Crafting an Item

A character who has the time, the money, and the needed tools can use downtime to craft armor, weapons, clothing, or other kinds of nonmagical gear.   Resources and Resolution. In addition to the appropriate tools for the item to be crafted, a character needs raw materials worth half of the item’s selling cost. To determine how many workweeks it takes to create an item, divide its gold piece cost by 50. A character can complete multiple items in a workweek if the items’ combined cost is 50 gp or lower. Items that cost more than 50 gp can be completed over longer periods of time, as long as the work in progress is stored in a safe location.   Multiple characters can combine their efforts. Divide the time needed to create an item by the number of characters working on it. Use your judgment when determining how many characters can collaborate on an item. A particularly tiny item, like a ring, might allow only one or two workers, whereas a large, complex item might allow four or more workers.   A character needs to be proficient with the tools needed to craft an item and have access to the appropriate equipment. Everyone who collaborates needs to have the appropriate tool proficiency. You need to make any judgment calls regarding whether a character has the correct equipment. The following table provides some examples.  

Proficiency	Items
Herbalism kit	Antitoxin, potion of healing
Leatherworker’s tools	Leather armor, boots
Smith’s tools	Armor, weapons
Weaver’s tools	Cloaks, robes

  If all the above requirements are met, the result of the process is an item of the desired sort. A character can sell an item crafted in this way at its listed price.   Crafting Magic Items. Creating a magic item requires more than just time, effort, and materials. It is a long-term process that involves one or more adventures to track down rare materials and the lore needed to create the item.   Potions of healing and spell scrolls are exceptions to the following rules. For more information, see “Brewing Potions of Healing” later in this section and the “Scribing a Spell Scroll” section, below.   To start with, a character needs a formula for a magic item in order to create it. The formula is like a recipe. It lists the materials needed and steps required to make the item.   An item invariably requires an exotic material to complete it. This material can range from the skin of a yeti to a vial of water taken from a whirlpool on the Elemental Plane of Water. Finding that material should take place as part of an adventure.   The Magic Item Ingredients table suggests the challenge rating of a creature that the characters need to face to acquire the materials for an item. Note that facing a creature does not necessarily mean that the characters must collect items from its corpse. Rather, the creature might guard a location or a resource that the characters need access to.  

Magic Item Ingredients

Item Rarity	CR Range
Common	1–3
Uncommon	4–8
Rare	9–12
Very rare	13–18
Legendary	19+

  If appropriate, pick a monster or a location that is a thematic fit for the item to be crafted. For example, creating mariner’s armor might require the essence of a water weird. Crafting a staff of charming might require the cooperation of a specific arcanaloth, who will help only if the characters complete a task for it. Making a staff of power might hinge on acquiring a piece of an ancient stone that was once touched by the god of magic — a stone now guarded by a suspicious androsphinx.   In addition to facing a specific creature, creating an item comes with a gold piece cost covering other materials, tools, and so on, based on the item’s rarity. Those values, as well as the time a character needs to work in order to complete the item, are shown on the Magic Item Crafting Time and Cost table. Halve the listed price and creation time for any consumable items.  

Crafting Magic Items

Item Rarity	Work Weeks	Cost
Common	1 work week	50 gp
Uncommon	2 work weeks	200 gp
Rare	10 work weeks	2,000 gp
Very rare	25 work weeks	20,000 gp
Legendary	50 work weeks	100,000 gp

*Halved for a consumable item like a potion or scroll   To complete a magic item, a character also needs whatever tool proficiency is appropriate, as for crafting a nonmagical object, or proficiency in the Arcana skill.   If all the above requirements are met, the result of the process is a magic item of the desired sort.   Complications. Most of the complications involved in creating something, especially a magic item, are linked to the difficulty in finding rare ingredients or components needed to complete the work. The complications a character might face as byproducts of the creation process are most interesting when the characters are working on a magic item: there’s a 10 percent chance for every five workweeks spent on crafting an item that a complication occurs. The Crafting Complications table provides examples of what might happen.  

Crafting Complications

d6	Complication
1	Rumors swirl that what you’re working on is unstable and a threat to the community.*
2	Your tools are stolen, forcing you to buy new ones.*
3	A local wizard shows keen interest in your work and insists on observing you.
4	A powerful noble offers a hefty price for your work and is not interested in hearing no for an answer.*
5	A dwarf clan accuses you of stealing its secret lore to fuel your work.*
6	A competitor spreads rumors that your work is shoddy and prone to failure.*

*Might involve a rival   Brewing Potions of Healing. Potions of healing fall into a special category for item crafting, separate from other magic items. A character who has proficiency with the herbalism kit can create these potions. The times and costs for doing so are summarized on the Potion of Healing Creation table.  

Potion of Healing Creation

Type	Time	Cost
Healing	1 day	25 gp
Greater healing	1 workweek	100 gp
Superior healing	3 workweeks	1,000 gp
Supreme healing	4 workweeks	10,000 gp

    An item has a creation cost specified in the Crafting Magic Items table (half that cost for a consumable, such as a potion or scroll). A character engaged in the crafting of a magic item makes progress in 25 gp increments, spending that amount for each day of work until the total cost is paid. The character is assumed to work for 8 hours each of those days. Thus, creating an uncommon magic item takes 20 days and 500 gp. You are free to adjust the costs to better suit your campaign.   If a spell will be produced by the item being created, the creator must expend one spell slot of the spell’s level for each day of the creation process. The spell’s material components must also be at hand throughout the process. If the spell normally consumes those components, they are consumed by the creation process. If the item will be able to produce the spell only once, as with a spell scroll, the components are consumed only once by the process. Otherwise, the components are consumed once each day of the item’s creation.   Multiple characters can combine their efforts to create a magic item if each of them meets the level prerequisite. Each character can contribute spells, spell slots, and components, as long as everyone participates during the entire crafting process. Each character can contribute 25 gp worth of effort for each day spent helping to craft the item.   Normally, a character who undertakes this activity creates a magic item described in chapter 7, "Treasure." At your discretion, you can allow players to design their own magic items, using the guidelines in chapter 9, "Dungeon Master’s Workshop."   While crafting a magic item, a character can maintain a modest lifestyle without having to pay the 1 gp per day, or a comfortable lifestyle at half the normal cost (see chapter 5, “Equipment,” in the Player’s Handbook).