So while the rules for magic item crafting are based off existing, predefined magic items to determine cost and construction time, it seems like the rules also encourage customization. So these rules could help with a little clarification that custom items are possible, but you will need to talk with your dm to detrrmine what rarity it would be, so you can determine cost and time for crafting.
Amd then the question will be do you have enough downtime in your campaign? If you really really wajt this, each subclass of the new Artificer gets one type of magic item where their crafting time is cut in half, so that might help.
Again, these are tools for the DM, not a player crafter. It is not clear whether you can include rolling on the tables as part of crafting an item. Even if you can, this would still be modifying an existing item.
So while the rules for magic item crafting are based off existing, predefined magic items to determine cost and construction time, it seems like the rules also encourage customization. So these rules could help with a little clarification that custom items are possible, but you will need to talk with your dm to detrrmine what rarity it would be, so you can determine cost and time for crafting.
The only customization encouraged is in this specific section and Chapter 3. It is explicit in the how. In this case, it does not affect the rarity. It can be a trivial addition to powerful addition or relatively powerful addition to a Common item. The example you mention, +2 Initiative, is effectively half of advantage on initiative rolls and stacks with it, as well as every other item with that property (which would be 11.05% of all items with special features generated). I would advise caution regarding applying these properties to every item. The +2 initiative and Harmonious (attune an item in 1 minute) can be some of the stronger results on the table. Harmonious can really change an item's effectiveness. For example, I gave an example of a Wand of Mage Armor. Attunement requiring 1 hour makes it hard to pass around the item and share its benefits. Attuning in 1 minute makes sharing the item more practical.
Amd then the question will be do you have enough downtime in your campaign? If you really really wajt this, each subclass of the new Artificer gets one type of magic item where their crafting time is cut in half, so that might help.
With just the DMG, any wands would need to be crafted with character present. With Eberron Forge of the Artificer, a level 13+ character can get an Artificer's Forge and craft Common and Uncommon magic items without needing to have the spells prepared. You will need at least one level of Artificer though.
The Artillerist Artificer can craft a Wand themselves, but I don't think this applies to the crafting time of the Artificer's Forge. It would apply to the others as they require you to craft the item and would halve the time again because of the hireling assistance, crafting an Uncommon Wand in 2.5 days instead of 10 days. For a non-Artillerist, that would still be 5 days due to the Hireling's help.
Silly as it sounds, there are no rules for Bastion hirelings helping you craft a Rare or rarer item so when you ask them for assistance, I guess by RAW, they say, "Sorry. I can't. Union rules." If you play with Bastions and want to craft rarer items, ask you DM for a house rule. I may have to house rule that myself.
These help with the down time requirements if you use Bastions. Even without, if you have a party member or can find a hireling with the appropriate tool proficiencies, you can get help speeding up crafting. Skilled Hirelings would be 2 GP per day. It would add 6 GP to the cost of crafting a Common item, 10 GP to the cost of an Uncommon item, 50 GP to the cost of a Rare item, 126 GP to the cost of a Very Rare item, and 250 GP to the cost of a Legendary item. This is a paltry investment, particularly as you crafting the more powerful items.
TLDR: look at wand in list. Note rarity. Note spell used in wand. Note level of spell. Do this for all wands. Rough conclusion: rarity is driven by the spell level. Want to craft a wand? Pick spell to put in wand. What is its level? Now compare to the others. Rarity determined. Proceed.
TLDR: look at wand in list. Note rarity. Note spell used in wand. Note level of spell. Do this for all wands. Rough conclusion: rarity is driven by the spell level. Want to craft a wand? Pick spell to put in wand. What is its level? Now compare to the others. Rarity determined. Proceed.
Exactly. then talk with your dm. As long as theyre not totally rules obsessed, they should be able.to find a way to work with you.
Some spells are more powerful than others of the same level, so the dm might require the wand be attuned to use when the original item did not. Or maybe they fiddle with the number of charges. But they should be able to find a way to make it work so you get something you want and they get something that keeps encounters balanced.
If they say "the rules only descibe crafting existing items, so thats alll i will allow", i would find a different dm.
TLDR: look at wand in list. Note rarity. Note spell used in wand. Note level of spell. Do this for all wands. Rough conclusion: rarity is driven by the spell level. Want to craft a wand? Pick spell to put in wand. What is its level? Now compare to the others. Rarity determined. Proceed.
That is an excellent guideline for homebrew Wands. It's not the RAW crafting process. As long as you recognize that any homebrew items will need DM approval (or you are the DM), you are golden.
By the way: 1. Wand rarity and attunement appear to be derived from spell level. 2. Suggesting that the DMG, the D M G !?, operates on the principle that the absence of explicit permission is an implicit prohibition is absurd.
If your DM adamantly refuses to allow you to craft any wand that isn't a predefined wand in the books, I'd say they lack the imagination to deal with players going off the DM's rails, and you will probably be much happier finding a different DM. They're likely going to be the multiple-choice DM, where they have a few possible solutions to a problem, and nothing else that the players try will ever work.If you want that, you could easily get it by just playing a video game. Only certain paths are possible.
The whole point of DND is that the DM is human and (hopefully) capable of dealing with something no one ever thought of until the player in their campaign asked if they could do it.
DM’s refusing to homebrew to accommodate player whims is not automatically “wow they’re a bad DM you shouldn’t play with”. New DMs might be less inclined to wing it, other DMs have probably had bad experiences with players abusing homebrew, and frankly if you’re storming away from the table the first time you hear “no” on getting something tailored to spec I would call that more of a flag on the player than the DM.
By the way: 1. Wand rarity and attunement appear to be derived from spell level. 2. Suggesting that the DMG, the D M G !?, operates on the principle that the absence of explicit permission is an implicit prohibition is absurd.
If your DM adamantly refuses to allow you to craft any wand that isn't a predefined wand in the books, I'd say they lack the imagination to deal with players going off the DM's rails, and you will probably be much happier finding a different DM. They're likely going to be the multiple-choice DM, where they have a few possible solutions to a problem, and nothing else that the players try will ever work.If you want that, you could easily get it by just playing a video game. Only certain paths are possible.
The whole point of DND is that the DM is human and (hopefully) capable of dealing with something no one ever thought of until the player in their campaign asked if they could do it.
This does not follow and it is a toxic attitude to bring to a table.
DMs generally have reasons for the decisions that they make. They may not be comfortable with homebrew because they are inexperienced with balancing the game or they are afraid of opening the door to additional homebrew requests. Some DMs have bad experiences with pushy players trying to exploit the game with special requests just for them. Some DMs are running Adventurer's League where homebrew is not allowed and magic item awards are pretty strict. Those are just three possible reasons why a DM might deny your homebrew. If a DM is not comfortable with your homebrew, it does not speak in any way to the rest of their play style.
If you want the freedom to homebrew haphazardly, run your own game. Don't encourage disparaging someone running a game for people the way they are comfortable doing it.
Finally, this is the Rules & Game Mechanics forum. The primary purpose is to discuss RAW, not homebrew. What homebrew we would allow in our games is a topic for a different forum and is off topic here, so it is rare for it to be discussed here.
If your DM adamantly refuses to allow you to craft any wand that isn't a predefined wand in the books, I'd say they lack the imagination to deal with players going off the DM's rails, and you will probably be much happier finding a different DM.
DM’s refusing to homebrew to accommodate player whims is not automatically “wow they’re a bad DM you shouldn’t play with”. New DMs might be less inclined to wing it, other DMs have probably had bad experiences with players abusing homebrew, and frankly if you’re storming away from the table the first time you hear “no” on getting something tailored to spec I would call that more of a flag on the player than the DM.
That's such a flagrant strawman that I dont even know if its worth replying, but here goes:
Folks love to throw around Rule Zero, that the DM has the absolute right to override any rule, as if that's the final arbiter of any question.
But that's only half the equation. The DM can lay down whatever ruling they want, and each player absolutely has the right to walk away.
I started playing back when second edition came out and since that time I have found myself in more than one campaign run by an absolute garbage DM. I've had DM's who cheat. DM's who change rules from session to session. DM's who want to be the main character and have players be the supporting sidekicks. Those DMs absolutely have the right to rule however they want to rule. But as a player, I have every right to say "nope" and find a DM that fits my expectations. And that's not me "storming away" and that's not the player raising red flags.
Wanting to create a custom magic item is a perfectly reasonable goal. There are going to be plenty of DM's out there that will absolutely allow it. As a DM I have allowed my players to create custom magic items. Its not a big deal.
If a player asks their DM about doing something and the DM says 'no', the player has every right to decide if that 'no' is going to suck the joy out of their game and find a DM that will work with them.
So many people read Rule Zero as "The DM has the last say in rules". But they don't. The player has every right to walk away. And sometimes, they should.
Folks love to throw around Rule Zero, that the DM has the absolute right to override any rule, as if that's the final arbiter of any question.
But that's only half the equation. The DM can lay down whatever ruling they want, and each player absolutely has the right to walk away.
...
So many people read Rule Zero as "The DM has the last say in rules". But they don't. The player has every right to walk away. And sometimes, they should.
These statements are both very true. The issue is not with either statement. The issue is with insulting, disparaging, or encouraging that treatment of any DM that does not allow you to do something. Whether they are skilled at DMing or DM "ethically" is a separate matter. And flipped on its head, whether the player is skilled or they play ethically is a separate matter.
If a DM or player is not compatible with the way you want to play, don't play with them, but don't insult them without basis and definitely don't apply those the experiences as a sweeping generalization to all players and DMs.
Yes, the player has the right to walk away, but then the player doesn't have a game anymore and none of the rules matter until the next table.
That said, I think Zaxix has their answer as to the RAW. It looks like they have a good understanding of how to homebrew / suggest the homebrew to their DM (their role is not clear, but I've been assuming player). I think all the bases have been covered.
The crafting rules also include a mechanusm to add some neat and, nonstandard properties.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/dmg-2024/treasure#MagicItemsMinorProperty
A 5 or 6 gives you a +2 on your initiative rolls
So while the rules for magic item crafting are based off existing, predefined magic items to determine cost and construction time, it seems like the rules also encourage customization. So these rules could help with a little clarification that custom items are possible, but you will need to talk with your dm to detrrmine what rarity it would be, so you can determine cost and time for crafting.
Amd then the question will be do you have enough downtime in your campaign? If you really really wajt this, each subclass of the new Artificer gets one type of magic item where their crafting time is cut in half, so that might help.
Again, these are tools for the DM, not a player crafter. It is not clear whether you can include rolling on the tables as part of crafting an item. Even if you can, this would still be modifying an existing item.
The only customization encouraged is in this specific section and Chapter 3. It is explicit in the how. In this case, it does not affect the rarity. It can be a trivial addition to powerful addition or relatively powerful addition to a Common item. The example you mention, +2 Initiative, is effectively half of advantage on initiative rolls and stacks with it, as well as every other item with that property (which would be 11.05% of all items with special features generated). I would advise caution regarding applying these properties to every item. The +2 initiative and Harmonious (attune an item in 1 minute) can be some of the stronger results on the table. Harmonious can really change an item's effectiveness. For example, I gave an example of a Wand of Mage Armor. Attunement requiring 1 hour makes it hard to pass around the item and share its benefits. Attuning in 1 minute makes sharing the item more practical.
With just the DMG, any wands would need to be crafted with character present. With Eberron Forge of the Artificer, a level 13+ character can get an Artificer's Forge and craft Common and Uncommon magic items without needing to have the spells prepared. You will need at least one level of Artificer though.
The Artillerist Artificer can craft a Wand themselves, but I don't think this applies to the crafting time of the Artificer's Forge. It would apply to the others as they require you to craft the item and would halve the time again because of the hireling assistance, crafting an Uncommon Wand in 2.5 days instead of 10 days. For a non-Artillerist, that would still be 5 days due to the Hireling's help.
Silly as it sounds, there are no rules for Bastion hirelings helping you craft a Rare or rarer item so when you ask them for assistance, I guess by RAW, they say, "Sorry. I can't. Union rules." If you play with Bastions and want to craft rarer items, ask you DM for a house rule. I may have to house rule that myself.
These help with the down time requirements if you use Bastions. Even without, if you have a party member or can find a hireling with the appropriate tool proficiencies, you can get help speeding up crafting. Skilled Hirelings would be 2 GP per day. It would add 6 GP to the cost of crafting a Common item, 10 GP to the cost of an Uncommon item, 50 GP to the cost of a Rare item, 126 GP to the cost of a Very Rare item, and 250 GP to the cost of a Legendary item. This is a paltry investment, particularly as you crafting the more powerful items.
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.
TLDR: look at wand in list. Note rarity. Note spell used in wand. Note level of spell. Do this for all wands. Rough conclusion: rarity is driven by the spell level. Want to craft a wand? Pick spell to put in wand. What is its level? Now compare to the others. Rarity determined. Proceed.
Exactly. then talk with your dm. As long as theyre not totally rules obsessed, they should be able.to find a way to work with you.
Some spells are more powerful than others of the same level, so the dm might require the wand be attuned to use when the original item did not. Or maybe they fiddle with the number of charges. But they should be able to find a way to make it work so you get something you want and they get something that keeps encounters balanced.
If they say "the rules only descibe crafting existing items, so thats alll i will allow", i would find a different dm.
That is an excellent guideline for homebrew Wands. It's not the RAW crafting process. As long as you recognize that any homebrew items will need DM approval (or you are the DM), you are golden.
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.
If your DM adamantly refuses to allow you to craft any wand that isn't a predefined wand in the books, I'd say they lack the imagination to deal with players going off the DM's rails, and you will probably be much happier finding a different DM. They're likely going to be the multiple-choice DM, where they have a few possible solutions to a problem, and nothing else that the players try will ever work.If you want that, you could easily get it by just playing a video game. Only certain paths are possible.
The whole point of DND is that the DM is human and (hopefully) capable of dealing with something no one ever thought of until the player in their campaign asked if they could do it.
DM’s refusing to homebrew to accommodate player whims is not automatically “wow they’re a bad DM you shouldn’t play with”. New DMs might be less inclined to wing it, other DMs have probably had bad experiences with players abusing homebrew, and frankly if you’re storming away from the table the first time you hear “no” on getting something tailored to spec I would call that more of a flag on the player than the DM.
This does not follow and it is a toxic attitude to bring to a table.
DMs generally have reasons for the decisions that they make. They may not be comfortable with homebrew because they are inexperienced with balancing the game or they are afraid of opening the door to additional homebrew requests. Some DMs have bad experiences with pushy players trying to exploit the game with special requests just for them. Some DMs are running Adventurer's League where homebrew is not allowed and magic item awards are pretty strict. Those are just three possible reasons why a DM might deny your homebrew. If a DM is not comfortable with your homebrew, it does not speak in any way to the rest of their play style.
If you want the freedom to homebrew haphazardly, run your own game. Don't encourage disparaging someone running a game for people the way they are comfortable doing it.
Finally, this is the Rules & Game Mechanics forum. The primary purpose is to discuss RAW, not homebrew. What homebrew we would allow in our games is a topic for a different forum and is off topic here, so it is rare for it to be discussed here.
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.
That's such a flagrant strawman that I dont even know if its worth replying, but here goes:
Folks love to throw around Rule Zero, that the DM has the absolute right to override any rule, as if that's the final arbiter of any question.
But that's only half the equation. The DM can lay down whatever ruling they want, and each player absolutely has the right to walk away.
I started playing back when second edition came out and since that time I have found myself in more than one campaign run by an absolute garbage DM. I've had DM's who cheat. DM's who change rules from session to session. DM's who want to be the main character and have players be the supporting sidekicks. Those DMs absolutely have the right to rule however they want to rule. But as a player, I have every right to say "nope" and find a DM that fits my expectations. And that's not me "storming away" and that's not the player raising red flags.
Wanting to create a custom magic item is a perfectly reasonable goal. There are going to be plenty of DM's out there that will absolutely allow it. As a DM I have allowed my players to create custom magic items. Its not a big deal.
If a player asks their DM about doing something and the DM says 'no', the player has every right to decide if that 'no' is going to suck the joy out of their game and find a DM that will work with them.
So many people read Rule Zero as "The DM has the last say in rules". But they don't. The player has every right to walk away. And sometimes, they should.
These statements are both very true. The issue is not with either statement. The issue is with insulting, disparaging, or encouraging that treatment of any DM that does not allow you to do something. Whether they are skilled at DMing or DM "ethically" is a separate matter. And flipped on its head, whether the player is skilled or they play ethically is a separate matter.
If a DM or player is not compatible with the way you want to play, don't play with them, but don't insult them without basis and definitely don't apply those the experiences as a sweeping generalization to all players and DMs.
Yes, the player has the right to walk away, but then the player doesn't have a game anymore and none of the rules matter until the next table.
That said, I think Zaxix has their answer as to the RAW. It looks like they have a good understanding of how to homebrew / suggest the homebrew to their DM (their role is not clear, but I've been assuming player). I think all the bases have been covered.
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.