Long story short, the elven wizard the group rolled a Nat 20 Nature check (for 27) when harvesting a dead young green dragon. I awarded her with some dragon scales.
The group is now thinking of going to Waterdeep and finding a blacksmith who can make dragon scale armor for the Paladin.
How much (in gold and in time) would an ask of this magnitude take to complete?
Depends on whether you want it to be comparable to the Very Rare Dragon scale Mail or not. Standard magic item creation is 8 hours per 25g cost, so you'd be looking at something along the lines of 25,000gp and 1000 days.
Magic item creation is not a very productive activity on the scale of a typical adventure.
A non-magic piece of armor would be much faster, but you may be better off skipping the traditional creation methods and send them on a quest to some kind of relic forge on another plane.
Magic item creation is not a very productive activity on the scale of a typical adventure.
Frankly, the rules for crafting items in 5e look like they're intended to prevent item crafting... which is in line with what I've heard about the design of 5e: players are supposed to acquire magic items as loot, not purchase them. That being said, it sounds like the players bested a dragon in combat and received the scales as loot, which ought to count for something. With that in mind, one could reasonably put the cost -- and the corresponding crafting time -- near the lower end of the range (Very Rare magic items are 5001-50,000gp I think) for this particular request.
If you want them to craft the magic item version of dragon scale mail then I think 10,000-20,000gp and at least 6 months could work.
If you just want armor made from the scales it could be half plate or plate equivalent but with an added either resistance to poison damage or advantage on saving throws against poison, plus looking cool. And 1,000-2,500gp and 1-2 months time.
Easy way out. NPC crafter/artificer forges items. Drop off the goods, talk about craft able options and have the players make a choice. Leave everything there go on to the next milestone and voila, is ready next time they’re in town. NPC artificer is open for business again for the next item.
I like connecting loot rewards the milestones and adventure completions.
maybe even have an option to improve, update, and combine older items to revamp. Perhaps donate unused items if that’s not an option.
Easy way out. NPC crafter/artificer forges items. Drop off the goods, talk about craft able options and have the players make a choice. Leave everything there go on to the next milestone and voila, is ready next time they’re in town. NPC artificer is open for business again for the next item.
I like connecting loot rewards the milestones and adventure completions.
maybe even have an option to improve, update, and combine older items to revamp. Perhaps donate unused items if that’s not an option.
I’m using this sort of thing already. Several very high level mages and crafters running a trade company that takes orders and will buy/sell magic items and useful resources. They aren’t cheap but because they can make it and have locations campaign wide they can provide pretty much anything nonartifact from what the make and buy for resale.
I would use the Xanathar’s rules for crafting over the standard rules. For a Very Rare item like dragon scale mail, your lookin’ at 25 weeks and 20,000 gp. But I’m okay with downtime, your players might not be.
I would use the Xanathar’s rules for crafting over the standard rules. For a Very Rare item like dragon scale mail, your lookin’ at 25 weeks and 20,000 gp. But I’m okay with downtime, your players might not be.
You could also half the price for the party providing the rarer materials, and the time can be cut down depending on the number of people working on the item. Cost may go back up for labor cost if they are hiring NPCs to do the crafting.
if i want the party to have a Dragon scale Mail since most of the rarest material is provided to make it i would just charge price for producing one may be 500 gp
The party is fourth level. And they bested Venomfang from Lost Mines. It was the 27 Nature Check that prompted me to be so giving.
I may talk them down from armor to maybe a shield of some sort. Collectively, they have about 1500-2000 gp, and may not want to spend it all for something that'll take months of 'game time' to make.
Also want them to know that selling the scales is also an option.
there was a write up years ago about magical dragon armor.
if harvested correctly and properly worked dragon hide would give resistance or even immunity to that dragons particular breath weapon. It was never better than a +1 against anything else.
Materials costs, finding the experts and the magic caster to do the work was always the limiting factor in creating magic items. Thus my dislike of the artificer class in whole. There existence in any world logically basically drops all magic items down a rarity rank. Common become market items, uncommon become common.......
The party is fourth level. And they bested Venomfang from Lost Mines. It was the 27 Nature Check that prompted me to be so giving.
I may talk them down from armor to maybe a shield of some sort. Collectively, they have about 1500-2000 gp, and may not want to spend it all for something that'll take months of 'game time' to make.
Also want them to know that selling the scales is also an option.
Since they are 4th level I think making the magic item Dragon Scale Mail would be too much. But allowing them to have the scales crafted into Half Plate that gives poison damage resistance and advantage on saving throws against the poisoned condition would be a benefit without being too overpowered for their level. And would be a good armor to wear for levels to come
I would use the Xanathar’s rules for crafting over the standard rules. For a Very Rare item like dragon scale mail, your lookin’ at 25 weeks and 20,000 gp. But I’m okay with downtime, your players might not be.
You could also half the price for the party providing the rarer materials, and the time can be cut down depending on the number of people working on the item. Cost may go back up for labor cost if they are hiring NPCs to do the crafting.
Yeah, I could see 12 weeks @ 20k, or 25 weeks @ 10k.
Why not make a quest to find somebody able to actually work dragon scales? A normal armourer probably wouldn't know how to make a proper suit of armour from them.
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Long story short, the elven wizard the group rolled a Nat 20 Nature check (for 27) when harvesting a dead young green dragon. I awarded her with some dragon scales.
The group is now thinking of going to Waterdeep and finding a blacksmith who can make dragon scale armor for the Paladin.
How much (in gold and in time) would an ask of this magnitude take to complete?
Depends on whether you want it to be comparable to the Very Rare Dragon scale Mail or not. Standard magic item creation is 8 hours per 25g cost, so you'd be looking at something along the lines of 25,000gp and 1000 days.
Magic item creation is not a very productive activity on the scale of a typical adventure.
A non-magic piece of armor would be much faster, but you may be better off skipping the traditional creation methods and send them on a quest to some kind of relic forge on another plane.
Frankly, the rules for crafting items in 5e look like they're intended to prevent item crafting... which is in line with what I've heard about the design of 5e: players are supposed to acquire magic items as loot, not purchase them. That being said, it sounds like the players bested a dragon in combat and received the scales as loot, which ought to count for something. With that in mind, one could reasonably put the cost -- and the corresponding crafting time -- near the lower end of the range (Very Rare magic items are 5001-50,000gp I think) for this particular request.
What level are the characters?
If you want them to craft the magic item version of dragon scale mail then I think 10,000-20,000gp and at least 6 months could work.
If you just want armor made from the scales it could be half plate or plate equivalent but with an added either resistance to poison damage or advantage on saving throws against poison, plus looking cool. And 1,000-2,500gp and 1-2 months time.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
Easy way out. NPC crafter/artificer forges items. Drop off the goods, talk about craft able options and have the players make a choice. Leave everything there go on to the next milestone and voila, is ready next time they’re in town. NPC artificer is open for business again for the next item.
I like connecting loot rewards the milestones and adventure completions.
maybe even have an option to improve, update, and combine older items to revamp. Perhaps donate unused items if that’s not an option.
I’m using this sort of thing already. Several very high level mages and crafters running a trade company that takes orders and will buy/sell magic items and useful resources. They aren’t cheap but because they can make it and have locations campaign wide they can provide pretty much anything nonartifact from what the make and buy for resale.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
I would use the Xanathar’s rules for crafting over the standard rules. For a Very Rare item like dragon scale mail, your lookin’ at 25 weeks and 20,000 gp. But I’m okay with downtime, your players might not be.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
You could also half the price for the party providing the rarer materials, and the time can be cut down depending on the number of people working on the item. Cost may go back up for labor cost if they are hiring NPCs to do the crafting.
if i want the party to have a Dragon scale Mail since most of the rarest material is provided to make it i would just charge price for producing one may be 500 gp
The party is fourth level. And they bested Venomfang from Lost Mines. It was the 27 Nature Check that prompted me to be so giving.
I may talk them down from armor to maybe a shield of some sort. Collectively, they have about 1500-2000 gp, and may not want to spend it all for something that'll take months of 'game time' to make.
Also want them to know that selling the scales is also an option.
With such fund, it'd probably settle for 250 gp. It would be a reasonable price to pay to get a magic armor in all considerations.
there was a write up years ago about magical dragon armor.
if harvested correctly and properly worked dragon hide would give resistance or even immunity to that dragons particular breath weapon. It was never better than a +1 against anything else.
Materials costs, finding the experts and the magic caster to do the work was always the limiting factor in creating magic items. Thus my dislike of the artificer class in whole. There existence in any world logically basically drops all magic items down a rarity rank. Common become market items, uncommon become common.......
Since they are 4th level I think making the magic item Dragon Scale Mail would be too much. But allowing them to have the scales crafted into Half Plate that gives poison damage resistance and advantage on saving throws against the poisoned condition would be a benefit without being too overpowered for their level. And would be a good armor to wear for levels to come
But that’s just my opinion.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
Yeah, I could see 12 weeks @ 20k, or 25 weeks @ 10k.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Why not make a quest to find somebody able to actually work dragon scales? A normal armourer probably wouldn't know how to make a proper suit of armour from them.