Without materials, there is nothing to craft from. Crafting does not make things from thin air, it makes more useful things from less useful things. Gathering or buying the materials will be the essential first step in any crafting endeavor.
Materials are generally found in three ways:
Loot & Salvaging
Nothing is useless when you have a party of crafters. One of the main sources of materials will be the things you find during normal play. Wizard labs and holy (or unholy) temples will often be great sources of loot of this kind. However, there is always a possibility of getting craft-worthy material anywhere.
Gathering & Harvesting
How something is gathered varies on the profession; in many cases, it can only be gathered when the opportunity arises. Dragon scales, for example, are a lot easier to gather when there is a dead dragon nearby. Be it harvesting rare herbs, monster parts, or minerals, gathering is an opportunity you won’t want to pass up.
In Baldur's Gate, you can gather and harvest materials in one of two ways:
Hunting & Gathering
You can perform the Hunting & Gathering activity during an outdoor or dungeon rest. The chance of gathering herbs or animal material depends on your knowledge of the natural world. As such, druids and rangers tend to be better at this than mages or rogues.
Harvesting
You can harvest parts from the creatures you kill. Most creatures will yield some material automatically. However, a skilled harvester can get more out of a given kill.
Purchasing
Rarely will everything you need to craft what you want fall into you hands. At some point, you will have to buy them. When you don’t have what you need, frequently you can buy it. For some professions, there will be a lot more materials that can be purchased, while others will rely more on the other routes.
Types of Materials
Note: Essences, Synthesized Parts & Interchangeable Materials
Many of the materials described below are interchangeable to some degree. What it means to be 'interchangeable' is different depending on the purpose of the material in question. In some instance, interchanging materials increases or decreases the quality of the product. For example, you can craft a sword from steel or adamantine, but adamantine items tend to be more durable and effective (if heavier). On the other hand, sometimes parts can be interchanged without any change to the outcome at all. For example, a potion of animal control merely requires any animal organ or gland, and the potion is the same regardless. Other times, some cost and time is required to synthesize an equivalent or near equivalent material. For instance, one can create adamantine ingots with steel and adamant ingots (as well as access to a magical forge), and that adamantine ingot is as good an any other adamantium ingot. In other cases, certain creature parts can be used in place of others to duplicate the effects of those replaced parts. This process is much less efficient and requires double the parts to get the same effect. There are exceptions, however. For example, the beholder membrum can be used in place of most other ingredients to have the same effect.
In any case, each material is assigned an essence which describes how and whether interchangeability applies.
Creature Parts
Creature parts are, unsurprisingly, parts of creatures that are useful in item creation. In most cases, they are taken or harvested from dead creatures, though some creature parts can be harvested via the Hunting & Gathering camping activity.
Foodstuff & Spices
Foodstuff and Spices are abstracted food like items that can be consumed as part of camping, or that can be used during the cooking activity to facilitate rest and healing. Foodstuff and spices come in a number of qualities from common to legendary.
Foodstuff and spices can be collected via the Hunting & Gathering camping activity, bought in taverns and stores, and even taken from certain creatures after a kill.
Foodstuff
Foodstuff is a kind of creature part when taken or harvested from a creature. A unit of foodstuff can be consumed in place of a ration, but it typically does not last for more than a day before it goes bad and becomes unusable. Goodberries are a special kind of foodstuff. The cooking activity can be used to convert a foodstuff unit into a ration for long term storage.
Spices
Spices cannot be consumed directly, but rather can be used in the cooking process to create special meals or convert foodstuff to rations.
Ingots & Scraps
Ingots are chunks of metal that can be used to craft things. They are assumed to be relatively pure and generally weigh 2 pounds each. The default ingot listed in all the crafting tables is an ingot of Steel. These cost 10 gp per ingot. There are cheaper
metals (such as Iron); pure Iron can’t be used to craft weapons and armor, but can be used for other items, resulting in a
cheaper item, and it can itself be synthesized into steel or other useful metal. On the other end of the spectrum, more
advanced metals such as Mithral and Adamantine can be used conferring special properties, but being far more difficult to
work with and costing more to attain.
Scraps
Metal scraps are collections of salvaged material that are less than a full ingot, but that can still be useful for crafting.
Ink
While ink has many uses, crafting is mostly concerned with special alchemical inks which have the power to hold the arcane, divine, or primal words and bind them to scrolls. This is synthesized by alchemists from the magical properties of reagents or parts, as it is concerned with extracting their magical properties, the exact nature of the reagents used do not effect the final ink beyond its potency.
Special alchemical inks are not typically found or harvested on its own, though it may be found as loot, and in some instances a the blood or other parts of a highly magical creature could be directly used as an ink of a certain quality, though these are often very specific in their application. For example, the blood of a demon or devil could be used to ink the scrolls of an evil priest, or a gifted feather from an angel could produce such ink for a good priest, but these on their own would not work to produce an arcane or primal scroll. Inks come in three different varieties depending on how common and potent they are: rare Ink, exotic ink, and rare & exotic ink. The more rare and/or exotic the ink, the more effective it is at producing magical writings.
Miscellaneous Parts
The term “miscellaneous parts” is used to refer to gears, wires, springs, windy bits, screws, nails, and doodads. Parts can be either found or salvaged or forged from metal scraps (or even straight from ingots by a Blacksmith for those that really want
to be industrial about it). The exact nature of each item making up this collection is left abstracted.
Reagents
Reagents are a primarily plants and parts of plants collected via the Hunting & Gathering camping activity or bought in esoteric stores.
Reagents cannot be salvaged once they have been combined into another form (such as potions, alchemical concoctions, etc.). Reagents can be assumed to be essentially weightless unless otherwise noted.
Wood
Commonly available in its lowest quality (which can be used to assemble a camping kit, but little else), higher quality woods are often found in rather exotic locations. Oak is the standard for wooden items, and all wooden weapons are assumed to be made out of oak unless stated otherwise, but different types of wood (such as darkwood) can produce items of higher or lower quality.
Materials
Without materials, there is nothing to craft from. Crafting does not make things from thin air, it makes more useful things from less useful things. Gathering or buying the materials will be the essential first step in any crafting endeavor.
Materials are generally found in three ways:
Loot & Salvaging
Nothing is useless when you have a party of crafters. One of the main sources of materials will be the things you find during normal play. Wizard labs and holy (or unholy) temples will often be great sources of loot of this kind. However, there is always a possibility of getting craft-worthy material anywhere.
Gathering & Harvesting
How something is gathered varies on the profession; in many cases, it can only be gathered when the opportunity arises. Dragon scales, for example, are a lot easier to gather when there is a dead dragon nearby. Be it harvesting rare herbs, monster parts, or minerals, gathering is an opportunity you won’t want to pass up.
In Baldur's Gate, you can gather and harvest materials in one of two ways:
Hunting & Gathering
You can perform the Hunting & Gathering activity during an outdoor or dungeon rest. The chance of gathering herbs or animal material depends on your knowledge of the natural world. As such, druids and rangers tend to be better at this than mages or rogues.
Harvesting
You can harvest parts from the creatures you kill. Most creatures will yield some material automatically. However, a skilled harvester can get more out of a given kill.
Purchasing
Rarely will everything you need to craft what you want fall into you hands. At some point, you will have to buy them. When you don’t have what you need, frequently you can buy it. For some professions, there will be a lot more materials that can be purchased, while others will rely more on the other routes.
Types of Materials
Note: Essences, Synthesized Parts & Interchangeable Materials
Many of the materials described below are interchangeable to some degree. What it means to be 'interchangeable' is different depending on the purpose of the material in question. In some instance, interchanging materials increases or decreases the quality of the product. For example, you can craft a sword from steel or adamantine, but adamantine items tend to be more durable and effective (if heavier). On the other hand, sometimes parts can be interchanged without any change to the outcome at all. For example, a potion of animal control merely requires any animal organ or gland, and the potion is the same regardless. Other times, some cost and time is required to synthesize an equivalent or near equivalent material. For instance, one can create adamantine ingots with steel and adamant ingots (as well as access to a magical forge), and that adamantine ingot is as good an any other adamantium ingot. In other cases, certain creature parts can be used in place of others to duplicate the effects of those replaced parts. This process is much less efficient and requires double the parts to get the same effect. There are exceptions, however. For example, the beholder membrum can be used in place of most other ingredients to have the same effect.
In any case, each material is assigned an essence which describes how and whether interchangeability applies.
Creature Parts
Creature parts are, unsurprisingly, parts of creatures that are useful in item creation. In most cases, they are taken or harvested from dead creatures, though some creature parts can be harvested via the Hunting & Gathering camping activity.
Foodstuff & Spices
Foodstuff and Spices are abstracted food like items that can be consumed as part of camping, or that can be used during the cooking activity to facilitate rest and healing. Foodstuff and spices come in a number of qualities from common to legendary. Foodstuff and spices can be collected via the Hunting & Gathering camping activity, bought in taverns and stores, and even taken from certain creatures after a kill.
Foodstuff
Foodstuff is a kind of creature part when taken or harvested from a creature. A unit of foodstuff can be consumed in place of a ration, but it typically does not last for more than a day before it goes bad and becomes unusable. Goodberries are a special kind of foodstuff. The cooking activity can be used to convert a foodstuff unit into a ration for long term storage.
Spices
Spices cannot be consumed directly, but rather can be used in the cooking process to create special meals or convert foodstuff to rations.
Ingots & Scraps
Ingots are chunks of metal that can be used to craft things. They are assumed to be relatively pure and generally weigh 2 pounds each. The default ingot listed in all the crafting tables is an ingot of Steel. These cost 10 gp per ingot. There are cheaper metals (such as Iron); pure Iron can’t be used to craft weapons and armor, but can be used for other items, resulting in a cheaper item, and it can itself be synthesized into steel or other useful metal. On the other end of the spectrum, more advanced metals such as Mithral and Adamantine can be used conferring special properties, but being far more difficult to work with and costing more to attain.
Scraps
Metal scraps are collections of salvaged material that are less than a full ingot, but that can still be useful for crafting.
Ink
While ink has many uses, crafting is mostly concerned with special alchemical inks which have the power to hold the arcane, divine, or primal words and bind them to scrolls. This is synthesized by alchemists from the magical properties of reagents or parts, as it is concerned with extracting their magical properties, the exact nature of the reagents used do not effect the final ink beyond its potency. Special alchemical inks are not typically found or harvested on its own, though it may be found as loot, and in some instances a the blood or other parts of a highly magical creature could be directly used as an ink of a certain quality, though these are often very specific in their application. For example, the blood of a demon or devil could be used to ink the scrolls of an evil priest, or a gifted feather from an angel could produce such ink for a good priest, but these on their own would not work to produce an arcane or primal scroll. Inks come in three different varieties depending on how common and potent they are: rare Ink, exotic ink, and rare & exotic ink. The more rare and/or exotic the ink, the more effective it is at producing magical writings.
Miscellaneous Parts
The term “miscellaneous parts” is used to refer to gears, wires, springs, windy bits, screws, nails, and doodads. Parts can be either found or salvaged or forged from metal scraps (or even straight from ingots by a Blacksmith for those that really want to be industrial about it). The exact nature of each item making up this collection is left abstracted.
Reagents
Reagents are a primarily plants and parts of plants collected via the Hunting & Gathering camping activity or bought in esoteric stores.
Reagents cannot be salvaged once they have been combined into another form (such as potions, alchemical concoctions, etc.). Reagents can be assumed to be essentially weightless unless otherwise noted.
Wood
Commonly available in its lowest quality (which can be used to assemble a camping kit, but little else), higher quality woods are often found in rather exotic locations. Oak is the standard for wooden items, and all wooden weapons are assumed to be made out of oak unless stated otherwise, but different types of wood (such as darkwood) can produce items of higher or lower quality.
CONTINUE
Original Source: Kibbles' Crafting 1.0 - Alchemy, Blacksmithing, and more! (Free version): https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/rg5y3q/kibbles_crafting_system_a_comprehensive_system_of/hoi208c/ https://www.kthomebrew.com/permissions Many of the items use the text in the free version directly. It's a great resource. Also check out: https://www.kthomebrew.com/notify-me Also, heavily inspired by the kickstarter full version. Buy it if you are at all interested in this sort of thing. It's a great value for the price. (and it can be adapted to different rpgs, even video game versions of old rule systems :)