Crafting
You can craft nonmagical objects, including adventuring equipment and works of art. You must be proficient with tools related to the object you are trying to create (typically artisan’s tools). You might also need access to special materials or locations necessary to create it. For example, someone proficient with smith’s tools needs a forge in order to craft a sword or suit of armor.
For every hour of downtime you spend crafting using a tool with which you are proficient, you can craft one or more items with a total market value not exceeding 1 gp, and you must expend raw materials worth half the total market value.
If you have expertise in the tool in question, you can craft one or more items with a total market value not exceeding 2 gp, and you must expend raw materials worth half the total market value.
Multiple characters can combine their efforts toward the crafting of a single item, provided that the characters all have proficiency with the requisite tools and are working together in the same place. Each character contributes 1 gp worth of effort for every hour spent helping to craft the item (2 gp with expertise).
While crafting, you can maintain a modest lifestyle without having to pay 10 gp per week, or a comfortable lifestyle at half the normal cost (see here for more information on lifestyle expenses).
Mundane Items
Mundane items require often require less time to craft than enchanted items. Determine the craft DC and time required to craft a mundane item using the Item Complexity, Crafting Times and DCs table.
Item Complexity
The complexity categories listed in the table above are defined as follows. Keep in mind that the key to item complexity isn’t to rely on an exhaustive list of what items belong to which categories. Instead, these rules provide basic category descriptions and a few examples of sorts of items one might expect to fit each category.
- Very Simple: These items are more or less all one piece or one material of simple shape with no moving parts. Examples: crowbar, quarterstaff.
- Simple: A simple item is largely made of one material, but it requires a more specialized shape.
Examples: many simple weapons, backpack, most common articles of clothing, simple traps such as pits. - Moderate: Moderate complexity items are characterized by diverse materials or different parts that must be integrated into a whole.
Examples: Most martial and exotic weapons, bows, shields, locks, simple traps using simple mechanical triggers, acid. - Complex: Complex items have diverse materials, moving parts, different parts, and/or decorative bits.
Examples: Most types of armour, composite bows, crossbows, most vehicles (excluding large ocean-going vessels), alchemist’s fire, smokesticks, tingertwigs. - Very Complex: These are the most complicated items. They require diverse materials, moving parts, different parts, decorated bits, and/or multiple functions or uses.
Examples: ocean-going vessels, unusual armours (such as barding), antitoxins, tanglefoot bags, sunrods, thunderstones.
| Item Complexity | Crafting Time | Craft DC |
|---|---|---|
| Very simple | 4 hours | 10 |
| Simple | 8 hours | 12 |
| Moderate | 16 hours | 14 |
| Complex | 32 hours | 18 |
| Very complex | 64 hours | 26 |
Crafting Masterwork Items
A masterwork item has a 50% increase in crafting time and an item-type-dependent increase in cost (1000 gp for a weapon, 1500 gp for a suit of armour or a shield, or 50 gp for masterwork tools). Furthermore, any masterwork item has its craft DC increased by 4.
Working with Special Materials
A craftsman working with an unusual material (such as adamantine) faces a 50% increase in crafting time, which stacks with the 50% increase in crafting time associated with masterwork items, when applicable. Also, unusual materials are harder to work with and increase the item’s DC:
| Material | DC Modifier |
|---|---|
| Adamantine | +6 |
| Darkwood | +2 |
| Dragonhide | +4 |
| Cold iron | +2 |
| Mithril | +4 |
| Alchemical silver | +2 |
Using Tools (or Not…)
All crafts require tools to give the best chance of success. If improvised tools are used, the check suffers disadvantage. Masterwork tools provide advantage to the check.
Failing a Check
What happens if the check fails? Well, that depends on how badly it failed. When confronted with a failed check, there are up to three possible bad effects:
- If the check fails, the item is not completed. Invest the full crafting time and try again.
- If the check fails by 5 or more, half of the raw materials are ruined. Pay half the raw materials cost to replace the ruined materials.
- If the check fails by 10 or more and you are using alchemist’s supplies, your laboratory explodes. Pay to replace it as well as the ruined raw materials (as number 2 above). Also make a DC 10 Dexterity defence check to avoid 1d6 points of fire damage.
Exceptional Check Results
For every 5 points by which the check exceed the item’s DC, the crafting time is halved. A crafting time can be halved in this way more than twice.