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Pathfinder Unchained / Alternate Crafting and Profession Rules / Professions

Alternate Profession Rules

Source Pathfinder Unchained pg. 77
While the rules for the Profession skill in the Core Rulebook are perfectly suitable for the needs of most campaigns, there is little opportunity to make them a meaningful part of play. Those rules assume that the character is spending a full week conducting business (when it is often more desirable for a PC to merely do a single day’s work), and they offer few ideas on how to modify the basic check to account for circumstances, roleplaying opportunities, and so forth. For example, there are two primary methods of plying a trade while practicing the various professions suggested in the Pathfinder RPG. One is by setting up a place of business in a static location, and the other is by traveling from point to point, offering services. Both of these approaches are possible within a single area of expertise in almost every case, though there are advantages and disadvantages inherent in each. The Profession rules as written do not take any of this into account.

Of course, you can choose to fully roleplay the establishment and development of a business, making appropriate Profession checks along the way while incorporating most of the decision making and operations of the business into the PC’s story. Alternatively, if you don’t wish to delve into the complexities of creating a business and handling the bookkeeping to run it, then assume you find enough opportunities to convince the occasional passerby to buy a good or service from you to make a small profit. You earn your check result in silver pieces per day in this fashion. However, if you want a system that’s relatively easy to manage but that offers more choices and options for using the Profession skill, the following system provides rules that are a little more flavorful and involved.

With this alternative system, use the following version of the Profession skill instead of the one presented in the Core Rulebook.

Profession (Wisdom; Trained Only)

Source Pathfinder Unchained pg. 77
You are skilled at a specific job. Like Craft, Knowledge, and Perform, Profession is actually a number of separate skills. You could have several Profession skills, each with its own ranks. While a Craft skill represents ability in creating an item, a Profession skill represents an aptitude in a vocation requiring a broader range of less specific knowledge. The most common Profession skills are architect, baker, barrister, brewer, butcher, clerk, cook, courtesan, driver, engineer, farmer, fisherman, gambler, gardener, herbalist, innkeeper, librarian, merchant, midwife, miller, miner, porter, sailor, scribe, shepherd, stable master, soldier, tanner, trapper, and woodcutter.

Check: You know how to use the tools of your trade, how to perform the profession’s daily tasks, how to supervise apprentices and helpers, and how to handle common problems. You can also answer questions about your Profession. Basic questions have a DC of 10, while more complex questions have a DC of 15 or higher.