Using the Craft/Profession Skill | Librarian

The Profession (Librarian) skill is slightly different than your standard skill only in that as a skill it

For those who are unfamiliar with 'skill tricks', they appear in The Complete Scoundrel book and their purpose is to allow a character to do a little more spectacular things because they have a certain level of ability in a skill.  For example, if your character has a prerequisite of 5 ranks in the Heal skill, you can spend 2 skill points upon leveling up to gain the "Healing Hands"skill trick which allows a character to heal someone 1d6 when they do a heal check to stabilize someone.

Initially, I thought the Profession (Librarian) skill could be one that replaces Knowledge (Anything) checks, but that would just let a player stack points in the profession and be a wealth of knowledge.  Next, I considered giving the player the Bardic Knowledge skill using the Profession (Librarian) skill in lieu of the bard level, but then that would make a player nearly-omniscient by level 10 (as even the hardest Bardic Knowledge check is DC 30).  So my compromise was that the Profession (Librarian) would on it's own do nothing but feed into a skill trick.
will not be horribly useful.  However, taking levels in it proves to be quite beneficial if you are a player that likes taking skill tricks in lieu of your standard skill points.

The skill trick, which I call "Wealth of Knowledge" [Mental] would allow a player with 9 levels of Profession (Librarian) to use the Bardic Knowledge ability using their own class level as a Bard would use his/hers.

I believe this is a good balance because it means a character cannot take this skill trick until at least level 6 which means a player can still choose to be a Bard and gain that ability earlier.  The rationale behind this skill is that a librarian that has been doing that job for a while will have picked up some obscure knowledge here and there so they could help provide similar information that a Bard would have picked up by traveling around and telling stories.

Using the Craft/Profession Skill | Sailor/Pirate

I was going through the SRD to to see what they listed as Professions and Craft skills and there aren't many things listed.  However, I did recall that one prestige class, the Dread Pirate, has a prerequisite for ranks in Profession (Sailor) so I figured why not address that.

In theory a character with classes in Profession (Sailor) has spent time on a  ship in some capacity, perhaps as a cabin boy/girl or perhaps as a general worker or captain.  Nevertheless, the character has spent plenty of time aboard a ship.  So what?  What benefit can be gained by a character being on the sea for longer than another character?  Is it worth spending skill points for flavor?

When thinking about what benefits would stem from a good roll in Profession (Sailor), I figured I would also address the concept of Profession (Pirate) as well.  While not seen as a profession in normal convention, the Profession (Pirate) really just is the Profession (Sailor) skill with different means to an end.  While a Sailor may be more prone to using diplomacy, a pirate would more likely stick to Bluff or Intimidate.  For the case of the buffs though, there really won't be much different between the two if your character wishes to take Pirate over Sailor.

As always, the DC can be set on DM discretion but I would also suggest continuing with a +5 per difficulty class (i.e. Easy = DC; Medium = DC+5; Hard = DC+10).  Depending on the roll, the following benefits could be given to someone who has ranks in the Profession (Sailor/Pirate) skill:

Skill Boost	Easy	Medium	Hard	Conditions
Swim	+4	+6	+8	General
Balance	+2	+4	+6	When at Sea
Climb	+1	+2	+3	When at Sea
Survival	+2	+3	+4	Catching Fish / Weather / Discerning North at Sea

The above chart would be the bonuses gained by rolling the varying degrees of successes.  The rationales behind each being:

• Swim
• In spending time on the open seas you will have figured that being able to swim is a life or death skill to have and as a result you are well-trained in swimming, or at least treading water.
• Balance
• The rocking of the ship over the waves is enough to knock over any "land lubber" but your time spent on the seas have given you a general advantage over being felled by the rocking of the ship.
• Climb
• You find yourself able to climb the rigging a little easier than the average person as you know where best to grab to get you up to the top the quickest.
• Survival
• Your time on the open seas have taught you how to catch food to survive, how to discern when a storm is coming, and how to use the stars to navigate.

These bonuses are situational bonuses that get applied to rolls, so as a DM you can choose if this ability applies daily, hourly, etc.  Another option is to apply these as synergy bonuses.  So if a player takes 5 ranks in Profession (Sailor/Pirate) they get the "Easy" level bonuses, 10 ranks gets "Medium" and 15 ranks gets "Hard" benefits.  Either way, this can give the player a little extra bonus for taking points in the Profession (Sailor/Pirate) skill.

Using the Craft/Profession Skill | Tea Master

This option can be used as either a Craft (Tea) or Profession (Tea Master) and can also be spun for any sorts of beverages that exist in your campaign (i.e. Coffee, Beer, Soda, etc.).

The premise behind the Tea Master craft/profession is that with a little bit of time and patience that you can provide your party with a temporary boost based on the quality of the tea that was made. One of my players currently uses this as a Craft skill, so I've developed a chart that he uses to brew different varieties of teas.  I researched the different types of teas and gave them in-game effects that were beneficial, but weren't too game-breaking and that research turned into this:

Tea Type	Easy	Medium	Hard	Effect
Oolong	+1	+2	+3	Temporary Will Save Increase. Lasts 1d12 hours.
White	1d12 hours	1d4 days	1d2 weeks	Alleviates Disease Effects (One use per disease contraction)
Black	+1	+2	+3	Temporary boost to Dexterity based skills. Lasts 1d12 hours
Earl Grey	1d4	1d6	1d10	Grants Immunity to Fear effects for dice roll hours
Chamomile	1d8+CHA	1d8+CHA*1.5	1d8+CHA*2	Gain Hit Points, Limit 1 cup/day
Peppermint	+2	+4	+6	Temporary Diplomacy Increase. Lasts 1d8 hours
Yellow	2d8	3d8	4d8	Gain Temporary Hit Points. Very Expensive.
Pu-erh	+1	+2	+3	Temporary Fortitude Save Increase. Lasts 1d12 hours.
Green	+2	+4	+6	Temporary Concentration Increase. Lasts 1d6 hours unless done in an hour long ritual then it lasts 1 day.
Rooibos	+1	+2	+3	Temporary Increase to Will Saves against Mind Affects. Lasts 2d12 hours.
Yerba Mate	+1	+2	+3	Temporary Reflex Save Increase. Lasts 1d12 hours.
Bards Flower	DC 24	DC 18	DC 12	Gain 1d4 CHA and -1d6 STR for 1 hour -- Mildly Addicting ( See DCs for addiction)

The difficulty columns are based on a DC that is set by the DM with each additional difficulty adding +5 to the previous level DC. In theory the DC should start at a 20 so that a lower level character wouldn't make superior tea until they trained more in that skill.

If you choose to implement this, you could require that teas be purchased or grown as to essentially treat them as a mundane potion-making ability. All the teas provide a benefit in some way with no repercussions except the Bards Flower tea which requires a Fortitude save to avoid addiction and the side-affects that come with it.

Explanation of the Teas:

Each tea has it's own benefits, most of them are straightforward, others require a little more clarification:

• Oolong
• Temporarily gain the stat benefit for 1d12 hours, at the end of that time your Will saves return to normal.  This does stack with items, but does not stack with potions.
• White
•  This tea temporarily stops the affects and the incubation time for any disease for the time based on the DC.
• Black
• Temporarily gain the stat benefit for 1d12 hours, at the end of that time your Dexterity skills return to normal.  This does stack with items, but does not stack with potions.  This tea does not affect your AC or Reflex saves.
• Chamomile
• Self-explanitory
• Peppermint
• Applies to Diplomacy checks
• Yellow
• Cost is up to the DM, temporary hit points do not stack so any ability that gives you more temporary hit points would not add to this total unless it is greater than the remaining temporary hit points.
• Pu-erh
• Temporarily gain the stat benefit for 1d12 hours, at the end of that time your Fortitude saves return to normal.  This does stack with items, but does not stack with potions.
• Green
• A ceremony would consist of uninterrupted meditation while preparing the tea, all characters benefiting from this ceremony must also meditate for the ceremony as well.
• Rooibos
• Temporarily gain the stat benefit for 2d12 hours, at the end of that time your Will saves against mind-affecting spells return to normal.  This does stack with items, but does not stack with potions.
• Yerba Mate
• Temporarily gain the stat benefit for 1d12 hours, at the end of that time your Reflex saves return to normal.  This does stack with items, but does not stack with potions.
• Bards Flower
• Fortitude save required when drinking it to not become addicted, DC decreases as the quality goes up on the theory that preparing tea with this flower is a delicate procedure and improper handling releases more addictive substances.

If you would like further clarification feel free to comment, or if you have other teas you'd like to add you can try them out in your game as play-testing them is generally the best way to see if they need more or less power.