Silk Crafted Items and Armor

Elven artisans first used silk drawn from giant spider cocoons to make a smooth and durable textile. Silk sourced from a particular caterpillar was independently discovered by human and firbolg communities living in temperate jungles. From these sources, silks have spread across the world as a material for clothing, armor, threads, rope and other textiles. Silk is expensive due to its geographically limited and time consuming production, and prized for its high tensile strength.

This page contains suggestions and guidelines for adding silk to your game world and economy for players interested in crafting or managing trade goods as part of their game loop.

Acquiring Silk

Bolts of silk can be found as treasure and resources where adventurers can expect to find ingots, ale, sugar, and other staples of trade.

A bolt of silk can be bought or sold for 30-50gp, as availability can vary. Silk is a common product in the Underdark and in forest communities where there is an abundance of local native silk weaving fauna and production can take place. In places far from where it is made, it is considered a luxury good.

Creating silk from scratch takes a DC 17 Intelligence (Animal Handling) check to work with the live sources of silkworms or giant spiders. Processing new silk in this manner takes a week of downtime work for each bolt and requires proficiency with weaver’s tools.

Crafting with Silk

Variant cloth items made from silk can be crafted with weaver’s or tailor's tools. An artisan, either the player or an NPC, must have an appropriate amount of silk to make an item. Silk takes as much time to work with as other linens.

An artisan can create up to the same weight worth of items from one bolt of silk. Sample weights and prices are given in the Silk Items Table.

With one week of downtime work, an artisan can craft a number of small items equal to their proficiency modifier, or a complete outfit or armor set. When crafting armor or an outfit, additional materials such as scale mail, half-plate, leather, or gemstones may need to be sourced, at the DM's discretion.

Example smaller silk items include a single article of clothing, component pouches, saddlebags, tents, bedrolls or bandages, but you are not limited to those. Consult your DM if there is another type of item you would like to make.

Items and Equipment

Items made from silk have 10hp when attempting to break them, and are immune to the effects of adamantine weapons. These are a few of many special silk items artisans and adventurers can acquire.

Silk rope. More durable than hemp rope. It has 10hp and can be burst with a DC 22 Strength check.

Fine Silk Clothing. A set of clothes such as a robe, dress, kimono or similar worn by well connected nobles, aristocrats, and Elven courtiers.

Padded Silk Armor. silk armor reinforced with leather, great for protection again slashing weapons, and often the preferred armor for light infantry and guerrilla fighters. Special: Grants resistance to slashing damage when worn.

Heavy Silk Armor. Partial plate and scale mail armor covers a base of padded silk, offering full protection of the torso and head, as well as adequate protection from physical damage to the limbs. Special: Grants resistance to slashing damage when worn.

Silk Items Table