This is a great breakdown and guide but when you got all Geoscience deep in the displacer beast I LOST MY SHIT. I absolutely love it and would 100% be down for videos of just that sort of nerdy goodness.
YES!! I know this is a fantasy game and you can make up whatever you want... but I absolutely love connecting lore with science. You can be sure more videos like this are on their way!
I grew up with animals, dogs, cats, bob cats, skunks .. point being they shed hair all over the place which is something some humans do. That fancy " Cashmere " cloth people spend to much money on is just Goat Hair. Well a given bred of fine hair goats from Egypt. In short there is nothing stopping a wizard from casting Charm Monster on a Displacer Beast and brushing the hair from it enough times to collect enough to create thread for cloth. And if a wizard can cast Charm Monster they can also cast Baneful Polymorph and turn a couple of packs of Displacer Beasts into size of house cats . Then go about breeding a population of D.B. the size of house cats for the campaign setting, the catch is, if those D.B. are ever hit with a Dispel Magic spell will they return to there full size ? Magic item, " Caller of the Pet " a caller that allows a pet to change its size, Levitate or Fly along with giving itself fairy wings. Spells: Bestow Cures to heighten it loyalty to its owner, but a cat always choses its master/keeper/pet. Alter Self or some form of higher level Polymorph, Fly or Levitation, Charm Monster. Along with any other defensives or combat heightening spells. With 3.5e rule system fifth teen years ago, my last gaming shop had some grade school age girls and teenagers. So they wanted fluffy wizards'/witches familiar pets. One six year old girl even duct tap stuff snakes onto a stuff black panther toy cat so she can carry around her own displacer beast pet familiar.
This is SO awesome. I'm about to start the LMoP module with some pathfinder players. They demanded crafting be a thing, because ofc they did. Id been struggling, till I found your ingredients list online. Bit of searching later, and I found you! As a result, I'm not populating the world with magic items. They can buy permenant ones with Xanthars buy/sell mechanic, they can craft 'charged' items using your recipies, or they can make temporary magic items using the forge of spells. I love that you buzz off downtime, cause so do I. Thanks a million, this is superb.
One of our players worked on creating a certain potion a couple years ago. It was a great plot point and added texture to the adventure because all could help her gather components. So, YES, crafting magic items was fun! And the big play when she used the potion was HUGE because of how much work went into creating it.
This is exactly how crafting should work in games! I absolutely love how rewarding it was for your players, and not just for a single player, but the entire party! If you remember the ingredients you included in the potion formula, I'd love to hear your creativity!
... this was fantastic! This subject is the most important and powerful aspect of any gaming-system. It's understandable why game designers conspicuously brush aside and obscure specifics, despite dangling divine-instruments of "creation" before us. Codifying the fabrication and reproduceability of the fundamental parametrics of an encompassed reality is nothing-less than the ultimate-power... and the key to truly shaping-it to your will. This is the final door to transcendence for the Arcane Engineer. Thank-you for your video... and unlocking that last-threshold... 🙂
Howdy! I'm going to be playing a wizard/crafter in an upcoming campaign, so this video and the links are super useful! But, the whole aspect of formulas is kind of backwards from how I want to play it. The crafting system seems to be designed around wanting a specific magic item, and the DM provides quests for the group to pursue that item. The way I want to play will be going on adventures and collecting all sorts of random ingredients, then when there is downtime, I sit down and see what I can make. In my mind, there'd be a system where each ingredient has some property and level (e.g. blood from a salamander would be CR5 fire component, scale from a red dragon would be CR 17 fire.) Each item would require a certain number of ingredients based on rarity (1 for common, 2 for uncommon, etc.) The first ingredient would be base materials like steel, gold, or gems, and a lot of the cost of crafting would be in this ingredient. Other ingredients would cover magical aspects of items. One ingredient could use an appropriate spell as a substitute, or could subtract from the CR level of ingredients needed (e.g. if I have incendiary cloud, I could use that spell + salamander blood in place of an adult red dragon scale or something.) Any thoughts? Did you use a similar system when coming up with the formula examples that you have? How much flexibility do you think there should be in formulas?
Hey! This is one of the beautiful things about formulas: there are no canonical recipes by the book. What this means for YOU as a player is that you can find various components and develop your own formulas, assuming you have the proper tool proficiencies or skills. Developing this formula will likely be part of the "time required" to develop the magic item, or perhaps developing a formula is separate from crafting the magic item. This might just be up to your DM. Still use the CR-to-rarity table in XGTE to get a baseline for what sort of magic items you can create from your components (based on their rarity, like you said), then you'll have to spend the amount of gold and time. So for example, when I develop a formula as a DM, if a Rare magic item requires a CR encounter of range 9-12, I might have 2-3 encounters that sum to this range. This can also be social encounters (bargaining, stealing, acquiring mundane materials, or getting experts to help craft portions of the item, like a blacksmith or cobbler or something if you lack the skills). As a player, if you're developing a formula based on several components you've gathered, like let's say you have a few couatl feathers and a vial of essence from a banshee, now you have two ingredients that you can put together for an Arrow of Slaying for banshees. Then tell your DM that you think you can put these things together if you only had some special wood for the shafts. Gathering this wood can add to the CR that you're already summing from the couatl and banshee encounters, which you might have gathered from defeating the creatures or finding the items socially, so that you reach the CR range for Very Rare (13-18). The exotic quest needed for acquiring components can be several quests, and could even be something like fighting off or bargaining with several Guardian Wolves so that you can get magical tree branches from their sacred forest. The encounters don't have to be 1-to-1 CR with the monsters defeated. TL;DR: You certainly can develop your own formulas as a player. Look at what components you have acquired, then think about the magic items that you might be able to use the components for. Then talk to your DM about how you can combine these items and what would be required to meet the CR, time, and gold requirements to craft the magic item. Sounds like you've got a fun campaign ahead! Happy adventuring! :)
@WDMC2012: Omg....YOU are seriously creative, and must be fun to play with!! Have you ever DM'd? I suspect you'd come up with some incredible Home Brew rules!😁 Going to steal this idea, and randomly save things from creatures I think might come in handy later, even if it's not obvious at the moment.😊
Wow, that sounds pretty intense. Flutes (from our other videos) once made a campaign based on Horizon Zero Dawn and that was a lot of work haha. Best of luck to your campaign!
Thanks a lot for the video, and specially for the guides and formulas, it is really good to see these ideas and now I'm really considering adding it to the games I DM, and for the game I play as an artificer. The only point I kinda see a problem is with time, weeks look like a lot, I knnow comparing systems isn't much of a good idea, but pathfinder 2e has the crafting time in days, of course there are a lot of specific rules (and oh lord that system has a thing for rules) but days to one or two weeks seems much more feesible to have the characters take as down-time.
We're ecstatic you enjoyed the video, guide, and formulas! I understand what you mean by the required time. I would say, as a DM, if your in-game time is slow across sessions (like multiple sessions are within the same day or week in-game), I would suggest speeding it up. In another comment, I suggested incentivizing players to take an interest in crafting by having them find a master artificer who could teach them some tricks-of-the-trade that would award them boons that speed up crafting. If your game has short time-skips, all of that time counts toward crafting (apart from the encounter to get materials), and you could just have a short discussion/roleplay segment about what the player does in that time to craft the magic item.
When I first saw Magic Item Creation Feats in 3e, I lost it. That was the best thing ever to me. Finally, they made some rules so pc's could do this readily, if not easily. There were rules of a sort, mostly general guidelines really, in 1e, but this was very engaging. Ever since, I've thought this was one of the most interesting possibilities in the game. And it takes stuff like *this* to properly exploit its potential.
I just found your content on another site and I love it! I am just getting back into DnD again, i'm old but I love it! I am exploring the concept of imbuing and upgrading an existing weapon like a special Staff that I crafted from a tree branch from future Druid Circle.
Among MANY other things my druid has crafted was a prism and a magnifying glass stone shaped from a radiant magic enhancing diamond. The gems were hollow and filled with holy water. When sunbeam is casted through it did max damage to undead and fiends and depending on which gem was used either the prism or the magnifying glass it could be a cone or a longer line. Also let the dragonborn paladin in the party do the same thing with her breath weapon.
@@FlutesLoot another idea was growing plants with pain killing properties to make potions that added a D4 to concentration checks like a mini bless spell. They were watered with holy water cause that was the bless spell component.
So I know this is very late but here's hoping you see this. What kind of formula adjustments or modifications would you implement for crafting an item as one rarity higher to get a slightly-moderatly stronger magic item than the version found in the official material. Specifically a ring of spell storing that can hold 6 total levels of spells.
Hi Shawn! If you go to my article, you can find the table under the XGtE section that shows monetary, time, and CR requirements based on rarity. In terms of formulas, I would find materials that are similar to the original ingredients (assuming you already have a formula written out) but more expensive or requires a greater CR encounter. For instance, if the formula required scales of a wyvern, upscale to scales from a young dragon. If the ingredient was originally an amethyst gem (100gp), make it require a Corundum gem (1000 gp). I recommend taking a look at my Formulas for Magic Items article and looking at what sort of materials I've decided to include in my formulas. Hopefully this gives you some good ideas! www.flutesloot.com/formulas-for-crafting-popular-magic-items-in-5e/ Thanks for commenting :)
3.5e D&D " Manual of the Planes," Elemental spells cast in its given related plane are effected with metamagic feats of Heighten and Maximized so a healing spell cast on the plane of positive energy such as Cure Light Wounds instead of 1d8hp it becomes a full 12pts healed. Chill touch does 1d6 dmg but on the negative plane it then does 9pt. A 5d6 fire ball cast on the plane of fire will do 90pts dmg. A fun spell listed in the MoP was Shadow Portal being a 5th-level spell. A corresponded spell which when a spell caster is within a deep dark shadow area they open a portal into the Shadow plane. My shop went with if the caster is near a lava flow or hot bonfire they can cross into the plane of fire. Polymorph Self can turn a caster into a fire elemental and along with other 5th-level protection spell that can soak up 150pts worth of dmg. So bending the rules a bit, a 10th-level wizard can go plane hopping without the Planeshift spell. 2.) Mini open campaign, a mage village where each player had multiple PCs which when they have down time within the campaign calendar year from crafting and item or road travel times, we switch over to another PC. Average PC multiclass built, rogue2/bard1/figter2/wizard6/lore master4,CR:15 .. magic item CR adj. +3 so CR:18 for the PC. Lore master is a prestige class that stacks caster level with main spellcaster class. Caster level:10th wizard. Plot of a month long game which took 6 months in the campaign to run. My PC ask to trade spell items with the shop owner's wife that was PCing a wizard. She wanted that rose bush in her yard to be hybrid with a plane of fire rose so she can have meta magic spell components. So I started running off the steps to get something like that done. Such as Polymorph Other to safely split the rose bush into two with out killing it, then turning it into a fire element and plant it in the plane of fire, but to get it to grow in a proper manner was the story plot line. Random player to the shop, " She is just trying to remove your PC from the campaign setting for a few weeks of play !" New player to the shop, " No, Kris and Marry just came up with away so I can play my fire genie !" Number of steps, .. a.) Find a fire genie guide to talk/beg/bribe the other fire genie on the manner of growing flowers on the plane of fire. b.) Make a deal with a lawful evil fire red dragon that lives on a float stone infused with gold dust which a field of metalic gold yellow daisies grow from. c.) End results have three breeds of roses and two of them are red with gold metalic highlights which has metamagic effects to boost potions and other spellcasting. d.) Lawful evil fire elementals friendship are base on bribes and how helpful they are to each other. Losing a .. friend .. means the lost of bribes/gifts. And they don't like losing gifts. So once you make .. friends .. with a lawful evil fire red dragon you need to maintain your bribes with them. And if they have to Save You, you owe them big time. f.) I ended up dropping close to a 100,000xp of magic treasure in creating a rose bush for a 5,000xp magic item my PC needed. Well, it wasn't like I had to self create all that treasure on my own. A few fire genie mages along with other mages dropped Xp for an illusion spell for Hallucinatory Terrian in a huge crystal to entertain the dragon so we could grow roses in his field of golden daisies. A few players got to drawn the index card to PC the dragon, they had a hoot. 3.) My game shop over the years found AD&D and WotC D&D magic to be .. lacking. So we mix Whitewolf/World of Darkness: Vampire, werewolf, and mage the awakening into the game when needed.
@@FlutesLoot I am glade you like it. 3rdE magic item creation had 1/10th xp value of total gp value in create said item. So we went with full Xp for gp. Cause I and my group doesn't like flashy items or spell effects as normal. " Oh this is described as looking or sounding magical !" to finding a un rotten prehistoric stone spear in an ancient burrow mound over run with goblins. A necromantic rattle made from a turtle shell that keeps undead spirits at bay. Difference in high ceremony magic of Roman/Hermetic urban ( wizard ) orders used gold and gems in everything, while rural wilderness folk magic was items found in the more natural environment. ( druid/shaman ) lacking in metal use. So a cloak of warming made by per Roman northern pagans would not have D&D gold thread sow through it. So a wool weaved blanket with Meding a 1st-level spell could be over a thousand years old. So a family of folk practicers of nothing higher than 3rd-level spell casters could create a blanket with layer effects. And in an anima culture where they see everything in nature having a spirit they will not really see the family blanket being anything overly magical. As for Whitewolf/World of Darkness: Mage the Awakening and Changeling the Lost, all magic items are created with Xp. As for Changeling nearly everything is up for trade and for bargaining. In Changeling there is a mythical supernatural Hedge forest separating the human world from Fae Wild. It is full of magic natural token items used to empower for trade. Another hair pulling eye rolling thing to take into mind. Gem cutting techniques and equipment ... bronze age, Roman empire and early Rennaissance didn't have the equipment skill to cut gems as we do now days or for the past few centuries. In Thailand back farm village roads you can buy a $8 flick of ruby and the local craftsmen can turn it into a $80 ruby ring in Thailand, but if you don't declare it on import fees coming into USA costing a couple of hundred dollars they will fine you between $500 to a $1,000. Sucks to spend a few hundred USA dollars shopping in a different country only to find you don't have a few thousand dollars to pay the import tax to bring them back into your own country. Then you have emeralds from Colombia, a chunk about the size of a man's thumb uncut is around $80. But can be broken down to create multiple $300 ring stones. Due to the crystalline structure you just can't create a single large gem stone without .. flaws .. value into a few thousands of dollars. It has a high market value if cut down into multiple stones. So the over all value of the stone is more about the craftsmen cuts than the stone's material in of itself. So in D&D saying a gem with a 1,000gp in value is an eye roll. Also many of the quartz emeralds finds are more valued as natural artwork displays than the effort that would be required to cut them down to turn into rings jewelry. F-cking hair line emeralds laced with green quartz. Gen cutting was consider to be a form of Alchemy, investing personal spiritual power/Xp into a given item while crafting. Hench dwarves don't enchant items they forge them. A dwarf wizard doesn't enchant a pair of masterwork boots for a wizard to create Boots of Striding & Sprinting, they just make a pair of boots that function as such. In game, dwarf wizard that made a pair of boots of climbing and the party rogue put the dwarf boots on and Spider Climb across the cave's ceiling. Dwarf, " That is not the way a Dwarf climbs around in a pair of Boots !" Party's rogue, " Dwarf just lacks Imagination! " There is no magic item formula, just good quality dwarven craftsmanship. Along with investing Xp. and maybe a caster level depending on the given item.
(Flutes speaking) that sums up Opal very well. She loves flexing her creative muscles to make something commonplace into something extraordinary. She would do well in those old D&D magazines about monster anatomy and ecology. :P
I have a character who is trying to create a ring that allows any torches or lanterns held in the hand with the ring to give off Darkness (as per the spell) 1 time per day. Curious how you would rate/craft/come up with a formula for that one, since Darkness creating items seem relatively rare.
Great idea for a magic item! Given that Darkness is a 2nd level spell and you only allow the effect once per day, I wouldn't rank it higher than rare, maybe even uncommon. Additionally, Drow at 5th level can cast Darkness once per long rest, which is the same ability as the ring. So if your players are above 5th level, maybe make the rarity uncommon for simplicity's sake. As for a formula, I would look to the Darkness spell, which requires material components of bat fur and a drop of pitch or piece of coal. You could upscale Giant Bats (CR 1/4) as the exotic beast to fight in a quest. Maybe the ring needs to remain in darkness for 1 workweek in a pouch lined with bat fur for the magic to transform it. Pitch and coal are used for fire-making, which is contrary to "darkness" in my opinion, but even still, I'd require pitch from possibly a Duskwood tree (you can find info about his on the Forgotten Realms Fandom Wiki). Maybe the ring is made of a particular metal of your choice (maybe Darksteel?) and forged in the hot fires created from pitch of the duskwood. Remember that overall, you need a CR 4-8 encounter, 200 gp, and 2 workweeks to craft an uncommon magic item. Good luck! Let us know how it goes :)
@@FlutesLoot that is really good... Thank you so much for the suggestions. I also went with Uncommon since it was just 1/day, and had pondered something like the heart or brain of a flock (approximately eight) darkmantles, since they were the only things I could find that emit darkness that don't also dissipate upon death, or perhaps 3 vials of blood from a drow of 4th-8tu level in either Cleric, Wizard, Sorcerer, or Warlock. The ring has to be dipped in the blood within an hour after death or being drawn (1d4+3 hps worth). That later suggestion means negotiating for a blood donation is also an option. I found myself, as I wrote up formulas, giving multiple choice options, which doesn't really go with the theme of most magic crafting stories, but does go with the idea that creature X might not exist in these parts at all, but creature Y could be used as a substitute. Also that some components could be purchased in an alchemy shop, and others couldn't. I really like the pitch from a Duskwood tree and the ring needing to remain in darkness for 1 workweek in a pouch lined with bat fur. That's good stuff...
I blundered upon this channel and LOVE IT!!! Opal, your husband said I had to check your vids out...and he's right, YOU'RE AWESOME, TOO!!🤣💖 No wonder Critical Role decided to name a character after you this summer 🤣😍💗🤣 I might send a msg through your regular website. I'm playing a Circle of Shepherd Druid, who serves "primarily" as healer & battlefield control. But I'm also taking the Poisoner Feat (simply the "opposite side" of the healer coin). RAW says I can only take poison venoms from incapacitated creatures, but my Druid obviously isn't going to "hurt" a snake or tree frog to get it's venom. Circle of Shepherd gets automatic "Sylvan" and the ability to speak with beasts. I'm thinking I could feed a venomous creature, warm it up & give a little massage, suggest that it's venom glands are probably uncomfortably full and let it know I could help relieve the pressure, then gently coax it to sleep, and take it's venom into a vial. Curious what you think? Honestly, IF I magically had an ability to speak with animals IRL and was able to coax them along, I think I could do this without harming the creature. PS: Also, do I have to pay for ingredients and things I can forage or scavenge for free? Why? I don't want to pay for simple poisons I obtain thru animal handling.
Thanks so much, Karina! I LOVE your concept. Flutes told me about your point regarding poisons in medical training and it opened my mind. Your character certainly shouldn't have to pay gold for poisons and venoms harvested from animals. Honestly, the game needs more rewards for players who want to do things like speak with animals. It's far more exciting than slashing into them and then asking the DM if you can harvest venom sacks.
I am currently DMing a game where my guy wants to craft an AK-47.... Seeing as how its set in the mid 1800s. I told him that if he can even get all the parts, and starting at level 1, most likely would not be able to get it until say level 10+ at the very least. I really wish to see how it would effect the game when we get to that point.
I love the idea of mass production in dnd. Like having a botanical garden with rare flowers ,trees, bees, butterflies ETC for mass production with a druid helping with plant growth and druid craft. Like an animal farm with displacer beasts or yetis or any other dnd monster. a very gruesome way of farming is healing skinned beasts/monsters ETC so they regenerate back their skin, arms, bones, teeth ETC Or Late game control weather, plant growth farms sprinkle in druid crafting cantrip and you would output tons of food enough to feed 10 000 -100 000 of people if not more Ore/gem farming in the elemental plane of earth.
These are the kinds of scenarios that would likely occur with widespread magic. I enjoy exploring these concepts, too! The skinning/healing is particularly loathsome, but believable. >:O
Yipes! I get where you're going, but MY Druid would take serious issue with your Druid skinning animals alive then healing them. UNLESS A SHIT TON of MORPHINE was involved!!!🤣🤣🤣
I really liked the video and thank you so much for these helpful resources! I have a PC playing a blue Dragonborn and he really wants a sword that channels his electricity. I want him to craft the sword so that it’s more special and I also want it to level in power as his character levels. Do you have any suggestions on some ingredients or monsters to use and what to have him do to/with it over time to increase its power level?
This sounds like a fun idea, Nathanael! I have a few ideas, which assume your player does not have smithing proficiencies. First, you could have him craft a very rare enchanted sword that casts Lightning Lure as a bonus action the number of time per day equal to his proficiency bonus. This cantrip scales with player level, as does the proficiency bonus (# times/day). This ability, while it doesn't use his dragon breath specifically, is pretty dang good with an electric flair (especially as it scales), so I think it's "very rare." So you're looking at 13-18 CR, 20,000 gp, and 25 workweeks. A Storm Giant is CR 13 (chaotic good), a giant eel is CR 3. Steel is a good conductor of electricity, so I would say they could convert an already-smithed steel sword they have or purchase into this magic weapon. The biggest challenge is the time/gold requirements. I would say the party needs to obtain the main organ of a giant electric eel (which produces electricity), take that and the steel sword to a Storm Giant and somehow convince it to enchant the sword with electricity. This might require doing a favor for the giant. The Storm Giant will work on it for a number of work weeks (25 maximum and for a price of no more than 20k gp, but maybe if the party provides extra good service for the Storm Giant, they can cut that time and cost down). Second, you could have him craft a rare +2 sword that allows your character to use Dragon Breath as a bonus action when making a weapon attack with the sword that buffs the breath with an additional 2d6 of lightning damage. I wouldn't allow him extra uses of Dragon Breath, though, as that would increase the rarity (and crafting time and gold cost), so this weapon only scales with the Dragon Breath damage. As a rare weapon, you're looking at 9-12 CR, 2,000 gp, and 10 workweeks. If your Dragonborn has smithing skills, they could forge the sword themselves using similar components to the example above, otherwise I would say he has to track down a blue dragon to enchant his sword, or maybe if he has a Dragonborn clan, he can get a blacksmith from his tribe to craft it for him. The fee will be no more than 2k gp and take 10 workweeks. I hope this helps! I'm happy to brainstorm more ideas with you.
@@FlutesLoot I think this is a cool approach and it ties into what I already have going on in my campaign world quite nicely. Thank you so much for taking the time to help me with this item! I think my player would be quite happy with either and they both make it feel like it was earned rather than gifted with plenty of interesting story options that would be fun for the entire party. 👍🏻
Awesome video. I have a PC in our game who has gotten super into herbalism and creation of potions and things like that, so the artificers guide you put out was amazing in helping with that. I do have a question. This character is a level 8 wizard, would you take PC level and a power into account for creating things? For instance, to help streamline in our game, once he has the "formula" or "recipe" for a common or uncommon potion, I generally allow him to create it over the course of a long rest if it is more than a nights sleep in a dungeon. How would you handle this? He also likes to spend some of his rest time foraging for what is nearby. I have basically had him roll a d100 and 1-50 he finds something common, 51-85 He finds something uncommon, 86-97 something rare and 98-100 something legendary. He then has the dc check to try and harvest this material. Is there a better way to do this sort of impromptu..."i'm going searching to see what I can find" moment?
Hey Ian! Glad you've found a hardy use for the Artificer's Field Guide. I didn't mention this in the video, but XGTE has ruled that consumable magic items require half the gold and time costs. If you're not already doing that for potions and spell scrolls, I would use that rule. This advice goes slightly outside of the official mechanics of 5e, but maybe you can have your wizard meet a mentor artificer who teaches them some tricks for crafting magic items quicker and cheaper, and you can award them some sort of boon that streamlines the crafting process if they're super into it. If they've been utilizing crafting a lot in your game, perhaps they gain "expertise" in general crafting, and you can reduce gold and time costs by a quarter to a half. I don't see why you shouldn't bro out your players if they're really enjoying this mechanic.
If there's 4 members of your party you're better off with the DMG rules as you could craft a common magic item in a single 8 hour workday. Or craft an uncommon magic item in 5 days rather than "two workweeks" which is at least 12 days, unless its a consumable item.
Maybe I'm just slow but could you maybe do a special vid on how the artificer could do this mainly im having trouble with plate it seems to take way to long compared to a magical armor.
Hey Rob! If I'm understanding correctly, you're asking about crafting regular plate armor? On pg. 128 of XGTE, the requirements for crafting a mundane item are as follows: raw materials for the item, which cost half the selling price (plate armor is 1,500 gp, so half of that is 750 gp); and workweeks equal to selling price divided by 50 (1500/50 = 30 workweeks). By the book, if multiple people have tool proficiencies (Smith's tools for armor) and work on this project together, you can divide the workweeks required by the number of people working on it (if you have 4 people, 30/4 = 7.5 total workweeks for one set of plate armor). From what I understand, yes, crafting mundane plate armor would take 3x the workweeks of crafting rare magic armor like +1 plate or Armor of Resistance if just one person were to work on it, but this will occur at a significantly lower cost, plus, you only need to buy or come across the raw materials (no risky encounter or formula required). You bring up an interesting point about the Artificer, however. An Artificer, at level 10, gains the "Magic Item Adept" feature with which they can craft a common or uncommon MAGIC item for 1/4 the time and 1/2 the cost. This class does not mention crafting mundane items, which is a real shame. If I were DMing for an artificer who wanted to craft mundane objects, I would slash the cost/time like magic items, and maybe just make that a default feature at level 1 if they have the tool proficiencies. If a DM allows this, an Artificer could craft plate armor for 7.5 workweeks and 375 gp. Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any more questions!
@@FlutesLoot Yeah, this is probably the weirdest bit in reference to the crafting rules in XGTE. Its technically more work to go out and find the Formula and Exotic Material for say, a set of Cast-Off Plate, which is a common magic item, but because of that its so much cheaper and less time consuming to make than mundane plate armor. To craft a set of Cast-Off Armor takes 1 Workweek and 50 GP vs 30 Workweeks (or 7.5 Workweeks) & 750 GP to make the mundane plate version. It causes some strange economic implications, but for the sake of game time, its really efficient.
I am a fan of the Dresden files and I want to make his rings that store kinetic energy from walking. He can release the energy at will generally when punching.
Hey Shon! I would recommend first designing what the homebrew magic ring would look like and be made of (talk to your DM about this!) then your DM can decide how hard of an encounter you would need to get materials, how much gold and time are required, etc. I'm going to assume "Rare" right now, as Cube of Force is Rare. Based on the description of the Force Ring from the book, it looks like it's just a braided metal ring (no gems or anything). I'll write out my process here: Looking at spells that deal Force damage with material components, Disintegrate has a component of Lodestone, which is a a piece of magnetite or a magnetized material. Because we're looking at a Rare magic item, I would say we should look for a rarer magnetic mineral than magnetite. I'm thinking Adamantine or even just creating an alloy of adamant and silver. This will be ferromagnetic. Adamant is usually found in lava flows, but Adamantine can be found in meteorites, which smelt the components of adamant and other natural minerals on the rock to form the compound. The spell Dark Star also does Force Damage and requires a drop of blood from the user, and Bigby's Hand requires a Snakeskin Glove. Next, in terms of encounters, I think it would make sense to have to gather the essence of a creature that would naturally deal force damage, like some ethereal creature (think ghost, specter, phantom, Phantom Warrior from Curse of Strahd, phase spider, ethereal dragon, and so forth). Because they are ethereal, any sort of push they make will utilize force. As an Artificer, you may be interested in creating a way to capture their essence so that you can imbue it into your ring. Polymers and crystals are known for capturing energy, and gum arabic is a polymer that's mentioned a lot in D&D settings, so I think creating a paste from gum arabic and crushed crystals should capture the ethereal essence of a creature, and maybe you can create some mechanism like "soul cage" made with the gum arabic/crystals and a flask that allows you to carry the essence until you need it. So here's the formula I would suggest, vague enough for your DM to work within and cater to the rarity of the ring: Materials: Adamantine or an adamant alloy, a drop of the blood from the person who wants to attune to the ring, a vial of the essence of an ethereal creature (a mixture of gum arabic, crushed crystals, and the life force of an ethereal creature), snakeskin gloves. Instructions: Heat the ferrous metal until it is workable. Form the metal into three separate strands and allow to cool. Using the snakeskin gloves, combine the essence mixture with the blood and polish the metal strands. Braid the metal together. This braid formation will keep the essence contained within the band and force flowing through the material. Tie off the strands and weld the ends together to form a ring. Skill Proficiencies: Jewelry, maybe Smithing, and it helps that you're an Artificer!
Love the video! I'm currently playing a forge cleric and was thinking about role playing crafting items and something I was wondering about was how are magic item costs related to the cost of the item normally? For instance, if someone was making some plate mail which is usually 1,500 gp, and they make a smoldering armour version of it that's a common magic item, would you just add the magic creation cost on top of the 1,500 gp? It would be silly to say it was only 50 gp to make the plate, but makes way more sense if that's added to it in some way. But then to make something like a chain shirt that also costs 50 gp, it would be the same magic cost of 50 gp, so would you need more components for the more expensive armour? Hope this makes sense and love to see your enjoyment with all this!
Thank you! I'd recommend figuring out a system that makes sense to you that you can explain to your DM, and they can sign off on it. I think it makes sense to keep the original cost of whatever item is being crafted into a magic item.
My group 15 years ago running 3.5e system of Item Creation Feats: Craft Wonderous Items rules for creating Magic Traps found in the DMG. Magic traps that never ran out of charges and function more like Harry Potter wands. Items for sale only have up to nine charges or have built in effects which delayed use so other people Have to buy more from the spell caster. I never like the whole gp cost or covering item made of gold & gems. Most of the DMs I played with had low gold treasure award campaigns. Also from folk lore and ghost stories most of the magic items cursed or bless were normal looking mundane everyday equipment anyhow. We just traded gp value into Xp value trade off which slowed down or level cap spellcasters growth making everyday minor magic items more common than higher/epic level items. Also if the spellcaster didn't have a given spell component to cast a given spell such as black dragon blood, the 4th-level spell cost 8xp to cast. Side note a wizard slinging stones at chickens/ravens, rabbits/rats in the barn yard or chase downing insects or frogs/toads for dinner at 3rd-level using 3.5e CR will earn 1,000xp more per month. A simple cast iron group of nails hammer bend into the shape of a holy symbol sodder together with silver is barely worth a couple of coppers lets alone worth one or two silver pieces. But a 3rd-level cleric can permanently cast on it Bless and Cure Light Wounds and functions as a very minor ring of regeneration. Healing 1d8+3hp per melee round. 2.) My last shop's DMs start games off at 4th-or 5th-level or even 12th-level PC single class or multiclass. So of us had the go ahead to take the Xp of a single class 12th-level character and create 20th-level multiclass PC. Which to baby sit the rest of the group with. Another aspect of starting with 5th-level PCs, we had the choice of multiclassing five levels such as rogue3/fighter2,CR:5 for flanking group dog packing doing 3d6dmg per melee round. Or all start class is rogue for the most skill points ranks as DMG optional rules apprentice level PCs rogue1/wizard1. So a spell caster would be rogue1/wizard or cleric 3rd with 3,000gp/Xp value of self made magic items for themself or the party. So a 4th-level PC/npc is still CR adjusted for the number of magic items they can employ in a given encounter. Most everyday peasant magic isn't nothing flashy and more practical in use. Just saying Hello and raising your hand causes the ring or amulet to cast Charm Person or Friendship. Then make Bluff/Perform(acting) or Diplomacy skill check roll, for every five ranks in each one of these given skills grants a +2 synergy bonus to the other skill in use.
Thank you for sharing your experiences! I find every table plays differently in small ways, but the way they handle magic item crafting can vary wildly.
RAW: A third level Wizard herbalist has a Black Pudding (CR4). He casts Cloud of Daggers to split the Pudding. So, the next day he slays one rested, full size Pudding and splits the other. Repeat as needed. In 50 weeks of down time, he uses some part of the CR4 Pudding to craft 10 Uncommon Magic Items and 20 Common ones (10 x 200 = 2000 and 20 x 50 = 1000 or 3000) and in another 12 weeks he brews 60 Potions of Healing (60 x 25 = 1500) for a grand total of 4500 gold pieces. That is one single character crafting Magic Items for one year of down time. A party of five during the Phandelver game might even pay the Wizard to do this for them while they adventure. Yes, the Wizard needs a formula for each different Magic Item. However, you really shouldn't have to slay a dragon to create a formula for an item that is only worth 200 gold or less. To make the formula scroll, I use the same method to create the item itself. You make the formula scroll in place of the item.
If you're suggest mass-producing magic items for either use or as a means of commerce, you're definitely not wrong. Why slay 10 dragons if you can more efficiently harvest a single dragon and utilize all parts? The guidelines from XGTE are just that: guidelines. An adventuring party on the move does not have the means to mass produce magic items or carry the entirety of a dragon corpse around until they can efficiently harvest it. And that's okay. I often say that if a party expends the required gold and time amount on the table, they can produce up to the number of party members of magic items, so long as all of them are dedicating their downtime to the magic items. TL;DR: you're not wrong! But it shouldn't be game-breaking and it should make sense. And it's always, always up to the DM :)
@@FlutesLoot Basically this is simply a thought experiment. However, by just applying the rules, a third level wizard can craft a pile of magic items in just one year. It's amazing that a party with magic items is treated like a crime by so many DMs. A DM can literally add any monster to "re-balance" the game.
Hey Flutes Loot. I'm looking for a good formula to create an Ioun Stone. Specifically the Iridescent Spindle variety that sustains the linked user without air. If I'm reading that right, it should grant breathing. I don't need underwater, I need breathing when moving through rock as I have a homebrew Urdinnir and want to help our DM put together a journey that our whole party can help with. Thanks and keep making the great content.
SORRY for the late reply! For the Ioun Iridescent Spindle Stone, here's what I would do: The Iridescent Spindle is most recently found in the 3.5e, so I would maybe look at the mechanics of the Necklace of Adaptation as a model for the Ioun Stone homebrewing (since the current 5e description of the item does not include a breathing variety). The Necklace of Adaptation is uncommon, but the lowest rarity of an Ioun Stone is "Rare," so we'll use the "Rare" requirements for this one: CR 9-12, 2000 gp, and 10 work weeks. Canonically, from 3.5e, "Ioun stones could only be created by a veteran spellcaster well versed in the crafting of wondrous magical items. Only certain types of gemstones could be transformed into an ioun stone through application of the appropriate and generally secret spells." (forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Ioun_stone) Nine gems are available to transform into Ioun stones: Amethyst, Chrysoberyl, Chrysoprase, Greenstone, Hematite, Iol, Laeral's Tears, Obsidian, Onyx, and Sardonyx. According to legend, some ioun stones were created using essences of a soul or blood from a variety of creatures. The Necklace of Adaptation is described as "a heavy chain with a platinum medallion," and Ioun stones are "small, crystalline stones, coming in a wide range of colors and shapes that determined their powers." So, with all of this knowledge, I recommend crafting an Ioun stone using Iol (forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Iol), which is the least-specific stone with regards to its magical properties and uses. If your character is religious, this gem also has ties to the greater god Oghma, Lord of Knowledge, who might bestow such a valuable formula to his worthy followers. I would suggest your character must capture the essence of a monster that does not need to breath, such as an Air Elemental (CR 5). Additionally, if your target creature is a lower CR than what is required for the rarity, you can make up the difference with a soul-capturing skill check. Capturing an essence isn't mechanically its own thing, but there are a few ways to get souls: a Hag's soul bag, a Magic Jar, the Soul Cage spell, Phantom Rogue abilities, and so forth. Harvesting the essence of a soul may require a skill check, a ritual, a magic item, or just knowledge of the process. A Tumblr user converts MTG cards into D&D spells, one of which is "Essence Capture," a 2nd-level spell that may work for your purposes: ravnicacardsconverted.tumblr.com/post/621276128558153728/essence-capture-2nd-level-abjuration-casting-time So far, we have the Iol gem and the essence of an Air elemental. The remaining workweeks can be spent in a few ways: One, taking these ingredients to a temple of a magic-centric deity like Mystra or Oghma and getting a blessing from the god that imbues the iol with the soul to create the Ioun stone. Two, designing, experimenting, and refining a process that would enchant the stone and soul together (forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Item_enchantment). Three, combine the soul essence with a costly oil made from a rare plant, such as Hinny nectar (forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Hinny), Hanna Flower (forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Hanna_flower), Jasmine, etc, and infuse the gemstone with the oil for the duration of the time remaining. I favor the option to enchant yourself or to take it to a deity to bless, because an Ioun stone is a wondrous item. Let me know if you have any additional ideas!
@@FlutesLoot Wow! Thanks so much for the reply. Your input on this is really appreciated. The Urdinnir are the blessed people of the god, Dumathoin, known as the Keeper of Secrets Under the Mountain. I'm thinking that he could grant the blessing. Also, Xorn, the sworn enemies of the Urdinnir don't need to breathe so I wonder if we could work an angle against them as they are an unsung creature that keeps getting nerfed with each passing edition. Thanks again for the response. I love your content. Keep it up!
I'm watching the video in YT phone app, and not seeing the links you referenced as down below. Would you mind posting them in the comments, and pinning so they appear at the top?
Great video. Looking to start crafting items in one of my current campaigns, as I've not done this before and it seems really interesting. I'm playing a Rune Knight fighter who isn't necessarily focused on damage but can definitely do some if provoked. He's more of a guardian of the party. Since leaving his hometown he has experienced many new things, but he has realised he wants to start looking into crafting some magical items for him and his party because I think we have a wide range of skillsets? By chance, would you happen to have any idea on how I would go about making an item that gives the enlarge/reduce spell for... maybe a minute? Not sure... Just think its been really fun with my giants might feature when I get bigger, and to get even bigger would be the goal. Thanks for inspiring.
I'm glad the video is helpful! (Flutes speaking because Opal is editing a new video right now) Enlarge/Reduce is a second-level spell, so I'd recommend treating the item as 'rare' rarity. If it's a consumable item like a scroll or potion, it'd have different requirements (less time/gp). You can see Flutes' video about spell scrolls for more on that. For a non-consumable item (let's say a runed hammer than allows you to Enlarge), a close comparison would be the Boots of Levitation in the DMG since Levitate is a 2nd-level spell; however, those give you at-will casting. If you want at-will Enlarge, it'd be a clean comparison. If you want to limit Enlarge to once per long rest or something, you could reduce the cost to craft. Does that help?
Campaign idea! The party's patron is getting them to gather the components for an unknown magic item. The patron suddenly dies leaving it mostly done. What does it do? Can we finish it? Are their any side-effects?
Awesome video! Do you have a formula for a Ring of Spellstoring? And the Bracers of Defense? Those are the two items I’m looking to gift formulas to my party in my upcoming games! I love that you search through the lore, I’m looking to add some more down time in my games and ways to let my players spend there gold! Thanks!
Thank you for your request! I love digging through lore for magic items, and I think I have a few good ideas for these items. I’ll write two separate comments for the two magic items. The Ring of Spell Storing is tricky because its gimmick is that it can store any level 1-5 spell. Remember that it’s a Rare magic item, so it requires an encounter CR 9-12, 2,000 gp, and 10 workweeks. In 3rd edition, the ring had an “evocation” aura, so I’m going to look at evocation spells with more ethereal effects for component inspiration: Word of Radiance requires a holy symbol; Hallow requires herbs, oils, and incense worth 1,000 gp; Contingency requires a carved ivory statuette of oneself; and Forcecage requires ruby dust worth 1,500 gp. And finally, the image of the ring makes it look to be a gold-plated scroll with etchings on it. What I propose for the formula is based mostly on the Contingency spell. Ring of Spell Storing Formula: -Ivory from one of the following creatures: Umber (CR 5), Sperm Whale/Cachalot (CR 8), Mammoth (CR 6), Hippo (CR 6), or Elephant (CR 4) - A half-pound of bark or leaves from any Faerun tree. Tannins will be extracted from this bark. I particularly like Chime Oak, Felsul, or Yggdrasil's Child (magical): forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Tree -Alternative idea to tree bark: The Quess'Ar'Teranthvar tree is particularly cool for the Spell Storing ring because it’s a set of 10 scrolls transformed into a golden tree. Supposing players find this tree and they are able to bypass the tree’s guardians (a golden spider), they may be able to take seven golden leaves + a handful of shriveled and corroded leaves that have fallen from it and extract magical tannins from there. You can find more info about this tree in the 2007 manual Anauroch, The Empire of Shade, page 115, or here: forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Quess%27Ar%27Teranthvar - Ruby dust worth 1,500 gp - Gold plating, if you’re not doing the golden tree leaves idea - Large glass flask with 1-inch opening, cork, and wax - 8-inch by 14-inch (at least) strip of wool - Leather pouch Proficiencies: -Jeweler's Tools -Arcana Process: Cut and carve a strip of ivory, 6 inches by 1 inch. Etch runic symbols into the ivory using Jeweler’s Tools. A Dungeon Master may reveal what the message is if players are proficient in Arcana or know the language of the symbols (as determined by the DM). Otherwise, they must precisely copy the message from the written formula they receive. Place the bark or leaves (or decayed leaves from the golden tree) in a flask of water, sealed for two weeks. After this time, extract the water, which will be a dark but translucent brown. Soak the strip of wool in the diluted tannic acid from the flask and wrap it around the ivory strip. Place the wool and ivory in a leather pouch and allow it to soften for four weeks, adding more tannic acid each day. When the ivory has softened after four weeks, use Jeweler’s Tools to form the ivory into the shape of the ring with the etched markings on the outside. Allow the ivory to dry out and harden for three days. When totally dry, smelt the gold plating or gold leaves from the Quess'Ar'Teranthvar tree with the ruby dust. Coat the ivory ring in the gold mixture. A Dungeon Master may decide if a ceremony is required for this process to activate the magic-storing capabilities. Perhaps the ring must be blessed or sanctified by Mystra, the Mother of Magic.
@@FlutesLoot Wow!! This is amazing, I love how the process of creating a magical item brings about adventure almost "naturaly" it is very exciting. Thank you so much for the reply and formula, I'm sure my players are going to love doing it!
So how do i use time? Like u said it takes 1 work week. Does that mean i wait until yhe next session to have my players create the item? Or do i allow them to just say they waited a week? And if they do, should i have a time sensitive event happen or be set in place, so they cant just fast forward time? Thank you in advance, to anybody who may answer
The way D&D 5e's magic item creation is outlined, the time should be in-game time. This comes into conflict with the fact that many D&D 5e campaigns don't have much downtime or systems to gather followers to help with such things. We have a video about how to use gold in D&D 5e and why downtime is a big part of why many players say they have a hard time spending gold. Campaigns with time sensitive events make it difficult to run with 5e's rules for magic item creation. They can't really coexist, so it requires the DM to change the creation rules if they want players to be making magic items.
That would be something I'd be interested in, as well. Since Blink Dogs and the Blink spell are accessible at lower levels, the item shouldn't be too difficult to craft!
Hey Bezordude, Opal (video creator) here. It looks like Flutes responded to you before I had a chance to check out your comment, but I've been working on an item that lets you blink like a blink dog. I think this would be something like a Ring of Blinking, or a Ring of Misty Step (here's a good homebrew that you can alter: www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Ring_of_Misty_Step_(5e_Equipment) ) Very Rare = CR 13-18; 20,000 GP; 25 workweeks. Materials: 20 Blink Dog teeth (enough to fill a jar), 1 Gold Ring (10 gp), 1 Amaratha gemstone worth 4,000 gp, 1 vial of acid (25 gp), lye, a clump of Lightning Moss, 1 flask of oil, 1 Blink Spell Scroll (500 gp), 1 tall metal rod. Requirements: Alchemist's supplies or Herbalism kit Formula: Collect Blink Dog teeth and carefully set them in the vial of acid. Allow them to dissolve completely (about 10 weeks). Add an equal amount of lye as the acid to the acid-teeth mixture and allow the lye and acid to balance out (give it room to react!). Scrape the mineral film off the top of the water that remains in the vial. This is a special/magical mineral (enamel) only found in Blink Dogs. Find and harvest Lightning Moss and infuse it in the oil for 5 weeks. Remove the (deteriorated) plant remains and add the enamel minerals to the oil. Fashion the Amaratha gemstone on top of the gold ring and polish the ring with the oil-enamel mixture. During a non-magical lightning storm on top of a high mountain, tie the ring to the top of the iron rod, along with the Blink Spell Scroll. Secure the rod in the ground. When lightning strikes the rod, the scroll will be consumed and the ring will absorb the power to blink. Thought Process: I picture Blinking as an electrical and magical phenomenon. The creator of the Blink spell was an Arcanist named Oberon who specialized in quasidimensional transport, so the electrical flavor of the formula seems to fit. For the materials, Amaratha is a gemstone in Faerun noted for the magical property to absorb electricity, and Lightning Moss grows only where lightning has struck and gives off a faint static electric shock when touched. Because the CR is 13-18, you should either have them infiltrate a Blink Dog lair (see some of my ideas for that here: www.flutesloot.com/guide-to-legendary-actions-and-lairs/), make the journey to obtaining the Moss difficult, and perhaps the mountain in a lightning storm is a big challenging as well, all to add to a CR range of 13-18. In terms of cost, the player would probably have to pay heftily (a few thousand gp and several weeks) to get the gemstone mounted on the ring, plus the 4,600 gp of materials, and we're still at a deficit of about 13,000 gp. Perhaps they have to hire a sherpa and buy expensive climbing gear to get to the top of the mountain for the lightning storm (which can take a few weeks as well). Remember that you can always slightly nerf a magic item to reduce its rarity, too, so that it's less expensive and requires less time. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this formula!
@@FlutesLoot Opal, this formula sounds PERFECT. Sadly, my Druid could never intentionally hurt a beast for completely selfish reasons. BUT: IF I SUMMON enough Blink Dogs through "Summon Woodland Beasts", and they sadly die...I could try this, too...🤣 I LOVE regular Druid Summons that merely summon a Fey Spirit that makes an animal shape corporeal. If they came because they enjoy sparring/fighting, no guilt when they die, they just go back to the Fey Lands....💖
the only think i don't get is if you have to check to succeed or if it's always a success? So for example, if I brew a Potion of Healing I need 25 Gold and 1 day and no check?
It comes down to how much the DM wants the people in the world to be able to freely create items or if there is a degree of skill and luck to do so. I personally prefer to allow auto-success but to have requirements and components that prevent rampant magic item creation in the world.
It's been a while since this was posted, but...any ideas for Illusionist's Bracers? So far: An eye taken from a vampire (hard one for a VR item, due to what happens to vampires when they hit 0hp) since the founder of Dimir was a vampire spellcaster. Beyond that... 🤷♂️
Do you require a skill check to finally craft the item? What happens if they fail? Do you make the item less effective? Might be really a bummer for the player to go through all that trouble and not getting something out of it. On the other hand autosuccess is also...meh.
Hi Max MusterSpace! I have a few thoughts to answer your questions: Magic item crafting can be exceptionally time consuming. Be careful denying a success if the player character has put so much time into it. We have more content about crafting magic item formulas to add danger to the process as components may be required from powerful creatures. Aside from that, you can introduce complications during the process of the magic item crafting, such as a pickled component that spilled when a stray cat knocked over its jar, so the player character must make a check to preserve it and not slow the process. Doing checks along the way will be more exciting than a check at the end, even though the end check can be a retroactive roleplay based on rolls. Crafting magic items requires a lot of work, and not many tables do it, in my experience. It's a process that is almost entirely meant to please playstyles, so do what's fun for your group!
Hi RoadkingU5B, is that standard across AL games, or are your DMs particularly restrictive? I haven't played AL. I know there are different rules for crafting items like spell scrolls in AL, but I don't know the details.
Oh no! We'll see if we can help. The download is functional for us, though we don't like how the screen perpetually 'loads' and seems broken. The download should appear at the bottom of your browser as a download notification of an Excel spreadsheet. If you've adjusted browser settings and still can't download the Artificer's Field Guide, please email us at flutes@flutesloot.com so we can send it to you directly. Thank you for your interest and for pointing out the problem! -Flutes and Opal
@@FlutesLoot I'm pretty sure the problem is that I'm trying to download it on my laptop, and it's not even a laptop, it's a Chromebook lmao. Also wow, I didn't expect anyone to respond really, I figured it'd be drowned out by future comments, either way though thank you for wanting to help out! And yes, on my end, after selecting the option to download the field guide, it gives me the loading icon, then a blank white slate, no pop-up or anything. -A pretty nerdy dm
@@corrosiveomen9584 Thank you for bringing this to our attention! There may come a day when we receive too many comments to respond to them all, but it is not this day :P We'll happily send you the Artificer's Field Guide if you want to send us an email.
There is no such thing as “Scribes Tools”, so how do players create Spell Scrolls? Silvery Barbs is a 1st Level spell that has only a Verbal Component. What would be required (proficiencies, gold, time, materials, etc.) to craft a single Silvery Barbs Spell Scroll)? 📜
Referencing Xanathar's, 1 day and 25 gold to make the Silvery Barbs spell scroll. You must have proficiency in Arcana and have Silvery Barbs prepared or known. There is not a particular tool that Xanathar's prescribes for the spell scroll crafting process.
@@FlutesLoot This makes a Pact of the Tome Warlock with the Book of Ancient Secrets and Aspect of the Moon Eldritch Invocations much more attractive. 😁
I think my main problem with the crafting system is less the components and more the time required. How do you work in creating time for crafting without totally derailing the story? Oh we gotta fight that dragon but first I need a month to make a sword. Lol Do you abbreviate the time at all?
Time really is the hardest part for most campaigns. If you don't have downtime and time skips, it's difficult to make it work. I recommend speeding things up if the campaign isn't going to work with many weeks or years of work.
I don’t like formulas because it limits player creativity. I say ditch the formula and base the effects off the materials used and let the players go wild! Lol
Embrace the uncertainty! I wouldn't say that's ditching the formulas, per se. All science must venture into the unknown. Today's formulas are yesterday's experiments!
I kinda think that the formula step is unnecessary, and crafting times do not make sense in Xanathars. Magic item creation is effectively double, if not quadruple, gated from players.
Do what works for you. Some players love formulas to give structure to crafting, especially if it circumvents the staggering gold and time requirements for the usual crafting. The 5e crafting isn't compelling on its own, so many people find methods or even third-party content to fill the need.
@@FlutesLoot Which I also find reasonable. If magical formula help spurs item creation in your party, it's a good deal. I have found it to be opposite that though.
This is a great breakdown and guide but when you got all Geoscience deep in the displacer beast I LOST MY SHIT. I absolutely love it and would 100% be down for videos of just that sort of nerdy goodness.
YES!! I know this is a fantasy game and you can make up whatever you want... but I absolutely love connecting lore with science. You can be sure more videos like this are on their way!
I grew up with animals, dogs, cats, bob cats, skunks .. point being they shed hair all over the place which is something some humans do. That fancy " Cashmere " cloth people spend to much money on is just Goat Hair. Well a given bred of fine hair goats from Egypt.
In short there is nothing stopping a wizard from casting Charm Monster on a Displacer Beast and brushing the hair from it enough times to collect enough to create thread for cloth. And if a wizard can cast Charm Monster they can also cast Baneful Polymorph and turn a couple of packs of Displacer Beasts into size of house cats . Then go about breeding a population of D.B. the size of house cats for the campaign setting, the catch is, if those D.B. are ever hit with a Dispel Magic spell will they return to there full size ?
Magic item, " Caller of the Pet " a caller that allows a pet to change its size, Levitate or Fly along with giving itself fairy wings.
Spells: Bestow Cures to heighten it loyalty to its owner, but a cat always choses its master/keeper/pet. Alter Self or some form of higher level Polymorph, Fly or Levitation, Charm Monster. Along with any other defensives or combat heightening spells.
With 3.5e rule system fifth teen years ago, my last gaming shop had some grade school age girls and teenagers. So they wanted fluffy wizards'/witches familiar pets. One six year old girl even duct tap stuff snakes onto a stuff black panther toy cat so she can carry around her own displacer beast pet familiar.
This is SO awesome. I'm about to start the LMoP module with some pathfinder players. They demanded crafting be a thing, because ofc they did.
Id been struggling, till I found your ingredients list online. Bit of searching later, and I found you!
As a result, I'm not populating the world with magic items. They can buy permenant ones with Xanthars buy/sell mechanic, they can craft 'charged' items using your recipies, or they can make temporary magic items using the forge of spells.
I love that you buzz off downtime, cause so do I.
Thanks a million, this is superb.
Happy to help! Long live downtime!
One of our players worked on creating a certain potion a couple years ago. It was a great plot point and added texture to the adventure because all could help her gather components. So, YES, crafting magic items was fun! And the big play when she used the potion was HUGE because of how much work went into creating it.
This is exactly how crafting should work in games! I absolutely love how rewarding it was for your players, and not just for a single player, but the entire party!
If you remember the ingredients you included in the potion formula, I'd love to hear your creativity!
... this was fantastic! This subject is the most important and powerful aspect of any gaming-system. It's understandable why game designers conspicuously brush aside and obscure specifics, despite dangling divine-instruments of "creation" before us. Codifying the fabrication and reproduceability of the fundamental parametrics of an encompassed reality is nothing-less than the ultimate-power... and the key to truly shaping-it to your will. This is the final door to transcendence for the Arcane Engineer.
Thank-you for your video... and unlocking that last-threshold... 🙂
Thank you for your transcendent compliment! 😄
Howdy! I'm going to be playing a wizard/crafter in an upcoming campaign, so this video and the links are super useful! But, the whole aspect of formulas is kind of backwards from how I want to play it. The crafting system seems to be designed around wanting a specific magic item, and the DM provides quests for the group to pursue that item. The way I want to play will be going on adventures and collecting all sorts of random ingredients, then when there is downtime, I sit down and see what I can make.
In my mind, there'd be a system where each ingredient has some property and level (e.g. blood from a salamander would be CR5 fire component, scale from a red dragon would be CR 17 fire.) Each item would require a certain number of ingredients based on rarity (1 for common, 2 for uncommon, etc.) The first ingredient would be base materials like steel, gold, or gems, and a lot of the cost of crafting would be in this ingredient. Other ingredients would cover magical aspects of items. One ingredient could use an appropriate spell as a substitute, or could subtract from the CR level of ingredients needed (e.g. if I have incendiary cloud, I could use that spell + salamander blood in place of an adult red dragon scale or something.)
Any thoughts? Did you use a similar system when coming up with the formula examples that you have? How much flexibility do you think there should be in formulas?
Hey! This is one of the beautiful things about formulas: there are no canonical recipes by the book. What this means for YOU as a player is that you can find various components and develop your own formulas, assuming you have the proper tool proficiencies or skills. Developing this formula will likely be part of the "time required" to develop the magic item, or perhaps developing a formula is separate from crafting the magic item. This might just be up to your DM.
Still use the CR-to-rarity table in XGTE to get a baseline for what sort of magic items you can create from your components (based on their rarity, like you said), then you'll have to spend the amount of gold and time.
So for example, when I develop a formula as a DM, if a Rare magic item requires a CR encounter of range 9-12, I might have 2-3 encounters that sum to this range. This can also be social encounters (bargaining, stealing, acquiring mundane materials, or getting experts to help craft portions of the item, like a blacksmith or cobbler or something if you lack the skills).
As a player, if you're developing a formula based on several components you've gathered, like let's say you have a few couatl feathers and a vial of essence from a banshee, now you have two ingredients that you can put together for an Arrow of Slaying for banshees. Then tell your DM that you think you can put these things together if you only had some special wood for the shafts. Gathering this wood can add to the CR that you're already summing from the couatl and banshee encounters, which you might have gathered from defeating the creatures or finding the items socially, so that you reach the CR range for Very Rare (13-18).
The exotic quest needed for acquiring components can be several quests, and could even be something like fighting off or bargaining with several Guardian Wolves so that you can get magical tree branches from their sacred forest. The encounters don't have to be 1-to-1 CR with the monsters defeated.
TL;DR: You certainly can develop your own formulas as a player. Look at what components you have acquired, then think about the magic items that you might be able to use the components for. Then talk to your DM about how you can combine these items and what would be required to meet the CR, time, and gold requirements to craft the magic item.
Sounds like you've got a fun campaign ahead! Happy adventuring! :)
@WDMC2012: Omg....YOU are seriously creative, and must be fun to play with!! Have you ever DM'd? I suspect you'd come up with some incredible Home Brew rules!😁
Going to steal this idea, and randomly save things from creatures I think might come in handy later, even if it's not obvious at the moment.😊
@@Karina-Loves-Andreas (Flutes speaking) Opal is a very creative DM. Her ideas make me smile all the time.
Thank you very much for this vid! I am working on a "Remnants: From the Ashes" total conversion to DnD 5e and this helped A LOT! Subscribed!
Wow, that sounds pretty intense. Flutes (from our other videos) once made a campaign based on Horizon Zero Dawn and that was a lot of work haha. Best of luck to your campaign!
Thanks a lot for the video, and specially for the guides and formulas, it is really good to see these ideas and now I'm really considering adding it to the games I DM, and for the game I play as an artificer.
The only point I kinda see a problem is with time, weeks look like a lot, I knnow comparing systems isn't much of a good idea, but pathfinder 2e has the crafting time in days, of course there are a lot of specific rules (and oh lord that system has a thing for rules) but days to one or two weeks seems much more feesible to have the characters take as down-time.
We're ecstatic you enjoyed the video, guide, and formulas! I understand what you mean by the required time. I would say, as a DM, if your in-game time is slow across sessions (like multiple sessions are within the same day or week in-game), I would suggest speeding it up. In another comment, I suggested incentivizing players to take an interest in crafting by having them find a master artificer who could teach them some tricks-of-the-trade that would award them boons that speed up crafting.
If your game has short time-skips, all of that time counts toward crafting (apart from the encounter to get materials), and you could just have a short discussion/roleplay segment about what the player does in that time to craft the magic item.
Truly awesome. Your enthusiasm and passion really shines through and has inspired me. Earned a sub, thanks for the great content and tips!
Thank you, Robby! I'm working on a video for Lair Actions that should be a good one :)
When I first saw Magic Item Creation Feats in 3e, I lost it. That was the best thing ever to me. Finally, they made some rules so pc's could do this readily, if not easily. There were rules of a sort, mostly general guidelines really, in 1e, but this was very engaging. Ever since, I've thought this was one of the most interesting possibilities in the game. And it takes stuff like *this* to properly exploit its potential.
I just found your content on another site and I love it! I am just getting back into DnD again, i'm old but I love it!
I am exploring the concept of imbuing and upgrading an existing weapon like a special Staff that I crafted from a tree branch from future Druid Circle.
That's great to hear! It's fun to get that spark of creativity.
This video is a gem! Love it
Thank you! It's one of our favorite topics, and the positive response indicates we're not alone in our desire for magic item crafting.
I can clearly see that you are passionate about creating this type of content, congratulations
Thanks!
Among MANY other things my druid has crafted was a prism and a magnifying glass stone shaped from a radiant magic enhancing diamond. The gems were hollow and filled with holy water. When sunbeam is casted through it did max damage to undead and fiends and depending on which gem was used either the prism or the magnifying glass it could be a cone or a longer line. Also let the dragonborn paladin in the party do the same thing with her breath weapon.
That's amazing! These are the kind of inventive creations and player rewards I love to hear about!
@@FlutesLoot another idea was growing plants with pain killing properties to make potions that added a D4 to concentration checks like a mini bless spell. They were watered with holy water cause that was the bless spell component.
@@wilfredofigueroa7970 bless you for these brilliant ideas!
So I know this is very late but here's hoping you see this. What kind of formula adjustments or modifications would you implement for crafting an item as one rarity higher to get a slightly-moderatly stronger magic item than the version found in the official material. Specifically a ring of spell storing that can hold 6 total levels of spells.
Hi Shawn! If you go to my article, you can find the table under the XGtE section that shows monetary, time, and CR requirements based on rarity. In terms of formulas, I would find materials that are similar to the original ingredients (assuming you already have a formula written out) but more expensive or requires a greater CR encounter. For instance, if the formula required scales of a wyvern, upscale to scales from a young dragon. If the ingredient was originally an amethyst gem (100gp), make it require a Corundum gem (1000 gp).
I recommend taking a look at my Formulas for Magic Items article and looking at what sort of materials I've decided to include in my formulas. Hopefully this gives you some good ideas!
www.flutesloot.com/formulas-for-crafting-popular-magic-items-in-5e/
Thanks for commenting :)
I was shocked by how much you provided in this video.
I try to be thorough! :)
Amazing work!
Thank you! Cheers!
3.5e D&D " Manual of the Planes,"
Elemental spells cast in its given related plane are effected with metamagic feats of Heighten and Maximized so a healing spell cast on the plane of positive energy such as Cure Light Wounds instead of 1d8hp it becomes a full 12pts healed. Chill touch does 1d6 dmg but on the negative plane it then does 9pt. A 5d6 fire ball cast on the plane of fire will do 90pts dmg.
A fun spell listed in the MoP was Shadow Portal being a 5th-level spell. A corresponded spell which when a spell caster is within a deep dark shadow area they open a portal into the Shadow plane. My shop went with if the caster is near a lava flow or hot bonfire they can cross into the plane of fire. Polymorph Self can turn a caster into a fire elemental and along with other 5th-level protection spell that can soak up 150pts worth of dmg. So bending the rules a bit, a 10th-level wizard can go plane hopping without the Planeshift spell.
2.) Mini open campaign, a mage village where each player had multiple PCs which when they have down time within the campaign calendar year from crafting and item or road travel times, we switch over to another PC.
Average PC multiclass built, rogue2/bard1/figter2/wizard6/lore master4,CR:15 .. magic item CR adj. +3 so CR:18 for the PC.
Lore master is a prestige class that stacks caster level with main spellcaster class. Caster level:10th wizard.
Plot of a month long game which took 6 months in the campaign to run.
My PC ask to trade spell items with the shop owner's wife that was PCing a wizard. She wanted that rose bush in her yard to be hybrid with a plane of fire rose so she can have meta magic spell components. So I started running off the steps to get something like that done. Such as Polymorph Other to safely split the rose bush into two with out killing it, then turning it into a fire element and plant it in the plane of fire, but to get it to grow in a proper manner was the story plot line.
Random player to the shop, " She is just trying to remove your PC from the campaign setting for a few weeks of play !"
New player to the shop, " No, Kris and Marry just came up with away so I can play my fire genie !"
Number of steps, ..
a.) Find a fire genie guide to talk/beg/bribe the other fire genie on the manner of growing flowers on the plane of fire.
b.) Make a deal with a lawful evil fire red dragon that lives on a float stone infused with gold dust which a field of metalic gold yellow daisies grow from.
c.) End results have three breeds of roses and two of them are red with gold metalic highlights which has metamagic effects to boost potions and other spellcasting.
d.) Lawful evil fire elementals friendship are base on bribes and how helpful they are to each other. Losing a .. friend .. means the lost of bribes/gifts. And they don't like losing gifts. So once you make .. friends .. with a lawful evil fire red dragon you need to maintain your bribes with them. And if they have to Save You, you owe them big time.
f.) I ended up dropping close to a 100,000xp of magic treasure in creating a rose bush for a 5,000xp magic item my PC needed. Well, it wasn't like I had to self create all that treasure on my own.
A few fire genie mages along with other mages dropped Xp for an illusion spell for Hallucinatory Terrian in a huge crystal to entertain the dragon so we could grow roses in his field of golden daisies. A few players got to drawn the index card to PC the dragon, they had a hoot.
3.) My game shop over the years found AD&D and WotC D&D magic to be .. lacking. So we mix Whitewolf/World of Darkness: Vampire, werewolf, and mage the awakening into the game when needed.
I'm a sucker for a good magic item formula and/or quest, and the older editions fascinate me with how they used experience points as a resource.
@@FlutesLoot I am glade you like it.
3rdE magic item creation had 1/10th xp value of total gp value in create said item. So we went with full Xp for gp. Cause I and my group doesn't like flashy items or spell effects as normal. " Oh this is described as looking or sounding magical !" to finding a un rotten prehistoric stone spear in an ancient burrow mound over run with goblins. A necromantic
rattle made from a turtle shell that keeps undead spirits at bay.
Difference in high ceremony magic of Roman/Hermetic urban ( wizard ) orders used gold and gems in everything, while rural wilderness folk magic was items found in the more natural environment. ( druid/shaman ) lacking in metal use. So a cloak of warming made by per Roman northern pagans would not have D&D gold thread sow through it. So a wool weaved blanket with Meding a 1st-level spell could be over a thousand years old. So a family of folk practicers of nothing higher than 3rd-level spell casters could create a blanket with layer effects. And in an anima culture where they see everything in nature having a spirit they will not really see the family blanket being anything overly magical.
As for Whitewolf/World of Darkness: Mage the Awakening and Changeling the Lost, all magic items are created with Xp. As for Changeling nearly everything is up for trade and for bargaining. In Changeling there is a mythical supernatural Hedge forest separating the human world from Fae Wild. It is full of magic natural token items used to empower for trade.
Another hair pulling eye rolling thing to take into mind. Gem cutting techniques and equipment ... bronze age, Roman empire and early Rennaissance didn't have the equipment skill to cut gems as we do now days or for the past few centuries. In Thailand back farm village roads you can buy a $8 flick of ruby and the local craftsmen can turn it into a $80 ruby ring in Thailand, but if you don't declare it on import fees coming into USA costing a couple of hundred dollars they will fine you between $500 to a $1,000. Sucks to spend a few hundred USA dollars shopping in a different country only to find you don't have a few thousand dollars to pay the import tax to bring them back into your own country.
Then you have emeralds from Colombia, a chunk about the size of a man's thumb uncut is around $80. But can be broken down to create multiple $300 ring stones. Due to the crystalline structure you just can't create a single large gem stone without .. flaws .. value into a few thousands of dollars. It has a high market value if cut down into multiple stones. So the over all value of the stone is more about the craftsmen cuts than the stone's material in of itself. So in D&D saying a gem with a 1,000gp in value is an eye roll.
Also many of the quartz emeralds finds are more valued as natural artwork displays than the effort that would be required to cut them down to turn into rings jewelry. F-cking hair line emeralds laced with green quartz.
Gen cutting was consider to be a form of Alchemy, investing personal spiritual power/Xp into a given item while crafting. Hench dwarves don't enchant items they forge them. A dwarf wizard doesn't enchant a pair of masterwork boots for a wizard to create Boots of Striding & Sprinting, they just make a pair of boots that function as such.
In game, dwarf wizard that made a pair of boots of climbing and the party rogue put the dwarf boots on and Spider Climb across the cave's ceiling.
Dwarf, " That is not the way a Dwarf climbs around in a pair of Boots !"
Party's rogue, " Dwarf just lacks Imagination! "
There is no magic item formula, just good quality dwarven craftsmanship. Along with investing Xp. and maybe a caster level depending on the given item.
@@krispalermo8133 I'll never look at gem cutting the same way! Very interesting.
You R.O.C.K.
Thank you and have a great New Year~
Thanks William! You too!
Is the pretty girl behind that gelatinous sphere with a bad dye job and huge nose?
Super creative and deep with lore
(Flutes speaking) that sums up Opal very well. She loves flexing her creative muscles to make something commonplace into something extraordinary. She would do well in those old D&D magazines about monster anatomy and ecology. :P
Great breakdown. Subbed.
Thank you, Eric!
Sweet vid, thanks a bunch. Basically confirmed what I was kinda trying to do.
Fantastic! Happy to help :)
awesome video, gave me tons of ideas, I'll definitely reference this!!
Thank you for the kind words! My goal has always been to be a useful reference. :)
My players really want me to do an aquisitions incorperated campaign where they run a magic shop. This will be helpful, thank you!
Sounds fantastic! Good luck!
I have a character who is trying to create a ring that allows any torches or lanterns held in the hand with the ring to give off Darkness (as per the spell) 1 time per day. Curious how you would rate/craft/come up with a formula for that one, since Darkness creating items seem relatively rare.
Great idea for a magic item! Given that Darkness is a 2nd level spell and you only allow the effect once per day, I wouldn't rank it higher than rare, maybe even uncommon. Additionally, Drow at 5th level can cast Darkness once per long rest, which is the same ability as the ring. So if your players are above 5th level, maybe make the rarity uncommon for simplicity's sake.
As for a formula, I would look to the Darkness spell, which requires material components of bat fur and a drop of pitch or piece of coal. You could upscale Giant Bats (CR 1/4) as the exotic beast to fight in a quest. Maybe the ring needs to remain in darkness for 1 workweek in a pouch lined with bat fur for the magic to transform it.
Pitch and coal are used for fire-making, which is contrary to "darkness" in my opinion, but even still, I'd require pitch from possibly a Duskwood tree (you can find info about his on the Forgotten Realms Fandom Wiki). Maybe the ring is made of a particular metal of your choice (maybe Darksteel?) and forged in the hot fires created from pitch of the duskwood.
Remember that overall, you need a CR 4-8 encounter, 200 gp, and 2 workweeks to craft an uncommon magic item.
Good luck! Let us know how it goes :)
@@FlutesLoot that is really good... Thank you so much for the suggestions. I also went with Uncommon since it was just 1/day, and had pondered something like the heart or brain of a flock (approximately eight) darkmantles, since they were the only things I could find that emit darkness that don't also dissipate upon death, or perhaps 3 vials of blood from a drow of 4th-8tu level in either Cleric, Wizard, Sorcerer, or Warlock. The ring has to be dipped in the blood within an hour after death or being drawn (1d4+3 hps worth). That later suggestion means negotiating for a blood donation is also an option. I found myself, as I wrote up formulas, giving multiple choice options, which doesn't really go with the theme of most magic crafting stories, but does go with the idea that creature X might not exist in these parts at all, but creature Y could be used as a substitute. Also that some components could be purchased in an alchemy shop, and others couldn't. I really like the pitch from a Duskwood tree and the ring needing to remain in darkness for 1 workweek in a pouch lined with bat fur. That's good stuff...
I love these ideas! Going to try and use this in one of my games. Thanks so much for the great content - just subbed 🤓
I'm always thrilled to hear that these ideas are helpful!
Thank you for the kind words and sub! :D
I blundered upon this channel and LOVE IT!!! Opal, your husband said I had to check your vids out...and he's right, YOU'RE AWESOME, TOO!!🤣💖
No wonder Critical Role decided to name a character after you this summer 🤣😍💗🤣
I might send a msg through your regular website. I'm playing a Circle of Shepherd Druid, who serves "primarily" as healer & battlefield control. But I'm also taking the Poisoner Feat (simply the "opposite side" of the healer coin). RAW says I can only take poison venoms from incapacitated creatures, but my Druid obviously isn't going to "hurt" a snake or tree frog to get it's venom. Circle of Shepherd gets automatic "Sylvan" and the ability to speak with beasts. I'm thinking I could feed a venomous creature, warm it up & give a little massage, suggest that it's venom glands are probably uncomfortably full and let it know I could help relieve the pressure, then gently coax it to sleep, and take it's venom into a vial. Curious what you think? Honestly, IF I magically had an ability to speak with animals IRL and was able to coax them along, I think I could do this without harming the creature.
PS: Also, do I have to pay for ingredients and things I can forage or scavenge for free? Why? I don't want to pay for simple poisons I obtain thru animal handling.
Thanks so much, Karina!
I LOVE your concept. Flutes told me about your point regarding poisons in medical training and it opened my mind. Your character certainly shouldn't have to pay gold for poisons and venoms harvested from animals. Honestly, the game needs more rewards for players who want to do things like speak with animals. It's far more exciting than slashing into them and then asking the DM if you can harvest venom sacks.
I am currently DMing a game where my guy wants to craft an AK-47.... Seeing as how its set in the mid 1800s. I told him that if he can even get all the parts, and starting at level 1, most likely would not be able to get it until say level 10+ at the very least. I really wish to see how it would effect the game when we get to that point.
That sounds funny and interesting to watch unfold. To quote Dale Gribble, "I'm skeptical that you could, but intrigued that you may" lol
I love the idea of mass production in dnd. Like having a botanical garden with rare flowers ,trees, bees, butterflies ETC for mass production with a druid helping with plant growth and druid craft.
Like an animal farm with displacer beasts or yetis or any other dnd monster. a very gruesome way of farming is healing skinned beasts/monsters ETC so they regenerate back their skin, arms, bones, teeth ETC
Or Late game control weather, plant growth farms sprinkle in druid crafting cantrip and you would output tons of food enough to feed 10 000 -100 000 of people if not more
Ore/gem farming in the elemental plane of earth.
These are the kinds of scenarios that would likely occur with widespread magic. I enjoy exploring these concepts, too! The skinning/healing is particularly loathsome, but believable. >:O
Yipes! I get where you're going, but MY Druid would take serious issue with your Druid skinning animals alive then healing them. UNLESS A SHIT TON of MORPHINE was involved!!!🤣🤣🤣
@@Karina-Loves-Andreas wasn't really thinking the druid would be farming the blink dogs. Like a wizard or some other morally vague person
I really liked the video and thank you so much for these helpful resources! I have a PC playing a blue Dragonborn and he really wants a sword that channels his electricity. I want him to craft the sword so that it’s more special and I also want it to level in power as his character levels. Do you have any suggestions on some ingredients or monsters to use and what to have him do to/with it over time to increase its power level?
This sounds like a fun idea, Nathanael! I have a few ideas, which assume your player does not have smithing proficiencies.
First, you could have him craft a very rare enchanted sword that casts Lightning Lure as a bonus action the number of time per day equal to his proficiency bonus. This cantrip scales with player level, as does the proficiency bonus (# times/day). This ability, while it doesn't use his dragon breath specifically, is pretty dang good with an electric flair (especially as it scales), so I think it's "very rare." So you're looking at 13-18 CR, 20,000 gp, and 25 workweeks. A Storm Giant is CR 13 (chaotic good), a giant eel is CR 3. Steel is a good conductor of electricity, so I would say they could convert an already-smithed steel sword they have or purchase into this magic weapon. The biggest challenge is the time/gold requirements. I would say the party needs to obtain the main organ of a giant electric eel (which produces electricity), take that and the steel sword to a Storm Giant and somehow convince it to enchant the sword with electricity. This might require doing a favor for the giant. The Storm Giant will work on it for a number of work weeks (25 maximum and for a price of no more than 20k gp, but maybe if the party provides extra good service for the Storm Giant, they can cut that time and cost down).
Second, you could have him craft a rare +2 sword that allows your character to use Dragon Breath as a bonus action when making a weapon attack with the sword that buffs the breath with an additional 2d6 of lightning damage. I wouldn't allow him extra uses of Dragon Breath, though, as that would increase the rarity (and crafting time and gold cost), so this weapon only scales with the Dragon Breath damage. As a rare weapon, you're looking at 9-12 CR, 2,000 gp, and 10 workweeks. If your Dragonborn has smithing skills, they could forge the sword themselves using similar components to the example above, otherwise I would say he has to track down a blue dragon to enchant his sword, or maybe if he has a Dragonborn clan, he can get a blacksmith from his tribe to craft it for him. The fee will be no more than 2k gp and take 10 workweeks.
I hope this helps! I'm happy to brainstorm more ideas with you.
@@FlutesLoot I think this is a cool approach and it ties into what I already have going on in my campaign world quite nicely. Thank you so much for taking the time to help me with this item! I think my player would be quite happy with either and they both make it feel like it was earned rather than gifted with plenty of interesting story options that would be fun for the entire party. 👍🏻
Excellent video, thank you!
Glad it helped!
great stuff
Thank you, Rex!
Formulas and schematics.
Very Witcher, very immersive.
Absolutely! The more immersive, the better.
Awesome video. I have a PC in our game who has gotten super into herbalism and creation of potions and things like that, so the artificers guide you put out was amazing in helping with that. I do have a question. This character is a level 8 wizard, would you take PC level and a power into account for creating things? For instance, to help streamline in our game, once he has the "formula" or "recipe" for a common or uncommon potion, I generally allow him to create it over the course of a long rest if it is more than a nights sleep in a dungeon. How would you handle this?
He also likes to spend some of his rest time foraging for what is nearby. I have basically had him roll a d100 and 1-50 he finds something common, 51-85 He finds something uncommon, 86-97 something rare and 98-100 something legendary. He then has the dc check to try and harvest this material. Is there a better way to do this sort of impromptu..."i'm going searching to see what I can find" moment?
Hey Ian! Glad you've found a hardy use for the Artificer's Field Guide. I didn't mention this in the video, but XGTE has ruled that consumable magic items require half the gold and time costs. If you're not already doing that for potions and spell scrolls, I would use that rule.
This advice goes slightly outside of the official mechanics of 5e, but maybe you can have your wizard meet a mentor artificer who teaches them some tricks for crafting magic items quicker and cheaper, and you can award them some sort of boon that streamlines the crafting process if they're super into it.
If they've been utilizing crafting a lot in your game, perhaps they gain "expertise" in general crafting, and you can reduce gold and time costs by a quarter to a half. I don't see why you shouldn't bro out your players if they're really enjoying this mechanic.
You need to tan or treat the hide or else it's going to deteriorate and you can't make the displacer cloak. So leather working is essential.
Great video. Thanks!
Sure thing!
If there's 4 members of your party you're better off with the DMG rules as you could craft a common magic item in a single 8 hour workday. Or craft an uncommon magic item in 5 days rather than "two workweeks" which is at least 12 days, unless its a consumable item.
Teamwork makes the dream work!
Maybe I'm just slow but could you maybe do a special vid on how the artificer could do this mainly im having trouble with plate it seems to take way to long compared to a magical armor.
Hey Rob! If I'm understanding correctly, you're asking about crafting regular plate armor? On pg. 128 of XGTE, the requirements for crafting a mundane item are as follows: raw materials for the item, which cost half the selling price (plate armor is 1,500 gp, so half of that is 750 gp); and workweeks equal to selling price divided by 50 (1500/50 = 30 workweeks). By the book, if multiple people have tool proficiencies (Smith's tools for armor) and work on this project together, you can divide the workweeks required by the number of people working on it (if you have 4 people, 30/4 = 7.5 total workweeks for one set of plate armor).
From what I understand, yes, crafting mundane plate armor would take 3x the workweeks of crafting rare magic armor like +1 plate or Armor of Resistance if just one person were to work on it, but this will occur at a significantly lower cost, plus, you only need to buy or come across the raw materials (no risky encounter or formula required).
You bring up an interesting point about the Artificer, however. An Artificer, at level 10, gains the "Magic Item Adept" feature with which they can craft a common or uncommon MAGIC item for 1/4 the time and 1/2 the cost. This class does not mention crafting mundane items, which is a real shame. If I were DMing for an artificer who wanted to craft mundane objects, I would slash the cost/time like magic items, and maybe just make that a default feature at level 1 if they have the tool proficiencies. If a DM allows this, an Artificer could craft plate armor for 7.5 workweeks and 375 gp.
Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any more questions!
@@FlutesLoot awesome thanks for the help!
@@FlutesLoot Yeah, this is probably the weirdest bit in reference to the crafting rules in XGTE. Its technically more work to go out and find the Formula and Exotic Material for say, a set of Cast-Off Plate, which is a common magic item, but because of that its so much cheaper and less time consuming to make than mundane plate armor. To craft a set of Cast-Off Armor takes 1 Workweek and 50 GP vs 30 Workweeks (or 7.5 Workweeks) & 750 GP to make the mundane plate version. It causes some strange economic implications, but for the sake of game time, its really efficient.
I am a fan of the Dresden files and I want to make his rings that store kinetic energy from walking. He can release the energy at will generally when punching.
Any suggestions? Also I’m an artificer
Hey Shon! I would recommend first designing what the homebrew magic ring would look like and be made of (talk to your DM about this!) then your DM can decide how hard of an encounter you would need to get materials, how much gold and time are required, etc. I'm going to assume "Rare" right now, as Cube of Force is Rare.
Based on the description of the Force Ring from the book, it looks like it's just a braided metal ring (no gems or anything).
I'll write out my process here:
Looking at spells that deal Force damage with material components, Disintegrate has a component of Lodestone, which is a a piece of magnetite or a magnetized material. Because we're looking at a Rare magic item, I would say we should look for a rarer magnetic mineral than magnetite. I'm thinking Adamantine or even just creating an alloy of adamant and silver. This will be ferromagnetic. Adamant is usually found in lava flows, but Adamantine can be found in meteorites, which smelt the components of adamant and other natural minerals on the rock to form the compound.
The spell Dark Star also does Force Damage and requires a drop of blood from the user, and Bigby's Hand requires a Snakeskin Glove.
Next, in terms of encounters, I think it would make sense to have to gather the essence of a creature that would naturally deal force damage, like some ethereal creature (think ghost, specter, phantom, Phantom Warrior from Curse of Strahd, phase spider, ethereal dragon, and so forth). Because they are ethereal, any sort of push they make will utilize force. As an Artificer, you may be interested in creating a way to capture their essence so that you can imbue it into your ring.
Polymers and crystals are known for capturing energy, and gum arabic is a polymer that's mentioned a lot in D&D settings, so I think creating a paste from gum arabic and crushed crystals should capture the ethereal essence of a creature, and maybe you can create some mechanism like "soul cage" made with the gum arabic/crystals and a flask that allows you to carry the essence until you need it.
So here's the formula I would suggest, vague enough for your DM to work within and cater to the rarity of the ring:
Materials:
Adamantine or an adamant alloy, a drop of the blood from the person who wants to attune to the ring, a vial of the essence of an ethereal creature (a mixture of gum arabic, crushed crystals, and the life force of an ethereal creature), snakeskin gloves.
Instructions:
Heat the ferrous metal until it is workable. Form the metal into three separate strands and allow to cool. Using the snakeskin gloves, combine the essence mixture with the blood and polish the metal strands. Braid the metal together. This braid formation will keep the essence contained within the band and force flowing through the material. Tie off the strands and weld the ends together to form a ring.
Skill Proficiencies: Jewelry, maybe Smithing, and it helps that you're an Artificer!
Love the video!
I'm currently playing a forge cleric and was thinking about role playing crafting items and something I was wondering about was how are magic item costs related to the cost of the item normally?
For instance, if someone was making some plate mail which is usually 1,500 gp, and they make a smoldering armour version of it that's a common magic item, would you just add the magic creation cost on top of the 1,500 gp? It would be silly to say it was only 50 gp to make the plate, but makes way more sense if that's added to it in some way.
But then to make something like a chain shirt that also costs 50 gp, it would be the same magic cost of 50 gp, so would you need more components for the more expensive armour?
Hope this makes sense and love to see your enjoyment with all this!
Thank you! I'd recommend figuring out a system that makes sense to you that you can explain to your DM, and they can sign off on it. I think it makes sense to keep the original cost of whatever item is being crafted into a magic item.
My group 15 years ago running 3.5e system of Item Creation Feats: Craft Wonderous Items rules for creating Magic Traps found in the DMG. Magic traps that never ran out of charges and function more like Harry Potter wands. Items for sale only have up to nine charges or have built in effects which delayed use so other people Have to buy more from the spell caster.
I never like the whole gp cost or covering item made of gold & gems. Most of the DMs I played with had low gold treasure award campaigns. Also from folk lore and ghost stories most of the magic items cursed or bless were normal looking mundane everyday equipment anyhow.
We just traded gp value into Xp value trade off which slowed down or level cap spellcasters growth making everyday minor magic items more common than higher/epic level items. Also if the spellcaster didn't have a given spell component to cast a given spell such as black dragon blood, the 4th-level spell cost 8xp to cast. Side note a wizard slinging stones at chickens/ravens, rabbits/rats in the barn yard or chase downing insects or frogs/toads for dinner at 3rd-level using 3.5e CR will earn 1,000xp more per month.
A simple cast iron group of nails hammer bend into the shape of a holy symbol sodder together with silver is barely worth a couple of coppers lets alone worth one or two silver pieces. But a 3rd-level cleric can permanently cast on it Bless and Cure Light Wounds and functions as a very minor ring of regeneration. Healing 1d8+3hp per melee round.
2.) My last shop's DMs start games off at 4th-or 5th-level or even 12th-level PC single class or multiclass. So of us had the go ahead to take the Xp of a single class 12th-level character and create 20th-level multiclass PC. Which to baby sit the rest of the group with.
Another aspect of starting with 5th-level PCs, we had the choice of multiclassing five levels such as rogue3/fighter2,CR:5 for flanking group dog packing doing 3d6dmg per melee round. Or all start class is rogue for the most skill points ranks as DMG optional rules apprentice level PCs rogue1/wizard1.
So a spell caster would be rogue1/wizard or cleric 3rd with 3,000gp/Xp value of self made magic items for themself or the party. So a 4th-level PC/npc is still CR adjusted for the number of magic items they can employ in a given encounter. Most everyday peasant magic isn't nothing flashy and more practical in use. Just saying Hello and raising your hand causes the ring or amulet to cast Charm Person or Friendship. Then make Bluff/Perform(acting) or Diplomacy skill check roll, for every five ranks in each one of these given skills grants a +2 synergy bonus to the other skill in use.
Thank you for sharing your experiences! I find every table plays differently in small ways, but the way they handle magic item crafting can vary wildly.
RAW: A third level Wizard herbalist has a Black Pudding (CR4). He casts Cloud of Daggers to split the Pudding. So, the next day he slays one rested, full size Pudding and splits the other. Repeat as needed. In 50 weeks of down time, he uses some part of the CR4 Pudding to craft 10 Uncommon Magic Items and 20 Common ones (10 x 200 = 2000 and 20 x 50 = 1000 or 3000) and in another 12 weeks he brews 60 Potions of Healing (60 x 25 = 1500) for a grand total of 4500 gold pieces. That is one single character crafting Magic Items for one year of down time. A party of five during the Phandelver game might even pay the Wizard to do this for them while they adventure. Yes, the Wizard needs a formula for each different Magic Item. However, you really shouldn't have to slay a dragon to create a formula for an item that is only worth 200 gold or less. To make the formula scroll, I use the same method to create the item itself. You make the formula scroll in place of the item.
If you're suggest mass-producing magic items for either use or as a means of commerce, you're definitely not wrong. Why slay 10 dragons if you can more efficiently harvest a single dragon and utilize all parts? The guidelines from XGTE are just that: guidelines. An adventuring party on the move does not have the means to mass produce magic items or carry the entirety of a dragon corpse around until they can efficiently harvest it. And that's okay. I often say that if a party expends the required gold and time amount on the table, they can produce up to the number of party members of magic items, so long as all of them are dedicating their downtime to the magic items.
TL;DR: you're not wrong! But it shouldn't be game-breaking and it should make sense. And it's always, always up to the DM :)
@@FlutesLoot Basically this is simply a thought experiment. However, by just applying the rules, a third level wizard can craft a pile of magic items in just one year. It's amazing that a party with magic items is treated like a crime by so many DMs. A DM can literally add any monster to "re-balance" the game.
Hey Flutes Loot. I'm looking for a good formula to create an Ioun Stone. Specifically the Iridescent Spindle variety that sustains the linked user without air. If I'm reading that right, it should grant breathing. I don't need underwater, I need breathing when moving through rock as I have a homebrew Urdinnir and want to help our DM put together a journey that our whole party can help with. Thanks and keep making the great content.
SORRY for the late reply! For the Ioun Iridescent Spindle Stone, here's what I would do:
The Iridescent Spindle is most recently found in the 3.5e, so I would maybe look at the mechanics of the Necklace of Adaptation as a model for the Ioun Stone homebrewing (since the current 5e description of the item does not include a breathing variety). The Necklace of Adaptation is uncommon, but the lowest rarity of an Ioun Stone is "Rare," so we'll use the "Rare" requirements for this one: CR 9-12, 2000 gp, and 10 work weeks.
Canonically, from 3.5e, "Ioun stones could only be created by a veteran spellcaster well versed in the crafting of wondrous magical items. Only certain types of gemstones could be transformed into an ioun stone through application of the appropriate and generally secret spells." (forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Ioun_stone)
Nine gems are available to transform into Ioun stones: Amethyst, Chrysoberyl, Chrysoprase, Greenstone, Hematite, Iol, Laeral's Tears, Obsidian, Onyx, and Sardonyx. According to legend, some ioun stones were created using essences of a soul or blood from a variety of creatures.
The Necklace of Adaptation is described as "a heavy chain with a platinum medallion," and Ioun stones are "small, crystalline stones, coming in a wide range of colors and shapes that determined their powers."
So, with all of this knowledge, I recommend crafting an Ioun stone using Iol (forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Iol), which is the least-specific stone with regards to its magical properties and uses. If your character is religious, this gem also has ties to the greater god Oghma, Lord of Knowledge, who might bestow such a valuable formula to his worthy followers.
I would suggest your character must capture the essence of a monster that does not need to breath, such as an Air Elemental (CR 5). Additionally, if your target creature is a lower CR than what is required for the rarity, you can make up the difference with a soul-capturing skill check. Capturing an essence isn't mechanically its own thing, but there are a few ways to get souls: a Hag's soul bag, a Magic Jar, the Soul Cage spell, Phantom Rogue abilities, and so forth. Harvesting the essence of a soul may require a skill check, a ritual, a magic item, or just knowledge of the process. A Tumblr user converts MTG cards into D&D spells, one of which is "Essence Capture," a 2nd-level spell that may work for your purposes: ravnicacardsconverted.tumblr.com/post/621276128558153728/essence-capture-2nd-level-abjuration-casting-time
So far, we have the Iol gem and the essence of an Air elemental. The remaining workweeks can be spent in a few ways: One, taking these ingredients to a temple of a magic-centric deity like Mystra or Oghma and getting a blessing from the god that imbues the iol with the soul to create the Ioun stone. Two, designing, experimenting, and refining a process that would enchant the stone and soul together (forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Item_enchantment). Three, combine the soul essence with a costly oil made from a rare plant, such as Hinny nectar (forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Hinny), Hanna Flower (forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Hanna_flower), Jasmine, etc, and infuse the gemstone with the oil for the duration of the time remaining.
I favor the option to enchant yourself or to take it to a deity to bless, because an Ioun stone is a wondrous item. Let me know if you have any additional ideas!
@@FlutesLoot Wow! Thanks so much for the reply. Your input on this is really appreciated. The Urdinnir are the blessed people of the god, Dumathoin, known as the Keeper of Secrets Under the Mountain. I'm thinking that he could grant the blessing. Also, Xorn, the sworn enemies of the Urdinnir don't need to breathe so I wonder if we could work an angle against them as they are an unsung creature that keeps getting nerfed with each passing edition. Thanks again for the response. I love your content. Keep it up!
@@deathbevo the Xorn are very interesting, particularly how they consume gems! And I'm happy to help :)
I'm watching the video in YT phone app, and not seeing the links you referenced as down below. Would you mind posting them in the comments, and pinning so they appear at the top?
Yes, done. And here's the link for you: www.flutesloot.com/guide-to-legendary-actions-and-lairs/?
Great video. Looking to start crafting items in one of my current campaigns, as I've not done this before and it seems really interesting. I'm playing a Rune Knight fighter who isn't necessarily focused on damage but can definitely do some if provoked. He's more of a guardian of the party. Since leaving his hometown he has experienced many new things, but he has realised he wants to start looking into crafting some magical items for him and his party because I think we have a wide range of skillsets? By chance, would you happen to have any idea on how I would go about making an item that gives the enlarge/reduce spell for... maybe a minute? Not sure... Just think its been really fun with my giants might feature when I get bigger, and to get even bigger would be the goal.
Thanks for inspiring.
I'm glad the video is helpful! (Flutes speaking because Opal is editing a new video right now)
Enlarge/Reduce is a second-level spell, so I'd recommend treating the item as 'rare' rarity. If it's a consumable item like a scroll or potion, it'd have different requirements (less time/gp). You can see Flutes' video about spell scrolls for more on that. For a non-consumable item (let's say a runed hammer than allows you to Enlarge), a close comparison would be the Boots of Levitation in the DMG since Levitate is a 2nd-level spell; however, those give you at-will casting. If you want at-will Enlarge, it'd be a clean comparison. If you want to limit Enlarge to once per long rest or something, you could reduce the cost to craft. Does that help?
@@FlutesLoot It does indeed, I'll pitch this to my dm. Cheers
Campaign idea! The party's patron is getting them to gather the components for an unknown magic item. The patron suddenly dies leaving it mostly done. What does it do? Can we finish it? Are their any side-effects?
Hey! That's a cool idea with mystery and twists, and we're always for that.
Awesome video! Do you have a formula for a Ring of Spellstoring? And the Bracers of Defense? Those are the two items I’m looking to gift formulas to my party in my upcoming games! I love that you search through the lore, I’m looking to add some more down time in my games and ways to let my players spend there gold! Thanks!
Thank you for your request! I love digging through lore for magic items, and I think I have a few good ideas for these items. I’ll write two separate comments for the two magic items.
The Ring of Spell Storing is tricky because its gimmick is that it can store any level 1-5 spell. Remember that it’s a Rare magic item, so it requires an encounter CR 9-12, 2,000 gp, and 10 workweeks.
In 3rd edition, the ring had an “evocation” aura, so I’m going to look at evocation spells with more ethereal effects for component inspiration: Word of Radiance requires a holy symbol; Hallow requires herbs, oils, and incense worth 1,000 gp; Contingency requires a carved ivory statuette of oneself; and Forcecage requires ruby dust worth 1,500 gp.
And finally, the image of the ring makes it look to be a gold-plated scroll with etchings on it. What I propose for the formula is based mostly on the Contingency spell.
Ring of Spell Storing Formula:
-Ivory from one of the following creatures: Umber (CR 5), Sperm Whale/Cachalot (CR 8), Mammoth (CR 6), Hippo (CR 6), or Elephant (CR 4)
- A half-pound of bark or leaves from any Faerun tree. Tannins will be extracted from this bark. I particularly like Chime Oak, Felsul, or Yggdrasil's Child (magical): forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Tree
-Alternative idea to tree bark: The Quess'Ar'Teranthvar tree is particularly cool for the Spell Storing ring because it’s a set of 10 scrolls transformed into a golden tree. Supposing players find this tree and they are able to bypass the tree’s guardians (a golden spider), they may be able to take seven golden leaves + a handful of shriveled and corroded leaves that have fallen from it and extract magical tannins from there. You can find more info about this tree in the 2007 manual Anauroch, The Empire of Shade, page 115, or here: forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Quess%27Ar%27Teranthvar
- Ruby dust worth 1,500 gp
- Gold plating, if you’re not doing the golden tree leaves idea
- Large glass flask with 1-inch opening, cork, and wax
- 8-inch by 14-inch (at least) strip of wool
- Leather pouch
Proficiencies:
-Jeweler's Tools
-Arcana
Process:
Cut and carve a strip of ivory, 6 inches by 1 inch. Etch runic symbols into the ivory using Jeweler’s Tools. A Dungeon Master may reveal what the message is if players are proficient in Arcana or know the language of the symbols (as determined by the DM). Otherwise, they must precisely copy the message from the written formula they receive.
Place the bark or leaves (or decayed leaves from the golden tree) in a flask of water, sealed for two weeks. After this time, extract the water, which will be a dark but translucent brown. Soak the strip of wool in the diluted tannic acid from the flask and wrap it around the ivory strip. Place the wool and ivory in a leather pouch and allow it to soften for four weeks, adding more tannic acid each day.
When the ivory has softened after four weeks, use Jeweler’s Tools to form the ivory into the shape of the ring with the etched markings on the outside. Allow the ivory to dry out and harden for three days.
When totally dry, smelt the gold plating or gold leaves from the Quess'Ar'Teranthvar tree with the ruby dust. Coat the ivory ring in the gold mixture. A Dungeon Master may decide if a ceremony is required for this process to activate the magic-storing capabilities. Perhaps the ring must be blessed or sanctified by Mystra, the Mother of Magic.
@@FlutesLoot Wow!! This is amazing, I love how the process of creating a magical item brings about adventure almost "naturaly" it is very exciting. Thank you so much for the reply and formula, I'm sure my players are going to love doing it!
@@jeanlucdupuis You're welcome! Thanks for the fun prompt.
So how do i use time? Like u said it takes 1 work week. Does that mean i wait until yhe next session to have my players create the item? Or do i allow them to just say they waited a week?
And if they do, should i have a time sensitive event happen or be set in place, so they cant just fast forward time?
Thank you in advance, to anybody who may answer
The way D&D 5e's magic item creation is outlined, the time should be in-game time. This comes into conflict with the fact that many D&D 5e campaigns don't have much downtime or systems to gather followers to help with such things. We have a video about how to use gold in D&D 5e and why downtime is a big part of why many players say they have a hard time spending gold. Campaigns with time sensitive events make it difficult to run with 5e's rules for magic item creation. They can't really coexist, so it requires the DM to change the creation rules if they want players to be making magic items.
Item that lets you blink like a blink dog
That would be something I'd be interested in, as well. Since Blink Dogs and the Blink spell are accessible at lower levels, the item shouldn't be too difficult to craft!
Hey Bezordude, Opal (video creator) here. It looks like Flutes responded to you before I had a chance to check out your comment, but I've been working on an item that lets you blink like a blink dog.
I think this would be something like a Ring of Blinking, or a Ring of Misty Step (here's a good homebrew that you can alter: www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Ring_of_Misty_Step_(5e_Equipment) )
Very Rare = CR 13-18; 20,000 GP; 25 workweeks.
Materials: 20 Blink Dog teeth (enough to fill a jar), 1 Gold Ring (10 gp), 1 Amaratha gemstone worth 4,000 gp, 1 vial of acid (25 gp), lye, a clump of Lightning Moss, 1 flask of oil, 1 Blink Spell Scroll (500 gp), 1 tall metal rod.
Requirements: Alchemist's supplies or Herbalism kit
Formula: Collect Blink Dog teeth and carefully set them in the vial of acid. Allow them to dissolve completely (about 10 weeks). Add an equal amount of lye as the acid to the acid-teeth mixture and allow the lye and acid to balance out (give it room to react!). Scrape the mineral film off the top of the water that remains in the vial. This is a special/magical mineral (enamel) only found in Blink Dogs. Find and harvest Lightning Moss and infuse it in the oil for 5 weeks. Remove the (deteriorated) plant remains and add the enamel minerals to the oil. Fashion the Amaratha gemstone on top of the gold ring and polish the ring with the oil-enamel mixture. During a non-magical lightning storm on top of a high mountain, tie the ring to the top of the iron rod, along with the Blink Spell Scroll. Secure the rod in the ground. When lightning strikes the rod, the scroll will be consumed and the ring will absorb the power to blink.
Thought Process: I picture Blinking as an electrical and magical phenomenon. The creator of the Blink spell was an Arcanist named Oberon who specialized in quasidimensional transport, so the electrical flavor of the formula seems to fit. For the materials, Amaratha is a gemstone in Faerun noted for the magical property to absorb electricity, and Lightning Moss grows only where lightning has struck and gives off a faint static electric shock when touched.
Because the CR is 13-18, you should either have them infiltrate a Blink Dog lair (see some of my ideas for that here: www.flutesloot.com/guide-to-legendary-actions-and-lairs/), make the journey to obtaining the Moss difficult, and perhaps the mountain in a lightning storm is a big challenging as well, all to add to a CR range of 13-18.
In terms of cost, the player would probably have to pay heftily (a few thousand gp and several weeks) to get the gemstone mounted on the ring, plus the 4,600 gp of materials, and we're still at a deficit of about 13,000 gp. Perhaps they have to hire a sherpa and buy expensive climbing gear to get to the top of the mountain for the lightning storm (which can take a few weeks as well).
Remember that you can always slightly nerf a magic item to reduce its rarity, too, so that it's less expensive and requires less time.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this formula!
Magic Mascara
@@FlutesLoot Opal, this formula sounds PERFECT. Sadly, my Druid could never intentionally hurt a beast for completely selfish reasons. BUT: IF I SUMMON enough Blink Dogs through "Summon Woodland Beasts", and they sadly die...I could try this, too...🤣
I LOVE regular Druid Summons that merely summon a Fey Spirit that makes an animal shape corporeal. If they came because they enjoy sparring/fighting, no guilt when they die, they just go back to the Fey Lands....💖
the only think i don't get is if you have to check to succeed or if it's always a success? So for example, if I brew a Potion of Healing I need 25 Gold and 1 day and no check?
It comes down to how much the DM wants the people in the world to be able to freely create items or if there is a degree of skill and luck to do so. I personally prefer to allow auto-success but to have requirements and components that prevent rampant magic item creation in the world.
It's been a while since this was posted, but...any ideas for Illusionist's Bracers?
So far: An eye taken from a vampire (hard one for a VR item, due to what happens to vampires when they hit 0hp) since the founder of Dimir was a vampire spellcaster.
Beyond that... 🤷♂️
That's a fantastic idea! The displacer beast's tendril leather would also be good.
Where in Xanathar is this breakdown?
It starts on page 128.
Do you require a skill check to finally craft the item? What happens if they fail? Do you make the item less effective? Might be really a bummer for the player to go through all that trouble and not getting something out of it. On the other hand autosuccess is also...meh.
Hi Max MusterSpace! I have a few thoughts to answer your questions:
Magic item crafting can be exceptionally time consuming. Be careful denying a success if the player character has put so much time into it. We have more content about crafting magic item formulas to add danger to the process as components may be required from powerful creatures. Aside from that, you can introduce complications during the process of the magic item crafting, such as a pickled component that spilled when a stray cat knocked over its jar, so the player character must make a check to preserve it and not slow the process. Doing checks along the way will be more exciting than a check at the end, even though the end check can be a retroactive roleplay based on rolls. Crafting magic items requires a lot of work, and not many tables do it, in my experience. It's a process that is almost entirely meant to please playstyles, so do what's fun for your group!
@@FlutesLoot What a great answer. That helped to put things into perspective. Thank you.
@@maxmusterspace6037 you're welcome! :)
My dms won't even let's us buy a white wonderus item unless we get it as a reward I'm playing adventures league
Hi RoadkingU5B, is that standard across AL games, or are your DMs particularly restrictive? I haven't played AL. I know there are different rules for crafting items like spell scrolls in AL, but I don't know the details.
Whenever I try to download the pdf, all I get is a blank screen :(
Oh no! We'll see if we can help.
The download is functional for us, though we don't like how the screen perpetually 'loads' and seems broken. The download should appear at the bottom of your browser as a download notification of an Excel spreadsheet. If you've adjusted browser settings and still can't download the Artificer's Field Guide, please email us at flutes@flutesloot.com so we can send it to you directly. Thank you for your interest and for pointing out the problem!
-Flutes and Opal
@@FlutesLoot I'm pretty sure the problem is that I'm trying to download it on my laptop, and it's not even a laptop, it's a Chromebook lmao. Also wow, I didn't expect anyone to respond really, I figured it'd be drowned out by future comments, either way though thank you for wanting to help out! And yes, on my end, after selecting the option to download the field guide, it gives me the loading icon, then a blank white slate, no pop-up or anything.
-A pretty nerdy dm
@@corrosiveomen9584 Thank you for bringing this to our attention! There may come a day when we receive too many comments to respond to them all, but it is not this day :P
We'll happily send you the Artificer's Field Guide if you want to send us an email.
@@FlutesLoot That sounds great to me! And I'm glad I caught you at a good time! How does one email you? Is there a Gmail or yahoo link I could lookup?
@@corrosiveomen9584 you can email us here: flutes@flutesloot.com
There is no such thing as “Scribes Tools”, so how do players create Spell Scrolls?
Silvery Barbs is a 1st Level spell that has only a Verbal Component. What would be required (proficiencies, gold, time, materials, etc.) to craft a single Silvery Barbs Spell Scroll)? 📜
Referencing Xanathar's, 1 day and 25 gold to make the Silvery Barbs spell scroll. You must have proficiency in Arcana and have Silvery Barbs prepared or known. There is not a particular tool that Xanathar's prescribes for the spell scroll crafting process.
@@FlutesLoot Thank you! ❤️
@@FlutesLoot By 1 day, do you mean 8 hours?
@@alanschaub147 yes, the DMG says the assumption for work in a crafting day is 8 hours.
@@FlutesLoot This makes a Pact of the Tome Warlock with the Book of Ancient Secrets and Aspect of the Moon Eldritch Invocations much more attractive. 😁
I think my main problem with the crafting system is less the components and more the time required. How do you work in creating time for crafting without totally derailing the story? Oh we gotta fight that dragon but first I need a month to make a sword. Lol Do you abbreviate the time at all?
Time really is the hardest part for most campaigns. If you don't have downtime and time skips, it's difficult to make it work. I recommend speeding things up if the campaign isn't going to work with many weeks or years of work.
So i kinda wanna subscribe but I'd ruin the NICE
Hahahaha, well we just crossed that threshold, so feel free to subscribe because you won't be the one who pushed by that number. :P
@@FlutesLoot fair enough 71 it is
Pretty girl talking xanathar. Best video ever
Haha that is very sweet of you. We hope you like us enough to subscribe! :)
I don’t like formulas because it limits player creativity. I say ditch the formula and base the effects off the materials used and let the players go wild! Lol
Embrace the uncertainty! I wouldn't say that's ditching the formulas, per se. All science must venture into the unknown. Today's formulas are yesterday's experiments!
I kinda think that the formula step is unnecessary, and crafting times do not make sense in Xanathars. Magic item creation is effectively double, if not quadruple, gated from players.
Do what works for you. Some players love formulas to give structure to crafting, especially if it circumvents the staggering gold and time requirements for the usual crafting. The 5e crafting isn't compelling on its own, so many people find methods or even third-party content to fill the need.
@@FlutesLoot Which I also find reasonable. If magical formula help spurs item creation in your party, it's a good deal.
I have found it to be opposite that though.
@@walterbunn280 it's probably one of the most varied aspects of the game from table to table