Crafting (and Wages)

[Choinski, Burton]

||>Presumably, an established armorer will have apprentices, allowing him to
||>get items created in half or one-third the time (but at double cost or
||>triple cost, to cover the apprentices).  Larger armories will have
multiple
||>armorers and apprentices working on large projects.
||
||I'd think the apprentinces would be more for the fancy stuff like jewel
||implacement and decoration of the hilt.

I can also see apprentices doing a good portion of the grunt work, leaving
him free for the really hairy tasks that require his experience.

||If I were to come up with a formal system i might separate it into
||groups like
||
||weapons
||clothing
||home goods

Well, at the present I am mostly looking ahead toward armorcrafting and
weaponsmithing.  Making chairs and bunk-beds can be worried about later. :}

||then subdivide it into formula for each area rather than one global thing
||for everything.  

I figured it would have to be a different formula for each class, most
certainly a differing one between weapons and armor.  The global thing was
just a quick toss for an idea.

||For weapons you could base it on say a per WSB/FV # basis rather than
||hours or weight/cost.  Various things like that.

Figuring the time based on (sale price - material cost)/8CC has the
advantage of cutting min-maxers off at the knees.  With the given rules one
can create chainmail worth 16GC in 25 days, effectively giving the munchkin
PC armorer a pay of 16GC per month (as opposed to 2GC per month).  This
makes sense only if the average armorer sits on his thumbs for 7 months
afterwards. 

With "Time is money", your characters can indeed make a suit of chainmail
for themselves at 40% cost, assuming they don't value their time.  But they
won't be seduced into raping the rules.  Presumably the time is a rough
idea...an Armorer skill roll may be used to determine actual time (+/- 10%
from the base) in addition to the one used to determine the quality of the
armor (or weapon).  And Armorers who are also merchants can try and use
their Merchant skill to try and haggle down the material costs, and thus
improve their margins.

However, before I can figure out the creation times, one needs to determine
wages, so let me segue into a different thread from here...wages for jobs.

The following are from my missive on soldiers and on building construction
(which also uses a "Time is Money" idea for determining the cost of walls
and such):

--------------
Name             Weekly Wage    Monthly Wage         
Bearer               2CC              10CC	
For general carrying and lifting.  Can move 500 pound/miles per site per day
(250 pound/miles for a single direction of carrying), maximum of 50 pounds
at a single load.

Laborer          2CC          10CC	
Used for menial tasks

Thatcher                 3CC          15CC	
Can create up to 1,300 pounds of thatching per day.

Quarryman                3CC          15CC	
Can quarry up to 3,300 pounds of stone rubble or up to 600 pounds of cut
stone per day 

Lumberjack               4CC          20CC	
Can produce up to 100 board-feet of lumber per day (160 pounds)

Brickmaker               5CC          25CC	
Can produce up to 50 cubic feet of fired brick per day (6,000 pounds),
provided he has a kiln.  Can also produce 100 cubic-feet of dried mud block
per day (9,600 pounds)

Carpenter                8CC          40CC
(oops!  I never did figure out how much wood these people can chuck!  have
to check my archives)
	
Mason                  10CC           50CC	
Can create stone walls (again, I need to check notes and get rate of work)

Architect                40CC         200CC	
Required to oversee any construction project, at least 1 per 100 craftsmen.

Soldier          4CC          20CC	
Basic Warrior I, provides primary weapon and basic armor.

Scout                  3CC            16CC	
Basic Scout I

Sol, Archer or Crossbowman	
+2CC    (+10CC per month)       Skilled in Bow or Composite Bow

Sol, Longbowman or Arbalisteer
+3CC    (+15CC per month)       Skilled in Longbow

Sol, Slinger or Spearman	
+1CC    (+5CC per month)        Skilled in sling or throwing spear

Sol, Light Cavalryman	
+10CC   (+50CC per month)       Trained for scouting or light skirmish on
horseback

Sol, Heavy Cavalryman	
+15CC   (+75CC per month)       Trained in horsemanship in combat
------------

What do other people use for occupation wages?  Blacksmith, fletcher?
Healer?  Everyone post and I'll try and put together a comprehensive
document together for Wout's pages.
           -- Burton


Burton Choinski
Principle Software Engineer, Quality Engineering
email: burton.choinski at matrixone.com

phone: 978-322-2135
fax  : 978-452-5764

MatrixOne, Inc.
Two Executive Drive
Chelmsford, Ma 01824
www.matrixone.com

The First in Intelligent Collaborative Commerce



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