Manufacturing Rules

Despite an adventurer’s best efforts, they’re probably going to end up with one or two pieces of nonmagical gear. Someone needs to make those items, and the following manufacturing rules put that power in the players’ hands. To manufacture a mundane item, a creature needs three things: materials, a tool, and time. In some cases, At the GM’s discretion, a creature might also need auxiliary equipment. Let’s take a longsword as an example.

Materials & Cost

As a rule of thumb, the material cost of an item is one-third of its purchase value. Thus a 15-gp longsword requires 5 gp of raw materials. The GM has great latitude in deciding what these mundane materials might be. The tables below summarise the material cost of different mundane items.

Difficult Materials

Some materials are easier to work with than others. For example, dragon scales are especially tough, requiring leatherworkers to employ advanced techniques. When using a difficult or unusual material in the manufacture of an item, the GM can add +5 to the DC. Examples of this might include armour made of bark, monster hide, or dragon scales; weapons made of bone or silver; and anything made of mithral or adamantine.

Abilities & Tools

Manufacturing an item requires a tool. The tool required depends on the item’s type. The GM has great latitude in deciding if a tool is applicable or not, and has the final say on the tool required for any item. In addition, different tools require different abilities to use them. Some tools, like carpenter’s tools, grant a choice of abilities, much like how finesse weapons let you choose Strength or Dexterity when making an attack roll. See the table for a breakdown of tools, abilities, and item types.

Tool Proficiency

Proficiency with a tool isn’t necessary to attempt a Crafting check that requires that tool. If a character does not have the required proficiency, it can still make the check, albeit with disadvantage. At the GM’s discretion, this disadvantage can be avoided if the character receives guidance from a book or a creature with the requisite proficiency (help action).

Difficulty & Flavor

Mundane items have a manufacturing DC associated with their item type; the more complex the item, the higher the DC. See the Manufacturing DC table below for the full breakdown.

Check

To manufacture an item, a creature must gather the required equipment, materials, and tools, and spend the requisite time crafting the item. This time need not be continuous. At the end of the crafting time, a creature makes a Manufacturing check using proficiency with the appropriate tool. A success on this check results in a completed item.

Example: Steel Longsword Manufacturing

Materials: 5 gp steel ingots
Time: 24 hours (3 workdays)
Tools: Smith’s tools
Auxiliary Equipment: Forge & anvil
Manufacturing Check: DC 17 Strength (smith’s tools)

Tools and Their Products Table

Manufacturing DC Table

Armor Crafting Costs & Properties Table

Weapon Crafting Costs & Properties Table