D&D (2024) Magic Items & Crafting In The New Dungeon Master's Guide

"Extended crafting rules and a lot of magical items!"

• Treasure themes discuss different kinds of treasure--arcana, gems, relics, implements, armaments, etc.
• You can craft potions and scrolls in the Player's Handbook.
• The Dungeon Master's Guide expands that to other magical items.
• Uses tools proficiencies and Arcana proficiency and the spells you know.
• You can craft any magical item in the DMG, as long as it's not an artifact.

First you need to have the Arcana skill. Then, depending on the magical item, you need the appropriate tool. For example, wands need woodcarver's tools. Then if the item allows you to cast a spell, you must also know that spell. Then you need gold and time. The rarity of the item determines how much gold or time it takes to create. The time required is measured in person-hours, so assistance can help reduce that time.

Magic items can also have randomly determined histories and creators. Creators include species and creature types--a dwarf, an aberration, a giant, and so on. Histories include being part of a religion, a symbol of power, something sinister, a prophecy, and more. Magic items also get minor properties and quirks, to round them out.

 

[abirdcall]

The idea that a character has to trade in one form of personal power (XP) to gain another form of power (magic items) honestly made a lot of sense. It explained why magic items aren't all over the place.

But xp is simply clunky as a mechanic, especially as many groups use milestone leveling now and don't really go with xp.


The problem with all crafting since then is its hard to balance making rules that players will want to use but ensure rules that a world wouldn't abuse. If magic items just cost gold and time (and the time is not excessive), it would seem strange not to quickly have magic items everywhere after a few generations. Being able to convert gold directly into power would be a very interesting action for anyone of means.

I think my perfect blend of crafting would go back to 4e's residdum concept but with a new twist.

You don't make magic items with gold, you make it with essence. Essence is gotten from killing certain monsters of power, special ingredients, etc. Its not something that is commonly bought or sold.

Essence keeps magic item creation simple. You don't have to track if you need a green dragon fang or a giant hornet's tail, its all simplified with "essence". But essence keeps magic crafting more controllable. The DM can choose to give the players essence for killing a certain monster as an alternate form of treasure. Players "might" encounter a dealer that can get them a certain amount of essence, but that would be suitably rare (and likely the dealer would only have so much, players that want to craft legendary items are not going to buy their way to the essence no matter how much money they have acquired). Because players are often in the monster hunting and finding lost weird stuff, it explains why they might have access to way more crafting ingredients than Wardo the Wizard who just lives in town. and so players can craft a decent amount, but it explains why they remain an exception to the rule rather than the norm.

One thing that works in 5e's favour is that unlike 3e it does not try to create rules that apply to everyone.

The rules are specifically for the PCs. The DM is free to give whatever powers they like to NPCs for example.

I see the GP cost as a simplification of the process of finding the ingredients. The ingredients can still be rare under these rules it's just assumed the PCs manage to buy some in the large city without needing to make it a scene that is played out.

I see the 20% discount with the Crafter feat the same way. It is just a simplification of the crafter buying raw materials and making it themselves without needing to make complex rules that amount to the same thing.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

And what about to use residiuum (from 4th Ed) as ingredient to craft magic items?

Residuum

Residuum was a magical substance that was left behind whenever a magic item was disenchanted.[3] Some described it as concentrated magic.[3][4] It could often be found inside the bodies of creatures that fed upon magical items,[5][6] such as rust monsters[5] and steel predators.[6] This...

forgottenrealms.fandom.com

Could I craft a magitek motor to reload crossbows? Or a war charriot to attack knights riding horses or monster mounts.

Or a power-armour/exosuit working as a construct mount.

 

[Parmandur]

I like that they said they're clarifying what you need to qualify for crafting a magic item. Name, the Arcana skill and the appropriate Artisan Tool proficiency and possibly a relevant spell. I just hope there's a clause for collaborative item creation where multiple people can collectively supply those things. Otherwise it's going to really narrow things down and push some wonky character creation choices.

It makes Crafter a lot more attractive as a Feat.

 

[Bayushi_seikuro]

True. The XP hit was a consideration for sure, but I was able to mitigate this by having the player who was to receive the magic item pay the XP cost, in addition to the monetary costs. That way all of the PC's would stay roughly the same level and the character taking the creation feats was not punished for using them.

That's the problem. That's entirely a DM decision. RAW, especially to get higher level items, it cost a metric boatload of XP. Who cares about gold cost - that's easy to make back up - but once you have a PC in a 2-player and a DM game start falling that far behind, it was my best hope to fully go all-in on the deva. I mean, once you realize that yes, a sword can only go up to +5, but you can still put +5 worth of enchantments like flaming ON TOP of that. It was unruly.

 

[Bayushi_seikuro]

I like that they said they're clarifying what you need to qualify for crafting a magic item. Name, the Arcana skill and the appropriate Artisan Tool proficiency and possibly a relevant spell. I just hope there's a clause for collaborative item creation where multiple people can collectively supply those things. Otherwise it's going to really narrow things down and push some wonky character creation choices.

They did address that in the amount of time that it takes to make - again they point out it's another good use for Bastion rules - but I believe it was James who said it's measured in person-hours, so two workers cuts it in half the time, four quarters it.

 

[OB1]

Love that they're breaking the treasure tables into the types of monsters that would likely have that type of treasure. Super helpful for designing adventures around PCs desire to get a specific type of magic item.

As for the crafting rules, I'm a little surprised that at a minimum the materials for Legendary item creation wouldn't be the type of thing you could find in a city (outside of maybe Sigil) and instead need to adventure for. That said, I'll probably keep my 2014 house rules around that Rare and above magic items need very specific things to complete them, and aren't just purchasable by gold.

 

[Superchunk77]

That's the problem. That's entirely a DM decision. RAW, especially to get higher level items, it cost a metric boatload of XP. Who cares about gold cost - that's easy to make back up - but once you have a PC in a 2-player and a DM game start falling that far behind, it was my best hope to fully go all-in on the deva. I mean, once you realize that yes, a sword can only go up to +5, but you can still put +5 worth of enchantments like flaming ON TOP of that. It was unruly.

I wouldn't call it unruly, but 2 players and a DM is an unusual group composition for a 3.5e campaign, so I understand your pov. And just for argument's sake, every edition of D&D when played "RAW" has exploits, problems, and sometimes just plain dumb rules. You always need a good DM with good house rules to make the game your own.

 

[Morrus]

There is a beep in this one! Chris is awesome.

You're easily impressed!

 

[jasper]

They said that they put prices in the previous DMG, but the new one makes it easier to find, so my first thought is that it's still based on rarity.

....

I just scanned my DMG and could not find the prices. Any one got a page number for this old fart?

 

[Charlaquin]

How are the magic items in the new DMG costed? A specific sum or a range based on rarity?

Based on the fact that they keep reiterating that the pricing information was actually in the 2014 DMG, they’re just doing a better job of presenting it in this one, I’m guessing it’ll be exactly the same rarity-based ranges as the 2014 DMG has. Which doesn’t really address what people who want prices for magic items actually want, but