Magic Item Crafting - Optional Rules

Here follows a selection of additional rules to support the crafting system. These rules are optional but may be used to add flavour to the world. This page will be updated with new rules over time.

Heroic Items

Sometimes, objects get a reputation for being involved in a great act, rather than from their innate power. A peasant's spear kills a king, a silver brooch turns aside an assassin's dagger or a staff is struck by lightning during a tempest formed from the elemental plane of air. These items resonate with their experience as the Weave takes notice. In practical terms, these "heroic items" are particularly easy to turn into magic items.

Dungeon Masters should consider the event that caused an item to become heroic - they need to decide both an influence and a rarity. The influence should be themed around the action, while the rarity should be based roughly on the tier of play or the challenge rating of the monster involved. These innate properties allow the heroic item to be used as though it were a complete set of crafting materials to produce an item of the same form.

For example, in a session I ran, a ranger threw a handaxe at a hag after casting ensnaring strike. The axe had no innate enchantment and the act saved the life of himself and his companion. As a result, it can be used to produce a Nature influenced (due to the ensnaring strike spell), uncommon (due to the CR of the hag) handaxe.

When crafting a magic item using a heroic item, the artisan has advantage on all Intelligence checks made both for formulation and progress.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction & Terms
• Materials & Influences
• Formulating an Item
• Checks & Progress
• Help & Hindrance
• Optional Rules

Related Articles:

• Butchery
• Herbalism
• Poisonmaking