Enchanting
There are two forms of enchanting which can be attempted by a character capable of spell casting.
You attempt to create and store a temporary effect which can imbued on armor or weapons for a short period of time. This can usually be attempted over a short rest or long rest. The magical effect is usually stored in a gem, which is consumed upon activating the enchantment (usually by crushing the gem against the object being enchanted).
You may attempt to create a temporary enchantment which is related to a spell you know by expending 2 spell slots of the spell's level, and performing a successful spell casting ability check with a DC equal to 10 plus the level of the spell being used. If you have access to an enchanting table, the skill check is made with advantage, and you only need to expend one spell slot to create the enchantment.
The spell capacity of different gemstones is shown in the following table:
For example, if you know the Burning Hands spell, you may attempt to create an enchantment which allows a weapon to deal an additional 1d6 fire damage for 3 hits (totalling the fire damage of the spell used). Similarly, if you used a second level burning hands (which deals 4d6), you could create an enchantment which allows a weapon to deal an additional 1d6 fire damage for 4 hits, or 1d8 fire damage for 3 hits.
While creating a magic item, a character must use all of their time and magical resources for each day spent working. This means that characters working on an enchantment have no available spell slots, and if a character working on enchanting casts a spell for purposes other than enchanting, that day of progress is lost.
You may opt to work at a slower speed, which requires only half of the day spent enchanting, and half of your spell slots consumed, but will double the duration required for the item creation (every two days of slow work counts as only one day of progress).
If following a recipe, the item is guaranteed to be created successfully after finishing the work, and the work period and material cost for creating the item is reduced by half. If attempting to create an item without a recipe, the character must make an arcana check using their spell casting ability for each week of work with a DC equal to 10 plus 2 times the rarity level of the item being created (12 for common, 14 for uncommon, etc). If the check fails, an additional week of work is added, to a maximum duration of 150% of the initial work period, rounded up. If a natural 20 is rolled on this check, one week of work is subtracted from the total required time (2 weeks of work are performed in the time of a single work week).
After successfully finishing the creation of a magic item, the character learns the recipe, and can create that item much more efficiently (according to the rules for following a recipe previously stated).
The item you create can be an existing item from a source book (such as the Dungeon Master's Guide), or it can be a custom item with equivalent strength (as determined by DM) to an item listed in the DMG. Strength comparison is roughly determined on factors such as spell level equivalence, modifier types and value, average damage, etc.
Magical potions require half as much time, and half as much GP worth of resources to create (in addition to the other possible modifiers mentioned).
The amount of time (in weeks) needed for creating different rarities of magic items at different caster levels is shown in the following table:
For example, a 3rd level caster is attempting to create a +1 arcane focus, which is an uncommon magic item. This requires an initial work period of 3 weeks, and a material cost of 200GP. They fail 2 DC 14 arcana checks for the first 2 weeks of work, meaning the total duration has increased to 5 work weeks. Since 5 work weeks is 150% of the initial duration (3 weeks), the character is not required to make further arcana checks, and will successfully create the item, in addition to learning its recipe, at the end of a 5 week period.
Temporary Enchantment
You attempt to create and store a temporary effect which can imbued on armor or weapons for a short period of time. This can usually be attempted over a short rest or long rest. The magical effect is usually stored in a gem, which is consumed upon activating the enchantment (usually by crushing the gem against the object being enchanted).
You may attempt to create a temporary enchantment which is related to a spell you know by expending 2 spell slots of the spell's level, and performing a successful spell casting ability check with a DC equal to 10 plus the level of the spell being used. If you have access to an enchanting table, the skill check is made with advantage, and you only need to expend one spell slot to create the enchantment.
The spell capacity of different gemstones is shown in the following table:
For example, if you know the Burning Hands spell, you may attempt to create an enchantment which allows a weapon to deal an additional 1d6 fire damage for 3 hits (totalling the fire damage of the spell used). Similarly, if you used a second level burning hands (which deals 4d6), you could create an enchantment which allows a weapon to deal an additional 1d6 fire damage for 4 hits, or 1d8 fire damage for 3 hits.
Permanent Enchantment
The second form of enchantment involves the creation of a permanently enchanted magic item (such as creating a +1 weapon). This form of enchantment usually takes a long period of down time (days, weeks, or months depending both on your magical skill and the strength of the item being created). Additionally, this form of enchantment requires rare and expensive materials, which may not be easily accessible or purchased.While creating a magic item, a character must use all of their time and magical resources for each day spent working. This means that characters working on an enchantment have no available spell slots, and if a character working on enchanting casts a spell for purposes other than enchanting, that day of progress is lost.
You may opt to work at a slower speed, which requires only half of the day spent enchanting, and half of your spell slots consumed, but will double the duration required for the item creation (every two days of slow work counts as only one day of progress).
If following a recipe, the item is guaranteed to be created successfully after finishing the work, and the work period and material cost for creating the item is reduced by half. If attempting to create an item without a recipe, the character must make an arcana check using their spell casting ability for each week of work with a DC equal to 10 plus 2 times the rarity level of the item being created (12 for common, 14 for uncommon, etc). If the check fails, an additional week of work is added, to a maximum duration of 150% of the initial work period, rounded up. If a natural 20 is rolled on this check, one week of work is subtracted from the total required time (2 weeks of work are performed in the time of a single work week).
After successfully finishing the creation of a magic item, the character learns the recipe, and can create that item much more efficiently (according to the rules for following a recipe previously stated).
The item you create can be an existing item from a source book (such as the Dungeon Master's Guide), or it can be a custom item with equivalent strength (as determined by DM) to an item listed in the DMG. Strength comparison is roughly determined on factors such as spell level equivalence, modifier types and value, average damage, etc.
Magical potions require half as much time, and half as much GP worth of resources to create (in addition to the other possible modifiers mentioned).
The amount of time (in weeks) needed for creating different rarities of magic items at different caster levels is shown in the following table:
For example, a 3rd level caster is attempting to create a +1 arcane focus, which is an uncommon magic item. This requires an initial work period of 3 weeks, and a material cost of 200GP. They fail 2 DC 14 arcana checks for the first 2 weeks of work, meaning the total duration has increased to 5 work weeks. Since 5 work weeks is 150% of the initial duration (3 weeks), the character is not required to make further arcana checks, and will successfully create the item, in addition to learning its recipe, at the end of a 5 week period.
