Magic Items and Crafting Them in D&D 5e
Guide by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold
Magic items are about as core to Dungeons & Dragons as the Dungeons and Dragons. They’re the reason you delve into the depths, the reason you confront the big bad ancient red dragon, the whole point of some party’s going out into the world. Who doesn’t want riches?
Creating your own magic items is the obvious next step from stumbling into them during your quests for greatness. The existing mechanics aren’t exactly comprehensive for creating most objects, nor particularly transparent, and will require a lot of DM input, but with the guidelines the Dungeon Master’s Guide provides, you can set yourself up to create some magnificent objects during your character’s downtime.
The Anatomy of a Magic Item
Making magic items comes with the understanding of what makes up a magic item
Rarity and Categories
Every magic item in the game has a rarity. It will be Common, Uncommon, Rare, Very Rare, or Legendary. Each tier has some general guidelines for determining their value when traded in gold, and at what levels they should be obtained after at most tables.
Magic Item Rarity
| Rarity | Find Level | Gold Value |
|---|---|---|
| Common | 1st | 50-100 |
| Uncommon | 1st | 101-500 |
| Rare | 5th | 501-5,000 |
| Very Rare | 11th | 5,001-50,000 |
| Legendary | 17th | Over 50,000 |
Like rarity, there are various categories all magic items fit into. They are armor, potions, rings, rods, scrolls, staffs, wands, weapons, or wonderous items. These largely determine where an item is worn or held, limiting a character by the number of specific items they can benefit from.
Attunement
The attunement system further limits how many magical items a character can play with at a time. Whenever a character finishes a short rest spent entirely observing and interacting with a magic item, they can attune to it if they meet all other prerequisites for attuning to it.
A character can normally only be attuned to three items at a time, and an item can typically only be attuned to by one creature at a time.
Attuning to an item reveals any command words and other features of the magic item. Command words tend to be how a magic item’s ability is used, should it have one.
Crafting Magic Items
With an understanding of what goes into a magic item, now we can dive into how to make your own!
Magic item crafting isn’t a guarantee at any table; it is an option DMs can opt to introduce if they so choose. If you want magical item crafting to be a central part of your character, such as if you’re playing an Artificer and want to use your upper tier abilities, talk with your DM prior about magical item crafting, and what, if any, deviations from the core rules they’d want to do.
Crafting Existing Items
Most magic item crafting will build items that already exist in the Player’s Handbook or Dungeon Master’s Guide. This can include Potions of Healing, Bags of Holding, or Immovable Rods. Each will take time to craft, have costs to create, and may require additional work beyond just assembling the pieces and taking the downtime.
Here is the step-by-step process to build your own magic items, with each step showing what you’ll need to progress to the next.
Prerequisites to Craft
In order to create magic items at all, there are some prerequisites you need to meet. First, you need to have spell slots and the ability to cast spells with Spellcasting or a similar feature like Pact Magic.
If a magic item can produce the effect of a spell, you must be able to cast that spell.
Finally, each magic item rarity requires a character to be a certain level or higher to create.
Common and Uncommon magic items can be created by 3rd-level or higher characters. Rare magic items can be crafted by 6th-level or higher characters. Very Rare items can be crafted by 11th-level or higher characters, and Legendary items can be crafted by 17th-level or higher characters.
Step 1: Obtain the Item’s Formula.
To craft any magic item, you first need a formula. These tend to be rewards obtained for quests, or purchasable items from rare merchants.
Purchasing a formula normally costs twice the price of the magic item. For example, a Potion of Healing normally costs 50 gold. A formula, then, would cost 100 gold.
Additionally, no formulas exist for Legendary items. If you are 17th level or higher, you’ll need to find another way to create mythic items like the Ring of Three Wishes.
Step 2: Obtain Tools and Materials.
All magic items require money to make, and that money typically represents specific raw materials that go into production you will have to retrieve.
Others will require specific artisan’s tools, like alchemist’s supplies for brewing potions or smith’s tools for crafting magical armor, or other tools like the herbalism kit, and of those that do, some will also require you to be proficient with said tools.
Potions of Healing and Antitoxin require proficiency with herbalism kits to craft. Other magic items don’t have listed required proficiencies and will be determined by your DM.
As a DM, I’d recommend including proficiency with the necessary tools within the item’s formula.
| Category | Recommended Artisan's Tools and Kits |
|---|---|
| Armor | Smith’s tools, leatherworker’s tools |
| Potion | Alchemist’s supplies, brewer’s supplies, herbalism kit |
| Ring | Jeweler’s tools, smith’s tools |
| Rod | Jelewer’s tools, woodcarver’s tools |
| Scroll | Calligrapher’s supplies, painter’s supplies |
| Staff | Jelewer’s tools, woodcarver’s tools |
| Wand | Jelewer’s tools, woodcarver’s tools |
| Weapon | Jewler’s tools, smith’s tools, woodcarver’s tools |
| Wonderous Item | Any (cobbler’s tools for boots, potter’s tools for jugs, etc.) |
Step 3: Crafting Time
With the formula and necessary tools and materials in hand, you can now spend time creating the item.
The time necessary to craft an item is determined by its cost; for each 25 gold needed to craft the item, a full eight-hour day spent working on the magic item is needed. The following table shows the item rarity, cost, and eight-hour days spent working needed to craft an object:
Crafting Time and Gold Cost
| Rarity | Gold Cost | Crafting Time |
|---|---|---|
| Common | 100 | 4 days |
| Uncommon | 500 | 20 days |
| Rare | 5,000 | 200 days |
| Very Rare | 50,000 | 2,000 days (or 5.5 years) |
| Legendary | 500,000 | 20,000 days (or 55 years) |
As part of this work if an item replicates a spell each of the item’s creators needs to spend one spell slot casting the spell at its lowest level.
When the last 25 gold is spent, you’re done, and have a brand new magic item to use as you please!
Reducing Crafting Time
Other characters can help produce the item to reduce the time needed to craft it.
So long as each person spends the full eight hours assisting, casts any spells required, and meets all the other prerequisites, each creature produces 25 gold’s worth of crafting value to the production.
This easily can half or quarter the time needed, making even Rare magic items obtainable with only a month or two of downtime.
Spell Scrolls and Spell Replicating Items
If a spell replicates a spell effect on use, and that would consume material components, you must consume the material components each cast made during its production instead. Spell Scrolls and other single-cast consumables don’t consume any spell components used when casting until the final cast.
Spell Scrolls and items that replicate spell effects once use the spell’s level to determine its rarity. Generally, higher-level spells have lower usages within their rarity tier and can be bumped up to higher rarity with additional uses available at a given time.
Spell Scrolls
| Rarity | Spell Levels |
|---|---|
| Common | Cantrip, 1st |
| Uncommon | 2nd, 3rd |
| Rare | 4th, 5th |
| Very Rare | 6th, 7th, 8th |
| Legendary | 9th |
Save DC and Spell Attack Roll Modifiers
Spells that force saving throws or make spell attack rolls use the creator’s spell save DC and spell attack modifier used when creating the item, and don’t scale with the characters as their DC and spell attack roll modifier increase.
Crafting Custom Items
Should the items in the Dungeon Master’s Guide not be to your liking, your DM can also enable custom magic item crafting using the rules for creating custom magic items from the Dungeon Master’s Guide.
This has two basic versions: modifying an existing item into one that fits a character’s aesthetic or creating an entirely new item.
Creating new, custom items still follows the core rules that crafting existing magic items follows. You still need a formula, need to be able to cast spells, and will need to spend gold based on the item’s rarity to craft.
Modifying Items
Modifying an item basically takes something that has one category and shifts it to another category, or to a different object within the same category. For example, an Alchemy Jug is a Wonderous Item that produces a bunch of fluids. You could instead shift it from a jug to a waterskin and get functionally the same item, just with a different appearance.
This process tends to feel very organic; if you want to craft a flame tongue, but want it to be a flaming whip instead of a flaming sword, you simply ask your DM if you can swap the weapon type when you get the formula. It’s literally that easy.
Entirely New Items
Creating new items is a bit trickier. For starters, you’ll likely only be able to create items relative to your level and their rarity. 3rd-level characters can create Common and Uncommon items, 6th-level characters can create Rare items, 11th-level characters can create Very Rare items, and 17th-level characters can create Legendary items.
You can use this rarity system as an easy place to start when judging how powerful an item should be; comparing your ideas to other existing items at the rarity you’re crafting can quickly identify if it's within reason.
There are some guidelines presented in the Dungeon Master’s Guide to help with design, and I’ll include some recommendations of my own to aid in crafting unique magic items.
Another easy way to figure out if something is appropriate to craft at its rarity is the level minimum a character needs to be to create the item. If something wouldn’t be unavailable to a character through class abilities at that level, it probably shouldn’t be available as a magic item. When higher level, creating lower rarity options with higher tier abilities becomes more reasonable, making the entire system a lot more flexible and adaptable than it may seem.
Crafting Rarity Guides
Common magic items tend to mimic 1st level or lower spell effects, and typically can only mimic those effects once a day or less. These spell effects also tend to be non-combative. Ritual spells in particular make great common magic items; a once-per-day Speak with Animals kind of spell would be an example. These items don’t typically add any miscellaneous modifiers to ability checks, attack rolls, saving throws, or your difficulty classes.
Uncommon items tend to match the power of generic +1 weapons and armor. A few extra uses of a 1st level condition-based or damaging effect fit this tier. Attaching common magical item effects with +1 to hit and damage can be a unique way to make uncommon items that feel a bit more exciting than a generic +1 longsword. Single-use 2nd level effects can work great here, like a once-per-day Invisibility or a single cast of Hold Person. Multi-use 1st level spell effects, typically capped at 3 to 4, can also work here but will vary in power based on the relative power of the spell. 3rd level spell-like effects crafted by 3rd level characters can feel game-breaking, though, and I’d recommend steering clear of specific spell effects until you reach a level that could access them normally.
Rare magic items have a lot more flexibility. These have a maximum bonus to stats of +2, and room to replicate 3rd-level spells. My recommendations deviate a bit from the Dungeon Master’s Guide, as it recommends a max spell level of 6th, which could result in 5th-level characters being able to craft items capable of mirroring effects like Create Undead and Disintegrate far earlier than the game is ready for. A few extra casts or usages of 3rd level-like spell effects is within reason for this tier, though, including a ring for storing some Revivifies, or a magic item that grants a fly speed. Upper-tier characters with access to 6th-level magic can find rare a great place to put their additional 6th-level spell effects.
Very Rare items require 11th level to craft, and while 8th-level spell-like effects are, once again, way too good for most 11th-level tables, getting 5th-level spell-like effects here can be an easy reference. These kinds of magical effects can replicate power-house effects like Greater Invisibility and Dimension Door a few times per day.
Legendary items are basically open to doing anything. These are matching power with Wish effects, and if you’ve got fifty-five years to craft them, anything from time travel to world-ending explosions probably is on the table. If you want a magic item that can instantly kill gods, it’ll fit into this tier.
Example Custom Magic Items
The following five items are built around a “bat” character theme to go with the Cloak of the Bat, and reference an adequate power for their given rarity.
Each also has a reference tag next to its rarity in parentheses that lists what spells or abilities I referenced in its creation to base its power on.
Ears of the Bat
Wonderous item, Common (Speak with Animals)
The wearer of these ears can comprehend and verbally communicate with bats.
Batwing Boots
Wonderous item, Uncommon (Spider Climb, Levitate)
These boots have 4 charges. While wearing these boots, you can cling upside-down to surfaces and ceilings with the boots, but can’t move while clinging to a surface this way.
Whenever you move on your turn, you can expend a charge from the boots to gain a fly speed equal to your move speed that lasts until the end of the turn.
The boots regain 1d4 charges at midnight.
Bat’s Fang
Weapon (dagger), Rare, Requires Attunement (Vampiric Touch)
You have a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with the Bat’s Fang.
This dagger has 3 charges. Whenever you damage a creature with your Bat’s Fang, you can expend one charge to regain hit points equal to the damage dealt this way. If you would regain more hit points than you’ve lost, the remainder becomes temporary hit points that last for 1 minute.
The Bat’s Fang regains 1d3 charges at midnight.
Night Hunter’s Tunic
Armor (studded leather), Very Rare, Requires Attunement (Passwall, Greater Invisibility)
You have a +2 bonus to AC while wearing this armor. While wearing the armor, you have Darkvision out to 120 feet, blindsight out to 60 feet, and can see in magical darkness as if it were regular darkness.
While wearing the armor, as a reaction when a creature you can sense makes an attack roll against you, you can create a shroud of darkness. A 30 ft. radius sphere of darkness emanates from you that lasts for 1 minute.
Once used, you can’t use this ability again until next midnight.
One With the Night
Ring, Legendary, Requires Attunement (9th level cast Create Undead, Meteor Swarm)
This mythical ring was used by a vampire lord to assume complete control of the monsters of the night, namely bats.
As an action while wearing the ring, you can summon monsters of darkness to your aid. Choose a point within 120 feet of you. A 15 ft. radius sphere of magical darkness appears and with it your choice of five swarms of bats or five giant bats under your control. The sphere of darkness lasts for 1 minute.
The summoned creatures share your initiative count and act immediately after your turn. You can mentally command them, no action required by you, and you can command them all to take the same or different actions.
On each subsequent turn, as a bonus action you can spawn an additional five giant bats or five swarms of bats that continue to act under your control while the darkness persists. They act on the same initiative count as the other summoned creatures this way.
Non-bat creatures take 10d10 necrotic and 10d10 piercing damage when they enter the darkness for the first time on their turn or start their turn there.
When the darkness vanishes, all creatures summoned with the One With the Night disappear.
Once you use this ability, you can’t again until the next full moon, or until a sufficient sacrifice is made.
Problems With This Version of Crafting
This version of crafting can suit many tables well enough, especially ones with ample downtime, or focusing largely on common and uncommon magic item crafting. There are some glaring issues, though, that will make it hard for a lot of groups to find it worthwhile.
Costs Don’t Add Up
A clear issue comes in terms of cost. Uncommon magic items typically cost in a range from 100-500 gold, yet with the base rules, every uncommon magic item will cost the full 500 gold to create.
This gold barrier on top of already needing to obtain a formula for twice the price of the item puts you hundreds of gold in the hole. If you could buy the formula, you probably could have bought the item for half the price. Instead of crafting it yourself, for often far more than it's worth, buying the item will save you hundreds of gold. Even the most expensive uncommon items will still be net cheaper to buy than produce on your own outside of the Artificer class.
Needing to find magic item formulas, purchase them, then subsequently spend more gold than they cost to create an item yourself is nonsensical. It can be a way to obtain otherwise unpurchasable items, but at a lot of tables with high magic and rampant magic item sales, this isn’t that meaningful. At tables without a high density of magic item markets, just finding the formula can be near impossible anyway, leaving magical crafting as something to spend money on for fun, not something that actually enhances your character sheet.
Formulas
Conceptually, formulas make a lot of sense for gating what items are available to the players. Opening up the floodgates to let players craft whatever they can afford from the Dungeon Master’s Guide could be majorly disruptive to gameplay.
Unfortunately, formulas create a massive creative gate that limits magic item crafting substantially. Characters, rules as written, don’t have ways to create their own formulas, nor do they have means of experimenting around with their tools and magic to craft without formulas.
Ability Checks Using Tools
You might notice something a bit odd about crafting magic items: there are no ability checks made throughout the process. This can make proficiency with the tools you’re using to craft said items unimportant, as normally all proficiency with the tools does is let you add your bonus to checks made when using the tools, nor does it state these proficiencies are required to craft items at all with beyond herbalism kit proficiency being a prerequisite for crafting antitoxins and Potions of Healing.
Easy Adjustments to Enhance Magical Crafting
If you want to implement some small patches to help the system work better for your table, you can try out the following mechanics to address some of the system's common issues.
Faster Crafting
By far the easiest change to adjust how magical crafting works is to directly reduce the time it takes to make magic items with formulas. Needing to spend eight hours a day crafting can make them feel impossible to obtain while adventuring; by replacing this method with a less time-intensive method, such as allowing crafting to occur over a short rest once a day, characters can more reasonably build magic items as the game progresses.
Creating Formulas
Formulas would be the next pain point I’d look to address. Should formulas not be abundant, giving players the means to create their own formulas for items they want could be a route to explore. Consider this method for enabling creating formulas:
Once per day, over a short rest or over an hour during a long rest, a character can do research to develop a magic item formula. That character makes an ability check with a related skill, tool, or kit proficiency with a DC set by the item’s rarity. On a success, the character progresses towards creating the formula, creating the formula after a specific number of successes based on the rarity of the item.
The following table has recommended DCs for research checks and the number of successful checks to develop the item formula.
Recommended Formula Research DCs
| Rarity | Research DC | Successes Needed |
|---|---|---|
| Common | 10 | 3 |
| Uncommon | 13 | 5 |
| Rare | 17 | 10 |
| Very Rare | 20 | 30 |
| Legendary | 25 | 60 |
Price Adjustments
The final easy change I’d look to make would be a reduction in item cost, specifically for common and uncommon items. Instead of basing the price on the item's rarity alone, I’d start by basing the cost of creation on the item’s actual price. Next, I’d consider halving all the gold costs associated with them, including the cost per day from 25 gold to 12.5 gold, to let the time spent making up for a large part of the cost and actually let items sell for more than they cost to produce.
Making Magic Items is a Blast
When not done with the express intent of breaking the game balance in half, magical item crafting can be deeply rewarding. If you’re in the market to build your own magic sword that spews flames or a flying carpet with some personality, I’d talk to your DM about it. Link them to this piece if they’re unsure of the crafting rule.
Now go forth and build yourself a magnificent set of epic gear!
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