Some characters might want to use their downtime between adventures to create items, whether for profit or personal enjoyment. These rules provide a framework for the creation of items both mundane and magical.

Location

With DTDM agreement, Crafting can be done anywhere there's enough shelter and protection.

Mundane Items

Resources: Gathering Materials and Tools

You can use your DTA Slots to craft mundane items found in the in the Mundane Items table in the Equipment section of this guide. The only exceptions to this rule are waterborne vehicles and Potions of Healing, which follow different crafting rules. Other mundane items may be crafted at the DTDMs discretion. To craft a mundane item you must have access to the appropriate Crafting Tools and be proficient in them. You must also have access to a suitable crafting space and the necessary raw materials.

First, check the cost of the item in Kantas. This will determine how long the item takes to create. You will need raw materials worth half the price. If you do not have access to the required materials you can purchase them. You must pay the Cost of Materials at the start of the process or partly upfront and then in regular instalments every month, depending on the value of the item (see the Mundane Item Crafting table). At the discretion of the DTDMs, up to an extra 10% might be added to the Cost of Materials if the crafter needs to rent a workshop or tools.

Resolution: Get Crafting

You can use 1 Taxing DTA slot to craft up to 50 gp worth of items. You can craft multiple items using a single Taxing DTA slot so long as their total value is equal to or less than 50 gp. You can also use 1 Light DTA slot to craft up to 25 gp worth of items. Again, you can craft multiple items with a single Light DTA slot so long as their total value is not greater than 25 gp.

If the item you are making has a value greater than 50 gp, you must spend multiple DTA slots to complete it. These slots need not be consecutive, but the work must reasonably be able to be left, and you must have a place where you can safely store it. For example, you can take a few weeks off forging your new breastplate as long as you can store it safely. However, if you leave your Poison on the workbench for a month while you do something else, you will need to start again.

To work out how long an expensive item takes to complete, simply divide the price of the item by 50 rounding up. That is the number of Taxing DTA slots required to complete the item. You may spend any combination of Taxing and Light DTA slots to complete the item, so long as you obey the rules set out above.

Combining Efforts

It is possible for multiple characters to collaborate on crafting an item., The DTDMs will determine how many characters can realistically work on an item at one time based on its size and characteristics (see the Crafting Collaborators table). For example, a large item like a suit of plate mail could probably be worked on by more people at once. A delicate necklace, however, is too small for multiple characters to work on simultaneously.

PCs must have the necessary tool proficiencies to collaborate. Each PC may spend as many or as few DTA slots as they choose, contributing 50 gp worth of work per Taxing DTA Slot spent and 25 gp worth of work for every Light DTA Slot spent. At the discretion of the DTDMs, NPCs might also be hired to help craft the item. Hirelings rates are set by the DMs between 15–50 gp per Taxing DTA slot contributed.

Mundane Items Crafting

Crafting Collaborators

Magic Items

Magic items are infinitely more difficult to create than their mundane counterparts. The basic rules outlined for mundane items still apply, but in order to create a magic item several extra resources are required.

The art of crafting magic items is one of extreme difficulty that very few ever truly master.

Resources: Gathering Materials and Recipe

Firstly, you must have the relevant tool proficiency, to be determined at the DTDMs’ discretion. You must also have either the ability to cast spells—without needing the use of magic items—or proficiency in the Arcana skill.

Secondly, you must meet a minimum character level requirement for the tier of item (see the Magic Items Crafting table).

Thirdly, you must have access to a recipe or blueprint for the item you wish to create. Such recipes are extremely rare, and can likely only be found as part of the reward for quests (see the Magic Items Crafting table for suggested CR), or very rarely purchased at great expense from other artificers.

Finally, you must have the necessary materials. As well as the mundane components (the price of which is listed in the table below), all magic items require specific, magically infused ingredients. The Armour of Acid Resistance might require the blood of a Black Dragon, a Frostbrand Longsword might need the gallbladder of an Ice Devil, and the Hat of Disguise might require some skin from a Mimic. A magic ingredient will almost always need to be found through a separate adventure from the one to discover the blueprints.

In some cases the recipe and even the magic ingredient for an item can, alternatively, be discovered through successful Research DTAs. For an item with a Kantas price of 1000 gp or less, the blueprint may be discovered by gaining two pieces of information by Research, if DTDMs determine that this is possible considering the methods and resources the player is proposing for the research. For a homebrew item with minimal mechanical impact (such as shedding dim light in a five-foot radius or making a funny sound on command) and a Kantas price below 100 gp, it may be possible to find both the blueprints and the magic ingredient through Research (two pieces of information each), at DTDMs’ discretion.

Magic Items Crafting

Magic Consumable Items

The costs and time required to create consumable items such as potions are halved. All other requirements remain the same. Furthermore, brewing Healing Potions and scribing Spell Scrolls have special rules attached to them, outlined here below.

Brewing Healing Potions

Characters can brew healing potions if they are proficient with—and have access to—a Herbalism kit. It is only possible for characters to create Potions of Healing and Potions of Healing (Greater). Anything beyond that requires specialised premises which are beyond the means and knowledge of adventurers.

Healing Potions

When creating a Potion of Healing (Regular)—and only Regular—characters with the Outlander or Hermit Background can opt to try and source the required ingredients in the wild by making a Wisdom (Survival) check, if proficient. The Healing Potions table reports time a costs needed to brew such potions. The Sourcing Healing Ingredients table reports the possible results.

Sourcing Healing Ingredients

Scribing Spell Scrolls

Scribing a spell scroll takes an amount of time and money related to the level of the spell the character wants to scribe, as shown in the Spell Scroll Costs table. In addition, the character must have proficiency in the Arcana skill and must provide any material components required for the casting of the spell. Moreover, the character must have the spell prepared, or it must be among the character’s known spells, in order to scribe a scroll of that spell.

If the scribed spell is a cantrip, the version on the scroll works as if the caster were 1st level.

Spell Scroll Costs

It is worth reminding that a character can only use a spell scroll if the spell is on their class’s spell list. If the spell is of a level higher than they have slots for, they must also make a check against their spellcasting ability (DC 10+Spell Level). If they pass, the scroll is consumed and the spell is cast as normal. If they fail, the scroll is consumed and the spell fails.

Complications

The final step in crafting a mundane or magic item is rolling for complications. If your item requires 5 or less Taxing DTA slots to complete then the chance of complications is 10%. After that, the chances of complications increase by 10% for every 5 Taxing DTA slots spent to a maximum of 30%. The Mundane and Magic Item Crafting Complications tables provide lists of what might happen.

Brewing Healing Potions does not involve complications. Crafting a spell scroll is a solitary task, unlikely to attract much attention. Complications that arise are more likely to involve the preparation needed for the activity and are listed in the Scroll Scribing Complications table.

Mundane Item Crafting Complications

*Might involve a rival

Scroll Scribing Complications

*Might involve a rival

Magic Item Crafting Complications

*Might involve a rival