You are adept at applying fletching; feathers, fins, and vanes on the end of missiles, and have even unlocked secrets in the construction of such weapons. While many may not pay much attention to their arrows or bolts, you spend additional time ensuring that every feather is in place and that your arrows never waver.
Fletcher's kit includes a knife, glue, silk strands, arrow jigs, and scraps of parchment paper. Your tools weigh 2 lbs and costs 1 gp.
While many may assume an arrow is as good as the arrowhead, fletchers understand that it is their work that accounts for the accuracy and pinpoint precision of an arrow. To begin fletching, you must have access to wooden shafts that have been shaped by a woodworker, as well as arrowheads produced by a smith. Combining these elements is simple, the real art comes from applying the fletching.
To craft an arrow, you need wooden shafts, arrowheads, and feathers. You can create 5 arrows during a short rest or 20 arrows over the course of a long rest, no check required.
Unlike many other fletchers, you have unlocked hidden secrets in arrow-crafting and have learned to use monster parts to help create your arrows. These arrows are divided into two categories, Extraordinary and Magical based on what unique abilities they provide.
Extraordinary arrows are crafted from your exceptional skills but offer no innate magical abilities. These typically don't require special materials but rely on skill.
Magical arrows are crafted from magical materials and thus are considered magical for the purposes of bypassing resistances and immunities, as well as ceasing to function in anti-magic areas. These arrows require special materials and skill to create.
Regardless of the type of specialty arrow you craft, they are destroyed upon being used - whether they hit or miss. Specialty arrows can not be crafted with multiple properties, when a fletcher decides to build an arrow, they do so based on a specific idea that they want from their arrow.
A fletcher can choose to either craft an arrow, bolt, dart, or ballista missile. If they choose to craft a ballista missile, it requires three times as much material and takes three times as long. Only a fletcher proficient in Fletcher's Kit can craft specialty arrows.
Unlike mundane arrows, it takes much longer to craft a single specialty arrow. Over an hour, a fletcher can attempt to craft 1 specialty arrow. At the end of this time, the fletcher must make a Wisdom (Fletcher's Kit) check against the specialty arrow's DC.
On a failed check, they do not craft the arrow but can reattempt the check with the same materials after spending 1 hour crafting. If they fail the check twice, they must purchase or supply new materials to attempt the check again.
To fletch an arrow, you need at least 3 feathers of the same creature or you are unable to make an arrow. Since some arrows require special materials, you may have to hunt down certain monsters or find them in large cities. Any settlement has access to mundane feathers from a mundane bird.
If you wish to craft a mundane arrow, it costs 1 cp per 3 feathers, 1 cp per arrowhead, and 1 cp per wooden shaft.
To craft specialty arrows, you must first decide if you wish to make Extraordinary arrows or Magical arrows. Extraordinary arrows require specialty glue, the finest feathers, and have an increased cost based on the type of arrow you are making; see Arrow Types below.
To craft Magical arrows, you must harvest the materials or find them in a city. If you source the feathers yourself, there is no cost to fletching an arrow so long as you have the wooden shaft and arrowhead.
To harvest feathers from a creature, you must succeed on a Wisdom (Survival) check with a DC equal to 5 + the creature's CR. Per the DM's discretion and the situation, the DC may be increased or decreased.
On a success, you can harvest a number of feathers from a creature based on the creature's size and how many feathers coat its body. This number is ultimately up to the DM's discretion, but they can use the chart below as a guide. The numbers presented below are assumed to come from a creature that has many of its feathers damaged in a fight or outright unusable for arrows, if a creature is defeated and defeathered without combat, the DM can award additional feathers.
| Size | Coated in Feathers | Feathers Harvested | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tiny | Partially | 1d4 | Sprite |
| Tiny | Fully | 4d4 | Raven |
| Small | Partially | 2d6 | Cockatrice |
| Small | Fully | 8d6 | Eagle |
| Medium | Partially | 3d8 | Deva |
| Medium | Fully | 12d8 | Aarakocra |
| Large | Partially | 4d10 | Hippogriff |
| Large | Fully | 16d10 | Griffon |
| Huge | Partially | 5d12 | King of Feathers |
| Huge | Fully | 20d12 | - |
| Gargantuan | Partially | 6d20 | - |
| Gargantuan | Fully | 24d20 | Roc |
Once you have the materials gathered, you must then decide on what arrow you are going to craft. Feathers from different creatures can create different types of arrows, or you may decide to make a specialized arrow using special glue, wooden shaft, or more. Costs to craft a Magical arrow can be ignored if you harvest the feathers from a monster, except for the 1 cp for the wooden shaft and 1 cp for the arrowhead.
Extraordinary arrows don't require special feathers but require the fletcher to make a difficult Wisdom (Fletcher's Kit) check. It requires one hour to make 1 arrow. Once an arrow is used, it is destroyed regardless if it hit or missed. An Extraordinary arrow can not have multiple effects and does not stack with the same enhancements from magical weapons.
If an arrow offers an Improve property, your check determines what quality you produce.
Magical arrows require special feathers from many different creatures and require the fletcher to make a difficult Wisdom (Fletcher's Kit) check. It requires one hour to make 1 arrow. Once an arrow is used, it is destroyed regardless if it hit or missed. A Magical arrow can not have multiple effects and does not stack with the same enhancements from magical weapons.
You can combine up to three different specialty arrows on a single arrow. You must pay the cost for each type of arrow.
Certain arrows have DCs to resist an effect, you can increase the DC by paying two times the Material Cost and succeeding on an increased +3 DC Fletcher's kit check on the arrow. This raises the DC of the effect by 2. You can choose to pay more and raise the DC multiple times, up to the DM's discretion.
To create your own magical arrows, you can follow the steps below:
You have the chance to recover a shot arrow that missed. After you shoot an arrow, and it misses, roll a d100. If you roll 51 or higher, you can recover the arrow and use it again. If you roll 50 or lower, the arrow is destroyed and unusable.