5e Crafting Rules

If you travel with me for long, you will learn of my love for hand-crafted weaponry and other equipment. These rules have been designed to clarify precisely how difficult, timely, and expensive crafting should be. These rules were initially created by OverlordSoS and further refined by myself.

Raw Materials

Raw Materials represent the materials required to craft items. They are an approximation of what is needed, and are meant to be categories rather than explicit items. For example, a an Iron Ingot or a Steel Ingot both represent Metal, which is required to create a Shortsword. Regardless of the material, the end result is the same.

If the player has materials listed as materials to craft an item, the crafting cost is reduced based on how much of the required materials they have. If they have all the required materials, subtract 90% from the crafting cost. If they have half the items, subtract 45%. If they have a third, subtract 30%. If they have a fourth, subtract 22%.

For example, if a player trying to craft a Shortsword has only the metal but not the wood material, they can craft the shortsword for 3 gp and 15 sp (45 sp).

What constitutes being a raw material of a certain category is up to the DM's discretion. For example, Brass Dragon Scales could be considered either Scales, Metals or both. Materials have various rarities that determine what level of magic item can be crafted. In order to craft an item, all materials must be of equal or greater rarity than the item's rarity.

Material Types

Material	Example
Bone	Wolf Bone
Cloth	Linen Bolt
Feather	Hawk Feather
Jewel	Tiger Eye
Meat	Chicken
Metal	Iron Ingot
Oil	Lamp Oil
Pelt or Hide	Wolf Fur
Plant	Reed
Sand	Sand
Scale	Dragon Scale
Stone	Slate Block
Water	Water
Wood	Yew Log

Gathering

One hour spent gathering (DC 10 Survival) will produce 1 common natural material. Rarer materials will need to be found in special locations or dropped from enemies.

Crafting Stats

Craft	Stat Used
Alchemy	Intelligence
Brewery	Wisdom
Calligraphy	Charisma
Carpentry	Strength or Dexterity
Cartography	Wisdom or Charisma
Cobbling	Dexterity
Cooking	Wisdom
Glassworking	Dexterity
Jewelry	Dexterity
Herbalism	Wisdom
Leatherworking	Dexterity
Masonry	Strength
Painting	Charisma
Poisons	Wisdom or Intelligence
Pottery	Dexterity
Smithing	Strength
Tinkering	Dexterity
Weaving	Dexterity
Woodcarving	Dexterity

Crafting Mundane Items

Crafting non-magical items requires knowledge, materials, tools and time. In order to craft a non-magical item, the player does not need to be proficient in a tool that is capable of crafting the item, but they do need access to the tools. However, they must have the materials necessary or the gold to purchase them, the tools necessary, and the spare time to spend crafting. Time spent on crafting a mundane item doesn't need to be consecutive, the player can pause and return to crafting the item at their will.

Players can either spend 75% of the market value (Cost listed in the Player's Handbook), or expend Raw Materials to lower the costs (As explained under Raw Materials, listed above).

Crafting also may require a certain location. For most items, any place that would be suitable for a long rest or to prepare spells also counts as somewhere suitable to craft. If the player is interrupted while crafting, such as by a hostile creature, attack, poison, disease or violent movement or force, the crafting is considered to have failed. Some items, because of the time and expenses needed to craft the item, need to crafted in a town or city. Lastly, some items such as metal weapons and armour require access to tools and utilities other than what your tools provide, such as a forge. These factors are up to the DM's interpretation.

Crafting mundane items isn't always particularly difficult unless the item is something complex, such as a crossbow, firearm, or suit of armor. At the end of the time spent crafting the item, the player must make a crafting check with their respective tools. The modifier is dependent on the tool's used and is listed in the Crafting Stats table above. A failed check represents wasted time and materials.

Learning a new crafting recipe requires an Intelligence (Arcana) check vs crafting DC and takes a minimum of 1 hour per day of crafting time. You have Proficiency only if proficient with the tool. Failed check wastes time.

Crafting Trinkets

Trinkets can be any tiny item of the player's choice that serves no practical purpose. At the Dungeon Master's discretion, they may raise the cost, DC or time of the item for more complicated trinkets such as music boxes, mechanical toys or more detailed figures.

The Dungeon Master also, at their discretion may say that a certain trinket may not be able to be crafted with a certain tool, such as trying to craft a mechanical toy with a jeweller's kit. Base cost is 1 gp, DC 5, and 1 hr. Jeweller's or Tinker's tools are generally used for trinkets, but other tools and materials may be used.

Crafting Magical Items

Magical items take a significantly longer time to craft, and are much more expensive. All costs listed are in gp. Cost is doubled for mundane (not masterwork) bases or no base. You must be a caster to craft magical items or have one present throughout the crafting process.

Materials and Tools are suggestions. DMs are encouraged to allow suitable substitutions at their discretion. For example, if you have a Masterwork Sword and want to add a spell, Smithing may not be required.

In order to craft magic items, a player must have suitable proficiency bonus. +6 for Legendary, +5 for Very Rare, +4 for Rare, +3 for Uncommon, and +2 for Common. Expertise does not benefit in this case.

All magical items need an additional Magic Imbuement Check equal to your casting stat plus proficiency bonus. This check is DC 14 for Common Items, 16 for Uncommon, 18 for Rare, 20 for Very Rare, and 22 for Legendary. If the crafter does not use Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma (or if they elect to do so), they must use an Intelligence (Arcana) Check to figure out how to craft an item.

On a failed Magic Imbuement Check, the crafter cannot figure out how to craft the item using the current components or catalysts available, and must acquire a new catalyst or component before attempting to craft again.

Catalysts are used for all magic items. A catalyst typically is an item harvested in battle, a spell the crafter has access to, or magical location that is related to the crafted item. Without a catalyst, the Magic Imbuement DC is doubled.

Crafting time is based on the final Rarity of the item and is broken into base times. An additional crafting check is required per base time passed.

A failed check does not represent failure, but rather the amount of progress attained. However, if any crafting check throughout the process results in a dice roll of 5 or less, a quirk may be introduced. This quirk could range from lost time to an unintended feature or curse being added on the item to the item exploding in your face, depending on the situation. Quirks are the sole discretion of the GM.

Players are encouraged to create their own recipes requiring similar INT Checks and catalysts. Stacking effects increases rarity by 0.5 for Common, 1 for Uncommon, 1.5 for Rare, 2 for Very Rare, 3 for Legendary. All properties of the components are overwritten by the new item.

Use the DC and material requirements for the higher rarity, rounded up. Items may not exceed Legendary Rarity in power. Overwriting the effects previously on the item does not increase rarity.