Gem Cutting, A Craft Skill For 3e D&D3e didn't seem to offer a decent write-up of the gem cutting skill in their "standard" list of skills. They merely mentioned it under the general skill heading of "crafts." Of course, one good reason not to list many such non-adventuring skills by themselves may be that skills cost an adventurer so much, they can scarcely afford to "waste" their skill points on any skill that won't immediately serve them in the field. Such a skill as gem cutting is often best left to "professional" NPC gem cutters, and therefore it is probably not a good idea to offer that skill in table 4.2, lest too many take it and, for want of a better repertoire of more useful field skills, they go to their early graves - albeit with consummate knowledge of the craft of gem cutting. Nevertheless, a rank or two in any skill might serve an adventurer in myriad ways, so we do not wish to prevent one from taking such skills should they still wish to do so - as long as they have been given fair warning. To that end, I have written up the skill of gem cutting for a 3e D&D game. It is still subject to revision and play testing, so I'd appreciate any comments one may have to offer on it. Thanks ;-) Email Jim Your Comments (Send Praise, Critique, Complaints, Suggestions, Ideas, Corrections, or Submissions). Rough GemsGems may occur naturally in several places, though most are found deep in underdark, subterranean settings, like mines. However, no matter where they are first found, they are always found in an unworked, uncut, raw, or rough condition. They may even look like simple rocks, and some might actually toss them around like they are valueless, never knowing their true nature or incredible value. When properly cut and polished and worked, a gem's beauty is often likened to the work of the gods themselves, and their value - baring magic - is probably the highest in "value to size" or "value to weight" ratio. Thus, gems - and jewelry - are often used as a means to carry astonishing quantities of portable wealth. Unfortunately, gems are hard to easily spend, even if one automatically accepted your appraisal value - and it would be silly to attempt to buy a pint of ale with a diamond and ask for change. Those difficulties aside, it is still one of the best ways to carry a staggering amount of wealth; most could not possibly carry a similar value under the weighty burden of gold or platinum, not to mention carrying it as discretely. Just a few ounces of stones may equal the value of hundreds of pounds of these noble metals, so if one has need to carry such wealth, gems or jewelry are often the wisest choice. Naturally, it is most often recommended that GMs deliberately pick the values of the treasures adventurers may encounter - rather than randomly determine such things - but if one is still so inclined to randomly assign values to various gems, here is a table to start the process. These rough stones are uncut and unworked, and a 1d100 roll will indicate their "base" value. This is the worth of a stone to an expert - one who knows the stone for its true nature and knows it is not a common rock or simple quartz, etc.
Once a base value is determined, the GM may increase or decrease it by +/- 1d6 x 10% if they wish to add further variations. These might be due to color, clarity, purity, and imperfections or degrees of flawlessness a rough stone may possess. Some colors, for example, may be much rarer, and that is all it takes to boost their value by a great deal. The craft of gem cutting is terribly complex; it is no simple whack of a chisel, but a careful examination of each stone, a plan of attack, the skill of cutting, and also the skill and work involved in finishing the stone with grinding wheels and other abrasives to make facets - not to mention knowing something about history and current styles and supply and demand for such things. Making jewelry from worked gems is a different skill craft - not to be discussed in this article. The difficulty class for each job is around 10 for most stones, but may go as high as 20. Consult the above table. A bonus of +0 already assumes good light and the proper equipment for the craft. Poor light, or improvised tools incur a -1 or -2 penalty, or worse. Master craft tools may yield a +1 or +2 bonus. This is a DEX based skill, so one adds their DEX Modifier bonus or penalty to any such rolls (and, though I can't imagine why they'd be wearing armor for this, any penalties due to wearing armor are in play, as well). The gem cutter then makes the attempt (the roll) to succeed in his or her craft. This one roll may represent several cuts and considerable work. Roll + Rank + (Dex Mod) + (Tool Mod or other misc.) +(Armor Penalty) = Result. If the result is higher or equal to the DC for the job, the gem cutter has not only succeeded in their craft, but has increased the value of the stone. At this point, the stone is now worked, polished, or finished (usually). NOTE: One may "play it safe" and take 10 instead of rolling, but this negates the chance of a critical success. A successful result increases the value of the stone by 1d6 x 10%. For example, after success is determined, one rolls a 1d6 and comes up with 4. This increases the base value by 40%, or 1.4 x (Base) = Finished Value. Failure most often doesn't destroy the stone, but merely botches the job, and the stone is finished, though its final value is A skilled gem cutter - under optimal conditions - can normally "cut" and finish one stone per day per rank in their gem cutting skill. A gem cutter of rank 3, for example, may finish as many as 3 stones per day. Assuming 12 hours work per day, that is roughly 4 hours of work on each stone for this gem cutter (in case it's important to know this). Exceptions: A gem cutter may work on 10 x the normal limit, provided all stones have base values of 10 GP or less. Also, he may not work on more than one exceptional work per day. If the optional critical success/failures rules are in play, the entire next day is assumed to be spent in working on the exceptional success and further refinement of that one stone. Or, such successes may be put aside until they have the time to properly assess a new plan of attack for the exceptional stone. Evaluation SynergyIf one has rank 1 to rank 3 in the gem cutting skill, this adds +1 to any evaluation roll on any gems or jewelry. 3 to 6 ranks adds +2. 7 or more adds +3. Optional Critical RollsExceptional rolls may result in exceptional gems or dismal failures. Consult the table below, and if the success roll is a critical success, the base value moves up one place on the base value table given above. One may stop if they wish, or gamble in their attempt to "refine the cut." If they should choose to stop, simply roll 1d10 x 10% and increase the value. This is better than the normal 1d6 roll. This is the final value of that stone. Recall, if one rolls a 10, that doubles the value since 100% increase is x 2. If they should choose to go on and attempt to refine the cut, one is risking the gem, but the potential results may well be worth it - particularly for one with many ranks in this skill. They must also wait a day to assess this stone properly. On the next day - or later, if need be - roll for another success, and if a simple success is indicated, increase the value by 1d10 x 10%. This is the final value of the stone. This may seem pointless to some since they already could have had this value without the extra work, but it is because they failed to roll another critical success. Luckily, in their attempt to refine the cut, they did not damage the stone. However, should they roll a second (or third or more) critical success, the base value goes up another place on the above table, and they may attempt even further refinement. NOTE: No stone may increase its original base value more than 5 times. If one is supposed to increase its value one place, but one is already at the top of the table - (i.e. 10K already) - just double its value for each such occurrence. Each critical success (up to the 5th in a row) may increase the value another place on the above table. Once you decide not to risk the gem further - and stop further refinements - just roll 1d10 x 10% and that is the final value of the stone. Failure is also possible during refinement attempts, of course. Simple failure during any refinement halts the process and decreases the current base value to 1d10/10th its value. No further work is possible for that stone. Critical failure, sadly, will shatter the stone. However, such shards are often not without value (for polishing wheels, tools, or even a spell's material components). The value of this product, unfortunately, is never more than 5% of the original base value of the stone, except, perhaps, to a spell caster in need of crushed or powdered gems for a spell's material components. Such a spell caster might pay up to 25% of the stone's original value, provided they had good reason to believe the gem cutter wasn't trying to cheat them. Alas, such a spell caster in need of these materials isn't exactly a common occurrence, and far more often than not, a gem cutter is lucky to recoup the 5%.
EXAMPLESAmirle finds a bag of 6 rough, unworked stones amongst the bodies of some fallen dwarven warriors. The GM may either determine all 6 stones are of one base value (and roll once for which value on that table) or decide they are all different, and roll a different base value for each one. He chooses the latter method and rolls 1d100 six times. The base values are: Nice! Amirle eventually sells the lesser ones as rough stones, but keeps the 1K and 5K stones. He has dabbled in gem cutting and has 2 ranks in it (and a DEX mod of +3) and so he pays a minimal fee in town to work the 1K gem with a master's tools, and allows the master gem cutter, Ertimas, to work the 5K gem. Amirle hopes to both get practice and perhaps learn another rank in gem cutting (since he went up a level and has some points to spend on skills). Ertimas, master gem cutter, has rank 11 in this skill, and a DEX mod of +4, but such masters do not work cheaply. He agrees to teach Amirle a rank in gem cutting, and work the 5K stone himself, but only for a full 50% of any increase in value beyond 5K, as well as suffer no penalty should the worst occur (failure). A complex deal, but good roleplaying to get it ;-) STEP ONE: Ertimas and Amirle agree the gem is worth 5K to begin with. That means the DC for this job will be 18! But he has +17 total for bonuses, so only rolling a 1 will fail (a 1 always fails). He makes the attempt and rolls (on 1d20) an 18. (18+17 = 35). Not only is that above the modified 18 he needs for simple success, it is a Critical Success!!! The gem's value is now 10K, and it can be further refined. NOTE: It took a natural 18, 19, or 20, and not a modified 18, 19, or 20 for a critical success. A modified roll that high is just a simple success, and the process would stop after polishing and faceting the work - so its final value would be only 1d6 x 10% of the current base value. STEP TWO: They see the stone has further potential and ponder the work for another day. The next day, Amirle asks Ertimas to risk further refinement, and Ertimas agrees. Since its value has increased, so has the DC - which is now 20. Ertimas rolls again and gets a 19! Another critical success! Since we are at the top of the table, we just double the value, and the gem is now worth 20K! STEP THREE: Another day passes as they consider the matter. Amirle licks his lips and begs the master to try again. Ertimas suggests that stopping is wiser and cautions Amirle to stop. Amirle pushes for another try. Ertimas agrees, but only if he is guaranteed 10K, even if he fails. Amirle doesn't like this. He says 'OK,' but only if Ertimas agrees to 10K and no more should he succeed again. If Ertimas isn't willing to share the risks, he shouldn't share further in any potential rewards, either. Reluctantly, Ertimas agrees to this and makes one final attempt. STEP FOUR: (A) By the gods! he rolls a 20!!! The base value of the gem is now 40K. It could even be further refined, but both Amirle and Ertimas fear the gods will smite them for pushing their luck, so they stop and give thanks to the gods above. Ertimas finishes the stone (now that he has done all the cutting) and grinds and polishes the stone to perfection - taking the rest of the day to do so. This gives the 1d10 x 10% increase in value, and the 40K base stone eventually ends up as (rolling a 6 on 1d10) a 64K finished work (1.6 x 40K = 64K). Ertimas collects his 10K and sighs, wishing he had risked it too. He would have gotten (64K - 5K) x 50% = 29.5K, had he done so. Assume Steps 1 to 3 are the same, but redo step 4. STEP FOUR: (B) They will risk it again. 11! Success, but that's it. The 20K gem is now finished, and this adds 1d6 x 10% (rolling a 3) = 1.3 x 20K = 26K. Ertimas gets 10K. They would have done better had they stopped. Or another possible result . . . STEP FOUR: (C) They decide to stop and risk no more. Since the last result was a critical success, they add 1d10 x 10%. Rolling a 7, then end up with (1.7 x 20K = 34K). One more time . . . STEP FOUR: (D) They decide to risk it. 2! Wow, that's so bad, we'll actually have to check. Roll (2) + Rank (11) + Dex (+4) + master tools (+2) = 19. Since the base value is now 20K, the DC for this was 20, so the great Ertimas actually failed! Rolling 1d10 and getting a 3, the 20K base value is finally 3/10ths of that, or 6K. This is only 1K above the original value, but it's still something. They risked a lot, and lost a lot. Greed kills - so they say. Ertimas still collects his 10K from Amirle, though, so he was right not to risk his share. STEP FOUR: (E) They decide to risk it. 1! OH MY GOD, the great Ertimas critically failed. The gem shatters, leaving only 5% of 5K in shards (or about 250 GP in diamond dust (or whatever it was). *Sigh* Too bad the local wizard didn't need, nor feel like buying the dust for 25%, or 1250 GP. If he had, it would have counted as 5K GP worth of gem dust, too, but he rarely casts such spells and couldn't afford to lock up that much wealth in spare material components that would rarely, if at all, be used. *Sigh* Ertimas still collects his 10K from Amirle, though, so he was really right not to risk his share. Optional, Optional: Some GMs dislike the fact that not only does a 1 always fail, but it always critically fails. While a 1 will ALWAYS fail, this double optional rule allows it to not always be a critical failure. Thus, even when rolling a 1, if the modified roll is a success, though one does fail, it is not a critical failure. Unfortunately, in this example, Ertimas' roll of 1 modified to 18, and that still fails, so he still critically failed. With two more ranks (rank 13) he would have just simply failed. But wow, I'm really digressing here. Regardless of which STEP FOUR actually occurred, Amirle has learned much from Ertimas during their time together, and now attempts his 1K gem himself (under Ertimas' supervision). The DC for this job is 13. His rank is now 3, his Dex Mod is +3, and he has the best tools (+2) so he need only roll 5 or higher to succeed. He could take 10 and automatically succeed, but he wants to try for the more difficult cut (and possible critical success). A natural 20 would critically succeed, and a natural 1, 2, or 3 would critically fail. He rolls a 12. A simple success. This adds 1d6 x 10%, and he rolls a 5, so 1.5 x 1 = 1.5K. Amirle ends up with a 1,500 GP gem. Final NotesAs you can see, to do really well with this skill, one must invest many, many ranks in it, and most adventurers simply cannot afford to do that. Also, most NPCs can't, either, since stay at home types do not earn a lot of skill points, but I digress. Nevertheless, more often than not, NPCs will perform this job, and some few will have pretty impressive rankings in this skill. Unfortunately, this doesn't mean gem cutters are usually rich. One doesn't simply have a great supply of rough gem stones to start out with so they may improve them and make a bundle. It takes money to make money - so they say. And though gem cutters of great skill may demand a percentage of a stone they work on - since their time is obviously worth it - most gem cutters one is likely to find probably only sport a few ranks in the skill, and they'll be the best a whole town can boast. Larger cities, naturally, have more highly skilled gem cutters than rural areas. The cost of hiring out equipment and a suitable place to work might also net a local gem cutter a percentage of a work, but usually they work for a flat rate, and unless they can boast 6 ranks or more, that is all they are likely to get. The rate may be something along the lines of 1 GP/rank per stone. A rank 4 gem cutter, for example, might work on 4 stones in a day and earn 16 GP for the day's efforts, but this assumes they are not expected to pay for any failures any more than they are expected to share in the profits of exceptional work. 16 GP is pretty good for a day's wages, and keep in mind they hardly get to work every day like that, so one such customer might represent a significant percentage of their annual income. Thus, many gem cutters probably do other jobs besides gem cutting, unless they are in major cities, or near or employed by major gem mines. Despite what these tables may suggest, gems of higher value than these may exist. They should never, however, come about due to random chance, and should only find their way into a game by a deliberate act of the GM. As it stands here, the tables may, at best, produce a stone of a maximum value of 640K (can you see how?). Such a stone, though, probably either doesn't exist at all, or is already in the hands of the gods themselves. In my opinion, any stone worth more than 10,000 GP is probably so extraordinary that its fame would be worldwide, and probably it would have a name. As a suggestion, any stone worth more than 10K GP may have special powers of some kind - such as natural curses, or blessings, for example - not as a product of wizardry or divinity, but as a natural phenomenon of the gem (if you like this idea). This may come about due to a sort of possession by a spirit (benevolent or malevolent) who uses the gem as its home. Of course, jewelry may be comprised of many gems, so jewelry can have values far in excess of this 10K mark. In fact, jewelry often exceeds the total raw value of its constituent gems and metals by a considerable margin since they are works of art. It would not be surprising to learn a piece of jewelry is worth 2, 3, 5, or even 10 times or more the value of the gems and precious metals that went into its construction. But that's another topic best left for another article. It may be possible to re-cut, or improve some finished stones. This may come about due to the fact a stone may not have been taken to its fullest potential (like when Amirle and Ertimas agreed to stop before reaching the 5 improvement limit). However, only the GM may say when a finished stone has this potential. Or, to do it randomly, it might be 1d100 or even 1d1000, and only a roll of a 100 or 1000 might indicate such a stone. At any rate, it is exceedingly rare to find a worked stone that might bear further refinement. Of course, finished stones - if they are large enough - may always be further cut into smaller stones. This might be done for a variety of reasons. Unfortunately, it's almost a certainty such cuts will decrease the overall total value of the stone - i.e. its parts will be worth less than it was as a whole. Nevertheless, it may be done for stones worth 500 GP or more. A loss of 10% to 40% is typical, even assuming one does not fail their gem cutting rolls. Should they fail, they may ruin the whole thing, ending up with shards worth only 5% of the gem's original value. To "cut a stone down," make a success roll vs. the stone's DC. Critical success means you end up with several stones whose sum equals the original value. Simple success means the resulting stones only total As you might guess, most would tend not to cut large stones into smaller ones since there is much to risk - but sometimes, they have no choice, but I won't get into that here. Happy Cutting ;-) © January of 2005 |