Mordenkainen's Manual of Magical Crafting

Foreword & Disclaimer

Greetings fellow arcanist! If you are interested in the finer arts of crafting items of a magical nature, this manual will be your closest companion. Within are guides to creating magic items, either from your original designs, or copies of existing artefacts. Be warned though! Follow this guide at your own risk! The art of enchanting is perilous and dangerous, especially for those not learned in the arcane arts. I suggest at least ten years of experience with magic before learning the secrets of enchanting and artificing.

I, and other contributors of these guides, take no responsibility for any grievances which may befall you, inclduing but not limited to; burns (any degree), cuts, bruises, loss of limbs, blindness, deafness, immolation, transmutation, laceration, decapatation, or loss of life.

Good luck, and enjoy this manual!

Choosing Your Design

In order to enchant a magical item, you must first know its specific Arcane Rubric. For more common magic items, these may be purchased at appropriate vendors, or researched in well stocked libraries. However the more advanced the Rubric, the more difficult it can be to find.

Alternatively, if you are making a copy of an item you posess, you can spend time studying it (once you are attuned to it, if applicable) to decipher its Rubric, according to the table below:

Rarity	Study Time	DC
Common	1 Day	14
Uncommon	3 Days	17
Rare	9 Days	20
Very Rare	27 Days	23

At the end of this time, make an Intelligence (Arcana) check against the DC in the table. If you succeed, you add your proficiency bonus to your Enchanting skill checks (see Enchanting Skill) for this Rubric. On a failure, you do not. Once you have studied a Rubric, you cannot study it again until 1 week has passed.

Legendary items cannot be deciphered, due to their complexity. An Arcane Rubric must be found to attempt such an enchantment. If you attempt to enchant any item without a Rubric, you must make all Enchanting skill checks with disadvantage.

Each magic item has a unique Arcane Rubric; this means that a carpet enchanted using the fly spell does not have the same Rubric as a broom enchanted using the fly spell.

Base Materials

To create a magic item, you must have a mundane item to enchant; a sword, a broom, a cloak, and so on. This base item must be of an appropriate quality and cost to hold the desired enchantment. Also, there is a chance that if the enchantment fails, the item is destroyed. The costs and risks are described in the table below:

Rarity	Base Item Value	Chance of Loss
Common	10 gp	20%
Uncommon	50 gp	40%
Rare	250 gp	60%
Very Rare	1,250 gp	80%

Enchanting Time & Cost

Once you have your design, and your base item, you are ready to start enchanting! This can be a long and tedious process, as well as the most crucial step. The amount of time spent enchanting, and the daily costs, depend on the spell level used to enchant the item. For example a broom of flying requires the 3rd level fly spell -- if no directly applicable spell exists, your DM will help you decide which spell level bracket is appropriate. If multiple spell effects are involved, use the highest spell level. These costs are described in the table below:

Spell Level	Time	Daily Cost	Total Cost
Cantrip	3 Days (1 week)	10 gp	30 gp
1-2	9 Days (2 weeks)	20 gp	180 gp
3-4	27 Days (4 weeks)	30 gp	810 gp
5-6	81 Days (12 weeks)	40 gp	3,240 gp
7-8	243 Days (35 weeks)	50 gp	12,150 gp
9	729 Days (105 weeks)	60 gp	43,740 gp

The days can be spread out over a longer period of time; a Cantrip level magic item can be enchanted on the first, second, and last days of a week. Weeks start on the first day of enchanting, and subsequently on every seventh day of enchanting. These do not need to be in direct succession; you can spend a week (7 days) working on a level 1-2 enchantment, then finish it (2 more days) a month later.

Enchanting Skill

To perform an enchantment, you use the new Enchanting skill, which can have its basis in your preferred magical ability. You can make the following kinds of Enchanting skill checks: Wisdom (Enchanting), Intelligence (Enchanting) or Charisma (Enchanting). You can only gain proficiency in this skill for a specific enchantment (see Choosing your Design).

Throughout the enchanting process, Enchanting skill checks must be made at the end of each week of completed enchanting, and at the end of the final day.

For each level, there is a permissable number of failures. As soon as this number of failures is exceeded, the enchantment fails, and must be restarted. The skill check DC is given in the table below:

Spell Level	DC	Allowed Failures
Cantrip	10	0
1-2	14	1
3-4	18	2
5-6	22	4
7-8	26	9
9	30	21

Creating a Cloak of Protection

Samuel the Sorcerer has been using a cloak of protection and wants to make one for each of his friends. First, he must learn the Arcane Rubric.

The cloak is an uncommon item. This means he must spend 3 days studying his original item to learn the Arcane Rubric. At the end of this, Samuel succeeds on a DC 17 Intelligence (Arcana) check. He is able to add his proficiency bonus to any Charisma (Enchanting) skill checks he makes whilst following this Rubric.

Now Samuel must purchase a cloak. Since the enchantment creates an uncommon item, a cloak worth at least 50 gp must be purchased. Samuel has a friend who creates such cloaks, and is able to acquire one. He is now ready to enchant.

The spell level must be determined. The 2nd level spell magic weapon is an appropriate spell to base the enchantments level on. This means the enchantment will take 9 (2 weeks) days to comlete, and cost 20 gp per day (total of 180 gp). At the end of the 7th day, Samuel suceeds his first Charisma (Enchanting) check.

After a weekend break, Samuel spends 2 more days enchanting. At the end of the 9th and final day, Samuel fails his Charisma (Enchanting) check. Since he is allowed one failure, the enchantment is a success. Now he wants to try again.

This time Samuel's friend, Clara the Cleric, will help him, and they will spend their downtime enchanting, and use the downtime variant rules. This will require a total of 4 (5 - 1 additional enchanter) skill checks, made at the end of 9 days of uninterrupted downtime. On the first skill check, Samuel fails, but Clara succeeds, so the skill check is considered a success. They both succeed the subsequent skill checks, and have created a second cloak.

The process works, and Samuel has a freshly enchanted cloak of protection, ready to gift to his friends!

Variant: Downtime Enchanting

Enchanting higher level items is a long and arduous process, and will likely require a long period of undisturbed concentration. Enchanting during downtime is slightly easier than enchanting whilst adventuring, but requires the time to be spent uninterrupted. For example, if you try to enchant a carpet with the 3rd level fly spell, you must spend 27 days in a row enchanting, and cannot undertake any other activities.

In order to determine the success or failure of this process, make the Enchanting skill check the number of times given in the table below. These skill checks are made at the end of your downtime. If you fail 3 skills checks in a row, the enchantment fails, and must be restarted.

Spell Level	DC	Skill Checks
Cantrip	10	4
1-2	14	5
3-4	18	7
5-6	22	9
7-8	26	11
9	30	13

Failed Enchantment

If an enchantment fails, roll a d100 to determine what materials you preserve. The Cance of Loss is based on the rarity of the base item (see Base Materials). If your roll less than the Chance of Loss, the base item is destroyed, and cannot be re-used. If the roll is lower than 10, your Rubric is also lost, and you must start the process from scratch.

Multiple Enchanters

The enchanting process is safer and slightly quicker if multiple casters contribute. For regular enchanting, reduce the number of days by the spell level (1 for Cantrips), to a minimum of 1, for each additional enchanter.

The number of allowed failures must always be at least 1 fewer than the number of weeks. If two casters work on an enchantment using the 2nd level magic weapon spell, it takes 7 days (1 week), and the Allowed Failures number becomes 0.

For downtime enchanting, reduce the number of skill checks by 1, to a minimum of 3, for each additional enchanter. The time taken to study an item to learn its Arcane Rubric is not affected.

When making the Enchanting skill checks, all enchanters must make the skill check. At least half (rounded down) of the enchanters must succeed for the skill check to be considered a success. If 3 casters are involved, at least 1 must succeed.

Optional: High Risk, High Reward

Enchanting can can be a dangerous endeavour, with high stakes. If you fail an enchantment, roll once on the Risky Business table to determine what adverse effects take place when an enchantment fails.

Alternitavely, if you succeed the enchantment with no failed skill checks, roll once on the Exceptional Enchanting table.

Congratulations!

Congratulations, you are now on your way to becoming an expert enchanter! Many have spent decades honing their art, and improving their abilities. For more advanced tips and tricks, look up Mordenkainen's Manual of More Magical Crafting, available at any respectable arcane shop.

Risky Business

Exceptional Enchanting