Index

Index____________________________ 1
About The Book And How To Use It__ 2
A Little Chat______________________ 3
Defining Crafting__________________ 3
Let’s Complicate Things____________ 3
But How Do You Craft?_____________ 4
The Cost To Craft An Item__________ 4
Measure The Time It Takes To Craft___6
Time, Man! Time!__________________ 6
Player’s Crafting Ability____________ 7
See It By Complexity_______________ 7
Measure It________________________8
Tools And Ability Scores__________ 8
Measure Player’s Crafting Ability____8
Time Complexity________________ 9
Magic Items______________________ 9
Crafting Magical Items___________10
Enchanting and Difficulty_________ 10
Successfully Crafting The Item_____ 10
Customize It_____________________ 11
Item Power______________________ 11
Pricing_________________________ 11
Magical Items_________________ 12
Normal Items__________________ 12
Items Category__________________ 12
What Can You Craft?______________12
Gathering_______________________ 12
Crafting Recipes_________________ 13
So It’s Just That?_________________13
Credits_________________________ 13

1
About The Book And
How To Use It

This book is in no way saying that the

way crafting is done in d&d is wrong
and this is the right way. I just think
that it should be simplified to a certain
degree, to put aside the hassle it
causes to us players.

My take on crafting in dungeons and

dragons uses a big chunk of roleplay
in it, the dice also helps, or not. But
everything is culminated by adventure,
gathering and learning. As it should
have been right from the start.

I advise you to read it all for the first

time, then you’ll just need the tables
for reference. I hope my system helps
you as much as it helps me. If you
wish or are capable of, feel free to give
me a tip by purchasing the pdf for any
value.

The book can be used by a DM or a

solo rpg player, both tested, both were
a lot of fun, fun that I wish you live too.

Whenever a revision is made, a new

update will be published.

Farewell reader!

Your writer,

Bernardo Piedade

2
A Little Chat Defining Crafting

This book was written using other In a simple form, crafting is the
books / articles as inspiration, such are combination of various different items
credited in the end. used to create something else with the
help of specialized tools. Pretty simple
In my opinion, crafting is something right?
most Dungeons & Dragons campaigns
should have. It opens the door to new So let’s say you wanna craft a bow,
adventures - maybe side-quests -, to you’d need a piece of flexible wood
gather the necessary materials to craft, and string. As I said, pretty simple.
for example, the sword of a thousand
cries, whenever it slices an enemy, he
hears from within his mind the
screams of a thousand imprisoned
ghosts.
Let’s Complicate Things
Sounds cool right? Well, you could What if you want a magical bow?
give your players that little taste of
conquering by making them learn how Ok, so picture this: “You’re Jiron, a hill
to craft something and then actually dwarf living alone in the middle of a cold
craft that item themselves. forest, you were exiled due to a false
accusation. You embraced the silence
Crafting has been talked about a lot in given from your fellow partners and
this community, with everyone giving walked along where no man had yet
their own touch, but to me it just touched [...] Survival was never a problem
seems that people are complicating an to you, born and raised a warrior, ready to
already complicated system. That's not fight whoever needed to be, no challenge
what our ultimate goal should be, we was frightening, no weather was an
need to make it simple so that the excuse. You are a warrior for Gods sake!
player feels intrigued to venture onto You have your sword and your shield, you
crafting, instead of getting bored from carry your strength on your back [...]
it. others may have their magic and their
little talks. [...] You stand right in front of
It’s not an easy task, I get it, I’ve been your enemies eyes [...] fear, runs from
trying to come up with an easy system you…”
for years and I’m sure I’m not the only
one. But first, what is crafting and how Damn, I wish I was Jiron. Well, it turns
can we define it? out that living alone in the middle of a
forest forced him to craft his own tools
and weapons.

3
Just imagine, Jiron, walking to his city give you the answers, just stick with
gate with his flaming tongue longsword me.
that he crafted himself. A magical
sword capable of causing massive fire
damage to whom it hits.

Except he can’t actually craft it. At The Cost To Craft An

least not alone. See, Jiron is not a man
of the arcana, he’s not a man of
Item
magic, nor does he know how to
concentrate that mystic aura. This is something I dislike in original
For him to be able to craft said sword, and homebrew crafting guides and
he’d need help from a magic user, that most people seem to be okay with this
could, maybe, during the process of - nonsense.
item creation, be able to add the The cost to create an item is the cost
desired enchantment. of obtaining or buying the needed
materials, there’s no need to add more
Do you see now how everything gets gold to waste.
together? Kinda forcing team-play
*cough* *cough* Want to make your players pay more
for creating? Well, maybe make them
rent a place where they, for a fee, can
stay there X hours a day and work on
their crafting, it can even be a
But How Do You Craft? blacksmith renting his space because
maybe since the war stopped, his
“Man you’ve been talking and services are rarely needed so he kinda
talking…” needs this extra gold.

I get it, you’ve seen how cool it looks It already feels richer.
and the endless possibilities you and
the players can come up with. Now Let’s say Jiron wants to build a shield
you wanna know how to actually that covers his whole body…
implement it.
“Some months have passed, Jiron made
How does the system work? How do himself at home, started with nothing but
you measure the cost of creating the his rusty axe, he swung it time and time
item? What about the time it consumes again against the surrounding trees, day
to create said item? by day opening a new way. His first plan
was to make some type of shelter with the
Okay, okay, chill… Yes, those are all logs he chopped off.
valid questions one should have, I’ll Almost one month later, his little shack
was ready to receive him. He made sure to

4
give it some space to craft other tools he’d blacksmith to use his space affect the
need. But still, he yet couldn’t, some ore city? Did the blacksmith turn into a
was missing and also a way to smelt it. snob? Did he stay humble and started
[...] With the smelter ready, only the ore to put more effort into his craft now
was missing, time for adventure he with the extra gold? Maybe the amount
thought, although, he wasn’t quite certain of gold was enough for him to retire
he’d get any ore using his axe for and spend his time with family.
extraction, this if he even finds any ore.
[...] Smelter is flaming hot, iron is now Or maybe your players are like Jiron
pouring into the mold [...] finally the and want to make everything
perfect shield, or so it is told.” themselves, and that is also okay, how
do you approach that? Let's see…
I think Jiron really nailed this! Did you
see what he did? He didn’t have a way So your players are in the middle of
to go and buy the needed materials so nowhere, they decided to rest and
he had to gather them, searching for eventually found themselves staying
who knows how many days. there for more than a rest. They ended
What was the cost of the item up creating a real shelter, not just
creation? The time he spent exploring some tents with tree leaves protecting,
and gathering, the time consumed in no, they worked hard to chop those
learning and making the mold, the time logs and build a shack, well, it was
consumed on smelting the ore and their first time so it fell a few times,
pouring it to the mold, then giving the before eventually staying up.
final touches to it. After some time away, their weapons
and tools started to break, they’re no
“And what if my players aren’t smelting good now, they need new ones, but
anything?” there’s no shop nearby.

Ah! No trouble then. That means they They already know they have wood,
have a solid piece of, let’s say, iron - if so, maybe they can find some stone
they're crafting weapons, your players too and maybe craft a hatchet, that
might be more interested in could help them. What do they need
woodworking, as an example -, which here? A piece of wood for the handle,
they can put in an oven to heat it and a piece of stone and some way to put
then slam the piece to the desired the stone in place, maybe some
form, for example, a sword. string? Yeah, a string will do… oh, they
Again, what is the added cost to the don’t have a string? Well, maybe one
item creation? None, only the cost of of the players is using cloth, you could
getting the piece of iron and maybe cut a bit to use as string.
renting the space with the oven, if not
owned. The cost? Oh, yeah, nothing.

Now we’re adding to the local I think you get it now.

economy, how do the players paying a

5
Measure The Time It Let’s say your player is making a
dagger, it’s a small weapon, it’s light
Takes To Craft and sharp and a good starter for
novice crafters.

As of now, I’ve been using a simple Let’s say you’re a beginner in the
way of crafting. The player already had crafting world, your first two daggers
the materials and the space. would probably take you one or two
days, your third one, maybe a day and
In terms of gathering, let’s say that it a half...
took Jiron one week to find the iron
ore…

“Scavenging the forest, everyday following Time, Man! Time!

a different path, always leading to nothing
but more trees. Until the last day of the
Sorry, sorry. I sometimes drift away.
week, that day he chose the right path and
stumbled upon a cave, there he found an
If you look into the original crafting
iron vein, mesmerized, he started swinging
system for Dungeons & Dragons, you
his axe, hitting the vein as hard as he
see they use the cost to craft the item
could. [...] He’d reach his home at sunset,
for the time calculation.
accomplished.”
“But you said that items had no cost…”
Can you imagine having to mine using
an axe? You’d certainly never find me I know! I know. I know what I said, and
in that spot. No, no, I’d have my trusty I stand by it! As stated, the cost of the
pickaxe with me. items is only the cost it takes to gather
It seems right that it took him a whole the materials and that can vary, let’s
day to gather some iron, he didn’t have say you’re making a magical item, let’s
the needed tools, he was still able to say you want to craft the staff of the
mine it, but not with the efficiency of a red feather. Needing Norden Kuij
pickaxe. If he had a pickaxe you could Wood, a type of red wood that only
say it took him half a day to get a good grows if a fey passes by it in a
chunk of that vein. Logic and celebratory state. As for the feather,
common-sense is your friend, but be you need to catch the Red Tail Bird
creative with it, it’s fantasy we’re that hides at the top of the highest
talking about. peak. That’s way more expensive than
a rapier in terms of gathering.
“But what about the actual crafting (You got a whole adventure there, two
time?” main quests to one single objective,
getting the materials to craft the staff.)
Yes! You’re right, I’m sorry! How would
someone measure something like
crafting time?

6
The dungeon master already rules the rock he’d found. Three days had passed,
world with his dice alongside him, so six knives Jiron made, the last two being
why let random numbers that don’t the usable ones, took him some time, but
make sense dictate how things he’d finally learn the right technique to
happen. Players have skills and they craft his own skinning knife…”
can improve on them, if a player has
been doing the same thing for some Good for Jiron man!
time now, he’s sure better at it right?
But, here’s different. I’m just narrating
The DM chooses the time it takes to and saying how much time it has
make an item, considering everything. passed. Jiron is not a player, he’s just
Don’t worry I’ll help you with that. a character in a story I’m making up.
He’s not with me telling me what he
wants to do. That’s what will surely
happen at your session, your players
will be telling what they want to craft
Player’s Crafting Ability and you can’t just say: “It took you 3
days and now it’s done and you
How you measure a player's crafting mastered that item crafting technique”
ability (PCA) is up to you - don’t worry, blah blah blah. That’s not very exciting
I’ll be giving you a system to do it. is it?
Maybe the player was able to make
three or four of the same item perfectly
in a row, learning the right technique,
so maybe whenever he tries to make a
See It By Complexity
similar item, even if for the first time, it
won’t take him much time. How complex is the item? Does the
player even know how the item looks
Let’s picture it with Jiron: or is supposed to be made? Does he
have a blueprint for the item?
“Jiron needed more protection from the This will affect how long it takes them
cold, the winter was getting stronger. Pelt to craft it, as said, a dagger could take
was his first though, as he had seen deers one or two days for the first time, but
wander near his shack. no more than half a day after many
The axe was still fine to kill the poor deers, many daggers later. But what if the
but it wouldn’t help when skinning them. dagger has an odd shape to the
Jiron needed a fine, sharp knife. He did blade? That would make it harder even
not waste any time as he grabbed the rest if the player has mastered the crafting
of his iron ore, he smelted it into a full of daggers.
stretched bar of iron, a few cm tall.
Immediately after, he made some changes
to the oven, so it could hold and heat the
bar for him to strike it with the straightest

7
Measure It Measure Player’s Crafting
Ability
Tools And Ability Scores
This here goes for all the tools and
Keep in mind that you may choose to
supplies related to crafting, it works the
use a different ability modifier for any
same way for all of them.
given tools, this is just my take with the
help of other created systems.
Each tool has its PCA lvl. A player can
be lvl 5 in Jeweler’s Tools but be lvl 2
Alchemist’s Intelligence in Carpenter’s Tools.
Supplies

Brewer’s Supplies Wisdom or PCA Lvl Modifier Can Craft

Intelligence
1 +0 Simple
Calligrapher’s Dexterity or
Supplies Charisma 2 +1 Simple

Carpenter’s Tools Strength 3 +2 +Medium

Cartographer’s Intelligence 4 +2 +Medium

Tools
5 +3 +Medium
Cobbler’s Tools Dexterity
6 +3 +Advanced
Cook’s Utensils Wisdom
7 +4 +Advanced
Glassblower’s Constitution
Tools 8 +5 +Advanced

Jeweler’s Tools Intelligence or

Dexterity
How does the player lvl up his crafting
Leatherworker’s Dexterity ability? Well, that’s up to the DM, it can
Tools
be as described earlier by correctly
Mason’s Tools Strength crafting the item some times in a row -
doesn’t mean it has to be on the same
Painter’s Tools Charisma day -, or any other way, maybe the
Potter’s Tools Dexterity player took some classes with some
locals and improved his ability…
Smith’s Tools Strength
Let’s say it has been three months,
Tinker’s Tools Dexterity
and in those three months the player
Weaver’s Tools Dexterity or put at least 4 hours into crafting
Charisma something. That’s experience, for that
Woodcarver’s Dexterity you could give him a lvl up in the
Tools crafting ability. Or maybe he tried his

8
best to craft the most amazing armor crafts it might be more realistic to use
and succeeded, with that knowledge days instead of hours and vice-versa.
he gained a new lvl.
After getting the amount of time sorted
out, the player can choose how many
Time Complexity
hours a day he will give to the crafting.
If you’re working with days, you can
Now yes, we’ll see how long it takes suppose the player does eight hours a
the player to craft the item he wants. day, unless stated otherwise.

Item
Complexity
Die(s) Time (Hours)
Magic Items
Simple 1d4 or Min: 1
1d6+1 Max: 7 While yes, you can buy magical items
in shops, maybe on a town market or
Medium 1d8+5 or Min: 6
2d6+3 Max: 15 in the black market but not all of them
will be available. Or maybe the ones
Advanced 3d6+5 or Min: 10 that are available aren’t for your
2d12+6 Max: 31
needs.

You want your robes to slow you down

Let’s understand the table, you first when falling, you want your sword to
have the Item Complexity, with burst a dark fog that keeps your
simple, medium and advanced, then enemies blind, not capable of seeing
the Dies which you roll to determine you.
the Time it will take. After that,
subtract your PCA modifier from the The local shopkeeper doesn’t seem to
total, without going below the minimum have that, and the black market is no
time. use in the town you are currently in.

Let’s say you’re crafting a simple item Your only option is to do it yourself.
and your PCA lvl is 2. You roll a d6 Grab some iron, some wood for the
and get a 4+1, that’s 5, now subtract handle and your trusty magical friend -
your PCA modifier from that total, at lvl in case you’re not a magic user -, forge
2 your modifier is 1, so it will take you your blade, combine it with the handle
4 days to craft the item. to complete the craft, all that while the
one who controls magic, tries his best
The min and max time is only there to to infuse the item with the requested
serve as a guide, you can opt for enchantment. When the blade and
different values. handle touch, revealing the final form,
a glowing light is seen irradiating from
Time here is being used as Hours and the sword.
not days, but it can depend. For some

9
Concentration is the focus, it’s a tough Constitution roll DC 15 or take a lvl of
job, even for the greatest wizards and exhaustion.
warlocks in the world.

Crafting Magical Items Enchantment DC

Complexity

Simple 5 - 10
As stated briefly previously, someone
who does not possess the capabilities Medium 13 - 17
of controlling magic in any way, is not
capable of crafting a magical item, or, Advanced 19 - 20
in other words, is not capable of Hard 25+
infusing an enchantment in the item.
Needing someone else to do it.
This is checked by rolling a d20 and
To craft a magic item the caster must adding your spell casting ability
already be in a state of concentration modifier.
when the item is about to be finished,
doing so seals the enchantment in it. If
the caster fails to enchant, the item
stays a normal one.
Successfully Crafting
Enchanting and Difficulty The Item
As for the normal items, the difficulty Every day that the player works on his
here lies in the same sector, item he rolls a d20 to check if the
depending on the complexity of the day(or hours) was(were) productive or
requested enchantment. not. If the player fails, all the work he
did that day is lost, so if he had 4 days
If the enchantment is a cantrip, then it of work needed, at the end of the day
won’t probably be a big challenge, but that number wouldn’t go down.
if the player asks for a lvl 6 spell, then
it might get a bit more tricky. On a natural 20 the day went
exceptional, counting as two days. If
If the requested enchantment is a it’s the last day and a natural 20
spell, the caster must be able to cast it occurs, if enchanting the item, the
in order to enchant the item. Note that caster gets a +2 as a bonus to his roll.
the spell is not casted, it does not use
a spell slot. If a player rolls a natural 1, the craft is
ruined by his mistake and he must
If the enchantment complexity is Hard start from the beginning if he wishes.
the caster must succeed on a

10
For magical items, the caster only rolls
his d20 on the last day - assuming it’s
Item Power
more than one day, but it’s the same if
it’s only 1 hour -, when the item is When successfully crafting a magical
about to be concluded. item, you then roll for the item power
as rarity. Here’s the table so you know
The DC can be chosen by the DM or what can come out.
from the Enchanting and Difficulty
table, it stays the same until the craft is
done.
Enchantment Item Power Die
Complexity

Customize It Simple Common & d4

Uncommon

Let the player tell about the item he Medium Uncommon d4

& Rare
made, about the shape, the colors,
how the materials ended up looking, Advanced Rare, Very d6
etc.. It's his item. Rare &
Legendary
If it bursts out flames, what is their Hard Very Rare, d6
color? Do the flames burn objects, or Legendary
is it just an effect? Go wild with it. & Artifact

Depending on the Enchantment

Complexity the item will be one of two
or three choices, determined by the
roll. Roll the corresponding die,
dividing it into groups, so on a Simple
Complexity with a d4, 1-2 would be
common and 3-4 would be uncommon,
etc…

Pricing

Pricing user created items, this, as

you’ll find out, is the hard part. I mean,
they made the item, they now want to
sell it for as much as possible,
forgetting that an economy exists and
that maybe, no one in the town will buy
a simple shortsword for 25gp. For this
matter, I came with a solution.

11
Magical Items See how common sense enters here?
Just trust it. Let it in.

Item Complexity Pricing

What Can You Craft?
Simple Item base price * 1,9

Medium Item base price * 2,6 Anything. No really, anything. You can
Advanced Item base price * 3,8 craft whatever the hell you want. You
built your house? Why not build some
Hard Item base price * 5,4 furniture.. What if you learned pottery
and made some plates or mugs.
So an item whose base price is 30gp, Maybe you’re close to a river, why not
if enchanted with a cantrip, can be invest some time and build a mill?
priced at at least 57gp. (30gp*1,9=57
gp) The opportunities are endless, your
only boundary is when you stop
Still, for some items, the player would yourself from being creative. Don’t do
probably have to negotiate a bit to get that.
a good deal.

Normal Items Gathering

For normal items you use the item
base price times 1,3 to get the pricing.
This one is also very important, this is
the way that players will use to get
most of the resources they need to
Items Category craft. It can be a dragon scale or a
wolf’s tooth, maybe a type of herb they
need, it can be anything that makes
What’s a simple, medium and sense for said item.
advanced complexity item? How do we
define them as such? For this, I just go Manage gathering as you manage any
with common sense, as stated before, other activity, the player goes to the
a dagger would be a simple complexity wild and is searching for a specific
item, and a greataxe would be a thing.
medium one. A splint or plate armor
would be more complex so it would Is he even in the right place to find that
have an advanced complexity to it, but type of rose?
a robe for the wizard would be more
simple to do.

12
Crafting Recipes Credits

As of now, there are no official recipes “Item Crafting Rules for 5e” by
for item crafting. You basically need to Charles Stapleford
use common sense, once again. A
potion of healing is maybe done with “Dungeons and Dragons Crafting
some kind of herbs and berries. System Needs Work - Here’s How To
Leather armor needs, duh, leather. Fix It” by Joshua Roberts
Common sense is your friend, use it
when determining certain aspects. “Crafting Magic Items: A Guide to
Artifice” by The Arcane Athenaeum

“Resonant Crafting and Enchanting for

So It’s Just That? DnD 5e” by MDF Publications

“The player says, I wanna craft this,

roll the die for the amount of days or
hours needed, then roll the die to see
how the day went and that’s it!?”

Well, that’s basically the whole concept

of d&d right? Then roleplay takes its
part. You can start by asking the player
to tell what he did during those hours.
If he failed, why did he fail? If he
succeeded, maybe he discovered a
new way of doing something, like
some sort of shortcut. As I said, be
creative.

13