Just some things I've been thinking about, thought I'd share them, hope you get something useful out of it.
On the Humble Potion of Healing
In the PHB pg.187 in the section on Downtime we are given the instructions for crafting nonmagical items. Now what I want to note is that in the crafting process we expend half the market value on raw material, which means that when sold we cover our raw material cost and make that same amount back as profit. So on average we should assume that D&D traders are selling stuff for twice what it cost them to make.
Aside from arcane foci, and spellbooks, there is one piece of equipment in the PHB equipment list that is magical. the Potion of Healing at a hefty 50gp. So how do we make a Healing Potion?
The DMG pg.128 under the More Downtime Activities Section has rules for making magical items. A common magic item (Potion of Healing is a common magic item) costs 100gp to make. But the cost is halved for consumable items, like potions, scrolls. So our potion costs 50gp to make, and since we contribute to the creation in 25gp increments everyday it also takes us two days, working eight hours a day. It would seem that the end result then is that D&D merchants are just breaking even on the Potions of Healing they sell (assuming they are the crafter and the seller). If we apply our rule of selling for twice the cost to make that would make a Potion of Healing 100gp. What a deal! Heal 2d4+2 HP for the low low cost of 100gp!
Or we could apply the rule in the other direction, and assume that 50gp is twice the creation cost and Healing Potions cost 25gp to make and can be made in a single day.
Being DMs magic items are under our jurisdiction and the Crafting Magic Item Table is really just a starting point suggestion. And besides it seems to odd to say that all common magic items have the same value, a 1st level scroll is a common item, your gonna tell me all those spells are equally valuable? I don't think so.
Anyway none of those tables and rules are binding on us as DMs, but it is interesting to take a look at the math going on in the background here.
Daily Schedule of an Archmage
We're familiar with the trope of monsters just waiting patiently in their rooms for the adventures to come by and kill them. A big part of making better dungeons is figuring out "what the heck do the monsters do here all day?"
This is a question we should also be asking about most of the things we make, NPCs, cities, kingdoms, villages. This got me thinking, "what do Archmages do all day?" so you've become an incredibly powerful wizard, advisor to the greatest kings of the earth, what do you do day in day out?
5:00: Wake up
5:01: Prepare Unseen Servant, cast it, and order it to make coffee.
5:20: Drink a cup o' joe while admiring the view from my wizard tower.
5:30: Sit in my study and prepare spells
6:30: Cast Guards and Wards on my tower (only have to do this for one year until its permanent)
6:40: Cast Contingency-Mislead triggered when I am targeted by an attack (I only have to cast this once very 10 days)
7:00: Call my familiar and have it patrol around my tower and come tell me if it sees anybody trying to get in
7:10: Cast Alarm (as ritual) on the balcony
8:00: Check all of my Symbols and Glyphs of Warding throughout my tower, if any have been triggered or dispelled begin hunting for interlopers in the tower. Some of these are traps, others are buff spells ready for me to use in an emergency.
8:30: Check on my Clone
9:00: Check the monster cages (I keep captured monsters in my tower, when I need something done I pick the best monster for the job and cast Dominate Monster on it)
9:30: Cast Contact Other Plane (as ritual) we ask these questions, Is anyone planning to kill the King this week? Is anyone planning to kill me this week? Has anyone in the realm, besides me, cast a spell of 7th level or higher in the last 24 hours? Have I been the target of the spell Scrying within the last 24 hours? Are there any creatures with a CR of 15 or more in the realm.
10:00: Take a shower, get dressed for work and go visit the King.
11:00: Meet with the King and his ministers in the King's private audience chamber, cast Mass Suggestion on them and tell them to do whatever is I want them to do. Usually something that requires a little more delicacy than my monsters can achieve (examples, capture a wyvern and bring it me, find an expensive, rare material component and bring it to me)
12:00: Pursue projects like unlocking the secrets of Lichdom, learning the name of a demon in preparation for attempting a planar binding, adding new spells to my spellbook, making backup spellbooks, meeting with my various minions and apprentices.
It may have been made in jest, but I am absolutely going to use that schedule for my BBEG wizards from now on, though I agree that the 12:00 project time seems short. I guess elves have the advantage here, they have an extra 4 hours to spend doing light activities like reading books and having monthly evaluation time with drowsy minions.
XGtE has a Downtime Revisited section that provides an alternative to item creation. It has additional sections for potions of healing and spell scrolls.
XGtE has a Downtime Revisited section that provides an alternative to item creation. It has additional sections for potions of healing and spell scrolls.
Very cool. Nice to see a more well thought out guide to crafting magic items, scrolls and potions particular. And our math works out! Xanathar's lists the cost of a potion at 25gp.
Nice schedule. Does the wizard really just work on his massive project of being a lich for an hour?
I imagine the wizard is in a situation where he really cant work on being lich for extended periods of time. Since he doesn't know how to become one he needs to find a recipe for it, during that hour he does research into likely locations of such a recipe, when he finds one he puts the whammy on the royal court and tells them to send adventures to retrieve the recipe tome from whatever dungeon its in. When the they return with the tome he replaces his magic item creation block with translating and testing the recipe.
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Just some things I've been thinking about, thought I'd share them, hope you get something useful out of it.
On the Humble Potion of Healing
In the PHB pg.187 in the section on Downtime we are given the instructions for crafting nonmagical items. Now what I want to note is that in the crafting process we expend half the market value on raw material, which means that when sold we cover our raw material cost and make that same amount back as profit. So on average we should assume that D&D traders are selling stuff for twice what it cost them to make.
Aside from arcane foci, and spellbooks, there is one piece of equipment in the PHB equipment list that is magical. the Potion of Healing at a hefty 50gp. So how do we make a Healing Potion?
The DMG pg.128 under the More Downtime Activities Section has rules for making magical items. A common magic item (Potion of Healing is a common magic item) costs 100gp to make. But the cost is halved for consumable items, like potions, scrolls. So our potion costs 50gp to make, and since we contribute to the creation in 25gp increments everyday it also takes us two days, working eight hours a day. It would seem that the end result then is that D&D merchants are just breaking even on the Potions of Healing they sell (assuming they are the crafter and the seller). If we apply our rule of selling for twice the cost to make that would make a Potion of Healing 100gp. What a deal! Heal 2d4+2 HP for the low low cost of 100gp!
Or we could apply the rule in the other direction, and assume that 50gp is twice the creation cost and Healing Potions cost 25gp to make and can be made in a single day.
Being DMs magic items are under our jurisdiction and the Crafting Magic Item Table is really just a starting point suggestion. And besides it seems to odd to say that all common magic items have the same value, a 1st level scroll is a common item, your gonna tell me all those spells are equally valuable? I don't think so.
Anyway none of those tables and rules are binding on us as DMs, but it is interesting to take a look at the math going on in the background here.
Daily Schedule of an Archmage
We're familiar with the trope of monsters just waiting patiently in their rooms for the adventures to come by and kill them. A big part of making better dungeons is figuring out "what the heck do the monsters do here all day?"
This is a question we should also be asking about most of the things we make, NPCs, cities, kingdoms, villages. This got me thinking, "what do Archmages do all day?" so you've become an incredibly powerful wizard, advisor to the greatest kings of the earth, what do you do day in day out?
5:00: Wake up
5:01: Prepare Unseen Servant, cast it, and order it to make coffee.
5:20: Drink a cup o' joe while admiring the view from my wizard tower.
5:30: Sit in my study and prepare spells
6:30: Cast Guards and Wards on my tower (only have to do this for one year until its permanent)
6:40: Cast Contingency-Mislead triggered when I am targeted by an attack (I only have to cast this once very 10 days)
7:00: Call my familiar and have it patrol around my tower and come tell me if it sees anybody trying to get in
7:10: Cast Alarm (as ritual) on the balcony
8:00: Check all of my Symbols and Glyphs of Warding throughout my tower, if any have been triggered or dispelled begin hunting for interlopers in the tower. Some of these are traps, others are buff spells ready for me to use in an emergency.
8:30: Check on my Clone
9:00: Check the monster cages (I keep captured monsters in my tower, when I need something done I pick the best monster for the job and cast Dominate Monster on it)
9:30: Cast Contact Other Plane (as ritual) we ask these questions, Is anyone planning to kill the King this week? Is anyone planning to kill me this week? Has anyone in the realm, besides me, cast a spell of 7th level or higher in the last 24 hours? Have I been the target of the spell Scrying within the last 24 hours? Are there any creatures with a CR of 15 or more in the realm.
10:00: Take a shower, get dressed for work and go visit the King.
11:00: Meet with the King and his ministers in the King's private audience chamber, cast Mass Suggestion on them and tell them to do whatever is I want them to do. Usually something that requires a little more delicacy than my monsters can achieve (examples, capture a wyvern and bring it me, find an expensive, rare material component and bring it to me)
12:00: Pursue projects like unlocking the secrets of Lichdom, learning the name of a demon in preparation for attempting a planar binding, adding new spells to my spellbook, making backup spellbooks, meeting with my various minions and apprentices.
1:00: Craft magic items.
9:00: Go to bed.
Nice schedule. Does the wizard really just work on his massive project of being a lich for an hour?
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It may have been made in jest, but I am absolutely going to use that schedule for my BBEG wizards from now on, though I agree that the 12:00 project time seems short. I guess elves have the advantage here, they have an extra 4 hours to spend doing light activities like reading books and having monthly evaluation time with drowsy minions.
I am one with the Force. The Force is with me.
XGtE has a Downtime Revisited section that provides an alternative to item creation. It has additional sections for potions of healing and spell scrolls.
Very cool. Nice to see a more well thought out guide to crafting magic items, scrolls and potions particular. And our math works out! Xanathar's lists the cost of a potion at 25gp.
I imagine the wizard is in a situation where he really cant work on being lich for extended periods of time. Since he doesn't know how to become one he needs to find a recipe for it, during that hour he does research into likely locations of such a recipe, when he finds one he puts the whammy on the royal court and tells them to send adventures to retrieve the recipe tome from whatever dungeon its in. When the they return with the tome he replaces his magic item creation block with translating and testing the recipe.