Profession (Wis)

Being trained in a Profession gives you skill to work a particular job in a professional role.

Profession is actually a number of separate skills. You could have several Profession skills, each with its own ranks, each purchased as a separate skill. Some of the more common Profession skills are alchemist, architect, armorsmith, baker, barrister, brewer, butcher, clerk, cook, courtesan, driver, engineer, farmer, fisherman, fletcher (bow and arrow crafting), gambler, gardener, herbalist, innkeeper, librarian, merchant, midwife, miller, miner, porter, sailor, scribe, shepherd, stable master, soldier, tanner, tinker, trapper, weaponsmith, and woodcutter.

Recall Information

You can use the Profession skill to recall information directly related to your trained profession. This functions as the Recall Information ability of the Academics skill but only covers this specialized field of study.

Earn a Living

You can practice your trade and make a decent living, earning about half your Profession check result in gold pieces per week of dedicated work. You know how to use the tools of your trade, how to perform the profession’s daily tasks, how to supervise helpers, and how to handle common problems. Earning a living assumes you work for someone else, who provides the location, tools, and raw materials and keeps any produced items.

If you have your own location and business, then your Profession check modifies the earning from your business rather than earning a living directly.

Appraise an Item

You can appraise the value of common or well-known objects with a DC 15 Profession check. If you succeed by 5 or more, you also determine if the item has magic properties or other unusual characteristics, although this success does not grant knowledge of a magic item’s abilities.

If you fail the check by less than 5, you determine the price of that item to within 20% of its actual value. If you fail this check by 5 or more, the price is wildly inaccurate, subject to GM discretion.

Appraising a rare or exotic item increases the DC of this check by 5 or more.

Appraising an item directly related to your profession (such as type of ore or pickax for a miner or appraising the quality of ale for a brewer) gives you a +5 circumstance bonus on the check.

You can also use this check to quickly determine the most valuable item visible in a group of items, such as a treasure hoard or well stocked shop. The DC of this check is generally 20 but can increase to as high as 30 for a particularly large hoard.

Craft an Item

You can use Profession to craft items related to your profession. The DC depends on the complexity of the item to be created. The DC, your check results, and the price of the item determine how long it takes to make a particular item. The item’s finished price also determines the cost of raw materials.

All crafts require artisan’s tools to give the best chance of success. If improvised tools are used, the check is made with a -2 circumstance penalty. On the other hand, masterwork artisan’s tools provide a +2 circumstance bonus on the check.

To determine how much time and money it takes to make an item, follow these steps.

1. Find the craft DC of the item.
2. Pay one-half of the item’s price for the cost of raw materials.
3. Make an appropriate Profession check representing one hour of work.

If the check succeeds, you earn 1 craft point towards the completion of that item. On a failed check, you earn no craft points.

Each item requires 1 craft point per 100 gp in the item’s base price (or fraction thereof). So, for example, a masterwork rapier costs 320 gp, so it requires 160 gp worth of raw materials and 4 craft points to complete.

You can craft a maximum of 8 hours in a day. Each additional hour of crafting beyond 8 increases your fatigue by 1 level.

Working Faster

For every 5 points by which your check result exceeds the DC, you earn 1 additional craft point towards the item’s completion, allowing a skilled craftsman to produce items more quickly.

Progress by the Day

You can make checks by the day instead of by the hour. If your check is successful, multiply the number of craft points you would have gained by 8. If you fail this check by 4 or less, you earn only half the total craft points you would have earned on a successful check. If you fail by 5 or more, you make no progress that day.

Creating Masterwork Items

You can make a masterwork item, a weapon, suit of armor, shield, or tool that conveys a bonus on its use through its exceptional craftsmanship, not through being magical. To create a masterwork item, you increase the craft DC by 5.

The masterwork component has its own price (300 gp for a weapon or 150 gp for a suit of armor or a shield). This is added to the base price of the item being crafted.

Repairing Items

Generally, you can repair an item by making checks against the same DC that it took to make the item in the first place. The cost of repairing an item is one-fifth of the item’s price.

A Wider List of Professions

Here is a longer list of possible professions; however, this list is not exhaustive, and more professions certainly might be available.

• Alchemist/Apothecary
• Architect
• Armorsmith
• Astrologer
• Barrister
• Basketweaver
• Bookbinding
• Bowcraft/Fletcher
• Blacksmith
• Brewer
• Calligrapher
• Carpenter
• Cartographer
• Cleaner
• Clerk/Bookkeeper
• Cobbler
• Cook
• Embalmer
• Engineer
• Farmer
• Farrier
• Fisherman
• Gambler
• Gemcutter
• Guide
• Hairdresser
• Herbalist
• Herdsman
• Hunter
• Innkeeper
• Launderer
• Leatherworker
• Locksmith
• Lumberjack
• Maid
• Masseuse
• Midwife
• Miller
• Miner
• Nursemaid
• Painter
• Porter
• Potter
• Prospector
• Rancher
• Rune Carver
• Sailor
• Scribe
• Sculptor
• Shipwright
• Siege Engineer
• Stablehand
• Stonemason
• Tailor
• Tanner
• Taxidermist
• Teamster
• Trapmaker
• Weaponsmith
• Weaver