D&D 5E Ingredients to make a staff of defense

ECMO3

Hero
What are some quest ingredients to make someone get to make a staff of defense?

It is a glass staff that can cast Mage Armor and Shield. So a Glass staff obviously, but that can probably be made by any glass blower.

Both of the spells describe a "magical force" that offers protection and I am struggling to say thematically what kind of Monstrosity body part or whatever would provide that.
 

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J.Quondam

CR 1/8
Maybe the glass itself has to be made from the remains of a sand-based creature (or earth elemental specifically made of sand). The caveat is that the killshot must be "a mighty one, solely of magical force" (ie, deals at least X force damage), in order to "infuse the sand with the proper magical charges." Or something.

Alternatively, (though this seems too epic for a mere staff of defense) amethyst dragons have resistance to force damage, so maybe a bit of scale or eggshell? If that's too gonzo, maybe the quest would just be to beg/borrow/steal the ingredient off a renowned dragon hunter or collector, like a particular wizard, arcanaloth, morkoth, or something.
 

It could need something like tears from a Night Hag (have magic missile), a bone from someone who became a poltergeist, the hand of a warlock (eldritch blast), or the remains of a sand mephit.

These could be additives to the glass, which clears up once the enchantment takes hold.
 

EzekielRaiden

Follower of the Way
Well, how is the glass made?

The strongest types of glass (in terms of materials alone) are borosilicate, aluminosilicate, and fused silica. That means either intentionally introducing sources of aluminum (read: alum, which was known to the ancients) or boron (borax, which was traded on the Silk Road), or finding extremely high-purity silica, or finding some way to remove any existing impurities.

The strongest types of glass in terms of technique are annealed, laminated, and heat-tempered, and chemically-tempered. Tempered is clearly the best option here, and both types have plausible places where magical materials could be useful. That is, heat-tempered glass must be heated to a very high temperature (essentially making it partially molten again) before rapidly cooling the exterior but letting the interior cool slowly. That sounds like two magical materials: one to heat it up, another to cool it down at the right rate. With chemical tempering, the glass is immersed in a molten salt bath (or two: either potassium nitrate alone, or first sodium nitrate and then potassium), which causes an ion exchange in the surface of the glass; the larger potassium ions push against the already-fixed positions of the silicon and oxygen atoms, putting the surface under compression and the interior under tension just like with heat-tempered glass, but for different reasons. For this method, the two salts you have to acquire (and then get to a molten state) would be excellent picks for magical (or "magical"—meaning IRL mundane but not actually known to the medieval chemistry presumed by D&D.)

So, as a brief list of things you could consider:
High-purity silica crystals or sand
Chemical additives to add strength
Fuel or magical heat sources (doubly so if going for heat tempering)
Material for the mold
Salts that can be melted for chemical tempering
Magical materials that are associated with strength (e.g. diamond, ironwood, mithril or adamantine powder, petrified wood, dragon bone powder, etc.)
 

Quickleaf

Legend
The eye of a barrister who never lost a case while defending a client.

Brick (ground up & sand melted into glass) from a city whose walls never fell to siege.

Remnants of a shattered glasswork golem.
 


aco175

Legend
You can also have more simple ingredients, but the DC to craft is higher. If you quest for the special sand to make the glass out of, and find the best blower in the 7 kingdoms, you might need a DC of 15, or even just let it happen since the expert likely has +10 skill. If you just grab Joe from the local village and a bucket of sand from the river, the DC is like 25. Could happen, but likely no.
 

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