This is the "traditional" method of crafting (per 5E rules).
There are other methods of crafting magic, but they are not widely known and protected secrets to those who know how to do them.
Crafting Magic Items
Creating a magic item requires more than just time, effort, and materials. It is a long-term process that involves one or more Adventures to track down rare materials and the lore needed to create the item.
Healing Potions and Spell Scroll are exceptions to the following rules. For more information, see “Brewing Potions of Healing” and the “Scribing a Spell Scroll” sections.
To start with, a character needs a formula for a magic item in order to create it. The formula is like a recipe. It lists the materials needed and steps required to make the item.
An item invariably requires an exotic material to complete it. This material can range from the skin of a yeti to a vial of water taken from a whirlpool on the
Elemental Plane of Water. Finding that material should take place as part of an adventure.
The Magic Item Ingredients table suggests the Challenge rating of a creature that the Player need to face to acquire the materials for an item. Note that facing a creature does not necessarily mean that the Player must collect items from its corpse. Rather, the creature might guard a Location or a resource that the Player need access to.
Magic Item Ingredients
| Item Rarity |
CR Range |
| Common |
1-3 |
| Uncommon |
4-8 |
| Rare |
9-12 |
| Very Rare |
13-18 |
| Legendary |
19+ |
If appropriate, pick a monster or a Location that is a thematic fit for the item to be crafted.
For example, creating mariner’s armor might require the essence of a Water Weird.
Crafting a Staff of Charming might require the cooperation of a specific Arcanaloth, who will help only if the Players complete a task for it.
Making a Staff of Power might hinge on acquiring a piece of an ancient stone that was once Touched by the god of magic—a stone now guarded by a suspicious Androsphinx.
In addition to facing a specific creature, creating an item comes with a
Gold piece cost covering other materials, tools, and so on, based on the item’s Rarity. Those values, as well as the time a character needs to work in order to complete the item, are shown on the
Magic Item Crafting Time and Cost table. Halve the listed price and Creation time for any consumable items.
Magic Item Crafting Time and Cost
| Item Rarity |
Workweeks* |
Cost* |
| Common |
1 |
50 gp |
| Uncommon |
2 |
200 gp |
| Rare |
10 |
2,000 gp |
| Very Rare |
25 |
20,000 gp |
| Legendary |
50 |
100,000 gp |
*Halved for a consumable item like a
Potion or scroll
To complete a magic item, a character also needs whatever tool proficiency is appropriate, as for Crafting a nonmagical object, or proficiency in the Arcana skill.
If all the above requirements are met, the result of the process is a magic item of the desired sort.
Complications
Most of the Complications involved in creating something, especially a magic item, are linked to the difficulty in finding rare ingredients or Components needed to complete the work. The Complications a character might face as byproducts of the Creation process are most interesting when the Players are working on a magic item:
there’s a 10 percent chance for every five workweeks spent on Crafting an item that a complication occurs. The Crafting Complications table provides examples of what might happen.
Methods of Crafting Magic Items:
See also:
