THE SMITH’S TOOLS AT A GLANCE
RAW Cost: 20 GP
RAW Weight: 8 lbs
*Example Items: Hammer, tongs, bellows, punches, and chisel
Crafting Restrictions: Requires a forge, smeltery, materials, and skills
Mundane Item Crafting: Most medium armors, all heavy armors, most weapons, many pieces of adventuring gear
Magic Item Crafting: An enormous list of metal items
Artwork Creation: Can create a variety of metal artwork objects
QA Artwork Bonus: None
Structure Building: Can participate in but not lead the creation of structures
Adventuring Utility: Able to modify metal forged items, and use their knowledge of forged items in the field
Our current definition of the craft: Someone who makes things out of metal, especially by heating it and hitting it with a hammer: Example: a goldsmith/silversmith See also: blacksmith
Getting Hammered – The History of Smithing
Although there are some examples of metalwork as far back as 4500 BC, the first evidence found of smithing with a hammer is a dagger found in ancient Egypt dated to 1350 BC. These early smiths likely heated iron using wood fires, but they would eventually would discover that wood converted to charcoal would produce a better flame for smithing. Eventually it was discovered that the intensity of the heat could be increased by blasting it with air. This lead to the creation of the bloomery which was eventually superseded by the blast furnace in modern times.
Initially smiths used stones and stone hammers to hammer copper and lead, but around 1200 BC the bronze anvil was invented. Eventually the bronze anvil would give way to the iron anvil which remained the most popular type of anvil until the process for making steel was discovered. There was some experimentation with cast-iron and wrought-iron, but eventually they all gave way to the cast-steel anvils used today.
There is a great deal of nuance to the art of smithing, however at its core it can be broken down into the following 7 techniques:
- Drawing Down – Lengthening one dimension by narrowing another
- Bending – Bending heated and ductile metal to the desired angle
- Upsetting – Making metal thicker in one dimension by shortening another
- Shrinking – Upsetting technique used on compound curves
- Swaging – Altering the dimensions of an item by forcing it into dies
- Punching – Using a chisel to create holes, slits, and patterns
- Forge Welding – Joining a similar or different type of metal
Although the technologies used to execute these techniques has changed over-time, the process has more or less remained unchanged for thousands of years.
CRAFTING REQUIREMENTS
- A Lead Artisan - An artisan with the appropriate tool who can lead the crafting process.
- Crafting Materials - Materials to craft with. The items should be valued at 50% market value for mundane items and 100% market value for magical items.
- Means of Production - Any special equipment or location requirements such as a forge for blacksmiths.
- Instructions - Memorized instructions for mundane items or a written blueprint for magical items.
- Labor - Time and energy measured in 8 hour increments and proficiency dice rolls!
CRAFTING CAPABILITIES DEFINITIONS
- LEAD - You can serve as the lead artisan when creating this item.
- ASSIST - You can work under a lead artisan to create this item.
- OPTIONAL - You could potentially create a non-RAW version of this item at the DM's discretion.
- SPECIAL - Special cases defined on a case by case basis.
CRAFTING GP PROGRESSION FORMULA
To craft a mundane item use the below formula
[PROGRESS IN GP for mundane] = 5 + ((1d20+PROF+MOD) * 5)
To craft a magical item use the below formula
[PROGRESS IN GP for magical] = 5 + ((1d20+PROF+MOD) * 5) * Building value multiplier of the smithy
Items will also have a minimum time it takes to make. Reference the formula for individual items in the items pages of our kanka.