[Carpentry] seeking feedback on possible proposal

[imperterritus]

Before I make an actual proposal, I thought I'd run a sanity check here. In short, I wonder what folks think about optionally substituting a bowcraft check on any carpented item which currently requires a tailoring check. Note that I am not saying replace the tailoring checks with bowcraft ones, but let either work.

Here's some background. I'm building a woodsman character, an elf named "Wood Yew". His goal template is:

100: Carpentry, Bowcraft
100: Arms Lore, Logging
80: Blacksmithing
75: Magery, Tailoring
50: Tinkering
45: Music

The last 5 skills listed are all necessary to be able to make the full carpentry suite. Note that the sum of all skills is 725. I think Wood Yew will be able to make up the difference with jewelry raising his magery skill. But still, wouldn't it be nice if his Bowcraft skill could substitute for tailoring?

For justification, let's look at the carpented items which require tailoring:

* Small Bed, Large Bed
*** 1) the mattress seams could be accomplished by one with fletching experience
*** 2) the Elven Bed and Tall Elven Bed require no tailoring skill

* Bamboo Screen, Shoji Screen
*** not sure why these even require tailoring ability

* Fishing Rod
*** isn't a fishing rod just a bow with the string tied to just one end?

* Loom
*** a very wide bow with 200 strings

* Spinning Wheel, Elven Spinning Wheel
*** experience with fletching and bowcraft reasonable substitute for tailoring

* Dressform, Pickpocket Dip, Training Dummy
*** Ok, these ones are a stretch. But no more so than tailoring being useful in making fishing poles ...

How would Wood Yew change his template if he didn't need those 75 points of tailoring? Well, as a lumberjack he's carrying an axe all the time anyway, so it would be nice to have 70 points of swordsmanship. It would provide defense and alternative gains in his Lumberjacking skill.

 

[Basara]

It's an interesting thought, but really a lot of the 2nd skill requirements need to be done away with, as some of them (fishing pole) are downright silly, and the oversight that has some of the superior-looking elf items not have them. BTW, The Bamboo & Shoji screens just have the bamboo/wood as the frame. The actual panels are cloth or paper.

Here's some template advice:

As an Elf, Find (or have someone imbue) you a couple of +15 Music jewelry pieces (other properties don't matter). Get Song-woven Mantle sleeves, and a Singing Axe.

That will let you drop ALL your real skill points in Music, and use them elsewhere.

If you dropped Tailor as well, you could go

100 Carpentry
100 Bowcrafting
100 Arms Lore
100 Lumberjacking (not counting Melisande's - if you want to use the axe for a weapon you want 100 real skill)
70 (real) Blacksmithing with +10 ASH to get to 80 for Carpentry items (70 is minimum for colored & large BODs, and the ASH only uses charges on actual blackmith items)
30 (real) Magery (Get +15 Magery jewels, and a Tome of Lost knowledge, to get to 75 for Carpentry crafting). Wear your mage jewelry whenever you aren't making instruments. Also, you read scrolls to cast EVs and Earth Elementals at 75 magery.
50 Tinkering.

That would put you at 550 skill. That would allow you to add 150-170 more skill points to your character. Heck, you could even keep that 75 Tailor, and add 75-95 Swords, or pick up 95 mining & some +5 gloves, and put the other 50-70 points into Swords, and have some jewels to bump swords up more (at the expense of magery, since music, magery and swords are in the same skill group).

 

[imperterritus]

Basara,

Thanks for the template suggestions. I didn't realize that so many skill points could be "faked". I'd still like bowcraft/fletching to be a substitute for tailoring on the Carpentry gump, but it's nice to know how much flexibility there is.

At the same time as Wood Yew is being built up, I'm developing a second craftsman to complement WY. He's technically an elf, Meer Miner. His goal template is:

120: Blacksmith, Tailoring
100: Arms Lore, Mining
100: Tinkering, Alchemy
80: Magery

Thus Wood Yew will need neither mining nor extra blacksmithy points. I've also made a gargoyle mystic/imbuer to almost complete the crafting skills.