Prioritizing Crafting

[SGTSolj]

Hey guys, a new player to the game. Having a problem connecting right now, so I figured I'd ask my build question while I wait to get reconnected.

I'm one of those weird people who want to do nothing but craft, not a lazy craft simulator but an involved, active crafting process that takes skill and dedication to master. My friend turned me onto this game to give it a try and I like the crafting system so far, but I have yet to see anyone build a character where crafting is the central theme of their design. I know I'll have to do some combat, especially for material collecting, but does anyone have any build recommendations for me that allow me to really dive deep into the crafting system? If the crafter has to be more specialized, a few builds would be extremely helpful. Thank you!

 

[Kaemik]

I'd take your idea one of two directions. Sidonian Mage or Alvarin tamer.

Sidoians are super high intelligence and can also get a clade bonus reducing the cost of lore skills (REALLY valuable to a ton of crafters). This is a build for stretching your skillpoints as far as they will go. You're slow and pretty helpless on foot if someone comes at you in melee but in the saddle you are an absolute spell cannon who can wreck faces all day long.

Taming is essentially a profession skill that gives nothing in the way of actual combat edge due to the fact the tames are tradable but it's classified as a combat skill anyway leaving you open to a double profession. So you take taming under combat and then buff it up with more domestication skills. Alvarin are great at this as they are super fast and have a lower aggro range for creatures. Also if you use magic to support your tames the Int will help on the crafting end. I'd probably make it a butcher on the professional side since you're going to want zoologies as a tamer and butchering is something Alvarins receive a bonus to.

 

[Darthus]

Aside from the paths Kaemik mentioned, there are a number of very deep crafting professions with millions of combinations and optimization which can definitely keep you busy, most of which require no combat:

1. Armor Crafting
2. Weapon Crafting
3. Alchemy
4. Cooking
5. Bowyery
6. Shield Crafting

There are various gathering skills:

1. Mining
2. Wood
3. Animal hunting (leather, meat, bone etc)
4. Plants/flowers

The crafting skills I mention above use mixes of things from the gathering skills, and you have options of what to use. An example is you can use any solid material (wood, stone, metal) for both the hilt of a weapon and the blade, which greatly affect the stats. Leather can be used both for leather armor and for wraps on hilts. Wood is obviously used for Bowyery, but they cane be made of composite materials. Shield can be wood, metal etc and have covering materials, materials for the frame etc.

Meat and planets, powders/spices can be used for cooking, and plants, powders, minerals from mining etc can be used in Alchemy. These things are also often used as reagents for spells so have a demand there too.

In cooking and alchemy you can add a large number of ingredients (for example 7+) which subtly affect the outcome. Even things like how much water you use in cooking affects the type of food made (fried, stew, soup etc). The systems are designed for nearly endless experimentation and optimization. I would say in some ways the crafting professions are just as interesting and varied as combat, if not more so.

 

[SGTSolj]

These are all very helpful, thank you so much. Looking at Kaemik's post, I'm thinking of maybe leaning towards the Sidonian Mage and I'll try to work Darthus' crafting info into it. Again, thank you!