I agree with Lauren Morten who wrote that the worst part of crafting games is the crafting itself. I never got around to using a crafting table and thought it was worth the time, and punching trees was tedious. I jumped out of Valheim the moment the game expected me to care about crafting roof tiles in the right shape to mount on my drafty hut.
And yet, looking at the last explanation 2024 Player’s Handbook for Dungeons & Dragons 5E Creation RulesI think they might be good? Certainly an improvement over the previous downtime rules for creating things in D&D, which required such a huge investment of time that I could see the airy in my players’ eyes go out as I explained them.
Now anyone with an Herbalism Kit and the appropriate proficiency will be able to craft their own healing potions, for example. It’ll take “a full day’s work and 25 GP of raw magic goo” for each one, but it’s a much more compelling employ of tool proficiency than simply being able to identify poisons and find plants. (They can now craft antitoxins, healer’s kits, and candles, too.)
It’s worth noting that drinking these potions now officially costs a bonus action rather than a full action – it’s a rule so common that it was already used in Baldur’s Gate 3, and it’s nice to see it adopted into the core rules.
Meanwhile, experienced users of painting materials will be able to craft their own Holy Symbol or Druidic Focus, Spell Scrolls are cheaper to craft, armor crafting is twice as speedy, and the Crafter feat—one of Origin’s novel feats that can be taken at first level—can be used to craft some useful items overnight, like hooks, nets, torches, and ropes, if you don’t already have 50 feet that you forgot to write down on your character sheet.
Tool skills have become more useful overall, with suggestions and difficulty ratings for things like using masonry tools to sneakily peek into a secret room before breaking down a door, or using alchemical materials to airy a fire. These are things a generous GM would have already allowed you to do, but it’s nice to have them codified with DC so you don’t have to figure them out on the fly. Being proficient in a dexterity skill also gives you an advantage in checking the thieves’ tools you make to pick a lock in the 2024 rules.
I may ignore crafting systems when they’re bolted onto RPGs like Fallout 4, but I’ll definitely be using these rules in my next D&D game. I absolutely know there’s going to be a player out there who wants to find that “raw magic goo” without having to pay 25 hard-earned gold for it, and by God I’ll make them go through a hell of disgusting goo to find it — and then remind them where it came from every time they need 2k4+2 health in a hurry.
