GoldenH/GHArtifactCreation
Artifact Creation Rules by GoldenH
Philosophy
There is a problem with artifacts in Exalted. That is... there's really no good system to make 'em, save by eyballing it and hoping the ST agrees with how powerful it should be. The corebook system isn't centralized enough and isn't hardly a system anyway, more of a "roll the dice and get alot of successes!" and that's about it. The Bo3C system is great for finding how powerful an artifact should be, but there are so many formatting errors and the rules themselves don't help much with making the artifacts in-play. Meanwhile, Savant & Sorcerer is great for making artifacts in-play, but is horrible for rating how powerful an artifact is, for taking them at creation or acquiring them in-game. Therefore there is no one system that can be used to make artifacts in Exalted, so I have to make one.
There are really only two types of artifacts we see these days. The first are the sleek, streamlined artifacts that really can't be improved upon considering what they do. Daiklaives, Superheavy Plate, and small automata fall into this category. Then we have more complicated artifacts, complex examples of Shogunate construction. Warstriders, Dragon Armor, and airships are all good examples of this second category.
In order to differentiate these two, I am going to take a nod from Dragon Blooded: Outcastes and divide artifacts into two backgrounds: Artifact, and Armory. Artifact will handle simple, integrated artifacts, while Armory will handle complex, multi-part war machines.
This will allow STs to allow or restrict war-machines in play just by controlling a single Background, instead of having to convern themselves with each individual artifact, and help players by making more clear the difference between simple artifacts and multimodal war machines. It can also be used as a guide for making Manses, since many manses are discussed as having first age defenses and other things and yet there is no good system for integrating these into the Manse - Bo3C doesn't have the rules, and S&S makes them far too fragile when compared to the corebook, so this too needs to be handled.
Basics
The artifact creation system has three basic powers. Greater, Major, and Minor. These powers are rated from 1 to 5.
- Greater powers are often found in Hearthstones and powerful, focused artifacts like the Singing Staff from Bo3C. These are often very complex powers and allow characters to do things they wouldn't be able to otherwise.
- Major powers are the most common and represent the primary power in most artifacts - for instance, a Daiklaive would have a level 2 Major power to represent the fact that it is a weapon. This level 2 Major power could be found on any artifact, making it as a weapon with stats comparable to a daiklaive. But an artifact without this power would be unable to be used as anything but an improvised weapon, having worse stats.
- Minor powers are less obvious but you see them around. 5MM bonuses, 2 die bonuses, lowered attunement costs and the like are good examples of minor powers.
Artifacts will start with a Major and a Minor power at the same level, both of which can be traded in for a Greater power of the same level. Likewise, a Major power can be traded in for a Major and a Minor power of one level less. Minor powers cannot be traded in, merely to simplify the process and also because any direct trade-in inevitably leads to people desiring many lower level powers over one higher level powers, which leads to more complex and less focused artifacts.
War Machines will instead be constructed out of artifact Powers, allowing you to write up it's powers and then choose which artifacts to build it out of for the most efficent use of your time and resources. So for instance a war-machine with three Major powers and three Minor Powers would be the same time to build as three artifacts.
War Machines will compensate for these extra powers with Drawbacks, such as Size and Maintnance. These Drawbacks can be reduced by advanced first-age Technology - but doing so raises the value of the artifact, thus making it worth more dots in Armory.
Finally, Manses will be constructed with twice it's level in points, dividing them between Power and Social categories. Power will be related to the strength of the essence flows, determing Hearthstone Level, but Hearthstone Level can be decreased in order to provide the ability to use the Essence other ways, such as powering defensive Artifacts. Social is more related to the physical size of the Manse, allowing for people to have Libraries and Laboratories and elegant ballrooms suitable for inviting and housing guests. In this way, Manse isn't assuming that hearthstone power is most important, but that having a retreat that is easily defensible or the perfect place to study, hold parties, and build artifacts is just as possible.
Manse
Manse design here is divided into two parts, Power and Social. Each manse serves a unique purpose, which the player (or ST) must decide. A manse built for Power may have other facilities, but they exist merely to fill space. A manse built for Social purposes may infact far outgrow the simple geomantic construction which can be considered the manse itself.
In the first age, a balance was met - inportant buildings were more powerful, and weak ones were often disregarded in terms of economic or strategic gain. But in the second age with less access to aerial transportation and other means of conveyance, such ideal situations are spread far and wide, and, most often, already taken.
Characters might seek the resources needed to furnish their manses with the desired aneminities.
- Early research in geomancy actually might have involved building huge, massive manses to channel all the essence in a large region into the building that is today considered the manse proper. Now, geomantic work is done to the landscape itself, which is just as effective but far less labor intensive.
"Why does his manse look awsomer than mine?"
Ultimately, Storytellers are going to be faced with a significant problem. Manses are focal points of essence, controlling vast ambient essence patterns and channeling them in ways that produce supernatural effect - resulting in Hearthsones that provide essence and special powers. Manses are also centers of Learning, debate, beuracratic organizations, social clubs, or simply somewhere secluded the Exalt likes to go and rest after a hard season of saving the world. Because such material benefit is expected in a manse, it is necessary to include not just the power of a manse in it's background cost or time to build, but also the cost of whatever social amenities the Exalt desires to indulge in within his mighty fortress. Storytellers intending for an empty manse should inform their players so that the
- the rest is missing, I'll try to find it.
Comments
I will follow this up with more details later. This is, in fact, just the overview - the actual mechanics are detailed in a power-buy system that is carefully designed to allow easy creation of fun artifacts instead of encouraging people to make collections of powers that just happen to be exactly what their character needs to slightly improve their abilities in a range of categories. Look for these loose examples to be replaced with concrete powers, and vauge explanations replaced with simple mathematical formulas. - GoldenH
