Step 3: Find a Workshop

Crafting magical items also requires a suitably equipped Work shop to create the item, such as a blacksmith’s forge, arcane laboratory, or artisan’s studio. While a typical blacksmith’s forge is fine for making steel, it is ill-suited to working with dragon bone, demonic animus, troll’s blood, and elemental earth!

In addition to providing all the tools and equipment necessary, a Workshop also supplies all mundane materials needed for crafting magic items. A forge has an ample supply of coal, iron, and steel, for example, whereas an arcane laboratory or artisan studio has paper, inks, chemicals, and other materials characters would logically need to supplement the monster Components

Workshop Rarity

Like monster parts, each Workshop has a rarity from Common to Legendary. The Workshop’s rarity corresponds to the maxi mum rarity of the magic items which may be created working there. Creating a Rare magic item requires a Rare Workshop, but a Legendary Workshop could be used to fashion an Un common magic item, for example.

Common Workshops

These Workshops are made for fashioning everyday mundane equipment, and usually lack the specialized and magical tools needed for making magic items. However, they’re usually sufficient for making Common magic items, or consumables such as potions and scrolls.

Uncommon Workshops

Characters can find Uncommon Workshops in towns and larger settlements. Examples include the finest blacksmith’s forge in the region, or a typical wizard’s tower.

Rare Workshops

Rare Workshops are usually only found in large cities. These impressive facilities are equipped with state-of-the art tools and machinery, and able to import the finest raw materials from around the world.

Very Rare Workshops

Very Rare Workshops are built with access to a notable power source used to channel the great heat or mighty arcane forces needed to work with rare and valuable materials. Examples could include an adamantine forge located along a magma flow, or an arcane university channeling the energy of a Thin Place.

Legendary Workshops

A Legendary Workshop is a one-of-a-kind place built in special locations due to the magical phenomena present. Indeed, these storied places are seldom found in the Mortal World at all and may require travel to other dimensions or worlds.

Workshop Quests

Locating a suitable Workshop can be a quest all on its own. However, a Game Master may wish to add an additional com plication or problem:

• The Workshop’s power source has been damaged or stolen, and the characters must retrieve a replacement and conduct necessary repairs.
• The Workshop has run out of raw materials or fuel. For example, a dwarven forge relied on a nearby iron mine which has been overrun by monsters, or bandits raided the supply caravans supplying alchemical materials for an apothecaries’ lab. The characters must recover the Components or deal with the issue before the Workshop can be used.
• The Workshop is owned or run by a powerful individual or faction who will not allow the characters to use it until they complete a mission to prove their worthiness or demonstrate their capabilities.