How to Add Magic Item Crafting to Your D&D Campaign

[@danielmalinen6337]

One homebrew rule I came up with is realistic crafting time. The inspiration came from the fact that, according to the official rules, it takes one day to make one knife or dagger when in reality, the knife or dagger is forged by smith in a few hours (about half a day). For potions, I developed a rule that you have to be there for four to five hours to prepare the drink, after which, for example, the healing potion is left to ferment (and the longer it is ferment, the more effective it is).Here are a few that I have implemented. I also currently use the Master of Dungeon channel's "age effect on loot" homebrew rule, which is fun, especially for potions.

[@DM-Timothy]

Great stuff. I haven't heard of the Age Effect on Loot rule, I'll have to check it out! Thanks for commenting!

[@emilbroseliger8506]

I’ve finally become a professional DM, and I’d say that this system is a great, versatile way of creating magical items - like the instruments - in a balanced way. Very well done indeed👍🏼

[@DM-Timothy]

Congrats, and thanks!

[@OliverKozakGo]

5k views in 10days? Wow, man, you are really cracking it! Well done!!!

[@CitanulsPumpkin]

If the rules for magic item creation in 5e seem lacking from a story telling standpoint, I have bad news for you. Tweaking the numbers isn't going to fix them. Here's what I've picked up and gravitated towards while tackling the problem. 1. You can't buy magic items from a run of the mill shop. There is no magic item shop. Magic items of significant worth are collection pieces, curiosities, and show pieces. If you want to buy an Uncommon or higher rarity magic item you need to go to a high society invitation only Auction House that specializes in "magic artifacts." How do you get into such an Auction House? 2. Use the rules for Downtime, Renown, Piety, and tool proficiencies when crafting magic items. In campaigns with long in game time frames I always implement Downtime, Renown, and Piety. Pick up Ravnica and Theros and read their chapters on Renown and Piety. Long running campaigns that don't rush the player from one plot point to the next are best when they give players weeks of free time in between their big adventures. Each player should be encouraged to use their downtime to build resources beyond the stuff on their character sheet. Build a church, school, spy network, mercenary company, or thieves guild. Spend time ingratiating yourself to your favorite local lords. Become a regional celebrity. Or craft magic items. How do your build up these resources and relationships? Do quests for different factions. Get noticed by NPCs. Become the person they think of when they need a thing done. Basic stuff you're already doing while adventuring. Once you get enough Piety points with a religious order or Renown points with any other faction then your faction/church will put you in contact with a smith npc. Go meet the magic item smith and get the list of things needed to craft the item. If you're proficient or have expertise in the smith's preferred tools they may even let you help in the crafting. Where do you get the shopping list? 3. Videogames. I've lost count of the number of videogames I've seen with better magic item crafting systems than 5e. Seriously, by the time PCs are thinking about crafting magic items gold pieces are no longer a real concern. Time and Materials are the gatekeepers. Early on introduce resource gathering mechanics. Take the soul gems from Skyrim or boss souls from the SoulsBorne games. If players want to make a cool magic thing the first step is the kill a high CR creature and trap its soul in a crystal that will be the base of the crafting process. Have the smith send them on at least 3 side quests. One combat quest to get the soul. One exploration quest where they need to go to a far off place and pick the flowers/eggs/moss/sacred nectar/etc... that will bond the soul magic to the physical item. And one wildcard quest that can just be something the smith needs done around their home, or secures a resource that other NPCs stole from the smith, or be a training montage that makes the PC a better crafter. Once you have everything in order and both you and the smith are ready to whip your shirts off and get to crafting the only thing left is time. 4. Time The time needed to craft an item is reduced by total man hours and how much money and other resources you pump into the process. So it takes one crafter ten years to make whatever legendary doodad. That means it takes two crafters five years, and it takes ten crafters one year. So twenty to fifty crafters four to seven months. This is why Wizards take on apprentices and use the wish spell to cast Simulacrum hundreds of times in a row. If you are looking to mass produce large quantities of lower tier magic items there's no need for all the above questing and seeking out specific crafters. Just build up your Renown and become famous then hire on a dozen alchemist and enchanter npcs as your apprentices to "teach" them how to craft your potions and scrolls and all the plus one swords and armor sets you give out to the guards at your wizard tower, your fighter friend's castle, and your rogue friend's thieves guild. When it comes time to calculate the time cost of crafting big ticket magic items factor in the total number of crafters involved with your work and then treat extra or higher tier soul gems, enchanting powder, aether crystals, or whatever as multipliers for the number of crafters. Your specific class and spell list doesn't have to be a factor. Even non casters can craft magic items. There's characters in fiction where the only magic they use is the magic in their blessed anvil and the expert swing of their hammer. If any character wants to deck themselves out in magic gear tell them to pickup the corresponding tool proficiency and start gathering resources. Do a quest to get their hammer and anvil blessed by Hephaestus. Stock up on soul trap crystals and magic plants and critter parts they find while traveling. Use the sidekick/companion rules in the back of Tasha's to attract an NPC crafting apprentice who will sharpen blades and watch camp with the Paladin's mount and the Warlock's creepy giant floating eye patron while the party is in the dungeon. There's so much open space to develop crafting rules and almost none of it requires number crunching.

[@DM-Timothy]

Great write-up! Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and system here! The adding of story is, indeed, absolutely vital to the process of balancing out a system!

[@mikeyb6859]

One of the homebrew methods I use for magic items (mostly weapons) is the idea of magic gems that impart their magic to the weapon. This is a technique developed by certain mountain dwarf tribes. The way it works, it requires a gem of exceeding quality, the larger and purer the gem the greater the enchantment it can hold. Thus, it requires miners and gem cutters of extreme skill just to start. Then of course it requires magic-users of great skill to enchant the gem. Finally, a smith with the ability to weave tendrils of mithril through the weapon ending in a seat of mithril for the gem either in the guard or the pommel. Multiple gems could be used but this would have to be decided at the start whether to leave space for future gems. Of course you could not have competing magical ends at the same time (for instance you could not have a flame sword gem matched with a frost sword gem). These ideas could be used for armor, items, etc. It allows players to make adjustable magic items but at a significant cost in money and time as well as hiring craftsmen.

[@CitanulsPumpkin]

Yes, the Materia system from. Final Fantasy VII is a great source for inspiration. My take on it simplifies things by bumping the item's rarity level up by one per each gem slot added to whatever you're crafting. Regular armors and weapons become "common" magic items with one slot. An "ordinary" greatsword with 5 slots is a legendary artifact. There's also all manner of crystals and gems in my setting that are essentially just concentrated ingots of elemental power, magic absorbers or batteries, and all sorts of other physics breaking tricks.

[@mikeyb6859]

@@CitanulsPumpkin that’s cool. I’ve never played Final Fantasy but the idea of enchanting gems to add function is certainly not original with me, I just like to grab ideas wherever I can find them

[@DM-Timothy]

Great stuff! I bet your players love the customization opportunity.

[@danjbundrick]

I think it's really helpful to use the CR system to describe how much work should go into the many components used to make each magic item. It doesn't seem like gold would even be necessary if you're making your own components

[@DM-Timothy]

Having a gold value is helpful for deciding what other components are needed, or to ease up the collection quests and such if you want to abstract part of the process. It’s certainly not required though.

[@danjbundrick]

@DM-Timothy the gold cost can inform the CR. I really think the most helpful thing would be a table of spell effects and modifiers with a multiplier for each modifier and effect. The multiplier would essentially be used to calculate the power of the magic item or spell. For instance, the fireball spell does 8d6 and affects 69 squares (nice). So a Wand that let's you cast fireball twice per day is valued at: (value of 8d6 damage) x (value of fire damage) x (value of 69 affected squares) x (value of range 120 feet) x (value of twice per day with recharge at dawn). I wonder if WotC has their own proprietary calculator they use. A player or dm could play around with the modifiers to make a magic item suitable for your group's level.

[@steveleavell114]

How about requiring magic item formulas (like the rules say) as way to limit MIC. Also, XGtE say you don't need to get the vital component from a creatures corpse. Sometimes it is an interaction to convince them to help/allow you to get said component. For instance, say you want to make a Mace of Disuption. The formula you need a lock of hair or feather from a celestial creature. A good character wouldn't kill a celestial but could convince it to donate a lock of hair for the cause....if the character does a job to prove their goodness. That way a character can get help from an angel after they break up an evil cult, or something.

[@DM-Timothy]

Both glorious ways to build story around your crafting!

[@LordOz3]

I've been homebrewing/mad scientisting item creation rules for my games. I'm going to check out the MSRP list (I already have the Sane list). One thing I did was breakdown/nerf the bag of holding, with the uncommon version being much smaller, as a bag or two RAW eliminates concerns regarding encumbrance and resource management.

[@DM-Timothy]

It sounds like you're a resource-tracker after my own heart. I definitely agree that cost of Bag of Holding being a little steep is not a bad thing (as long as our players enjoy the resource management game). Heward's Handy Haversack makes a great "starter bag", just as Portable Hole makes a great "Upgrade", if you want an easy way to provide progression. Just ignore the rarities and focus on a suitable cost!

[@sethb3090]

Seriously though, my DM and I have a Frankenstein of a homebrewed system because I play an artificer and why should my class doing cool stuff happen exclusively offscreen?

[@DM-Timothy]

Preach it!

[@sethb3090]

​​@@DM-Timothy Here's the version I presented in my own redesign of the artificer class. It's not as in-depth, but intended to be a lightweight system that anyone can use (within reason, it requires some game design sense of how powerful things are) while delivering better results than...well, WotC's version. ----- To determine time and price to craft items (core or homebrew), I make the following adjustments to the base crafting rules: - Determine the item’s *power,* starting with common/uncommon/rare/etc and then how it compares to existing items of the same power. Is your uncommon item stronger or weaker than the average uncommon item? - Set a *price* for the item based on its strength, ranging from 1/2 to 5 times the base price for its rarity, then divide by 2 to determine the crafting price. For example, an uncommon item might value somewhere between 200 and 2000gp, with 400gp being the baseline value of something like a +1 weapon and 200gp being its crafting price. If you are providing *valuable materials* (such as mithril, magical substances, dragon scales, etc) that will be part of the finished item, subtract their value from the crafting price, reducing it by up to half. Your DM may determine that you need to obtain some rare materials before being able to craft certain items. Apply your Arcane Design bonus (halves price and time to craft on my artificer class, scaling from common items at level 1 to legendary at level 18) to reduce the crafting price, then divide the crafting price by 25gp to determine the base number of workdays to craft the item. For example, an uncommon item with a crafting price of 900gp would take 900gp and 36 workdays normally to craft, while an artificer of at least 5th level could craft it with 450gp and 18 workdays.

[@DM-Timothy]

A solid system for a DM at home. Honestly, it doesn't take much to cobble together something workable, we mostly just need to break free of the "there are Rules As Written for this" mentality, because the RAW are so bad in this one spot.

[@sethb3090]

@@DM-Timothy I do really like your system though, it looks like it would lemme itself to some amazing stories.

[@jeffersonian000]

The magic item creation rules in 5e are pretty simple, comparatively. We make our own as needed.

[@DM-Timothy]

There is definitely something to be said for simplicity as an opportunity!

[@josephmath1]

i think a good way to do it would be if the effect of the item is equavlant to a spell, it would be based on the spell lvl max of the item, multiplided by 10x the level of a spell per level, like a cantrips effect would be around 5 gp, a 1st lvl spell equavlant would be 50, a 2nd lvl 500, and so on and so forth, so 9th lvl spell equavlant would be 5 billion gp

[@DM-Timothy]

It gets wild, huh? :D

[@Lycaon1765]

--The meaning of the rarity system is actually exactly what it says on the tin: how rare an item is on the world. It doesn't have to do with power, only scarcity. I can't find the source about where this came from so take it with a grain of salt on whether this is actually something a designer said tho.-- nvm, i just check the DMG to make sure it wasn't from there and it doesn't say this. It just says it's a tough estimate of power level which is dumb.

[@DM-Timothy]

Yeah. I'm holding out for a redesign in the 2024 books. It sounded like they announced a likelihood of that in the PAX Panel.

[@crusadurus]

I have been thinking something similar to that core trait system for my campaign. Its too early for it to have really been used yet but im thinking mainly like Monster hunter in that from a major boss you can craft a few items with traits very similar to the boss. Took a quick look at the MSRP, ill check it out later when im next working on prices.

[@DM-Timothy]

Thieves Guild's harvest guide has some great stuff that leans that direction.

[@crusadurus]

@@DM-Timothy Oh my. only took a glance so far but that may be quite useful. Its harvesting for earth elementals was along the same idea as what I gave, a heavy core instead of elemental essence. Ill add this to my list and use it some.

[@DM-Timothy]

@@crusadurus Awesome. They have a lot of really quality internet tools that I use a lot. Love driving people their way :)

[@tylllllllluuuuuurrrr]

Love the video, about to finish my current campaign. I have already started working on the next and i wanted magic items to me crafted over bought or found for the most part. Do you have this core system written down. Google doc or dungeon master guild?

[@DM-Timothy]

I have my scrabbled together notes, but I have largely created systems for personal use instead of publication.

[@oldmankatan7383]

DMs: Please don't handcuff yourself by requiring the defeat of a certain CR monster. This prevents you from including time-gated events (summer solstice?) Or non-combat sourced materials (the laughter of a stone?) that require fun problem solving and interesting adventures! You can still use CR monster parts for some things, just not everything 😊

[@DM-Timothy]

Definitely a great point! Setting esoteric items and just adding a price value for them can add a ton of fun to the crafting game. Thanks for your comment!

[@zzfrute]

I dont allow artificers as a class in forgoten realms or dark sun campaign's, but they can be great in other settings!

[@DM-Timothy]

They certainly fit the Eberron vibe! :)

[@CitanulsPumpkin]

I can see banning just about everything in Dark Sun because that's just how the setting is. Why ban Artificer in forgotten realms specifically? No one worships Gond in your games? No gnome players? Has none of your parties visited the Island Nation of Lantan? Literally the first place I saw an Artificer prestige class was in a 3e Forgotten Realms splat book. It was the precursor to the 5e battlesmith and the accompanying art was a gnome mage/artificer tinkering with a mechanical lion. Hell, I can't imagine running Theros, Agon, or Odyssey of the Dragonlords without having a Deadalus type character either in the party or as the main quest giver. Or possible the villain. Did you ever see any episodes of the Aladin Saturday morning cartoon? They couldn't use Jafar since he was fully killed off in the first straight to VHS movie, so for the series they made 3 new recurring villains for Aladin to fight every so often. 1. The bumbling thief who tried to use Jafar's lamp in the vhs film. 2. A Palemaster necromancer with a gloved skeletal hand who was obsessed with Princess Jasmin. 3. An Artificer who clearly loaded his workshop into a copy of Howl's Moving Castle and drove it from Ancient Greece all the way to Agrabah. I don't ban Artificer in any setting that has constructs, full casters, or tool proficiencies. The existence of ancient or lost technology is too rich a resource to ignore because some people have a very specific "knights in shining armor" stereotype in their head. I also don't outright ban warforged or anvilwrought as player options. If a player comes to me and says they want to play their own head cannon version of the "completed" Antikythera Machanism I tell them "Great, if you like we can really delve into questions of humanity and self and really go deep on all the best Data scenes from Star Trek TNG. Add two Bonds to your list of bonds. One for the inventor who made you. The other for your "Twin Brother." He can either be Lore from Star Trek TNG or Bender from Futurama. Your call on how those two npcs act and see you, but we are deffinitely going to have to deal with them.

[@DM-Timothy]

I just want to say, I love the Lore reference from TNG. That is all! :D

[@zzfrute]

No, the are worshipers of Gond in my champaign, and forgotten realms has always had artificers in some way or another. Honestly it's almost the backbone of the setting, considering Ed Greenwood designed entire Netherese culture around that class. Yeah, they said wizards, but every Artifact you'll find from that era was enchanted by an artificer. But thats the point. These technologies and ancient magics are remnants of mysterious cultures, and not found in your local convenience store. In my game, we try to stick to a more loosely medieval fantacy. You can't please everyone, and most of my players don't like to break from that mold, so I don't allow gun slingers (even gnomish clerics of Gond), or artificers. Besides, if the players want to craft items, and have the gold, skills and tool proficiencies, I let them. Also, If someone has a really good idea that fits the theme implicitly I wouldn't tell them to get lost.

[@zzfrute]

And totally, Tim! I think that's why it was so important for them to be added. Ravnica, too!

[@DanFanG0]

Hi! I’m Dan from PTYA cohort 8. Great to connect with you here and happy to help if you need any support with your KZbin journey. Your videos are funny, high quality and informative! Would love to play D&D so I am subbed.

[@DM-Timothy]

Great to have you along for the journey! Welcome, and thank you!

[@kevinnoorman4815]

You should do ratings videos on cantrips and first level

[@DM-Timothy]

Thanks for the suggestion! I'm always looking for ideas that would be helpful. Anything in particular that you'd like to see in such a rating vid?

[@kevinnoorman4815]

@@DM-Timothy not really but a video that reveals your S, A, and B tiers would help to see where you put your emphasis and in one video

[@Phleanix]

Fantastic video - the Merchant's Sorcerous Rarities Pricelist is new to me and looks fantastic! Only issue: It says you need to "make a copy" to be able to use the search function... but the typical Google Bar with File etc doesn't appear. Do you have a different link to it? Google fails me! 😅 Thanks! :D EDIT: Odd! It's working on my Work PC..! I'm all sorted... ignore me! 🤣

[@DM-Timothy]

Glad it all worked out! I have loved the MSRP as an additional resource.

[@MagiofAsura]

Wotc was being lazy about it all magic item wise. They should price each magic item and what is needed to craft them. Just saying, paizo makes 20x less than wotc and does it. With a new "?edition?" Coming up, there really is no reason not to since people want it. Then again, wotc is the Bethesda of ttrpgs and whatever is lacking in their game they just shove onto modders.

[@DM-Timothy]

I don’t entirely disagree, for sure. I haven’t taken a look at Pathfinder 2.0, but my only caveat is that Pathfinder 1e’s system was lifted wholesale from D&D. It’s what’s annoying, WotC already did the math once, but with 5e they intended to return magic items to the hands of DMs only, so they didn’t do the work… but then they delivered a half-thought that opened up the floodgates again… not well done at all!

[@sethb3090]

@@DM-Timothy In Pathfinder 2e, every last item, mundane and magical, has a level and a cost (and sometimes minor and greater variants with adjusted values). As long as PCs are only using stuff of up to their level, you can be reasonably sure the game won't break. They also have rarities, but since they're already level scaled, these are more about uniqueness and weirdness. Players can use common stuff no questions asked, but uncommon and especially rare will not fit every campaign and need some GM buy-in to obtain. So a +1 weapon is level 2 and a 35gp upgrade and a +2 weapon is level 10 and a 900gp upgrade from that.

[@DM-Timothy]

@@sethb3090 Nice, they leaned hard into their D&D 3.5 roots. Good call, I'd say! Though I appreciate the more 2e AD&D vibe of 5th Edition, magic items is a constant pain point!

[@MagiofAsura]

@@sethb3090 I might just start using PF2e for magic item pricing 😂 or at least an idea for crafting and such

[@LordSignur]

here are my rules. Every item can be define as a +X items. You cannot use item that have a required level of yourlevel+mod. As in before level 3 : no magic items. +5 items ? need to be AT LEAST level 15 to be able to use it. Legendary magic items ? ALL items are legendary my friend. if you have MUNDANE magic items, you're doing it wrong. I changed all prices. A basic medium health potion (2d8+5) ? about 96gp in my system (560 gold in classic DND.) With my, getting a 100 gold coins is a HUGE reward. Anything above 20 thousand gold piece is just beyond PC's reach. They'll need support for that, from a king, a god, a cult, something. 1 gold coins is roughly equivalent to 500 euros... backpack ? 2gp ? 1000 euros for your backpack ? That's 3 time the price of a good hiking backpack... donc pester yourself, assign a value in euros (or dollars) and divide it by 500. It'll give you a workable price that's not obscene ou irrealistic. Did you know a gold coin is about 12 GRAMS ? so 100 coins ? 1200g... 1000 gp ? 12 kilos of gold... A dragon hoard ? from 20 to 100 METRIC TONS...

[@DM-Timothy]

Thanks so much for sharing your system and thoughts.

[@haiclips3358]

This is great and all but how the fuck are you running 7 games a week??

[@DM-Timothy]

*laughter* Great question. It helps that it is my literal day-job (even if it happens at night). 5 Days a week, I run games for hire, and the other 2, for family. :)

[@Shy--Tsunami]

So cool! I can't imagine!

[@Shy--Tsunami]

7 games a week?!

[@DM-Timothy]

Up to 8 at the moment, plus one I get to play in. Lol. It’s a busy life, but someone has to do it, right?

[@Shy--Tsunami]

@@DM-Timothy so cool, very impressive lol