Crafting skill

After much debate, my group of Player Characters have decided they wanted to add some "crafting" like skills to their talents. After debating on which ones to take on, we opted with only adding three large categories. I've included my "hand" modified version of the official WoC 4th  Edition Character Sheet with these changes.

The first being Alchemy:
Now this set of the crafting includes all "magical" crafting. So potions, remedies, poisons all fall into this category. We can also include potential illusion like magic into this category as well as attempts to perform transmutations of elements. Even chemistry like things could fall into this category. 

This crafting skill is based on wisdom. My logic behind this is that it takes more then just intelligence to build a magic syrup. Rather it would take magic know how and experience.

Next is Forging:
Now by forging, I mean blacksmithing. If it can be build with a hammer and anvil, then it falls under this category. Swords, Armor, Shields. We will also include equipment that would be crafted with hide/leather.

Now I was having a hard time picking between con and str for forging, but I opted for strength. I'm still not sure, but I figured if you hit hard you make good armor right? ;)

Lastly is engineering:

This is for when a player wants to build a canoe out of a log, or a torch out of a stick and leaves. Or perhaps add a room to his house? This is kind of like the Msc. crafting area.

I used intelligence for the modifier here as I figured it seemed to fit best. You need to be a smart cookie after all if you are trying to build using few tools.

But these three sections are not mutually exclusive. They're actually the complete opposite. They can be quite interesting if used together. If you wanted to build a enchanted sword you could combine alchemy with forging for instance.Or if you wanted to build a flying machine you could combine alchemy with engineering. What about a walking talking suit of armor? That could potentially be all three. The possibilities really are endless.


I've also added a profession section. This skill has no modifier. It is simply something that a character would have learned to do in their younger age as well a profession. Maybe their parents were fishermen, and thus they would be good at fishing. Or maybe they grew up in a rich district and know the ways of aristocratic life. Things like that.

NPC Character Sheet

My alternate form of the official 4th edition charather sheet by Wizards

Now I've been looking all over the internet for an NPC character sheet and none of them have what I'm looking for. Most of the ones I was able to find were much too bulky with lots of sections that I don't deem important enough for my campaign. The campaign I am currently running revolves around more "social puzzles" and has very little combat. Therefore I needed one where I could easily refer to the Skills and Defenses of my NPCs. Their common attacks didn’t really warrant a spot. Or if I needed to have them fight their bare necessities can still be found on the sheet and I would simply have to invent a "power" or attack that seemed relatively fair.

Therefore I decided to alter the official PC character sheet to make a cue card sized NPC Character sheet. They can easily be printed 4 times on one page, or more allowing you to avoid having to many large sheets of paper in your way.

I figured I couldn't have been the only person looking for a decent NPC character sheet, so here it is world!

Family Treasure Puzzle

Ivory Bucket by Five Gallon Ideas

As previously mentioned in my last post
The circular family crypt contained the family's heirloom that the player characters could potential obtain as a bonus item if they solved the puzzle.

When they enter the central part of the chamber they notice whispers coming from the corpses of the deceased.

"The first contains five,
The second contains three,
But only one will open the chest you see."

After the voices are done, three small buckets appear one by one. They are small metallic buckets, with very fancy carvings and details on them. In my case, I had the family crest carved on all of them as well as animals and clovers to represent the township the family came from.

The first of the buckets to appear is to the right of the chest. This is the largest of the three, scaling at exactly 5 cups of water. If inspected properly the base of the bucket has a "V" carved onto it. The second appears on the left side of the chest exactly opposite the first bucket. This bucket has similar features. This bucket contains 3 cups of water and has "III" carved into its base. These two buckets, when inspected are normal buckets that were enchanted with simple illusion magic, to seem invisible until the puzzle is triggered.


The third is a little more complicated though. The last bucket to appear is at the base of the chest. This one has the same carvings, but cannot be lifted from the floor. If inspected the bucket is connected to a mechanism that unlocks the chest. 

The way this puzzle is intended to work: The players need to fill the small bucket with exactly one unit of water. Once this is achieved the chest will click open. They will need to use the V and III buckets respectively to do so.

Fill III bucket
Empty it into the V bucket
Fill III bucket again
Empty it into the V bucket until full
Empty the remaining contents of the III bucket into the I bucket

If the small bucket doesn't have exactly 1 cup of water, the base opens up and the water drains. So if there is more, it drains immediately. If there is less, it will keep it there for a few seconds and then drain.

Secondary option: The chest can be picked. It would however be an extremely hard lock to pick. So choose a score that seems appropriate for the level of the PCs

Once the chest is opened, the contents can be whatever you’d like.
I used the Silvertongue Inkwell created by LS over at Papers and Pencils.