Rules for Crafting Magic Items

This campaign's magic item crafting rules are based on the rules in the Dungeon Master's Guide, with a handful of modifications.

## Step One: Identify the Item You Wish to Craft

To begin crafting a magic item, you must first know what item you’re
crafting, and its exact effects. The easiest way to do this is to either
 find a formula for a magic item, or to encounter a magic item and
identify its effects (either by attuning to the item, spending an hour studying it, or casting the *identify* spell on it).

You may also wish to design and create your own magic item. If you would
 like to do so, discuss your particular idea for a magic item with the
DM, who will help determine the rarity of the item and the steps
required to craft it.

## Step Two: Meet the Prerequisites for Crafting the Item

In order to craft a magic item, your character must meet a set of prerequisites based on the item’s features and rarity:

* First, your character must be a spellcaster with mana in order to craft any magic item.
* Second, if the item you wish to craft is able to produce any specific spell(s), your character must be able to cast those spell(s) (e.g., to create a *necklace of fireballs*, you must be able to cast *fireball).*

* Third, your character must reach a certain minimum level before they can attempt to craft magic items of certain rarity thresholds, as shown below:

 Uncommon
 Rare
 Very Rare
 Legendary

## Step Three: Acquire the Formula for the Item

Once you have identified a magic item that you would like to create, you
 must then find or learn the formula for the item in order to begin
crafting it. A formula for a magic item could be found in any number of
places, such as the library of a powerful wizard, or the laboratory of
an artificer. It’s up to you to search for them.

If you are creating your own custom magic item, you will first have to develop a formula for that item. To do so, you must spend one hour per rarity level of the item formulating and studying (i.e., 1 hour for a common item, 2 hours for an uncommon item, etc.). At the end of this period, make an Intelligence (Arcana) check. The DC equals 10, plus 4 for each
rarity level of the item above Common (i.e., DC 14 for Uncommon, DC 18
for Rare, etc.). On a success, you create a formula for crafting the
item.

If you are an Artificer, you can attempt to discern an existing magic item's formula by studying and examining the item. To do so, you must spend one hour studying a magic item. If the item
requires attunement, this process attunes you to the item. At the end of
 the hour, make an Intelligence (Arcana) check. The DC equals 10, plus 4 for each
rarity level of the item above Common (i.e., DC 14 for Uncommon, DC 18
for Rare, etc.). On a success, you learn the formula for crafting the
item. On a failure, you cannot attempt to learn the formula for this magic item again until you complete a short or long rest.

## Step Four: Craft the Item

The cost of crafting a magical item depends on its rarity. The
table below shows how much gold is required to craft a magic item of a
 given rarity:

 Uncommon
 Rare
 Very Rare
 Legendary

Crafting a magic item must be accomplished in 8 hour crafting sessions.
These sessions require your full attention, and cannot be accomplished
while simultaneously performing other tasks. After you have completed a crafting session, if you begin another crafting session before completing a short or long rest, you suffer one level of Exhaustion.

For each 8-hour crafting session that you complete, you must spend 25
gp, which represents the basic arcane components and physical materials
required to construct the item. You may also have to spend mana or provide additional components, as detailed below.

Once you have completed enough crafting sessions to spend the total Creation Cost of the item, the item is completed.

***NOTE:*** A crafting session is considered light enough
activity that a creature can still gain the benefits of a rest while
crafting. However, crafting does preclude a creature from sleeping, and a
 creature that requires sleep will still suffer the effects of a lack of
 sleep even if they benefit from a rest.

## Special Rules and Exceptions

**Spell Scrolls:** Spell scrolls have their own crafting rules, distinct from the rules listed here. See Rules For Creating Spell Scrolls.

**Extra Components:** Most magic items require additional specific components on top of the base Creation Cost.
 For example, a flaming sword may require the scales of a red dragon.
These components, if any, will be indicated in the magic item’s formula.

**Items Which Produce Spells:** If a magic item is capable of
producing a specific spell, you must spend the mana cost of the spell a number of times equal to the spell's level over the course of the entire crafting process. Mana that you spend in this way takes no effect, other than to charge the magic item with the arcane energy required to produce the spell once it is complete.

For example, a *necklace of fireballs* is capable of casting *fireball*, a 3rd level spell. As such, in order to craft a *necklace of fireballs,* you must expend 5 mana (the cost of casting *fireball*) 3 times (the level of the spell), for a total of 15 mana over the course of the crafting process. You can expend this mana at any rate you wish over the course of the crafting process (i.e., you could spend a small amount of mana during each crafting session, spend all of the required mana during the final crafting session, etc.).

**Items Which Produce Spells with Material Components:** If the spell normally consumes
material components, they are consumed by the crafting process as follows. If the a magic item is only capable of producing the spell one time, then the material components are only consumed once
during the entire crafting process. If the magic item is capable of
producing the spell multiple times, then the material components of the
spell are consumed a number of times equal to the spell's level.

**Working Together:** Multiple characters can work together to craft a
 magic item. To do so, each character must meet all of the prerequisites
 of crafting the item. Each character must spend an entire 8 hour
crafting session helping, and each character must spend the required
gold, mana, and/or material components to help.

**Consumable Items:** For consumable items, such as potions and spell
 scrolls, there are a few exceptions to the above rules. The exceptions
are as follows:

* If the item you’re creating requires material components to be spent, those components are only consumed once during the entire crafting process, regardless of how many crafting sessions are required.

* The Creation Costs of consumable items are reduced from the costs of normal items. Creation Costs are as follows for consumable items:

 Uncommon
 Rare
 Very Rare
 Legendary

**Artificers:** The 10th level Artificer class feature *Magic Item Adept* allows an
Artificer to produce some magic items in a quarter of the
 normal time, at half of the normal cost. Mechanically, when an
Artificer is crafting such an item, the total Creation Cost of the item
is reduced by half. In addition, when an Artificer is crafting such an
item, they may spend 50GP, rather than 25GP, for each crafting session.
The item is still completed when the Creation Cost is reached, as
normal. The result is that the item is completed in a quarter of the
normal time, at half of the normal cost.

For example, crafting *adamantine armor* has a Creation Cost
of 500GP, which would normally require 20 crafting sessions of 25GP
each to accomplish. For an Artificer with *Magic Item Adept*, creating *adamantine armor* would have a Creation Cost of 250GP, and the crafting could be
accomplished in 5 crafting sessions of 50GP each.

In some cases, the above rule may result in an Artificer only needing to
 accomplish a crafting session of 25GP to finish an item. In such a
case, the Artificer may complete a 25GP crafting session in half of the
normal time (i.e. 4 hours).