Crafting

[Smorgonoffz]

One of my player ha both proficiency with the herbalist and medical kit and he wants to make healing potions: the problem is that in the ph they're listed abeing sable to be bought and that they could be made..but no more. In the dm they're listed as magical items.


Where do i find the rules for crafting healing potions?

[Flashy]

Where do i find the rules for crafting healing potions?

By RAW you use the magic item creation rules (DMG 128-129). A player pays a cost in materials based on the item's rarity (in this case common, or 100gp) and makes 25 gp of progress a day, requiring a dedicated 8 hours for the crafting progress each day.

So by RAW it takes four full non-adventuring days to craft a healing potion and costs them 100 gp in material components. There are no crafting checks involved, but proficiency in the relevant tools may be required at the DM's discretion (herbalist, alchemist, and medical kits could all arguably apply here). Basically default 5e does not favor magic item crafting and if you want it to be a major part of your games you're probably going to have to homebrew something.

[NightScar]

An alternative would be to use the crafting rules under the downtime activities section in the PHB. I don't have the book in hand, but from memory i think it costs half of the item's cost in materials and you make progress in 5gp/day increments. So, if a healing potion costs 50gp, it would take 10 days and 25 gp of materials to craft.

Edit: i forgot to mention that if someone helps, they also contribute 5gp/day. So two people could craft a potion in 5 days.

[Ninja_Prawn]

AFB, but I think there's some confusion in the above posts. Potions of Healing are magic items. In general, magic items do not have fixed prices, but Potions of Healing are so common that the PHB fixed them at 50gp. Hmm. Looks like the 'crafting values' in the DMG are independent of the item's value. 100gp it is.

All crafting, mundane or magical, downtime or spare time, costs an amount of material equal to half the item's sale price. So 25gp. Nope. Magic items cost the full value. Potion of Healing costs 100gp to craft. That's dumb, but it's the RAW.

For mundane items, you progress at 5gp per 8 hours; for magic items it's 25gp for some reason. Therefore it takes four days to craft the Potion (without help).

You need to be at least level 3 to craft common magic items.

You can only craft a magic item if you can cast the relevant spell (if any) - I might be tempted to rule Cure Wounds or Healing Word was relevant to this one. At least for the higher level potions.

Nitpick: there is no such thing as proficiency in medicine kits. Unless you mean he has the Healer feat. Either way, it's not relevant to crafting.

Edit: looks like my memory has failed me here.

[pwykersotz]

I rule that basic heal pots use mundane crafting rules, but I allow batches of 10 for increased cost and no extra time.

[KiltieMacPipes]

I rule that basic heal pots use mundane crafting rules, but I allow batches of 10 for increased cost and no extra time.

Digging the cut of your jib. Takes roughly the same time to make a quart of soup as to make 5 gallons. Makes sense to me. This is now a thing in my game.

[Sigreid]

IMO the crafting rules are the most poorly designed part of the game and seem to be designed to make you not want to do it at all. I would like to see a book that expands them into usable skills, possibly as part of a strongholds book. Basically a book on how to handle a viable homestead so your adventuring heroes aren't mindless, homeless murder hobos.

[hymer]

I'm AFB, but the herbalism kit does pretty much the one thing: allow you to create potions of healing. I got the distinct impression they're crafted as per mundane crafting.

[Ninja_Prawn]

I'm AFB, but the herbalism kit does pretty much the one thing: allow you to create potions of healing. I got the distinct impression they're crafted as per mundane crafting.

The books don't really specify which items can be crafted with which kits. It's probably for the best, because some things might be setting-dependent.

Personally, I would allow a Herbalist's Kit to make anything that could reasonably be herbal in nature. So Potions of Healing, basic poison, anti-toxins, maybe a few other things.

Other potions and things like acid, smokepowder and alchemist's fire would generally fall under the domain of Alchemist's Supplies.

[Firechanter]

IMO the crafting rules are the most poorly designed part of the game and seem to be designed to make you not want to do it at all.

QFT. The crafting rules are a joke. The Designers seem to be downright paranoid that making more than 5SP per day with downtime activities would make playing their game unattractive. :p

[Spacehamster]

QFT. The crafting rules are a joke. The Designers seem to be downright paranoid that making more than 5SP per day with downtime activities would make playing their game unattractive. :p

Yeah it's silly they should have simply put a materials box under all items in the DMG and a table with all mundane, uncommon and rare crafting materials and what skill is used to harvest the materials needed and a rolling table for downtime gathering if you say that during downtime your pc spends most his time in the wilds gathering herbs, mining or whatever. :)

[Ninja_Prawn]

Yeah it's silly they should have simply put a materials box under all items in the DMG and a table with all mundane, uncommon and rare crafting materials and what skill is used to harvest the materials needed and a rolling table for downtime gathering if you say that during downtime your pc spends most his time in the wilds gathering herbs, mining or whatever. :)

I would argue that, if you're willing to go to that length, it would be better to put 'crafting' into a dedicated supplement. Maybe 20 or 30 pages, like the EE Players' Companion. Then you could include all sorts of things, like what kinds of herbs grow in which terrain/climate types, sidebars for Renaissance and modern crafting, guidelines for owning and running craft-based businesses (e.g. smithy, carpenter's shop), all that sort of stuff.

In fact, I might try and write one myself if I find the time.

[Spacehamster]

I would argue that, if you're willing to go to that length, it would be better to put 'crafting' into a dedicated supplement. Maybe 20 or 30 pages, like the EE Players' Companion. Then you could include all sorts of things, like what kinds of herbs grow in which terrain/climate types, sidebars for Renaissance and modern crafting, guidelines for owning and running craft-based businesses (e.g. smithy, carpenter's shop), all that sort of stuff.

In fact, I might try and write one myself if I find the time.

Totally agree on that, also 1 "master" feat for each art that makes you tons better and faster at crafting, so if you want to play a dwarven mastersmith that actually can craft weapons that will be the stuff of songs and legends you can if you are willing to put.the time and effort down. :) think bruenor battlehammer crafting Aegis Fang for Wulfgar. :)

[Ninja_Prawn]

Totally agree on that, also 1 "master" feat for each art that makes you tons better and faster at crafting, so if you want to play a dwarven mastersmith that actually can craft weapons that will be the stuff of songs and legends you can if you are willing to put.the time and effort down. :) think bruenor battlehammer crafting Aegis Fang for Wulfgar. :)

That is a great idea. If/when I write this up, that will definitely be in there. :smallsmile:

[Atalas]

A potion of healing costs 50 gp to buy, as per the PHB. The DMG contradicts things in the PHB, so you'd go with whichever you wanted. Frankly, I'd agree that the basic healing potion would just require crafting knowledge, with maybe having Cure Wounds or Healing Word being able to cut the price and making time in half? Batches be +50 percent of cost for every amount above a single use, with a +25 percent increase in time per extra potion. while the argument of making x amount of taking the same amount of time as x larger amount, it still takes added time for things to mix and settle. Plus, we're talking about a magical potion, it would likely take time for the ingredients to mix, interact, and infuse the entire pot.