Crafting - General Information
There are many ways to craft in Essence and Energy, from forging weapons and armor to tinkering with armaments to brewing apothecary items and more. Crafting is an aspect that any character can get into without having to sacrifice their talents or focus on training as an adventurer. It can be done on the side to keep your equipment repaired and in good condition or as your primary focus being the artificer of the party.
While most of what you need is within the pages of this chapter, some additional supplies and tools will be required from the marketplace. Think of it as going to the market to get the resources needed to return to your workshop and craft your next amazing invention.
Crafting works by purchasing crafting masteries to unlock the knowledge required to understand what you are going to craft. Once you have the required masteries based on what you want to craft, you need to find the proper recipes and materials or ingredients to create your crafts. Some materials/ingredients can be purchased while others must be found during your travels.
Creating items requires tools, components, materials, or ingredients. Depending on what you are attempting to create depends on how much of each is needed. Once you have the proper supplies to craft, the quality of the item depends on your skill check. The higher the result, the better the quality of the item is. Just like other skills, crafting checks can be chained.
The knowledge you gain from crafting is put right back into your trade to help you improve and grow as a craftsman. All the while, you still gain experience for your adventuring. This is done using Knowledge Points; a separate experience point system that only affects crafting and not your level. While your talents can be used towards crafting, they do not have to. See Experience Points in the game rules chapter for more information.
Aspects of Crafting
There are some important aspects to crafting that you need to know before starting your first project.
Crafting Checks
Crafting has various skills like apothecary, automation, harvest, and smith, each serving different purposes. Crafting apothecary items, you will make apothecary skill checks. When crafting equipment and other similar items, you will make smith skill checks. When creating technology (steam power, clockwork, etc.) you will make automation skill checks. Finally, when gathering materials or ingredients, you will make a harvest check.
Crafting checks not only determine if your item is successfully created but also its quality grade. Crafting Limitations explains more what your quality can be and any bonuses it might gain.
Crafting Limitations
Regardless of what you are crafting, there is a limit to your skill. This limit is based on the crafting skill you are using compared to the quality table used when making a crafting check to determine the item’s quality. The highest quality that you can create is half the crafting skill being used. So, if you have a sixteen in your apothecary you can craft up to the highest grade quality, grade 8. However, if you had an eight in apothecary, the maximum quality you can make is grade four. If your crafting check is higher than your limit, you automatically create the highest quality grade item your skill allows.
Quality Grade Increase Limitations
Based on the type of item being created, your skill check total determines what type of bonus it gains. The quality grade of apothecary items can increase their damage, duration, difficulty rating, essence, or healing if the item has any of them. Only items that originally have the property can gain the bonus.
This also applies to armor, weapons, and other equipment. Tools and shields only have their durability increased. So, a longsword would gain the damage and durability bonuses, while a metal cuirass would gain the damage reduction and durability.
Component Quality
Components are unique in their crafting in that the only thing that is increased is their durability. However, the overall quality of the technology the component is being put into is based on all parts of the item. Using low-quality components in a high-quality item is illegal and seen as counterfeit if being sold.
Poor Quality Crafting
Just like it is possible to fail a crafting check, it is also possible to create an inferior product. This is done when you roll within the poor-quality grade. For apothecary items, the class, if reduced, behalf of what it would have been if it had been successful. Equipment gains a -1 to their damage, durability, damage reduction, or all three if it applies.
Failing a Crafting Check
There will be times when you roll the dreaded one on the die when making your crafting check. When this happens, the process automatically fails and depending on what you are making depends on what happens to the item.
Apothecary Items
Rolling a one causes the concoction to fail and turns into a consumable poison equal to the class. It then deals the class die in damage if consumed.
Components, Equipment, & Technology
When failing a component, equipment, or technology crafting check, half of the parts used are destroyed. This means each individual component and material loses half of its parts used. Components and materials that only required one part are destroyed.
Gaining Knowledge Points (Crafting XP)
As you create, you gain knowledge and understanding to improve your craft. This is rewarded to you as knowledge points that can be used on various aspects of your character (see Experience Points in the game rules chapter).
Whenever a crafting check is made when creating an item, you gain one knowledge point for every ten on the checks result. So, if you chain and roll a thirty-two for crafting a potion, you gain three knowledge points. If the result is below ten, no points are gained. This way, regardless of what you are crafting, the skill you put into the item determines how much you learned from the experience. However, primitive crafting, making components, or other parts for an item does not provide points. Your first attempt with a new recipe or creation automatically earns you a minimum of one knowledge point. However, only the final crafting check is considered.
One Item at a Time
When crafting items, only one item can be crafted at a time. The duration it takes to make the item is spent working on that item and no other. However, it is possible to stop working on an item and come back to it later should you need to rush an order or have something unexpected happen.
Quality Upgrade Requirement
All components of crafted equipment must be the same quality grade as each other to sell them at their grades price. So, if making a grade four musket, the mechanical components, wood, and metal must all be of grade four quality. Or, if crafting a grade four leather cuirass, the leather straps would also have to be grade four.
If intentionally crafting items that have lower grade components on the inside, they can be sold at the lower grades price if the character selling them is honest. Deceiving the customer by stating the item is completely made of a single quality grade is selling counterfeit items which is illegal. The added durability of the counterfeit equipment is based on the lowest quality component. So, if making a grade four item but the inner workings are grade zero, the durability is as if all the components are grade zero.
An exception to this rule is apothecary, which is per caldron, as the potions, antitoxins, poisons, etc. take time to cook.
Counterfeit Equipment
It is possible to craft equipment that looks and feels like the original, but the inner works are fake or of a much lower quality/grade material. These types of equipment are known as counterfeit and are highly illegal to make and sell. However, that does not stop some people.
Tool Durability
Just like other equipment, tools used for crafting can take durability damage when a one is rolled.
