Magical Gear[]
Magical equipment is always hand-made, and the form and style of magic items varies widely according to their creators and formulae.
Names[]
Different cultures and schools of thought have widely varying names for different items. A "potion of water breathing" in one culture may be called an "ocean drinker's draught" in another. Regardless of the names and appearances, the results are the same unless otherwise noted.
Cost[]
Consumable magic items like potions and scrolls can sometimes be bought and sold in major cities or at centers of learning and faith. In order to fund their missions, academies and temples alike create potions, scrolls and talismans to sell to well-off patrons.
Most durable magic items are impossible to buy and sell. They are typically passed down through family lines or given to the chosen bearers of faiths and governments.
However, some magic items do occasionally find their way into markets when times are desperate, or when freelance treasure hunters are looking to offload the spoils of their travels.
Magical Goods Pricing PDF[]
Use this PDF as a starting point for the cost of any magic items that make it to market.
Mundane Gear & Equipment[]
Thought it may not seem like it when looking at seasoned adventurers, most equipment is of mundane origin and craftsmanship.
Cost[]
When buying and selling mundane or alchemical equipment, food, or services, use the rules presented in the D&D Player's Handbook, unless otherwise noted.
Regional Variations[]
Each culture and region tends to have their own way of doing things as well as specialty trade secrets passed down through specific families or guilds. This leads to wide variations in manufacturing and appearance for the same sort of item across the world. However, or game terms, the actual effectiveness and function of the item remains the same. A mail shirt hand-made by a hobgoblin smith in the Rotwald Baronie will turn aside a blade just as well as a pattern-pressed mail shirt created in the cutting-edge gnomish forge-factories of La Madriguera, though the two products will likely take different times to construct and will look much different.
Cultural Variations[]
Cultural preferences vary widely, and are seldom 100% internally consistent. However, there are some safe assumptions among broader groups:
Dwarves[]
Dwarves build to last. Dwarven crafters create objects to be appreciated by their great, great grandchildren. Every piece should fit just so, with a minimum of maintenance required. A mark of pride among dwarves is to use as few fasteners and moving pieces as possible in a creation, so that there are fewer possible points of failure.
Dwarven craftsmanship favors linear, repeating geometric patterns, broken by intentional artistic asymmetry. Grace is not a word often associated with dwarven work, but great beauty and artistry can be found in even the most humble smithy.
Dwarves are known throughout the world for their ale, armor, and architecture.
Elves[]
Elven work feels organic and natural. Sweeping lines, spiral patterns, and light, intuitive grace is the hallmark of elven craftsmanship. While an elf's work, like that of dwarves, is made to last the centuries, there is none of the conspicuous robustness common in dwarven work, and the intent is different. Elvencraft is an expression of the artist, for the artist or its intended owner. Posterity weighs little on the mind of an elvish crafter.
Elves are known throughout the world for their blades, furniture, and wine.
Fey[]
Fairie crafters are the farthest extreme of the ideas of elven craft. Fairy works are almost always grown or pulled from nature, using they fey crafter's natural geomancy to shape and blend objects into being. Fairycraft objects are light and deceptively strong.
Giants[]
Giant crafters have a special challenge - building anything to withstand the use of such mighty beings requires clever engineering to overcome the natural limitations of material. Giants have learned to alloy metals, minerals and organic materials to capitalize on the strengths and minimize the weaknesses of each. Without this millennia-old perfection of technique, most giant crafts would collapse under its own weight. Curiously, giant craft resembles a blend of elvish and dwarvish craft, with long, smooth lines buttressed by strong geometric patterns. Giants have discovered clever ways to hollow objects out while making the resulting product even stronger.
Giants are known for their musical instruments, jewelry, and dangerously potent liquor.
Goblins[]
Goblin craft is crude and usually cobbled together from materials cast off by other beings.
Gnomes[]
Gnomes value ingenuity, and so like to add special features into their craft, such as inserting a compass into the vambrace of a suit of armor, or adding a system of gears to a chair that allows a small table to swing up on the side. No prototype work is ever the same, though gnomish manufacturers guilds have been known to create patterns of highly successful designs and then produce large quantities from templates.
Gnomes are known for overcomplication, spontaneous combustion, and occasional brilliance.
Hobbits[]
Hobbits are masters of ergonomics. A hobbit craftsman will work and work at a piece until it fits just so, as if the owner and the piece were made for one another. Hobbitcraft is rarely fancy or complicated, and thus gets an undeserved reputation for being rustic or unrefined.
Hobbit pipes and utensils are enjoyed throughout the world.
Hobgoblins[]
The hobgoblin values of utility and expedience are obvious in their crafts. Form always follows function. A hobgoblin sword has only as much material as is absolutely necessary for the way the weapon will be wielded. Hobgoblin armor is designed to protect well, but no effort is made to improve durability beyond what will be expected for a single wearer.
Hobgoblin crafters are known for their reusable and interchangeable patterns, facilitated by their highly regimented apprenticeship system.
Kobolds[]
Kobolds are ingenious trap makers and have a surprising mastery of glassmaking and the lapidary arts.
Lizardfolk[]
Lizardfolk make primitive tools and weapons. They are bad and should feel bad.
Naga[]
Naga crafts often take on strange forms, with complicated additions and mesmerizing twists to the material. Naga physiology requires and allows for different methods of use than that employed by bipedal creatures, and so few pieces of naga craftsmanship can be comfortably used by humanoids.
Orcs[]
Orc craftsmanship exudes power and durability. Grace and ease of use go out the window. An orc mug is a big mug. An orc sword is a fearsome bludgeon that happens to have a wicked edge. Orc armor is heavy, awkward for creatures with light builds, and formidable to see in action.