D&D 5E Crafting System

I've begun reading articles about crafting items in tabletop RPGs by The Angry GM. I recommend you read his stuff. I must learn at least one new thing each article, but maybe that's because I'm inexperienced. After reading three of his 5000 word articles I'm disappointed. I just finished "Crafting Disappointment." He delivered what we already knew about crafting: convert materials into equipment. OK, cool. Except, no.

I've taken the liberty of sorting this crafting shit out once and for all! And, I'm going to publish this blog post before 6th Edition drops and potentially beats me to it.

First things first: Adventurers can't craft! There, I said it. Think about it, you're some kind of mercenary fighter, former criminal, a drop-out wizard, a priest on a pilgrimage, or a frickin' sorcerer doing sorcerer stuff! You can't craft! The only way your ass can craft anything is if you took the guild artisan background. That's it! Well, no, actually that's not it! I have ideas. Let's begin with something else, first. Or you know, second.

Second, let's identify your 5E character's crafting stat. Class, take out your PHBs and turn to page 182 and find the section CRAFTING. Ahem "You can craft nonmagical objects...You must be proficient with tools related to the object you are trying to create (typically artisan's tools.)" Your crafting stat is equal to your proficiency score and is limited, let's call it specialized, to the tool! That's it! Pop quiz. What is the crafting skill of a level 1 fighter who is proficient with blacksmiths tools? It's +2. 

If you don't have a proficiency with a tool, YOUR CHARACTER CAN'T CRAFT. This is because making effective weapons, tools, gear, etc., takes actual skill. I can't make a sword. I imagine if I tried making a sword it would turn out like shit. Why? Because some untrained dude cannot make a good sword.  You can't even make student quality goods if you don't have a teacher. 

Of course, this game is completely modular! Remember that. It's modular. Instead of what I just said, you could create a new skill called crafting. You could make up a reason to apply an ability score to it. Whatever. I'm going with what I said in the last paragraph because It's less complicated and it makes no changes to the rules. To reiterate, your crafting stat is your proficiency score and the tool you are proficient in. That's important for reasons that are also important. I mean, you don't want someone to be able to make ANYTHING. You'll break the game balance or something. A new skill called Crafting is too vague and applies to potentially too many things. Alternatively, you could make several different craft skills, but you already have that on page 154 of the PHB, in the table for Artisan Tools!

Third, how do you craft stuff? OK, let's say your characters want to make a sword. In addition to your proficiency with smiting tools, you also need the tools handy and smith facilities such as a forge and anvil. What else do they need? Materials! That's right! Reference the TRADE GOODS table on page 157 of the PHB. For ordinary, nonmagical crafting materials, I would either pull things straight off that table or base the the values of materials one similar stuff to that table. What materials go into a sword? Iron for the blade. The handle is going to be wood with a leather wrap.

I'm only going to work with quantities as abstractly as possible and make up with a price that seems fair. If the player says "I go to the store and I buy materials," I would just say "you have bought the right amount of materials, x,y, and z for your project. It cost 4 sp." I am not going to get crunchy. In fact, I might not even name x,y,z. I might just say "you bought the materials you need, 4sp." Easy. In fact, as long as you're not working with exotic or rare materials, keep it simple. What do you need to make your thing? You need materials. Where do you get them? The shop. That'll be 2 gp.

To craft a +0 item, a common, ordinary, regular, average item, a longsword without any bonuses or penalties, I would just rule that you can do it if you meet all the criteria above. No dice rolls, no nothing. If you want to be able to craft without having met this criteria, take a feat to get proficiency in one artisan tool. I'm making up a Feat: Tool proficiency. Choose one artisan tool. You are now proficient with that tool. You could also take this feat to gain proficiency in another tool for even more crafting possibilities.

To improve crafting, take a feat. To craft a +1 item, well, that takes talent. That takes investment. Dare I say, you the player have to make a choice. When you hit level 4, do you take the ability score improvement or do you take a feat that improves your crafting ability? You've played Skyrim, right? You don't just get to MAKE glass equipment. You have to INVEST perks. In other words, you have to BUILD your character to be able to craft. I don't see why D&D would be any different! The player has to make choices with consequences. Everything has an opportunity cost. Do I take a +1 to an ability score or do I get to make +1 items? What are the pros and cons?

This is the same for a +2 or +3 weapon. You have to give up an ABI to take a feat. "Craft Improved Items" for +1, has prerequisites, "Craft Superior Items," for +2 items, has prerequisites, and finally "Craft Masterwork Items" for +3 items, has prerequisites. If you want to create magical items, I'm going to rule that requires you to have access to a spellcaster who must know the spell you wish to craft into the item. The spellcaster can be you or an assistant. I might even require ANOTHER feat, say, "Craft Magical Items." With this feat, the weapons you make can now do magical damage.

The reason for all this is that I am opposed to players just being able to make shit. You're adventurers. Go get it! Why do some players think they can just craft stuff? If you want to be able to craft stuff, what are you willing to give up? If you want to be a fighter, you give up spellcasting. If you want to be a spellcaster, you give up being good with weapons and armor. If you want to be a crafter, you have to give up being good at magic and fighting. That's how you balance the game. That's how you give weight to your choices. I have added the fourth pillar.

Oh yeah, how much time does this shit take? The PHB says it takes like all day to make progress in increments described as 5gp worth of progress. If the item costs 1825 gp, you spend 8 hours per day for 1 year to make it. Uh, no. Nuts to that. I mean, maybe, but no. It's not practical for a crafting system. Just say your players can make 1 item in a weeks worth of downtime and move on.

I'm going to finish reading The Angry GM's articles now. He has some good ideas and it's definitely not dry, that's for sure.

To summarize:
-You must have proficiency in an artisan tool to craft and you can craft nonmagical goods relevant to that tool.
-You can expand the types of items you can craft by taking a feat for proficiency with additional tools. --Feat: Tool proficiency. Choose one artisan tool. You are now proficient with that tool.
-You can improve your crafting only by sacrificing Ability Score Improvements for feats:
--"Craft Improved Items" for +1 items, has prerequisites
--"Craft Superior Items," for +2 items, has prerequisites
--"Craft Masterwork Items" for +3 items, has prerequisites.
--To craft magic items, either be a spellcaster, get an assist who is a spellcastet, or take another feat "Craft Magical Items."
-Materials and time required are as simple abstract as possible.

Essentially, players make a crafter build in lieu of other build options rather than getting the benefits of being a crafter in addition to other build options. That's game balance. Pardon the swearing in my post.

SAMPLE MAGIC WEAPONS AND ARMOR
Belt of Strength: Improves wearers strength score by 3
Bracers of Strength: Improves wearers strength by 2
Ring of Strength: Improves wearer's melee and throwing weapon damage by +1
Ring of Protection: Improve AC by 1
Winged Boots: Improve movement by 10' and Save vs Death Ray by +1
Circlet of Intelligence: Improves the wearer's intelligence by 3.
Lucky Charm: Required to be worn as jewelry. Improves all saving throws by +1.
Cloak of Flames: Protects wearer from fire damage
Cloak of the Wind: +2 AC against missile weapons
Anti-Magic Talisman: Protects the wearer from 3d6 magic damage per day, then must recharge
Anti-Poison Amulet: Wearer gains a +4 to Save vs Poison.
Crystal Ball +1: Improves scrying
Hammer of Storms +2: A +2 war hammer. Twice daily when outdoors, the wielder call a bolt of lightning and direct it to one creature for 6d6 lightning damage. They may save vs Death Ray for half.
Golden Sword +2: A +2 shortsword that turns gold and flames on command. It does fire damage and creates 30' of light.
Rod of Light +1: A +1 mace that lights on command.
Dagger of Poison: A dagger that produces 1 dose of lethal poison each day. When hit, target takes 1d4 damage and must save vs poison or die.
Mage's Bane: Wielding this long dagger grants a +4 to saves vs spells.
Anti-Magic Ring: Wearer is granted a +2 to saves vs magic wands and spells.

The Devil's Relic Chaper 1: Old Soldiers and the Young Servant

 James ran scared through the dark, through the lavish halls of the Franklin Manor to the comfortable parlor room decorated with retired flintlock pistols and old cavalry sabers. His breathing and the echoing thumping of his boots on hardwood floors pushed his panic further into the back of his dry throat until it felt like burning. He swallowed deliberately in-between two breathes, but his fight or flight remained. If only the rain and thunder would hide his sounds from the beast, which was surely behind him. He couldn't hear it pursuing him, but he imagined the shortest inch out vicious take-down reach.
    He rounded a corner with a pivot and a spin. He was didn't believe what his eyes were lying to him about the dark empty hallway. He dashed! The parlor door appeared as a goal at the end of a desperate race. He brought his knees to his chest with every adrenaline tempered stride. His hands resembled the knife hands of an instructing Sergent as he flung heave his shoulders with each pump of his arms. Hit breath coming out rhythmically like a numatic machine.
    He could feel it. Any minute now. Claws. Teeth. Tackled and rolling to the ground. No! He though. It mustn't happen!
    Then the door was almost in reach and flung himself at it. He twisted the knob and the parlor door took him insie like an ocean wave. He stomped the ground and lunged to close it behind him. He held his breath as he faced the room and a moment of hesitation. Which one do I pick and do I have the blessing of my host to violate his retired military affects? But he knew precisely that he wanted the cavalry saber with the pistol grip. He lost a second after closing the door before seizing the saber from the wall hooks. He discarded the scabbard with a single heave. The blade flashed some moonlight from the window and he slowly retreated into the corner.
    He was at last alone with his thoughts and a weapon. He needed to catch his breath for the moment that door came off the hinges. A flash of lightning came in. A few breathes later and he heard a distant crackle and a boom. He concentrated his gazed at that door and willed himself not to inevitably flinch. Moments passed in the long room with droplets of sweat streaking down the small of his back.
    James began to feel that sense of danger again, but it bid him to turn around and creep away from the window. Any moment, he thought, and the window will betray me!
    And from outside the room came a startling, distant sound like a  vase heavy with water crashing from waist high to hard floors. There was was the sound of a squeak after that, like a boot, and a crunch of glass. James pictured the beast searching with his nose, far more calmly than James, and he imagined the beast in the kitchen.
    James choked on his spit and spoke under his ragged breathe "He doesn't want to have the confrontation in the parlor. That's alright. This gives me more time." It meant more time for him to recover from his whirlwind sprint. "But..." he remembered, "Erin is hiding somewhere." A cold sensation went through his gut like a wave.
    He took an instinctual step forward out of his corner. He crept to the parlor door. He flicked away aniety in his hand with a saber flourish and it regrettably felt like a waste of precious strength. The door did not burst. He paused in front of it to listen. He reached. He turned the knob. He opened the door wide and gave it clearance. He looked down the hall. His eyes took a moment to adjust to the light.
    The saber let James out of the parlor towards the kitchen. He pictured the poor trembling servant in her silly little apron. Then he imagined her lying in a heap with a pool of blood and lifeless eyes and a trail of blood leading away. I told her to hide, he thought. If she's dead, it's because I left her to corner herself, helpless and vulnerable. Did the beast chase the wrong prey!
    The kitchen had windows and a lot of white surfaces that showed any dark objects with stark contrast in moon light. He saw the vase and a shiny space of floor and a scattering of flowers. He felt the table with his fingertips as he walked past. He took up a piece of cutlery and gave it a toss forward. It clanged on the floor and bounced and slid ringing. The room which was ordinarily warm and busy felt drafty and void. He was keenly aware that some of the staff who manned this kitchen were already mauled and dead, never to warm this room again either literally or poetically.
    He found the open doorway to the dinning room and braced himself for a vicious tackle. He concentrated on her peripheral vision on his first step in and flung his head this way and that to clear the corners. Very good. Then a dark form moved on the other side of the long table. It was the same unnaturally tall, hunched and powerful man-shaped silhouette with a torn strip of shirt across its torso like a bandolier and ragged trousers.
    "What's that?" Its voice was a growl. James presented the sword forcefully, but his voice cracked "I made a trip to the parlor!" His knees betrayed him and he stance displayed bravado. He was immediately acutely aware of his shaking legs.
    "I can smell your fear." The beast laughed. He inhaled deeply. "You ought to kill yourself on that sword to spite me."
    "I warn you," James feigned intensity.
    A moment passed. The beast was entirely still. "Well. What's your warning?"
    A very distant thunder rolled while James thought. He searched his mind for something powerful, for something intimidating, for something sharp. He found nothing he was proud of. Just the silly words of young soldiers cursing other young soldiers before dying or killing. He felt as though too much time passed and his opportunity to threaten the monster effectively had passed, so he said nothing and waited.
    "I have overcome my battle fatigue. In this form I have piss and vigor again." The beast said. He stepped into the square of moonlight and his fur covered body was clearly that of a man with an animals mouth. He had remorseless eyes now. "And looking at you I realize now that Brent Keen was truely dead since the war. I became a shadow of a man, like you James. You're a coward. You shared with me as much. How you miss sleeping with a rifle. How you sense danger whenever you turn a corner. I used to be like you, then I traded my immortal soul for peace."
    "You call this peace? I call it blood lust. You call yourself a man!"
    "NO! Not a man. Not anymore. I have transcended!" The beast formerly Brent presented his full height and opened his arms. "The power of the devil's relic! I'm invincible!"
    James gulped.
    Brent pointed a clawed and massive finger at him James. "I've saved you for last."
    James gulped again.
    "Aren't you the last one?" He swung his head and sniffed one long prominent sniff. He closed his fierce and blue eyes in concentration. He grinned. "You're not the last one yet, are you? Do tell, who's left?"
    "Brent, why!" Anger rose from his stomach like fire. James gritted his teeth, furrowed his brow, and flared his nostrils.
    "For the thrill." The beast grinned. "This is better than making love with three women!" Brent flexed every muscle and curled his powerful claws.
    James seethed. A moment of silence passed. A little laugh hissed slowly out of Brent as he turned and raced away.
    "Bastard!" James took off after the beast and his first steps were angry stomps. He sailed through the dinning room and passed through a door than another room than into the hall. He skidded to a halt and surveyed each direction. "Brent! I'll test this edge on you, you bastard!"
    In the distance, he heard a delighted and beastly "that's the spirit!"
    James ears honed in on the source and the chase was on. He bolted yet again. He crashed through a door and kept going. He found the servants quarters. The small, messy little room of the young servant girl. Garments were strewn about. A wardrobe was turned over. A mattress was crooked and folded.
    A clatter of miscellaneous objects and a crash came from elsewhere and James was away again. He smacked the door frame with the saber on his way and it rang as he sprinted the length of another hallway. He ran past a smear on the wall with a twisted corpse underneath it. He felt his heart flutter when he rounded a corner. Stomps and more clatter. A smash. A crash. A high pitched yelp. James entered the grand foyer like a he was escaping fire.
    The beasts shadow left the room. James charged instinctively. He hit a large, hairy statue. A final sound like growl was silenced by a buried saber in it's body up to the hilt. James had unintentionally did his job. He The smelly, towering form wobbled. James to a step away from the saber handle and dove and rolled out from under a great big collapsing brute.
    From a mountain climbers position on the floor he looked over his shoulder at the beast and searched it thoroughly for signs that it was definitely not alive. Finally, he heard the breathing of someone else over the sound of his heart in his ears. His eyes darted to a short, petite woman with wide eyes on her knees in a bloody apron.
    "James?" Erin whispered cautiously. She was alright. James crawled a few paces than pulled himself to a kneeling position over the beast.
    Brent's beast face was twisted in agony, his head was bent back, his back was arched. James realized this was position was because of the blood streaked 15 inch blade sticking out of his chest.
    The beast's body was entirely tense. It violently settled and spasmed and settled finally. Brent's eyes rolled and found James'. Then they turned cloudy.

Substitute 3d6 System

I like the idea of learning to play paper and pencil rpgs by substituting a d20 with three standard six sided dice (3d6) because they're very common and you might not always have access to your fancy specialty dice. In other words, a 3d6 system. There are some differences between a d20 and 3d6 that will surprise and confuse you if you don't review the math. Refer below to this magnificent chart I made based on probability of outcomes rolling 3d6. Rate means rate of meeting or beating the result.

Let me simplify it like this:

1. An easy challenge is an 8.
2. A medium challenge is a 10.
3. A hard challenge is a 12.

But choosing a target number is not that simple. 3d6 is unlike the d20 which essentially makes 5 easy, 10 medium, and 15+ hard. Be aware, with 3d6, moderate results (8 to 13) become common and extreme results (3 to 6 and 15 to 18) become rare. Rolls are more likely to barely succeed or barely fail. Dice rolls are more predictable and chance is less of a factor.

Target Numbers
Pick a target number for a skill check based on the probability of success and adjust based on the player's modifier rather than an arbitrary DC based on easy, medium, hard. For instance, let's say your player is performing a skill check. You determine that the task should be challenging such that they have a 50/50 chance to succeed. A 10 is the same as 50/50. They have a +3. Tell them to roll 13 to succeed. Bear in mind, someone without any bonuses will have an approximate 17% success rate performing a skill check with a target number of 13.

A Game with Small Modifiers

To play an rpg by substituting 3d6 for a d20, you need to re-scale all the numbers including armor class, challenge rating, bonuses, penalties, and other modifiers because any small modifier matters a lot.  You'll probably have to adjust numbers impromptu too. A +2 is enough to make a hard challenge into a medium challenge and a +4 is enough to make a hard challenge easy.

Critical Success and Critical Failure

You have an approximate 4.5% chance of rolling a 5 or lower and likewise to roll a 16 or higher; therefore, treat a natural 3, 4, or 5 as critical failure and treat a natural 16, 17, or 18 as a critical success.

Advantage and Disadvantage

Rolling a 4d6 drop the lowest / highest is going to feel like the 5e advantage system, but that is going to increase rolls by an average of 3.5 which is substantial. Consider assigning a more modest +2 bonus for advantage and a -2 for disadvantage.

 

d66 for Tables: 

Roll 2d6 for a 6 base percentile die. Treat one d6 as a tens place and one d6 as the ones place, and you can roll any number from 11 to 66 excluding numbers with 7, 8, 9, and 0. You can roll 36 different results.