Greetings, all!
Today I noticed that the Midgard Dwarf, an 8HD Small Outsider from
Frostburn 125, has the lovely Master Smith (Ex) ability which is also gained via
shapechange and certain other shapeshifting abilities, like Planar Shepherd9. You could also use
planar binding,
gate, and other creature calling abilities to access Midgard Dwarves.
Master Smith (Ex): Midgard dwarves gain Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Craft Wondrous Item, and Forge Ring as bonus feats. They are considered to possess the prerequisites necessary to craft any magic item of those types, even if they do not otherwise meet the requirements or have the ability to cast the necessary spells.
Note how set items like Raiment of the Four or Trappings of the Beast normally require having access to at least 1 piece of the set while crafting (
Magic Item Compendium 226). For example, note the prerequisites of the Belt of the Wide Earth from
Magic Item Compendium 204.
While wearing a belt of the wide earth, your carrying capacity is doubled. This is a continuous effect and requires no activation.
In addition, two times per day you can activate the belt and sacrifice a prepared spell or spell slot of 5th level or higher to
use teleport (as the spell), using your own caster level or that of the belt, whichever is higher.
Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, teleport, possession of a piece of the set.
Cost to Create: 4,000 gp, 320 XP, 8 days.
Thus, I propose that any weapon, armor, shield, ring, or wondrous item that's part of a set and explicitly requires in its prerequisites section having access to at least 1 piece of the same item set can ignore this 'must have an item' prerequisite due to Master Smith.
This is likely a minor find, but I found it useful for squeezing even more value out of starting cash or crafting in general! Enjoy!