D&D (2024) Magic Items & Crafting In The New Dungeon Master's Guide

"Extended crafting rules and a lot of magical items!"

• Treasure themes discuss different kinds of treasure--arcana, gems, relics, implements, armaments, etc.
• You can craft potions and scrolls in the Player's Handbook.
• The Dungeon Master's Guide expands that to other magical items.
• Uses tools proficiencies and Arcana proficiency and the spells you know.
• You can craft any magical item in the DMG, as long as it's not an artifact.

First you need to have the Arcana skill. Then, depending on the magical item, you need the appropriate tool. For example, wands need woodcarver's tools. Then if the item allows you to cast a spell, you must also know that spell. Then you need gold and time. The rarity of the item determines how much gold or time it takes to create. The time required is measured in person-hours, so assistance can help reduce that time.

Magic items can also have randomly determined histories and creators. Creators include species and creature types--a dwarf, an aberration, a giant, and so on. Histories include being part of a religion, a symbol of power, something sinister, a prophecy, and more. Magic items also get minor properties and quirks, to round them out.

 

[darjr]

There is a beep in this one! Chris is awesome.

 

[Superchunk77]

IMO the removal of good crafting rules (for all kinds of items) as well as a standardized magic item cost formula was a huge step back when 5e came out. The system presented in 3.5e was more than sufficient.

 

[Bayushi_seikuro]

IMO the removal of good crafting rules (for all kinds of items) as well as a standardized magic item cost formula was a huge step back when 5e came out. The system presented in 3.5e was more than sufficient.

I played a magic item cleric who basically armed the other party member (an astral deva from Savage Species). The downside to 3.x crafting is the sheer amount of personal XP you had to spend to make items for people. They weren't using milestone levelling, where hypothetically I could craft one cool thing a level. I was burning through XP and falling behind a PC who was beyond the pale unruly to begin with.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

IMO the removal of good crafting rules (for all kinds of items) as well as a standardized magic item cost formula was a huge step back when 5e came out. The system presented in 3.5e was more than sufficient.

The problem with 3.x was that there was a massive feat tax for crafting magic items, unless you were an Artificer and got all of those feats for free.

 

[Vicar In A Tutu]

How are the magic items in the new DMG costed? A specific sum or a range based on rarity?

 

[Stormonu]

From the summary, sounds like they are retaining the quirks and history table from the previous DMG (yay!) and we'll be getting some expansion guidelines on making magic items.

Hopefully they touch on crafting interesting mundane items as well that don't take an entire campaign's timeline to complete.

 

[Superchunk77]

I played a magic item cleric who basically armed the other party member (an astral deva from Savage Species). The downside to 3.x crafting is the sheer amount of personal XP you had to spend to make items for people. They weren't using milestone levelling, where hypothetically I could craft one cool thing a level. I was burning through XP and falling behind a PC who was beyond the pale unruly to begin with.

True. The XP hit was a consideration for sure, but I was able to mitigate this by having the player who was to receive the magic item pay the XP cost, in addition to the monetary costs. That way all of the PC's would stay roughly the same level and the character taking the creation feats was not punished for using them.

 

[Superchunk77]

The problem with 3.x was that there was a massive feat tax for crafting magic items, unless you were an Artificer and got all of those feats for free.

It wasn't massive unless you insisted on taking every single creation feat. But that was a feature of 3.5e. It gave you all the options and tools and let you do whatever you wanted to with them. The artificer was designed to make magic items so that tracks just fine. The wizard received bonus feats for this, and there were other classes/prestige classes that likewise gave you the feats as well.

 

[abirdcall]

I'm glad the rules will be in there for the people who want them.

I was very relieved that they weren't in 2014, esp. for purchasing, to get away from the 3e mindset of magic items just being mundane, albeit expensive, items.