Depends a lot on the game. I have played in games where metal is rare. In which case, Blessing of the Forge is incredibally useful. It turns every bit of Metal you find into instant treasure, worth 100 gp of whatever you desire.
Also note the wording: "The thing you create can be something that is worth no more than 100 gp. As part of this ritual, you must lay out metal, which can include coins, with a value equal to the creation."
Note the wording, no mention of the RIGHT metal.
You can turn that 5000 cp you found in a baby dragon's hoard directly into a single adamantine arrow. In one hour.
What other metals do you have in your world that are valuable but do not qualify as magic? Mithral? Oerthblood?
I found it relevant to refer to the "Downtime Activities - Revisited" section of XGE Ch 2 (Since that's the book where Forge Domain is introduced).
[[Crafting an Item: Resources and Resolution. In addition to the appropriate tools for the item to be crafted, a character needs raw materials worth half of the item’s selling cost. To determine how many workweeks it takes to create an item, divide its gold piece cost by 50. A character can complete multiple items in a workweek if the items’ combined cost is 50 gp or lower. Items that cost more than 50 gp can be completed over longer periods of time, as long as the work in progress is stored in a safe location.]]
Given that the same raw materials are present, a proficient crafter takes 2 full work weeks to craft the same value that a Forge Cleric can produce in 1 hour. Complete that same 1 hour ritual every day for 14 days and at the end of two weeks, the Forge Cleric has 1400gp value and again the average/proficient crafter has 100 gp value. The crafter sweats all day for those 14 days, but the Forge Cleric completes 1 hour rituals at a time to make his side hustle 14 times more valuable than a full time laborer.
Crafting in game has always been frowned upon because it usually takes a lot of time to produce anything useful. But here the Forge Cleric can accelerate that clock by a double digit margin. Consider using that kind of profit margin to hire your own skilled laborers and accelerate that clock even more (additional workers contribute 50gp/week of progress on items).
Further reading in XGE Ch2 gets into Crafting Magic Items. All you need is knowledge of the recipe and the materials + time + cost to complete it. Maybe your God inspires you with a vision or a dream of a fine magic item. There's your recipe. Time and Cost aren't as big of a concern, because we already established the pace and profit. If all the above requirements are met, the result of the process is a magic item of the desired sort.
Acquire the materials, and even though Channel Divinity says you can't create a magic item (during the ritual), contributing pieces and progress to complete the process feels acceptable to generate a magic item. Since Time is already measured and defined by a Gp Value (50 gp / week), then the 700 gp/week progress is a relevant measure and really shows the value of a Divinely Gifted Crafter.
Not meaning to ignore the complications table on crafting magic items, but a 10% chance per 5 workweeks to introduce a complication seems pretty marginal considering once a day, you can roll a Divine Intervention (minimum 10% chance per day) to overcome a complication, or potentially accelerate that craft even further.
Interested to hear other interpretations here, but I think the Forge Cleric exists to make in-game crafting a much more attainable endeavor without needing to spend considerable amounts of downtime during a campaign.
My forge domain cleric used the artisans blessings to create the platinum rings component for the Warding Bond spell. Should be noted that the wording of artisans blessing doesn't require you need the same metals of your end product, it just needs an equal amount of gold to the final product's cost so I didn't even need platinum.
Also been creating plate armor in 100 gp chunks. Also, DMs might homebrew that the 100 gp limit goes up with cleric levels and maybe eventually give you the ability to craft magic items as well.
Crafting magic items is not something I would allow, but I would allow you to craft items that can THEN be enchanted into magic items. Basically it saves you some, but not all of the time.
Planning to propose something like this to the DM: At level 10, I'd like to roll Divine Intervention every time I use the Channel Divinity: Artisan's Blessing. Literally the hour long ritual becomes a more meaningful daily act of worship, and when that success hits, maybe the ritual gets enhanced and each channel divinity over the next 7 days (while DI is on cooldown) contributes towards a level-appropriate Magic Item. There would probably have to be an additional cooldown at Level 20 when DI is no longer a chance, but a guarantee. Not intending to crank out Legendary items every 7 days. Maybe it's one Legendary, then every use thereafter is limited to Very Rare or below? DI is already a powerful feature that is designed to prevent abuse (low percentile chance, 7 day cooldown)
How many Long Rests have gone by since your Cleric has attempted a DI, let alone succeeded one? Is that an acceptable way to handle this? Would that make sense at your table? How else could/should a Forge Deity intervene into the daily ritual of a skilled craftsman? Like most of us in this thread, I'm not looking to break anything in the game with a complicated Homebrew crafting system that the DM has to manage. DI exists in game with very broad applications, and in some contexts, it's literally capable of producing results similar to a Wish spell (for example, ending the effects of Deck of Many Things-Rogue Card). Hoping to hear some thoughts on the matter, thanks for considering.
Crafting magic items is not something I would allow, but I would allow you to craft items that can THEN be enchanted into magic items. Basically it saves you some, but not all of the time.
My DM made this call, too. I'm crafting a Darkness grenade that will trigger the Darkness spell when I throw a spring-loaded locket and allow me to move its placement on the field without recasting. My Artisan's Blessing cuts down on some of the time it will take me to finish the arcane-grade locket and extra long chain. Then I can insert a pebble I enchanted with the Darkness spell into the locket and voila, magical item.
Goes great with Artificers and/or a bit of Rune Knight for Fire Rune' tool Expertise. If you push Arti far enough, you get fabricate, and the world is your 'golden oyster'; depending on the campaign/DM, you are now Batman wealthy and versatile.
Depends a lot on the game. I have played in games where metal is rare. In which case, Blessing of the Forge is incredibally useful. It turns every bit of Metal you find into instant treasure, worth 100 gp of whatever you desire.
Also note the wording: "The thing you create can be something that is worth no more than 100 gp. As part of this ritual, you must lay out metal, which can include coins, with a value equal to the creation."
Note the wording, no mention of the RIGHT metal.
You can turn that 5000 cp you found in a baby dragon's hoard directly into a single adamantine arrow. In one hour.
What other metals do you have in your world that are valuable but do not qualify as magic? Mithral? Oerthblood?
.
I found it relevant to refer to the "Downtime Activities - Revisited" section of XGE Ch 2 (Since that's the book where Forge Domain is introduced).
[[Crafting an Item: Resources and Resolution. In addition to the appropriate tools for the item to be crafted, a character needs raw materials worth half of the item’s selling cost. To determine how many workweeks it takes to create an item, divide its gold piece cost by 50. A character can complete multiple items in a workweek if the items’ combined cost is 50 gp or lower. Items that cost more than 50 gp can be completed over longer periods of time, as long as the work in progress is stored in a safe location.]]
Given that the same raw materials are present, a proficient crafter takes 2 full work weeks to craft the same value that a Forge Cleric can produce in 1 hour. Complete that same 1 hour ritual every day for 14 days and at the end of two weeks, the Forge Cleric has 1400gp value and again the average/proficient crafter has 100 gp value. The crafter sweats all day for those 14 days, but the Forge Cleric completes 1 hour rituals at a time to make his side hustle 14 times more valuable than a full time laborer.
Crafting in game has always been frowned upon because it usually takes a lot of time to produce anything useful. But here the Forge Cleric can accelerate that clock by a double digit margin. Consider using that kind of profit margin to hire your own skilled laborers and accelerate that clock even more (additional workers contribute 50gp/week of progress on items).
Further reading in XGE Ch2 gets into Crafting Magic Items. All you need is knowledge of the recipe and the materials + time + cost to complete it. Maybe your God inspires you with a vision or a dream of a fine magic item. There's your recipe. Time and Cost aren't as big of a concern, because we already established the pace and profit. If all the above requirements are met, the result of the process is a magic item of the desired sort.
Acquire the materials, and even though Channel Divinity says you can't create a magic item (during the ritual), contributing pieces and progress to complete the process feels acceptable to generate a magic item. Since Time is already measured and defined by a Gp Value (50 gp / week), then the 700 gp/week progress is a relevant measure and really shows the value of a Divinely Gifted Crafter.
Not meaning to ignore the complications table on crafting magic items, but a 10% chance per 5 workweeks to introduce a complication seems pretty marginal considering once a day, you can roll a Divine Intervention (minimum 10% chance per day) to overcome a complication, or potentially accelerate that craft even further.
Interested to hear other interpretations here, but I think the Forge Cleric exists to make in-game crafting a much more attainable endeavor without needing to spend considerable amounts of downtime during a campaign.
My forge domain cleric used the artisans blessings to create the platinum rings component for the Warding Bond spell. Should be noted that the wording of artisans blessing doesn't require you need the same metals of your end product, it just needs an equal amount of gold to the final product's cost so I didn't even need platinum.
Also been creating plate armor in 100 gp chunks. Also, DMs might homebrew that the 100 gp limit goes up with cleric levels and maybe eventually give you the ability to craft magic items as well.
Crafting magic items is not something I would allow, but I would allow you to craft items that can THEN be enchanted into magic items. Basically it saves you some, but not all of the time.
Planning to propose something like this to the DM: At level 10, I'd like to roll Divine Intervention every time I use the Channel Divinity: Artisan's Blessing. Literally the hour long ritual becomes a more meaningful daily act of worship, and when that success hits, maybe the ritual gets enhanced and each channel divinity over the next 7 days (while DI is on cooldown) contributes towards a level-appropriate Magic Item. There would probably have to be an additional cooldown at Level 20 when DI is no longer a chance, but a guarantee. Not intending to crank out Legendary items every 7 days. Maybe it's one Legendary, then every use thereafter is limited to Very Rare or below? DI is already a powerful feature that is designed to prevent abuse (low percentile chance, 7 day cooldown)
How many Long Rests have gone by since your Cleric has attempted a DI, let alone succeeded one? Is that an acceptable way to handle this? Would that make sense at your table? How else could/should a Forge Deity intervene into the daily ritual of a skilled craftsman? Like most of us in this thread, I'm not looking to break anything in the game with a complicated Homebrew crafting system that the DM has to manage. DI exists in game with very broad applications, and in some contexts, it's literally capable of producing results similar to a Wish spell (for example, ending the effects of Deck of Many Things-Rogue Card). Hoping to hear some thoughts on the matter, thanks for considering.
My DM made this call, too. I'm crafting a Darkness grenade that will trigger the Darkness spell when I throw a spring-loaded locket and allow me to move its placement on the field without recasting. My Artisan's Blessing cuts down on some of the time it will take me to finish the arcane-grade locket and extra long chain. Then I can insert a pebble I enchanted with the Darkness spell into the locket and voila, magical item.
Goes great with Artificers and/or a bit of Rune Knight for Fire Rune' tool Expertise. If you push Arti far enough, you get fabricate, and the world is your 'golden oyster'; depending on the campaign/DM, you are now Batman wealthy and versatile.
I used my ability to slowly make small ingots of mithril and adamantine. Over time I had enough to forge armour and weapons.
with DM’s approval of course.