XerExaltedLite/Artificing

Artificing

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Making artifacts is an involved process. Even mortals, through persistance and coordination, can make minor trinkets, but these, at best, are candles before the mighty works of the Exalted. There are several steps to the process.

• The first, of course, is to decide what the Character wants. Many guidelines are given below, but it is not terribly easy to pin such nebulous concepts down. Regardless, the total Scope of the project, inXerExaltedLite/Craft terms, must be decided.
  • The Scope of the Artifact for Research and Design will typically be the Artifact's level, cubed.
• The next step is the Research phase. This works much like the Design phase inXerExaltedLite/Craft, but it uses theXerExaltedLite/Lore ability instead. During this time, the necessary materials are discovered for the project, allowing others to gather them while the Design phase begins.
• The Design phase is no different than that of theXerExaltedLite/Craft section.
• Then comes the actual construction of the Artifact. Again, this follows underXerExaltedLite/Craft.

That's the outline. See below.

Guidelines

Three factors must be considered for artifact construction. These rules may bend slightly, for fluke incidents, but should follow a similar mold.

The most important factor of Artifact construction is Quality. When making an Artifact, its power requires exacting standards. The lowest number of successes assigned to Quality limit the ultimate Artifact Rating of the creation. This depends, partially, on the nature of the being doing the work.

• For Solars, the Incarna, the Ministers of Autocthon, and Primordials, this is the average Quality Rating, in terms of successes made (they can 'buffer' Quality with extra successes).
• For Celestial Exalted (including Abyssals and Chimerae), Alchemical Exalted, 3rd Circle Demons, Enlightened Mountain Folk, and Deathlords, this is the lowest Quality Rating.
• For Greater Elementals and Gods (Essence 7-9), and Second Circle Demons, this is the lowest Quality Rating, -1.
• For Dragon-Blooded, Dragon Kings, Moderate Elementals and Gods (Essence 4-6), Great Raksha (Heart 4), and unEnlightened Mountain Folk, this is the lowest Quality Rating, -2.
• For Beastmen, First Circle Demons, Ghosts, Lesser Elementals and Gods (Essence 1-3), Mortals, Other Raksha (Heart 0-3), Wyld-Tainted, Spirit-Blooded, and others, this is the lowest Quality Rating, -3.

Wyld-Tainted refers to the posession of the Essence Channeler Merit.

• Dragon-Blooded, Elementals, and their Spirit-blooded descendants have a penalty of one less when working to on a Demesne, manse, or jade of their specific Element.
• Dragon Kings have a penalty of one less when working on yellow jade / gold.
• Ghosts, Ghost-Blooded and Abyssal half-Caste have a penalty of one less when working on banal soulsteel and Abyssal aspected Demesnes.

This does mean that Artifact •••••• items are possible for some beings, and that some mortals can make Artifact • items fairly regularly.

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The second most important aspect is the quality of ingredients and other components needed. Each artifact requires its level squared in special components. Some (in fact, most) special components count more than once:

1. Unusual, but mundane. A widow's fingernail clippings or a lion's tooth.
2. Unusual and not trivial to obtain, or semiprecious. Quartz crystals. The fresh blood from a lion's heart.
3. Extremely unusual or precious. Gold, silver, gems. The still-beating heart of a lion.
4. A lesser but truly wondrous magic. Banal Soulsteel / Dreamsilver, Jade, Gossamer. Or weird - a Lion's roar, the first raindrop after Calibration.
5. One of the Five Greater materials. Oricalchum, Moonsilver, Starmetal, True Soulsteel, Dreamsilver. Beyond weird - a lion's fear, the first tear shed for a loved one after Calibration.

Magical materials will generally overwhelm lesser versions of themselves, and impose their 'attitude' on the Artifact, so combining them is rarely wise.

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The third most important part is committed Essence. Once Design is finished and actual construction begun, the person (or persons) working on the Artifact must commit a total number of motes equal to twice the Artifact's level, squared. A single familiar may grant part of the needed Essence.

Commitment

In all cases, Artifact commitment cost begins at 1 mote, plus 2 motes per level of the artifact.
Hearthstone slots cost 1 mote of commitment cost per slot that does not power the artifact. You may place no more useable Hearthstone slots into an artifact than the level of the artifact itself.

For any artifact level, you may reduce the commitment cost by 2 instead of taking a bonus for that level. This may not reduce the commitment cost below 0. However, if it is reduced to 1 and magical material bonuses are foregone, mortals may attune the device for a point of Willpower at a cost to their lifespans, aging a third faster while so attuned. Age-Staving Cordial allows them to age normally.

By increasing the commitment cost by 4 motes, you can have another artifact level to spend. This can only be done once, making the maximum 'generic artifact' have a commitment cost of 20 motes.

Hearthstones that power an Artifact commit 5 motes per Hearthstone level. In addition, some of their nature can be bled through to add additional features to the Artifact.

Scope

The Scope of an Artifact is a rough measure of complexity - in effect, it represents multiple Artifacts joined together.

The SkyWolf, for instance, is a massive assembly of several dozen level ••• - ••••• Artifacts. All SkyShips of significant size or complexity are.

WarStriders are another common example of increased Scope. They consist of as many as twelve seperate Artifacts, working jointly to provide an overall effect.

In such cases, the combined commitment cost must still somehow be paid. Hearthstones and Essence Engines are popular means by which this is achieved, in addition to using efficient Artifact construction.

Maintenance

Artifacts which require maintenance are considered to be one level higher than their 'real' Artifact level when determining powers. Maintenance is a paired Intelligence + Craft and Intelligence + Lore roll, with a difficulty equal to the square of the Artifact's 'real' level. One hour of Maintenance is required for every 100 hours of continuous use. High-scope Artifacts count each Artifact individually.

Consulting with an Artifact's least god (a successful prayer roll typically taking one hour) reduces the difficulty by one. Teams can help on the Craft roll, speeding up maintenance, but the Lore roll is all too often paramount.

New Magical Materials

Only Celestial Exalted may weild, or even forge, with the True Magical Materials - True Dreamsilver, Moonsilver, Orichalcum, True Soulsteel, and Starmetal. Weilding these is a clear indicator of one's nature, for the rest of Creation, including their half-caste children, is forced to make do with substitutes.

• Banal Soulsteel

Banal Soulsteel is a more common form of Soulsteel, attuneable by Ghosts.

Where True Soulsteel is forged from the irons of the Labyrinth and the souls of the haughtiest (Essence 4+) higher souls, Banal Soulsteel lacks these important features, making it significantly more common. It has a dull, eternally tarnished appearance, gray, cold, and rough to the touch. Its bonuses are identical to those of Jade, and is sometimes termed 'Grey Jade' for its depressingly dull luster.

• The 'proper aspect' of Banal Soulsteel is a Ghost and Abyssal half-Caste.

• Dreamsilver

Dreamsilver is Wyld-tainted silver alloyed with gossamer and the dreams of mortals. Like soulsteel, it too has banal and true forms - banal being made with either common silver or, for lack of a better term, more banal dreams. Dreamsilver is a extrimely glittery, flowing silver - easy to mistake for white marble or gossamer strands at a distance.

True Dreamsilver has the same bonuses Moonsilver does, except for weapons, which have an effective minimum Brawn of zero for all purposes. Banal Dreamsilver acts like Jade in all respects.

• The 'proper aspect' of Banal Dreamsilver is a Wyld tainted being, including Fae-Blooded and Chimerae half-Caste.

• Gold

Weapons and armor made of gold are normally soft, easily dulled and cumbersome. Worked properly and infused with Essence as a magical material, it effectively becomes a lesser version of Orichalcum. It functions like Jade in all respects, and this, combined with the semi-translucence it gains from being properly forged, it is often called 'yellow jade'.

• The 'proper aspect' of Gold is a Dragon King and Solar half-Caste.

Armor, Shields and Weapons

Artifact Armors

Built much like normal armor, naturally. The limit to Fatigue and Mobility Penalty is two (2), not five, however.

Begin with a Resources 5 armor, with the above restriction.

Artifact levels add points similarly to resources. That is, each level counts for four (4) points, whether it is concealed or not. While worn, concealed artifact armor is still considered armor, but is also concealed from essence-sensing attempts such as Measure the Wind.

Magical Material bonuses, except for Jade, work normally. Dreamsilver grants the same bonus for armors that Moonsilver does, ignoring the Mobility penalty.

Jade armor may not have a fatigue value above zero if it is made concealed. In addition, the standard benefit Jade armor provides is reducing the Fatigue penalty by 1. Only Dragon-Blooded of the specific aspect ignores the Fatigue penalty completely.

Special abilities, of course, require eyeballing, naturally.

Artifact Shields

Begin with an 'exceptional' Target Shield - ie, it adds one to the difficulty of all attacks made against the bearer.

For each level of artifact, you may add one to either its effectiveness against ranged attacks, or one to its effectiveness against melee attacks.

You may, of course, always add special abilities, though they do have to be eyeballed some. These may likely subsume the Magical Material bonus provided.

Magical Material Bonuses for Artifact Shields:

• Orichalcum: Adds 1 to the difficulty of all attacks made against the bearer.
• Moonsilver: On an unsuccessful melee attack, the opponent's weapon gets stuck in the shield, and loses two successes on his next action.
• Jade: +1 to Bashing Soak, +1 to both Lethal and Bashing soak if a Dragon-Blooded of the correct Aspect.
• Starmetal: Subtracts one success from damage rolls inflicted on the bearer. This is cumulative with Starmetal armor.
• Dreamsilver: On an unsuccessful melee attack, the opponent's weapon gets stuck in the shield, and loses two successes on his next action.
• True Soulsteel: Adds 1 to the difficulty of all attacks made against the bearer.

Artifact Weapons

Each level of Artifact adds 5 points per artifact level in points to spend. This is added to the base 30 points of a resources ••••• weapon. Thus, an artifact ••••• weapon would have 55 points total to spend. They are affected by slightly different rules, however:

• Minimum Brawn for Artifact Weapons is 1/3rd Damage, rounding down.
  • Artifact Weapons of any sort may not purchase speed bonuses.
• Maximum Accuracy and Defense is +10. Minimum is -0 in any score the weapon is intended to be used for.
• Artifact Bows purchase Range, at 1 point per 100 Yards, to a maximum of 1,000 yards.

• • They have no maximum or minimum Brawn, but do +1 damage per purchase of Range, up to a maximum of +10.
  • For Magical Material bonuses, Crassbow ranges are halved - a Banal Soulsteel crossbow only has a +25 yard Range, for example, and Range only purchases +50, and does not add to damage.

Artifact Weapon Magical Material Bonuses

• Jade Melee Weapons gain the Strike First ability. In the hands of its proper aspect, the weapon's supernal speed is considered to be a Charm effect, going before normal Strike First weapons. Otherwise, it is just a normal 'Strike First' Charm.
• Jade Bows give +100 range in the hands of a properly aspected Dragon-Blood, or +50 otherwise.
• True Dreamsilver weapons are even more fluid than the Moonsilver they mimic, having an effective minimum Brawn of zero.
• True Dreamsilver projectile weapons double their range.
• True Soulsteel weapons drain their weilder's permanent Essence in motes (or temporary Willpower, if no motes remain) on a damaging strike. If no temporary willpower remains, the weapon deals the remainder in Aggravated health levels of damage.
• Moonsilver weapons are difficult to hide from, and negate their weilder's permanent Essence in difficulty penalties imposed by cover (including shields).
• Starmetal weapons are auspicious. The weilder of such a weapon always does at least her permanent Essence in damage, even if the damage would normally be lower, and never scores less than her permanent Essence in successes on an attack roll.
• Orichalcum weapons grant the weilder their permanent Essence in motes upon slaying or incapacitating an opponent.

Ability Purchases

This is by no means a comprehensive list.

• Accurate: 10 points for a specific type of Accuracy (HtH, Thrown, or Projectile). The Accuracy bonus of the Weapon equals the weilder's permanent Essence.
• Ashigaru: 0 points. Magical Material bonuses are foregone, but attunement is not required to use the weapon. The weapon's effective commitment cost must be 1, however. It may still be attuned for normal use (typically to charge a weapon which stores Essence)
• Bane: 5 points. The weapon does Aggravated damage to a specific group of targets, but only Bashing damage to others.
• Charged Attack: 5 points. 1 mote spent during an attack adds +5 to damage.
• Defending: 10 points. The Defense bonus of the Weapon equals the weilder's permanent Essence.
• Essence Projectile Weapon: 5 points. 1 mote of Essence creates and fires a projectile. The projectile does +0L damage by default. Range is 25 yards * damage rating, as with a crossbow.
  • For 5 additional points, the projectile is Piercing.
  • This may be combined with Charged Attack.
  • For 5 additional points and the Charged Attack add-on, the Weapon has a 'fan mode' which is harder to avoid (and strikes all targets in a 30 degree arc), granting a +1 difficulty penalty to dodge and parry attempts. The range is halved, however, and damage is at +0, which includes the bonus from Charged Attack. Firing in this manner costs 5 motes.
• Infinite: 15 points. The weapon may shift and morph into any number of high-quality weapons, taking one Turn and a cost of one mote.
• Invisible: 5 points. The weapon's attack is unseen. Add +1 difficulty to parry and dodge attempts.
• Loyal: 5 points. Will only serve a specific Celestial Exalted caste. Subtract the Artifact Level from the cost of this Trait, to a minimum of 0.
• Mote Storage: 5 points per 10 motes. The Weapon may store motes, for use in the Charged Attack, Essence Projectile or Returning features only.
• Perfect Accuracy: 5 points. The weilder suffers no difficulty penalties for making an attack in odd circumstances. Blind, wounded, at the edge of a bow's range, or any sort of inactive cover (ie, not a shield) is ignored. Other dies and success penalties still apply, however.
• Property Damage: 5 points. Damage against inanimate objects is doubled.
• Returning, End of Turn: 5 points. Returns at the end of the Turn in which the Weapon is used.
• Returning, Instant: 15 points. Returns immediately after being thrown, so that only one thrown weapon is needed, and does not need 'drawing'.
• Returning, Mote: 5 points. Returns for the cost of one mote.
  • Special, sturdy (ie, magical) arrows or bolts are needed for Returning to be usable with a projectile weapon. Such projectiles are Artifact •, though effort may still be spent to steal or break these.
• Spirit-Sight: 10 points. The weapon allowes the weilder to percieve the immaterial.
• Spirit-Striking: 5 points. The weapon may strike dematerialized beings, but not material ones.
  • For an additional 5 points, the weapon may strike both material and immaterial beings.