Magic Items

Hello All Note that we have reached 3rd level, per the DMG, we are now able to create common or uncommon magic items. In Eberron, there is no point in creating common magic items, as they can be purchased, and they're cheaper to buy than to make. However, uncommon magic items are open game. This post is a proposal to Koop, and everyone else, as to how we can interpret the magic item creation rules. Regarding Eberron Dragonshards, this is what is says:  This dragonshard dust can be used to fuel almost any act of magic. When casting a spell, you can use dragonshard dust in place of any spell component that has a cost, unless the DM says otherwise. Dragonshard dust is used in the creation of magic items Koop granted us Eberron dragonshards, but we do not have an equivalent gold value in Dragonshards. I believe, for simplicity, that if we know the equivalent gold value for these dragonshards, then we can use that to offset the creation costs of items. The Crafting Magic Items (per the DMG) has a creation cost of 500gp for uncommon items, which is spent in 25gp/day increments. So, an uncommon item takes 20 working days (8 hours a day) to complete. In addition, the crafter must have the appropriate proficiency, smith tools, etc. Multiple people can work together on a single item. So, Sonn and Thornduk could work together building a suit of armor, and it would take 10 days instead of 20, but still cost 500gp. So, I would like to propose the following. Koop - can you please confirm the dragonshard gold value that we can use toward building magic items. Would you allow using dragonshards to reduce the time it takes to build items as well? Thornduk fully offers his services to commission items as requested by party members. (he is proficient in basically everything, so everything would be an option, subject to Koop's approval. Sonn and potentially Gnipity could also offer their services, but I will let them add their own voice. Each party member can post below their #1 uncommon magic item that they would like, which they must provide their own materials, as well as provide a favour (likely a downtime favour, helping research, or volunteering at a church, etc) Thornduk will be working on his own item first, but with limited gold, we can only afford 1, so there will be options to build others. The order in which they are built is subjective, but I would recommend those that wish a magic weapon, and lack the ability to deal magic damage, should become a priority. Koop, please of course add any changes that you feel more appropriate for your game. I have personally never used the magic item creation rules, so I have no frame of reference or valid feedback on any of the above. Having said this, I think if everyone wants to post their #1 uncommon magic item, and we can see if we agree on an timeline to have them made. Each item will need to be approved by Koop before we proceed. Thoughts?  

(EDITS: Ah, shoot! Re-reading the XGE and DMG rules, I'm appreciating more that they are parallel and not entirely consistent. Please bear with me--some additional edits below.) Steve, thanks for getting this started. Yes, the crafting magic items rules are complicated--and spread out over three rule books, including DMG, XGE, and Eberron--and this is my first time using them, too! So we'll all work through this together. All good. Yes, my intention in providing Eberron dragonshards to Sonn and Thornduk was to allow them to be used in casting or crafting magic items, if desired. To be clear, common magic items in Eberron are  cheap and readily easily obtained-- but  the reason for that is the availability of Eberron dragonshards. So now y'all have some, too. And that would reduce your crafting costs for common items accordingly. See Eberron p.281--any common magic item that's not consumable takes 32 hours and 50 gp with a dragonshard (which is consumed in the process), half that for consumable items like a potion or scroll. But I also get that y'all wouldn't use up your dragonshards on common items. So, moving on! :-) At 3rd level, y'all can craft "uncommon" items. "Rare" items become available at 6th level. (DMG p.129) The Eberron rules don't specify a set cost by which a dragonshard reduces the cost of an uncommon or rarer item. From a super-quick scan of the Interwebs, I see some reference to Eberron dragonshards having an equivalent of 100 gp in cost reduction for an uncommon or rarer item. So let's go with that for now, unless others have better ideas! That's roughly a 20% reduction in cost--and time, I'd say--for any one uncommon item. The dragonshard gets consumed in the crafting, as per common items. Now, per the DMG (edit: and XGE, p.129), "a character must have a formula that describes the construction of the item." While that could technically halt the entire process, that's not my intention. Let's assume that Thornduk and the crew could, through House Kundarak, come up with the formula for most uncommon items. In game terms--just let me know ahead of time which item(s) you want to craft so that I can approve. I doubt I'd disapprove any--I'm just not familiar enough with the D&D 5E magic items to know off-hand which ones are unbalanced. I assume that at least the uncommon items aren't terribly unbalancing, and we can figure out what to do about rarer stuff--and the XGE quest rules relating to them--later. As far as who can assist with the physical crafting of the item: anyone can contribute money and materials, but the folks contributing time to   leading (edit: oops, read the rules wrong; anyone can contribute to the crafting process) the crafting have to be spellcasters with spell slots of the appropriate level. DMG pp. 128-29. I'd include Vellios's arcane trickery and Tari's pact magic in the leading the process  category for these purposes. Sound good so far? Let's keep the discussion going! (EDIT: So, I realize that I'm striking some balances here between the DMG rules, the XGE rules, and the Eberron setting. XGE gives lower costs and crafting times for magic items, but adds  a quest requirement. For uncommon items--Steve C. and I discussed this in the past--we're ignoring the quest requirement, putting us back in the realm of the DMG crafting rules, with higher cost and time requirements. Without having been forced to the decision point, I haven't yet fully thought through how we'll reconcile these two parallel sets of rules for rarer items. My inclination, though, is that rare and higher magic items might  follow the XGE rules and include some form of a quest requirement for the "rare" component, "recipe," or both. We haven't gotten there, obviously--and won't until the party hits 6th level, which is unlikely to happen until Episode 5, at the earliest. So we have time to figure this out together. Hopefully these decisions make sense so far. I'm open to suggested alternatives!)

Thanks for that. With this 20% discount in time/cost, an uncommon item will take 400gp and 16 days. 2 People = 8 Days 3 People = 5.3 Days 4 People = 4 Days Koop, with your approval, I would like to start building Headband of Intellect Wondrous Item, uncommon (requires attunement) Your Intelligence score is 19 while you wear this headband. It has no effect on you if your Intelligence is 19 or higher without it. Thanks very much.

Steve, got it! Yes, I saw that you had posted the Headband of Intellect. Not that Thornduk needs it, of course. That's totally okay and well within House Kundarak's range of schema--makes sense, actually. Approved. As you noted, the total time to construct the item will depend on (1) available downtime and (2) number of teammates contributing time to construction. So start recruiting your friends and teammates now! :-) Koop

I would like either of the following:  Sentinel Shield, +1 battleaxe.  I will be happy to assist in any way necessary. 

Both a Sentinel Shield (uncommon) and any Weapon +1 (uncommon) are items House Kundarak would know how to build; approved. 

Headband of Intellect!  I was going to start looking into if that was an option being all my casting is intel-based. Steve(s) how could I "lead the process" and cast smarter not harder officially?

Sonn would definitely be willing to help out with item creation as needed during downtime.  In terms of proficiencies, he has smith's, jeweler's, and mason's tools.  Depending on the item, I suppose it is possible his channel divinity item creation ability could also potentially contribute somehow. While there are a number of uncommon magical items that would be useful for Sonn, I don't think there is anything he needs immediately, so I think we should focus on other characters first.  That said, something like a Pearl of Power would be pretty nice to have eventually, especially if we ever get in a situation where Sonn is forced to do a lot of healing. \ EDIT: I forgot to mention it, but in the short term, I can also make any party member's weapon a +1 magic weapon for 24hours at the start of every day with my forge blessing ability.  So far, I've just been using the ability on my own armor to raise my AC, but after that last battle, it seems like it may be more useful on Kodiak's or Sedriss's axe. 

Steve or Emmett could one of you assist me with the Headband of Intellect? Also I want to clarify what loot has been divvied up because I want to make I'm I am on the same page with the party. (I also want to make sure I can fund the headband) What did house  Kundarak pay us each, 150G I thought but now I'm not sure. Thanks

WR138 (Kevin C) said: Steve or Emmett could one of you assist me with the Headband of Intellect? Also I want to clarify what loot has been divvied up because I want to make I'm I am on the same page with the party. (I also want to make sure I can fund the headband) What did house  Kundarak pay us each, 150G I thought but now I'm not sure. Thanks Hi Kevin Yes, happy to help, I think the three of us can work on two of them, take 11 days to make two. I believe the house paid 150gp each. This was NOT recorded in the party loot, as this was paid individually. The party loot has not yet been divided, but we can do that at the next opportunity. I'm sure Gnipity will want the scrolls to add them to his spellbook. 

ok, 150 is what I had so if the cost is 400G then I'm still short until that gets split. Not the end of the world. :)

Hey folks--a couple of quick DM asides. Pearl of Power: approved. House Kundarak would have the schema-recipe for such an item. Not that the PCs would know this, but Episode 3 will start rather abruptly and there will be a limited number of days of downtime between their last adventure (Episode 2) and the upcoming adventure. I mention it just to facilitate thoughts on magic item crafting. While any crafting is incremental by days and the crafters don't lose their progress if interrupted, I wanted folks to be aware that they may not complete multiple items in the available time. It's up to you whether to start multiple projects at the same time or prioritize a few or even one. :-) Carry on! :-)

Is there a way Sedriss can commission Thornduk to make him Darkvision googles because his not being able to see anything at all has gotten in the way many times.

Benjamin F. said: Is there a way Sedriss can commission Thornduk to make him Darkvision googles because his not being able to see anything at all has gotten in the way many times. There are two options we have. 1. I can start working on goggles of night for you, which take 20 days. 2. Or, I can use one of my infusions to give you a pair of goggles of night after a long rest. To do this though, I would sacrifice my infusion for my magic weapon.  I am willing to offer a trade. Let me utilize your +1 sword, I will give you immediate goggles of night (which you can begin using once I finish a long rest). After which I will start building a permanent pair of goggles of night, which take 20 days per the above. (The long rest infusions are a special ability of the artificer) if this works for you, then you’ll get night vision right away, otherwise, we can get you night vision in 20 days (and 500gp in materials) thoughts?

It seems to me that doing it the slow way will allow us both to keep our combat skills at full power which I am more I favor of. Particularly as we seem to be fighting tough enemies. But if you think it would be better to do the second thing I am game.