FrivYeti/Simon

Name: Karalas Simon
Caste: Twilight
Nature: Architect
Anima: Hammer on Anvil
Concept: Craftsman Supreme

Attributes:
Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 3
Charisma 2, Manipulation 3, Appearance 2
Perception 3, Intelligence 5, Wits 3

Abilities:
Archery , Brawl , Martial Arts, Melee* 2, Thrown | Endurance* 2, Presence* 2, Performance, Resistance, Survival | Crafts* (Metal) 5, Investigation* 2, Lore* 3, Medicine*, Occult* 3| Athletics, Awareness* 3, Dodge 1, Larceny, Stealth | Buerocracy* 2, Linguistics 1 (Flametongue, Old Realm), Ride, Sail, Socialize

Backgrounds: Artifact 4, Cult 2, Manse 3, Resources 3 Virtues:
Compassion 2, Conviction 3, Temperance 3, Valor 1
Virtue Flaw: Heart of Flint (Conviction)

Willpower: 6
Health: -0,-1,-1,-2,-2,-4,Incap
Essence: 3
Essence pool: Personal 15, Peripheral 37 ()

Merits: Starting Workshop (Shogunate) 5, Prodigy (Crafts) 2

Flaws: Vice (Curiousity) 1, Greater Curse 5, Known Anathema 1

Charms:

• Melee

Golden Essence Block

• Crafts

Flawless Handiwork Method
Object-Strengthening Touch
Shattering Grasp
Craftsman Needs No Tools

• Occult

Terrestrial Circle Sorcery
Summon Demon of the First Circle
Summon Elemental
Ritual of Elemental Empowerment

• Awareness

Sensory Acuity Prana

Equipment: Artifact: Forge-Hand Gauntlets
Manse: Gemstone of the Revolutionary Dog

Combat: (Power Combat)
Base initiative: 6
Soak: 9B/7L/5A (Air-enchanted Reinforced Buff Jacket 6B/5L, Mob -1, Fat 1)
Dodge: 6
Attacks:
Forge-Hand Gauntlets: Speed 4, Accuracy 5, Damage 7A, Defense 8, Rate 5

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History

Karsalas Simon grew up in the southwest, in a small mining town called Burning Sands. Burning Sands lay south even of Gem, and was a minor source of firedust and little else. Simon grew up a forger, apprenticed to one of the many blacksmiths that dotted the town, and impressed his master with his skill, talent, and dedication.

One morning, however, the town awoke to a rider crashing through, shouting warnings of an incoming Fair Folk army. The blacksmiths set to work trying to make iron weapons that would withstand the fae, in hopes of saving their town. Simon worked as hard as any other, if not harder. As the sun began to set over the horizon, he redoubled his efforts, and in that moment he felt power surge through him. Single-handedly, he created weapons as fine as any steel, but made of iron to fight the fae. It was with shock, then, that he came to himself to find that he was glowing with golden light, and the townsfolk were watching him nervously.

Fortunately, the weapons proved effective, and the townsmen were not Immaculate worshippers. They promptly began to worship Simon devoutly for his blessings, calling him 'Lord Karsalas'. Exploring the mines, he discovered an ancient Manse, which included what was probably only a basic workshop in the First Age, but was now of incredible quality. Using the workshop, Simon and his town have begun to put themselves on the map...

Note

This character was more or less created as an intellectual excercise of how much crafts-pumping I could do. In theory, Simon can get up in the morning and burn through Essence and Willpower all day. Working in the Manse, he recovers a total of 14 motes per hour, more than he spends with CNNT for artifacts. Therefore, he is limited only by his six Willpower. Furthermore, he regains a minimum of 2 Willpower per day, most likely 4 or 5, thanks to his Hearthstone and Cult. The combination allows him to punch through about 5 days work per day (and still have time to do other things), meaning it takes 18 days to make a Crafts roll. The roll has 11 dice, he can spend 1 Willpower for an automatic success, and the difficulty is (Artifact Level -1), due to his Earth Elemental assistant, workshop, and Forge-Hand Gauntlets. He can then add the net successes plus his Essence in successes.
With this insanity, Simon takes, on average, around two weeks to finish a level 1 Artifact. A level 2 is harder, requiring 36 days of work. Level 3 requires three months of work. Level 4, if he can get the plans, will take 162 days (that is, 5 months and 12 days). A level 5 artifact would take 450 days, or exactly one year. (Also, he needs extra helper monkeys for Artifact 4 and 5).
The scary part is, this can be improved with experience. Six points into (Orichalcum +3) for extra dice and higher Conviction / Cult 3 for Willpower recovery shoots this into the stratosphere. Branching into other Crafts areas is also insanely easy (cost to reach Crafts 5: 13 experience).

Comments

I think you might be double spending your willpower here, since you mention you can get 4-5 per day with Conviction, Hearthstone and Cult, which presumably goes on your CNNT spending, so where is the willpower you channel coming from? In addition, how many successes are you assuming you are purchasing with Flawless Handiwork. Assuming a marginally subpar roll of 5 successes, you then buy 8, and get 13, but that costs you 24m (32m with CNNT), which is about 2 hours regeneration, so in some ways that is about the limit of what you can purchase on a sustainable level. Also note that this implies 10hr/day crafting, which isn't exactly time for side projects. Also, have you considered the potential benefits of making Simon an Eclipse? Something like Excellent Implementation of Objectives could cut these times by a third, at the cost of slightly longer working days. Where does the 13xp to Craft 5 come from? Surely it's 3+1+3+5+7 or 19xp to reach Craft 5 from scratch? - Kraken who is none-the-less quite impressed with how fast they can work.

The trick with all of this is that Flawless Handiwork only has to be triggered once, at the absolute end of the time period involved. Therefore, by the time you get to using Flawless Handiwork for your second roll, you've had 18 days of Essence recovery. :) This is actually 2.66 hrs/day crafting, because you can get a day's work done each scene, and I'm applying the '20 minutes in most situations' rule here. Eclipse would probably be even scarier; didn't think of that. Bumps up his XP costs, but yeah. Finally, the Prodigy Background lowers all those Ability costs by 1 more experience, to 2+0+2+4+6. Which is actually 14, not 13. My bad. - FrivYeti

Ah, yes, Prodigy. I forgot that. ^^; And yes, without applying Flawless Handiwork at every scene (because, as you correctly point out, you can't), then you can get a lot faster. The 10 hours/day was based on the time to regen for flawless handiwork, not on the actual time you need to spend crafting. This would make using Excellent Implementation Of Objectives and also the spirit charm Creation Of Perfection a lot more affordable. Simon could be making (After 60xp, admittedly) these things at more than 3x the speed he can now. The synergy of Solar 'Buy Successes = Successes rolled' and Sidereal TN reduction is worrying. - Kraken who sees more clearly now