D&D (2024) D&D Beyond Article on Crafting

[Paul Farquhar]

Yep, he never once made the suit from a box of scraps in a cave.

And the third movie totally never showed him improvising a bunch of inventive gadgets to storm a compound from materials found in a small town Home Depot and a kid's garage

Tony Stark is a superhero, and making gadgets is his superpower. In D&D superpowers are represented by class abilities (artificer in this case) because they are basically magic and other people (non-artificers) cannot hope to duplicate them.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Guys, it's not complicated.

People craft to get things they desire that they don't want to buy or cannot buy.

Why they can't buy it or don't want to buy it is usually due to the DM or setting creator. Either by restricting, justified or unjustified, the item by cost, quantity, quality, or availability,

I don't think that's right. There seem to be people who want to craft things their characters could easily buy in a shop for pocket change. I can't say why that is because it's not something I can empathise with, and I haven't seen my players expressing that desire, but it certainly seems to be an opinion.

I have seen my players express a desire to turn monster body parts into magic items.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I do. I just wish I didn't need to constantly defend the desire for crafting rules.

Can you actually explain why you want it, why it shouldn't be realistic, and why it belongs in D&D rather than Minecraft the tabletop RPG?

Because frankly, I just can't see the appeal.

 

[DrJawaPhD]

Can you actually explain why you want it, why it shouldn't be realistic, and why it belongs in D&D rather than Minecraft the tabletop RPG?

Because frankly, I just can't see the appeal.

Tons of people want crafting in DnD, as evidenced by the fact that dozens of 3pp variations on crafting rules exist and sell very well because many people like me buy them. Why do we want it? Because it's extremely fun and enhances the DnD game by a huge degree. Just because you don't see appeal doesn't mean that WotC shouldn't add something to the game that tons of people want

As for why it shouldn't be realistic, unfortunately that's because it just doesn't end up being any fun. Same as if magic spells had to be realistic, it wouldn't make a fun game. There's no point in crafting anything if you can only craft 10g worth of items per day but can make way more money than that by doing basically anything else. DnD is a fantasy game with very few game mechanics that are actually realistic (because, well, magic!) - why does anyone think that crafting should stick out as being hyper realistic to the detriment of designing a fun game?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Tons of people want crafting in DnD, as evidenced by the fact that dozens of 3pp variations on crafting rules exist and sell very well because many people like me buy them. Why do we want it? Because it's extremely fun snd enhances the DnD game by a huge degree.

That doesn’t answer the question. WHY do you think it’s more fun to say “my character makes a candle” than “my character buys a candle?” HOW does it enhance a game about killing monsters?

Just because you don't see appeal doesn't mean that WotC shouldn't add something to the game that tons of people want

Tons? Maybe, share your statistics.

As for why it shouldn't be realistic, unfortunately that's because it just doesn't end up being any fun.

That puts it in direct conflict with those players who want their D&D to be more realistic. I don’t have stats to say which is the larger group.

Same as if magic spells had to be realistic, it wouldn't make a fun game. There's no point in crafting anything if you can only craft 10g worth of items per day but can make way more money than that by doing basically anything else. DnD is a fantasy game with very few game mechanics that are actually realistic (because, well, magic!) - why does anyone think that crafting should stick out as being hyper realistic to the detriment of designing a fun game?

How about I cast fabricate? That covers everything you want doesn’t it? No need for fancy rules.

 

[DrJawaPhD]

That doesn’t answer the question. WHY do you think it’s more fun to say “my character makes a candle” than “my character buys a candle?” HOW does it enhance a game about killing monsters?

Because it's fun to create stuff, and greatly enhances the gaming experience. I don't know what to tell you, you can't explain why something is fun, it just is. The best answer I can give you is to point out the large number of people wanting crafting features to be added to the game, as evidence that this subjectively fun activity is enjoyed by more than just a couple weirdos

Tons? Maybe, share your statistics.

Heliana's guide made almost $2M on Kickstarter with 18,000 backers. Hamund's guide is still sitting top 30 on DM's Guild despite being over 5 years old. There is significant demand for crafting rules. Now please share your statistics for the millions of dollars to be made by WotC refusing to create crafting rules

How about I cast fabricate? That covers everything you want doesn’t it? No need for fancy rules.

Are you serious or just trolling? Fabricate can't create magic items, or even nonmagical weapons or armor. Come on man

 

[humble minion]

That doesn’t answer the question. WHY do you think it’s more fun to say “my character makes a candle” than “my character buys a candle?” HOW does it enhance a game about killing monsters?

First of all, D&D is, for me, a game about telling stories. Killing monsters is inevitably a part of the stories that D&D generally tells, but it's not the be all and end all. There's LOTS of stuff we'd be hacking out of the game if we decided that killing monsters was all there was. Social skills, for instance.

But even so, taking your candle example, and choosing relatively conventional campaign structures (as opposed to 'the PCs are all running a candlemaking business in their quaint home village', or survival/postapocalyptic stuff where all manufactured/crafted equipment is at a premium)

PCs have rescued a bunch of prisoners from captivity in the underdark and must now find a way to lead them back to the surface. Many of the prisoners are humans and can't see in the dark. There is no wood down here for torches, nobody has spare ruby dust for continual flame, and the light cantrip can only create one light at a time. But a candlemaker might be able to render down monster fat into tallow and make wicks from threads of clothing. Or else, a temple of the god of light has been desecrated by the presence of a now-vanquished Nightwalker, and a PC cleric needs to re-consecrate it. Crafting a single, perfect, holy candle from rare waxes and perfumes, and amid ceremony, lighting it on the broken altar, might do the job. Are you going to wander down to the village and get Gerald the Candlemaker to do that?

Crafting is a story element of the game, one of relatively few which makes it (I'd argue) more precious. It's not to everyone's taste, but hell, D&D-style elemental-themed giants aren't to my taste, and that's never stopped anyone putting them in the game. Let the world-builders and simulationists have SOME bennies, maybe?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

But a candlemaker might be able to render down monster fat into tallow and make wicks from threads of clothing

You don’t need to have special skills to do that. Candlemaking is simple. If my players can describe a plausible solution to a problem then it happens. No rules required.

If you want to know how long it’s going to take, it’s where simulationism is useful. There is no way game rules can cover every possible situation that might arise, so you use real world knowledge (or Google it).

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Are you serious or just trolling? Fabricate can't create magic items, or even nonmagical weapons or armor. Come on man

So just modify the spell so that it can make whatever you want. Or let mending make any non-magical item smaller than 1 cubic foot. The core assumption for D&D is that the core equipment list in the PHB is generally available at the prices listed. That's why it's in the PHB. So there is no reason for adventurers to craft anything (and buying gear is a gold sink). I assume that’s why the Crafter feat includes a purchase discount - so that it’s not completely worthless in the likely situation that the character never has a reason to craft anything.

You can have D&D variants with crafting, but the place for that is not in the PHB. I think what is in the new PHB is pointless and ridiculous and a waste of page-count.

 

[Azzy]

So just modify the spell so that it can make whatever you want. Or let mending make any non-magical item smaller than 1 cubic foot. The core assumption for D&D is that the core equipment list in the PHB is generally available at the prices listed. That's why it's in the PHB. So there is no reason for adventurers to craft anything (and buying gear is a gold sink). I assume that’s why the Crafter feat includes a purchase discount - so that it’s not completely worthless in the likely situation that the character never has a reason to craft anything.

You can have D&D variants with crafting, but the place for that is not in the PHB. I think what is in the new PHB is pointless and ridiculous and a waste of page-count.

Thankfully, you're not writing the PHB.