D&D 5e – Questionable Arcana – Crafting: Painter’s Supplies

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Although this crafting system leverages many existing mechanics published under the 5e SRD and OGL, the final product is completely home-brewed. The finer details of this system are still being revised, and those changes will slowly be introduced into this document. However, the system as a whole is totally functional and ready to be used in any campaign. Furthermore, the rules and concepts discussed are intended to work in-tandem with the expanded artisan's tools rules found in Xanathar's Guide to Everything. If nothing else I hope this document and its siblings can be used as a source of guidance and inspiration for whatever crafting system you decide to go with.

Now that I’ve finished gushing over the incredible utility of the calligrapher’s supplies, it is time for me to finish my coverage of what I had initially considered the “inferior” crafting options. Given that I have been completely wrong about many of these allegedly sub-par toolkits, I am going to keep an open mind while researching the painter’s supplies. As always we will start things off by settling on a definition of painting, then go through a brief overview of the history of painting in the real world.

Since the Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition seems to be having some recursion issues, I ultimately decided to go with the cambridge dictionary definition of painting.

1. A picture made using paint
2. The skill or activity of making a picture or putting paint on a wall

With the definition solidified I moved on to the historical side of things.

I’ll be honest when it comes to the history of painting there is a lot of material to cover, and most of it really isn’t relevant to the discussion on hand. Rather than bore you with the specifics surrounding the evolution of different painting techniques, today we are going to discuss how painted work has been used as a source of influence throughout the ages.

As we all know prehistoric man used to create all manner of crude paintings in caves. There are all kinds of theories as to what they could have been used for ranging from teaching tools to marking areas of spiritual significance. However, something we can probably agree on is that painting was one of the earliest forms of record keeping that man ever used.

Early Egyptian rulers believed that paintings could preserve their souls after death, which is why the ancient pyramids are such a rich source of archaeological findings. Ancient Greeks used painted work to decorate their temples and palaces, and early Greek and Christian empires commissioned painters to create murals and paintings that filled their temples, tombs, and other places of spiritual importance.

The middle ages marked an era of upheaval where very little artwork survived as barbarian tribes roamed throughout Western Europe. However, despite those setbacks it was at this point in time that many new types of portraits and stylized text started to appear. Wall art started to take a back seat to book illustrations that were found in many old manuscripts. Many of the finest works of medieval artwork were collections of calendars, devotional prayers, and psalms.

Finally painting reached a form that most of us would recognize today during The Renaissance in the 15th century. At this point in time painting started to become a more of casual art-form instead of a functional and social tool.

As you can see no matter what era you look at, paintings have been instrumental in teaching the young, expanding the mind, and influencing the masses.

The World is Your Canvas – Crafting With The Painter’s Supplies

One advantage that the painter’s supplies has is that there are no real crafting restrictions beyond obtaining ink and a canvas(paper or otherwise) to paint on.

However, the painter’s supplies run into a similar problem that the calligrapher’s supplies had where there is an extremely limited number of RAW adventuring items you can create. In fact, their list of craftable mundane items is exactly the same:

As discussed earlier, often times the focus of books in the middle ages was imagery instead of prose. This means that a talented artist could potentially copy books composed mostly of images and sell them for a profit.

If the player authors their own book since I consider it an original creation and therefore artwork, which is covered later on in this write-up. As per the rules of the Questionable Arcana Crafting System, crafting mundane items requires some type of blueprint, which is fulfilled in the aforementioned example by the book that was found while adventuring.

Outside of books it is possible to earn some coin by offering your services to local businesses. Perhaps a blacksmith needs a new sign, or a new tavern wants you to paint a mural to attract attention. In game you could work out a price with the business owner, and a few days plus a handful of sleight-of-hand/artisan’s tools ability checks later you could end up with some extra gold in your pocket.

When it comes to creating magic items, the painter’s supplies have a fairly limited number of options:

I excluded the various magical scrolls, tomes, and manuscripts from this list because those imply that you need to have some mastery of language to create them. You can create the items above using the painter’s supplies because they require the ability to create the appropriate imagery(for the decks), or an advanced understanding of color pallates(marvelous pigments).

Here is an example of how you could use the painter’s supplies to create Marvelous Pigments:

Finally when it comes to creating structures, there is actually some potential here for a player with painter’s supplies proficiency. As discussed earlier important buildings often require paint work. This could come in the form of a religious mural or just a simple paint job to make the building look nicer. At the DM’s discretion I would recommend allowing a small number of painters to contribute to a building construction project.

The Takeaway: The painter’s supplies are fairly limited when it comes to crafting options. You can create books for a profit or work directly with local businesses, but when it comes to creating magic items you are limited to only a handful of extremely rare items. Painters can also contribute to structure construction in a limited capacity.

Making Happy Little Bushes – The Art of Painting

While the definition of what is considered art has expanded quite a bit over the years, for most of us when someone mentions artwork the first thing we think of is painting. Ever since the concept of excessive wealth became a thing, painting has become the gold-standard of “things people buy when when they have too much money to spend”. Original paintings can sell for an absolutely insane amount of money that defies all logic and reason. As a player you should absolutely try to capitalize on this madness.

When creating original works of paint I recommend using the Questionable Arcana Artwork Crafting System or something else similar.

Fortunately the process of painting artwork is extremely straight-forward. You find a nice quiet spot to create your work, and as long as you have paint and time, you can continue working on the same item for as long as you’d like.

The painter’s supplies can also combine with any other tool in the artwork creation process. After all, a good coat of paint can make even the shoddiest of work look like a professionally made masterpiece. From a mechanics stand-point this means that any time the painter’s supplies are used to create artwork, the artisan is granted a crafting inspiration token that can be used to to re-roll any ability check rolled against the item being crafted during that session.

Furthermore, the painter’s supplies can be used to apply “finishing touches” to any piece of artwork. On or after final day of artwork crafting, if a player with painter’s supplies proficiency works on a piece of art it gains a +10 bonus to the “selling a work of art” table in the Questionable Arcana Artwork System. However, it is important to note that if somebody besides a painter works on a piece of art while this bonus is active, it is removed from the item.

As an example, if a woodcarver decides they want to work on their painted statuette without a painter’s assistance, the additional carving work being done will ruin the coat of paint, forfeiting the “finishing touches” bonus.

The Takeaway: The painter’s supplies rightfully are the strongest kit in the game when it comes to artwork creation. This kit has a double bonus of creating crafting inspiration tokens, and boosting the “selling a work of art” roll by 10 when selling any item that is painted on its final day of crafting.

Art That Inspires – Using The Painter’s Supplies While Adventuring

At first glance it might not seem like the painter’s supplies are really applicable while adventuring. However, with a some imagination this unsuspecting little kit can have a profound impact on a myriad of social interactions throughout your campaign.

As we discussed in the first section, painting has been a staple for any institution that is in the business of peddling influence. For example, having a religion is one thing, but having a religion whose folklore is widely disseminated in the form of beautiful portraits and grand murals is another.

Another example of this concept is war-time propaganda. One could simply pass out papers saying “we can do it” in an attempt to inspire the workforce, but combining that message with an expertly painted strong-willed women turns this basic message into a call-to-arms in the form of Rosie The Riveter.

This concept can be applied to a number of campaign changing social interactions. For example, say you are trying to turn the villagers against their despot ruler. You could try to persuade villagers one by one over time, but that would be time consuming and risky. A more effective and expedient approach could be to use your artistic skills to create the necessary unrest.

This concept can even be scaled out in a more systematic way by using the Sowing Rumors mechanic in the Dungeon Master’s Guide on page 128. Should you incorporate painted imagery in any attempt to sow rumors, you would be able to add your painter’s supplies proficiency on top of any other bonuses associated with the check.

The Takeaway: The painter’s supplies are a very effective tool when it comes to large scale influence. Any-time vivid imagery is used to reinforce an idea, a player can add the painter’s supplies proficiency bonus from the character who created it to any check associated with the imagery.

Conclusion

Although the painter’s supplies have some pretty serious limitations when it comes to crafting, they are unrivaled in their ability to produce works of art. Furthermore there are quite a few practical social applications of the kit that make them desirable in any campaign where you need to manage public opinion.

If you are in a more mobile campaign where you don’t have many opportunities to sit and craft for long periods of time, then the painter’s supplies are an attractive choice.

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