Do you have to start with a mundnae item before you craft a magic item? Like would you craft a masterwork set of mithral full plate before crafting the magical enhancements? If you were to do this would you use craft armor for the 10500 gp (converted to 105,000 sp) armor them craft magical arms and armor for the rest?
if so which price do you test for the weeks sp? The full price or the 1/3 materials?
You need the masterwork item in order to enchant it.
Mundane crafting uses weekly skill checks against the item's crafting DC and measures progress against full price in sp, at a cost of 1/3.
Then magic is added by spending one day per 1000 gp in price, at a cost of 1/2, with a single skill check (craft(whatever it says) or spellcraft) at the end of crafting.
(Certain feats/traits modify the values above)
EDIT: weekly craft checks, not daily.
Yes, enchanting an item (crafting a magical item using item-crafting feats) means you need to have the item to enchant; it is not spontaneously poofed into existence as part of the time/effort/cost of crafting the magical item.
But you can just buy the item so you don't have to spend weeks making it.
And for really simple things, I don't think there really is much cost. Like crafting a wand - it's assumed you just use a stick. Or maybe you just buy a fancy silver and gold pointy wand-ish thing as a part of the cash you spend on creating the wand.
But for armor and weapons, you need the masterwork item, so either make it separately as DonDuckie mentioned or just go buy and save yourself the time and effort.
I first thought the OP was asking 'can it already be magic?' when I read the post. In that case, yes, you can enchant magic items for more magic.
Easiest examples are weapons and armour; you just make up the difference. Going from a +1 greataxe to a +1 furious greataxe means spending 3,000 gp, 3 days, and making your check (with +5 DC if you don't have rage). Similar if you're just moving your Cloak of Resistance from +1 to +2.
If you're trying to add different capabilities to an item that takes a slot, like turning that Cloak of Resistance +1 into a Cloak of Resistance +1 and of Flying, your GM has guidelines on what to bill you for that. Check out the general crafting rules here, and be ready for disappointment if your GM thinks that you're Going Too Far!.
I Was trying to ask that if I make enchanted mithral armor from scratch. Do I have to go through the item crafting rules for making armor from scratch then enchanting rules separatly. Like mithral full plate is 10500 gp so I would convert that to 105000 sp and count down years until it is made then after that add enchantments?
I Was trying to ask that if I make enchanted mithral armor from scratch. Do I have to go through the item crafting rules for making armor from scratch then enchanting rules separatly. Like mithral full plate is 10500 gp so I would convert that to 105000 sp and count down years until it is made then after that add enchantments?
You can just buy the base item. You don't have to make it yourself.
Feylin,
Here's the funny thing. If you make a magical wand, you don't have to buy the wand first. You don't need Craft (woodworking) or any other such skill either. If the wand costs X amount of gold, you pay X/2 in raw materials and spend x/1,000 days making the wand. Done. No mundane crafting rules needed, and no base item (an unenchanted masterwork wand, for example) needed.
The same is true for every magical item except armor and weapons. You can use Craft Wondrous Item to make a Cloak of Resistance or a Belt of Might or a Bag of Holding, but you don't need any masterwork cloak, belt, or bag to get started and you don't need any Craft (some stuff) skill either. You can use Forge Ring (it even has "forge" right in the name) to make a Ring of Protection but you don't need a masterwork ring and you don't need to actually forge one.
For all these items and many more, you just buy what you need and it's built into the X/2 cost you pay to start making the magical item. In essence, you're making the wand or cloak or belt or bag or ring or whatever while you enchant it, or you buy the item and enchant it - either way, the game doesn't care and doesn't require you pay specifically to purchase or craft the base item.
But this is not true for Arms and Armor. For some inexplicable reason, you MUST have the masterwork weapon or masterwork armor before you start. You still need to pay X/2 for raw materials AND you need to acquire the masterwork item.
Note that in this case you are not using Craft (armor) or Craft (weapon), etc., DURING the process of making the item - you use these skills BEFORE you start the process of enchanting the armor or weapon, not during the process.
Or you just buy the armor or weapon you need. This costs a little more but can save you weeks or months of time.
So to answer your specific question, if you want enchanted mithral armor, you need to either make or buy the masterwork mithral armor first. Making takes months but costs a little less, and you need ranks in Craft (armor) - the more ranks you have, the faster you can make it, but it will still take months unless you're very, very, very good. Buying it takes minutes but costs more, and you don't need any skills at all to buy stuff from a merchant.
It's almost certainly to be totally worth it to buy the armor unless you have months to throw away standing in a blacksmith's forge making it yourself.
Once you have the masterwork mitrhal armor in your hands, you then use Craft Arms and Armor to enchant it. This is a separate process that cannot begin until AFTER you have your masterwork mithral armor.
So that is wanted to know thank you. I thought that was the case. I was doing the math for an NPC's bragging about making his plate from scratch.
So that is wanted to know thank you. I thought that was the case. I was doing the math for an NPC's bragging about making his plate from scratch.
Yeah, I have the same issue with my character doing the same with her axe. Took about nine weeks in-game. Then, once she can actually get magic on it, the first +1 would take ... one day.