FrivYeti/ArtifactCreation2e

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Artificery

The following rules modify artificery from Oedanol's Codex. Aside from the modifications, all ordinary artifact creation rules apply.

Base Die Rolls

Artificery requires wisdom and understanding. All artificery rolls use Intelligence + (relevant Crafts), rather than the lower of a host of Attributes. In addition, characters must have sufficent Occult ratings to craft Artifacts; they must have both Crafts and Occult two dots higher than the artifact's rating. Lore is not required.

Creation Time

The default time to craft artifacts varies based on the level of the artifacts, as follows:

• Level 1: One roll per two weeks.
• Level 2: One roll per month.
• Level 3: One roll per season.
• Level 4: One roll per two seasons.
• Level 5+: One roll per year.

Exotic Ingrediants

Artifacts require multiple exotic ingredients. This process is slightly different for standard artifacts and magitech, as follows:

Standard Artifacts: Standard artifacts require one exotic ingredient per level of the artifact, as usual; in addition, Level 4 artifacts require that one of the four materials is a First Age Exotic Material, and Level 5 Artifacts require two of their five materials to be such. Magical materials can stand in for this, as follows: One magical material counts as one ingredient, two or three materials counts as two ingredients, and four or more materials counts as three ingredients (an artifact must be rated at least Level 3 to include multiple Materials in this way, and Level 4 or above to use more than three Magical Materials). Each material requires the standard Resources rating as per the core. In addition, artifacts rated 4 or higher may be built around another artifact at the core; a single Artifact one dot lower than that of the Artifact being constructed may be used as one exotic ingredient. This artifact may count as a First Age ingredient.

Example: Jaspen Khar is crafting a special daiklave for his Lunar mate, a Level 4 daiklave that will help her only strike those who mean her harm. He uses orichalcum and moonsilver to craft it, counting as two of the four materials he needs, and adds the metal from a sword wielded only by one man, a swordsman who was always loyal. He then tempers the blade in a pail of tears from a dozen water elementals as his fourth ingredient.

Magitech Artifacts: Magitech artifacts replace complex ingredients with complex construction. All magitech devices have the following one to three components:

• One exotic ingredient. In most magitech, this is one of the Magical Materials. Magical Materials used by a component of an artifact may not also be used (see below).
• One magitech component of each level below that of the artifact. For example, a Level 3 Magitech artifact requires a Level 2 Component and a Level 1 Component. See below for rules on constructing magitech components.

Example: Touched by the gift given to him, Khar's mate - Yuri Fourth-Eye - decides to build him an artifact as well; a magnificent flying machine. She constructs it using a complex wing system forged from moonsilver and jade over behemoth bones (an Artifact 3 component), a central guidance system forged from starmetal and adamant (an Artifact 2 component), and a simple directional control system also made of moonsilver (an Artifact 1 component). The whole thing is stitched together on an orichalcum chassis (the ingredient for this level, and the unifying part.)

Magitech Components: A magitech component is a specialized artifact whose only purpose is to be linked in as a part of a larger artifact. Magitech components are constructed as a normal artifact of their level, with three exceptions. First, they require half as many total successes to build as a normal artifact. Secondly, they may treat each Magical Material used in their construction as a seperate exotic ingredient, with the result that many components use only magical materials in their construction. Finally, they may treat a Level 1 Magitech Component as an exotic ingredient. It is not uncommon for a single magitech component type to be used in a number of magitech creations.

Plans

Understanding exactly how an artifact was constructed makes it more doable a second time. With complete plans, a character using identical ingredients and process may reduces the total number of successes needed for the project by (Artifact rating x5). This is a greater benefit by percentage for smaller artifacts, but is still useful for larger ones. Standard artifacts and magitech are affected identically by this process. A character with partial plans receives a partial bonus, as determined by the Storyteller.

(Note: This is an identical benefit to that in Oedanol's Codex at Artifact 1, but rapidly reduces as Artifacts scale up, encouraging more unique artifact construction at high levels, where gathering someone else's ingredients is likely to remove the benefit for having plans.)

Repitition

There is no benefit for constructing multiple artifacts in a row, unless the character is using a factory-workshop (in which case, see below).

Workshops

Artifact creation is modified by a character's workshop, as usual. There are four degrees of workshop, as well as a number of special qualities that modify workshops as necessary. Rudimentary, Basic, and Master Workshops function as written in the Codex. The Flawless Workshop reduces the difficulty of artifact creation by 2, to a minimum of 1. There is no such thing as an ideal workshop.

In addition, however, there are factory workshops, powerful Manse-workshops that can massively aid in the productions of proper artifacts. There are two degrees of manse-workshops; atelier-manses and factory cathedrals. An Atelier-Manse is a specially designed Level 3 Manse power which requires Crafts (Magitech) 5 to design. These manses are designed and programmed to aid in the construction of a single type of artifact of a level no higher than the Manse's rating -1. Such artifacts require a roll only every month, instead of every season, and the artificer must supervise the process. Atelier-manses are also at least Master Workshops, and must remain stocked. Redesigning an atelier-manse to produce a new artifact is a difficult and time-consuming process, requiring as much effort as creating a new 2-dot Artifact. This manse-power can be bought multiple times, with each purchase providing a new type of artifact the manse can aid with. Most shogunate-era atelier-manses were configured for magitech components, rapidly constructing the ingredients for larger artifacts with mortal supervision, then sending those ingredients to Dragon-Blooded artificers. These manses were mostly destroyed in the Contagion, and few nations rebuilt them afterwards, as they require large amounts of magical materials to create artifacts.

Factory-cathedrals are far more powerful; a factory-cathedral is a Level 5 Manse power which requires Craft (Magitech) 6 to design. Factory-cathedrals are capable of building a number of artifacts at once totalling 10 dots, of which only one can be rated 4 or 5. Each artifact requires an artificer to spend four hours supervising each day, and a single artificer may supervise multiple projects as long as he has the time. Almost as importantly, factory cathedrals can be shifted relatively easily; changing a cathedral's output requires only a week of effort, which Charms can reduce if they can reduce repair times. Factory cathedrals require Maintenance 4, which they do not get points for. This includes the exotic ingredient requirement listed as in Oedanol's Codex. Factory cathedrals that are fully functional are almost unknown in the Second Age; there are no more than four or five functioning in Yu-Shan, and perhaps as many active in Creation. At least one Deathlord also possesses one geared towards necrotech.