Crafting Tutorial [Archive] - Wizards Community

Crafting Tutorial [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Ruggs
12-23-07, 02:54 AM This is a crafting tutorial I'd made some time ago that I've generalized for well, general use. Please enjoy. :)

Author's Note: I've invented some terms to help clarify some concepts. You're free to ignore these or remodel them as you see fit! Also, if this tutorial seems basic, please keep in mind that there are folks who truly don't know many of these details, or find them confusing. We all start somewhere.

Crafting, everything no one needed to know

Crafting in d20 is as unique as it is straightforward and frustrating. Straightforward, because it can be broken down into a series of steps. Frustrating, because there are several of them!

If you're a crafter, you might want to know exactly how the d20 craft system works. Let's go through it.

What terms will this tutorial use?

Market Price: Any time "market price" is mentioned, it refers to the normal, 'what you would pay from a vendor' price of the item as listed by the PHB and DMG.

Upgrade Cost: For magic items only. The cost of any magic bonus, minus any magic bonus that already exists. For example: adding flaming to a sword would have an Upgrade Cost of 6,000, or 8,000 - 2,000.

Craft Roll Modifier: Your total craft modifier (all bonuses included). Note, if your modifier exceeds the Crafting DC, you can take 10 on a crafting check.

Craft DC: If you're doing a nonmagic craft, this is the number you'll be rolling against. Magic items don't have a DC.

XP Cost: Magic items have an XP cost. This is equal to the craft price divisible by 25.

Time to Craft: The time this will take to craft. For magic items, it's equivalent to the market price divided by 1,000g, and that equals the number of days. For example, a 6,000g item takes 6 days. For nonmagic items, it depends on the crafter's roll versus the DC.

Craft Point Goal: The number of "points" you have to reach to finish crafting a nonmagic item. See the section on crafting nonmagic items, below.

Crafting Cost or Crafting Price: The cost of crafting the item. This is generally 1/2 the cost of the market price for magic items. For nonmagic items, it's generally 1/3rd.

How does nonmagic crafting work?
I will be blunt, here. The nonmagic crafting system as it exists in the SRD is bunked. Many games will house rule it, or use quite a bit of fast forwarding. It works very well for low to mid-priced items, but for armor, jewelry, traps, or trinkets, it starts falling apart. The reason for this is that the average time for a +10 modifier to make a normal set of full plate is 40 weeks, or 4/5th's of a year. :( That said, a caster can also voluntarily try to lessen the number of weeks it takes to craft an item by adding 10 to the Craft DC.

Step 1:
Determine the crafting DC. To determine the crafting DC, look in the SRD underneath the "Craft" skill. For instance, the DC for a Breastplate is 15. The crafter will roll versus this modifier once per week to check their progress.

Step 2:
Determine your total craft roll modifier.

Step 3:
Determine the market price of the item and the crafting cost of the item. Your crafting cost will be one third of the market, so just divide by 3. Note, if the item is to be masterwork, this will require two different checks. For now, use the "base" cost of the item. We'll worry about masterwork when we get to Step 6.

Step 4:
Determine your "craft point goal." When you reach this "craft point goal" from your weekly progress, you will be finished crafting. To determine your craft point goal, take your market price in gold pieces and add 0 to the end.

Step 5:
Determine your weekly progress. Every week, you will roll your modifier versus your crafting DC. Multiply the result of that roll, if it succeeds, by the crafting DC. These are your "crafting points" for that week. When you reach your "crafting point goal" you're done crafting. In the case of a dwarf crafting a breastplate (2000 "craft point goal"), if he rolled a 21 one week, he would multiply that by DC 15. This gives him 315 "crafting points" for that week. When he accumulates 2000 points, he will be done.

Step 6:
If you are creating a masterwork item, you will complete the "masterwork portion" of the item at this time, once the rest is completed. Use the description in the SRD under craft to determine the price for the masterwork component, and to find the DC. You'll then repeat the craft process as before, only using these new numbers.

How do I average the time it will take to craft a nonmagical item?
If you'd like to get an average of the time it will take you to complete the item:

Step 1:
Assume a roll of 10 every week.

Step 2:
Add your modifier. In our previous example, this was +11, so the average roll per week would be 21.

Step 3:
Multiply your average result by the DC. In our previous example, this would be 21 x 15. Or, 315.

Step 4:
Divide this number into your "craft point goal." This will give you the average time it takes to craft. For our dwarven armorsmith, it will take him an average of 6 and a half weeks, or 1 and a half months to finish his breastplate.

A special note:
Under the SRD, if your modifier matches or exceeds the crafting DC, you can take 10 on the roll each week.
Ruggs
12-23-07, 02:55 AM How does magic crafting work for arms and armor?
Crafting magic arms and armor is one of the trickier businesses in the game. Please note that the crafter doesn't need to use the number of steps I do, below, but I felt that breaking it down this way made the process clearer, so don't panic if it seems as though there's alot to do! This tutorial doesn't cover other items, but their process is similar. Please see the individual SRD entries.

What do I need to know before I begin? (Also known as the "Crafting MA&A FAQ")
Before enchanting, please bear the following in mind:
- To be able to enchant arms or armor, the item must be a masterwork item to start with.
- To be able to add an "effect" enchantment to the item, it must be at least a +1 to start with. This means that a longsword cannot be enchanted to be a flaming longsword unless it's first a +1 longsword.
- The MW bonus does not stack with anything placed on the item. A +1 longsword will not give +2 to hit and +1 to damage, for instance.
- Anyone can supply the spell needed for an "effect," be it another PC or a scroll.

So how do I do this?
Generally speaking, an item can be enchanted to do almost anything, but the more it does, the more and more additional effects and enchantments will cost. But you knew that, right? Wonderous items work the same way. The more they do, the more they cost. This means, however, that it's cheaper to have a number of items that do a single thing, rather than a single item that does everything.

Also, magic crafting tends to be very straightforward. Crafting something magical requires three things:
- The donation of XP (taken from the crafter). This XP Cost is equal to the market price of the item divisible by 25.
- 1/2 the market cost of the item in crafting materials
- The additional cost of components, if crafting a scroll or wand

The time to craft is equal to the market price divided by 1000g. This gives the number of days it takes to craft the item.

Now, let's walk you through the process!

Step One:
Find the costs table in the DMG, or online at your favorite SRD site. It should list a long line of +1, +2, +3 with a bunch of numbers in gold pieces to the right. There is one chart for weapons, and another for armors.

Step Two:
Find the effect you're wanting to add. Let's say you'd like to put "flaming" on that longsword of yours. Flaming's description lists it as +1. Some other effects are listed as being worth +2 or +3. Whatever the number, write that down, we'll need it later.

Step Three:
Refer back to the chart you'd found in step one. Find your current level of enchant. Let's say your longsword is currently a +2 Longsword. According to the chart, it's worth 8,000g (plus the cost of the blade itself, but we're only worrying about the 8,000 right now).

Step Four:
Find the "new" worth of the item, or what it will be worth after you add your effect or enchantment. Since Flaming is listed as +1, adding it would bump your sword's worth up to 18,000g, or +3.

Step Five:
Subtract the costs. Remember, you don't have to pay for what you've already bought. So, take 18,000 - 8,000. It will cost you 10,000g to add flaming to that +2 longsword. Note, it would only cost 6,000 to add flaming to a +1 longsword! If you're not a crafter, this is as far as you go. If you are a crafter, plough on ahead.

[Crafters Only] Step Six:
Take the result you got in step five and halve it. This is your cost to craft.

[Crafters Only] Step Seven:
Take the result you got in step five and divide by 25. This is your XP cost. Remember, you don't have to pay for what's already been bought!

[Crafters Only] Step Eight:
Take the result you got in step five and divide it by 1,000g. This is the time it will take you to craft. Remember, you will be unable to adventure while crafting.
OpakeDragon
01-06-08, 04:22 PM Lets say you wanted to have a rapier with the keen special weapon ability.

I know that before you can apply the keen ability it must be +1 rapier, but does the weapon keep the +1 enhancement? or does it change the +1 to keen?

If its the former, then the cheapest keen rapier you can get is a +1 keen rapier, 8320g?
OpakeDragon
01-06-08, 04:33 PM Also, the rules for creating magical weapons does not say how to create the base components, like the mundane baton that is needed to create the wand? which craft subcategory do we need? craft(woodworking)? and for rings? craft(jewellery) or craft(metalworking)?
Dracomortis
01-06-08, 05:09 PM Lets say you wanted to have a rapier with the keen special weapon ability.

I know that before you can apply the keen ability it must be +1 rapier, but does the weapon keep the +1 enhancement? or does it change the +1 to keen?

If its the former, then the cheapest keen rapier you can get is a +1 keen rapier, 8320g?
When you add a new property to a weapon it retains all of its previous properties, so adding the keen property to a +1 rapier makes it a +1 keen rapier, and the cost to do so, as Ruggs explains, would be the difference between a +1 magic weapon and a +2 magic weapon (since keen is the equivalent of a +1 bonus), or 6,000 gp (the 8,000 gp cost of a +2 weapon minus the 2,000 gp cost of a +1 weapon). In total, a +1 keen rapier would cost 8,320 gp (8,000 gp for the total +2 bonus, 320 gp for the cost of a masterwork rapier).

Also, the rules for creating magical weapons does not say how to create the base components, like the mundane baton that is needed to create the wand? which craft subcategory do we need? craft(woodworking)? and for rings? craft(jewellery) or craft(metalworking)?
Wands, rings, and other magic items (besides magic weapons and armor) do not require base components - the cost of such items is included in the cost of making it. Presumably, Wizards did this because, when dealing with often costly magic items, the cost of base components would be so incredibly small as to be completely negligible. For example, even if you had to carve a wand (and, in all honesty, you could pick up any stick you found lying in the forest and enchant it to become a wand), the cost of doing so would be incredibly small - probably measurable in silver or even copper pieces.
OpakeDragon
01-06-08, 09:08 PM ok thx, so I have been wrong in thinking you can have just a keen rapier that makes things expensive that I didnt think were expensive.
fridesgerte
01-07-08, 11:26 PM Can the effect of a meta-magic feat be included with the spell component when crafting magic weapons or armor?

For example, could you include the effect of the feat Silent Spell when crafting an item so that a spell effect that normally requires a Command Word could be activated without a spoken (verbal) component?

What effect would this have on the cost of the item?
Turin
01-08-08, 09:03 AM Mind if I make two suggestions to refine your definitions?
Upgrade Cost: For magic items only. The cost of any magic bonus, minus any magic bonus that already exists. For example: adding flaming to a sword would have an Upgrade Cost of 6,000, or 8,000 - 2,000.
You should define this as "market cost of any magic bonus, minus market cost of any magic bonus that already exists." You just say "cost," which makes it a poor definition if your goal is to clear up the difference between the various costs associated with crafting.

XP Cost: Magic items have an XP cost. This is equal to the craft price divisible by 25.
Incorrect. The XP cost is equal to the Market Price divided by 25. You have it right in your procedure, just wrong here in the definition (and that word is "divided" not "divisible").

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Ruggs 12-23-07, 02:54 AM	This is a crafting tutorial I'd made some time ago that I've generalized for well, general use. Please enjoy. :) Author's Note: I've invented some terms to help clarify some concepts. You're free to ignore these or remodel them as you see fit! Also, if this tutorial seems basic, please keep in mind that there are folks who truly don't know many of these details, or find them confusing. We all start somewhere. Crafting, everything no one needed to know Crafting in d20 is as unique as it is straightforward and frustrating. Straightforward, because it can be broken down into a series of steps. Frustrating, because there are several of them! If you're a crafter, you might want to know exactly how the d20 craft system works. Let's go through it. What terms will this tutorial use? Market Price: Any time "market price" is mentioned, it refers to the normal, 'what you would pay from a vendor' price of the item as listed by the PHB and DMG. Upgrade Cost: For magic items only. The cost of any magic bonus, minus any magic bonus that already exists. For example: adding flaming to a sword would have an Upgrade Cost of 6,000, or 8,000 - 2,000. Craft Roll Modifier: Your total craft modifier (all bonuses included). Note, if your modifier exceeds the Crafting DC, you can take 10 on a crafting check. Craft DC: If you're doing a nonmagic craft, this is the number you'll be rolling against. Magic items don't have a DC. XP Cost: Magic items have an XP cost. This is equal to the craft price divisible by 25. Time to Craft: The time this will take to craft. For magic items, it's equivalent to the market price divided by 1,000g, and that equals the number of days. For example, a 6,000g item takes 6 days. For nonmagic items, it depends on the crafter's roll versus the DC. Craft Point Goal: The number of "points" you have to reach to finish crafting a nonmagic item. See the section on crafting nonmagic items, below. Crafting Cost or Crafting Price: The cost of crafting the item. This is generally 1/2 the cost of the market price for magic items. For nonmagic items, it's generally 1/3rd. How does nonmagic crafting work? I will be blunt, here. The nonmagic crafting system as it exists in the SRD is bunked. Many games will house rule it, or use quite a bit of fast forwarding. It works very well for low to mid-priced items, but for armor, jewelry, traps, or trinkets, it starts falling apart. The reason for this is that the average time for a +10 modifier to make a normal set of full plate is 40 weeks, or 4/5th's of a year. :( That said, a caster can also voluntarily try to lessen the number of weeks it takes to craft an item by adding 10 to the Craft DC. Step 1: Determine the crafting DC. To determine the crafting DC, look in the SRD underneath the "Craft" skill. For instance, the DC for a Breastplate is 15. The crafter will roll versus this modifier once per week to check their progress. Step 2: Determine your total craft roll modifier. Step 3: Determine the market price of the item and the crafting cost of the item. Your crafting cost will be one third of the market, so just divide by 3. Note, if the item is to be masterwork, this will require two different checks. For now, use the "base" cost of the item. We'll worry about masterwork when we get to Step 6. Step 4: Determine your "craft point goal." When you reach this "craft point goal" from your weekly progress, you will be finished crafting. To determine your craft point goal, take your market price in gold pieces and add 0 to the end. Step 5: Determine your weekly progress. Every week, you will roll your modifier versus your crafting DC. Multiply the result of that roll, if it succeeds, by the crafting DC. These are your "crafting points" for that week. When you reach your "crafting point goal" you're done crafting. In the case of a dwarf crafting a breastplate (2000 "craft point goal"), if he rolled a 21 one week, he would multiply that by DC 15. This gives him 315 "crafting points" for that week. When he accumulates 2000 points, he will be done. Step 6: If you are creating a masterwork item, you will complete the "masterwork portion" of the item at this time, once the rest is completed. Use the description in the SRD under craft to determine the price for the masterwork component, and to find the DC. You'll then repeat the craft process as before, only using these new numbers. How do I average the time it will take to craft a nonmagical item? If you'd like to get an average of the time it will take you to complete the item: Step 1: Assume a roll of 10 every week. Step 2: Add your modifier. In our previous example, this was +11, so the average roll per week would be 21. Step 3: Multiply your average result by the DC. In our previous example, this would be 21 x 15. Or, 315. Step 4: Divide this number into your "craft point goal." This will give you the average time it takes to craft. For our dwarven armorsmith, it will take him an average of 6 and a half weeks, or 1 and a half months to finish his breastplate. A special note: Under the SRD, if your modifier matches or exceeds the crafting DC, you can take 10 on the roll each week.
Ruggs 12-23-07, 02:55 AM	How does magic crafting work for arms and armor? Crafting magic arms and armor is one of the trickier businesses in the game. Please note that the crafter doesn't need to use the number of steps I do, below, but I felt that breaking it down this way made the process clearer, so don't panic if it seems as though there's alot to do! This tutorial doesn't cover other items, but their process is similar. Please see the individual SRD entries. What do I need to know before I begin? (Also known as the "Crafting MA&A FAQ") Before enchanting, please bear the following in mind: - To be able to enchant arms or armor, the item must be a masterwork item to start with. - To be able to add an "effect" enchantment to the item, it must be at least a +1 to start with. This means that a longsword cannot be enchanted to be a flaming longsword unless it's first a +1 longsword. - The MW bonus does not stack with anything placed on the item. A +1 longsword will not give +2 to hit and +1 to damage, for instance. - Anyone can supply the spell needed for an "effect," be it another PC or a scroll. So how do I do this? Generally speaking, an item can be enchanted to do almost anything, but the more it does, the more and more additional effects and enchantments will cost. But you knew that, right? Wonderous items work the same way. The more they do, the more they cost. This means, however, that it's cheaper to have a number of items that do a single thing, rather than a single item that does everything. Also, magic crafting tends to be very straightforward. Crafting something magical requires three things: - The donation of XP (taken from the crafter). This XP Cost is equal to the market price of the item divisible by 25. - 1/2 the market cost of the item in crafting materials - The additional cost of components, if crafting a scroll or wand The time to craft is equal to the market price divided by 1000g. This gives the number of days it takes to craft the item. Now, let's walk you through the process! Step One: Find the costs table in the DMG, or online at your favorite SRD site. It should list a long line of +1, +2, +3 with a bunch of numbers in gold pieces to the right. There is one chart for weapons, and another for armors. Step Two: Find the effect you're wanting to add. Let's say you'd like to put "flaming" on that longsword of yours. Flaming's description lists it as +1. Some other effects are listed as being worth +2 or +3. Whatever the number, write that down, we'll need it later. Step Three: Refer back to the chart you'd found in step one. Find your current level of enchant. Let's say your longsword is currently a +2 Longsword. According to the chart, it's worth 8,000g (plus the cost of the blade itself, but we're only worrying about the 8,000 right now). Step Four: Find the "new" worth of the item, or what it will be worth after you add your effect or enchantment. Since Flaming is listed as +1, adding it would bump your sword's worth up to 18,000g, or +3. Step Five: Subtract the costs. Remember, you don't have to pay for what you've already bought. So, take 18,000 - 8,000. It will cost you 10,000g to add flaming to that +2 longsword. Note, it would only cost 6,000 to add flaming to a +1 longsword! If you're not a crafter, this is as far as you go. If you are a crafter, plough on ahead. [Crafters Only] Step Six: Take the result you got in step five and halve it. This is your cost to craft. [Crafters Only] Step Seven: Take the result you got in step five and divide by 25. This is your XP cost. Remember, you don't have to pay for what's already been bought! [Crafters Only] Step Eight: Take the result you got in step five and divide it by 1,000g. This is the time it will take you to craft. Remember, you will be unable to adventure while crafting.
OpakeDragon 01-06-08, 04:22 PM	Lets say you wanted to have a rapier with the keen special weapon ability. I know that before you can apply the keen ability it must be +1 rapier, but does the weapon keep the +1 enhancement? or does it change the +1 to keen? If its the former, then the cheapest keen rapier you can get is a +1 keen rapier, 8320g?
OpakeDragon 01-06-08, 04:33 PM	Also, the rules for creating magical weapons does not say how to create the base components, like the mundane baton that is needed to create the wand? which craft subcategory do we need? craft(woodworking)? and for rings? craft(jewellery) or craft(metalworking)?
Dracomortis 01-06-08, 05:09 PM	Lets say you wanted to have a rapier with the keen special weapon ability. I know that before you can apply the keen ability it must be +1 rapier, but does the weapon keep the +1 enhancement? or does it change the +1 to keen? If its the former, then the cheapest keen rapier you can get is a +1 keen rapier, 8320g? When you add a new property to a weapon it retains all of its previous properties, so adding the keen property to a +1 rapier makes it a +1 keen rapier, and the cost to do so, as Ruggs explains, would be the difference between a +1 magic weapon and a +2 magic weapon (since keen is the equivalent of a +1 bonus), or 6,000 gp (the 8,000 gp cost of a +2 weapon minus the 2,000 gp cost of a +1 weapon). In total, a +1 keen rapier would cost 8,320 gp (8,000 gp for the total +2 bonus, 320 gp for the cost of a masterwork rapier). Also, the rules for creating magical weapons does not say how to create the base components, like the mundane baton that is needed to create the wand? which craft subcategory do we need? craft(woodworking)? and for rings? craft(jewellery) or craft(metalworking)? Wands, rings, and other magic items (besides magic weapons and armor) do not require base components - the cost of such items is included in the cost of making it. Presumably, Wizards did this because, when dealing with often costly magic items, the cost of base components would be so incredibly small as to be completely negligible. For example, even if you had to carve a wand (and, in all honesty, you could pick up any stick you found lying in the forest and enchant it to become a wand), the cost of doing so would be incredibly small - probably measurable in silver or even copper pieces.
OpakeDragon 01-06-08, 09:08 PM	ok thx, so I have been wrong in thinking you can have just a keen rapier that makes things expensive that I didnt think were expensive.
fridesgerte 01-07-08, 11:26 PM	Can the effect of a meta-magic feat be included with the spell component when crafting magic weapons or armor? For example, could you include the effect of the feat Silent Spell when crafting an item so that a spell effect that normally requires a Command Word could be activated without a spoken (verbal) component? What effect would this have on the cost of the item?
Turin 01-08-08, 09:03 AM	Mind if I make two suggestions to refine your definitions? Upgrade Cost: For magic items only. The cost of any magic bonus, minus any magic bonus that already exists. For example: adding flaming to a sword would have an Upgrade Cost of 6,000, or 8,000 - 2,000. You should define this as "market cost of any magic bonus, minus market cost of any magic bonus that already exists." You just say "cost," which makes it a poor definition if your goal is to clear up the difference between the various costs associated with crafting. XP Cost: Magic items have an XP cost. This is equal to the craft price divisible by 25. Incorrect. The XP cost is equal to the Market Price divided by 25. You have it right in your procedure, just wrong here in the definition (and that word is "divided" not "divisible").