Fantasy stories where the MC crafts things

[moonfly7]

Thread title is bad. I'm looking for stories, mostly books, where the main characters main skill is crafting. You know, like artificery, alchemy, cooking(an adventure chef story would he PERFECT) or good old fashioned weapon smithing. More passive skills or prepared items than anything else. Bonus points if they're looked down on for what they do instead of traditional fighting or magic.

[LibraryOgre]

First thing that comes to mind? In Dragonslayer (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082288/), Galen enchants a spear that another fairly major character (unfortunately referred to as "Valerian's Father" on IMDB) created some time ago, as his job is a smith.

And, of course, Iron Man.

MacGuyver.

[comicshorse]

'The Lego Movie'

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1490017/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_3

[Darth Credence]

The first thing that springs to mind is the Alvin Maker series by Orson Scott Card. It's been a really long time since I've read them, but it might fit the bill - Alvin's talents lie in things like cutting millstones and the like.
"Pillars of Earth" by Ken Follett isn't fantasy, but it's about the construction of a cathedral in the middle ages.
I haven't read it yet, but I've had "The Blacksmith's Son" by Michael Manning recommended to me several times, and the descriptions given might make it match what you're going for.
Urban Fantasy work? There's "Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge" by Paul Krueger, about bartenders who use magic infused booze to fight monsters.

[Khedrac]

I think "The Crafter's Dungeon" by Jonathan Brooks meets your definition nearly perfectly despite being a "dungeon core" novel.

[Palanan]

Brandon Sanderson's short novel The Emperor's Soul is right in line with what you're looking for.

The main character creates forgeries of art and objects of power. Part of what she does is magical, but there's also a physical component to it.

[moonfly7]

The first thing that springs to mind is the Alvin Maker series by Orson Scott Card. It's been a really long time since I've read them, but it might fit the bill - Alvin's talents lie in things like cutting millstones and the like.
"Pillars of Earth" by Ken Follett isn't fantasy, but it's about the construction of a cathedral in the middle ages.
I haven't read it yet, but I've had "The Blacksmith's Son" by Michael Manning recommended to me several times, and the descriptions given might make it match what you're going for.
Urban Fantasy work? There's "Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge" by Paul Krueger, about bartenders who use magic infused booze to fight monsters.
Urban fantasy's Definitley work. I almost prefer them. I'm all for a booze wizard.

I think "The Crafter's Dungeon" by Jonathan Brooks meets your definition nearly perfectly despite being a "dungeon core" novel.
I'll check it out.

Brandon Sanderson's short novel The Emperor's Soul is right in line with what you're looking for.

The main character creates forgeries of art and objects of power. Part of what she does is magical, but there's also a physical component to it.

Sounds interesting. Might take a look at it.

[tomandtish]

Aleron Kong's (https://www.litrpg.com/) "The Land" series has crafting as a significant part beginning book 2 I believe.

[JeenLeen]

The Kingkiller books (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kingkiller_Chronicle) sorta quality. Artifice related to runes is part of the MC's deal, and what amounts to runic magitek is present. (Although I feel like I'm overselling its scope or impact by calling it magitek. Not even to a 'steampunk'-equivalent level, but there's small things like refrigerators, at least near places where folk practice the arts.) And he makes some fancy tools that are pretty cool.

But it's not his whole deal, and it doesn't come up in a lot of the chapters, so it might not be what you're looking for.
And it's definitely not an art that's looked down upon, compared to traditional fighting.

[Themrys]

Take a look at Shades of Milk and Honey:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8697507-shades-of-milk-and-honey

[Dargaron]

Might be intended for too young an audience, but the novel "The un-magician" by Thomas Sniegoski and Christopher Golden has a main character who is a walking anti-magic zone in a world where everyone has magic. For most of the book, he's using gadgets of various sorts to solve his problems and views being non-magic as a handicap.

I only read the first book when I was a wee lad, but there are apparently sequels that might age up the intended audience. Unfortunately, the book is a black hole on the internet, so I can't even find a wiki page for the series! The best I could find is here: https://www.goodreads.com/series/54642-outcast

(Note: do not try to Google the second book in a public place. It apparently shares its name with a series of erotic novels whose covers leave very little to the imagination.)

Also, seconding the Alvin Maker series if you're looking for characters who primarily craft things. It's kind of his whole deal.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Themrys
Take a look at Shades of Milk and Honey....

This is an interesting little book, at least in terms of how the process of shaping glamours is described.

The voice is on point for a Jane Austen imitation, and it certainly has that Pride and Prejudice feel. If you like Austen novels, you'll most likely enjoy this one as well.

[Khedrac]

I only read the first book when I was a wee lad, but there are apparently sequels that might age up the intended audience. Unfortunately, the book is a black hole on the internet, so I can't even find a wiki page for the series! The best I could find is here: https://www.goodreads.com/series/54642-outcast

For some details on the series, try the Fantastic Fiction (https://www.fantasticfiction.com/g/christopher-golden/unmagician.htm) page for the first novel.

[Aresneo]

Mother of Learning is a web novel where the main character is a wizard in training that finds himself stuck in a time loop and ends up specializing in crafting magic items when he reaches the limits of his casting ability. it recently finished and can be found here: https://www.fictionpress.com/s/2961893/1/Mother-of-Learning

[Prime32]

Knights & Magic is about an artificer who designs new models of magic-powered robots for the kingdom military, and gets really enthusiastic about his work. There's a lot of focus on R&D, and how the protagonist's designs are revolutionary but he's still young and needs the help of more experienced technicians to make them practical. E.g. he tries outfitting a machine with a new kind of synthetic muscle he came up with, and while its power is greatly improved its battery life drops from hours to minutes. The books have been adapted into other media, but they all skip/compress some of the R&D sections in order to focus more on the completed robots blowing stuff up.

[moonfly7]

Might be intended for too young an audience, but the novel "The un-magician" by Thomas Sniegoski and Christopher Golden has a main character who is a walking anti-magic zone in a world where everyone has magic. For most of the book, he's using gadgets of various sorts to solve his problems and views being non-magic as a handicap.

I only read the first book when I was a wee lad, but there are apparently sequels that might age up the intended audience. Unfortunately, the book is a black hole on the internet, so I can't even find a wiki page for the series! The best I could find is here: https://www.goodreads.com/series/54642-outcast

(Note: do not try to Google the second book in a public place. It apparently shares its name with a series of erotic novels whose covers leave very little to the imagination.)

Also, seconding the Alvin Maker series if you're looking for characters who primarily craft things. It's kind of his whole deal.

So a note: the Unmagician has been reprinted under a different title and the series name was changed to something with "zero" I think zero magic?

[Rynjin]

The first thing that springs to mind is the Alvin Maker series by Orson Scott Card. It's been a really long time since I've read them, but it might fit the bill - Alvin's talents lie in things like cutting millstones and the like.

Take note that while enjoyable, if a story drawing explicit real world religious parallels bothers you, it might grate.

There's a whole subset of fiction about this that I can't recall the name of. There's a lot of web serials with the premise from what I know. Maybe check over on Top Web Fiction (http://topwebfiction.com/)? Mother of Learning has already been mentioned, and it's quite good.

Forge of Destiny, despite the name, probably isn't what you're looking for, as a quick heads up. The main character does some minor crafting stuff but it's mostly standard xianxia stuff (though a lot better written than most in the genre).

[Man on Fire]

Michael Scott Rohan's Winter of the World (https://www.goodreads.com/series/52622-the-winter-of-the-world) trilogy is about main character becoming magical blacksmith.

[druid91]

Ascend Online has the main character as a crafter. Though it's kind of couched in an MMORPG/Video-game-esque world. Though it's like a lot of those 'People playing a VR MMO' fantasy novels in that the NPC's tend towards full fledged people rather than empty shells with a bit of character, so it's effectively closer to a fantasy novel than it is a sci-fi one.

[paddyfool]

Learning traditional crafting skills makes up a significant part of the hero's journey for Taran in The Chronicles of Prydain, even if he doesn't end up putting them to that much use.

The protagonist in Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind spends a substantial amount of time learning to make what are effectively magic items, but only as one part of his skillset.

Seconding Mother of Learning, with the same caveat that it's only a part of the protagonist's skillset.

Iron Man.

[Kitten Champion]

Sufficiently Advanced Magic by Andrew Rowe. A very Sandersonian-esque approach to fantasy, with a world reminiscent of a LitRPG but not to the degree of having levels and such. In the world there are these labyrinthine towers young people train to climb in hopes of earning a magical attunement, basically a set of superpowers premised on a singular theme like Summoner or Elementalist. If they get them and escape with them alive, these abilities can be subsequently honed for military and commercial endeavours. Which is why the story is predominantly set in a school.

After his adventure in the tower the main character's attunement turns out to be Enchanter, which is not entirely dissimilar from the concept in Skyrim. It is somewhat looked down upon, or at least by the main character's family which have a proud martial tradition. As, while Enchanting has a wealth of uses in general, it's deemed too passive and indirect for combat. Much of the novel is the protagonist trying to use his wits and elaborate knowledge of the world's magic system to try and devise work-arounds to his perceived weakness.

I should say it is part of a series called Arcane Ascension, but I've only read the first one thus far.

[moonfly7]

Sufficiently Advanced Magic by Andrew Rowe. A very Sandersonian-esque approach to fantasy, with a world reminiscent of a LitRPG but not to the degree of having levels and such. In the world there are these labyrinthine towers young people train to climb in hopes of earning a magical attunement, basically a set of superpowers premised on a singular theme like Summoner or Elementalist. If they get them and escape with them alive, these abilities can be subsequently honed for military and commercial endeavours. Which is why the story is predominantly set in a school.

After his adventure in the tower the main character's attunement turns out to be Enchanter, which is not entirely dissimilar from the concept in Skyrim. It is somewhat looked down upon, or at least by the main character's family which have a proud martial tradition. As, while Enchanting has a wealth of uses in general, it's deemed too passive and indirect for combat. Much of the novel is the protagonist trying to use his wits and elaborate knowledge of the world's magic system to try and devise work-arounds to his perceived weakness.

I should say it is part of a series called Arcane Ascension, but I've only read the first one thus far.

This. This is 100% something I'm checking out. Literally exactly what I had in mind.

[Traab]

The Spellsong Cycle by L.E. Modesitt Jr. Its a book series where a nice woman from earth winds up on another world where music is literally magic. Her being a professional operatic singer means she is pretty powerful, but a lot of the series is her crafting new songs to create the effects she is after because there are numerous rules she has to work with. Not sure if this counts as a crafting main character because she is literally writing music both lyrics and instrumental accompaniment to solve problems.

[Corlindale]

The Circle of Magic books by Tamora Pierce might fit, though it's been more than two decades since I read them so my memory of them is fuzzy at best. But I believe one of the central parts of the setting is that the various schools of magic are intimately tied to various crafting skills or professions, so one of the main characters is a smith and a fire mage, for example.