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Message: <blockquote data-quote="howandwhy99" data-source="post: 5788739" data-attributes="member: 3192">I'd like to see this as a variety of options for those who want it in their games.The catch is, what resources are the PCs spending in order to create these valuable items? Also, how does the world take shape because of access to this production?Eberron campaigns would want easy magic item creation with increasing difficulty and cost of production for more powerful items and magi-tech machinery. Someone built that train after all, and all those lofting cities. Greyhawk, a more standard swords & sorcery campaign, could work similarly, but with a far higher rarity for producers of magic items and effects. Perhaps it's a natural rarity in racial populations for who can wield magic? Perhaps training is simply rarer? Maybe trusting in magic by the populace isn't as common and therefore fewer seek out these items. As I recall, most wizards were NPCs and not adventurers. They needed to support themselves some how. Perhaps they didn't share their secrets of creation though? This makes certain texts rarer.Forgotten Realms is more high fantasy and could be construed as a mix of the previous two. Magic is common enough, but it is still the basis for combat and warfare rather than nation building and everyday life (Halruaa withstanding). I could see magic in FR being more easily learned and by most any with a high enough intelligence, but the acceptance of magic and its mundane uses are still low to middling. Another question: How recognizable are magic items and effects? Sometimes a magical sword looks like every other sword. It's not recognized as magical until we start using it and something unexpected occurs. If magic is hard to recognize (we might need a Detect Magic spell to do so), then these items could be found in shops at standard equipment prices? Of course the opposite holds true as well, selling an item is more difficult for its true price. This would put a little pawn shop discovery in the game.For Resources: Time, Money, Tools, Materials, a Safe Environment, Ritual / Spell procedure for creation, are all possible costs to magic item creation. In AD&D M.I.s took literally years to create for the more powerful items. When a laboratory, expensive or quested for materials, and the necessity to learn the proper spell are taken into account then this aspect of play really becomes an adventure in and of itself. Just like spell casting, if the creation of a M.I. were to be disrupted (someone came in and destroyed the lab), then the whole process would need to start over. If we require individual spells for each particular magic item, then we have a far greater cost (or quest) for those who want to build one. Wizards usually have no limit, so they are not hampered there. Creating custom spells though should be in the game, if we're going to have custom M.I. spells anyways. Those two systems would work together. All of this ignores the common D&D understanding of ease of access to creating scrolls and potions. Those always appeared differently, simpler, even in 3e. To really remember how M.I. creation was in the game, go back and reread AD&D DMG's "Magical Research" section. It's only a few pages, but a lot of information is there. It doesn't need to be the standard or anything, but it holds a shared commonality for many D&D players. Altering those processes to fit into 5e's mechanics would be interesting. Altering the whole further for multiple options will mean knowing common preferences.</blockquote>

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