Craft (Locks)
Full rules text, use cases, and edge-case handling for this skill.
Description
Craft represents skill in creating a specific category of physical goods. Unlike most skills, Craft is a family of separate sub-skills — each sub-skill is purchased independently and covers one category of work: Craft (alchemy), Craft (armor), Craft (weapons), Craft (traps), and so on. Ranks in one do not help with another.
The sub-skill you are viewing (Craft (Locks)) covers whatever category that name describes. The rules for how the check works, how long crafting takes, and what you can produce are identical across all Craft sub-skills.
Class skill — "Craft (any)": When a class lists Craft as a class skill, it applies to any one Craft sub-skill the character chooses. A fighter who picks Craft (weaponsmithing) as their class skill gets the class skill bonus on that sub-skill only.
Common Sub-Skills
This list covers the most common SRD sub-skills. GMs may add any trade or craft that makes sense in their setting.
Check
To craft an item, determine its market price in gold pieces and make a series of weekly Craft checks. The DC is set by the complexity of the item.
| Item Complexity | DC |
|---|---|
| Very simple item (wooden spoon) | 5 |
| Typical item (iron pot, simple tool) | 10 |
| High-quality item (common weapon or armor) | 15 |
| Complex item (masterwork component, trap) | 20 |
| Extraordinary item (siege engine component, complex trap) | 25 |
Crafting Procedure
- Find or purchase raw materials costing one-third of the item's market price.
- Make a Craft check each week (DC as above). Multiply your check result by the DC — this is how many silver pieces of progress you make that week.
- When your accumulated progress equals or exceeds the item's market price in silver pieces (market price × 10), the item is complete.
- On a failed check, no progress is made that week. If you fail by 5 or more, you ruin half the raw materials and must start again.
Masterwork items: Creating a masterwork item adds 300 gp to the cost and requires a separate Craft check at DC 20 for the masterwork component. Masterwork weapons and armor are prerequisites for most magic item crafting.
Action
One week of work per check. At the GM's discretion, daily checks may be used for small, simple items (divide weekly progress by 7). Rushed crafting (taking 8 hours in a day) uses the daily rate.
Try Again
Yes — progress accumulates week by week. A failed check means no progress that week. Failing by 5 or more destroys half the raw materials, requiring fresh materials before continuing.
Special
- Craft (alchemy): Can create alchemical items (alchemist's fire, antitoxin, tanglefoot bags, etc.) and identify alchemical substances. Requires no special tools beyond an alchemist's lab.
- Craft (traps): Used to build mechanical traps. Works alongside Knowledge (engineering) for complex designs.
- Skilled craftsman (trait): +1 to one Craft sub-skill; that sub-skill is always a class skill.
- Skill Focus (feat): +3 to one Craft sub-skill; increases to +6 with 10 or more ranks.
- Item creation feats: Craft (alchemy), Craft (armor), and Craft (weapons) are used in conjunction with item creation feats (Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Craft Wondrous Item, etc.) — but the feat does not require the Craft skill unless the item is non-magical.
Untrained
Craft is listed as trained only. However, the DC 5 check for very simple items is within reach of an untrained character in some interpretations — check with your GM. In practice, most crafting tasks require at least 1 rank.