I also think you're forgetting that people can quite easily get items that grant bonuses to skills--a +10 item costs 10k gold (very easy to get by level 10ish), and the most you can get is a +30 item, which is even more than their level. Plus their miscellaneous bonuses, such as a masterwork set of tools.<br/><br/>Just to contrast, here's (http://www.dnd-wiki.org/wiki/Masterwork_Variant_(3.5e_Variant_Rule)) my take on the Masterwork rules (which I've already referred kckolbe to), and I prefer them since they don't have the artificial "reach level 10 and you can make a +3 item!" thingy, but are completely skill based, which is better IMO.