Well, not quite a guide. But the rules regarding downtime crafting activity in Pathfinder 2e is kind of spread out all over the place. Having remaster update only resulted in one more place to look for information. This is my attempt to put it all in one place, with my interpretation, to the best of my abilities. I guess this is more like my notes than a guide.
REQUIREMENTS
Skills and Feats
- At least trained in Crafting, which is an INT skill.
- Need Alchemical Crafting feat (and trained in Crafting) to craft alchemical items.
- Need Magical Crafting feat (and expert in Crafting) to craft magic items.
Item Levels and Rarity
Only items your level or lower can be crafted. Any item without level specified is considered level 0. In addition, you also need the appropriate Crafting proficiency rank.
- Item levels 0 (and unlisted) to 8 - Trained and Expert.
- Item levels 9 to 16 - Master.
- Item levels 17 and above - Legendary.
There may also be special requirements listed in the item's stat block.
Formulas
Any common item can be crafted with or without a formula, although having the formula reduces the downtime crafting action to 1 day instead of 2 days. Uncommon or more rare items require a formula.
There is a "Basic Crafter's Book" that contains the formulas all of the level 0 common items in the Equipment chapter of the remastered Player Core 1.
Other formulas can be purchased, copied from hired NPCs, found as loot, rewarded from quests, or even invented yourself with the right feats.
The basic price for a formula is here. If purchased, the formula usually comes in a parchment that weighs light bulk.
You can copy the formula to your formula book either from the purchased parchment, from someone else's formula book, or any other source. You can also make a copy of a formula you know in one hour. Certain uncommon or rare formula can be valuable.
A formula can be reverse-engineered using an item you possess. Use the formula's price and the item's DC. Follow the same crafting steps. Remaster rules does not seem to mention the need to disassemble the original item.
Runes
Runes are essentially magical sigils etched onto the item. Crafting runes require the Magical Crafting feat and follows the same rules as crafting other items, except there are no special tools specified, and you must be in possession of the item that will receive the runes during the whole process.
Transferring runes takes one day of crafting. The DC is the same as crafting the rune. The cost is 10% of the cost of the rune. Swapping runes also takes one day, but DC and cost is the higher of the two runes.
Sensible limitations follow, such as you cannot transfer runes to an inappropriate item, i.e. moving a blunt weapon only rune to a slashing weapon. Invalid runes become inactive, i.e. property runes after potency rune has been transferred away.
HOW TO CRAFT
1. The Tools
Appropriate tools or workshop is required to craft an item. It is up to the GM what is needed. For example metal goods including weapons and armor would require an Artisan's Tookit as well as access to a smithy, alchemical items would require an alchemist's lab. Crafting workshops such as the smithy are typically found in settlements, and therefore it is unlikely that downtime spent outside of settlement areas could be used for these types of crafting. However paper goods like documents may only require Writing Set, and a workshop would not be needed.
2. Determine the Cost
The cost of crafting an item is by default the same as its purchase price. However this cost can be reduced. More on this later.
The purchase price of items are available in various equipment, gear, and other lists. These lists can be found on Archives of Nethys.
Additional guidelines for the cost of magical items and consumables are available here.
Unlike typical equipment and gear, consumables items are crafted in batches. You can make up to four of the same consumable items with one crafting attempt. For ammunition, the maximum number of items in a batch is listed along with the ranged weapons. Although Archives of Nethys lists the ammunition separately. The cost used for crafting is the entire batch, not just the individual item.
3. Gather the Supplies
Raw material for crafting need to be supplied, possibly say from loot or quest rewards. Alternately, the material can be purchased when in a settlement. For rarer precious material, it is up to the GM to decide if a particular settlement has them for sale. All other more common material, including the more common varieties of precious material, are typically available for sale in settlements.
Raw material equal to half the cost of the of the item need to be supplied in order to start the crafting activity. If some or all of the material can be purchased, the equivalent in money can be deducted in place of the material.
4. Roll the Crafting Check
After two days of downtime activity (or one day if the formula is available), a Crafting check is made. The DC is based on the item's level. The GM can make additional adjustments due to circumstances or the rarity of the item.
The typical DC can be found here.
- Success/Critical Success: You may spend the remainder of the cost of the item in material (or money if applicable) and immediately finish crafting the item.
- Failure: You keep the material/money, and you can try again.
- Critical Failure: You lose 10% of the material/money, and you can try again.
5. Reduce the Cost
If the crafting check was a success, instead of spending the remaining half of the cost of the item in material/money, you can choose to continue with the crafting activity to reduce the remainder portion.
The amount reduced each day is the same as the Income Earned table, using the appropriate proficiency rank of your Crafting skill, and your own level as the Task Level.
If the crafting check was a critical success, the Task Level remains the same level as your own level, but the amount reduced is your level + 1.
- Critical Success: You reduce the remainder by Task Level +1 and your Crafting proficiency rank.
- Success: You reduce the remainder by Task Level and your Crafting proficiency rank.
- Failure: You reduce the remainder by Task Level and the failure column.
- Critical Failure: You do not reduce any amount.
Note there are no other effects. The item crafting itself is still a success. And since you are working for yourself, you are also not going to fire yourself from this job on a critical failure (unless you choose to).
The amount reduced can be deducted from the equivalent of the material, or if the material can be purchased, from the material purchase price, or in any combination. But the material (and the money replacement if applicable), cannot be reduced past the original half cost.
At the end of each downtime day, you can choose to stop the crafting activity and pay the remaining portion of the material (and money equivalent) to immediately complete the item.
This work can also be paused at any time and be resumed later.
THOUGHTS
Crafting doesn't really reduce the cost of an item by much. For starters, most items require some sort of workshop, and gaining access to the workshop probably won't be free. As for the cost reduction, unless a critical success is rolled, the amount reduced is the same as Earn Income activity. The only benefit is you won't have to spend time to look for a job, and you won't get fired from it.
Crafting doesn't get you much unless you are crafting something that is not available for purchase in my opinion.
