You are trained in a craft, trade or art, such as alchemy, armoursmithing, basketweaving, bookbinding, bowmaking, blacksmithing, calligraphy, carpentry, cobbling, gemcutting, leatherworking, locksmithing, painting, pottery, sculpting, shipmaking, stonemasonry, trapmaking, weaponsmithing or weaving.
Like Knowledge, Perform and Profession, Craft is actually a number of separate skills. You could have several Craft skills, each with its own ranks, each purchased as a separate skill.
A Craft skill is specifically focused on creating something. If nothing is created by the endeavor, it probably falls under the heading of a Profession skill.
Check: You can practice your trade and make a decent living, earning about half your check result in gold pieces per week of dedicated work. You know how to use the tools of your trade, how to perform the craft’s daily tasks, how to supervise untrained helpers, and how to handle common problems. (Untrained labourers and assistants earn an average of 1 silver piece per day.)
The basic function of the Craft skill, however, is to allow you to make an item of the appropriate type. The DC depends on the complexity of the item to be created. The DC, your check results, and the price of the item determine how long it takes to make a particular item. The item’s finished price also determines the cost of raw materials.
In some cases, the fabricate spell can be used to achieve the results of a Craft check with no actual check involved. However, you must make an appropriate Craft check when using the spell to make articles requiring a high degree of craftsmanship.
A successful Craft check related to woodworking in conjunction with the casting of the ironwood spell enables you to make wooden items that have the strength of steel.
When casting the spell minor creation, you must succeed on an appropriate Craft check to make a complex item.
All crafts require artisan’s tools to give the best chance of success. If improvised tools are used, the check is made with a -2 circumstance penalty. On the other hand, masterwork artisan’s tools provide a +2 circumstance bonus on the check.
To determine how much time and money it takes to make an item, follow these steps.
If you fail a check by 4 or less, you make no progress this week.
If you fail by 5 or more, you ruin half the raw materials and have to pay half the original raw material cost again.
Progress by the Day: You can make checks by the day instead of by the week. In this case your progress (check result × DC) is in copper pieces instead of silver pieces.
Creating Masterwork Items: You can make a masterwork item — a weapon, suit of armour, shield or tool that conveys a bonus on its use through its exceptional craftsmanship, not through being magical. To create a masterwork item, you create the masterwork component as if it were a separate item in addition to the standard item. The masterwork component has its own price (300 gp for a weapon or 150 gp for a suit of armour or a shield) and a Craft DC of 20. Once both the standard component and the masterwork component are completed, the masterwork item is finished. Note: The cost you pay for the masterwork component is one-third of the given amount, just as it is for the cost in raw materials.
Repairing Items: Generally, you can repair an item by making checks against the same DC that it took to make the item in the first place. The cost of repairing an item is one-fifth of the item’s price.
Quick Creation (Epic): You can voluntarily increase the DC of crafting an item by any multiple of 10. This tactic allows you to create an item more quickly (since you’ll be multiplying this higher DC by your check result to determine progress). You must decide the increase before you make the check.
When you use the Craft skill to make a particular sort of item, the DC for checks involving the creation of that item are typically as given in the following table.
| Item | Craft Skill | Craft DC |
|---|---|---|
| Acid | Alchemy1 | 15 |
| Alchemist’s fire, smokestick or tindertwig | Alchemy1 | 20 |
| Antitoxin, sunrod, tanglefoot bag or thunderstone | Alchemy1 | 25 |
| Armour or shield | Armoursmithing | 10 + AC bonus |
| Paper (100 sheets) | Bookbinding | 12 |
| Papyrus (100 sheets) | Bookbinding | 10 |
| Parchment (100 sheets) | Bookbinding | 10 |
| Spellbook | Bookbinding | 15 |
| Longbow or shortbow | Bowmaking | 12 |
| Composite longbow or composite shortbow | Bowmaking | 15 |
| Composite longbow or composite shortbow with high strength rating | Bowmaking | 15 + (2 × rating) |
| Magic tattoo4 | Calligraphy | 10, 15 or 20 |
| Crossbow | Weaponsmithing | 15 |
| Simple melee or thrown weapon | Weaponsmithing | 12 |
| Martial melee or thrown weapon | Weaponsmithing | 15 |
| Exotic melee or thrown weapon | Weaponsmithing | 18 |
| Mechanical trap | Trapmaking | Varies2 |
| Magic rune3 | Varies | 20 + spell level |
| Very simple item (wooden spoon) | Varies | 5 |
| Typical item (iron pot) | Varies | 10 |
| High-quality item (bell) | Varies | 15 |
| Complex or superior item (lock) | Varies | 20 |
1 You must be a spellcaster to craft any of these items.
2 Traps have their own rules for construction.
3 Requires the Inscribe Rune feat.
4 Using the create magic tattoo spell.
Craft (Poisonmaking): The fine art of refining raw materials into effective poisons requires both patience and care (not to mention discretion, in areas where poisons are outlawed). Making poisons with the Craft (Poisonmaking) skill follows the standard rules for Craft skills, with the following exceptions.
Price: The cost of raw materials varies widely depending on whether the character has access to the active ingredient — that is, the venom or plant that actually provides the toxin. If a supply is readily available, the raw materials cost one-sixth of the market price, not one-third. Otherwise, the raw materials cost at least three-quarters of the market price — assuming the substance in question is for sale at all.
Amount: To figure out how much poison you are able to create in a week, make a Craft (Poisonmaking) check at the end of the week. If the check is successful, multiply the check result by the DC for the check. That result is how many gp worth of poison you created that week. When your total gp created equals or exceeds the market price of one dose of the poison, that dose is finished. (You may sometimes be able to create more than one dose in a week, depending on your check result and the market price of he poison.) If you fail the check by 4 or less, you make no rogress that week. If you fail the check by 5 or more, you uin half the raw materials and have to buy them again.
| Poison | DC to Create | Price | Type | DC to Resist | Initial Damage | Secondary Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arsenic | 15 | 120 gp | Ingested | 13 | 1 Con | 1d8 Con |
| Black adder venom | 15 | 120 gp | Injury | 11 | 1d6 Con | 1d6 Con |
| Black lotus extract | 35 | 4,500 gp | Contact | 20 | 3d6 Con | 3d6 Con |
| Bloodroot | 15 | 100 gp | Injury | 12 | 0 | 1d4 Con + 1d3 Wis |
| Blue whinnis | 15 | 120 gp | Injury | 14 | 1 Con | Unconsciousness |
| Burnt othur fumes | 25 | 2,100 gp | Inhaled | 18 | 1 Con1 | 3d6 Con |
| Carrion crawler brain juice | 15 | 200 gp | Contact | 13 | Paralysis | 0 |
| Dark reaver powder | 25 | 300 gp | Ingested | 18 | 2d6 Con | 1d6 Con +1d6 Str |
| Deathblade | 25 | 1,800 gp | Injury | 20 | 1d6 Con | 2d6 Con |
| Dragon bile | 30 | 1,500 gp | Contact | 26 | 3d6 Str | 0 |
| Drow poison | 15 | 75 gp | Injury | 13 | Unconsciousness | Unconsciousness 2d4 hours |
| Giant wasp poison | 20 | 210 gp | Injury | 14 | 1d6 Dex | 1d6 Dex |
| Greenblood oil | 15 | 100 gp | Injury | 13 | 1 Con | 1d2 Con |
| Id moss | 15 | 125 gp | Ingested | 14 | 1d4 Int | 2d6 Int |
| Insanity mist | 20 | 1,500 gp | Inhaled | 15 | 1d4 Wis | 2d6 Wis |
| Large scorpion venom | 20 | 200 gp | Injury | 14 | 1d4 Con | 1d4 Con |
| Lich dust | 20 | 250 gp | Ingested | 17 | 2d6 Str | 1d6 Str |
| Malyss root paste | 20 | 500 gp | Contact | 16 | 1 Dex | 2d4 Dex |
| Medium spider venom | 15 | 150 gp | Injury | 12 | 1d4 Str | 1d4 Str |
| Nitharit | 20 | 650 gp | Contact | 13 | 0 | 3d6 Con |
| Oil of taggit | 15 | 90 gp | Ingested | 15 | 0 | Unconsciousness |
| Purple worm poison | 20 | 700 gp | Injury | 25 | 1d6 Str | 2d6 Str |
| Sassone leaf residue | 20 | 300 gp | Contact | 16 | 2d12 hp | 1d6 Con |
| Shadow essence | 20 | 250 gp | Injury | 17 | 1 Str1 | 2d6 Str |
| Small centipede poison | 15 | 90 gp | Injury | 10 | 1d2 Dex | 1d2 Dex |
| Striped toadstool | 15 | 180 gp | Ingested | 11 | 1 Wis | 2d6 Wis + 1d4 Int |
| Terinav root | 25 | 750 gp | Contact | 16 | 1d6 Dex | 2d6 Dex |
| Ungol dust | 20 | 1,000 gp | Inhaled | 15 | 1 Cha | 1d6 Cha + 1 Cha1 |
| Wyvern poison | 25 | 3,000 gp | Injury | 17 | 2d6 Con | 2d6 Con |
1 Ability drain, not ability damage.
Note: Black adder venom is listed as DC 11 in the 3.5 version of the Dungeon Master’s Guide, although it is also listed as DC 12 in the 3.0 version of the book and the Complete Adventurer. The Monster Manual specifies that a medium viper snake has poison with a DC 11. On this basis, it appears that the DC 12 listing was in error, and was corrected for 3.5, although the Complete Adventurer did not reflect that update.
Creating an Artistic Composition: In addition to concrete goods, Craft covers artistic endeavors such as writing and musical composition. As with the standard use of the Craft skill, the DC, your check results, and the value of the composition determine how long it takes to compose a musical or written work. The table below summarizes DCs and values for common types of compositions. All the values are expressed as ranges. You can choose your target value for your composition.
The only raw materials required for a written composition are pen, ink and parchment. In the course of one week’s work, you spend about 2 gp on materials. Use this cost rather than the cost of the normal materials (a total of one-third of the item’s price). If you are making checks by the day, you spend about 3 sp per day.
| Composition Type | Value | Craft DC |
|---|---|---|
| Poem | 5 sp—2 gp | 12 |
| Novel | 5 gp—15 gp | 15 |
| Reference book | 25 gp—100 gp | 18 |
| Epic | 50 gp—500 gp | 20 |
| Song | 5 sp—5 gp | 12 |
| Quartet or quintet composition | 5 gp—15 gp | 15 |
| Symphony | 25 gp—100 gp | 20 |
| Dramatic monologue | 1 gp—5 gp | 15 |
| Comedic play | 10 gp—30 gp | 15 |
| Dramatic play | 15 gp—50 gp | 15 |
Craft (Boat Building): Many craft skills are required to fabricate various parts of a ship — carpentry for the hull and masts, blacksmithing for the iron fittings and nails, sailmaking for the sails, even ropemaking for the thousands of feet of hawsers, stays and line necessary to rig the ship correctly. However, small craft such as canoes, rafts and skiffs are all covered under Craft (Boat Building).
A boat builder can handle any vessel of Huge size or smaller, although a single boat builder working on a ketch or launch of Huge size might take six months or more to finish the work. Building a larger ship requires the skills of a shipwright (see Knowledge). The chief difference between a shipwright and a boat builder is that the boat builder rarely works off of any sort of plans, instead using various rules-of-thumb and his own skilled eye to build a serviceable vessel.
Some sample Craft DCs for rafts and boats that can be created with the Craft (Boat Building) skill appear below.
| Type of Boat | Craft DC |
|---|---|
| Crude raft | 5 |
| Dugout canoe | 8 |
| Coracle | 10 |
| Well-made raft | 10 |
| Skiff | 12 |
| Launch | 15 |
| War canoe | 18 |
| Pinnace | 20 |
Repair Warforged: A character with ranks in certain Craft skills can attempt to repair a warforged character who has taken damage. A check requires 8 hours and restores a number of hit points equal to the Craft check result -15. A character can take 10 on this check but can’t take 20. Other constructs can’t be repaired in this way (but a character with the Craft Construct feat can repair such a construct). Applicable Craft skills include armoursmithing, blacksmithing, gemcutting and sculpting. A warforged with an applicable Craft skill can repair itself. Repairing warforged requires some crafting expertise. This particular use of the Craft skill cannot be performed untrained.
Create Augmented Alchemical Item or Substance (Epic): This requires the Augmented Alchemy feat, and allows you to create alchemical items and substances of greater power than normal. To augment an alchemical substance, add +20 to the DC required to create the item and multiply the cost by 5. If the item or substance deals damage, double the damage dealt. If the item or substance doesn’t deal damage, double the duration of its effect. If the item or substance doesn’t deal damage and doesn’t have a specific listed duration (or has an instantaneous duration), double all dimensions of its area. If the item or substance doesn’t fit any of these categories, then it cannot be improved in this manner. You can create an item with multiple degrees of augmentation. For every additional multiplier applied to damage, duration, or area, add an additional +20 to the DC and add an additional 5 to the cost multiplier.
| Item | Effect of Augmenting |
|---|---|
| Acid | Direct hit 2d6, splash 2 |
| Alchemist’s fire | Direct hit 2d6, splash 2 |
| Antitoxin | Duration 2 hours |
| Smokestick | Smoke fills a 20-foot cube |
| Sunrod | Glows for 12 hours |
| Tanglefoot bag | Becomes brittle and fragile after 20 minutes |
| Tinderwig | No effect |
Action: Does not apply. Craft checks are made by the day or week (see above).
Try Again: Yes, but each time you miss by 5 or more, you ruin half the raw materials and have to pay half the original raw material cost again.
Each time you fail a check by 5 or more when creating an artistic composition, you must start over from the beginning of the creation process.
Special: A dwarf has a +2 racial bonus on Craft checks that are related to stone or metal, because dwarves are especially capable with stonework and metalwork.
A gnome has a +2 racial bonus on Craft (Alchemy) checks because gnomes have sensitive noses.
You may voluntarily add +10 to the indicated DC to craft an item. This allows you to create the item more quickly (since you’ll be multiplying this higher DC by your Craft check result to determine progress). You must decide whether to increase the DC before you make each weekly or daily check.
To make an item using Craft (Alchemy), you must have alchemical equipment and be a spellcaster. If you are working in a city, you can buy what you need as part of the raw materials cost to make the item, but alchemical equipment is difficult or impossible to come by in some places. Purchasing and maintaining an alchemist’s lab grants a +2 circumstance bonus on Craft (Alchemy) checks because you have the perfect tools for the job, but it does not affect the cost of any items made using the skill.
You can use Craft (Blacksmithing) or Craft (Weaponsmithing) instead of Craft (Siege Engineering) to construct or repair siege weapons by taking a -5 penalty.
Synergy: If you have 5 ranks in a Craft skill, you get a +2 bonus on Appraise checks related to items made with that Craft skill.
Source: Player’s Handbook (Page 70), Complete Adventurer (Page 97), Epic Level Handbook (Page 38), Magic of Faerûn (Page 20), Races of Stone (Page 131)