Is it only me who enters a panic mode when all out the sudden my players say “We want to go shopping for magic items?” Now, figuring out what the vendors might have is a piece of cake, but how much it is? Now that’s a problem. So here is a little help to figure out magic item prices in 5e.

Magic item prices in 5e is a ridiculous hard thing. Oh, you have a rare item there? Is is 1000 gold, 4500 gold? Who knows… and so the search begins while the players await my decision.

Items are one of the most cool thing in D&D. It is the best loot, it can grant amazing powers and simply change the way a character works just by attuning to a mysterious object of power. The act of finding or creating a magic item, identifying it, is probably my favourite thing in D&D overall.

That’s why in this article I dive into the arcane marketplace, compare the pricing rules from Dungeon Master’s Guide (DMG) and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything (XGE) and try to figure it out once and for all. WARNING! There is a nifty calculator down belowe and you can simply use it as it is.

Magic Item Cost Calculator

I’ve prepare a simple to use calculator for magic items.

You can use it for free here from the Google Sheets. It is compatible with books, but you can easily use it to price your homebrew items as well.

You will be able to set the magic item price base on:

• Item rarity
• Type – Major or Minor
• Market Factors like Thriving economy or Competetive Market
• Reputation of the party
• Negatiotation modification
• Consumble character of the item
• Setting type

Understanding Magic Item Rarity

In D&D 5e there are five tiers of rarity for magic items:

• Common – Common magic items are relatively mundane and can be found or crafted with relative ease within the game world. These items typically provide minor benefits or enhancements to characters’ abilities without significantly altering gameplay dynamics.
  
• Uncommon – Uncommon magic items are more potent or specialized than common ones but are still relatively accessible. They might offer moderate bonuses or unique abilities that can be useful in specific situations. Characters may need to seek out skilled artisans or explore hidden locations to acquire them.
  
• Rare – Rare magic items are powerful and highly sought after. They provide substantial bonuses or unique abilities that significantly impact gameplay. Acquiring rare items often requires completing challenging quests, defeating powerful adversaries, or navigating complex dungeons. They are usually found in the possession of powerful entities or hidden in remote and dangerous locations.
  
• Very Rare – Very rare magic items are exceptionally powerful and extremely rare. They offer significant advantages or game-changing abilities that can greatly influence the course of a campaign. Obtaining very rare items typically involves undertaking epic quests, facing legendary foes, or discovering ancient artifacts hidden in the farthest reaches of the world.
  
• Legendary – Legendary magic items are the most powerful and coveted artifacts in the game world. They possess unparalleled abilities that can alter the fate of nations or reshape the fabric of reality. Legendary items are the stuff of legends, often associated with epic quests, ancient prophecies, or the deeds of legendary heroes. Acquiring a legendary item is the culmination of a character’s journey and may require confronting gods, defeating world-threatening evils, or unraveling mysteries lost to time.

Obtaining magic items

As a rule of thumb, common and uncommon items are easily bought. Rare items can be bought but there might be more at stake than just money. Very rare and legendary are best loot or an objective of a quest – however pricing might help significanlty when such items would be forged by the players as part of their journey.

Magic Item Prices 5e in the Dungeon Master’s Guide (DMG)

The Dungeon Master’s Guide (DMG) provides guidelines for magic item pricing primarily in Chapter 7: Treasure, specifically on pages 135-136. Here’s a summary of what the DMG says about magic item pricing:

The rarity of a magic item directly influences its price. Common and uncommon items are generally more affordable and readily available, while rare, very rare, and legendary items command exorbitant prices due to their scarcity and power. Players may need to expend significant resources or undertake perilous quests to acquire higher rarity items.

The prices mostly depand on rarity (which we already covered) and demant & availability.

Magic Item Prices 5e in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything (XGtE)

XGE answered a lot of questions, us DM’s had. The whole book covers a lot of interesting elements but here we want to focus on magic items prices and purchasing. Some of the subsystems from DMG are overwritten, other are supplemented.

Xanathar first introduces a mechanics on fiding the magic itemto buy altogheter. This means, that you cannot simply enter the store, but you have to actively look for it – one workweek to be precise and on top of that, spend 100 gp. Yikes! Obviously it is a optional rule.

There is also a whole complicated subsystem for finding the items but we’re not gonna delve into that. All we want here is to figure out the magic item price.

Asking prices in XGtE

XGtE approach to magic item prices are much more complex but allows you to find diversity and flexibility. In the same time they don’t offer such a wide spread that DMG gave us.

Major and Minor Magic Items

This typology was also introduced in Xanathar’s, however it wasn’t applied to prices in an explicit way. You can only see how the ‘consumable’ trait adjust the price, but I think considering the major/minor type also can naturally influence the economy of the world.

First of all type type can be applied to the number of items a vendor has. Look at the table on page 135 of Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, we see that characters on level 1-4 on avrage should have 9 minor itemst and 2 major items. It is helpful to apply this rule to stocks in magic shops so when the players visit them, there isn’t that much to buy from the major type of items. Alternativaly, their prices could be much higher, so the investmenet on part of the players is bigger as well.

Haggling, barganing and negotiating – better magic item prices in 5e

I’ve seen dozens of way to introduce haggling as a part of D&D and I believe the best one is the one that suits your players and yourself the most. Here are a few ways to do it:

1. Opposing Charisma (Persuasion) check – This give the DM adn the players a very clear view of what is going to happened and there is no space for hurtful interpretation. The dice decide.
2. Old School Role Play – Less work for you, more fun for players. If they find a clever way to approach the vendor and ask him for better price, its up to you if they succeed.
3. Mixed – Mixing the two above can be fun and allow yourself to be fair with the players. Based on the players actions you can call for a roll and maybe even change the Persuasion into Deception or Intimidation for that matter. Remember that you can use different abilities with different skills so Wizard buying a magic book can easily use Intelligence (Persuasion) check for this as well.

Magic Items Pricing 5e – Other factors

Below you can find other factors that can influence magic item prices in 5e. All of those are included in the calculator you can use yourself.

Market Factor

It describes an economy situation of the given terrirory the players are. If most of the campaign takes place in the same region, you don’t need to change it, but if the party is traveling, it might be interesting to adjust the prices as well.

I’ve introduced 5 tiers of market factors as follow:

Tier 1: Thriving Economy

• Description: The region boasts a prosperous economy with high demand for magic items and ample resources.
• Effect on Prices: Magic items are in high demand, leading to slightly higher prices compared to other regions. (+20% to base price)

Tier 2: Stable Economy

• Description: The local economy is stable, with moderate demand for magic items and reasonable availability.
• Effect on Prices: Magic item prices are relatively standard, reflecting balanced supply and demand. (No modification to base price)

Tier 3: Depressed Economy

• Description: The region’s economy is struggling, resulting in lower overall demand for luxury items like magic items.
• Effect on Prices: Magic item prices are slightly lower due to decreased demand and limited purchasing power. (-10% to base price)

Tier 4: Competitive Market

• Description: The area is characterized by fierce competition among magic item vendors, driving prices down.
• Effect on Prices: Magic item prices are lower than average as vendors compete for customers. (-20% to base price)

Tier 5: Restricted Market

• Description: The market for magic items is heavily regulated or restricted, limiting availability and increasing prices.
• Effect on Prices: Magic item prices are significantly higher due to scarcity and regulatory constraints. (+30% to base price)

Reputation

It was obvious to me to use it as a factor in the pricing method, since I use the reputation system in my games most of the time. Being friendly or admired in the city should improve the purchasing power of the characters and similarly, if they are considered a manace, people would usually be less eager to lower the prices.

You can easily applies the reputation to your Negotations, however for the sake of the calculator, that was simply easier to do.

If you don’t use any system like this, you can either ballpark it or chose the Neutral option, that doesn’t modify anything.

Negotation Modification

Considering that a lot of people use different ways to go deal with negotations, this value doesn’t use any specific mechanics but just checks and modifies the price by the factor of successful or unsuccessful negotations.

This means I simply apply:

• Successful (-10% off the asking price)
• Unsuccessfull (+10% to the asking price)
• None (Simply nothing)

If there is no attampt at all to negotatiate, just use None option. Note that Unsuccessful negotation rises the price.

Consumable

XGtE suggests a few times to cut the price of magic item by half if it is a consumable item. I use the same rule in my calculator, which turns scrolls and potions into very useful and fun items to purchase and actually use, instead of hoarding them.

Setting

Setting can influence the role and thus the price of items in major way. Low magic will make the items much more expensive and elusive, while high magic can make even rare items available for the characters in every magic store.

In the calculator I’ve used a Low Magic, High Magic and Standard typology that offers enough flexibility but without overworking the system itself.

Low magic is a setting where magic items are a rare occurance in the world and thus their price will be much higher. In High magic setting, the prices will be lower, since they are simply more common in the world. Forgetten Realms is considered here to be Standard, although you might want to adjust it to your way of playing.

• Standard Setting – no modification
• Low Magic – doubles the price
• High Magic – reduces the price by half

In some cases like Eberron, where lower level magic is very attainable but higher magic is very rare, there should be a curve on the pricing. In that case you can choose to pick High Magic setting for Common, Uncommon items; Standard for Rare; Low Magic for Very rare and Legendary.

Conclusions

Stop wasting time and use the calculator already! For real, you don’t need to browse all the books to find out how much a wand of magic missle is.

Artykuł Magic Item Prices 5e pochodzi z serwisu Before You Roll.

So let’s go through basic and extended rules for using the tools and see how they can change our role-playing and the game overall. After finishing, you will have tons of ideas how to use the forgotten tools in your kit. Not to mention, your team will love you for rescuing them from a creeping demon with Potter tools!

List of Tools in D&D 5e

First, let’s take a look at what tools we have access to in Dungeon and Dragons 5e.

Rules for using tools in D&D

You can find rules for using tools in Player’s Handbook in Chapter 5.

A tool helps you to do something you couldn’t otherwise do, such as craft or repair an item, forge a document, or pick a lock. Your race, class, background, or feats give you proficiency with certain tools. Proficiency with a tool allows you to add your proficiency bonus to any ability check you make using that tool. Tool use is not tied to a single ability, since proficiency with a tool represents broader knowledge of its use. For example, the DM might ask you to make a Dexterity check to carve a fine detail with your woodcarver’s tools, or a Strength check to make something out of particularly hard wood.

Player’s Handbook chapter 5.

Within this description there are several things that are worth paying attention to, but might not be visible right away.

Three pillars of Tools in D&D 5e

There are three major benefits from being proficient in using tools.

1. You can add proficiency bonus to the skill you are not otherwise proficient with, given that you specify how you use your tools to compensate it.

e.g. You try to find a way out of the mountains. You are asked to make Survival check but you are not proficient in it. You use your Cartographer's Tools to assess the distance between landmarks and create a general path out of the mountains for which you can add your Proficiency bonus modifier.

2. You gain advantage on skill check if you are both proficient in the skill you are trying to utilize and tools that help you with that.

e.g. You try to access a forbidden part of the city. You are asked to make a Persuasion check to see if the guards believe you. By using your Forgery Kit you muster a fake signature on documents that grants you advantage on the roll.

3. You gain access to additional and unique skills or benefits by using the tools.

e.g. With Jeweler's Kit you can modify the gem's appearance and potentially increase its value.

Tools proficiency but no skill proficiency

Tool + No Skill = Skill + d20 + Proficiency mod

This circumstance is simple mechanically but bring some interesting points to the narrative aspect of the game.

Having no proficiency in skill means that in the life of our character this particular skill hasn’t been utilized enough for them to be competent in it. Yet a character with tools proficiency has a knowledge and experience in using tools that possibly can help to mitigate this shortcoming. Perhaps this tool was always a way for your character to mask the incompetence or maybe it simply show how adaptive and creative the character is.

As always, in storytelling and narrative design, having two opposing forces is a good place to be. Figuring out where those oppositions come from and how they react with each other can be a great hook for a role-playing.

You are not be the best in performing in front of people. Usually your success relies on blending in and staying out of sight. That's why even the thought of standing in front of a crowd and speaking out makes you sweat. Fortunately, you know how to change your appearance, you know how to become someone else. With a little bit of make-up and a wig, this speech you are about to give will be way easier. 

This little example show you how a Performance check could be mitigate by Disguise Kit proficiency. Roleplaying the stress of making a speech, figuring out a way to use disguise kit, preparing and finally standing in front of all those people would make an amazing D&D moment to remember.

Tools proficiency gives you a unique skill

‘Tools can help you do something that you couldn’t otherwise do’, basically means that these are unique skills that your character has, that nobody else posses. This itself is a very important for your character and roleplaying. Distincting yourself from other members of the group in social and environmental situations is one of the key points to build believable and interesting character.

Rogue is trying to pick locks. The brute is trying to force open them. You have smith's tools and maybe you might be able to dismantle the hinges? 

Suddenly you and your team gets an additional way of dealing with whatever DM puts in front of you. Because of that, it’s smart to read upon the tools you are proficient in, to really get a grasp of what you are fully capable of. Start with Wikipedia and go into a rabbit hole of craftsmanship and various tools that had been used in the past.

Or perhaps you are a lucky owner of Herbalist Kit and can brew potions,

Xanathar Guide to Everything goes in-depth on how to use each tool proficiency to gain amazing and unique skills. Start from page 78 to learn more.

Versatile use of tools in D&D

All of the Skills in D&D can have at least few ways to use them. Tools make it even broader, giving you the ability to creatively bent your typical skill check by using tools proficiency.

Tool use is not tied to a single ability, since proficiency with a tool represents broader knowledge of its use. For example, the DM might ask you to make a Dexterity check to carve a fine detail with your woodcarver’s tools, or a Strength check to make something out of particularly hard wood.

This opens a wide array of possibilities for you and your party. It gives you a way to negotiate with the DM how to approach a certain task and try out of the box solutions.

Bringing back our shy character with Disguise Kit. In out previous example he used it to give him a little boost to Performance check. Same tool would help him to stay stealthy when sneaking through crowded area, intimidate a local store owner or persuade a local priest that you are a part of the religious group by having their mark on your forearm.

On mechanical level it allows you to add your proficiency bonus to any ability check, so now it’s not only possible, but also probably as well!

Proficiency with a tool represents broader knowledge of its use. Make sure you talk about it with your DM. Whenever you are about to make a skill check that’s out of your realm, try to sneak in some tools.

Where do you get your tools and proficiency/header

Using tools without proficiency in them

In most canonical sense, using tools without being proficient in them doesn’t give a character any kind of benefit. Since most of the tools in D&D are very specific and allude to craftsmanship it would simply mean that a character doesn’t know how to use them to achieve a given goal.

This could be potentially interesting thing to explore when a particular character tries to learn and gain the proficiency in tools. Would a novice have a disadvantage on the rolls using the tools at first? How many fails does it take to learn the proper use of the tools and what role would a teacher play in the process of mastering the tools?

Learning and gaining tools proficiency

So how do you increase proficiency in tools 5e? XGtE gives a simple recipe on how to do that.

Receiving training in a language or tool typically take at least ten workweeks to gain new tool proficiency but the times is reduced by a number of workweeks equal to the character’s Intelligence modifier (an Intelligence penalty doesn’t increase the time needed). Training costs 25 gp per workweek.

Xanathar Guide to Everything p. 134

It is listed as a downtime activity, that would require a significant amount of time and money (250 gp per a training). Additionally, there is a hidden resource required – a teacher.

Finding a teacher could potentially be a quest on itself and might need more than just money to pay for tutoring. However, if you already have tool proficiency, including a teacher in your backstory could open new valley to explore the character motivations, personality and goals.

Tools proficiency but no tools in equipment

It might be confusing for some, but having a tool proficiency doesn’t grant you automatically all the tools in the equipment. When picking up the starting equipment, make sure to check for them.

Normally tool sets should be available in most general stores, but if the DM is rather conservative about hat, ask how your character might obtain such tools.

When starting on higher levels, ask if you could add them right away, to avoid mundane shopping at the beginning of the campaign.

What’s in my toolset

Most sets like Thieve’s Tools or Alchemist’s Supplies are a group of items that could be used separately. Read the description in your equipment, so you can use all of it, for whatever purpose you want.

A mirror on a handle or a pair of scissors in the Thieve’s Tools could be use for preparing a trap as well as changing your looks before a big show. A mortar and pestle from Herbalist Kit could be great for crushing some gems or preparing a dinner.

Having the knowledge of what you really have on you and roleplaying all those small details will add depth to the role you have in a group. Using skills will be much more than a mechanical activity and in itself will become a part of the character personality.

Just think about your own favorite items. Your best pen, a bag pack or maybe a spoon. Those quirks are part of you and adding this layer to the character can go a long way.

Some toolsets lack such description and don’t go into details what’s in them. Work out with your DM the content of the toolset.

Afterthought

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Artykuł Tools in D&D – Rules and How to Elevate Roleplay pochodzi z serwisu Before You Roll.

Here is a complete guide for Dungeon and Dragons 5e Potion of Healing rules you will ever need in your games. Feel free to skip to the most interesting part right away.

Official DnD 5e Rules on Healing Potions

The official dnd 5e healing potion rules are straightforward and simple. In Player’s Handbook on page 150, we can read:

Potion of Healing. A character who drinks the magical red fluid in this vial regains 2d4 + 2 hit points. Drinking or administering a potion takes an action.

There is some additional piece of information in Dungeon Master’s Guide and rules about brewing potions in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. Below I break down all the core mechanics and information, so you don’t have to browse all of the books.

You regain hit points when you drink this potion. The number of hit points depends on the potion’s rarity, as shown in the Potions of Healing table. Whatever its potency, the potion’s red liquid glimmers when agitated. 

Alternatively, Xanathar’s Guide to Everything gives a formula to roll and count the price of healing potion. It goes like this:

• Potion of Greater Healing = [1d6 x 50] gp
• Potion of Superior Healing = [2d10 x 500] gp
• Potion of Supreme Healing = [1d4+1 x 50000] gp

The differences in price here can be quite significant, as you can see. Nontheless, it shows us how big of a range the rarity, price and significance the potions of healing can have.

Using the Potions

Although the rules state that drinking a potion is an action, there are many alternative rules and ways people approach it at their tables. It seems only natural that using a healing potion would be a full action, nevertheless the issue of using potions often comes up during play.

Is it the same action to drink a potion of healing yourself? Is it more or less complicated to feed your fallen friend with a potion?

There are several way to approach it.

• Using a potion of healing on yourself or other willing creature is considered an action. [Action – Action]
  
• Using a potion of healing on yourself is considered a bonus action and using it on other willing creature is considered an action. [Bonus action – Action]
  
• Using a potion of healing on yourself or other willing creature is considered a bonus action. [Bonus action – Bonus action]

This slight change can be dramatic in the outcome, because it is strongly embedded in combat economics. There are a few elements I recommend to consider before ruling on this matter in your game. For most DMs the option number one would be the ‘canon’ and the closest to the rules.

1. Dynamics. Dynamics of your adventure and how much fights you put into them. If players face more than two encounters between short-rest, the ability to use a healing potion in the right moment can be a game changer.
   
2. Team composition. Obviously it would be great if every group had a cleric or a druid with healing powers, but sometimes it’s just not the case. Healing potion and rest could be the only way for them to recover from whatever you make them face.
   
3. Numer of PCs. It is much easier to use an action to heal when there is 7-8 characters running around the map vs 2-3 PC, where every single moment counts and falling unconscious is much more lethal.
   
4. Rarity. When potion of healing can be purchased everywhere and players are getting some traction with money, it is easy for them to stock on supplies. However, if using a potion is an expensive act within the combat economy, buying PoH just doesn’t make much sense.

So let’s consider the Bonus Action – Action model and Bonus action – Bonus Action.

Bonus Action – Action, where a PC can consume a PoH in addition to taking an action is the most forgiving and balance out there. With a proper rarity balance and stretched period between short-rests, this rule elevates the role of healing potion and adds to its tactical value.

Similarly Bonus action – Bonus Action model is valid, however lacks a certain dramatic aspect, when feeding someone a potion. Since usually it means keeping someone alive and/or bringing back to fight, making it significant with Action, seems more appropriate for narrative reasons.

Hardcore mode

If you want your game to be really hard and demanding for players, consider using potions only as a part of short rests. In that case a short rest can be taken only if PC consume a potion to heal themselves.

Additional rules

There is plenty of homebrew rules on how to use potion of healing, so definitely find something that works best for you. I’ve tried many things and I even started to build a whole book with ingredients and plants for potions. As fun as it was, it works way better in video games like Witcher than with pen & paper.

Some cool links to check for yourself:

• Elaborate Crafting System

• Side effects

• Ingredients and a lot of fluff

Dnd 5e Healing Potion Rarity

In dnd 5e, each magical item has a rarity level that usually clarifies the power and costs of the given item. Nevertheless, the rarity doesn’t always have to mean how common the certain item is in the game world. Even a ‘common magical item’ can be rare in the world, depending on the setting and your approach to magic in it.

Healing potions are not an exception. Perhaps healing potions in your world could be purchased in every store, available for the populous or maybe they’re brewed only by the powerful wizards and those with a gift of magic use them. This choice is entirely yours, but be aware of the consequences.

A good way to balance healing potion scarcity is making it available at certain points but in limited amounts. The smaller the city, the less potions you can purchase and sometimes it may also influence the price. Bigger cities with more magic users will make the potions much more available.

There is a great article about Worldbuilding touching on this topic by James Haeck on DNDBeyond.

Monsters with Healing Potions

Because we often use a word ‘monster’ to describe an opponent our party have to face, we instinctually reject the idea of it having any kind of possession. That can be the case in many instances but majority of the ‘monsters’ in the books are sentient and intelligent beings and thus it would be rather odd for them not to use any tools at all.

Same thing goes for healing potions. A goblin chief, a drow elite warrior or even a devil could without a doubt be in possession of a healing potion. That way, even if the party is away from any kind of city, they can still get their hand on some healing from time to time.

Oh and don’t forget! Those [monsters] who own potion of healing, will definitely use them when in need! Don’t make your foes stack on them and not use them when in dire situation.

Crafting Potion of Healing

There is a plethora choices from an official rules to variety of homebrew rulesets on how to craft a healing potion. Personally, I’ve used more than five different rules in my campaigns, but every time is was either too complex, too random or too simplistic to use on regular basis. Eventually I came up with a rather simple, but fun to role-play system, that one of my players uses. Her druid character can brew potions based on herbalist kit, as stated in the book (both PHB and XGtE).

Here is the gist of it.

In order to create a potion of healing, a character needs a Herbalism Kit and proficiency with it. This item allows you to gather ingredients and brew them into healing potion.

Each potion has a Time of Brewing and a Cost of Production. I’ve seen some confusion, so let me clarify that. In order to make a certain potion you have to spend the right amount of time and the right amount of gold in order to prep it. Those two resources are not interchangeable…

… to a point. In my homebrew I also use a way to gather ingredients, in order to lower the costs.

In other words, you can either spend 25 gp and 1 day to brew a Potion of Healing, or spend 1 day of downtime to gather ingredients and spend less gold. To calculate how much you can reduce the cost, I use a simple formula.

Cost of Production – (Proficiency Bonus x10%) x Cost of Production

The far right row is an already calculated amount for my player, so I can update it each level. If you want to use this table, feel free to copy it and use on your own drive.

In the file you can find some additional elements like homebrew gems mechanics, that I will gladly cover later.

As you can see I’ve reduced rolls and complex mechanics to the minimum. Some of you might think it’s a very reductive, but it guarantees a smooth game and very transparent rules for all the players at the table. If you think about adding some randomness, to make sure the players don’t break your balancing of the world’s economy, add a Herbalism Kit check to it.

Herbalism Kit check = d20 + Proficiency Bonus* + Wisdom** modifier
* – if proficient with Herbalism Kit
** – alternatively it could be Intelligence.

For fluff and storytelling, the herbalist kit in my campaign came with additional tome based on real XVI century herbarium. The full scan is here. Give it a look. I think however in the part is involved in brewing potions, would love such a book.

If you find this post useful please share it with others and/or let me know!

Don’t forget to check out my warlock subclasses here!

Artykuł DnD 5e Healing Potion – Official Rules and Useful Homebrew pochodzi z serwisu Before You Roll.