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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Starfinder RPG

Rules Index | GM Screen | Player's Guide
Secrets of Crafting / Story-Based Crafting / Crafting by Questing

Crafting Quests

Source Treasure Vault pg. 171 1.1
As in normal crafting, the first step in initiating a crafting quest is for the player to decide what they want to craft, or for you as the GM to present them with a handful of possible things they can quest to create. You might also plan out a few crafting quests during your session zero so that they can be built directly into the narrative of the campaign and worked into the PCs' backstories. One of the simplest ways to do this is to have each of the players give you a wish list of items during your session zero, listing key items their characters would like to acquire during the course of the campaign. These could be as general as “a magic sword” or “a magic staff,” or as specific as “a suit of devil's bargain armor for my Asmodean cleric.”

Crafting quests should always be significant events for the players and their characters. Don't send the PCs questing to create a simple dagger. Instead consider what items could become iconic parts of the character's story, like a magic bow for an archer, a powerful staff for a wizard, or lucky boots for a rogue. The nature of crafting quests as events that will permanently inform the characters' stories and shape their builds means that there should always be a high level of collaboration between the players and GM. When using crafting quests, you typically won't need to use the Extra Treasure values from Table 5–3: Treasure by Encounter, as those values are to compensate for the PCs finding loot that they won't use or for missing some of the loot entirely. Since the PCs are always set up to get the loot they want when using story-based crafting, and because the value of these items is subtracted from their total treasure, these additional values are superfluous and could give the party too much treasure for their level. If you prefer a campaign where the PCs have a bit more treasure on hand as a way to encourage the use of consumables or “non-essential” equipment, you can use the treasure values as presented.

The items you select for the PCs should all be items that are of a level appropriate to the characters (typically the same as their current level) or appropriate to the level they will be when they complete the crafting quests. For complete examples of crafting quests, see Example Quests.

Building a Narrative

Source Treasure Vault pg. 172 1.1
Once you know what item the characters are questing to create, it's time to build a narrative around that journey. Think of this like a subplot to the main story, with key moments and pivotal scenes that occur alongside the overarching plot of your campaign. If the entire group is searching for crafting quest components, then some parts of this story can take the spotlight and be the focus of an entire part of your campaign. In any event, you should give this story the same consideration you give any other part of your campaign narrative, balancing player desires with appropriate narrative decisions and combat challenges. Make sure that no one character's crafting quests take the spotlight for too long, and always watch for opportunities to align the interests of the various party members.

Start by determining how many encounters you want the PCs to complete before the item is finished. For each required encounter, reduce the required cost of the story-crafted item by 10% of its total value. These cost reductions should never reduce the equivalent cost of the item below 50% of its base cost. This ensures the PCs don't end up with significantly more wealth than they should have and makes sure that their crafting quests don't stretch across too many levels of play. Next, take the remaining price of the item and divide that by the number of encounters. Reduce the reward for these encounters by that amount, to balance it against any other rewards you might include.

Crafting quest encounters should generally be between low and severe difficulty; trivial encounters are too easy to justify the reduction in cost of the story-crafted item and generally won't be narratively satisfying for the players, while extreme encounters are simply too dangerous and may feel unfair to the player trying to story craft.

Low-difficulty encounters are appropriate for a single crafting quest component, while moderate and severe encounters should provide crafting quest components for multiple characters. A severe-difficulty fight against a powerful monster with a treasure hoard, like a dragon, might provide crafting quest components for the entire party. Having the entire party's crafting quests intersect in encounters like this also helps bind the PCs together through shared goals and accomplishments.

Finally, map these encounters and their narratives to your overall campaign or adventure, giving plenty of space between each to allow them to feel like earned pieces of a growing story.

Beginning the Quest

Source Treasure Vault pg. 172 1.1
Starting a crafting quest begins like any other story in your campaign. The PCs might learn of the item and how it can be made through one of any number of sources, from an old formula in a book to a cryptic prophesy that came to them in a dream. The key is to give the PCs an idea about the journey they must undertake and an idea of the reward that awaits them at the end.

Next, give the PCs an opportunity to learn about the locations of the first crafting quest component for their item. They could gain this information through Recall Knowledge checks, Research at a local library, or by Gathering Information. Again, this first piece might also be part of their initial discovery of the quest, but later components should certainly require research or exploration to uncover.

You don't need to give the PCs the locations of all their crafting components up front; as long as they know where to find the first piece, you can leave clues and opportunities to uncover the location of the next crafting quest component at key points in the campaign for PCs to discover naturally during the course of play. Alternatively, you can give the PCs the location of all the crafting quest components up front, though giving them such information all at once works best in a campaign intended to be more of a player-directed sandbox than one trying to follow a central narrative through line.

Once the PCs have learned the location of their first crafting quest components, it's time to begin the adventure!

Gathering the Components

Source Treasure Vault pg. 172 1.1
Locating the individual crafting quest components for a single story-crafted item should occur in separate and distinct areas, even if they're all in one larger location (like a dungeon or one large forest). This makes the item feel like it was earned, rather than given, and prevents the characters from exceeding the normal time limits that are a part of the crafting process.

Each component should be either a part of the final item or something used during the creation process itself. For example, if you were trying to create a powerful bow that calls upon storms, you might need to find the heart of a tree burned by lightning, the scale of a blue dragon, or even the breath of a powerful air elemental. Alternatively, the component might be a person or place necessary for the crafting, like a woodcarver who survived a shipwreck, or a workshop located atop a mountain. In any event, each component should feel like it's building toward a completed item as part of the well-rounded story that tells of its creation.

Forging the Treasure

Source Treasure Vault pg. 172 1.1
Once the PC has gathered together all of the crafting quest components for their item, it's time to assemble the pieces. Depending on the nature of the crafting quests, this might not require a skill check. For a longer crafting quest that included at least three encounters spread across different locations, the simple act of bringing the components together can be enough for their magic to do the rest of the work, uniting the components into a single, completed item the PC can immediately put to use. For a shorter crafting quest taking place in a single location, you can instead require a skill check (likely a Crafting check, but possibly using a different skill depending on the item and circumstances).

When requiring a skill check to assemble a story-crafted item, you should make the check itself something appropriately exciting and epic, a fitting capstone for the completed crafting quest. For example, if the player's dwarf fighter completed a crafting quest that required them to assemble the materials for the haft, head, and grip of a magic hammer, their check could take place at an ancient dwarven forge blessed by Torag, God of the Forge. The DC of this check should be based on the item's level, rarity, and other circumstances. If successful, the item works as intended. If the check fails, it may have a quirk of some sort. If the check is a critical failure, it might be destroyed or even result in a cursed item!