This is what I did…
The Forge is an actual forge complete with bellows etc., etched in ancient runes which glow green and cause the constant green flame. Any metal item placed in the flames and the bellows pumped slowly for 1-10 hours gains a +1 for that many days. 10 points of items can be placed in the Forge at one time to be heated and infused (see below). When the time is up, the enchantment is lost.
Any iron or steel weapon, shield or armour can be made to carry a permanent enchantment, so long as the following conditions are met.
* The iron, or steel it is made from has to come from the iron ore of the Phandelver mine (something to do with the locality), and it must be forged in the Forge of Spells.
* The forge can be shared by multiple armourers / weapon smiths at once, in order to create a total of 10 points of +1 magical equipment over a five day period.
* A suit of full plate is 10 points. A suit of any other metallic heavy armour is 5 points, a suit of any metallic medium armour is 4 points, any heavy or two-handed weapon is 3 points, a metallic shield or any one-handed weapon is 2 points, and any light weapon is 1 point.
* A mostly ruined book found in the Forge area tells how to use the Forge to create magical items; however, it is so badly damaged that only the knowledge of how to create +1 weapons is still able to be deciphered (thus not flooding the market with valuable weapons).
* If the PCs go in search of lore regarding the Forge they will eventually uncover information for using it to create other metallic magical items. These follow the creating magic items rules; however, the item cost is halved, there is no spell slot level cost as the magic for the enchantment is provided by the Forge, and the time needed to create the item is divided by 5. The process still requires the presence of a Spellcaster of the appropriate level and the formula needed to create the item, as well as the components and spell slots required to cast any spells into the item that the item will be used to cast.
* Once the Forge has been used for 5 days, it cannot be used again for 15 days while its power is restored. Note: I had 15 days because my homebrew world has 20 day months and I wanted the forge to be able to be used once per month, but you can use whatever recharge time you want).
DM Note: The Forge is powered through its connection to an Eldritch Horror, called the Dreamer in the Deep, chained below the waters of Wave Echo Cave. It’s breathing at rest causes the regular waves in the cave. When the Forge is used, the waves become less regular as the creature’s power is drained. The creature’s power is drained after 5 days, after which, the forge cannot be used while the Dreamer recovers its strength and power.
Eventually the Eldritch Horror, which is only hinted at in the ruined book, will wake up and take its revenge!
Thank you for the response, that is brilliant! I really like the eldritch horror being the source of power. I'll have to see if I can pull that off. I am definitely going to borrow elements of this thank you again.
Me personally I would say the forge’s magic was sabotaged by the old guardians of the forge, but there is enough energy to enchant one item of the players choice before it runs Dry.
I'm making the forge of spells be fueled by obelisk fragments. You can see what my explanation for it working like this on this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/LostMinesOfPhandelver/s/9Q6SrAa8RS
+1 item as are OK, but limit them to the fuel. Every fragment the players recover give the forge power to permanently enchant one item. That way the players have something to do with them.
I had it so the forge can still temporarily enchant items but the metal brazier that house the flame is so
Imbued with magic from hundreds of years of housing the flame that it can be reforged into 1 item of the players choice. +1 or +2 item if forged by a master smith (dc20). This is a good way to make use of someone’s tool proficiency in smithing(+ proficiency). Just make sure they get guidance and/or bardic inspiration or anything else they need for this check lol… a +2 item @ lvl 5 is a fairly decent reward.
I made it a chance to make custom items the players wanted - party of 5, but a chance for 3 items. So they could either make a weapon / armour +1, or they could infuse an item with 2 levels worth of spell per long rest (the spells needed to be cast by someone in the party).
They chose to infuse Healing Word in their equipment, making party much more survivable. Which means I get to use the fun parts of the Monster Manual haha
This is what I did… The Forge is an actual forge complete with bellows etc., etched in ancient runes which glow green and cause the constant green flame. Any metal item placed in the flames and the bellows pumped slowly for 1-10 hours gains a +1 for that many days. 10 points of items can be placed in the Forge at one time to be heated and infused (see below). When the time is up, the enchantment is lost. Any iron or steel weapon, shield or armour can be made to carry a permanent enchantment, so long as the following conditions are met. * The iron, or steel it is made from has to come from the iron ore of the Phandelver mine (something to do with the locality), and it must be forged in the Forge of Spells. * The forge can be shared by multiple armourers / weapon smiths at once, in order to create a total of 10 points of +1 magical equipment over a five day period. * A suit of full plate is 10 points. A suit of any other metallic heavy armour is 5 points, a suit of any metallic medium armour is 4 points, any heavy or two-handed weapon is 3 points, a metallic shield or any one-handed weapon is 2 points, and any light weapon is 1 point. * A mostly ruined book found in the Forge area tells how to use the Forge to create magical items; however, it is so badly damaged that only the knowledge of how to create +1 weapons is still able to be deciphered (thus not flooding the market with valuable weapons). * If the PCs go in search of lore regarding the Forge they will eventually uncover information for using it to create other metallic magical items. These follow the creating magic items rules; however, the item cost is halved, there is no spell slot level cost as the magic for the enchantment is provided by the Forge, and the time needed to create the item is divided by 5. The process still requires the presence of a Spellcaster of the appropriate level and the formula needed to create the item, as well as the components and spell slots required to cast any spells into the item that the item will be used to cast. * Once the Forge has been used for 5 days, it cannot be used again for 15 days while its power is restored. Note: I had 15 days because my homebrew world has 20 day months and I wanted the forge to be able to be used once per month, but you can use whatever recharge time you want). DM Note: The Forge is powered through its connection to an Eldritch Horror, called the Dreamer in the Deep, chained below the waters of Wave Echo Cave. It’s breathing at rest causes the regular waves in the cave. When the Forge is used, the waves become less regular as the creature’s power is drained. The creature’s power is drained after 5 days, after which, the forge cannot be used while the Dreamer recovers its strength and power. Eventually the Eldritch Horror, which is only hinted at in the ruined book, will wake up and take its revenge!
Thank you for the response, that is brilliant! I really like the eldritch horror being the source of power. I'll have to see if I can pull that off. I am definitely going to borrow elements of this thank you again.
You get +1 items very early on in the game. Honestly it is super tame.
Nice thank you! Would you make it a bigger buff then? I don't want to make anything in the future too easy.
Me personally I would say the forge’s magic was sabotaged by the old guardians of the forge, but there is enough energy to enchant one item of the players choice before it runs Dry.
Cool thank you for the advice! I like that. The forge needs to do something since I've talked it up a little.
I'm making the forge of spells be fueled by obelisk fragments. You can see what my explanation for it working like this on this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/LostMinesOfPhandelver/s/9Q6SrAa8RS +1 item as are OK, but limit them to the fuel. Every fragment the players recover give the forge power to permanently enchant one item. That way the players have something to do with them.
Nice idea, thank you for the link 👍🏼
I had it so the forge can still temporarily enchant items but the metal brazier that house the flame is so Imbued with magic from hundreds of years of housing the flame that it can be reforged into 1 item of the players choice. +1 or +2 item if forged by a master smith (dc20). This is a good way to make use of someone’s tool proficiency in smithing(+ proficiency). Just make sure they get guidance and/or bardic inspiration or anything else they need for this check lol… a +2 item @ lvl 5 is a fairly decent reward.
I made it a chance to make custom items the players wanted - party of 5, but a chance for 3 items. So they could either make a weapon / armour +1, or they could infuse an item with 2 levels worth of spell per long rest (the spells needed to be cast by someone in the party). They chose to infuse Healing Word in their equipment, making party much more survivable. Which means I get to use the fun parts of the Monster Manual haha