Magic Item Crafting - Materials & Influences
Materials
Crafting materials are the raw bits and pieces used to fabricate items. They can vary from mundane goods to exceptionally rare magical substances. They have a rarity (which correlates to their rarity), a type and they may have an influence.
Material types are listed below. The example uses are a guideline, rather than a solid rule.
Crafting Material Types
| Material | Description | Used For |
|---|---|---|
| Bone | Solid organic material butchered from creatures. Includes shells, armoured plates and chitin. | most items |
| Herb | Natural organic materials. Includes mushrooms, fruits and substances like sap. | druidic items, potions |
| Hide | The skin, fur or scales of a creature. | armour, containers |
| Ink | A liquid that can be used to write. Usually made from other materials. | scrolls |
| Metal | Smelted bars of ores usually produced by mining. | most items |
| Mineral | Solid, usually inorganic substances. Includes gemstones, pearls and salt. | jewellery |
| Paper | Sheets made from pulped and flattened organic materials. Also includes substances such as vellum. | scrolls, spellbooks |
| Solvent | Liquids that can be used to dissolve alchemical ingredients. | potions |
| Textile | Cloth made from organic materials. Includes spider silk. | clothes, containers, light armour |
| Toxin | Harmful substances usually sourced from venomous creatures. | poisons |
| Wood | Solid organic material usually sourced from trees. | blunt weapons, shields |
| Essence | Materials and objects that are a magical influence in its pure form. Pixie dust, bottled lightning or angel feathers are examples | bonus material for any item |
Generally speaking, very rare and legendary crafting materials should be sourced exclusively from high-CR monsters or the planes. It should also be almost impossible to find materials of these rarities without an influence.
Influences
Materials often have an influence - a magical aura that permeates them due to an innate property or prolonged outside energy. Materials can only have a single influence. Essences always have an influence - their existence is defined by it. These influences are the energy used to produce magical effects from completed items. The table below contains a list of all influences, what sort of effects they may govern and where a player is likely to find them.
Magic Item Influences
https://www.worldanvil.com/world/athena/
| Influence | Governs | Sourced From |
|---|---|---|
| Air | air elementals, breathing, flight, levitation, lightning damage, wind | air elementals, high altitudes, tempests, the plane of air, very windy places |
| Chaos | unpredictable things, wild magic | sites of magical warfare |
| Cold | cold damage, ice | creatures with cold abilities, very cold places |
| Corrosion | acid damage, oozes, rusting | acidic substances, creatures with acid or rust abilities |
| Death | necromancy, necrotic damage, summoning undead | old burial grounds, the Shadowfel, undead |
| Earth | Constitution, earth elementals, gemstones, giants, the plane of earth | deep underground, the plane of earth |
| Fantasy | awareness, Charisma, fey creatures, illusions, senses, the Feywild | fey-touched forests, fey creatures, places of permanent illusion, the Feywild |
| Fiend | curses, demons, devils, the hells | fiends, heavily cursed areas, the hells |
| Fire | controlling fire, fire damage, fire elementals, the plane of fire | creatures with fire abilities, heavily burned locations, the plane of fire, volcanos |
| Fluid | Dexterity, shapeshifting, the plane of water, transmutation, water | creatures that can transform, deep underwater, lycanthropes, oozes |
| Force | force damage, forcefields, loud sounds, Strength, thunder damage, warding spells | certain planes, creatures with force or thunder abilities, supernatural strength |
| Life | curing disease, healing, longevity, purification, regeneration | creatures with regeneration, herbs, verdant areas |
| Mind | astral travel, enchantment magic, mind reading, psychic damage, Wisdom | creatures with mind control abilities, psychic creatures, the astral plane |
| Nature | animals, certain fey creatures, plants | creatures with nature abilities, deep woods, jungles |
| Null | antimagic, counterspell, immovability, magic resistance, resilience | areas of antimagic, creatures with magic resistance, impossibly hard substances |
| Plane | conjuration, demiplanes, etherealness, portals, teleportation | discorporated items, portals, the astral plane |
| Poison | inflicting poison, poison damage | creatures with poison abilities, herbs, particularly harmful substances |
| Radiance | blessings, celestials, radiant damage, radiant resistance, the heavens | creatures with radiant abilities, good-aligned temples, the heavens |
| Time | aging, cycles, haste effects | creatures with time abilities, places corrupted by time magic, specific planes |
| Theurgy | charges, divination, Intelligence, knowledge, spell slots, the Weave | ley lines, other magic items, places of study |
| Void | aberrations, madness, nonexistence, the great beyond | aberrations, outside the planes, places corrupted by insanity |
As an example, below is the statblock for a crafting material within my setting. Lesate's tears are common herbs with the life influence. Therefore, a character is likely to be able to use them as part of the process to create a potion of healing.
Lesate's Tears
Trade Good
Common Life
When you eat these flowers, you regain 1d3 Hit Points. The flowers may also be crushed into a paste and applied directly to a wound for the same effect.
A handful of small, white, five-petaled flowers picked from vines growing on large, old trees. There is usually a small drop of nectar in the middle that causes the flowers to twinkle at night when a light source is brought nearby.
Cost: 10gp
Table of Contents:
- Introduction & Terms
- Materials & Influences
- Formulating an Item
- Checks & Progress
- Help & Hindrance
- Optional Rules
Related Articles:
- Butchery
- Herbalism
- Poisonmaking
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