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D&D 5E Making a Arcane Focus
- Thread starter trilobite
- Start date
The cheapest arcane focus in the PHB is the staff, at 5 gp. So with one day of crafting you could make one.
...assuming you had the proper tools (and exactly which tools is up to the DM: probably woodworking, but maybe smithing for a metal staff, or maybe alchemist's tools are involved at some point)
...and proficiency in the proper tools
...and 2.5 gp worth of raw materials.
In other words, it's pretty totally up to the DM. I would certainly allow a wizard player to use improvised tools to fashion a proper arcane-focus staff out of fungus, but it may take many days and multiple ability checks before it was done right.
...assuming you had the proper tools (and exactly which tools is up to the DM: probably woodworking, but maybe smithing for a metal staff, or maybe alchemist's tools are involved at some point)
...and proficiency in the proper tools
...and 2.5 gp worth of raw materials.
In other words, it's pretty totally up to the DM. I would certainly allow a wizard player to use improvised tools to fashion a proper arcane-focus staff out of fungus, but it may take many days and multiple ability checks before it was done right.
Jaelommiss
First Post
Crafting is a downtime activity where work is completed in 5gp increments each day if the character is proficient in the relevant artisan's tools. The character must expend half that in consumed resources to purchase supplies.
Crystal, 10gp (2 days) - glassblower's tools, jeweler's tools
Orb, 20gp (4 days) - glassblower's tools, jeweler's tools
Rod, 10gp (2 days) - glassblower's tools, smith's tools, woodcarver's tools
Staff, 5gp (1 day)/ Quarterstaff, 2sp (0.04 days) - woodcarver's tools
Wand, 10gp (2 days) - glassblower's tools, smith's tools, woodcarver's tools
Other tools might be possible with a good justification.
That's the RAW answer. I personally believe that, in your situation (assuming that your first level wizard in the Underdark is at the start of OotA), it would be horribly out of place and makes little sense for your DM to allow this.
Were I your DM, I would make sure you understand the importance of a spellcasting focus. It allows you to bypass material requirements for spellcasting that do not have an attached gp cost. That's it. You can still cast spells as long as they either don't have a material component or if you possess the material component. Depending on your spell choices you can probably get by without one for a few sessions.
Hopefully your DM explained the limited resources you would have access to at the start of the adventure before you picked spells. If you chose those spells anyway, then it's harder to be sympathetic. In that case, I'd understand if your DM made it harder to create an arcane focus while running for your life through a hostile environment. If you were not made aware that you would not have an arcane focus before playing, talk to your DM. You might be allowed to change spells or make a different character instead.
With that all aside, there are a few ways that I can think of, subject to DM approval, that might allow you to make an arcane focus.
The most obvious way to make one would be to search around for potentially magical objects in your travels. Find some gnarled roots and make an improvised staff or wand. Maybe it has a chance of breaking with each spell cast, but it will work for now. Take that sparkly stone there, chip the away the rocky exterior, and collect the fingernail sized quartz inside. There's a crystal that is good for four spells. Remove the femur from an enemy, polish it smooth over a few hours, and use it as a rod for the next three days until the residual life energy in the bone dissipates. Once you escape you can purchase a properly made focus in town.
Taking time to look for material components is a great way to mitigate your current weakness, if your DM allows you. Look through your spells and see what items you will need, then start searching if any of them seem reasonable.
Alternatively, don't bother making a crude focus that is as likely to backfire as not. Spring an ambush on the drow pursuing you and steal one of theirs, or sneak into their camp and steal it. If you come across someone likely to have one (a merchant or other spellcaster) then your rogue could pick their pockets for it. I haven't read the adventure myself, so I'm not sure what situations you will end up facing.
When players show effort in trying to solve a problem, most DMs allow it to work. Perhaps it won't be perfect, and complications may arise, but at least a temporary fix is likely to be provided unless it is vital for the game that you cannot cast those select spells.
Crystal, 10gp (2 days) - glassblower's tools, jeweler's tools
Orb, 20gp (4 days) - glassblower's tools, jeweler's tools
Rod, 10gp (2 days) - glassblower's tools, smith's tools, woodcarver's tools
Staff, 5gp (1 day)/ Quarterstaff, 2sp (0.04 days) - woodcarver's tools
Wand, 10gp (2 days) - glassblower's tools, smith's tools, woodcarver's tools
Other tools might be possible with a good justification.
That's the RAW answer. I personally believe that, in your situation (assuming that your first level wizard in the Underdark is at the start of OotA), it would be horribly out of place and makes little sense for your DM to allow this.
Were I your DM, I would make sure you understand the importance of a spellcasting focus. It allows you to bypass material requirements for spellcasting that do not have an attached gp cost. That's it. You can still cast spells as long as they either don't have a material component or if you possess the material component. Depending on your spell choices you can probably get by without one for a few sessions.
Hopefully your DM explained the limited resources you would have access to at the start of the adventure before you picked spells. If you chose those spells anyway, then it's harder to be sympathetic. In that case, I'd understand if your DM made it harder to create an arcane focus while running for your life through a hostile environment. If you were not made aware that you would not have an arcane focus before playing, talk to your DM. You might be allowed to change spells or make a different character instead.
With that all aside, there are a few ways that I can think of, subject to DM approval, that might allow you to make an arcane focus.
The most obvious way to make one would be to search around for potentially magical objects in your travels. Find some gnarled roots and make an improvised staff or wand. Maybe it has a chance of breaking with each spell cast, but it will work for now. Take that sparkly stone there, chip the away the rocky exterior, and collect the fingernail sized quartz inside. There's a crystal that is good for four spells. Remove the femur from an enemy, polish it smooth over a few hours, and use it as a rod for the next three days until the residual life energy in the bone dissipates. Once you escape you can purchase a properly made focus in town.
Taking time to look for material components is a great way to mitigate your current weakness, if your DM allows you. Look through your spells and see what items you will need, then start searching if any of them seem reasonable.
Alternatively, don't bother making a crude focus that is as likely to backfire as not. Spring an ambush on the drow pursuing you and steal one of theirs, or sneak into their camp and steal it. If you come across someone likely to have one (a merchant or other spellcaster) then your rogue could pick their pockets for it. I haven't read the adventure myself, so I'm not sure what situations you will end up facing.
When players show effort in trying to solve a problem, most DMs allow it to work. Perhaps it won't be perfect, and complications may arise, but at least a temporary fix is likely to be provided unless it is vital for the game that you cannot cast those select spells.
Remember also that the focus is only needed as a replacement for material components -- a focus is the same as a component pouch, and as the actual required components (sand for sleep, leather for mage armour). Any of those should be sufficient.
Also you can cast V and V, S spells without any focus (so Magic missile).
I'd suggest the more urgent issue is your spell book!
Also you can cast V and V, S spells without any focus (so Magic missile).
I'd suggest the more urgent issue is your spell book!
AmerginLiath
Adventurer
If the player can describe a Crafting Montage and then start humming the A-Team theme, I’d make things easier for them, but that’s probably just the sort of thing the folks whom I play with do...
I'm assuming you don't have tools, either. So, if your DM is going strictly by the books, you're out of luck until you a) find some tools or b) find an already-made focus to use. You might be able to improvise, but that is entirely up to your DM and your own ingenuity.
Presumably your real goal here is to gain the ability to use your spells. Here are some ways to tackle that problem:
[SIZE=-2]*Well, unless you meet a beholder. Or a spellcaster with feeblemind. Or a dead magic zone. Okay, it can be taken away, but at least they have to work for it.[/SIZE]
Presumably your real goal here is to gain the ability to use your spells. Here are some ways to tackle that problem:
- Are there arcane spellcasters around? (If you are--and I'm just spitballing here--a slave captured by drow, the answer is probably yes.) A decent Sleight of Hand check by the party rogue could get you a component pouch, a wand, or an orb, though probably not a staff.
- In the aforementioned, purely hypothetical, slave-of-the-drow scenario, you could look for something with a long shaft, a broom or mop. If you can get hold of that and something to carve with, you might be able to carve a staff that would serve as a focus. This falls under "improvisation," meaning it's totally up to the DM to decide whether or how well this works. If your DM feels generous, you could get a fully functional wizard's staff. If your DM feels like making you sweat, the staff might be unreliable, have limited uses, or suffer some other drawback. Or it might not work at all.
- Find your original focus and get it back.
- Scavenge material components directly. Remember, the only time you need a focus is when you want to cast a spell with a material component and don't have the component. If you can find the component, you're golden. This depends on what you've got for spells prepared. Do you want to cast mage armor? Steal a scrap of leather. Sleep? That one's easy, all you need is a pinch of sand. Tasha's hideous laughter is tougher, you probably won't be able to find tiny pastries in the Underdark.
- If all else fails, rely on spells that don't have a material component. Fortunately, that includes all of the direct-damage cantrips; if you know any of those, you've got a weapon that can't be taken away from you*.
[SIZE=-2]*Well, unless you meet a beholder. Or a spellcaster with feeblemind. Or a dead magic zone. Okay, it can be taken away, but at least they have to work for it.[/SIZE]
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AmerginLiath
Adventurer
If the player has ideas but the character doesn’t have the tools (in this case, literally), you can meet them halfway as DM by putting some of the stuff they need out there but making them find it. A drow prison likely has a workshop of some sort (if only to repair torture devices and the like), so the party could force their way into that and steal different tools from there (both for this sort of project and to facilitate an escape). Have them see a workcrew (foreman and slaves) coming back from a repair job with enough context that they’re heading back to the shop and see if the party puts 2 and 2 together and follows (or sneaks into the group and uses the team of slaves as allies/cover when a fight breaks out, depending on alignment)
We started Oota (me as player so no spoiling pls) at 5th level. I cannot imagine how to start this at 1st even if lots of the mobs are really toned down. I cannot fully analyse this, because I will not read the module until the adventure is done, but the circumstances as such are hefty.
