Crafting

[Geopol4r]

So our party has an artificer and a rod of security as well as a warlock with Imbue item. We also have a guy with forge ring and brew potion. XP Is not a prob, because artificer. Spells are not a prob, because warlock. But material components are. How would we get them cheap in bulk?

[Kayblis]

By RAW, you require half the item's price in materials for crafting. These are general materials you can buy around town, for that price. They're kept unspecified to keep the system functional. If you guys want access to cheap/free materials, talk to your DM because that's good for a quest or adventure, but there's no RAW for dealing with this part, except some evil rituals and sacrifices from BoVD. You could get feats like Master Artisan to reduce costs and time spent, but that's extra investment.

[Geopol4r]

My best idea is to use a potion that my dm told me about that would be a replacement for the cheaper material. Then set up a shop and sell them. It would take a while before you could sell them at full price, but it theoretically would be possible.

[Duke of Urrel]

I agree with Kayblis. The only way to avoid spending money for raw materials is to spend extra time gathering these raw materials yourself. You may have to use Profession skill as a miner, a herbalist, or perhaps a hunter or fisher to gather raw materials to make magic items. You may have to travel to an exotic location; for example, if you need rare minerals, you may need to make a perilous trip to the Elemental Plane of Earth. In any event, you need to talk to your DM about what your options are.

[skunk3]

By RAW, you require half the item's price in materials for crafting. These are general materials you can buy around town, for that price. They're kept unspecified to keep the system functional. If you guys want access to cheap/free materials, talk to your DM because that's good for a quest or adventure, but there's no RAW for dealing with this part, except some evil rituals and sacrifices from BoVD. You could get feats like Master Artisan to reduce costs and time spent, but that's extra investment.

I agree with this. The price that you spend in GP to craft an item is assumed to cover the materials for crafting, as far as where you get the materials from specifically, it's generally just handwaved because crafting is already slow and complicated enough already. As long as you are within the vicinity of a decently-sized town it's assumed that you can find the materials readily, which is where the GP for crafting goes. With a Warlock or an Artificer you don't really need to worry about most material components in terms of emulating a required spell for the crafting. If you're wanting to completely sidestep the GP cost component when it comes to crafting, I don't think that you can... plus it would seriously screw with WBL. There's feats that one can take to reduce the cost of crafting in terms of GP, XP, and time. (The "artisan" feats... Legendary, Exceptional, etc)