pukunui
Legend
Hey all,
I really like the buying / selling / crafting magic item downtime activities from Xanathar's Guide to Everything, and I generally defer to them when my players want to buy / sell / craft magic items.
This evening, my players bequeathed a 750 gp "gem-studded cloak fit for a king" to the local dwarven community. They had recovered it from some duergar who had been looting an old dwarven ruin. They were hoping that, in exchange, the dwarves would be able to craft a magic weapon for the barbarian PC. I said sure and promptly looked up the crafting magic items rules in XGE.
I'm happy to say that the dwarven smith has an appropriate formula already. The PCs can pay the gold and wait the required amount of time. But the rules also call for the acquisition of a special ingredient. They say, "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."
OK. That's all well and good ... but what if the item to be crafted is a plain old generic +X item with no special thematic features?
In this particular case, the players want to have the dwarves make the barbarian a +2 battleaxe.
A +2 weapon is rare, so they need to face a creature with a CR of 9-12 in order to get the special ingredient, although it doesn't necessarily need to be a body part. I'm having a look through the CR 9-12 creatures on D&D Beyond, but so far nothing's jumping out.
Anyone got any suggestions?
I really like the buying / selling / crafting magic item downtime activities from Xanathar's Guide to Everything, and I generally defer to them when my players want to buy / sell / craft magic items.
This evening, my players bequeathed a 750 gp "gem-studded cloak fit for a king" to the local dwarven community. They had recovered it from some duergar who had been looting an old dwarven ruin. They were hoping that, in exchange, the dwarves would be able to craft a magic weapon for the barbarian PC. I said sure and promptly looked up the crafting magic items rules in XGE.
I'm happy to say that the dwarven smith has an appropriate formula already. The PCs can pay the gold and wait the required amount of time. But the rules also call for the acquisition of a special ingredient. They say, "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."
OK. That's all well and good ... but what if the item to be crafted is a plain old generic +X item with no special thematic features?
In this particular case, the players want to have the dwarves make the barbarian a +2 battleaxe.
A +2 weapon is rare, so they need to face a creature with a CR of 9-12 in order to get the special ingredient, although it doesn't necessarily need to be a body part. I'm having a look through the CR 9-12 creatures on D&D Beyond, but so far nothing's jumping out.
Anyone got any suggestions?