Regarding crafting and reducing the time it takes, I submit the following example:
I have my sights set on a Circlet of Persuasion to aid in my crafting (+3 to CHA based checks) as my first crafted Wondrous Item. Here's how it breaks down from what I can tell. Info is from d20SRD.org
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Craft Wondrous Item [Item Creation] (Gained at Artificer 3)Circlet of Persuasion
Price 4,500 gp.
Crafting Requirements
Gold: 4500 - 25% (Extraordinary Artisan) = 3375 gp. Cut in half for raw materials, 1688 gp.
EXP: 1/25th, so 4 EXP per 100 GP of base price. 45*4 = 180 EXP.
Time: At 1 day per 1k gp using the base price of 4500, 5 days if assuming part of a day requires a full day.
CL: Artificers are treated as having level+2 for crafting CL (though they use straight level for CL-dependent effects such as damage). 3+2 = 5.
UMD: is 2nd level, or CL 3. DC is 20 + CL, so I have to make a UMD result of 23. I have one attempt per day, plus a last-ditch effort:
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Since you're worried about time, there are a few ways to trim it:
1) Exceptional Artisan reduces base time by 25%.
2) Because Extraordinary Artisan reduces base cost by 25%, you could base crafting time off the new cost. This does go against the RAW for the feat, though.
3) Round down.
This is how I would do it if you *want* to reduce time taken:
4500 GP becomes 3375 GP (Extraordinary Artisan)
3375 is rounded up to 4 days of crafting
Exceptional Artisan subtracts 25% of that. 3 days.
-or-
3375 is rounded down to 3 days of crafting
Exceptional Artisan has no effect since it's less than 4 days. 3 days. (I prefer the former)
The difference increases as you increase value. For a 40k GP item:
40k GP becomes 30k GP
30 days of crafting -25% is 23 days (rounding up).
...using the base price it would be 40 days -25%, for 30 days total. 7 days difference.
All in all, this takes 25% off twice when using Exceptional Artisan, reducing the time to 56% of the base instead of 75%. That's pretty hefty, and also makes Extraordinary Artisan much more powerful since the benefits are doubled. On the flipside, you're dealing in reduced time rather than gp or exp. Depending on the campaign, a few days can be a really big deal, or a minor one.
Lastly, each day less also means I get fewer chances to make my UMD check, which is at +11 in the case of this item (6 ranks, 1 Charisma, 2 MW skill tool, 2 Artisan Bonus class feature). I have to roll 12 or better.
I'd like to know how the rest of the party feels about this, too.