# Mordenkainen's Manual of Magical Crafting

##### This guide describes the processes and risks one must undertake in crafting the most ingenious magical items, from curios to items of legendary power

\page ## 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!

##### Mordenkainen

## 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 | \page > ##### 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. \page ##### Risky Business

| d20 | Extent of Failure | |:---:|:------------| | 1 | Your failures have opened up unnatural arcane channels, which seem to pull you away from reality itself. You die instantly, and your soul is trapped within the item, making it sentient. If multiple casters are involved, roll to determine which caster is trapped.| | 2 | You figure out that your Arcane Rubric is flawed, and must scrap it, losing several days or even weeks worth of work. | | 3 | The item is immolated, and deals 5d10 fire damage to each enchanter | | 4 | As you pour your arcane essence into the item, you get carried away, and drain yourself of your ability to cast magic. You cannot cast spells for 1d6 x spell level (minimum of 1) days. You cannot enchant items during this time.| | 5 | The strain on your eye that led you to the failure is painful and you start to lose sight of the world around you. You are blind for 1d12 months. | | 6 | Somehow the enchantment seems to have taken hold, but the raw magical energy makes its presence here unstable. The now enchanted item teleports to a location chosen by the DM | | 7 | You somehow create an item that is so devoid of magic, that it has an "anti-enchantment". If this item comes within 10 feet of a functioning version of the same item, both items are immediately cast into the void. | | 8 | Your enchanting efforst ripple through the Weave, allerting others of your practices. Somewhere, a powerful demon wants you in their service, either willingly or unwillingly. | | 9 | You have become so confused and engrossed in your work that you can no longer remember who you were when you started. for 1d20 days, your Charisma, Intelligence and Wisdom ability scores are those of a Black Pudding. | | 10 | The magic you try to infuse into the item breaks out, and takes the form of a Will-'O-Wisp. It is friendly to you, and remains within 10 feet of you until it is killed. | ``` ``` | d20 | Extent of Failure | |:---:|:------------| | 11 | The enchanting process reaches deep into the natural workings of the world. The base item is turned into wood, if it was not already made of wood. | | 12 | Your eyes start to glow with the intensity of the magical spell. Both your eyes become focal points of the *light* cantrip, and remain glowing for 1d20 hours. You are not blinded by this.| | 13 | The failure sucks in magical essence around it. 1d4 magic items within 30 feet of you (chosen by the DM) become mundane. | | 14 | | | 15 | | | 16 | | | 17 | | | 18 | | | 19 | You catch a strange disease from an unknown plane. You are considered diseased and suffer the symptoms of a cold for 1d4 weeks. This cannot be dispelled through magical or medicinal means. | | 20 | You have failed particularly badly. Roll twice on this table, ignoring duplicate effects apart from this one. |

##### Exceptional Enchanting

| d10 | Enchanting Boon | |:---:|:------------| | 1 | Any modifier granted by the magic item is increased by +1. Any duration charges, or physical dimensions described in the item's effects are doubled. | | 2 | You have manipulated the weave to create substance from magical essence. As you complete your enchantment, a nugget of platinum, a nugget of gold, a nugget of silver, a nugget of copper and a nugget of electrum appear at your feed. Each is worth 100 pieces of the nugget's metal. | | 3 | | | 4 | | | 5 | | ``` ``` | d10 | Enchanting Boon | |:---:|:------------| | 6 | | | 7 | | | 8 | | | 9 | | | 10 | |

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