The master crafter is an inspired artist of enchantment, who specializes in weaving the spark of magic into ordinary objects, infusing them with a beauty and power which is breathtaking to behold. The master crafter’s dedication to his art is so absolute, in fact, that he loses the ability to wield magic in any other fashion. This does not concern him, as he is so fulfilled by what he does that he does not view the loss of his ability to cast spells by word and gesture as a loss at all. Master crafters are few in number and all the more precious for that; true artistic genius is, and probably should be, rare.

All master crafters have a background in arcane or divine magic and most are dedicated wizards. Sorcerers and clerics sometimes become master crafters but the former are hampered by their lack of breadth in their known spells and clerics generally too martially inclined to be comfortable crafting items every day. The life and abilities do not mesh themselves well with more martially inclined classes, so few warriors ever take up the tools of the master crafter

Role: Spell Utility

Characteristics: Inventive geniuses who lose ability to cast spells normally for unparalleled item creation/

Source: Encyclopedia Arcane: Magic Item Creation

Game Rule Information

The Master Crafter has the following game statistics.

Abilities: Casting stat is paramount importance here and Intelligence for your crafting skills

Alignment: Any

Hit Die: d4

Starting Gold: N/A

Class Skills

The Master Crafter's class skills are Appraise (Int), Concentration (Con), Craft (any) (Int), Disable Device (Int), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (any) (Int), Search (Int), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), and Use Magic Device (Int)

Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) × 4

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Master Crafter.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Master Crafter is proficient with whatever they were already proficient with prior to taking levels in this class.

Spellcasting: At each level, the master crafter gains a new level of spells, exactly as if he had gained a level in a spellcasting class which he already possessed. He does not, however, gain any of the other benefits a character of that class would have gained (bonus feats, etc). This means that he essentially adds his levels of the master crafter prestige class to his existing caster levels to determine caster level and spells per day.

Creation Focus: When the character takes up the mantle of the master crafter, he becomes so focused on the creation of magical items that he loses the ability to cast spells through simple words and gestures. Beginning at 1st level, the master crafter can no longer cast spells in the normal fashion at all, meaning he simply cannot cast a spell on himself, on an ally, or on an enemy. Attempts to do so automatically fail.

Instead, the master crafter’s spellcasting ability is solely focused on the creation and quickening of magical items. To compensate for his lost of spellcasting ability, the master crafter learns a new spell each time he gains a new level; this spell can be of any level which the crafter is able to cast and is gained in addition to any gained upon achieving a new level. By the time the master crafter reaches the highest level of understanding, there is almost no spell he cannot infuse into a magic item.

Fast Crafting Ex: Master crafters are so practiced in the art of crafting magical items that they can build them with a speed that defies belief. Starting at 2nd level, a master crafter need only spend one day per 1,000/class level gold piece value of the object. This means that a 10th level master crafter need only spend one day crafting an item per 10,000 gold pieces of base value.

Bonus Feat: At 3rd level, the master crafter selects a bonus feat from the following list: Brew Potion, Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Craft Rod, Craft Staff, Craft Wand, Craft Wondrous Item, Forge Ring or Skill Focus (craft – any). The master crafter gains an additional bonus feat from this list at 6th and 8th class levels.

Consummate Art Ex: When the master crafter reaches this level of understanding, the primal consciousness of magic itself recognizes his artistry and willingly lends itself to his efforts. From 5th level on, the master crafter need only spend 1/50th of an item’s base price in experience points when crafting a magical item. This ability stacks with the Improved Item Creation feat; when creating magical items pertinent to this feat’s focus, the master crafter need only spend 1/100th of an item’s base price in experience points, to a minimum of a single experience point.

Good as New Ex: Just as the master crafter is unsurpassed in the art of crafting magical items, so to is he unmatched in the art of repairing them. When repairing a broken magical item, the master crafter need spend only one quarter the experience points, one quarter the raw materials and one quarter the time it would take to craft the item in the first place. This ability stacks with the Reforge Item feat; when fixing magical items the master crafter need only spend 1/8th of an item’s base price in experience points and materials and takes 1/8th of the time to fix.

Unsurpassed Understanding Ex: A master crafter of this skill is an artist of legend, capable of crafting the most wondrous of devices with ease. A 10th level master craftsmen need only spend 1/100th (1/150th with the Improved Item Creation feat) of an item’s base price in experience points when crafting an item, to a minimum of a single experience point. In addition, the cost to create a magical item is reduced to only 1/4 of the base price.