Gathering methods depend on the profession, often requiring specific opportunities. For instance, dragon scales are easier to obtain from a deceased dragon. Whether harvesting rare herbs, monster parts, or minerals, seizing gathering opportunities is crucial.
Reagents
Reagents encompass a wide array of items, often plants imbued with magical essence or harvested from magically inclined creatures. The specific source typically only defines the type of reagent, as it’s the magical fragment distilled from it that matters. Reagents are categorized as curative, reactive, or poisonous, each with standard rarities. Once combined into other forms like potions or essences, reagents cannot be salvaged. Each reagent is assumed to weigh 0.2 pounds.
Curative, reactive, and poisonous ingredients are intentionally interchangeable to streamline the crafting process and tracking. While individual names deepen immersion when finding or buying ingredients, they can be treated interchangeably based on their label for simplicity.
Magical Ink
Crafting primarily focuses on magical ink, which holds the mystical words of scrolls. Alchemists synthesize this ink from the magical properties of reagents, extracting their essence to imbue the ink with potency. The specific reagents used do not alter the final ink’s effectiveness.
Magical ink isn’t readily available in its raw form, although it may occasionally be obtained as loot. Generally, it’s either created from reagents or purchased from alchemists who specialize in its production.
Once magical ink is combined into another form, such as potions, essences, or additional ink, it cannot be retrieved. Each unit of magical ink typically weighs 0.1 pounds.
Essences
Reagents contain a hint of magical energy that can be refined, while Essences represent a purer form of magic. They come in three varieties: Arcane, Divine, and Primal, each with the usual rarities of common, uncommon, rare, very rare, and legendary. These Essences are the fundamental components of magic that power spells and enchantments.
Obtaining Essences involves various methods, such as refining magical reagents, salvaging from magic items, or the laborious work of spellcasters. Enchanters specialize in creating Essences, and the details for doing so are outlined in the Enchanting section.
Although all magic disciplines may utilize Essences for added power, Enchanters primarily rely on them. The pricing for Essences can be found in the Enchanting section of the rulebook.
Essences can be salvaged from magical gear, synthesized from reagents, or created by skilled spellcasters. However, the latter method is time-consuming and challenging.
Essences are adaptable in nature, offering various paths to achieve desired effects. For example, while a traditional method to craft a belt of hill giant strength might involve a hill giant heart as its essence, an Enchanter could use a dragon heart as a primal essence to create a belt of dragon strength with the same statistical benefits.
Each Essence typically weighs 1 pound.
Salvaging Essences
Additionally, it’s possible to salvage magical essence from unwanted or broken magic items, although this process is challenging and typically yields only a fraction of the original essence. When harvested, an item yields one essence equal to its rarity. This salvage operation takes 2 hours to complete and cannot be performed on items currently attuned to any creature.
Salvaging essence is only possible from permanent magic items, which are those without limitations on charges or uses, or those that recharge. Items with charges or uses can only be salvaged when fully charged or used.
Once essence is extracted, the item loses its magical properties and becomes nonmagical. If the item relied on magic to function or exist, it is destroyed in the process.
Making Essences
Creating an Essence is another potential avenue, albeit a demanding one, often best pursued during periods of downtime. A creature with the spellcasting ability can craft 1 essence over the course of a workweek, which spans 5 days, with 8 hours dedicated each day.
At 1st level or higher, a caster can produce a common essence in this manner. A caster of 5th level or higher can create an uncommon essence, while those at 11th level can fashion a rare essence. For a very rare essence, a caster must reach at least 17th level. Crafting legendary essences necessitates special rituals, involving multiple casters, and significantly longer durations, making them exceptionally challenging to produce.
The type of essence produced depends on the source of the spell casting levels as per the table below:
| Caster | Essence Type |
|---|---|
| Bard, Soulcaster, Luckweaver, Master of Tradition, Medium, Sorcerer, Summoner, Warlock, Wizard | Arcane |
| Cleric, Inquisitor, Lunar Cultist, Paladin | Divine |
| Blackclad, Druid, Ranger, Shaman | Primal |
Grimstone
See the Grimestone page for uses of grimstone in crafting.
Ingots
Ingots serve as chunks of metal utilized in crafting various items. They are typically considered to be relatively pure and weigh 2 pounds each. The standard ingot featured across all crafting tables is the steel ingot, priced at 2 gold pieces per ingot.
While steel is the default option, there are cheaper metals available, such as iron. Pure iron may not be suitable for crafting weapons and armor but can be utilized for other items, resulting in a more economical choice. Conversely, more advanced metals like mithril and adamantine can be used, offering special properties. However, they are significantly more challenging to work with and come at a higher cost.
Each ingot is assumed to weigh 2 pounds.
Gathering
Many of the materials can simply be found growing in the wild, and can be gathered by someone that knows what to look for and spends the time doing just that. When on a journey, you can use a journey action to gather without spending downtime.
Gathering Reagents
Reagents are harvested by making a Wisdom check. If you have a Herbalism kit and are proficient with it, you can add your proficiency bonus to the roll.
Search For Materials
Materials can be harvested with your choice of a Strength, Dexterity, or Wisdom check. If you have proficiency with the Survival skill, you can add your proficiency bonus to the roll.
Hunt Game
Food can be gathered with your choice of a Dexterity or Wisdom check. If you have proficiency with the Survival skill, you can add your survival modifier to the roll.
| Biome Location | Possible Reagents | Possible Materials | Possible Hunt Results |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forest | Common curative, poisonous, reactive Uncommon curative, poisonous Common primal essence | Firewood Branches Common primal essence | Fresh ingredients Hides |
| Desert | Common reactive, curative, poisonous Uncommon reactive, poisonous Common arcane essence | Scales Medium carapace Large carapace Rare supplies Common arcane essence Firesteel ore | Fresh ingredients Supplies Large carapace |
| Grassland | Common curative, reactive, poisonous Uncommon curative, reactive Common divine essence | Firewood Wood scraps Uncommon supplies Hides Rare supplies Common divine essence | Fresh ingredients Hides |
| Marsh | Common poisonous, curative, reactive Uncommon poisonous, reactive Common primal essence | Firewood Wood scraps Quality branches Supplies Uncommon branches Common primal essence | Supplies Fresh ingredients |
| Mountains | Common reactive, curative, poisonous Uncommon reactive, curative Common primal essence | Firewood Fletching Adamant ore Mithril ore uncommon branch Common primal essence | Supplies Fresh ingredients Large carapace |
| Caves | Common reactive, poisonous, reactive Uncommon reactive, curative, poisonous Common divine essence Uncommon divine essence | Discarded armor padding Scales Adamant ore Large carapace Mithril ore Common primal essence | Fresh ingredients Hides |
| Underground | Common poisonous, reactive Uncommon poisonous, curative Common arcane essence Uncommon arcane essence | Parts Supplies Mithril ore Uncommon branch Large carapace Common arcane essence Darksteel ore | Supplies Fresh ingredients Hides |
| Jungle | Common curative, poisonous Uncommon curative, reactive Common primal essence Uncommon primal essence | Firewood Common branches Supplies Uncommon supplies Uncommon branches Common primal essence | Fresh ingredients Hide scraps Hides |
| Shore | Common curative, poisonous Uncommon reactive Common primal essence Uncommon primal essence | Short haft Medium carapace Rare supplies Common branches Slightly rusty fancy parts Common primal essence | Fresh ingredients Supplies Medium carapace |
| Tundra | Common reactive, curative Uncommon reactive, curative Common primal essence Uncommon primal essence | Wood scraps Firewood Supplies Uncommon supplies Icesteel ore Common primal essence | Fresh ingredients Hides |
Location Bonus
Being in the right place can help you find things easier. The following locations grant a bonus to the DC if you are in that location.
| Biome | Location | DC Bonus |
|---|---|---|
| Forest | Kelpore | -2 |
| Desert | – | -2 |
| Grassland | Newforge | -2 |
| Marsh | Newforge | -2 |
| Mountains | Graydirge (Geb) | -2 |
| Caves | – | -2 |
| Underground | – | -2 |
| Jungle | – | -2 |
| Shore | Nightmare Isle, Kelpore, Ruins of Baldur’s Gate | -2 |
| Tundra | Northern Outlook | -2 |