D&D 5E Crafting Magical Items vs Regular

[SilverBulletKY]

One of my players wants to use poisons. In the rules it will cost him 50g and 20 days worth of crafting just to make 1 vial poison that will last 1 combat round. Seems high.

 

[Dausuul]

One of my players wants to use poisons. In the rules it will cost him 50g and 20 days worth of crafting just to make 1 vial poison that will last 1 combat round. Seems high.

Well, if you think it takes too long, there's no reason you can't adjust it. Poison is another of those things that requires expensive ingredients and an unusual skill set. Plus it tends not to be available on the open market, which means the price is probably jacked up further. There's a good case that it should take less time to produce relative to its cost.

Also, unless I'm mistaken, a vial of poison lasts 1 minute once applied to a weapon. I don't see anything saying it wears off after the first hit.

 

[SilverBulletKY]

Well, if you think it takes too long, there's no reason you can't adjust it. Poison is another of those things that requires expensive ingredients and an unusual skill set. Plus it tends not to be available on the open market, which means the price is probably jacked up further. There's a good case that it should take less time to produce relative to its cost.

Also, unless I'm mistaken, a vial of poison lasts 1 minute once applied to a weapon. I don't see anything saying it wears off after the first hit.

Yeah 10 rounds of combat I should have said.

 

[Inchoroi]

What I wonder is why it takes longer to craft a mundane set of plate armor than it does to make a +1 plate armor (+1 plate armor takes 200days, while mundane armor takes 300).

 

[77IM]

One of my players wants to use poisons. In the rules it will cost him 50g and 20 days worth of crafting just to make 1 vial poison that will last 1 combat round. Seems high.

Same solution as everything else in 5e: call for an ability check. On a success you craft faster; on a failure you craft slower. How much faster you try to go determines the DC.

This is obviously a house rule. But it fits with the idea that the 5e rules are NOT comprehensive, but only cover the typical case; if the DM decides that a PC in a hurry is an exceptional situation, an ability check seems like a good way to handle it.

 

[Jaelommiss]

What I wonder is why it takes longer to craft a mundane set of plate armor than it does to make a +1 plate armor (+1 plate armor takes 200days, while mundane armor takes 300).

I see the 200 days as the time to enchant an existing set of armour. It would take 200 days on top of the 300 days to create the plate in the first place.

As an alternative I would allow spellcasters proficient in smith's tools (and how often is that going to happen?) to complete the whole thing in 200 days, justifying it by saying their magic helped them create the armour faster and that it absorbed some of the magic during the process.

In any case, a smith is going to have apprentices helping him create the armour. Chances are the he'll have it done within 60 days. Finding a spellcaster who is proficient in smith's tools who is also willing to work for you to create this armour is going to be almost impossible. Oh, and don't forget that any assistance you find has to be of third level or higher.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

It's not just labor costs. Creating a magic item requires rare, expensive mystical ingredients and processes that are not needed for mundane items.

And then there's the G&A, marketing, taxes, ...

It's a rough business, the magic item industry.

 

[SkidAce]

Maybe so but in game rules, it's easier and cheaper.

Its not easier if you haven't discovered the recipe.

 

[kerleth]

Of course the actual reason has nothing to do with fantasy economics, but gameplay. Magic loot tends to be way more valuable than mundane loot (some exceptions at the low end magic spectrum and high end mundane spectrum, of course). If you craft magic at the mundane rate, it takes approximately two ELT's (Elven Life Times) to make anything. Crafting mundane items at the magical rate would allow you to make weapons, armor, and the like much faster than the designer's felt appropriate. At least that seems way more logical and likely than arcano-economics to me.

STILL, I love me some good theorycrafting. Perhaps the time difference comes from the fact that mages aren't crafting at all. That is simply the time required for the research, contact, and brokering of a deal with their infernal overlords. FIGHT THE POWER! DOWN WITH THE MAGOCRACY! DOWN WITH PELOR, THE BURNING HATE! LIVE FREE OR D

I apologize for my outburst. Obviously, trying to shortcut the creation of my own herbal potions had unintended side effects. There is no reason to distrust spellcasters or their combination of detect thoughts and dominate person. Have a great day.

 

[SilverBulletKY]

Plate armor and things like that, I can see taking a long time to make but you get a long time of use out of that as well. I guess my main issue is something like a poison that is so expensive (100g minimum for basic) and you only get to use it once and it's gone.