In order to craft magic items, craftsmen harness the magics of the world, in the form of magical essence. These come in many forms: gems, creature parts, rare herbs, and magical metals are but a few.
Magic item prices
Buying magic items outright from an artisan or dealer is very expensive, as they have to be crafted without knowing there is a buyer. When selling magic items, most merchants offer you half this amount of gold. As always, specific magic items may be more or less expensive, if they are even for sale at all.
| Rarity | Cost (permanent) | Cost (Consumable) |
|---|---|---|
| Common | 75 (25+2d4×10) gp | 50 (25+2d4×5) gp |
| Uncommon | 800 (100+2d6×100) gp | 160 (20+2d6×20) gp |
| Rare | 2750 (1000+2d6×250) gp | 550 (200+2d6×50) gp |
| Very Rare | 14000 (5000+2d8×1000) gp | 2800 (1000+2d8×200) gp |
| Legendary | 47500 (25000+2d8×2500) gp | 9500 (5000+2d8×500) gp |
Downtime: Crafting
| Item Rarity | Other material costs (permanent) | Time (permanent) | Other material costs (consumable) | Time (consumable) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common | 50 (1d4×25) gp | 1 workweek (makes 2 (1d4)) | 50 (1d4×25) gp | 1 workweek, makes 10 (3d6) |
| Uncommon | 250 (2d4×50) gp | 1 workweek | 250 (2d4×50) gp | 1 workweek, makes 5 (2d4) |
| Rare | 700 (2d6×100) gp | 1 workweek | 350 (2d6×50) gp | 1 workweek, makes 2 (1d4) |
| Very Rare | 3250 (3d8×250) gp | 2 (1d4) workweeks | 650 (3d8×50) gp | 1 workweek |
| Legendary | 13500 (5d10×500) gp | 5 (2d4) workweeks | 2700 (5d10×100) gp | 2 (1d4) workweeks |
To fuel magic items, you need to infuse the item with magical essence. The crafting also requires mundane materials and reagents, which is abstracted into a gold cost. If an NPC artisan is hired to do the crafting, the gold cost is doubled, representing a fee. The artisan might reduce or waive this fee as a reward for a quest, or be haggled down to a better price.
The DM determines what essences are required for crafting a particular item. Most permanent items require two essences of the same rarity as the item, while consumable items generally require a single essence. Some items might require a particular essence or material to craft.
For example, crafting a pair of Bracers of Defense, a rare item, requires a rare earth essence and a rare lawful essence. An earth elemental core and a 500gp amethyst would fulfill this. In addition, the crafting requires ~1400gp of other materials and would take one week to complete for a character that is proficient with either smith's tools or jeweler's tools.
Proficiency and Expertise
You can only craft items using tools you are proficient with. For example, proficiency with Smith's Tools lets you craft metallic weapon and armor, and proficiency with Weaver's Supplies is used to create robes and clothing.
If you have Expertise with the tool in question, you can roll twice for the cost and time or amount created, choosing which result to keep. It is very rare for NPCs to have Expertise in their tools.
Example recipes
The following table contains a handful of example recipes. As always, the DM will listen to well-thought out arguments for why a different essence or proficiency should apply.
| Item | Essences | Tool proficiency |
|---|---|---|
| Arcane Octo-sphere | Lawful + Earth (obsidian) | Mason's tools |
| Initiate's Staff | Air + Earth + Fire + Water | Woodcarver's tools |
| Doss Lute | Positive + Chaotic | Woodcarver's tools |
| Immovable Rod | Lawful + Lawful | Smith's tools |
| Windsilk Leathers | Air (windsilk) + Water | Leatherworker's tools |
| Blink Boots | Chaotic (blink dog leather) + Air | Cobbler's tools |
| Bracers of Defense | Earth + Lawful | Smith's tools or Jeweler's tools |
| Flame Tongue | Fire + Chaotic | Smith's tools |
| Mindsaber | Lawful + Psionic | Tinker's tools |
| Illusionist's Bracers | Chaotic + Lawful | Weaver's tools |
| Antumbra | Lawful + Positive | Glassblower's tools |
| Holy Avenger | Positive + Fire + Lawful (adamantite metal) | Smith's tools |
| Healing Potion | Positive or Water* | Herbalism kit or Alchemist's supplies |
| Noxious Poison | Negative or Earth* | Poisoner's kit |
| Dragonscale Arrow | Any (dragon scales)** | Woodcarver's tools |
| Potion of Heroism | Lawful | Herbalism kit or Alchemist's supplies |
| Potion of Resistance | Any*** | Herbalism kit or Alchemist's supplies |
* - the rarity of the essence determines the magnitude.
** - if you use a higher-level essence, you can probably craft more arrows in a given timeframe.
*** - the type of the essence used determines which damage type the potion provides resistance to.
Masterwork equipment
Basic +1/+2/+3 armors and weapons are not necessarily enchanted per se, instead being masterfully crafted using processes that imbue them with subtle magical strength. These items can be crafted using any two essences of the same rarity as the resulting item.
Downtime: Disenchant item
Just as magic items can be constructed from essences, so too can essences be recovered from items. This is a destructive process, but provides a way of reusing items that are less useful to the situation at hand.
Using one workweek of downtime, you can destroy a magic item, gaining an essence of its rarity. Usually, this essence has the type of one of the essences used to craft that particular item.