Any ways to create a rod?

[Felvion]

Hello playground!
I'm afb at the moment as i lent my books to a wannabe new player so i need your help.
My character (a lvl 2 warlock) would really appreciate having a rod of the pact keeper +1.
I'm not sure whether i'll find such an item as part of some loot so i decided to start crafting one on my own.
As i said, i won't have my dmg for a while to check on the magic item creation rules. Could someone give me an amount of days i need to work on it and the price of the raw material i'd need?
Additionally, since i may need a rod (not neccessary to be a magical one) quite soon for roleplaying reasons but we just left the closest civilized place behind, is there a way to permanently create a mundane rod, either through magic or not?
Thanks in advance!

[SharkForce]

in the absence of any clear information, some form of tool proficiency should be usable to craft a regular non-enchanted rod. i could see either woodworking tools or metalworking tools being applicable. my inclination is that there is probably more wood than metal in a typical rod though (mostly because they're made for people who are not the strongest in the world, and honestly are probably more on the weak end of the scale more often than not).

[Naanomi]

The real answer is 'ask your GM', guidelines for item creation in the DMG are even more 'DM makes it up' than other parts. Expect it to not be easy as spending gold and casting a spell

[Mellack]

It is very much left for the DM to decide. First you are supposed to find a recipe to learn how to make a magic item. Only then can you actually start to craft it. 5e makes building your own magic stuff not likely, unless your DM determines that is how he wants it.

[Felvion]

Thanks for the replies guys. I get that my dm is unsure whether i should have such a magic item or not, at least at those low levels, so i'll leave it for the moment.
On the other hand the mundane rod is still needed. I'm afraid that no person in our party is proficient with any tools appropriate for the job so i started looking for other means of creation and by that i mean magic. I recall that fabricate is a spell that coud make it but it's level 4 spell and it's unlikely i'll get access to it through npcs.
My best chance is that our druid will get access at some wood crafting spell soon (we may hit lvl3 at a sesion or rwo) but i can't recall the druid spell list.
I know the rod should be made out of wood only. Our party is currently in a swamp and then we'll get in a forest so the raw materials won't be hard to find.

[Ninja_Prawn]

On the other hand the mundane rod is still needed. I'm afraid that no person in our party is proficient with any tools appropriate for the job so i started looking for other means of creation and by that i mean magic. I recall that fabricate is a spell that coud make it but it's level 4 spell and it's unlikely i'll get access to it through npcs.
My best chance is that our druid will get access at some wood crafting spell soon (we may hit lvl3 at a sesion or rwo) but i can't recall the druid spell list.


I can't bring to mind any druid wood crafting spells, though I'm mostly AFB too. You'd probably be better off looking for an NPC carpenter. That's what they're for.

In a forested wilderness, you might encounter druids, hermits, rangers or possibly sentient monsters who could help (maybe even orcs or goblins). Maybe a swamp-mermaid who fell in love with a carpenter and learned to use his tools...?

From memory: the Rod is uncommon, right, so you need to be lv3 before you can start crafting, and then its 'worth' is 500gp, so that's 20no 8-hour days to craft, plus 250gp of materials.

[holygroundj]

a conjuration wizard can create a nonmagical item that they have seen.

[whibla]

While I can give you the requested information it is probably worth mentioning, as others have, the following things first:

"Creating A Magic Item. Magic items are the DM's purview..." & "...a character must have a formula that describes the construction of the item." (pg.128), and also "...a formula is one step rarer than the item it allows the character to create." (pg. 141)

However, assuming you have your DM's blessing, and the required formula then construction of a +1 Rod of the Pact Keeper requires:
(1) You to be a 3rd level Warlock.
(2) You spend 500 gp, at a rate of 25 gp per day for 20 days*.
(3) That, for each of those days you work for 8 hours, and expend one spell slot.
(4) Anything else that the DM deems appropriate, in terms of special materials, tools, or even that it be crafted in a particular location.


With regards just the rod part, a rod is simply "A sceptre or just a heavy cylinder ... typically made of metal, wood, or bone. It's about 2 or 3 feet long, 1 inch thick, and 2 to 5 pounds" (pg. 139). In fact the standard mace on the weapons table is a good, if crude, example of a rod, but a slightly more obvious solution might be an Arcane Focus, described in the PHB as "...a special item - an orb, a crystal, a rod, a specially constructed staff..." (pg. 151) If you're looking for something a bit more fancy then a suitable tool proficiency (Smith's tools, Woodcarver's tools, or perhaps even Glassblower's tools would seem the most relevant) and a bit of time (or a Fabricate spell) would seem to be the simplest answer. Magic, other than the aforementioned Fabricate spell, is probably not the answer however. While I am not totally up to speed on all the spells in this version of the game a brief scan tells me that Creation (4th level) fails your 'permanently' criteria, and the only other spell I can think of that would do it is Wish (9th level). Given your level this seems unlikely, not to mention that wishing for a non-magical rod seems ... wasteful, somehow :smallconfused:.

Perhaps a minor illusion over an existing item?


*It is possible to reduce the time required simply by having other people help you. So you plus one other reduces the craft time to 10 days, you plus 3 others can craft a +1 Rod in 5 days, and so on. There are two riders to this: Firstly everyone must meet all the other requirements, e.g. they must be at least 3rd level Warlocks, must work for 8 hours a day, and must expend a spell slot every day, and secondly this only works "as long as everyone participates during the entire crafting process" (pg. 129).

[Felvion]

Thanks everyone (again), especially whibla for the extreme detail and citations. As i see it, there is not much i (or any of our party) could possibly do for now. Everything is up to my dm even for the mundane item and since he doesn't like to reveal any of his plans, i can't worry more about it.