Our New Rules for Crafting Magic Items in D&D 5e
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ก.ค. 2024
- MONSTERS OF DRAKKENHEIM is 300+ pages of eldritch horror inspired monsters for 5e by the Dungeon Dudes. Coming to Kickstarter March 26th: www.kickstarter.com/projects/...
We discuss our concept for an action forward crafting system. No Downtime, no skill checks, no gold. Kill cool monsters, harvest their epic parts, build amazing magic items.
TIME STAMPS
00:00 - Intro
03:32 - Introducing Crafting
13:08 - Creating a New System
16:49 - The Recipe
20:21 - Harvesting Components
29:28 - The Workshop
34:14 - Creating the Magic Item
36:57 - The Ghost Sight Bow
45:13 - Final Thoughts
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Interesting system. Surprised no mention of tool proficiency requirements. Finding more uses for tool proficiencies is always a plus, imo, and many items described could require a range of those proficiencies. If the players aren't proficient in a step, they'll need to find a NPC who is.
I agree, and this is one reason I like to have a lot of interaction with NPCs. You never know who's skills and connections will come in handy
Right. If you want to craft an Instrument of The Bards (wooden instrument type) you wouldn't use blacksmithing proficiency. Need carpentry, instrument and Arcana proficiencies. But if you don't have all 3, you could compile different characters with those 3, working together.
@@ryadinstormblessed8308 The quests also write themselves. The DM can purposely identify gaps in player tool proficiencies and design quests around them. Either character arcs (thinking in Cypher System terms) that take two to three sessions for skill training or a quest to find the right NPC, who may have their own problems to resolve. Take it a step further in by requiring expertise for higher difficulty items.
Seriously… trademark this idea and sell it to Wizards of the Coast… this should be part of ALL D&D. Well done. 👏
You can't really trademark or copyright concepts. Only specific items or characters.
@Exhaltia Kinda sad, since if it isn't in the next evolution of D&D then I don't know what were doing. So much potential. So COOL!
They already make content and get paid by WOTC. 🤷🏻♂️
it should be a par tof any D&D table that WANTS it to be a part of the game. It will be great for some tables, and horrible for others.
The concept is not unique. As they mentioned initially, Heliana's Guide to Monster Hunting has a detailed magic item system regarding harvesting/crafting and the system the Dungeon Dudes described in this video obviously draws a lot of inspiration from it.
Initial thoughts on workshops:
Common - adventurer's tool kit
Uncommon - any semipermanent or village workshop
Rare - any permanent workshop in a large city (one per duchy)
Very rare - one per nation
Legendary - one per continent or world
Artifact - one in the entire setting, and probably unique to the item being crafted.
With the caveat of needs to be the right kind of workshop/toolkit.
And that you may need to do a favor quest like clearing the iron mines in order to unlock a workshop, or upgrade the workshop, or use the workshop more than once, etc.
Perhaps also powerful items have other workshop requirements. I could imagine something having to be crafted during the solstice, on the elemental fire plane, or at the bottom of the ocean.
Another possibility is if the players get their own home they could build a workshop that they can upgrade as they level up. Maybe not getting to the artifact level but pretty much anything else.
@@gamergunn7139 Throw in MCDM's Strongholds and Followers into that mix
Or the relevant toolkits? There's smithing, glassblowers and many other tools and skills in the game.
@@THEMithrandir09 yeah that's what I meant
Potential idea for getting parts and animuses (animi?): expertise in a relevant tool allows you to get two "pulls" from a monster, as your expertise allows you to salvage more of the monster's carcass. Skin for leatherworker, alchemist's or poisoner's kits for blood, maybe gemworkers tools for earth and gem elementals or constructs!
We speak English so animuses.
Animi would probably be acceptable too.
Confused? Homework: find out the "correct" plural of octopus.
@@Exhaltia is the answer "so long as you are properly understood by another native speaker, anything goes for correct grammar"?
@@ExhaltiaMy favorite is "octopodes," especially if you pronounce it correctly. Because it's fun having people stare at you in confusion moments before they realize what you meant, then briefly look as if they're going to correct you, then stop themselves from doing so because now they wonder if you know something they don't and maybe they've been saying it wrong their whole lives.😊
A buff for Rangers’s favored foe?
@@user-cf6ee2ud2y also a good one!
The first time my party crafted their own items was after killing a Bullette, they made +1 Shields for their Warriors (Fighter and Paladin). They harvested a couple of the scales then headed to a Dwarven fortress that they had encountered before, bribed the Master Smith with some strong booze that they had to get from an Elven tavern back in the capital city, and by the time they got back, the shields were waiting for them. Essentially zero downtime. I have always loved crafting quests in my games and use them regularly.
I think a quick way to save the economy is to it make so that magic items made with animus instead of the normal arcane crafting method can only be attuned by the person who collected the animus, or someone who was present at the time of collection.
I had the same idea. You could even add some simple rules to let others use an item while still being impractical to sell them. Maybe a fresh drop of the creators blood lets anyone use an item for a week. And if the creator dies while carrying any of their magic items, then their own animus fuses with the items and stabilizes them permanently. This could allow some historical items to stick around even when they would have been made with this "quick and dirty" method.
I have a similar mechanic in my own game. Many "craftable items" results in an item that works because the creator knows how, but it's not necessarily made so anyone could just pick it up and attune to it, sort of like how someone's lecture notes are made so they understand them, but not necessarily someone else the way a textbook is laid out. It is very obvious when an item has been made in this way, and setting wise, people know this is a thing (even if they don't necessarily know what a specific item does) so the party can't necessarily try to cheese the system and get the bard with +15 to Persuasion to get the random shopkeepers to buy the item off of them. There are still times they might be able to sell it, but it's not common enough for it to be a way to create "infinite money".
@@ericbuchner2982 That idea of only the crafter being about to attune to their own magic items seems like a great idea.
How about that there needs to be a specific way of crafting an item so that it can be attuned/used/consumed by anyone, thus requiring a different/altered recipe?
Or the animus until it's crafted into an item can slowly get drained of its magical ability, this gives certain CR animus is a time limit
My Goliath Barbarian Rune Knight has gotten to craft many cool items during our campaign. It's one of my favorite mini game things to do in DnD. She's made a Dragon Bone Maul, a Unicorn Horn Spear, and a Dragon Maul Halberd, to name a few. 😁
In my other campaign, my Deep Gnome Artificer has made some awesome stuff, too. Got to make a special mounted weapon attachment for my Steel Defender Golem. So dope.
All of these things were made from monster parts or Tinker parts I found while adventuring. 😊
I once crafted a holy water gun for a Curse of Strahd campaign.
Never got to use it, though...😢
Artificer mains rejoice
FINALLY
It’s not my main but I’m eager to play one
I have been called
Honestly this lets anyone be a crafter BUUUUUT maybe we get to have a feature that allows us to help create these magic items? I.E. your proficiency bonus or other blah blah let's you create up to X rarity items for your party?
@@unboundsoul3582 that seems to be an appropriate alternative
In our campaign, the cleric had to reforge two parts of a legendary hammer in Moradins forge and when they started the challenge, the party was attacked by the forge guardian and when they broke that it's cor was an Efreeti but attacked the party and became the burning heart of the weapon, making it a sentient hammer.
Love you guys! You put so much thought into everything you do... Much respect!!
I really love the idea of legacy weapons!! Weapons that get stronger as the game progresses through whatever mechanism. Or weapon that gets stronger as a set much like the hammer of giants with the gloves of orge and the belt of giants. And a bunch of abilities are unlocked.
But either way I love your work and look forward to supporting the Kickstarter!
I'd be okay with skill checks when crafting, on condition that a low roll is still a success, but high rolls give extra or better bonuses, within reason.
I think having the main ability of the magic weapon be automatic is great, but the +1 or whatever it gives is actually tied to a skill check so someone who is bad with smithing tools can make a flametongue, but it loses the +2 because they got a 8 on the check or whatever said check was
Might I suggest a mechanic where the items harvested could bestow enhanced (or different altogether) traits if the "monster parts" are willingly given?
Just before departing for the next world, a dying unicorn promises you their horn for the fabled Javelin of Elysia if you can avenge them for the terrible uncurable affliction that is slowly killing them.
An unholy deal made with a horrible night hag may net you the heartstone you need to craft the Cauldron of Profane Blood.
back in 2E. I made a sword with the hilt being the recovered horn of a Unicorn. The horn was from the Shoon Staff of the Unicorn in Forgotten Realms. Found the decedents of the herd etc. Blah blah blah. The sword is named for the dead Unicorn. Utterly high level quest. Demiliches and all sorts of stuff you would expect for very high level play. Item construction as a cleric was even let detailed than the arcane side of the street. Cleric/ Ranger of Mielikki. 18/16 if I recall correctly.
You must have spent a bt of time 'workshopping' all those crafting puns at the start of the video. 😉 Very well done Dudes, can't wait to see the full system in the upcoming book!
I remember a few years back, Arcadia 8 had an article on Monstrous Components by V.J. Harris which had rules for harvesting monster parts to use as spell components which modify the effects of a spell (eg. casting Darkvision with a devil's eye as a component lets you see through magical darkness). Might be fun to use those rules (or something similar) in addition to the crafting rules since it gives another use to the items you harvest.
Thank you for providing a glimpse of the creative process-I LOVE the idea of crafting unique items from conquered foes and have been looking for a workable system for doing so
I really like the idea of tying getting ingredients into a quest.
And driving character narrative is so cool.
It is why I like the spell Create Homunculus cos it takes part of the player essence to do it.
Bard weapons would totally be centered around things like "the heart of a jilted lover" or "the eye of a lecher" or "the smile of a mother"
Yet another reason I despise bards.
@@RLKmedic0315either that or there are bards who spend all day arguing over how much better round tuning pegs sound compared to square ones
Material category: "Abstract" / "Arcane"
@@kdaviper is that atube amp or solid state? what s youre pedla board setup?
Hell yeah I've aways wanted more crafting in DND I can't wait to see what they came up with!
One of the coolest parts of playing WoW in years gone, was grinding to gather all the Mats needed for crafting awesome items!! There was a sense of pride of having been able to create the item because it demonstrated some great things you've done to gather all the items. And those who knew, knew what you did to get them.
The Loot Tavern books (Heliana’s Guide to Monster Hunting, L’Arsene’s Ledger of Trinkets and Treasures, Ryoko’s Guide to the Yokai Realms, and more!) have very intuitive and variable rules for crafting magic items
@ 4:20 for mention of Heliana's
Some cool ideas there definitely. A few things I’m not crazy about though:
1. finding recipes. What you can make is at the mercy of what you find the recipe for. That feels just as random as what magic item drops. I think recipes should be researched in an arcane library. You know you want something, go to a library (that may be hard to get to like the forge), and spend a day researching the recipe.
2. The exclusive focus on monster parts. It feels a little gruesome, and as a player, if I killed a monster that wasn’t part of a recipe, I’d want to harvest something, just in case it’s on a future recipe. And then I’m carrying around a bag full of dead monster body parts. Gross. Some monster parts feels right, but mixed in with other kinds of ingredients. Eg. Water from a specific magic spring, or a kind of rare magic crystal that you need to get from an evil wizard, etc.
Travelling, bastions and downtime activities are one of my favourites parts of ttrpg. Good system but I prefer the use of gold, skill checks with tools and downtime thank you for recommed Heliana's Guide.
Absolutely love the incorporation of the quest into the crafting system! Monty, Kelly, and the team always deliver fresh content and fun ideas to shake up the game. I can't wait to back my 3rd dungeon dudes project and get my hands on this next book!
I like using "Essence" as the main monster drop used for crafting. Killed a fire based monster like a Fire Elemental or Red Dragon? You get Fire Essence. Cold based monster like a White Dragon? Cold Essence. Not a specific element and cant quite classify it, like a Hag or Devil? Arcane Essence(The generic one). I use gemstones to "collect" the essences. These serve as the power source or battery for the magic items, while making it much easier to create loot tables for monsters. Also, the more expensive the gemstone, the more essence it holds. Can be used as a money sink for your players as well.
Next I use certain monster specific parts like Mimic Leather for items that either resize themselves or change shape, for example Prosthetic limbs or Glamored Studded Leather Armor, or a Cloak of Many Fashion. Hide, Leather or Scales from a particularly tough or resistant creature for high AC armor, OR Resistance to a specific damage type, and also certain abilities (Toned down) etc... Examples: Remorhaz Heated Body ability only does 1d6 fire damage on hit when turned into Armor, instead of the 3d6 when it was alive... Maybe the claws or fangs from a dragon or other creature also does the fire or cold damage as well, etc... Lets say 1d6. So a Dagger of Frost made from the claw of a White Dragon, and enchanted with the Frost Rune would do the dagger`s 1d4 piercing damage, and an additional 1d6 cold damage. Strong, but not completely overpowered. The hide and scales from that same White Dragon can be used to make armor that gives cold resistance, has high AC, or both.
The Actual magic involved in enchanting an item is Rune based. Somewhat similar to the items from Bigby`s Glory of the Giants book. Examples are The Lash of Immolation, and Wayfarer's Boots. I prefer to have added damage instead of a +1,+2, or +3. 1d6, or 1d8 added Elemental damage of some kind feels so much more epic than just +1. Once a day spells make your players feel absolutely epic, and also work really well to prevent items from be too OP, while still being way cooler than a +whatever weapon or Armor. An example of that is the Uncommon rarity Javelin of Lightning from the DMs Guide. Generic magic item for resistance purposes, with a once a day ability to "Throw" a Lightning Bolt. How awesome is that?
Lastly, I use Tool Proficiency to determine whether or not you can even create that item. Is it made from wood, then Wood Carver`s OR Carpenter`s Tool Proficiency. Metal? Smith`s Tools. Cloth? Tailor`s Tools. etc...
My player who just loves collecting monster parts will love this, I will try to start to implement this at our next session as a play test on a trial basis and see how it runs for us!
One thing i really liked in Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? was, at one point, the party is extremely desperate. They're deep in the dungeon and struggling. They need a magic weapon to get them out. They have a smith, but crafting a weapon in the dungeon is extremely dangerous because youre immobile and the monsters are coming. They ended up doing it, but it was a cool point of tension.
So, maybe, if they have a smith (idk, forge cleric, smith background) they can try without a proper workshop (assuming they have tools). I know you said you dont want a chance of failure after working so hard for these items, but that seems like a cool mechanic and an appropriate place for risk
What you can add is something that a lot of video games add to prevent the trading of unique items, a mechanic like 'Spirit Bound' = Can only be traded between members who were present at the time of items creation (Ideally just the party, but it also opens the idea of the party POTENTIALLY trading with an NPC under unique circumstances)
Awesome - thank you for sharing your fun and creative ideas! I like how your magic crafting can interweave with adventures and narratives, and certainly this part will add great value into your next kickstarter book.
Yes!!!! I changed the rules for crafting in my game. I cant wait see what you did! 🎉
I love this system, definitely getting similar vibes from the BG3 alchemy system which although it isn't super revolutionary, is still pretty great. I think what you guys have made is great and it leaves a lot of room for each individual table to come up with their own specificities that work for them.
Another thing is this also opens up a lot for weird occult shops and stuff like that. Like where are you going to fight the skull of a noble? oh the weird witch down the road has a few, go make a deal with her and get it. You need a troll liver for something specific? just so happens the local guild killed a troll and cut it up and has one you could buy for a premium. The local enchanter just keeps a bunch of blood on hand for stuff so you could buy a bunch to make potions along the road once you find the other necessary ingredients. I know the intent is to not economize the system, but it could be used "against" the players to get them to spend gold to craft stuff without needing to go off and kill a bunch of stuff to save time on sessions and dm prep work.
Crafting is another element of world building that is sorely missed in 5e that so many DMs try to make up (me included) without really finding a decent solution. I really like what you've come up with here. I'm looking forward to seeing the final product a few months down the line.
I absolutely loved watching you two bounce off each other as you collaborate live and in front of us. ❤❤❤ Love a lot of what you brainstormed on.
In-game mechanic to the 1 part rule...the "Ritual" to prevent a part from losing its magic takes 1 turn to perform. Tied the part's losing their potency quickly, it gives a nice explanation.
You dudes did so much work on this! Amazing work.
Thanks for the great video and great ideas. Two things (1) It would be nice to have weapon upgrades in your system, having your gear grow with you can make it feel more part of your character (2) Regarding crafting in downtime, we do it between sessions so it can work well. Just discord chats and rolls when the downtime is between sessions allows us to get some TTRPG done while waiting for the next adventure and is a nice extra activity
I really like the idea of upgrading existing items! Sometimes you just really get attached to an item and want to keep it for the long run. Many a video game has used this to great effect! Being able to upgrade it with rarer materials is awesome!
First, this is amazing, and exactly the kind of crafting I want in my game! I used a similar homebrew crafting system in a Pathfinder campaign years ago, and it worked well. I have one very strong suggestion-ditch animus.
The three requirements of recipe, components (3-10 with many specific requirements), and workshop are totally sufficient, and each requirement creates opportunities for a GM to turn into interesting adventures and interactions. "Animus" is just "component that isn't a monster part" and it's totally fine to have recipes with an occasional item that isn't a monster part if you want to. (e.g. Include "large ruby" in the recipe for a vampiric sword. It will become the pommel, of course!)
It sounds like you want delirium crystals to play a part in crafting magic items in Drakkenheim, which is totally cool! Just add a setting-specific rule that, as a special ability of delirium crystals, a crystal of the correct size can be substituted for up to ONE of the ingredients in any magical recipe.
Ok, but hear me out: collect items from creatures... for cooking
Awesome video guys! Lacking downtime has always been the issue in my games because I like to keep the story going and often my adventures have elements of time pressure to maintain suspense and prevent ridiculous solutions from being possible. I really like this system and monster scavenging has always been a cool idea to me.
Hi, I am here just to say I love all your content here and I am enjoying all the vids a lot! Keep up the great work for us old D&D players.
absolutely Love it!
In my table we are beginning to use a collecting parts with formula system. But Not tied to monsters. And we still use price tables as guide, to buy parts etc. And our ranger is on a quest to complete his legendary bracers, that bit by bit increases in power and rarity etc...
Great ideas. I almost feel like do scrolls and items in this book and consumables in Veo's culinary oddities book...
This is super cool! Very pleased that this popped up on my feed today as I had just enough time to pledge.
I hope to use this system in my new Tomb of Annihilation campaign, as I'm already doing something very similar. I agree, this is a far more intuitive style of gathering and crafting.
Incidentally I have a deck of foraging cards with different plants on, which allow druids/herbalists/chefs to make meals, potions and remedies using the components they find. It's great fun and works great with this style of crafting. If they spend an hour processing a raw material they can also use 3 of a kind to make a "prepared" version, which is essentially a concentrate/distillate/similar which, in turn can be used as a crafting component.
One thing I will allow, is for them to harvest human remains from all the undead in Chult, but I feel this befits the darker nature of ToA. There are enough zombies roaming around that they should won't need to do anything really questionable.
Can't wait to hear more on this!!
When playing in AD&D, in 1984, we homebrewed a similar set of rules. There were established recipes as you describe, but we also allowed for lightbulb moments. In one case, after a party slayed a red dragon one character said "Isn't this dragon resistant to fire? Couldn't we make leather armor from a section of its hide and boiling it in fluid from another fire resistant monster?" The DM stipulated he needed undamaged hide and how much hide he'd need and a few other item to be found, to "lock in" the innate trait before sealing/stiffening the leather in the harvested fluid. From then on, if a character could specify the major parts they wanted to use and a general idea of how they coulld do it, the DM would determine if it was possible, and what other parts would be needed.
I'm a huge fan of these ideas, thank you guys! The only thing I may personally change to simplify materials further is to either have there be "monster parts" instead of all the different possible things (horns, nails, hides, etc), but with one trophy or prominent item that either flavors or determines the magic item. Even just a gold cost for the mundane materials would probably work.
For example, Sentinel Shield could require 6x Monster Parts or alternatively 600 gold pieces worth of store bought materials, but also one beholder eye.
Basically the same concept, but simplified even further. I would use this if I only have one crafter at the table, but if we really got into crafting I'd expand it to what was suggested here.
Love it guys! Thank you!
I'm super stoked for this. Brimming with campaign concepts rn! ❤
I love this. I am almost definitely going to involve this or something extremely similar in any campaigns I DM in the future.
I personally LOVE the idea of getting creative with the monster parts after the fight. Like taking the hide of a Displacer Beast to make a cloak. I'm playing in a campaign where we just killed a Bone Devil and thinking I could make a poison weapon with the stinger, or maybe use the femur for my gnome's quarterstaff or something.
I like keeping a skill check, but less as a pass/fail check. But more as an extra stuff or basic layer. I.e. if you're trying to make an item and roll bad, you get the most basic version of that item, but if you roll high you get a stronger version.
Basic illustration: making a magic sword: if rolling low, like total of 5, +1 sword with the extra damge being fire instead of the same type of damage, but a 13-15 might have bonus fire damage like 1d6 or the like, and if you get 20+ total maybe it goes to fire burst and does AOE damage on a crit.
I have a similar homebrew system, but I have two categories of materials: General and Special. General materials are commonly used in mundane, minor, and major items, while special materials are rare but required for major items. Each creature is assigned a table of weights by age category, special materials by CR, and physiology class. The physiology class determines which general materials can be harvested; the weight determines how much of each material. Different physiologies require different proficiencies and sometimes tools to harvest from. Crafting follows standard 5e XGtE rules, but crafting can be split among hirelings, reducing downtime to a minimum of 1 hour for minor items, or 1 long rest for major items.
Love it dudes - the action narrative forward take is fab.
Your system looks amazing! I might buy the kickstarter just for that. And maybe more ;)
This is really awesome! The only thing I think you are lacking here is customization.
Basically, you have the recipes to make the magic items and then a few add ons you can craft into them.
An example would be to use some prescribed monster components to increase the bonus by 1 (like turn a +1 item into +2).
Another could make a magical ranged weapon create its own magical ammunition so you don't have to spend a minor action loading it or toting around spare ammunition.
Another could be like you mentioned, making a weapon flaming or electrified.
If you have a bunch of add on recipes, the players can truly make their magical items unique and special.
I created a system for my game that involves the roles being done during long rests and the item being crafted over a few days. Skill checks with bonuses based on tools and items used to help create the desired item. Effects and potency possible secondary effects or upgradeability based upon the roles. A low roll may result in longer crafting time or the use of more materials.
I feel extremely validated hearing that you guys also don't have these weeks and months of downtime in your campaign, I love the sound of your system and will be utilising some of your ideas with my monster hunters guild
This is the same kind of thing I do in games like Skyrim for my top tier gear. I mine the ebony from a mine I had to take back from bandits. I use the heart of a daemora and leather strips made from fur taken from werewolves. Then I enchant it with the grand soul of something I hunted down.
All in all, well done, this system has great potential and could easily be tailored to different worlds to make thematic magic items.
I just discovered you guys as me and my buddies started up dnd , and I don’t have enough time to watch every video I want too from you guys while watching season 1 of drakenhiem 😂
I love this idea for magic items
Great content all around
I'm seeing that we pretty much had the same ideas (with the occasional practical deviation, which is expected) ^^
Parallel evolution is extremely interesting!
I ran the Forge of Fury and realized while prepping that it didn't have any special items. So I added qualities to most items forged there (waterborne, sentry, underground awareness, etc.)
And then adding in my campaign story arc, their guide to the lost entrance was a dwarf daolock who had been trying to recover the mines. After they cleared it, he took over and a game year later rewarded them each with bespoke items forged in his new stronghold.
Suffice it to say, I love crafting!
it's cool to see you guys hash out designs in real time
With Legendary items you could have it that when you make it you are cleaving reality/magic/abstract concept in half to create an item of pure essence. What I mean is like -> you are making a Good sword, you are creating something pure in essence by removing its opposite, but by so doing you are also causing the creation of its opposite -> Evil sword. So you are not only creating a massive bonus for yourself but you are also creating a future (adventure) problem. I hope that made sense.
My artificer's major goal is to recreate the magimechanical machine his uncle was working on when he disappeared. For the 1st part of the machine (which has a vague divination effect, basically obtaining and displaying visual information as fas as I can tell), I need several mechanical and optical parts (which cost money, or I can spend time making them), and also drider hydraulic fluid, displacer beast pads, and the eyestalk of a creature called a Hunter Seeker (a type of fiend, possibly homebrew). My DM and I also both have a solid amount of scientific training, and we both have an interest in engineering and making stuff, so my character had the blueprints, once they had spent time deciphering them she gave me the information I needed, and then I ended up actually drawing the blueprints bc I'm trained to do that. But bc she had put a lot of thought into what components I needed, it was really easy to know what she was intending and draw up a plausible blueprint. This is pretty similar to how we're going to handle creating other magic items as well
Awesome.... Can't wait for the new book!
Lots of ideas here I like!
One thing tho I hope will get ironed out: SCGtD had options that were either broken as all hell or useless. No inbeweens.
Also: Finding the system, that You created, intuitive is not an achivement and no substitute to rules. Too many times Ive burned myself with dnd publications that were like "just make stuff up! we leave it up to yall"
Like the system you’ve come up with so far. The one thing I think that should be added to it is considerations for the Artificer. The class is all about crafting and creating magic items. They should enjoy some abilities when using this system to reflect that niche.
Here are few ideas I have off the top of my head:
1. Efficient Harvester or Efficient Crafter - You’re probably going to want to use one or the other of these, not both.
Efficient Harvester: As a class dedicated to magical creation, Artificers are more adept at gathering the components they need. When harvesting parts from a creature, they are capable of extracting a number ingredients equal to their Proficiency Bonus.
Efficient Crafter: An Artificer’s training enables him to do more with less. When crafting items they can use one ingredient a number of times equal to their Proficiency Bonus.
2. Crafting Savant: An Artificer’s expertise at crafting enables them to create items in facilities and circumstances others would find challenging or impossible. When crafting an item they require a workshop one level lower than normal. Yes, that does mean they can craft the easiest items in a cave with a bunch of scraps. :)
Optional Feature for the Above: An Artificer’s subclass can lower the level of workshop required an additional level for specific types of items: Alchemist - Potions And Alchemical Concoctions, Armorer - Amor and Defensive Items, Artillerist - Ranged Weapons, Wands and Staffs, Battle Smith - Melee Weapons and Shields
3. Knowledgeable Crafter: You automatically know the Item Recipe of any Infusion you know.
4. Magical Analyst: When you use Identify on a magical item, you learn the Recipe that would enable you to reproduce the item.
5. Magic Item Adept (Change of Existing 10th Level Artificer Feature) - Since this system doesn’t take much time and doesn’t use gold, The second Magic Item Adept ability isn’t applicable. Instead, at this level an Artificer automatically knows the Recipes for all Common and Uncommon items.
6. Magical Inventor: No hard ideas for this but at some point in their career Artificers should have some way of inventing their own Recipes, or devising alternate Recipes for items that enable one to substitute one type of ingredient for another.
EDIT: Feel free to use any of the above for your crafting system. Just credit me in some manner if you do.
I have been trying to figure out my own crafting system for magic items and this just blows things out of the water. I cannot wait to see the finalized rules for this in the upcoming book!!
Alternate idea on collecting materials, Not by killing them but having to be willing given, like the metal of the Holy Avenger needs to be cooled by the tears of a Solar, who will undoubtedly require some proof of your goodness to provide
I've been working on some similar ideas recently, having various crafting materials be attributed with certain effects that have a similar vibe to this but it revolves around the base materials of the crafted item, not the magical components found in them.
For example iron has an Internet magic dampening effect, so it's less durable than steel but has a woman reduction to magic damage and effects, but it also dampens any magic from the caster. Copper on the other hand is very magically conductive so using it raw in a magic totem would give it a boost in potency vs some other metals, similarly, bronze is a copper alloy which would be more difficult to obtain than common iron. It can give you a bump to your magic damage, but also applies that bump to damage against you unless you enchant it to defend against that
I would personally think about having SOME materials be things the players need to look for. Things like Adamantine, Mithril, Soarwood, and unusual gemstones may need to be found in ways other than combat. Properly made cold iron may need to be sourced from experts who know how to make the stuff, etc. Those are still questy, either by having them be given as rewards, bartered for, or sought out in things like dragon hoards
I'd also consider rewarding players for actually taking the skills, backgrounds, or tools related to the crafting, if just in terms of being able to use tools to make more stuff in the field, grant additional resources of certain types sometimes, knowing where types of workshops are or getting advantage on convincing people to let you use their stuff, or other things like that. Rewards for having taken those options, not punishments for not taking them.
Lastly, letting certain classes do certain things with temporary or incomplete tools or weapons made from resources. Maybe barbarians get to just use gathered natural weapons for a bit. It'll break soon, but it might have some benefits. Artificers and even Rangers might be able to cobble things together to make a tool which will go back to being parts at the next rest, but will do the job until then. Rogues may be able to use some fluids as toxins or to create hazards. It's probably less optimal than just using your normal equipment, but if you don't have it for some reason or need to improvise something to evade a resistance or take advantage of a vulnerability or can do other tricky things with them, it could be worth it!
This... definitely starts getting into making Even MOre mechanics, which it probably doesn't need, but they feel like fun options for ambitious groups. ^v^
Where I include dice rolls in my crafting is for additional benefits that the sword might have. You're always going to succeed on it and never have a fatal flaw. Like the vampire blood blade you mentioned. I might have a roll for each ingredient. If it's an uncommon item, rolling a 13 or higher would get you a +1 weapon. The second stage might be imbuing the blade with the vampire blood. You'll heal for X damage on a hit, but on a 13 or higher you might do additional necrotic damage. The ranges narrow as you go higher in rarity unless you find a specific recipe. I'll use checks to see if they can figure out what the ingredient could possibly do.
Many good ideas here. You inspired me for my upcomming new campain. I suspect my players may forget all about the BBEG and instead go fully for crafting magic items for themselfs... but they will have a blast while doing it.
This crafting system looks really cool. I think I will see what I could do to incorporate something like this in my games.
Lots of cool ideas here. Good work, guys!
The catch-all term for the outer covering of a creature is integument. This sounds like a really fun system, can't wait to see the final version. Do you really need an animus for consumable items, if vessels for collecting them are going to be so rare?
Also, you don't necessarily have to limit yourself to lopping bits off dead monsters for parts. Maybe you need a rare flower that only grows where a dragon's blood has been spilled. On Critical Role they needed mithril that had been exposed to a mature white dragon's breath weapon to reforge a legendary blade, and getting it when they were in no way powerful enough to face the dragon head-on became a really cool adventure. This also gets you out of the corner of needing to kill holy creatures (a pretty unholy act) to create holy items. Maybe you need to face an angel's challenge and pass to be granted a portion of its essence for your holy avenger, rather than butcher a messenger of the gods. Maybe if you solve the sphinx's riddle and it can't solve yours, you can demand one of its teeth. Maybe you can win a hag's heart from her in a bet.
This brings to mind ANOTHER problem I've been trying to solve, and I think combining the two problems yields the solution:
I've wanted to include Attunement challenges, like the one shown in D&D: Honor Along Thieves, ever since i first saw it! But i couldn't think of a way to implement it that wasn't needlessly complex and potential depowering.
Combined with this system's worry of creating TOO many magic items, you could assign each item a power level (based on caster level or animus or what have you), and if a character equips/ attunes items under their level, everything's fine. But if they equip many items or too powerful an item, there's a challenge involved and/or curses manifest and the like.
AND/OR, if a character tries to equip misaligned items (i.e. a good-alignened item and an evil-aligned one, or a Lawful item and a Chaotic item, or Water based and Fire based, etc) at the same time, their could be unexpected interactions. Or potentially beneficial interactions if they "match"!
So glad you guys did this video. No Idea if this was in response to the message I sent you guys about doing this video... but ill pretend it is!!!
This is the rules I use: In addition to the Crafting an Item or Magic Item rules in XGtE and the DMG; crafting now requires a skill check an appropriate skill check (Arcana/Religion/Nature/Medicine) with the appropriate tool. The amount of gold required for a work week is a percentage determined by the skill check. DC1-5: 200%, DC6-10: 150%, DC11-15: 100%, DC16-20: 75%, DC21-25: 50%, and DC26-30: 25%.
Love it! I want my players to have the best of both worlds though. I want them to be able to completely customize their magic item and get specific designer items.
I'm going to run mine with 'general' recipes and 'specific' recipes. Specific requires particular materials (like your bow) and creates a per designed item that is modified by the player.
General recipes are only the base item and it's rarity like 'uncommon plate armor'. The players then need to find 3-10 generalish materials (magical hide, bones of an aberration, steel, and CR4+ animous), but depending on the items they use it will change the final product. I will let my players know generally what properties that material can provide and what type of material they would need if they want something specific. For example, if they want a poison resist plate armor then the hide they use needs to be from a poison resistant beast. The more powerful the effect the higher the CR required and/or specific the material as you described.
In the future I will let them upgrade the items based on new items they find but might require a better recipe.
This way the players can passively collect items not know the final product until they start to think of cool combinations and get a recipe, or they can go on a quest to get specific items to make an awesome sounding specific recipe.
This is a stroke of genius, I'm definitely stealing this for my next campaign
I think the funniest part of this is that now every monster is a highly sought after ingredient, so the sentient monsters are gonna be very interested in keeping track of andventuring parties that are a theat to them so they can stay away, forget the vampire staying in his lair, "there's a very dangerous adventuring party coming right this way and I don't wanna become an ingredient so I'm moving!".
Disenchantment could involve destroying the item, capturing the animus of the item in a crystal, and then using the crystal to satisfy requirements of the new item that are the same as the old.
For example, old sword required a troll toe for the pommel, any natural weapon for the hilt, and cr3 or higher hide for the sheath and grip. Destroy the old sword while capturing the sword's animus, you can use that animus for a new sword that also requires a troll toe and a natural weapon, or for a cloak requiring a cr3 hide, but not both. You can only use the animus for one new item, for however many requirements would have been met by the original materials.
The in-game dream of wearing a Fendi manticore fur robe is about to come true
Another idea for a source of inspiration.
The souls series (Demons, Dark, etc.) had it where a base weapon had to be at a certain upgrade point before it transformed into a boss weapon or a different quality of weapon. Which would make for a nice upgrade path and extension onto your recipe system.
Where a recipe may need a +1/+2/+3 weapon/armor to serve as a suitable base for the enchantment, material or animus in order to survive the process. This way a player could take their starting weapon and over the course of the game turn it into a legendary weapon, by turning it into a +1 weapon and further developing it through recipes.
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I think Hamund’s Harvesting Handbook ties in really well with your ideas. Very cool!
I think you need to implement tool proficiency in with this crafting system. Like not any person can just forge a sword, you will need to either hire a Smith to make it for you at a workshop or have the tools an have proficiency with them to make it yourself. An if the time to make a item is a day, long rest ect the number of hours it takes is reduced by your proficiency bonus with the tools (min 1 hour for any items that can't be field crafted)
Yep, some sort of benefit either for crafting or collecting the material, that incentives the party to have varied proficiencies
I was considering the system when it popped in my mind that players could really abused this 10-minute harvesting Time by using spells like resilience fear gaseous form using sneak abilities but then I realized how cool it would be to have a adventuring party that was known to be monster butchers that roamed the land looking for Monster parts and specifically cater towards collecting the most amount of parts from every encounter
My buds and I in Saltmarsh each have some custom gear and it takes us about a week in downtime. Some of them were made from a haunted hangman's post and rope while another was designed to poison our enemies. Personally I hope I can customize my bracers (which was made from pieces of the rope ) on my monk with the dragon teeth we got from the green dragon we slew last year.
Love this!!! Please let us know when on Kickstarter. I’ll be one of the first fully/near fully backing.
1)as ex-DM/a worldbuilder, if there are regularly available ‘monster forges’ then other NPC’s and villains should also have monster gear (or gear they collected that they haven’t converted into a magic item yet -please make a d6, d12, d20, & d100 table for antagonists drops so I don’t have to). Yes, no need to collect basic metal, wood. But also, there could be a chance table for crafting with +1’s, +2’s, and going beyond the force’s limits.
For example, a common item and +1 weapon forge can use 1 large monstrous appendage (you have 2 ogre arm/leg bone) and a 2nd monstrous hide/tooth/etc. Since these are common, low level creatures, and you likely have multiple parts -or can easily go get more- +1 items can have a flat 75% success rate, +2 have 90% success rate.
But also thinking about how to gage the extra abilities. So +1 rapier only requires 2 items, but adding flaming adds +1-2 parts needed, vs adding vorpal (+3 mechanic) would add 2 high level + 1 moderate level item, or 5 moderate level items. Since it’s a +1 vorpal, it can be made at a +4 weapons forge with 100% chance, but could be made at a +3 with a 75% chance (+10%/higher level body part). Do you quest out to get to the better forge or take a chance and move forward on the campaign?
-And the weapons like the ghost sight bow: do you make it a +1bow with ghost sight (+1 mechanic) with planeshifting (+2 mechanic)? So a +4 forge to make?
Also, can any player just pick up a hammer un-trained and make a +1 or +2 weapon? That seems unrealistic. So skill level to do so- forging 10=+1, forging 13-15=+2, etc.
-Also, does an artificer get extra bonuses for this?
Parts needed, I can see base weapon + animist + 1 parts per ability. (+1 = 1 part, +1 flaming = 2 parts, +1 heat seeker (2 abilities) = 3 parts, etc)
I do love the ‘fluid needed’ to quench the blade or seal the armor’s exoskeletal frame.
-Hope you figure out how the players who don’t craft learn what to harvest off monsters. This is such a cool story concept! Love it to death!
This no dice rolls restriction makes me want to design how to make the dice rolls fun! There would have to be a lot of control available by the players, like extra resources to gain bonuses.
I think if you had a success that could be very fun as well if it were done correctly. At the top end there could be extra special bonuses beyond what was expected, and “failures” could be fun narratively and mechanically if they had the right kind of weaknesses - like it rusts easy and needs to avoid water, or a critical failure on your fire weapon damages all creatures around you.
Nobody wants to sink sessions into making Excalibur and then find out that it rusts easily-- maybe some of these flaws could be reflected crafting-side; you fail a roll, you find some extra requirement?
Maybe dice rolls for the crafting could be optional so the player can choose if they just want the item or if they want to gamble for some potential extra bonuses
A fun idea i came up with is if you want to include fanciful ingredients like "the heart of a volcano" or "the shadow of a fairy", then a basic healing potion should be something like "a single drop of blood, and the breath of a living being", because it sounds really fanciful but it's actually trivial to acquire and that's why basic healing potions are so easy to make.
(or just make them out of medicinal herbs or something, if you want to be boring lol)
I think it's also good to have some flexibility on the specifics of the recipes- for example, if you had a recipe for a Flametongue sword, to be able to, in place of a component that provides the fire, sub in the horn (for instance) of a blue dragon, and create something like a Flametongue that instead deals lightning damage (or, perhaps, is a Dragon's Wrath Weapon of comparable rarity). Or, if someone had used or extensively observed an existing magic item, to be able to create something analogous to it, but reworked around a different creature type/damage type/etc.
That both opens up opportunities for different magic items depending on what all monsters (or other random, magical objects/substances one comes across), gives a bit of a starting point to help ensure they're relatively balanced against existing content, and avoids locking the players into overly specific sets of encounters based on a recipe they come across.
I'd love to give buffs like hey rangers if it's your favoured enemy you can get two things instead of one because you've studied the anatomy and know how to quickly get the item (maybe something similar for a party who actively goes to do in depth research about specific foes before they hunt the monster)
In order to prevent an economy from being built around this an idea that I was thinking watching this video, "binds once equipped/crafted," so you can't give the item away or sell it because when you've attuned to it it binds with your essence. This could also go into the concept of crafting the item itself when you craft it using these methods a part of your essence goes into it, making it something that isn't transferable. This could also make it to where your own weapons can't be used against you magically. A sword could still stab you, but the magic in it won't affect you the same as it would you using it against another creature. Maybe even using your own hair, blood, fingernails, etc to bind it to you as well. Or replace a missing hand with that of a monster claw.
"So this is my back of the napkin math" lol I'm stealing this fraze.
One of the characters in my very first campaign wanted to make a moon blade, so the dm had him collect 3 parts for it, and he rolled for each, BUT regardless of what he rolled he would still get a weapon that worked perfectly, however depending on how he rolled would determine the strength of the blade, (+1, +2, +3)
The first thing that popped in my mind was some sort of Horadrim Cube-ish artifact/entity thingy, that 'haunts' players with recipies in their dreams. The ritual of creating a magical item would, apart from scavenged loot, require the essence of players in form of hit dies in recoverable hp, like a blood pact. This pact would also limit the possible persons who are able to atune to the item so there is no money making economy breaking aspect.
This crafting system is actually quite similar to the one I've been working on for my group, and being honest, this vid has given me a lot of insight and ideas for my own system.
Something I did to help with the 'how do we keep the party from selling crafted items' conundrum is two fold. The first is that each item requires a maker's mark, and shops won't buy items that are clearly marked in such a way since the party isn't a part of that shop/guild/etc. The other is that items with attunement require the crafter use part of themselves to power the item, such as a small amount of blood, or a tooth, etc. This means the item can only be attuned to that player and thus cannot be sold to be used by others.
This very much aligns with something I stated to use as a home rule. I also realised the harvest & craft checks suck, like money in the investment in knowledge & tools (recipes, being thought to use alchemy tools to make a potion, etc), but I wanted them to create the magic bolts immediately in a short rest from the dragon claws of the young dragon they just killed.
Now players will get happy if they stumble on an old forge or alchemy lab or wizard study in a dungeon. Before it was just flavour, now it is game time & excitement!
PS: This is also how poison making should work.
My only qualm is that I would like to see an upgrade system for this. I like the idea of the party creating custom magic items as they adventure, imbuing the trophies from their adventures into their gear and making it stronger. So like you replace your bow’s string with with banshee hair, or the blade of your dagger with a dragon’s tooth. I would also like to see magical properties to the parts themselves, like a manticore hide as a cape naturally gives you an AC bonus, or a snake fang can be used as a poisoned dart
I like rolls for crafting, in that a success (or degree of success) moves you forward, while a failure doesn't. Failing a crafting check shouldn't ruin your item or create a flaw, but it does add a bit of variable to the amount of time. And they can be auto-passed during downtime.
A little context on forging that could be useful. Different materials require different equipment. You need different equipment to work with iron than to work with lead or pewter. You need different materials to do castings. Steel requires higher temperatures than iron, and modern alloys require different metals in addition to steel and can require higher temperatures.
In the DND context, there are limitations to what the forge of a village blacksmith can do. You may have to find someone who has a forge that can reach higher temperatures or who has specialized tools that are needed to shape the metal. High level items may have to be forged in the caldera of a volcano or may require specific materials (e.g. residium in the Critical Role universe).
Just launched this video and cant wait for all the content!
My OG Fighter was also a Tinkerer, I had made black powder powered ordinance traps... when I finished making them our DM "let us Discover" 2 Hill giants. We were LVL 5 at that point and just made it out alive.
My fighter ended up becoming the Lord over a town. Great Campaign!