Blacksmiths in Dungeons and Dragons might serve different purposes depending upon whether they are found in a small town or village or a major city. Those in small towns would likely be doing mostly minor repairs to metal objects. They might be shoeing horses or doing other mundane tasks. In a major city they might be making or repairing armor or weapons.
Primarily blacksmiths are a service business. They rarely kept many goods in stock for sale. Instead they performed services on request. They might have a few mundane items for sale which are needed daily. Otherwise they would be completing tasks as they came.
When a player character visits a blacksmith shop they better expect to hurry up and wait. The blacksmith was often busy completing tasks for other customers and there might be quite a delay before they freed up to work on the next task.
Why would Dwarves be such good blacksmiths? Well if you live to be several hundred years old wouldn’t you be really good at your job?
Some blacksmiths specialize. If they live in a major city then they can afford to do so. They could only make armor or weapons. Or they could work with other metals and make other things.
What kinds of things would one find in a blacksmith shop? Some items that come to mind are as follows:
- A forge
- An anvil
- A hammer
- Bellows
- A hot poker
- Long tongs for picking up hot metal objects
- Chisels
- Sets – A type of chisel with a handle or shaft
- Hardy – A special chisel that fits the tool hole of an anvil. It was used with a hammer
- Punches – These are used for hot work and came in various shapes to remove the minimum amount of metal
- Drifts – These were really short punches
Sooner or later your player characters will want to visit a blacksmith in some town or city. Knowing what they are likely to find there is important to the Dungeon Master who intends to make the experience memorable. Blacksmiths were busy people and were unlikely to suffer fools for long. They were often big and hearty men. While they might not be experienced adventurers they would likely to be intimidating looking people.
They would likely have big personalities and perhaps even big egos. They might not have much stock in trade but they would have a great deal of confidence that they could make just about anything needed out of metal given the right amount of time and the proper ingredients.
