Leatherworker Talent (by jaythegreenling)

*These leatherworker rules were created for the Dragon Age setting and thus use setting-specific leathers. Feel free to create your own leathers.*

# Leatherworker Talent

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Class: Any

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Requirement: You must have Dexterity 2 or higher and the Dexterity (Crafting) focus.

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*You know how to tan leather and turn it into useful items.*

**Novice:** You have great focus and it shows in your workmanship. If you fail a Dexterity (Crafting) test, you can re-roll it, but you must keep the result of the second roll.

**Journeyman:** You know how to use your time efficiently. When you perform an advanced Dexterity (Crafting) test, you gain a +1 bonus to the result of each Stunt Die for the purpose of reaching the Success Threshold.

**Master:** You are a master of your craft. When crafting items out of leather, you may now add masterwork benefits.

**Grandmaster:** You have studied the ways of creating high quality items and mistakes are less likely to ruin your entire project. The exceptional, outstanding, and kingly quality penalties for failures are all reduced by 1.

**Apex:** You know the secret ways of unlocking any leather’s inherent properties. When leatherworking, you may now use apex benefits.

### Rules

There are many things that can be made out of leather, and there are just as many people who work with it. A few example occupations that focus on working with leather:

* Armourer: Makes leather armour.
* Bottler: Makes leather containers for holding liquids like wine flasks or water bottles.
* Braider: Makes cord by twisting threads or strips of leather.
* Basket Weaver: Makes baskets out of various materials.
* Saddler: Makes and repairs saddles or other tack.
* Scabbardmaker: Makes scabbards for blades.
* Tanner: Makes rawhide and leather out of hides.
* Wet Glover: Makes leather gloves.
* Whipmaker: Makes whips.

## Tanning Leather

Should you want to tan your own hides instead of simply purchasing them, you can do so with the Novice degree of the Leatherworking talent. It is a time-intensive process that requires dedication and patience, and that is not for everyone. Even if you harvest your own hides, it is easier and cheaper to hand them to a tanner than to tan your own hides. Additionally, when harvesting hides, you need to make sure that the body is still warm when the hide is harvested.

It is important to note that a creature’s brain is required for the tanning process. The brain of every game animal contains the perfect volume and balance of conditioning oils to tan its own hide.

### Tanning Process

While the rules for tanning don’t go into detail, it is good to know how much work goes into turning hides into leather. This is an overview for brain tanning:

* Fleshing: Removing all the meat and fat from the hide
* Drying: Getting rid of excess moisture in the hide
* Scraping: Using sand paper to smoothen the hide
* Tanning: Soaking the hide in liquified brain
* Stretching: Preserving the stretchiness of the hide
* Smoking: Smoking the hide to keep it pliable when wet

Tanning smaller hides requires much less time than large ones, and the tanning process is thus represented as an advanced TN12 Dexterity (Crafting) test with a Success Threshold  based on the size of the hide.

No matter how big the hide is, tanning requires a set of Tanning Tools as well as access to a proper workshop for hides that are medium or large.

#### Hide Size

 Small
 Medium
 Large

Failing a tanning roll with a Stunt Die result of 1 means that you cannot access a leather’s apex benefits when using it to craft items. Once the hide has been turned into leather, it can also be split into patches of one pound each.

* Tiny: 1d3 pounds
* Small: 1d6 pounds
* Medium: 2d6 pounds
* Large: 4d6 pounds

For especially large animals of each type, the GM will give you a bonus of 1-5 to add to your roll.

## Leatherworking

Leatherworking is the act of making items out of leather. It is a labour-intensive process that requires a good amount of skill. To model the time and effort required, leatherworking uses an advanced test. The Target Numbers and Success Thresholds are determined by the following factors:

* Item Quality
* Item Complexity
* Leather Tier

Each roll in the advanced test is based on these factors, as well as circumstantial bonuses and penalties.

## Target Numbers

An item’s complexity determines the basic difficulty for the advanced test as well as how long each roll in an advanced test takes. Higher tier leathers increase the Target Number.

### Item Complexity

 Simple
 Moderate
 Complex

These rules provide basic category descriptions and a few examples of the sorts of items that fit each category.

* **Very Simple:** Belts, bolas, boot laces, collars, cord, jump ropes, slings
* **Simple:** Animal halters, balls, baskets, book covers, bowstrings, chaps, dice cups, hats, mittens, pouches, quivers, sheathes, whips
* **Moderate:** Backpacks, bags, boots, bridles, gloves, jackets, musical instrument cases, tack
* **Complex:** Armour, saddles

### Leather Tiers

Certain leathers are harder to work with than others. The leather tier increases the Target Number by the listed amount. Combining two or more different leathers of the same tier is possible, but it increases the Target Number by a further 2.

* Tier 1: +0
* Tier 2: +1
* Tier 3: +2
* Tier 4: +3

### Tools

All crafts require artisan’s tools for the best chance of success. When improvised tools are used, all Dexterity (Crafting) tests are made with a –2 penalty.

Conversely, Masterwork leatherworking tools provide a +2 bonus to all Dexterity (Crafting) rolls.

## Success Thresholds

Basic items, such as the weapons and armour listed in the Dragon AGE Core Rulebook, have a Success Threshold of 10 to create. The Success Threshold increases with the item quality. This is to show that producing quality items takes more time and thus provides more opportunities for error.

Item quality has no influence on an item’s function and provides no benefits. It solely increases its cost.

### Item Quality

 Fine
 Outstanding
 Exceptional
 Kingly

## Failure

Working with leather means that sometimes when things go wrong, there is no way to fix it, and you must scrap your progress and start anew.

The GM may rule that a character working with substandard or improvised equipment or under chaotic conditions must roll on the Leatherworking Mishaps table each time they fail a production test.

Making higher quality items is harder, and thus easier to get wrong. When you fail a test when making a Kingly item, you must always roll on the Leatherworking Mishaps table.

When rolling on the Leatherworking Mishaps table, add the listed numbers to the result of the D6 roll when making higher quality items:

* Outstanding Quality: +1
* Exceptional Quality: +2
* Kingly Quality: +3

If the result from the Leatherworking Mishaps table would drop an item below Basic Quality, it becomes a Flawed item. The GM decides how this will affect the item.

### Leatherworking Mishaps

 4-5
 6

## Leather Requirements

Not only does a leatherworker need the tools for their trade— shears, knives, a cutting board, a mallet, an awl, an anvil, at the very least—they also need leather.

Leatherworkers do not have to purchase their tools or leathers. They may buy or steal time at a workshop, or go hunting to procure hides they can turn into leather.

The amount of leather a smith needs depends on the project. For simplicity’s sake, leather is counted in units called patches. One unit is approximately one pound.

## Repairs

Any leather armour, tool, or weapon might get scratched or damaged slightly with frequent use, and this can be carefully smoothed out during travel with some tools, but any more serious damage like a ripped bowstring or a torn armour requires more dedicated work.

Repairing an item requires making rolls with the same TN that it took to make the  item in the first place. The Success Threshold is 5, and each test takes 15 minutes.

Major Repairs (as determined by the GM) require 1/2 of the production leather in pounds, which must be at least of the same tier as the leather the item is made of.

## Masterwork Benefits

Masterworks are objects crafted by a maker of surpassing skill. Such implements are, simply put, more effective than their counterparts of common provenance.

Once you have the Master degree of the Leatherworker talent, you may roll on the Masterwork Weapon Benefits table, Masterwork Armour Benefits table, or Masterwork Tool Benefits table once you’ve successfully finished an item from that category.

### Weaponry

Masterwork weaponry generally gives a bonus to the attack and/or damage rolls of those who wield them. Most such weapons give a simple +1 bonus. A rare few give a +2 bonus. A very few legendary treasures of craft give a +3 bonus. Higher bonuses are impossible outside the realm of magic.

### Armour

Masterwork armour generally provides an increased Armour Rating with respect to non-exceptional armour of the same type. Some masterwork armour provides a bonus to Communication (Leadership) tests, and/or a penalty to enemies’ Willpower (Morale) tests.

### Tools

Masterwork tools provide the same mechanical benefits as weapons—ingenious construction by a master of craft can give bonuses of between +1 and +3 to the test rolls of those using them.

#### Masterwork Tool Benefits

 4-5
 6

## Superior Benefits

Superior items are objects made from the choicest raw materials. These accoutrements are easier to use than their counterparts that are made from inferior raw materials. Superior implements usually impose lesser burdens than common items, endure longer in use, and/or provide the benefits of focuses and/or talents that their users do not otherwise have.

When leatherworking with superior metals, consult the Resources section to see which benefits certain leathers grant.

### Weaponry

Superior weaponry can have several different mechanical effects. Nearly all have reduced minimum Strength requirements, even to the point of the weapon’s minimum Strength being a negative number.

Some superior weapons give those who wield them the benefits of one (or in rare cases more than one) level of increased talent with the weapon style in question. Even those without any inherent talent can gain the Novice benefits of such talents from the virtues of these weapons, as long as they meet the requirements of the talent in question. A wielder who does not meet the requirement does not gain those benefits. Those who are already masters of the talent in question do not gain additional benefit from this effect of superior weapons.

A few superior weapons forged or constructed from exceedingly valuable materials can give those who wield them the benefits of having a focus with that type of weapon whether they actually have it or not. This type of bonus, however, does not stack with the bonus a character receives from actually possessing the focus in question.

### Armour

Superior armour generally features reduced armour penalties. Higher tier armour can be impressive and flamboyant and can give their owners a bonus to social interactions with those inclined to be impressed by such objects.

### Tools

Superior tools—again, like superior weapons—can give the effects of additional talent levels, as well as the (non-stacking) benefits of a focus that the user does not possess. Use the same tables for weapons when considering the statistics of superior tools. Minimum strengths do not apply to tools.

### Apex Benefits

Once you reach the Apex degree of the Leatherworker talent, you have studied all there is to know about the various leathers of Thedas. You are able to use their inherent properties to make weapons, armour, and tools even more powerful.

Each leather’s Apex Benefit comes in two forms: as an Attack Bonus when used in the creation of weapons, and as a Defence Bonus when used for armour. This can make a weapon’s attacks deal a certain type of damage, or it can provide the wearer with a bonus to resist certain types of damage.

The Apex Benefit of every leather is automatically added to a leather item you make as long as you have the Apex degree of the Leatherworker talent and the advanced leatherworking test is a success.