Creation of Magic Items

Introduction

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General Requirements

If working alone, the creator can only create magic items with effects from their known spells or any spell scrolls they have available at the time of creation.

A more powerful caster or a caster of a different class assisting with the creation allows for more diverse magical options by contributing their own known spells.

Some form of natural energy (running water, burning fire, transforming earth, or solar heating) is required to prepare an item for storing magic.

Some materials require active collection and application of the energy (lacquering, forging, polishing, etc.) while others can passively collect it at a location of natural elemental energy (placing materials in a tended campfire, a rushing stream, the roots of a growing tree, etc.).

Magic Items can combine multiple raw materials (like a metal knob at the end of a wooden staff), but a separate Creation Roll must be performed for each unique type of core material.

Magical Affinities

Each material used in the creation of a magic item has certain natural affinities for magic, colloquially known as a Primary Affinity and a Secondary Affinity. All natural materials can possess magical properties up to the equivalent of a 3rd level spell, regardless of school of magic. Working with a material's affinity, however, can allow for the magic item to reach daunting new heights.

While not specified here, it should be noted that even though a material's affinity can theoretically allow for it to hold a 9th level spell, does not mean that all material of the same type is equal. A rusted brass sword is not likely to be able to withstand the power it takes to cast the Meteor Swarm spell. The more powerful spell being imbued into the item, the rarer its base material should be. And if the raw material itself is not particularly rare, then there should be some additional magical reinforcement done to prepare it for the reception of powerful magic.

 

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Creating a Magic Item from Scratch

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Time Requirements

One day per charge per maximum spell level. For example, a metal rod with 3 charges of a 3rd level Fireball spell will take a total of 9 dedicated days from the start of the process to the end to create.  

Requirements Based on Item's Core Material

Each magic item has a core material type (metal, wood, cloth, etc.), which each has its own unique processes to become capable of storing magical energy for incredibly extended periods of time as well as natural affinities towards certain schools of magic. In this section, we provide an overview of the steps required to create a magic item from each commonly used base material as well as the magical affinities for each.

As a simple rule of thumb, a material can accept spells up to 9th level of the school of its Primary Affinity and spells up to 6th level of the school of its Secondary Affinity. All schools of magic outside of these two specified affinities can only reach up to 3rd level with the listed material.

 

Metal

Proficiency Required: Smith’s Tools

Primary Affinity: Evocation

Secondary Affinity: Abjuration

General Process: Runes inscribed while forging (when the metal is hot, the heat stores the initial energy for the magic).

 

Wood

Proficiency Required: Woodcarver’s Tools for hand-held objects or Carpenter's Tools for objects that are part of vehicles or architecture.

Primary Affinity: Conjuration

Secondary Affinity: Evocation

General Process: A spell is inscribed on a seed or fruit, and when the plant grows, its bark, branches and wood will be able to store the magical effect inscribed upon its planting. Normally this process takes years for the plant to grow, but experienced druids can accelerate the plant’s growth for quicker returns.

 

Jewels

Proficiency Required: Jeweler’s Tools

Primary Affinity: Illusion

Secondary Affinity: Enchantment

General Process: The spell sigil is inscribed into the jewel, then the jewel is left either in running water, an active forge, or buried in the roots of a large tree until the jewel can naturally contain magical energy.

The power of the elemental source must be reflective of the power of the sigil. More powerful magic requires larger plants, hotter fires, more furious waves and currents.

 

Leather

Proficiency Required: Tanner’s Tools (or Cobbler’s Tools if making shoes)

Primary Affinity: Abjuration

Secondary Affinity: Necromancy

General Process: The magic sigil is inscribed into the leather during the tanning process using magic chalk of the same kind that would be used for the casting of a Teleportation Circle.

 

Cloth

Proficiency Required: Weaver’s Tools

Primary Affinity: Enchantment

Secondary Affinity: Conjuration

General Process: Requires expertly weaving the sigil of magic into the material itself during the process of creating the article of clothing.

 

Bones

Proficiency Required: Painter’s Supplies

Primary Affinity: Necromancy

Secondary Affinity: Divination

Additional Materials: Lacquer

General Process: The craftsman paints or etches the sigil onto the bone, then the bone is lacquered to protect the bone and the sigil from the elements.

 

Glass

Proficiency Required: Glassblower’s Tools

Primary Affinity: Transmutation

Secondary Affinity: Illusion

General Process: The sigil is worked into the glass while it is hot and malleable.

 

Clay

Proficiency Required: Potter's Tools

Primary Affinity: Divination

Secondary Affinity: Transmutation

General Process: Hand-building a work of pottery with the hand-drawn inscription of the magical effect in a layer of the clay. It can be on an outer layer (on the inside or outside of the final product), or it can be internally hidden within the clay with a particularly skillful roll.

 

Paper

Proficiency Required: Calligrapher's Supplies

Primary Affinity: Any

General Process: Inscribing a specially prepared paper with magical ink to inscribe the sigils and symbols of the desired magic spells. This is how Spell Scrolls are created.

 

Standard Creation Roll

The DC to successfully inscribe a magic sigil on a would-be magic item is typically a base of 10 + Spell Level for a normal crafting process where the symbol of magic is clearly visible on the end product. Cantrips count as 0 for calculating DC. Items created using the standard creation process do not require attunement.

Paper is the simplest and easiest material to work with, therefore, the DC for creating Spell Scrolls is significantly lower. Creating a paper-based magic item only requires a base DC of 4 + Spell Level with the appropriate tools, and a flat cost of 25 gp for the materials.

 

Assisted Crafting

The creating craftsman will sometimes contract an assistant with more powerful magic capabilities than themselves to create more potent magic items. When multiple individuals are contributing to the creation of a magic item, the Crafting DC goes up by 5 due to the need for precise coordination, but the craftsman is also granted advantage for their Crafting Roll as with the Help action.  

Failing Forward (Standard Creation Rolls Only)

Failing a standard creation roll will cause the final result to have a single unexpected modified effect that generally (but not always) weakens the original desired effect, as specified by the DM.

For example, a failed Scorching Ray scroll might only release 2 projectiles instead of 3, or the damage dice per projectile might be reduced or converted to a lesser die. Alternatively, if the DM does not wish to directly diminish the end result, the range or damage type of the spell can also be modified.

When failing in this manner, the modified result becomes something the craftsman can recreate intentionally in future crafting attempts or in regular spellcasting.

 

Modified/Specialized Creation Roll

A modified crafting process where the inscription of magic is hidden in some fashion on the object (e.g., between layers of cloth, in the marrow of a bone, integrating it into the shape of the object itself, etc.) or some kind of restriction of use of the item (e.g., attunement, alignment restrictions, class restrictions, etc.) can be attempted by adding 5 to the calculated Crafting DC. Failing the roll in this fashion destroys the raw materials, so attempt this method with care.

Each additional restriction past the first one adds +2 to the Creation Roll DC.

 

Determining Quality/Effects of Final Result

Beat Creation DC by 2, Item naturally recovers a portion of its charges (minimum of 1) at dawn.

Beat Creation DC by 5, Item naturally recovers all of its charges at dawn.

Beat Creation DC by 10 or roll a Natural 20, the final product becomes capable of a permanent effect (listed below)

Become a Passive Effect

Lose the ability to "activate" the item and instead gain a Flat Bonus based on the original spell, such as Bracers of Defense (Shield), Bracers of Dexterity (Enhance Ability, Cat's Grace), Belt of Hill Giant Strength (Enhance Ability, Bull's Strength), resistance to a damage type (Absorb Elements), etc.

Items that boost a stat while in use are based on the Enhance Ability or Curse spells. The amount of increase/decrease depends on the spell slot level used during creation.

If the infused spell has a damage type, the magic item adds an extra damage die to its base damage of the same damage type as the spell. You can still cast the infused spell. Ideal for weapon-based magic items.

Create an Activated Mode

For X rounds/minutes, the item gains an effect that the user can make use of based on the infused spell. The amount of times the Mode can be used is equal to the amount of charges the original spell item would have had. The Mode charges recovers at dawn or if a mage recharges it prematurely by casting an equivalent spell into the item.

Examples

A weapon that can use Green Flame Blade or Booming Blade repeatedly for X rounds.

A breastplate that can use a modified version of Evard's Black Tentacles to add an additional bonus action attack for the wearer.

A Ring of Scorching Ray could become a ring that grants fire whips like the Fang of the Fire Snake feature certain Monks have.

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Imbuing an Existing Mundane Object with Magic

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Turning an existing object into a magic item is a simpler process to accomplish, but requires more powerful energies and has certain limitations. For the sake of making magical properties permanent, additional magic is required to turn a mundane object into an object whose magic is mostly permanent.

 

Enchantment Roll

Before either method of lasting magical enchantment can be attempted, a skill check with the appropriate tools (as listed under Requirements Based on Item's Core Material) must be made to successfully etch or enscribe the magical sigil into the target medium.

The DC to successfully inscribe a magic sigil on a would-be enchanted item is 3 + Spell Level using the appropriate tools for the item's base material. Unlike magic items created from raw materials, this sigil cannot be totally obscured from view on the target item.

 

Methods of Enchantment

There are two primary ways of turning a mundane object into a magical one:

Continuous Casting

After the sigil is carved, the spell must be cast repeatedly at least once a day on the object for a total of 10 weeks per level of the imbued spell (80 days in Eritaam). For cantrips, the required time is equal to 3 weeks of repeated casting.

Limitations

Takes the longest time investment of all methods.

Some spells cannot be imbued due to incompatibility with the target object's material.

E.g. A fire spell cannot be imbued into a wooden object in this fashion, as the wood would be burned every day.

Permanency Magic

Permanency magic is a powerful form of magic that causes other magics to persist for seemingly infinite amounts of time. Only powerful wizards seem to be able to access this kind of magic, and so magic items created in this fashion are exceedingly rare, as they tend not to leave the hands of their creators willingly.

Required Spells:

Contingency: To artificially store a spell onto a surface.

Permanency (a rare 8th Level Wizard Spell): To make the Contingency placed on the object permanent and repeatable until Permanency is dispelled.

The spell or a spell scroll of the spell to be imbued into the object.

Limitations

Magic Items created in this fashion can only have one charge of a spell per casting of the Contingency spell.

The magic can be fully unmade on the item with a successful casting of Dispel Magic on the Permanency effect.

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Recharging Magic Items

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Unlike traditional D&D, wherein most magic items with a specified amount of charges regain them over time, most (but not all) magic items that exist in Eritaam and its lands must be recharged manually. For a magic item to be recharged, the spell it contains (or a spell of a similar affect to the item's magical properties) must be cast upon it to restore a charge. In simple terms, most magic items created in Eritaam work conceptually similar to the Ring of Spell Storing, but with less limitations on the amount of charges or level of spell that is contained in the object.