The bag of molding is a mystical manufactory, enabling an attuned user to magically fabricate non-magical items from a stock of appropriate raw materials, and a measure of gold roughly equivalent to the market cost of the desired item. So long as sufficient gold and materials are provided, and the attuned user succeeds a DC 15 WIS or INT check (their option which attribute, apply appropriate bonuses), a fully-working item of the desired type can be pulled from the bag, and added to the new owner's inventory. Rare and temperamental, these magical artifacts often cost in excess of 1000 gold, when purchased from a legitimate vendor on the open market.
Like the bag of holding, this bag has an interior space considerably larger than its outside dimensions, with similar dimensions and characteristics (roughly 2 feet in diameter at the mouth and 4 feet deep, 500 pound capacity, 64 cubic foot volume, weighs 15 pounds). Any item being fabricated within the bag, must conform to these dimensions, else withdrawing it risks a bag rupture.
Just like the bag of holding, if the bag is overloaded, pierced, or torn, it ruptures and is destroyed, but its contents are scattered randomly in a 600 foot radius centered on the mouth of the bag at its time of dissolution. Breathing creatures cannot survive in a bag of molding, however, as the magic of the bag assumes they are raw materials and will break them down into their component elements nearly instantly, on closure of the bag mouth.
Placing a bag of molding inside an extradimensional space created by a handy haversack, portable hole, or similar item instantly destroys both items and opens a gate to the Astral Plane. The gate originates where the one item was placed inside the other. Any creature within 10 feet of the gate is sucked through it to a random location on the Astral Plane. The gate then closes. The gate is one-way only and can't be reopened.
Crafting Rules:
The bag owner can place raw materials into the bag, up to the limits of the bag's capacity, and a roughly-equivalent sum of gold (rounded up to 1 gold in the case of items costing less than a gold coin). Every attempt will totally consume the resources and gold provided, and on successful checks (roll plus bonuses is greater than DC 15), the attempt succeeds. The roll may be made using either the holder's WIS or INT, at the player's option. A natural 20 roll for item creation opens up the possibility that a superlative item was created. In the event of a natural 20 for the creation roll, the bag holder can optionally use their bonus appropriate to the attribute (WIS or INT) they used to make the creation roll check as a pool of extra points to assign to item attributes, like damage, attack success, durability, etc. The pool of points can be applied to any, many, or none of the item attributes, until it is exhausted. Example: Nat 20 roll on "molding" a buckler (small arm shield), player has bonus of 4, decides to allocate +2 AC, 2 points of damage absorption / reduction. Nat 20 roll on "molding" a set of throwing knives, player has bonus of 3, decides to use +2 to hit, +1 damage.
Player classes who reasonably might have experience crafting these same items using more mundane means, can (at DM's discretion) add their current level in that class as an extra bonus to the initial creation roll.
The created item must be fully removed from the bag prior to the next creation attempt, even if it might reasonably be expected to be composed of the appropriate input materials for the next attempt.
Every placement of resources into the bag consumes one action. Each placement of funds into the bag consumes an action, each creation attempt consumes one action, and each removal operation consumes one action, for a total of at least four actions required, from start to finish. In the event of failure conditions, more actions may also be required.
Failure Conditions:
Failing the INT or WIS check at DC 15 (including appropriate character bonuses) during the creation attempt will totally and permanently consume the supplied raw materials and funds. The bag will remain empty when the holder attempts to retrieve the item, but no other adverse effects occur.
Failure to put in the appropriate raw materials will automatically result in the Bestow Curse spell being cast on the bag holder, who must save or suffer the spell's effects, per the spell's description.
Failure to put in adequate gold will may also trigger the above conditions, but with a chance to succeed, by applying the bag holder's willpower to the creation effort. Roll a character Charisma save, DC 12, for each 10% gold funds LESS than the market price supplied, rounded up to the nearest whole gold coin. Each Charisma save will consume an action. Any failure in that sequence of rolls, will result in a molding failure and no item will be produced. Instead of the item, a small lead coin will be produced, with an emblem of the desired item on it (heads) and on the (tails) reverse, the inscription "Cheapskate". The bag will refuse to create any other type of item, until the current item creation attempt is re-tried successfully. Multiple consecutive failures are possible, provided the appropriate raw materials are supplied for each attempt. While each funding-shortage failure will each produce a lead Cheapskate coin, none of the provided materials are returned in the event of a failure; those are totally and permanently consumed.
Subsequent attempts to produce the same item with insufficient funds, players can flip the each of the coins that exactly match the desired item, and all heads results can be added as a bonus to their charisma check. Items created by the bag of molding have a limited life span of 24 hours. Each coin flip will also consume an action.
Item Duration:
Items produced by the bag of molding have a 24 hour lifespan, before reverting into their component raw materials (more on that below), which can be re-used in a subsequent creation attempt.
Optional: If, before the 24 hours is up, the player puts the item BACK into the bag, they will receive a different gold coin, with the item on the face, and the words "Benefactor" on the tails side. These coins will influence the Charisma check the same way as the "Cheapskate" coins. As with failed creation attempts, raw materials returned early are totally and permanently consumed.
There is nothing residually magical about either the items or the coins, apart from the coins' effect on Charisma saves. Items will naturally fall apart in 24 hours, leaving their components available for manual reassembly by a skilled craftsperson, or re-use in the bag as input materials for the next roll. Solid metals will revert to ingots, woods will re-form into blocks or staves, leather will be consolidated into a single sheet, and stones into rectangular bricks of no more than 15 pounds each. Decorative gemstones (if any) will be applied and returned in the same form in which they were provided. The lead and gold Cheapskate and Benefactor coins are inert regular metals. Modification in ANY way eliminates their charisma-augmenting properties (no clipping or other metal-harvesting allowed) and they can be melted down normally into bulk inert metals, as well.
Notes: Artificer, or the owner must carry the bag on their person and practice with it at least 3 times a day for a week before it responds effectively to their efforts. During this practice period, each attempt will trigger a roll on the wild magic surge table, targeted at a random individual, including the holder, within 10 feet., Utility, Container
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