, +1 Leatherworking (Poisons. Adjusting armour or armour patches?)
Bard: +1 Alchemy, +1 Leatherworking (Affinity for magic and it's creative use? Tailoring?)
Sorcerer: +1 Alchemy, +1 Enchanting (Affinity for magic. As well as a natural talent for magic.)
Wizard: +1 Alchemy, +1 Enchanting (Affinity for magic. As well as dedicated magical studies.)
Druid: +1 Woodworking, +1 Herbalism (Knowledge of the trees and the flora.)
Ranger: +1 Curing, +1 Woodworking (Knowledge of the fauna. Fletching.)


This arrangement gives every class +2 skill bonuses each and every craft is represented 2 or 3 times.
That balance isn't even intentional, but coincedental. These skills just made the most sense to me.

Giving races an additional bonus as well does make sense, but if you are to, you should go through every one of them.
Mainly went for gathering proffesions here and tried to keep it balanced, sticking close to common sense. One each.
(Also intentionally avoided enchanting, as I believe it's only available to certain magical classes, right?)


Human: +1 Carpentry (They build a lot, expand their communities loads, etc.)
Elf, Half-Elf: +1 Herbalism (At home with flora and all things woodland related, treehugging and so on.)
Dwarf: +1 Smelting (Famous dwarven forges, they always manage to get it to burn hotter.)
Gnome: +1 Alchemy (Inventive mindsets and gnomish craftmanship combined with some racial affinity?)
Halfling: +1 Herbalism (Keen eyes, delicate fingers and heaps of unsatisfied curiousity?)
Half-Orc / Caliban: +1 Curing (Rats, scavenging or hunting and making their own meal, clothing, etc.)




Well, that's my suggestion or take on your concept at least. As well as the feedback to balance it out more evenly.
Overall I do really like this idea, it's great. This adds a bit of incentive to start a craft, like a subtle nudge to get you on the way.
Crafting is very time consuming and very much a grind as it is, so a minor racial headstart as encouragement, why not?

[DM Nocturne]

I like these ideas. I agree that crafting can be difficult to get into and it might be nice to give classes/base races more distinction non-combat related.

[Feronius]

Alternatively, you could consider giving players a choice to get +1 in one craft of their choice.
Just like how they get to pick their background and some small amount of bonus stats for it.

Although as DM Nocturne said, I do like the original suggestion better. A bit more racial distinction can be neat.

[respawnaholic]

I very much like the general suggestion, actually. A great initiative and very thought out idea as well.
Although I do think you should give every class and race equal amounts of bonuses for balance sake.

I must say I'm not a huge fan of your reasoning behind some of the choices for the classes though.
I'll just go through them one by one, since that gives you a much clearer overview of the feedback.
(Some of these might be identical with yours by the way, just listing them all to have a complete list.)



Fighter, Paladin: +1 Smelting, 1+ Smithing (Most warriors knew basic weapon repair.)
Barbarian: +1 Skinning, +1 Leatherworking (Barbarians make their own armour or the lack of it.)
Cleric, Monk: +1 Herbalism, +1 Carpentry (Gathering or growing herbs. Maintenance to their chapels and monestaries?)
Rogue: +1 Herbalism, +1 Leatherworking (Poisons. Adjusting armour or armour patches?)
Bard: +1 Alchemy, +1 Leatherworking (Affinity for magic and it's creative use? Tailoring?)
Sorcerer: +1 Alchemy, +1 Enchanting (Affinity for magic. As well as a natural talent for magic.)
Wizard: +1 Alchemy, +1 Enchanting (Affinity for magic. As well as dedicated magical studies.)
Druid: +1 Woodworking, +1 Herbalism (Knowledge of the trees and the flora.)
Ranger: +1 Skinning, +1 Woodworking (Knowledge of the fauna. Fletching.)


This arrangement gives every class +2 skill bonuses each and every craft is represented 2 or 3 times.
That balance isn't even intentional, but coincedental. These skills just made the most sense to me.

Giving races an additional bonus as well does make sense, but if you are to, you should go through every one of them.
Mainly went for gathering proffesions here and tried to keep it balanced, sticking close to common sense. One each.
(Also intentionally avoided enchanting, as I believe it's only available to certain magical classes, right?)


Human: +1 Carpentry (They build a lot, expand their communities loads, etc.)
Elf, Half-Elf: +1 Herbalism (At home with flora and all things woodland related, treehugging and so on.)
Dwarf: +1 Smelting (Famous dwarven forges, they always manage to get it to burn hotter.)
Gnome: +1 Alchemy (Inventive mindsets and gnomish craftmanship combined with some racial affinity?)
Halfling: +1 Herbalism (Keen eyes, delicate fingers and heaps of unsatisfied curiousity?)
Half-Orc / Caliban: +1 Skinning (Rats, scavenging or hunting and preparing their own meal, etc.)




Well, that's my suggestion or take on your concept at least. As well as the feedback to balance it out more evenly.
Overall I do really like this idea, it's great. This adds a bit of incentive to start a craft, like a subtle nudge to get you on the way.
Crafting is very time consuming and very much a grind as it is, so a minor racial headstart as encouragement, why not?

I like it, and mine was just to get some ideas flowing. Yours seems to be a bit better balanced overall. I know from vast amounts of firsthand experience that crafting can eat up LOTS of on line time so I thought I would just float the general idea out there to ease the initial shock of it.

[Feronius]

Well, I think it would be a great addition to the server. A nice push to get started in crafting.

By the way, there is a chance that I confused carpentry for woodworking and woodworking for capentry.
If I got it right, carpentry cuts up the logs into planks. And woodworking creates arrows, barrels and crafty stuff from it.

[Hatsune]

Carpentry is the 'processing' craft, turning raw wood into usable items. Woodworking turns those items into arrows/bows/shields/etc.


Also note, there is no 'skinning'. This should be "Curing" I assume? The processing craft for turning raw hides into usable patches for leatherworking.



Also! I'd be all for some of this being added! Think a little extra hand could go along way.

[Feronius]

Ah, I got the carpentry and woodworking correct then.
And yes, I did mean curing, instead of skinning. Editted that, thanks.

[Crimson Shuriken]

I had a similar line of inquiry last year, I still think its a good idea.
Suggestion: Racial based craft recipes