Rules for Crafting Magic Items

This campaign's magic item crafting rules are based on the rules in the Dungeon Master's Guide, with a handful of modifications.

Step One: Identify the Item You Wish to Craft
To begin crafting a magic item, you must first know what item you’re crafting, and its exact effects. The easiest way to do this is to either find a formula for a magic item, or to encounter a magic item and identify its effects (either by attuning to the item, spending an hour studying it, or casting the identify spell on it).

You may also wish to design and create your own magic item. If you would like to do so, discuss your particular idea for a magic item with the DM, who will help determine the rarity of the item and the steps required to craft it.

Step Two: Meet the Prerequisites for Crafting the Item
In order to craft a magic item, your character must meet a set of prerequisites based on the item’s features and rarity:
 * First, your character must be a spellcaster with mana in order to craft any magic item.
 * Second, if the item you wish to craft is able to produce any specific spell(s), your character must be able to cast those spell(s) (e.g., to create a necklace of fireballs, you must be able to cast fireball).


 * Third, your character must reach a certain minimum level before they can attempt to craft magic items of certain rarity thresholds, as shown below:

Step Three: Acquire the Formula for the Item
Once you have identified a magic item that you would like to create, you must then find or learn the formula for the item in order to begin crafting it. A formula for a magic item could be found in any number of places, such as the library of a powerful wizard, or the laboratory of an artificer. It’s up to you to search for them.

If you are creating your own custom magic item, you will first have to develop a formula for that item. To do so, you must spend one hour per rarity level of the item formulating and studying (i.e., 1 hour for a common item, 2 hours for an uncommon item, etc.). At the end of this period, make an Intelligence (Arcana) check. The DC equals 10, plus 4 for each rarity level of the item above Common (i.e., DC 14 for Uncommon, DC 18 for Rare, etc.). On a success, you create a formula for crafting the item.

If you are an Artificer, you can attempt to discern an existing magic item's formula by studying and examining the item. To do so, you must spend one hour studying a magic item. If the item requires attunement, this process attunes you to the item. At the end of the hour, make an Intelligence (Arcana) check. The DC equals 10, plus 4 for each rarity level of the item above Common (i.e., DC 14 for Uncommon, DC 18 for Rare, etc.). On a success, you learn the formula for crafting the item. On a failure, you cannot attempt to learn the formula for this magic item again until you complete a short or long rest.

Step Four: Craft the Item
The cost of crafting a magical item depends on its rarity. The table below shows how much gold is required to craft a magic item of a given rarity: Crafting a magic item must be accomplished in 8 hour crafting sessions. These sessions require your full attention, and cannot be accomplished while simultaneously performing other tasks. After you have completed a crafting session, if you begin another crafting session before completing a short or long rest, you suffer one level of Exhaustion.

For each 8-hour crafting session that you complete, you must spend 25 gp, which represents the basic arcane components and physical materials required to construct the item. You may also have to spend mana or provide additional components, as detailed below.

Once you have completed enough crafting sessions to spend the total Creation Cost of the item, the item is completed.

 NOTE:  A crafting session is considered light enough activity that a creature can still gain the benefits of a rest while crafting. However, crafting does preclude a creature from sleeping, and a creature that requires sleep will still suffer the effects of a lack of  sleep even if they benefit from a rest.

Special Rules and Exceptions
Spell Scrolls: Spell scrolls have their own crafting rules, distinct from the rules listed here. See Rules For Creating Spell Scrolls.

Extra Components: Most magic items require additional specific components on top of the base Creation Cost. For example, a flaming sword may require the scales of a red dragon. These components, if any, will be indicated in the magic item’s formula.

Items Which Produce Spells: If a magic item is capable of producing a specific spell, you must spend the mana cost of the spell a number of times equal to the spell's level over the course of the entire crafting process. Mana that you spend in this way takes no effect, other than to charge the magic item with the arcane energy required to produce the spell once it is complete.

For example, a necklace of fireballs is capable of casting fireball, a 3rd level spell. As such, in order to craft a necklace of fireballs, you must expend 5 mana (the cost of casting fireball) 3 times (the level of the spell), for a total of 15 mana over the course of the crafting process. You can expend this mana at any rate you wish over the course of the crafting process (i.e., you could spend a small amount of mana during each crafting session, spend all of the required mana during the final crafting session, etc.).

Items Which Produce Spells with Material Components: If the spell normally consumes material components, they are consumed by the crafting process as follows. If the a magic item is only capable of producing the spell one time, then the material components are only consumed once during the entire crafting process. If the magic item is capable of producing the spell multiple times, then the material components of the spell are consumed a number of times equal to the spell's level.

Working Together: Multiple characters can work together to craft a magic item. To do so, each character must meet all of the prerequisites of crafting the item. Each character must spend an entire 8 hour crafting session helping, and each character must spend the required gold, mana, and/or material components to help.

Consumable Items: For consumable items, such as potions and spell scrolls, there are a few exceptions to the above rules. The exceptions are as follows:


 * If the item you’re creating requires material components to be spent, those components are only consumed once during the entire crafting process, regardless of how many crafting sessions are required.


 * The Creation Costs of consumable items are reduced from the costs of normal items. Creation Costs are as follows for consumable items:

Artificers: The 10th level Artificer class feature Magic Item Adept allows an Artificer to produce some magic items in a quarter of the normal time, at half of the normal cost. Mechanically, when an Artificer is crafting such an item, the total Creation Cost of the item is reduced by half. In addition, when an Artificer is crafting such an item, they may spend 50GP, rather than 25GP, for each crafting session. The item is still completed when the Creation Cost is reached, as normal. The result is that the item is completed in a quarter of the normal time, at half of the normal cost.

For example, crafting adamantine armor has a Creation Cost of 500GP, which would normally require 20 crafting sessions of 25GP each to accomplish. For an Artificer with Magic Item Adept, creating adamantine armor would have a Creation Cost of 250GP, and the crafting could be accomplished in 5 crafting sessions of 50GP each.

In some cases, the above rule may result in an Artificer only needing to accomplish a crafting session of 25GP to finish an item. In such a case, the Artificer may complete a 25GP crafting session in half of the normal time (i.e. 4 hours).