Some craft tools require weapon proficiency that you may not have

Heya! I was planning on repairing one of my shattered maces one day, however to my dismay I couldn't actually equip the hammer needed to repair it. The reason was that I lacked the weapon proficiency to use it, which I am unsure if that is intended behavior. While I understand how one could not use a hammer as effectively in battle not being proficient with it, anyone should be able to use a hammer for, say, repairing a shattered weapon. I would suggest moving the light hammer and similar tools under simple and class-specific weapon proficiency feats, or another similar solution. Thoughts?

Friend Calamitus,
All true.

The crafting system we based ours on used these objects and we left them at the defaults with a note to self to discuss the topic with the playerbase later.

Here is defined 'the rub' on this issue.

Prior versions of D&D allowed for a much more granular weapon proficiency system (which I liked a lot; it was realistic that not every sell-sword was handy with a battle-xe, and combat penalties for non-proficient use was a good thing). In part it made magical treasure less universally useful, and gave reason for PCs to highly value the found weapons that they could use. NWN was made with rules for D&D 3e, which adopted a very blocky proficiency system, gone was granularity.

To be specific, nwn proficiencies are defined in just a few FEATS as shown in the following links:

Creature Weapon Proficiency


Druid Weapon Proficiencies


Elf Weapon Proficiencies


Exotic Weapon Proficiencies


Martial Weapon Proficiencies


Monk Weapon Proficiencies


Rogue Weapon Proficiencies


Simple Weapon Proficiencies


Wizard Weapon Proficiencies


When you add 'granularity', so the reasoning goes, you risk over-complicating things for some PLAYERS and may even loose those who find it confusing. However, when you reduce granularity, you risk over-simplifying things to a point that concepts do not work as well within all the parts of the framework.

Example : All NWN PCs will have one or more of the (above) listed weapons proficiency FEATS based on what choice of character CLASS is made by the PLAYER. The overall notion seems to define strange groupings. Strange? Yes, strange. In many parts of the world, farmers from ancient times through the modern era do use sickles and scythes routinely; this would seem anything but 'exotic' to me as many PCs would have been raised with some regular use of these tools-turned-weapons. More the pure wizard (such as you see here) is prevented from the use of some tool-weapons that would be essential in a crafting/smithing situation.

On one hand, as much as I loved the old way of having each PC specify what weapons they train for proficiency in weapon-by-weapon, I'm not sure we _could_ do this in NWN and if we could if it would be worth doing in terms of being appreciated by the audience. On the other hand, I hate the every PC of X class is the same feel of this newer chunky stuff of 3e (plus).

We _might_ make a special crafter's hammer, justifying it that not all hammers are the same (examples include the hardness of the material used in the head of the hammer; anvils are engineered to be a specific hardness for the work they'll do and the hammer that will be used in that task is likewise engineered for the task. . . modern ball-peen hammers are a different hardness (in the head) than a carpenter's claw-hammer.

*scratches head*

Any feedback is welcome.

Oh my, the problem would seem to be a bit trickier to solve than I thought. Hrmm... those are all good ideas, may I suggest one that is... well, I HOPE is easier? For tools with a crafting purpose, perhaps give them a unique power range property, that will either give options based on the target, or the simpler form of having it do the common, most likely action fitting the target? I do not know how hard it is to get unique powers on weapons, however... if it could be unique power activated as an alternative to wearing it, crafting and repairs could be done even if you lack the proficiency. This task, I feel, not only is the least likely to require as much effort as overhauling weapon proficiencies, but I feel keeps consistency with the server scripts and the fact that most PC tools work on unique powers, so it'd be easy for people to figure out how to use this alternative.



I like the idea of a proficiency overhaul, but perhaps this would solve the problem a bit easier?


EDIT: Can light hammers be edited in this way, like all of them? Or do they act more as references or objects to the base item, Light Hammer? Also my name is Calamitus now? Must be my new title for my bugfinding skills!