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Argothair
2018-04-10, 02:16 AM
Here's a suite of rules I wrote up that can allow both PCs and NPCs to craft both mundane and magical items. My goal is to help your group vividly imagine what's going on behind the scenes of the D&D economy, so that everyone can understand what's being bought, what's being sold, what people do for a living, and why. I also want to give players the chance to enjoy the excitement and creativity of crafting powerful custom items, while limiting that power so that it doesn't destroy the ordinary flow of a D&D campaign. All feedback is welcome!


The Player's Handbook states that an unskilled laborer earns 2 sp per day, and a skilled artisan earns 2 gp per day. 1 gp is worth 10 sp. I'm going to assume that an ordinary farmer earns roughly 5 sp per day -- more than a laborer, but less than an artisan. The catch is that farmers tend to get paid in barley and cheese and sausages, rather than coins. They eat pretty well, but many farms are a full day's walk from the nearest village, so it's a boring life unless you're particularly fond of the outdoors.

There aren't any rules in the Player's Handbook about endurance or stamina for ordinary daily tasks, but I'm going to assume that the workday is 10 hours, both because it fits with a prosperous medieval economy, and because it makes it easy to calculate hourly wages (if you earn 5 GP / day, then you must earn 5 SP / hour).

Most non-adventuring commoners have a 12 as their highest ability score, giving them +1 to basic ability checks. Unskilled laborers are not proficient at anything, and if they are working for themselves, they can likely afford only cheap tools. Skilled artisans are proficient at their art and with their tools, and will sometimes have a 14 as their highest ability score. The master of a guild or a famous artist would have expertise (double proficiency) in their field, and could have a 16 as their highest ability score. An established guild-master will usually have masterwork-quality tools. The daily rent on a small workshop equipped with ordinary tools for one person is about 1 gp per day.



The basic DC for crafting a non-magical item is the value of the crafted item in gold pieces, divided by the number of days spent crafting. So if your plan is to spend all day crafting an item worth 4 GP, then you need to beat a crafting DC of 4. If your plan is to spend all day crafting an item worth 12 GP, then you need to beat a crafting DC of 12. You can craft the same item over multiple days, or craft many cheap items on the same day -- the only thing that matters here is the total cost of the finished products you plan to create per day.

If your crafting attempt is totally hopeless (assembling full plate armor out of pebbles and hay while trapped in a jail cell) or extremely easy (spending six hours in a carpenter's workshop to carve a block of wood into a serviceable club) then your DM may rule that you automatically fail or automatically succeed.

Otherwise, when you make a crafting check, you must spend a minimum of 1 hour crafting. Roll 1d4 if you are an amateur or apprentice, 2d4 if you have proficiency in your craft, and 3d4 if you have expertise in your craft. If you have Advantage at the crafting check, you may re-roll all of the d4's and keep the higher total. For example, if you rolled a 1 and a 3, and then re-rolled and got a 4 and a 2, you could choose to keep the 4 and the 2.

Then, add up to +2 or subtract up to -6 for the quality of your tools, and add another +2 or subtract another -6 for the quality of your raw materials.



Bonus
Tools
Description


+2
Masterwork
Your tools are finely wrought and well-maintained. Imagine hitting a nail with a smooth, perfectly balanced hammer.


0
Ordinary
Your tools are of the same quality you would find in any workshop. Imagine hitting a nail with a sturdy, practical hammer.


-2
Cheap
Your tools are worn down, second-hand, or shoddily made. Imagine hitting a nail with a hammer full of grime and splinters.


-4
Improvised
Your tools were not intended for your particular craft. Imagine hitting a nail with a screwdriver.


-6
None
You do not have any commercial tools. Imagine pounding on a nail with your fist or your shoe.





Bonus
Materials
Typical Cost
Description


+2
Masterwork
50% of finished product
Your materials are finely wrought and perfectly chosen. Imagine sewing a suit with fine cloth that was cut to fit the intended owner.


0
Ordinary
30% of finished product
Your materials are of the same quality you would find in any market town. Imagine sewing a suit using a standard bolt of wool cloth.


-2
Cheap
20% of finished product
Your materials are irregular, second-hand, or shoddily made. Imagine sewing a suit using pieces of cloth left over from someone else's tailor.


-4
Improvised
10% of finished product
Your materials were not intended for your particular craft. Imagine sewing a suit using rough fabrics scavenged from a carpet or a saddlebag.


-6
None
free
You do not have any commercial materials. Imagine trying to sew a suit using fiber made from marshy reeds or cave moss.



If you successfully meet or beat the crafting DC you set for yourself, then you create the finished product with no problems.

If you fail the check by 1, 2, 3, or 4 points, then your finished product has one defect per point of failure. Roll 1d6 on the chart below for each defect. The same defect may be applied more than once. For example, a sword that has two ugly defects is "very ugly" and gives a total of -2 CHR while being brandished.



1d6
Defect
Consequence


1
Fragile
Roll 1d10 after each time you use the item. On a roll of 1, the item is destroyed. On a roll of 2, the item breaks and requires an hour of repairs.


2
Ugly
-1 CHR while actively equipped.


3
Bulky
Weighs three times the usual amount and takes up three times the usual space for this type of object.


4
Clumsy
-1 DEX while actively equipped.


5
Dangerous
Roll 1d10 after each time you actively use the item. On a roll of 1, you take 1d10 damage. On a roll of 2, you take 1 damage.


6
Unreliable
Roll 1d10 before each time you actively use the item. On a roll of 1 or 2, the item has no useful effects. It still consumes resources as usual.



Each defect in the product cuts its commercial resale value by half. So an object normally worth 32 GP that was ugly, bulky, and clumsy would only be worth 32 / 2 / 2 / 2 = 4 GP. You cannot intentionally create a defective product; the only way to get defects is to fail a crafting roll.

If you fail your roll by 5 or more points, you waste the raw materials and do not generate any usable product.

If you fail your roll by 10 or more points, in addition to wasting the raw materials, you may also damage the equipment, your hands, the stockpile of additional materials, innocent bystanders, your WIS (your task was so hard that it caused maddening frustration), or your CON (your pace was so fast as to be unhealthy). Any WIS or CON damage taken from a failed crafting check is fully healed after any Long Rest.




Journeyman Crafter
So, a typical journeyman craftsman would have an ability modifier of +1 and proficiency with their tools (2d4). They might be working with ordinary tools (+0) and ordinary materials (+0). So their total roll is 2d4 + 1. With that roll, they might choose to set a DC of 5 and attempt to craft 50 SP of finished goods per day. They have to pay 30% of that for their raw materials, which is 50 * 30% = 15 SP. The rent for the ordinary tools is 10 SP per day. The craftsman has to roll 2d4. If the dice show a total of 4 or better, then the craftsman's score is at least 4 + 1 = 5, which meets or beats the DC of 5 and successfully completes the day's work. If the dice show only a total of 3, then the craftsman's score is only 3 + 1 = 4, which fails the DC of 5 by one point, generating 1 random defect, yielding a product of only 1/2 value. If the dice show a total of only 2, then the craftman's score is only 2 + 1 = 3, which fails the DC of 5 by two points and generates 2 random defects, yielding a product of only 1/4 value.

The craftsman will roll 4 or better 81% of the time. The craftsman will roll a 3 about 13% of the time, and a 2 about 6% of the time. This means that the craftsman's efficiency is about (100% * 81%) + (50% * 13%) + (25% * 6%) = 89%. Put another way, the craftsman will lose 11% of his finished product to defects, costing him 11% * 50 sp = about 5 sp.

So on average, the craftsman earns 50 sp - 5 sp for defects - 15 sp for raw materials - 10 sp for workshop space = 20 sp, or 2 gp: the exact wage specified for a skilled artisan in the Player's Handbook.

The craftsman could also choose to set a DC of 6 if he's feeling ambitious, or of 4 if he's feeling nervous...that's mostly roleplaying fluff; the math will work out basically the same, because setting a slightly higher target means you craft more finished product, but at a lower average quality, so your profits even out. If you set a DC that's more than a few points away from your character's 'ideal', then you'll lose profit, because you'll start routinely wasting your materials, or you'll fail to get enough work done to cover the fixed cost of your daily rent.

Stranded Expert
An expert craftsman stranded in the wilderness with no tools might have an ability modifier of +3 and expertise with their tools (3d4). Working with no tools (-6) and no suitable materials (-6), their total roll is 3d4 - 9. If they set a DC of 1 for themselves, then they can hit that DC on a roll of 10, 11, or 12: 15% of the time. At least 84% of the time, they can manage to cobble together *something*, although it is likely to have some defects. But if they try setting a higher DC, e.g., DC 8, then they're just not going to be able to do it: even a roll of 12 on their 3d4 gets reduced to 3; 3 misses the target of 8 by 5 and so the effort fails completely. Not even the best craftsman can create 8 gp / day of materials in the wilderness with no tools or materials or magic.

Unskilled Laborer
An unskilled but unusually strong or nimble laborer would have an ability modifier of +1 (if utilized correctly), but no proficiency. Working with ordinary tools (+0) and ordinary materials (+0), their total roll is 1d4 + 1. If they set a DC of 3, then they will succeed 75% of the time and have a defect 25% of the time, yielding an efficiency of 82%. 82% * 3 = 26 sp, of which 9 sp is raw material cost. Allowing the same 10 sp daily rent for the owner, the laborer's wage is only 26 - 10 - 9 = 7 sp per day -- somewhat better than you could earn on a farm, but not great.

Without the +1 ability modifier, rolling only an unmodified 1d4, the laborer would only have a 68% efficiency on a DC of 3, i.e., would lose 32% of the value of his products to defects. So the perfectly average, unskilled laborer generating 30 sp of finished product would have to pay 9 sp for raw materials, 10 sp for rent, and 10 sp for defects, leaving the poor schlepper only 1 sp per day to live on -- not a good deal for the laborer. So, unless you have some training or an above-average skill or you happen to own your own shop, you will have to work on a farm or a ranch if you want to earn a decent living. You can't work as a craftsman unless you have *some* kind of advantage, which is why most people still live on farms.



Ordinary methods of gaining Advantage, such as helping an ally or expending Inspiration, cannot be applied to a Crafting check. Instead, the primary way to gain Advantage at crafting is to be supervised by a craftsperson who is at a higher tier than you are. A character with Expertise can supervise characters who only have Proficiency, and a character with Proficiency can supervise characters who do not have Proficiency. Your supervisor must be expert or proficient in the same craft you are trying to work at; i.e., an Expert Brewer cannot supervise a Journeyman Stonemason. Each supervisor can watch no more than CHR junior craftsmen at a time. For example, a supervisor with CHR 12 could supervise 12 apprentices.

The DM may also, at her discretion, choose to give Advantage to characters who are crafting in a situation that is very favorable for them, e.g., working in your family forge in your hometown alongside your cousins, or working on a recipe that you know very well and have repeatedly practiced.

Having Advantage allows you to re-roll all of your d4's or d6's and keep the best final result. For example, if you rolled a 1 and a 3, and then re-rolled and got a 4 and a 2, you could choose to keep 4 + 2 = 6. Having Disadvantage forces you to re-roll all of your d4's or d6's and keep the worst final result. For example, f you rolled a 1 and a 3, and then re-rolled and got a 4 and a 2, you would have to keep 1 + 3 = 4.

In general, your character has Disadvantage at Crafting whenever you are trying to do *anything* else besides focus on your work. If you are standing a watch, or trying to collect information, or Concentrating on a spell, or supervising apprentices, then your crafting rolls are made at Disadvantage.

If you have both Advantage and Disadvantage at crafting, roll your dice as normal, without re-rolls.



Any spellcaster can imbue an item with magical powers by repeatedly casting a spell on the item *while* the item is being crafted. It is not possible to use magical crafting to 'enchant' an item that already exists; magical crafting can only affect newly constructed objects. All magic item powers must be keyed to one particular spell. It is not possible to mix and match spells or to invent arbitrary new spell effects. The only exception is that you can use a spell slot of the appropriate level to give +X damage to a weapon, +X accuracy to a weapon, +X/2 AC to a suit of armor, or +X/3 AC to a shield, even if you do not know a spell that has this effect. For example, a Level 5 spell slot could be used to attempt to give +5 damage to a longsword.

The DM should work with players on minor changes in wording that may be needed to adapt each spell for magical item creation. For example, a spell with a range of "touch" that is cast on a cauldron might instead take effect when a player drinks a potion brewed in the cauldron. A spell that "points" to the nearest demon, when cast on a perfectly circular ring, might instead cause the ring to vibrate or spin more quickly when the player is facing in the direction of the demon. If a spell cannot be adapted to enchant a particular item, the DM should warn the player of this before item creation begins. In general, if a spell requires concentration, then items enchanted with that spell require concentration to activate or use. All custom magic items must be attuned to the user before they will provide any benefit.

The more frequently the spell is cast during item creation, the more often the finished product can take advantage of the magical ability in question. For example, if you cast the spell 20 times during item creation, then the magical object you craft will be able to reproduce the spell once per short rest.



Number of Castings During Item Creation
Frequency of Use for Resulting Magic Item


3 times
Used once, and then loses its potency.


5 times
Used twice, and then loses its potency.


10 times
May be used once per long rest.


15 times
May be used twice per long rest.


20 times
May be used once per short or long rest.


30 times
May be used twice per short or long rest.


50 times
Can be activated at-will for 1 round using a bonus action.


100 times
Can be activated at-will for 1 minute using a bonus action.


200 times
Passive; always on.



Note that when casting cantrips as part of magical crafting, any given spellcaster can only cast at most 5 cantrips per hour and at most 20 cantrips per day. You can exceed this limit if you have multiple spellcasters share the work, but then each spellcaster must separately succeed on their magical crafting DC. Casting spells of Level 1 and above is limited only by your spell slots and by the casting time of the spell.

The difficulty of making a magical item is affected by the materials that you choose to work with and by the size of the item. In general, items are easiest to craft when you use large quantities of rare or luxurious materials -- the value of the materials helps anchor and ground the arcane or divine energies so that they remain rooted in the object. Crafting a tiny magic item or crafting a magic item out of commonplace materials is more difficult. It is not possible to craft a magic item using defective materials -- any attempt to imbue a defective item with magic automatically fails. You must thus have access to someone who is reasonably skilled at mundane crafting in order to create any magic items at all. As your mundane crafting (or your friend's mundane crafting) improves, you will be able to craft larger and more expensive objects in a given period of time, which will in turn allow you to weave more powerful magic into your creations.



DC Mod from Materials
Materials Used


+6
Copper, tin, leather, limestone, brick, clay, wood, wool


+3
Silver, iron, glass, bone, granite, porcelain, parchment, linen


0
Gold, steel, crystal, gemstones, incense, silk


-3
Platinum, adamant, diamonds, nepenth, dittany, bacta, dragonhide


-6
Mithril, vibranium, phoenix tears, basilisk venom, atium, octiron





DC Mod from Size and Shape
Size and Shape Used
Important Characteristics


+6
Ring, Earring, Bauble, Pin, Hairclip, Ink, Button
Concealable; can be palmed or pocketed with stealth.


+3
Necklace, Bracelet, Dart, Scroll, Flask
Can be thrown, tossed, or passed with ease.


0
Shield, Gloves, Boots, Dagger, Shortbow, Wand, Potion
Can be worn on part of the body or wielded with only one hand.


-3
Armor, Cloak, Longsword, Greataxe, Staff, Banner
Can be worn over the whole body or wielded with two hands.


-6
Altar, Cauldron, Fireplace, Statue, Door
Is mostly stationary; needs a team of oxen to haul away.



These difficulty modifiers are then applied to the Base DC of the spell being cast on the item, as shown in the table below. If you cast a spell using a higher-level spell slot in order to enhance its effects, then the higher-level spell slot is what gets used to calculate the Base DC.



Base DC
Spell Level


6
Cantrip


10
Level 1


12
Level 2


14
Level 3


17
Level 4


20
Level 5


25
Level 6


30
Level 7


35
Level 8


40
Level 9



In order to meet this DC, amateur magic crafters will roll 1d6, proficient magic crafters will roll 2d6, and expert magic crafters will roll 3d6. The relevant proficiency must be specifically in the type of spell being used or the type of magical crafting being used -- merely being, e.g., a Wizard does not make you proficient at all magical crafting. You are, however, considered to be proficient in magical crafting using spells that you are part of your Divine Domain, Favored Spells, or Magical Secrets.

You then add the ability score modifier from your primary casting attribute for the spell in question. For example, a Wizard with an INT of 18 would add +4 when casting arcane spells. If the same wizard wants to cast a spell from the Bard list that was learned by multi-classing into Bard, the Wizard would have to use their CHR score instead for that spell.

Thus, the formula for determining success at magical crafting is:
1d6, 2d6, or 3d6
plus spellcasting attribute bonus (max of +5)
plus material quality bonus (max of +6)
plus object size bonus (max of +6).

You make one magical crafting DC after *all* of your casting is completed. For example, to create an object that can be activated once per long rest, you would need to cast your spell 10 times. So, you cast the spell 10 times, and then you roll once for your DC. If you meet or beat the DC of the spell level you are aiming for, then you successfully imbue the object with the spell you have been casting. If you fail the DC by 1, 2, 3, or 4 points, then the object receives one curse for each point by which you fail the spell. Roll on the table below to see which curses the item receives.



1d6
Curse
Consequence


1
Draining
Each time the magical item is used, the user loses 1 HP. That HP cannot be recovered until the item loses attunement.


2
Interfering
The user cannot cast spells belonging to the same school or domain as the magic item while attuned to the magic item.


3
Maddening
-2 WIS while attuned to this item.


4
Malevolent
While attuned to this item, your apparent alignment drops by one level: from Good to Neutral, or from Neutral to Evil.


5
Staggering
Your move speed is limited to 5 feet during any round when you actively use this item.


6
Misfiring
Roll 1d10 before each time you actively use the item. On a roll of 1, the item selects a randomly chosen target instead of your intended target. On a roll of 2, the item has no effect.



If you fail the roll by 5 points or more, you do not imbue the item with any magic. The item continues to exist as a mundane object. Your spell slots or other resources used in imbuing the item with magic are wasted.

If you fail the roll by 10 points or more, you destroy the object instead of imbuing it with magic. At your DM's discretion, the resulting explosion may damage you or nearby characters. Typical damage would be 1d10 force damage per level of the attempted spell, with half-damage on a successful DEX save at DC 15.



Highest Possible Mortal Roll

A magical craftsman with expertise can roll 3d6. If she has enough mithril to create an entire statue, she can get an effective +6 for size and +6 for material quality. If she has 20 INT, she can get +5 for her attribute bonus. Assuming the best possible roll of 18, that would yield a total score of 6 + 6 + 5 + 18 = 35...just barely enough to create a Level 8 magic item with no curses, and just barely shy of what it takes to create any Level 9 magic items at all. Mortals cannot create Level 9 magic items without some type of legendary artifact that boosts their attributes up above 20.

Professional Artificer

A reasonably competent Artificer with proficiency at magical crafting would roll 2d6, and might have 16 INT, for a total roll of 2d6 + 3. This will allow her to routinely create medium-sized objects like wands and boots that are crafted from medium-quality materials like gold, marble, or silk, and imbued with Level 1 spells (DC 10). On a good roll of 11 + 3 = 14 or an average roll of 7 + 3 = 10, the Artificer will pass the DC 10 check and successfully create the object. On a below-average roll of 4 + 3 = 7, the Artificer will miss the DC 10 check by 3 and manufacture a thrice-cursed object. Only if the Artificer rolls snake eyes (double 1's) would the Artificer totally fail to add magic to the object.

If the Artificer wanted to stretch for a more ambitious goal, she could try for a Level 3 gold wand (DC 14). She would need to roll an 11 or 12 on her 2d6 in order to manufacture this item with no curses, but it is possible. Note that the difficulty of making a gold wand is the same as the difficulty of making a wooden statute or a silver greataxe or a platinum dart: you can trade off size against material quality somewhat smoothly. You can also trade off size against power: a Level 5 gold cauldron (DC 14) is the same difficulty as the Level 3 gold wand -- although finding someone who can safely craft that much gold in a reasonable amount of time is an additional challenge.

Amateur Hedge Wizard

Suppose you have someone who barely knows magic -- an apprentice wizard with 12 INT, for a total roll of 1d6 + 1. This bumbling fool will be lucky to craft an item that contains the magic of a cantrip, at DC 6. He normally needs a roll of 5 or 6 to successfully transfer the cantrip to the object -- two-thirds of the time, the object will have at least one curse. The amateur can make things a little easier on himself by working up two sizes and working down one level of materials: a silver door, for example, could be imbued with a cantrip at DC 3, which the hedge wizard can achieve as long as he doesn't roll a 1. It is theoretically possible for such a wizard to make some objects with Level 1 Spells (DC 10), but they will usually be cursed and/or require a quantity and quality of materials that would be far too expensive for the average hedge wizard. This is part of why a medium-size town might have some healing potions that heal 2d4 HP, but not healing potions that heal 8d8 HP -- the stronger healing potions are beyond the abilities of the average local wizard.

Note that an amateurish NPC might not be able to hit the PC maximum casting rate of 5 crafting cantrips per hour...it might be more like 1 or 2 cantrips per hour, so having a hedge wizard try to create an "always on" magic item with 200 cantrips could take weeks or months of constant effort.

Vogie
2018-04-10, 09:30 AM
It is not possible to use magical crafting to 'enchant' an item that already exists; magical crafting can only affect newly constructed objects. All magic item powers must be keyed to one particular spell. It is not possible to mix and match spells or to invent arbitrary new spell effects.

But why? I like the duration and number of castings required to craft these things, but these rules seem fairly arbitrary and limiting without much of a gain. If I like my +1 existing hand crossbow, but want to give it the ability to occasionally magically load & fire an exploding bolt made of ice, could I not go through a process of spending 10 Ice Knife castings to give it that ability once per long rest? How is that any more powerful than the same person crafting a +1 hand crossbow with that ability? Enchanting and crafting shouldn't be that mutually exclusive.

And while I do agree that mixing & matching shouldn't invent Arbitrary effects, mixing and matching should invent derivative effects. If you wanted to make a hat or necklace that allowed you to mimic a specific person once per rest, including language, once per rest (enchanted with both Tongues x20 and Alter Self x20, total of 40 castings), that should be able to be done just as easily as if you want to make a belt that allows you to turn into a merfolk once per rest (enchanted with Alter Self x20).

Argothair
2018-04-10, 10:43 AM
Well, the short answer is -- if mixing and matching spells sounds like more fun to you, do it your way! I don't think you'll seriously break the system. I was trying to err on the conservative side because I can't predict all the ways that mixing and matching might be a problem, but if you're not worried about it, then go for it. You might calculate the difficulty of creating a 'mixed' enchanted object by taking the DC for the highest-level spell used in its creation, and then adding +1 DC for two spells, +3 DC for three spells, +6 DC for four spells, +10 DC for five spells, and so on. Note that putting multiple effects on the same item makes that item stronger by helping you get leverage against the limit on the number of attuned items per player.

As far as not letting players enchant items that have already been crafted, I have a couple of reasons for that. Reason one is that I'm trying to involve players in the crafting and manufacturing process -- if not directly, then at least by going to a town and talking to the craftsmen there to commission something special. I prefer a game with a bit more in the way of local flavor and that gives NPCs multiple reasons to exist, rather than just using NPCs as a source of convenient plot hints and extra loot. Reason two is that being forced to suffer the risk of mundane crafting failure is part of what balances the benefits of magic item crafting. In addition to the risk of wasting your spells, I also want players to worry about the risk of wasting your stockpile of, e.g., silver. Otherwise you could wind up with weird situations where players would prefer to fail a magic crafting check by 7 (no effect) vs. fail a magic crafting check by 2 (item receives two curses). The intended penalty for failing a magic item crafting check by 7 is that the item becomes permanently mundane, and can't ever become enchanted with a spell. Which is not a big deal if you were just whittling a wooden ring, but which is a huge problem if you just forged an entire altar made of gold. That's part of why the DC check for putting magic into a wooden ring is 9 points harder than putting magic into a golden altar -- you're not risking as much on the wooden ring, so you need a higher skill level to get the same benefits.

Could you tweak the system to allow for enchanting items even after item creation? Sure. If that's what's important to you, I'm sure there's a way around the "I want to fail by 7" problem, and I encourage you to find one! That's just not the direction I was trying to take this module.