Neverwinter Nights 2: Community Update #7

4) Will crafting be restricted to appropriate areas/locales or require access to certain placeables to work? With appropriate I mean a flag/indicator or equivalent on the Area meaning that crafting is permitted/possible in it.

Chris Avelone & Charles Mead: Yes, there will be alchemy workbenches, forges, and a wizard's workbench - and each one also requires either an item to activate it (mortar and pestle, smith's hammer, etc.) or a magic spell.

5) Can crafting in NWN2 be disabled completely?

Chris Avelone : You can choose not to implement it in your modules, and it's not critical path for the campaign included in Neverwinter Nights 2. The system does require you place objects in the environment (the equivalent of workbenches), so without those objects, crafting cannot be done.