Crafting-Enchanting

Crafting/Enchanting
Some projects and goals take time - quite a bit of it. They are often governed by skills, but a single dice roll isn't really enough to convey the effort involved. Crafting is an alternative method for expressing the nature and results of a long term project to create something. The rules are used for making objects, both mundane and magical (though magical constructs are often "enchanted" - not "built"). Each craft is it's own skill - a Master Craft Ship (aquatic) will do you little good when you try to build a car. Enchantment's are done by piece type, plus Soul - more about that at the bottom.

We also have some rules for quick and dirty Building and Enchanting - in case you need something in a hurry, and don't mind it falling apart really quickly.

Blueprinting
Crafting comes in 2 phases - blueprinting, and building. The first thing a character needs, is a clear understanding of what the project involves - the blueprinting step.

This might involve writing an outline and character sketch for a novel, or might require a complex computer rig and a build program. At the start of the process, a GM defines the basic nature of a blueprint - Trainee to Master. Occasionally, a GM may rule that a project may be broken down into several smaller parts (a Starship is generally done as 4 Master blueprints - Engines, Electrical, Life Support (including hydraulics), and Structural (and maybe a 5th for Vector Engines), along with a blueprint for how to put it all together (either Master or Expert, depending on the complexity) - because an actual starship is actually a Guru or Almighty-Janitor level blueprint if you did it all at once (and that's not a skill level we allow normally). The amount of time involved is pretty close, either way. The time it takes to make a blueprint is nominally based on its level (Untrained takes 20 beats, Trainee is generally an 40 beats/1 hour, Adept Day, Expert Week, and Master month - though these can be adjusted based on the project - Ship's electrical probably takes closer to 2 or 3 for all the little wires, writing an overview probably isn't as long). The roll to make a Blueprint (made by the GM) is (skill level)d6+Intelligence (or Piece Proficiency, for Enchanting)+(any bonuses from other blueprints); beating the challenge rating will decrease the base time by 10% per 4, up to 50%. Failing by no more than 4 doubles the base time, but still succeeds - any failure below that implies some sort of faulty logic in the design that renders the plan useless in someway, and the entire project must be approached from a clean slate later. A GM may allow a player to make a make a craft skill check against their failed skill roll to figure out that something is critically wrong before investing all the time to make the useless plans. The challenge rating generally varies by the complexity of the blueprint (we recommend using 4, 9, 13, 17, 21 for the respective level complexity Challenge Ratings, but the GM may vary them if a project seems more or less complex).

Now, clearly, having a blueprint (bought, stolen, or otherwise discovered) allows a player to skip the first part (probably, unless the blueprints are incomplete). An incomplete blueprint adds some value to the roll for making a complete blueprint (more interpretive works, including writing and magic, are often considered incomplete because they carry the original author's intent and mentality, and must be re-interpreted to be useful to a new person). However, this also means that blueprints are very valuable, and acquiring Expert and Master blueprints is a lucrative business. Some blueprints may be incomplete in a non-obvious way, or misleading, to cause difficulties to thieves, and those who support them. A contested craft-skill check (the original owner vs. the current examiner) can determine if a set of blueprints is accurate, but such checks can take days, especially in the case of something as complex as a Master design. A failed blueprint may provide some assistance, like any other incomplete work.

Building a Prototype
Once you have the blueprint properly sorted out, it's time to build the dang thing! Building something generally takes (1d6 * the blueprint's time frame/2) as a base time, assuming that the individual building the object spends 8 hours on the project daily, and has the proper tools and materials to do the work (building a spacecraft needs a factory, and either a really good AI, a whole lot of workers, or some mix, for example. Trying to manhandle 20 feet of paneling by yourself does not work - the GM should make it clear what sort of tools are required at the start). Not having the proper equipment will prolong the endeavor - often by quite a lot. A shortage of supplies will stop work entirely (and may serve as a plot hook for the rest of the team to go hunt down whatever the hold up is). The actual skill roll (again, made by the GM) is (skill level)d6+Wisdom(or Piece Proficiency for Enchantng)+any bonuses the GM may choose to apply (-5 for trying to build a powered armor in a cave with a bunch of scraps, for example). HOWEVER! This does not quite suffice! Instead of simply being a success or failure, the result, compared to the challenge rating, becomes a series of breakthroughs and accidents. For every 4 points above or below the challenge rating, the gm receives 1 "interesting event" to play out during the build process (a basic success nets a single breakthrough and accident) - at some point during the prototype's build phase, the gm may call for something interesting to happen, either good or bad. Most prototypes have at least a few things go well and poorly.

If a gm can't think of an appropriate event, they may roll 1d6, adds the craft skill (but not any statistic), and makes a decision about what went wrong or right based on the results. In general, a roll of 4 or less, in total, is a catastrophic failure - someone has stolen/destroyed the prototype and plans, your workshop went up in smoke, the Inquisition would like a word with you - something that would set your project back to square one, and might be lethal to all involved, or a minor breakthrough - a simple shift in procedure that frees up some extra work time, getting an unpaid intern - that speeds up the build by some small amount. A 9 or better generally means a minor setback - a blackout prevents work for a small percentage of base time, a nail got bent in your birdhouse, your work schedule overlaps a major holiday (adding 1-5% to the time it takes per accident) - or a critical breakthrough - you can Clone warp the inductor diodes (feel free to do your best mad scientist cackle), that free intern is the next Einstein, you are in the Zone with this birdhouse - the time table is cut by 10-25% base time for each happenstance. No project may take less than 50% base time of it's lowest possible value - half a month for a Master project, for example, or 7 minutes for an untrained plan. If a build takes more than twice the maximum maximum time (a year for a Master work, 3 hours Untrained, etc.), the project simply fails in the lowest base time frame, and the player must start fresh - fate was against them, and there were too many hurdles to overcome. They can try again, but they may need to do some more ground work before hand to ensure a better result.

Now, a prudent character may take precautions - installing a sprinkler system in the workshop means that catastrophic fire failure isn't nearly so catastrophic, for example. Getting to know a supplier may mean the difference between getting a 10% breakthrough and a 25% when the supplier has to unload materials at a bargain price, or somewhat mitigate a supply interruption as they funnel the last of their stock to their "best customer." While a GM shouldn't necessarily only create opportunities and accidents based on the player's plans, doing so does make for a better experience on the player's part.

The Challenge Rating for making a prototype is generally 1 to 4 points higher than making the blueprint for it.

Factory Building
If a player has the blueprints, and a successful working prototype, they can then automate the process of building an object. This requires, at a minimum, a number of workers/machines [4*work's rating^2] rated as Trained in the particular skill, and an overseer/ai who is rated at least to the same level as the blueprint to be produced (or an AI rated as Expert in a purely machine shop). While the results are no faster than the base time of the prototype, the factory turns out a new copy every lowest base-time (so, getting any particular starship engine out will take however long it took you the first time, but once the yard gets going, it will produce a Master-class engine system ever half-month after the first thanks to the assembly line nature of the work). This rate will be steady for each "factory" unit - having twice the workers/machines means doubling the production, and it will continue without direct player interaction, at least until the GM decides to do something interesting to it. A better grade of worker counts for 2 lesser ones - an Adept is worth 2 Trained, an Expert is worth 2 Adepts, and a Master counts as 2 Experts (or 8 Trained) (It should be noted that 8 Trained workers probably will cost you less in wages than 1 Master, normally. Master's do have the benefit of being able to fix and notice problems in the work more reliably, however, and can often find work-arounds that a Trained person might not think of, at least in theory)

Enchanting in's and out's
Enchanting fulfills 3 purposes - it resolves the difficulty of needing a particular caster in two locations at once, let's a non-caster have some magic tricks to use or fall back on, and has a spell last for a longer duration than it normally would (remember, most spells end after a day, at most, even if their effects hang around afterwords) - most enchantments last for at least a day - like the initial charge on a properly made artificial Soul Shell, and at least some can last a lifetime (a Reaper's Focus, for example). Giving the team a small illusion enchantment means that an Illusionist can be out front, being incredibly distracting, while their team sneaks in, without them burning stamina maintaining both sets of spells at the same time. A long-term enchantment makes for an interesting plot-macguffin, and, assuming you are careful, a valuable addition to a team's armory once it's recovered (the Bandage of Limb Reattachment, as an example - doesn't heal, but it does fix the other effects of 3-wounds, once per day, and it'll last for, say, a month, assuming they don't find a way to store it when they don't need it).

Now, Enchanting does some things differently - first of all, instead of using Wisdom and intelligence, it uses the Piece Proficiency (or the average of all proficiencies, for Soul Enchantments) at all stages. Secondly, it can't be Factory'd - casting is too personalized and spur of the moment to be handled by low-level technicians in an assembly line. Next, it is possible, though not easy, to craft an enchantment that isn't physically locked - you can enchant a section of space, or a particular moment (or, at least try. Mucking with space/time is all sorts of difficult), as easily as a sword, a piece of clothing, or a memory. You can't, however, craft an Untrained enchantment, and the minimum time to enchant is the twice the lowest base time, no matter what rolls are made.

Most Enchantments can be defined in the same framework as a given spell, and get defined as the rank of Soul needed to cast that respective tier (so, tier 1 is Trainee, 2-3 is Adept, 4-5 is Expert, 6+ is Master). Players may have some say in the ritual, but, it will always involve the spell, cast in the third type of extended style based on the complexity of the spell effect (so, 1 hour for complexity 1, 6 for complexity 2, and 18 for complexity 3*), at least twice (unless the whole process takes less time than the extended cast; then, the duration is the ritual's, and the spell is cast only once), once at the beginning, and once at the end, without gaining the normal benefits of the extended cast (the spell's tier is unaffected). The character must, of course, be able to cast the spell in question (though some Soul enchantments ignore this rule, being too "cheap" to have an actual spell associated with them, see below). Failing the first extended casting just causes the entire ritual to fail - start over, assuming it doesn't do something really awful that makes starting over impossible. Failing the second extends the duration of the ritual by 5%, during which the caster must review the entire ritual, and then try again - failing a second time here results in a failure of the entire enchantment - magic is cantankerous like that - though it might result in a quick and dirty enchantment, at the GM's discretion.

Soul Enchanting and You

Soul spells start at tier 6. There are Trainee Soul Enchantments. Why this is, exactly, is unknown, but a lot of people appreciate that it is the case. The most basic and common Trainee Soul Enchantments are the creation of the most basic form of artificial Soul Shell, the Charge Artificial Soul Shell, and the Container of Magic. The first, famously, makes someone's Soul look like a Touched Soul of a random color, design, and shows the character's Soul strength. The second keeps an artificial Soul Shell working beyond it's initial charge. The last stops an enchantment from functioning (assuming it's no stronger than the Container of Magic enchantment involved; or the contained enchantment is not quick and dirty), making it safe to transport and functionally inert to all tests. A living (including Dead Inside) sapient creature placed in a Container of Magic breaks the container's enchantment. While artificial soul shells are not widely known, the rituals are so straight forward and available, due to certain business interests, that their blueprints can be purchased with little difficulty for someone in the know, and be used immediately, without alteration.

Other famous, or infamous, Soul Enchantments include making a Reaper Focus (Master rank, effectively a tier 5) and Alter Reaper Focus (Master, tier 5+ depending on the goal; generally used to further empower a Focus to artificially enhance a Reaper's casting ability or stealth capacities; this ritual requires several weeks or months of chaos as a ritual component - it's REALLY showy if you know what to look for). Soul Creation is theoretically possible, but most theorists are certain that the raw materials needed (ie, a soul, or parts of several), makes the enchantment spectacularly hard, as well as highly unethical.

Speaking of Reapers, just as they can use Soul Spells on a technicality, they can also use Soul Enchantments. This of course, does come with some limits and drawbacks - mainly, they can only enchant themselves/their personal focus, and doing so deals both Wounds and Sanity Damage. This damage can't be mitigated or altered - mucking with your soul is very problematic. A Reaper loses 1 Wound each day of the ritual, and 1 point of sanity per tier level after the enchantment is done. Yes, this means a Reaper Altering a personal Reaper's Focus risks insanity every time, and might not survive to see it completed. It also isn't unusual for a Reaper to lose a rank in their Soul stat (regardless of who does it), as their new state doesn't mesh well with the old in some fashion.