Crafting & Item Creation
The Craft skill lets characters make mundane items from raw materials. Item creation feats extend this to magic items — potions, scrolls, wands, and wondrous items — at half the market price. Both follow a common pattern: determine cost, make a skill check, track weekly progress. The calculator below handles the arithmetic.
Craft Skill
How It Works
Buy raw materials worth ⅓ of the item's market price. This is spent upfront and is not recovered on failure.
Each week, roll Craft (appropriate) vs. the item's DC. On success, multiply check result × DC — that's gp of progress toward the market price.
Once cumulative progress ≥ market price, the item is finished. Any excess carries over toward the next item of the same type.
Common Craft DCs
| DC | Item Examples |
|---|---|
| 5 | Rope, simple wooden items (buckets, boxes) |
| 10 | Crude wooden tools, simple baskets |
| 12 | Cloth garments, leather goods, most simple armor |
| 15 | Simple metal items (daggers, axes, chain shirt), bows, crossbows |
| 20 | Complex metal armor (chainmail, breastplate), masterwork component base |
| 25 | Full plate, masterwork weapons, complex devices |
Missing the DC: no progress that week but no materials lost. Missing by 5 or more: ruin ⅙ of the remaining raw materials (minimum 1 sp wasted). Missing by 10 or more when creating a masterwork item ruins the masterwork component — buy a new one and start the masterwork portion again.
Masterwork Items
Masterwork weapons grant a +1 bonus on attack rolls (not damage). Masterwork armor reduces its ACP by 1. Masterwork items are prerequisites for most magic enhancement.
Add 300 gp to the item's market price and craft the masterwork component separately (DC = base DC + 5, value = 300 gp). The two components — the item and the masterwork component — must each succeed; they can be crafted at the same time or in sequence.
A weapon can be made masterwork after the fact by the same process — craft a masterwork component (300 gp, DC = base DC + 5) and add it. A character may not retroactively declare an existing item masterwork without the crafting process.
Craft Progress Calculator
Magic Item Creation
Requirements
Each item type requires a specific item creation feat. You must have the feat to attempt creation of that type of item.
Must meet or exceed the item's minimum caster level (usually = minimum CL to cast the prerequisite spell). You can create an item at a lower CL, but it becomes weaker or requires a higher Craft check.
Must be able to cast the prerequisite spells (or have them available via a scroll/ another caster) and meet any other special requirements. Each missing prerequisite adds +5 to the Craft check DC.
Working on an item triggers its prerequisite spells each day, expending those prepared spell slots exactly as if the spells had been cast. A Wizard who relies on a prepared fireball to satisfy a wand's prerequisite loses that slot on every crafting day — it returns normally after rest, but is unavailable for casting that day. Focuses can be reused across all crafting days; material components are consumed only on the first day.
Time & Cost
1 day per 1,000 gp of market price (minimum 1 day). The crafter must spend 8 hours crafting per day — they can spend the rest of the day adventuring or performing other tasks. Exception: potions and scrolls with a base price of 250 gp or less can be completed in as little as 2 hours; those priced 251–999 gp still require a full day.
50% of market price in raw materials (plus any spell component costs). This is paid upfront. If creation fails, the materials are lost.
Crafting Conditions
| Condition | Effect |
|---|---|
| Rush crafting | +5 to Craft DC; halves creation time — work progresses at 4 hours per 1,000 gp instead of 8, finishing the item in half the normal days. |
| Distracting or dangerous environment | Half daily progress. The baseline is a quiet, comfortable, well-lit workspace. Field conditions, ongoing noise, or active danger each halve the gp completed that day. |
| Adventuring (CRB) | Devote 4 hours per day; net only 2 hours' worth of progress (~250 gp/day on a 1,000 gp item). Time need not be consecutive — lunch, watches, and morning prep count. See Crafting in the Field below for the Ultimate Campaign revision. |
| Missing prerequisite | +5 to Craft DC per missing spell or ability. The item creation feat itself is mandatory and cannot be skipped. Potions, wands, and scrolls additionally require meeting all spell prerequisites — no substitution allowed. |
One item at a time. A crafter can work on only one magic item simultaneously. Starting work on a new item wastes all materials already invested in the unfinished one — there is no partial refund or carry-over.
Craft Check
DC = 5 + caster level of the item. This is usually very easy for the creator — the primary obstacle is meeting prerequisites, not the roll itself.
Failure by 4 or less: No progress that day. Failure by 5 or more: Ruin the item (lose all materials). You can take 10 on this check in a safe, non-combat environment.
Item Creation Feats
| Feat | Creates | Prerequisite | Craft check DC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brew Potion | Potions | CL 3rd | 5 + CL |
| Craft Magic Arms and Armor | Magic weapons & armor | CL 5th | 5 + CL |
| Craft Rod | Rods | CL 9th | 5 + CL |
| Craft Staff | Staves | CL 11th | 5 + CL |
| Craft Wand | Wands | CL 5th | 5 + CL |
| Craft Wondrous Item | Wondrous items | CL 3rd | 5 + CL |
| Forge Ring | Rings | CL 7th | 5 + CL |
| Scribe Scroll | Scrolls | CL 1st | 5 + CL |
Pricing by Item Type
Market price formulas for common item types. Crafting cost = 50% of market price.
| Item Type | Market Price Formula | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Potion | 25 gp × spell level × CL | cure light wounds (CL 1): 25 gp; (CL 5): 125 gp |
| Scroll (arcane or divine) | 25 gp × spell level × CL | fireball (3rd, CL 5): 375 gp market |
| Wand | 750 gp × spell level × CL | cure light wounds (CL 1): 750 gp (50 charges) |
| Armor/Shield enhancement | +1: 1,000 gp · +2: 4,000 · +3: 9,000 · +4: 16,000 · +5: 25,000 | These are enhancement costs; add to base item price |
| Weapon enhancement | +1: 2,000 gp · +2: 8,000 · +3: 18,000 · +4: 32,000 · +5: 50,000 | These are enhancement costs; add to base item price + masterwork |
| Ring, Rod, Staff, Wondrous item | Listed in the magic items reference | No universal formula — each item is individually priced |
Characters with item creation feats can effectively double their purchasing power for items they can craft: they pay 50% to make vs. 100% to buy. GMs running WBL-tracked campaigns typically treat crafted items at their market price for WBL purposes (the savings represent the opportunity cost of feat and time investment), but this is a campaign decision to make explicitly. See Wealth by Level.
Advanced Crafting
Ultimate Campaign expands magic item creation with rules for upgrading existing items, recharging consumables, cooperative crafting between multiple casters, and reduced-efficiency crafting while adventuring.
Upgrading Existing Items
A caster can enhance an item they already possess rather than creating a new one from scratch. The cost is the difference between the new item's market price and the old one — not the full price of the new item. Time is calculated on the same difference.
Example: A +1 longsword (2,315 gp market) upgraded to +2 (8,315 gp market). Cost difference: 8,315 − 2,315 = 6,000 gp. The crafter pays 3,000 gp (50% of 6,000) and spends 6 days crafting.
Properties being replaced (e.g., swapping one special ability for another) are simply lost — there is no credit for the old ability. Only additive upgrades (increasing enhancement bonus, adding a new property to an empty slot) pay the difference.
Recharging Wands & Staves
A wand that reaches 0 charges is spent. It cannot be recharged by any means short of a wish or miracle (GM's discretion). Plan accordingly — track charges and sell or trade depleted wands rather than hoarding them.
A caster who has Craft Staff and can cast any spell in the staff can recharge it by expending spell slots. Each spell slot expended restores 1 charge, but a staff can never hold more than 10 charges and each charge restored costs 1⁄50 of the staff's market price in materials (in addition to the spell slot).
Cooperative Crafting
Multiple casters with the same item creation feat can cooperate to craft a single item faster. Each additional caster with the feat halves the remaining creation time (minimum 1 day). Only one crafter makes the Craft check, but others with the relevant feat may use the Aid Another action (DC 10 Craft check) to give a +2 bonus on that roll.
A second caster who possesses a prerequisite spell (but not the feat) can contribute that spell — this removes one missing-prerequisite penalty (+5 DC) from the primary crafter's check but does not reduce time.
Crafting in the Field
A caster can craft magic items while adventuring by splitting their day between crafting and exploring. Each day of field crafting counts as four hours of progress rather than the standard eight — so the item takes twice as long to complete. The crafter must still meet the normal prerequisites and make the daily Craft check. (This supersedes the Core Rulebook adventuring rule, which netted only 2 hours of progress per 4 hours devoted — Ultimate Campaign's version is more generous.)
Spellcasters who prepare spells may craft only after completing their morning preparation ritual. Spontaneous casters face no preparation timing restriction. Interruptions that prevent the crafter from spending at least 4 continuous hours on crafting that day result in no progress for that day (materials are not wasted, just time is lost).