Repair and Craft

[windmark8040]

In reading the Craft (Applicable) skill explanation, and while tinkering about the house, I was wondering why the Craft skill does not encompass the repair skill.

If a character is intelligent enough to craft a set of chain mail, shouldn't he also be able to repair it? (Maybe a skill bonus to the related Repair specialization?)

I do know, from real-life experiences, that just because someone can repair an item, does NOT mean that he or she could actually craft it.

So remember, this question for thought is in the context of GAMING.

Thoughts? House Rulings?

[Thalaba]

My thoughts on this: usually as the GM I rule where REPAIR ends and CRAFT begins. If it requires specializes skill, tools, knowledge, or an artistic sensibility, it's a craft.

Repair allows a PC to fix a broken shield strap, but not make a shield; to patch a garment, but not to make a garment; to knock the dent out of a helm, but not make a new helm; to fix a wagon wheel so it lasts the rest of the journey, but not to make a new wheel. Generally, repair is used to make a quick fix to something to make it useable until such time as the proper crafter can repair it properly. This means that an object remains functional until the next town can be visited, or until that object undergoes more trauma. It might mean the object is functional, but impaired (eg. the wagon works, but speed is reduced by 1 until it gets seen by a cart-wright).

If a character has the CRAFT Chainmail skill, then they would use that skill to repair the item properly, or they could use REPAIR to patch it up well enough to last until they reach town, or until that piece of armour absorbs one or two more serious blows.

In our game, we combine REPAIR and DEVISE into a single skill which represents how much of a handyman that character is. In play, this gets used much more in its devise capacity than in its repair capacity. CRAFT remains a separate set of skills

Edited April 26, 2010 by Thalaba

[rleduc]

I would ask you to think of the scope of BRP. In Rubble and Ruin Craft is the skill to manufacture new items – Craft (Handloading) allows a character to take powder, bullets, cases and primers to make new rounds of ammunition while Repair (firearm) would be used to take the damaged but repairable remains of a weapon and get it to shoot. The skill Craft (firearm) [the ability to use milling machines and blank steel to create a new firearm] would have been lost in the wars.

In this setting it is useful to keep the two skills separate.