I just had an idea about crafting... but I've not worked out all of the details
This does away with the built in system of essences and materials
so the idea is, what if crafting took a type of crafting tokens —maybe come up with a better name for them— but items would take different amounts depending on the item.
then after the certain amount of in change time, representing the in-game work that the pc was doing
when a pc has the required tokens of the appropriate type, they can use them at another workstation to create the item.
tokens could work something like this...:
- tokens represenr a unit of work, investment and sacrifice by a pc.
- some types of tokens might take actual ig time to create. to prevent people from just going afk, a type of mini-game could be used to keep the player involved, and it might be possible to do it in a way to prevent macroing it.
- creating a token sets a cool-down on that could be different based on what type of token is created.
- cool downs could be anywhere from a few minutes, to an in-game day, real day, reset, week, month, etc. Some tokens would have a quick cooldown, others would be longer.
- While a cooldown is in effect, another token of the same type couldn't be created.
- possibly the token could not be used until the cooldown has been reached, that way, no presto- instant epic item
- having levels, abilities or higher skill points in particular abilities or skill could give benefits such as faster/smaller cooldowns, gold cost reduction, xp reduction.
-I would recommend using base skill points + ability mods, and not item or spell bonuses for these checks, or at least least putting a cap on it, to prevent people from stacking tons of items, casting spells, bard effects, etc. Getting benefits from some of those things are realistic, but seem it might encourage OOC or meta gaming the system - additional gold or xp could reduce cool down timers, - i would suggest using a law of diminishing returns, maybe geometric or exponential.
- certain activities or areas related to the token, might cool down the token faster... such as a wizard researching something, or a smith near an anvil...
- possibly the token could not be used until the cooldown has been reached, that way, no presto- instant epic item
- a script could check to see if a pc had enough gold and xp (in excess to their current level) before proceeding with token creation
- tokens could bound or not bound to the pc
- bound tokens would only be usable by the pc who created them, and not tradeable or droppable.
- unbound tokens could be traded, but would have a higher xp and/or gold cost
- in mind with the tradeable tokens,
maybe some tokens require more than one person with particular traits, either in common or different - this could encourage players working together
- in mind with the tradeable tokens,
- tokens could have types:
- power: minor, moderate, major, epic, unearthly
- alignment
- power type (arcane, divine, eldritch, shadow weave, etc)
- racial (dwarven, elven, orc, halfling, gnome, drowcraft ( well - maybe not drowcraft in Sshamath because of lack of faerzress), fey, undead, etc)
- material (cloth, leather, wood, iron, mithral, etc)
- energy (acid, cold, electricity, fire, sonic, divine, negative, etc)
- special effects
- other misc types (farming, charity work, construction, etc.)
- tokens of a particular type could be stackable (or not)
- tokens of a particular type can only be created by a pc with the required race/class/level/alignment/skills/feats/etc
- maybe breaking down existing items could yield a requirement for a particular token. the benefit should be economically balanced - which requires more thought. but this might help people clear out mules
- if you wanted to get fancier, we could have particular scripted quests for certain tokens (ex.to create this epic white dragon token, you must kill the white dragon) - thus creating a dynamic quest system.
- some tokens could be so taxing or require so much sacrifice, that an ability score is permanently reduced
- maybe tokens could be extended to other areas besides items, like for example to pay for guild halls,
- It would be nice if certain kinds of tokens could be DM rewards,
these would probably need to be limited in some way, to avoid people trying to farm them.
it would have to be carefully monitored to avoid the "appearance" of bias or favoritism
( and btw, I'm not suggesting that there would be actual favoritism by the DMS, —I think our staff is pretty fair, and goes out of their way to internally monitor themselves — but the 'perception' or 'appearance' of favoritism to others could be tricker to avoid. )
For using the tokens...
new 'recipes' are created for items, with token various requirements for specific traits enhancement bonus, abilities. restrictions could be placed on how many and which kind of tokens could be used for which kinds of items, and again, dependent on pc's race, class, alignment, skills, feats, etc (ie, no orcs crafting elven chain for example)
when a pc has the required tokens, they go to a work bench, follow the recipe, and receive their item.
...
anyway, this is me just brainstorming... so any ideas or feedback is welcome
