Why Craft Sucks & How I Fixed It

[Sanctaphrax]

The rewrite in this thread is out of date. The latest version of the rewrite is here, and its appendix is here.

We've had a lot of arguments here recently about the new crafting system. I've been pretty firmly on the "it's bad" side. But I'm tired of unproductive arguments.

I like EX3 as a whole, and I want to play games with crafting in them. So in this thread I'm going to present a pair of alternative crafting systems. One is really just a set of tweaks to what's in the book, the other is a full rewrite. They'll be untested first drafts, but I'm pretty sure they'll be better than what's in the backer PDF.
I'll be using the full rewrite when I play, and you're all more than welcome to do the same. If recent discussions are any indication, there are plenty of people in the market for this sort of thing.

First post has my big rant. The last word on Why Sanctaphrax Hates These Rules. Hopefully once I've written it all up I won't feel the need to argue about it anymore. I'll spoiler-block it so it's easy to skip.

Second post has the new systems and some commentary on how I envision Craft working for different types of being.

Third post has the new Solar Craft Charms. Even if you love EX3 Craft, I recommend taking a look here: there'll be some stuff that works fine with either system. Actually, the Charms I'm most proud of are the ones that work fine with either system.

Side comments in italics.

If you want to argue the quality of the craft system here, that's fine. But what I'm actually here for is discussion of the rewrite. I'm not going to reply to rebuttals, even if they're incredibly well-thought-out or utterly stupid.

In order to do this right, I did some research. I read a bunch of Craft threads. And now I pray for the extermination of the human race, but anyway...

I kid. It wasn't as bad as you might expect. There was an unpleasant trend where angrier, more mocking, more patronizing, and more anecdotal posts got more Likes though. I could probably make this post way more popular by adding some extra rage, but I'm gonna try and keep it calm. Even when I'm ranting.

The rant:

Nine problems, in order from most to least serious.

Problem One: All About Artifacts

This complaint might be unique to me, since I don't remember seeing it in any of the many Craft threads here. But it's my #1 issue with EX3 Craft.

The vast majority of Craft in EX3 is about making Artifacts (and occasionally manses). That's the only thing you need a significant number of points for. That's what most Efficiency, Momentum, and Power Charms are useful for. That's what you get good at if you go all-in on Craft.

This is a problem.

It's not good if the Craft guy is awesome when you have downtime and useless when you don't. And it's not good if they're churning out dozens and dozens of supposedly world-shaking wonders. But Artifact-making is fundamentally a downtime activity, since making miraculous wonders that last (more-or-less) forever should take time, and if someone's got 30(!) Charms dedicated to Artifact-making then you've gotta give them abilities that match that investment.

A master of Craft should be using Craft on adventures. When they have a problem, they should be thinking "how can I craft my way past this" the same way a Dawn might ask "how can I fight my way past this". Artifact-making doesn't work for that. It's too big, too grand. Even making a two-dot Artifact is overkill for most problems. That's why, when people tell stories about how Craft was cool in their games, it's often about some mundane project that you don't even need an Excellency for.

Craft magic shouldn't just be about Artifacts. Unfortunately, in EX3 it is. With a few well-appreciated exceptions.

The Agnostic Charms below are intended to address this issue. The full rewrite goes further.

Problem Two: Pointless Points

Points don't do anything good.

I know of four things that the points system is supposed to do well. It paces Artifact completion rolls, it encourages people to craft, it promotes engagement with the setting, and it gives people something to spend on Craft Charms. But I think points are a bad way to do each of those things.

The goal of pacing artifact completion rolls is to keep the number of rolls per story/year sensible. So why not just use an ordinary extended roll, maybe with an interval measured in stories or sessions? Then you get straight to the goal with no confusion or risk of failure.

The best way to encourage people to craft is to make crafting worthwhile. Nobody needs encouragement to use Melee, because Melee is really useful. It solves problems, mostly violent ones. And if you can't figure out how to make crafting intrinsically worthwhile, you still have plenty of other bribes to offer. Willpower! Motes! The love of NPCs! Why take this approach, when there are so many others available that integrate beautifully with the overall setting and system?

I'm also unconvinced by the system from an engaging-with-the-setting perspective. The hypothetical crafting equivalent of a murder-hobo, who lives in a workshop and makes Artifacts all day, is actually tremendously effective under this system. They can easily satisfy all three objectives as long as they have a friend to sell stuff to, and since Craft's core use is making Artifacts they're not losing anything by living in a workshop.

People don't really need another thing to spend on Craft Charms. I can actually see why you'd want a resource that doesn't become trivial when you have a month of free time, but craft xp isn't like that. You can get 10 silver points a day without trying. So you might as well just use motes for short-term costs and willpower for medium-term ones. If you really want a long-term cost, require motes to be committed long-term or go back to EX2-style exotic ingredients.

So I don't think we need points. And we shouldn't use them if we don't need them: they add rules cruft and occasionally create weird situations. Like ones where a master craftsman just can't even try to make something, for no clear reason.

This issue is only addressed by the full rewrite, though the tweaks nibble at the edges a bit.

Problem Three: Confusing Complexity

Craft is huge and complicated and I don't know why. Who looked at Exalted and thought, "this game needs six more resources to track"? Why did they make Craft the largest Charm tree in the book?

This complexity has real consequences. Look in the threads about it: even intelligent people who like or want to like the system often find it hard to understand. This huge pile of rules is a source of pointless confusion. Might even have affected the writers: it's a lot easier to print Charms referring to non-existent Evocation rules when you've got so many other Craft Charms to keep track of.

Making this worse is the fact that the complexity can easily end up as a complete waste of time. The Artifact output of a Solar Craft master is limited primarily by their wondrous material supply. And there are pretty much no rules for that. So you spend a long time futzing around with numbers and points and objectives and dice, but ultimately none of it is important: the system boils down to "ask your Storyteller".

Rules shouldn't be complex unless they have to be. These ones don't have to be, and I intend to demonstrate that with my full rewrite. The tweaks do nothing to simplify the system, though.

Problem Four: Misjudged Math

You can get over a hundred silver xp in an hour if you make arrows really well. This isn't just a problem: it's several sub-problems put together.

First, it seems like the writers never stopped to think about how many basic projects an ordinary crafter is likely to do. Basic projects take "several minutes to several hours". So in a standard eight-hour workday, you'll do...somewhere between 2 and 160. Even 2 a day means you can use Dual Magnus Prana every eight days, assuming 7.5 silver xp per project. (DMP requires Sublime Transference). 160 a day means that you can use Dual Magnus Prana ten times a day.

Second, the project examples are kind of crazy. One arrow shouldn't be enough to get you craft xp. If you can do 60 of one project in the time it takes you to do 1 of another, those two projects probably shouldn't give you the same number of xp.

Third, the basic objectives are very mass-production friendly. If you're getting paid and you care about your job, that's two of them right there. If your work impresses the people who buy from you, that's all three.

But that's not the end of the math issues. Once you've bought enough Charms and made enough Artifacts, you get an embarrassing number of craft xp. From there, you can make a genuinely ridiculous number of Artifacts. At this point, Crafting totally stops being a challenge. The thing you've centered your character around becomes a total non-issue. Which sucks: investing heavily in a system should lead to deeper engagement with it, not to making it irrelevant.

Amusingly, one side of the problem kinda makes the other side less serious. Once craft xp becomes almost worthless, many of the problems that craft xp causes go away.

I've heard the system was based on Cookie Clicker. That sounds kinda ridiculous, since Cookie Clicker is absolutely not what you'd want Exalted to be like, but the system breaks down in a Cookie-Clicker-esque way so I believe it. And anyway, it was Stephen Lea Sheppard who said it. He ought to know, right?

Both of my rewrites try to fix this issue. Dunno whether the tweaks succeed, though.

Problem Five: Sabotaged Stories

This is probably the most common complaint about EX3 Craft. It's not my personal bugbear, but I'd be remiss not to mention it.

Some people don't want to do basic projects. Some people want to play characters who can't/won't do basic projects, like architects or weaponsmiths. Some people find themselves in situations where, although doing another basic/major project is 100% mechanically the right choice, they feel it would be narratively inappropriate to spend time and effort on a mundane work of craft. Some people want to play characters who are good at crafting, but don't do it all the time.

The system shouldn't make life hard for these people. But it does. They stretch their character concepts or they just end up weak. Insofar as craft xp can be an effective incentive or bribe, the lack of it can be an effective threat.

My full rewrite addresses this issue, and the tweaks at least mitigate it.

Problem Six: Inappropriate Incentives

This might actually be a problem with houserules. It's not clear. Some people say you can only get Craft xp for projects that are roleplayed out fully. I don't think that's actually what the rules say, but as I said before this system is very unclear. So maybe that is how it works.

If it is, then the system is paying you to hog the spotlight. A blacksmith might shoe ten horses in a day. Do you think your group wants to sit back and listen to you have ten full conversations about horse-shoeing with the ST?

Obviously, it doesn't. And because you're not a prick you won't waste hours of their time like that. But the system wants you to do that: it's offering you craft xp. So maybe you'll just waste a little bit of their time? It shouldn't even be a question.

Please, if your player wants to gloss over the horse-shoe-ing they're doing, let them.

And on a related note: some people are also pretty bothered that shoeing horses is the path to making a sword. I'm not really among them, but I would like to point out that complaining about this isn't actually the same as complaining about having to make withering attacks in order to make decisive attacks. A withering attack is basically identical to a decisive attack in story, so the requirement boils down to "you have to attack someone in order to attack them". The way craft xp works, you have to craft something else. You can't take the obvious, direct, and logical path.

Both of my rewrites address these issues.

Problem Seven: Charm Chaff

There are an absolute ton of Craft Charms and a fair number of them are trash. They're super boring, overcomplicated, or just not good ideas.

Not gonna harp on this one. Just gonna drop everything I don't like while rewriting the Charmset.

Problem Eight: Discipline Divisions

The division of Craft in EX2 was a problem. The fans hated it. The writers seemed to hate it too. So why the hell did they make it worse?

It's not like they didn't know a better way. Lore has a better system for divergent areas of expertise, and Performance is still as ridiculously broad as ever. Why did they screw up Craft, and only Craft, like this?

Making it worse, to me, is the hollowness of the difference between different types of Craft in this edition. A tailor and a jeweler have all the same Charms. Maybe one makes an Artifact scarf and the other makes an Artifact ring, but it's the same mechanically and very similar narratively. Doing different mundane can differentiate characters a bit, but for characters defined largely by supernatural might it feels a bit weak.

Also, Craft (Artifacts) is a really strange idea. Anyone know why it's in the game?

This isn't really a serious issue. It's just an xp tax and it's dead-easy to houserule away. Both rewrites address it. But it's just so very inexplicable.

Problem Nine: Wonder Weirdness

Why are First Age wonders so much harder to make/repair than normal Artifacts? Are they more powerful than other Artifacts with the same rating? It doesn't seem so. Beloved Adorei and Spring Razor cost the same for a starting character, and their effectiveness seems roughly similar. And if First Age Artifacts are stronger, why not just increase their ratings?

It really looks like fixing a First Age Beamklave is a total waste of time when you could be making a new Daiklave.

Again, this is a minor issue. Both rewrites address it. But it seems completely unnecessary.

PS: If you've enjoyed using the system, more power to you. But given that people enjoy using every broken and horrible system under the sun, I don't find it terribly persuasive. Usually even a bad system chugs along for a while before the wheels come off...and with the right group, Hammer-Nails-Into-Your-Own-Eyeballs-The-RPG might well work great and never run into a serious problem.

PPS: Next time we have a big crappy Craft thread, can y'all refer the people who dislike the system to this?

[Sanctaphrax]

Fixing Craft

I've got two approaches to offer. The first is a set of twelve quick tweaks. Using some or all of them should help fix the problems I've outlined above.

The tweaks:

1. When in doubt, assume it's a Basic Project. Pretty much all non-sword weapons can be Basic Projects. Don't make it Major unless it's, well, major. Ignore the examples, they're not well-written.

2. Don't be afraid to say that something is too minor to be even a Basic Project. Arrows shouldn't be anything, unless you're making a bunch of them.

3. Holden said that making parts for a bigger Project isn't itself a Project. Ignore him. If you don't have enough silver xp to make that house, feel free to do a Basic Project's worth of brick-making.

4. Expand your definition of a "Project" to include anything that might provide inspiration for crafting. Discussing the design of a castle with fellow architects can be a Basic Project. Making a scale model of a manse can be a Major Project. Experimenting with chemicals, teaching an apprentice, studying a behemoth whose powers you want to emulate...they can all be Projects.

5. Craft is one ability, divided into areas of expertise the same way Lore is.

6. First Age wonders are just really powerful artifacts. Repairing them will often take odd components, but that's because you need appropriate materials to repair anything.

7. Steal the "assess item" action from the full rewrite below. (You can probably do this by the book, but I want to put some emphasis on it.)

8. Look over the Charms I've written and take some that have the Agnostic keyword. Maybe change the names, if necessary.

9. Look over the Charms in the book and ditch any that you don't want to play with.

10. Replace the "When finishing your project upholds, furthers, or protects one of your character’s Intimacies" objective with "When finishing your project involves roleplaying your character in an entertaining and appropriate way".

11. Replace the "When finishing your project produces a clear in-game gain for your character" objective with "When finishing your project moves the story forward or opens up interesting possibilities for future play".

12. Replace the "When finishing your project causes another character to gain or strengthen an Intimacy toward you" with "When finishing your project provides character development to another character or illustrates an interesting detail of the setting".

Most of these aren't particularly original. Couldn't tell you where I got the ideas, though. I didn't take written notes while reading those Craft threads.

The second approach is a full rewrite of the crafting system from the ground up. This is what I intend to use when I play.

The full rewrite:

Craft, unlike most abilities, is not universal. A character with the Craft skill can only apply it in areas that are at least roughly related to a specialty that they have. A character with an architecture specialty, for example, can work as a carpenter or a stonecarver but not as a cook or a swordsmith.

To compensate for this requirement, each character who has any dots in Craft gets a free Craft specialty.

Many basic Craft actions require no roll and no real skill. Anyone can cook breakfast or make a club. And even for tasks that require rolls, a character without a relevant specialty can always rely on their Attribute. Appropriate tools and materials are always required unless magic is used to replace them, but sometimes players can stretch the definition of “appropriate” by using a stunt or taking a penalty.

Building, repairing, or modifying an item uses (Attribute + Craft). Which attribute to use is ultimately up to the ST, but in general players should be allowed to pick whichever Attribute they think seems appropriate. Dexterity and Intelligence are the usual choices.

Basic projects, in which a character works on a single item which is neither huge nor extremely complex, are generally resolved with a single roll.

Major projects, in which a character works on something larger than a man or more complex than a wheelbarrow (which is pretty complex), are generally resolved by extended rolls with no fixed terminus, where each roll represents an expenditure of time and materials.

Craft can also be used to assess crafted items. This is resolved with a (Perception + Craft) roll, with success allowing the crafter to determine how old an item is, how well it's made, what it's made of, and what condition it's in. A strong success may also allow the crafter to identify the maker if their style is distinctive.

A character making a painting, a sculpture, or another emotionally-impactful object may attempt to encode a social influence attempt in it with (Charisma or Manipulation + Craft). Such influence must be vague, and must play on an Intimacy to do anything other than inspire emotion. Intimacies exploited by art are always considered to be Minor, and characters who don't possess the targeted Intimacy may react unpredictably; for example, a painting that uses love of the Realm to make people like you will likely make you unpopular among people who hate the Realm.

A character can work on (Craft/2, rounded up) projects at once, making progress on them all at once by using the downtime required by one project to work on another. An Artifact or Manse counts as two projects, so Craft 3 is required to attempt one.

Only essence-wielders may attempt to create Artifacts and Manses. Doing so requires an extended roll. The difficulty, interval, and goal number are set by the rating of the Artifact or Manse, while the terminus is set by the crafter's available resources.

Making a 2-dot Artifact has a difficulty of 4, a goal number of 30, and allows one roll every two weeks or two rolls per session.

Making a 3-dot Artifact has a difficulty of 6, a goal number of 45, and allows one roll per month or per session.

Making a 4-dot Artifact has a difficulty of 8, a goal number of 60, and allows one roll per season or story.

Making a 5-dot Artifact has a difficulty of 10, a goal number of 75, and allows one roll every half-year or two stories.

I made the difficulties increase so that Terrestrials and other weaker crafters could use magic that adds intervals to the Terminus. It seemed like an elegant way to push them towards smaller projects.

Making a standard Manse is as difficult as making a 3-dot Artifact, while making a greater Manse is as difficult as making a 5-dot Artifact.

Repairing a broken Artifact is generally as difficult as building an Artifact one dot lower in rating.

Making Legendary Artifacts, which go beyond the 5-dot scale, uses this system with difficulties, goal numbers, and intervals chosen by the ST. Not all Legendary Artifacts are created equal, but they're all very very hard to make.

There are no temporary or single-use Artifacts. However, there are Artifacts which serve only to create temporary or single-use magical items. For example, the recipe for a magical injury-healing soup could be an Artifact. The rating of such an Artifact depends on the power of the item created, how easily it can be used to create that item, and how often it can create that item. It's possible for this type of Artifact to take the form of pure information, which can easily be copied into any number of books. Information Artifacts are obviously more useful than physical objects, and as such they have higher ratings than similar non-information artifacts.

Groups that intend to use these rules should discuss beforehand whether they intend to pace Artifact completion rolls by time in setting or by time spent playing. The two methods roughly equalize if there's a story per season and three sessions per story.

These intervals don't assume any specific amount of work per day, but a character may only accumulate rolls towards one Artifact at a time and may only spend their rolls when they have a chance to sit down in their workshop. Moreover, a character may only accumulate rolls if they're making a good-faith effort to work on the Artifact when they get the chance. A character who spends two sessions (using the story-based intervals) or two months (using the time-based intervals) in prison can make four rolls on a two-dot Artifact the next time they have a chance to work on it. This represents the character thinking about and planning their creation while unable to work on it properly, and it's up to the ST how far it can be taken.

There are no Charms that allow a Solar to work on more Artifacts at the same time. I don't want to encourage mass production. Having a bunch of unfinished Artifacts sitting around is cool, but you can't advance them all at once.

To find the terminus for an Artifact-creation roll, add together the factors for their workshop and their materials. If you're missing either, you can't even start. Then add bonuses for extra time taken, the help of others, complementary abilities, relevant magic, and anything else that seems appropriate.

Workshop:
2 rolls for a basic workshop, with all the standard tools. A character using Craftsman Needs No Tools has this level of workshop for most projects. However, manses and extremely large Artifacts may require large numbers of labourers as part of the “workshop”.
3 rolls for a master's workshop, which contains a high-quality example of every tool a normal craftsman in the field would ever want.
4 rolls for a supernaturally excellent workshop. These are rare in Creation, but a few Dynasts and gods and other stranger things have them.
5 rolls for one of the legendary First Age factory-cathedrals.

Materials:
2 rolls for having a bit of magical material.
3 rolls for having some magical material and a few thematically appropriate wondrous ingredients.
4 rolls for having plenty of magical materials and at least one genuinely impressive wondrous ingredient.
5 rolls for having an embarrassing surplus of suitable ingredients.
6 rolls for having something that makes the ST say "holy shit".

Bonuses:
+1 roll for working with a master assistant or a team of competent workers.
+2 rolls for working with supernaturally excellent help. Sometimes such helpers will have Charms that provide bonuses above and beyond this one.
+1 roll for taking four times as much time as is standard.
+2 rolls for taking twenty times as much time as is standard.
+1 roll for having an Ability related to the Artifact at 5, or at 3 with a relevant specialty.
+1 roll for having a Charm, spell, anima power, or other magical ability that's related to the Artifact.

I wouldn't go so far as to use the Sorcerous Working system for Craft, but I'm quite happy to borrow parts of it.

If you lose access to something that increases your terminus while working on an Artifact, you may either put the project on hold until you replace it or just accept the reduced terminus.

If you use up all of your rolls, all is not lost. Just ask the ST what you have to do to earn another roll, and they'll tell you. Chances are it won't be easy.

If you finish an Artifact with rolls to spare, then your workshop has extra resources left over from the project. Maybe you didn't use all of your materials. Maybe your assistants had free time, which they used in some productive way. Maybe you didn't really need to take extra time after all, and you ended up with a lot of spare time during the project. The ST decides what benefits you get for finishing early.

Notes On Crafting Magic

I intend to continue updating my rewritten Craft system as long as I continue to play EX3. Which means rewriting each Craft Charmset as it comes out. So here are my preliminary notes on the craft magic of different character types.

Solars: Good at everything. Lots of specialization Charms. Can generally crush Artifact difficulties with sheer success counts.

Abyssals: Like Solars but deathier. Some specialization Charms are cut to make room for necrotech, soulforging, and murder.

Lunars: Very good at crafting without tools/materials and at mastering multiple forms of Craft. Not so good at Artifact-making: they can get big success piles, but usually only by using unreliable Charms with conditions or drawbacks. No specialization Charms, and not many Charms overall, because they're Attribute-based.

Sidereals: Weird stuff, as usual. Probably strong Charms that are missing one or two important capabilities. If they've got any specialization Charms, they're the ones the Maidens saw fit to write in the stars. Maybe every Sidereal craftsman needs to learn how to make steel-hard paper in order to move up the Charm tree or something. Pretty good at making strong Artifacts, but not so good at making weak ones.

Dragonblooded: Plenty of Charms, but not able to reach the sheer success-count that other Exalts can pull off. Often focus on adding to the terminus instead, which is great for weak artifacts but not for strong ones. Good at using extra resources/time/assistance. Have access to the Assistant keyword that lets them add to someone else's Craft rolls with their Charms. Lots of specialization Charms, and some Charms that let them craft raw elemental energy. Pretty similar to Solars, in a lot of ways, but obviously weaker.

Dragon Kings: A few Charms for crafting crystals and plants. That's it. But they're good Charms.

Alchemicals: Very good at mass-producing mundane items and weak Artifacts, especially once they turn into cities. Mass-produced Artifacts are actually in-theme for Autochthonia. Pretty good at making high-end Artifacts too. They don't usually get specialization Charms, though, and they're dependent on infrastructure until they become infrastructure.

Mountain Folk: Much like Alchemicals, they're solid crafters with a focus in mass-production. But they need infrastructure and they don't get to specialize much. Like Dragonbloods, they can't generate all that many successes unless they work together.

Spirits: Only the mightiest spirits get broad crafting excellence. Most spiritual crafters either work very slowly, have some kind of special condition (like, say, needing souls to hammer out on their anvil) for using their full abilities, or are limited to crafting a single type of thing that suits their nature. Some spirits create objects automatically, like an elemental dragon that bleeds golden rings when cut, but very few beings can make Artifacts this way.

Raksha: Raksha crafting is impressive but fragile. Their creations often look more powerful than they are, and rarely last long. They're often limited by bizarre conditions, like spirits. One advantage Raksha have is that they can create basically anything; a living storm made out of moonbeams and surprise is no harder for them to make than a daiklave.

Exigents, Infernals, Liminals, Getimians: Who the hell knows.

Mortals: For the most part, mortals are stuck using mundane crafts. However, it's possible for a mortal to buy a Merit that lets them make a specific type of magical item. Usually such Merits will be limited by materials or other conditions, and the items created will rarely be actual Artifacts, but it's still a nice trick.

Acknowledgements:

My thanks to:

BlueWinds for posting her own take on this rewrite as part of her own larger rewrite. I'm happy to say that I stole a number of good ideas from her version.
Steamfunk for the temporary artifact recipe concept.
AtG for art Charm concepts.
Edward Eldritch for playtesting.
Primefactorx01 for making this into a PDF.
danelsan and Forn Clakes for Perfect Gemcutter's Art suggestions.
Root, Kyeudo, Irked, pfstrack, and norraba for miscellaneous feedback.

[Sanctaphrax]

Solar Craft Charms

These constitute the full Solar Craft Charmset for my rewritten Craft system. You'll note that there are fewer Charms here than in the original system: 40ish instead of 55ish. I thought 55 was just excessive. Actually, 40 is already a ton. Many of them are very specialized, though, so you really don't need them all even if you want to be the greatest Crafter of all time.

The Agnostic keyword indicates that the Charm with it functions equally well under the original rules or my rewritten rules. Most of them are aimed at giving people something non-Artifact-related to do with Craft. As a general rule Agnostic Charms only require specialties and other Agnostic Charms. If a Charm requires Craft 3 and a specialty in painting, and you have Craft: Painting 3, that counts.

You may want to rename some of these Agnostic Charms if you use them with the canon Charmset, though. Otherwise confusion could ensue.

Many of these lack flavour text. I didn't like reading “Solar craft good” over and over again in the backer PDF and I'm not going to inflict that experience on you guys.

The Charms in this post are not up to date. You can find the latest version of the revised Charmset here.

A sketch of what the revised Sidereal Craft Charmset might look like can be found here. A similar sketch for Lunars can be found here.

General Charms

Craftsman Needs No Tools
Agnostic

Flawless Handiwork Method
Agnostic, and I'd like to clarify that you get 2 successes for a 10 even if you reroll it.

Supreme Masterwork Focus
Cost: 5m; Mins: Craft 3, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Flawless Handiwork Method

The Solar doubles 9s on a Craft roll.

This Charm may be repurchased at Craft 5 Essence 2+. This allows the Solar to spend an additional point of willpower to double 8s on a Craft roll instead.

This Charm may be purchased a third time at Essence 3+. This allows the Solar to spend an additional 5m, 1wp to double 7s on a Craft roll instead.

Flawless Example
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Craft 5, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Agnostic
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Flawless Handiwork Method

The Solar creates something, taking the normal time to do so. For as long as that thing endures, any character with Craft 1+ in a related field who examines it daily adds a success to all rolls to make a similar item. If they're trying to duplicate the item exactly, they add two successes instead. A character who uses this bonus repeatedly for a month may purchase a one-dot Merit which duplicates the effects of examining the item daily. Even with the merit, each success counts as two dice from Charms.

I wanted to come up with a method of mass production that felt Solar.

Shattering Grasp
Agnostic

Object-Strengthening Touch
Cost: 5m; Mins: Craft 5, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Craftsman Needs No Tools

The Solar touches an object no larger than (Essence + 2) yards in radius, rendering it virtually indestructible for the rest of the scene. It cannot be broken or damaged without magic, and any attempt to break or damage it with magic has its difficulty increased by (Essence + 1).

By spending five minutes to an hour (depending on the target's size) activating this Charm, the Solar may make its effects permanent.

This is two Charms in one, because how often do you need to prepare for someone trying to break a specific object later that very scene?

Master Craftsman's Eye
Cost: 5m; Mins: Craft 4, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Agnostic
Duration:
Prerequisites: None

This Charm allows the Solar to assess a crafted item reflexively with double 8s on the (Perception + Craft) roll. If the Solar receives at least three successes, they immediately recognize the work of anyone who they've met or seen the work of before, and know the name of the item if it has one. If the Solar receives at least five successes, they receive some insight into the nature of the creator and gain at least a loose understanding of any magical properties the item may have.

Crack-Mending Technique
Agnostic

Arete-Shifting Prana
Cost: -; Mins: Craft 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: None

Upon purchasing this Charm, the Solar replaces each of their Craft specialties with three Craft specialties. Further specialties may be purchased for 1xp, and take one third of the normal time to train.

Supreme Celestial Focus
Cost: -; Mins: Craft 2, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: Arete-Shifting Prana, 12 Craft specialties

Upon purchasing this Charm, the Solar loses all Craft specialties. If they lose more than 12 specialties this way, they gain 1xp for each extra specialty lost.

A Solar with this Charm benefits from a universal specialty on the Craft skill.

Truly universal crafting should be possible for Solars, and I considered making it automatic. If you want to let anyone do any kind of crafting, I don't think anything will break.

I also considered making a Charm that lets you buy other Craft Charms for half price by limiting them to a specific field. Decided not to partly because this Charm list is long enough, and partly because it seemed abusable.

Benevolent Worker's Joy
Cost: -; Mins: Craft 5, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: Crack-Mending Technique, Craftsman Needs No Tools, and Supreme Masterwork Focus

The Solar draws strength from their good works. The first time they use Craft to help someone else each day, they gain a point of willpower unless they're already at or above their maximum willpower. In addition, while using Craft to help people they recover motes as though they were resting. The power of this Charm comes from the satisfaction of helping others, so fixing your own problems provides no willpower and neither does giving people "help" that they neither want nor need.

Awe-Inspiring Feats Of Craft
Cost: -; Mins: Craft 5, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: Benevolent Worker's Joy

Whenever the Solar uses Craft to help another character, that character develops a minor positive Intimacy towards the Solar. A character who wishes to resist this may do so at no cost, but most people don't. The context of the Intimacy is usually respect or gratitude, but it can be anything positive. At the ST's discretion, a character who would've developed a minor Intimacy in response to the Solar's work without this Charm may develop a major Intimacy instead.

These two are for people who liked the whole "get rewarded for doing odd jobs" angle in the canonical system. I think willpower and Intimacies are more logical and more interesting rewards than crafting xp.

The Craft Of War
Cost: 2m; Mins: Craft 5, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-only, Agnostic
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Craftsman Needs No Tools

The Solar treats the battlefield as a workshop, forging chains to bind enemies and taking apart weapons as they are raised to strike. This Charm allows the Solar to attempt a gambit, rolling Dexterity + Craft to "attack" and doubling 10s on the Initiative roll. Gambits enacted with this Charm represent battlefield applications of the Craft skill, and as such some gambits are not possible with this Charm while others are not possible without it.

Again, I want you to use Craft while adventuring. I should probably provide some examples of crafting gambits but...eh. Don't wanna.

Tireless Workhorse Method
Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Craft 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisites: Craftsman Needs No Tools

For the duration of this Charm, the Solar may apply the effects of Craftsman Needs No Tools to every Craft roll. As a rule of thumb, this allows them to work about 20 times faster. Still useless for making Artifacts, though.

At Essence 3+, a Solar who's using assistants in order to get work done faster may also multiply the speed of those assistants with this Charm. This allows a Solar-led team to build buildings or complete other large projects in one-twentieth of the time it would normally take.

Gaze Of The Great Maker
Cost: 10m; Mins: Craft 5, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Agnostic
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisites: Master Craftsman's Eye

As long as this Charm is active, the Solar may reflexively assess any crafted item they can perceive. They receive the benefits of Master Craftsman's Eye when they do so.

This exists mainly because I want my Craft Solar to be capable of it. Glance at a disguised Sidereal assassin, notice that his boots were made by a craft-god, get suspicious. Hopefully it's not too much work for the ST.

This Charm and its prereq overlap a bit with certain Lore Charms, but really assessing crafting items seems like a Craft thing to me so I think it's the Lore Charms that should change.

Chaos-Resistance Preparation
Agnostic

Words As Workshop Method
Cost: 2+m; Mins: Craft 3, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Agnostic
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisites: Craftsman Needs No Tools

This Charm supplements an attempt to build a non-magical object. It allows the Solar to work without materials, creating constructs of glowing Essence. Objects created this way are obviously unnatural, and last only as long as the Solar keeps the cost of this Charm committed. Food and water created this way aren't real enough to nourish.

This Charm may also be used to supplement repair attempts, replacing non-magical missing components with glowing Essence. Repairs enacted this way likewise last only as long as the committed motes.

This Charm costs 2 motes when making something small and cheap, like a spoon or a cup. It costs 5 motes when making something a bit larger or more valuable, like a shirt or a spear. It costs 10 motes when making something big or complicated, like a tent or a compass. It costs 20 motes when creating something very big, complex, or valuable, like a catapult, a pearl necklace, or a hut. It can't create anything bigger than a hut or more valuable than a diamond.

Not sure about the costing here.

Thousand-Forge Hands
Cost: -; Mins: Craft 5, Essence 2
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: Craftsman Needs No Tools

This Charm reduces the interval of Artifact-crafting rolls made by the Solar. They can roll for a 2-dot Artifact once a week or four times a session, for a 3-or-4-dot Artifact once every two weeks or twice a session, and for a 5-dot or Legendary Artifact once a month or once a session.

I have no problem with this Charm as written, but I needed to make it fit the new system.

Breach-Healing Method
Cost: 7m; Mins: Craft 5, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: One task
Prerequisites: Flawless Example

As the Solar builds or repairs something with Craft, everyone watching sees their work with vastly increased clarity and understanding. Characters who watch this way add the Solar's Essence to their Craft, Lore, Occult, and Medicine rolls for the rest of the day. This bonus does not apply to Shape Sorcery or Sorcerous Working rolls.

I like the idea of this Charm as written but some parts of it don't sit right with me. Particularly the rigidly-defined radius: it feels mechanistic to me, and creates weird huddles.

Design Beyond Limit
Not gonna rewrite this one. I think the final EX3 release will probably include a well-written rewrite that complies with the rules.

First Movement Of The Demiurge
Cost: -; Mins: Craft 5, Essence 2
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: Supreme Masterwork Focus, Flawless Handiwork Method x2

For every set of three 7s, three 8s, or three 9s rolled when attempting to craft an artifact or manse, the Solar may change one non-success die to a 10. If using Flawless Handiwork Method, the Solar may reroll those dice and use successes rolled on them to form more sets of three and convert more failed dice to 10s.

Essence-Forging Kata
New prerequisite is First Movement Of The Demiurge

Eternal Bulwark Of Order
Cost: -; Mins: Craft 5, Essence 3
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Agnostic
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: Chaos-Resistance Preparation

This Charm enhances its prerequisite. Any item the Solar has treated with Chaos-Resistance Preparation becomes permanently immune to the Wyld. The protection it provides to those who wear or carry it remains limited, but the Solar may double their Essence when calculating the effects of Chaos-Resistance Preparation.

The Art Of Permanence
Cost: (+1wp); Mins: Craft 4, Essence 3
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Agnostic
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: Words As Workshop Method

This Charm enhances its prerequisite. By spending a point of willpower while using Words As Workshop Method, the Solar creates a normal object rather than a construct of glowing Essence. Objects created this way are permanent and require no mote commitment.

Craftsman Needs No Tools, Words As Workshop Method, and The Art Of Permanence are at the core of my attempt to emphasize the use of Craft on adventures. If you don't need tools or materials, it really opens up a lot of options. Some bastard hiding in a castle? A catapult appears! Lost in the desert? Create a compass, a tent, and a nutritious meal! Poor? A diamond ring is only a few Charm activations away!

Divine Inspiration Technique
Cost: -; Mins: Craft 5, Essence 4
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: First Movement Of The Demiurge, Supreme Masterwork Focus x3

For every three successes rolled on an attempt to craft an artifact or manse, the Solar may roll an additional non-Charm die. This effect is recursive; each time successes acquired from the new dice raise the total success count above a new multiple of three, roll another die. These dice are fully compatible with First Movement Of The Demiurge and any other Charms used to enhance the Craft roll.

You don't need tons of Artifact-making Charms to make 5-dot Artifacts. You only need tons if you want to mass-produce 5-dot Artifacts. And I don't want that to be possible, so cutting down the Power section was a no-brainer.

Considered making Divine Inspiration Technique only apply to Artifact 4+ projects, but I decided it was more Solar to be amazing at both small Artifacts and big ones.

Also considered replacing the dice shenanigans with simpler stuff, but people seem to like shenanigans. So I left them in.

Specialization Charms

Glorious Solar Chef
Cost: 4m, 1wp; Mins: Craft 2, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Agnostic
Duration: One day
Prerequisites: A specialty in cooking

This Charm supplements an attempt to cook something. If the attempt succeeds, it allows the Solar to make an attempt to instill happiness with (Charisma + Craft), targeting everyone who eats what they cooked. Anyone other than the Solar who's affected by this regains a point of willpower, up to a limit of half their normal maximum, once per day.

With a suitable stunt, the Solar may attempt to instill something other than happiness with this Charm. Those affected by attempts to instill other emotions may or may not regain willpower, at the ST's discretion.

Normally this Charm may only enhance enough food to feed five people. At Essence 2+, the Solar may spend an extra 3m to enhance enough food for a few dozen, and at Essence 3+ they may spend an extra 6m to enhance enough food for hundreds.

If we want a Solar cook to feel really different from a Solar sculptor, we should give them different Charms. Therefore, this.

Helps with the whole Craft-isn't-just-about-Artifacts thing too.

Perfect Gemcutter's Art
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Craft 4, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Agnostic
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Flawless Handiwork Method, a specialty in gemcutting

This Charm supplements an attempt to cut and polish a gem. If the attempt is successful, the gem shines with light from within. The brightness of the glow depends on the value of the gem; a flawed quartz might only glow visibly in the dark, while a large and flawless diamond might be painful to look at. Gems cut this way glow until destroyed, and can easily become famous treasures or precious heirlooms.

Pretty narrow, but I love the image. And if you think about it, it can be surprisingly useful.

Gemcutters might also get a Charm for destroying Hearthstones quickly and easily, or for modifying the effect that a Hearthstone provides.

Lock-Opening Touch
Cost: 1m or 5m; Mins: Craft 2, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Agnostic
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: A specialty in locksmithing

This Charm is identical to the Larceny Charm, and is interchangeable with it as a prerequisite. The Solar uses Craft when rolling to defeat a sorcerous lock, though.

I moved some Craft-y effects from other abilities into Craft. Hope the duplication doesn't bother anyone.

Cloth Of Steel
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Craft 5, Essence 1
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Agnostic
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Object-Strengthening Touch, a specialty in tailoring

This Charm supplements an attempt to make a set of clothes. If the attempt succeeds, the clothes benefit from the effects of Object-Strengthening Touch and count as light mundane armour. They look almost identical to normal clothes; a difficulty 5 roll is needed to notice their supernatural durability. When making unusually heavy clothing, the sort that might incur a mobility penalty, the Solar may instead have them count as medium mundane armour.

Arrows Of The Dawn
Cost: 2+m; Mins: Craft 2, Essence 1
Type: Simple
Keywords: Agnostic
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisites: A specialty in weaponsmithing or woodworking

For two motes, the Solar creates a magical arrow which flies truer and pierces deeper than any normal arrow. As long as the Solar keeps their motes committed, an arrow enhanced with this Charm adds 1 die to any attack roll made with it. A withering attack made with it also adds 2 damage and 1 minimum damage, while a decisive attack or gambit made with it doubles 10s on the Initiative roll.

A Solar who knows Phantom Arrow Technique may add 1m to this Charm's cost to create the arrow without tools or materials. Once per story, if they can use the Adamant Arrow Technique, they may apply it to an arrow enhanced with this Charm. Once the arrow has been fired, it then remains inviolate even after the Solar removes the motes from this Charm.

A Solar who knows Wise Arrow, Fiery Arrow Attack, Force Without Fire, or There Is No Wind may add the effects of those Charms to arrows enhanced with this Charm. Doing so also adds the cost of the Charm or Charms in question to that of this Charm.

Sticking Charms in arrows is pretty pointless if you intend to shoot the arrows yourself, but it's great if you're making the arrows for an ally.

Ideally, this rewrite should make Craft more appealing as a secondary ability for characters who don't specialize in it...like archers, for example.

Instantaneous Architecture Technique
Cost: 12m; Mins: Craft 5, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Agnostic
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisites: Words As Workshop Method, a specialty in architecture

The Solar conjures an entire structure from their Essence. A house, a bridge, a wall - all can be created in a moment with this Charm. Structures created this way resemble the products of Words As Workshop Method, and disappear when the Solar withdraws their mote commitment. Roll Intelligence + Craft to determine the quality of the created structure if it becomes relevant.

This Charm is sometimes used to create walls in battle. A wall created this way may be climbed with a miscellaneous action and a difficulty 2 (Dexterity or Strength + Athletics) roll or smashed down with a Strength 10+, difficulty 15 feat of strength. Going around one takes two reflexive move actions. If the Solar chooses to wrap the wall around themself, they may form a cell that can't be entered without breaking through. This often ends a fight, but it's a delaying strategy only.

A Solar who knows The Art Of Permanence may spend 1wp when activating this Charm to create a permanent mundane structure instead of a glowing structure of Essence.

Structures created this way cannot be larger than an average house or a narrow bridge across a wide river. With a repurchase at Essence 4+, however, the Solar can spend an additional 13m to create something as large as a palace or a wall that encircles a town. Such structures cost 3wp to make permanent with The Art Of Permanence.

This is actually the idea that started this whole project. Not sure how I got from here from this.

Twilight Chemistry
Cost: 10m; Mins: Craft 5, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Agnostic, Stackable
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Flawless Handiwork Method, a specialty in alchemy

This Charm is a two-hour-long action in which the Solar brews a magical chemical from ingredients found in any respectable alchemical laboratory. With multiple activations of this Charm, the Solar may create multiple chemicals or multiple doses of the same chemical at the same time. Chemicals produced this way last for (Essence) weeks or until used.

Upon learning this Charm, the Solar gains access to three formulas. They may purchase more for 3xp apiece, selecting from the list below or inventing their own.

Sovereign Glue: A nearly perfect adhesive. It's waterproof, heatproof, lasts forever, can stick anything to anything, and requires a Strength 10+ difficulty 15 feat of strength to pull apart.

Alkahest: A universal solvent, capable of eating through any nonmagical material except glass. The amount produced is enough to destroy a finger-sized amount of matter. Being exposed to it is an environmental hazard with damage 5L, difficulty to resist 5. It may be delivered to an enemy with a difficulty 2 gambit. However, unless stored in packaging that takes a miscellaneous action to open, the vial will break and expose its carrier to its effects whenever that carrier takes falling damage or more than six dice of bashing damage.

The Spit Of Hesiesh: A potent incendiary that ignites when exposed to air. It burns for only a few seconds, but gives off as much heat as a bonfire. If used in combat, it has the same statistics as Alkahest.

The Philosopher's Stone: A grey rocky substance that, when rubbed into base metal, transforms it to gold. One dose can produce about an ounce of gold.

Adorjan's Blood: A foul-tasting liquid that fills its drinker with a strange mixture of rage and glee. A character who drinks a full dose has a Major Principle of "violence is wonderful", feels no fear whatsoever, reduces their wound penalties and defenses by 1, and adds 1 to their withering accuracy and damage. A dose may also be diluted, giving a Minor Principle to up to twenty people. A battle group can't hold together under the effects of a diluted dose unless it has Elite Drill, in which case it gains Perfect Morale at the cost of Poor Drill. It's pretty difficult to dose an unwilling target with Adorjan's Blood, but if it happens resisting a full dose is difficulty 3 and resisting a diluted dose is difficulty 1 using (Stamina + Resistance or Integrity).

Powdered Death: A tasteless and odorless poison with the following traits: damage 3L/hour, duration 5 hours, penalty -1, vector ingestion. Add 2 to the duration against a mortal. It's surprisingly painless to die this way.

Knife-Ice: A weapon poison that makes the affected area feel very very cold. It has the following traits: damage 3i/round (B in Crash), duration 6 rounds, penalty -3, vector damage.

Solar Ink: An ink/paint (it works as either) that glows in the colour or colours of the maker's choice. It adheres to any surface and, once used, will never fade or leak from the page. One dose is a full liter of fluid.

Liquid Peace: A silver liquid that causes pain to be felt as a pleasant numbness. It doesn't remove wound penalties, though: the numbness is fairly debilitating. Liquid Peace lasts for about a day for someone who weighs 150 pounds, and can be quite addictive.

The Kiss Of Venus: A genuine aphrodisiac. Anyone who takes a doze gains a Minor Intimacy of lust towards everyone. It lasts for about four hours, assuming a 150-pound subject, and can be resisted with a difficulty 2 (Stamina + Resistance or Integrity) if the person taking it isn't willing to experience its effects.

Trying to address the whole "one-shot Artifacts aren't really Artifacts" thing. Not sure if I like the result. Balance seems iffy, and it's an unpleasantly long Charm writeup.

Then again, I really like the idea of playing a Solar alchemist.

Painted Truth Prana/Philosophy Carved In Stone
Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Craft 5, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Agnostic
Duration: Instant
Prerequisites: Flawless Handiwork Method, a specialty in painting or sculpture

This Charm supplements an attempt to create a painting or a sculpture. If the attempt succeeds, the Solar may roll (Charisma or Manipulation + Craft) as a social influence roll that targets anyone who takes some time to examine the artwork. If the Solar wishes to play on an Intimacy with their art, they must name it as they work. Apart from that, they may deliver any form of social influence in this way.

The influential nature of artwork created this way is obvious. Everyone can tell what the message is as long as they're familiar with the relevant characters and concepts. The social influence effect lasts as long as it remains relevant; a painting that instills sadness will remain effective as long as it's intact, but a sculpture that portrays Chejop Kejak as a bumbling fool will lose its effectiveness when Chejop Kejak is dead and nobody remembers what he looked like.

Living Statue Genesis/Clockwork Menagerie Technique
Cost: 8m; Mins: Craft 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Agnostic, Stackable
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisites: Flawless Handiwork Method, a specialty in sculpture or clockwork

The Solar touches a statue of an animal, or a (possibly non-functional) mechanical imitation of an animal, that they've created. It springs to life and remains animate for as long as the Solar keeps their motes committed. An animal created this way is in all ways like a normal animal, except that it can understand its creator's speech, it reliably obeys its creator's instructions, and it looks obviously inanimate. Animals imitated this way must be at least as large as a mouse and no larger than a dog.

Miraculous Mapmaker Method
Cost: 6m, 1wp; Mins: Craft 3, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Agnostic
Duration: Instant or Indefinite
Prerequisites: Flawless Handiwork Method, specialty in mapmaking

This Charm supplements an attempt to draw a map. If the attempt is successful, the map has details ten times as fine as it normally would. More supernaturally, the map changes as the area depicted does. A destroyed city disappears, a renamed mountain is relabeled. The map never loses its accuracy over time, though it's sometimes slow to update. The speed of the changes depends on how close the map is to its subject: a map of Creation stored in Nexus will quickly account for a change to Nexus's name, but it might take a while for it to note the sinking of an island in the far West.

The effectiveness of this Charm depends on the accuracy of the information provided. A false map will update falsely, preserving its errors. However, a Solar using this Charm has a near-perfect sense for the consistency of the geographical information they're working with. Tricking them into drawing a false map has a difficulty of their Perception + Craft.

A Solar may activate this Charm with Indefinite duration to draw a map of an area while exploring it. This removes all penalties for drawing on the move, and gives the Solar or their guide(s) an automatic success on all navigation rolls.

An updating map didn't seem worthy of being a real Artifact, so I made this. Same story as Perfect Gemcutter's Art, actually. Had to add the delay to prevent this thing from being used as a method of communication.

Glorious Solar Arsenal
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Craft 4, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Agnostic
Duration: One scene
Prerequisites: Words As Workshop Method, a specialty in weaponsmithing

The Solar shapes their Essence into a weapon with the traits of an artifact weapon. This Charm may create anything from smashfists to a dragon sigh wand, but if used to create a weapon that uses ammunition it doesn't provide any. The Solar may create the weapon in the hands of another character within Close range, if they so choose. Weapons created this way shine like a torch in the colours of the Solar's anima. They have no Evocations.

Glorious Solar Armoury
Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Craft 4, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Agnostic
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisites: Words As Workshop Method, a specialty in armoursmithing

The Solar shapes their essence into a suit of armour with the traits of light, medium, or heavy artifact armour. The armour forms around the Solar or a willing character within Close range, and may replace the traits of any existing armour with its own. Armour created this way glows brightly in the colours of the Solar's anima. It has no Evocations, but a character who knows Armoured Scout's Invigoration may activate that Charm for free upon being armoured this way.

Life From The Workshop
Cost: (+7m); Mins: Craft 5, Essence 3
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Agnostic
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: Living Statue Genesis/Clockwork Menagerie Technique

This Charm enhances its prerequisite. By committing an additional 7m, the Solar can animate a human or an animal up to the size of a horse or tiger. Human machines/statues are intelligent and can talk, but are totally uncreative. They use the statistics of the Walking Statue from page 500 of the backer PDF. Animals use standard animal stats.

Stone Legion Construction/Mechanical Legion Construction
Cost: (+17m); Mins: Craft 5, Essence 4
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Agnostic
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: Life From The Workshop

This Charm enhances the Solar's ability to create beings further. By committing an additional 17m, the Solar can animate a size 3 group of imitation humans or a single imitation animal up to the size of a tyrant lizard. Artificial battle groups have Average Drill and Perfect Morale.

No idea whether these are balanced. They seem weaker than demon-summoning, at least...but then again, they're also less risky. Is building a robot T-rex for 25 committed motes fair?

Dual Magus Prana
Cost: 15m; Mins: Craft 5, Essence 5
Type: Simple
Keywords: Stackable
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisites: Stone Legion Construction/Mechanical Legion Construction

The Solar creates a duplicate of themself. The duplicate is controlled by the Solar's mind and animated by their Essence, so it's not really possible for both original and copy to act simultaneously. But the Solar can use all of their abilities through their duplicate, and telling the difference between original and copy is difficulty 10. The duplicate is good enough to fool almost all magical tests, but not the Eye of the Unconquered Sun.

Most of the time, the Solar's player need not specify whether they're playing themself or their duplicate. They can essentially be in two places at once, sharing a mind and an essence pool between two bodies. They may at any moment declare that one body or the other is the real one. However, when subjected to a successful attempt to determine whether they're really them, they must decide whether the body being examined is the real one.

The Solar may create more than one duplicate when activating this Charm, by simply paying 15 motes multiple times. However, they may only create one batch of duplicates per story.

Considered dropping this entirely, but I realized it was a great fit for this tree so I tried to include a version that avoided some of the original's issues. Not sure if I succeeded. Also not sure if this thing has enough prerequisites...might be too easy to pick this up at chargen.

[Jetstream]

You. I like you. I'mma give this a more thorough read-through later.

[Cheshire Cat]

DMP cost is committed, right?

[danelsan]

This looks good at a quick read. If any player bites, I'll let you know how it turns out during play for my group.

[Sanctaphrax]

You. I like you. I'mma give this a more thorough read-through later.

Thanks!

DMP cost is committed, right?

Yes, of course.

This looks good at a quick read. If any player bites, I'll let you know how it turns out during play for my group.

Please do. These rules could really use some testing.

[Riklurt]

I was actually okay with the old Craft rules, but after giving these a read through, they actually look a lot more engaging - especially the Charms! I don't have any Crafters in my group right now, but one player has expressed interest in learning Craft (Painting) to make simple sketches and beautiful but nonmagical paintings, which these rules seem well suited for. I'll chip in if the player is interested and we end up testing it.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and question, will you be saving these anywhere, on a wiki or something? Forum pages disappear so quickly. I could of course copy-paste the content, but I imagine others might have use of a formatted easily-accessible version, as well.

[pfstrack]

This is the first craft thread that I've actually enjoyed reading. My players are not really interested in craft, but if they change their mind, I would probably use this. Some it (particular changing separate craft skills into lore-style specialties) is close to things I was already planning.

[Kyman201]

Alright, these rules look alright, but there IS one thing that was bothering me... Could you, in one of your posts, properly break down what exactly Agnostic means? What I gather is you mean "Works more or less the same with the old Craft rules" but reading that there's a keyword that I don't know the exact definition is in many of the charms gives me a twitch.

[danelsan]

Alright, these rules look alright, but there IS one thing that was bothering me... Could you, in one of your posts, properly break down what exactly Agnostic means? What I gather is you mean "Works more or less the same with the old Craft rules" but reading that there's a keyword that I don't know the exact definition is in many of the charms gives me a twitch.

is this not enough?

The Agnostic keyword indicates that the Charm with it functions equally well under the original rules or my rewritten rules. Most of them are aimed at giving people something non-Artifact-related to do with Craft. As a general rule Agnostic Charms only require specialties and other Agnostic Charms. If a Charm requires Craft 3 and a specialty in painting, and you have Craft: Painting 3, that counts.

[Sanctaphrax]

On a canon Charm, Agnostic means I didn't change anything.

On a Charm I wrote, Agnostic means I could've posted that Charm as homebrew for the current system.

I was actually okay with the old Craft rules, but after giving these a read through, they actually look a lot more engaging - especially the Charms! I don't have any Crafters in my group right now, but one player has expressed interest in learning Craft (Painting) to make simple sketches and beautiful but nonmagical paintings, which these rules seem well suited for. I'll chip in if the player is interested and we end up testing it.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and question, will you be saving these anywhere, on a wiki or something? Forum pages disappear so quickly. I could of course copy-paste the content, but I imagine others might have use of a formatted easily-accessible version, as well.

Hadn't thought about it. I probably should, though.

I guess I'll have to look into the wiki options.

And thanks. Hope it works out well for you.

This is the first craft thread that I've actually enjoyed reading.

I really appreciate hearing that. The unpleasantness of the previous craft threads was a big part of the inspiration for this.

[pfstrack]

OK, I've finished reading and have some suggestions.

I think Object Stengthening Touch ought to cost 1wp for the permanent version, otherwise it is too easy to get a pile of unbreakable objects.

Benevolent Worker's Joy seems too generous with Willpower regeneration, which should be hard to do in 3E. I'd limit it to only the first effect (1wp) and require that it provides something the recipient genuinely wants or needs.

Glorious Solar Chef also seems too good for Willpower regen. Maybe limit the boost to those whose temp Willpower is less than or equal to half their permanent rating (round down) and only once per day?

I need to spend some time crunching numbers on the Artifact creation parts of the rules, but mostly I am really liking this.

[BlueWinds]

Neat! I too have a craft system sitting on my hard drive, but yours is better by far. Mine left the base system mostly intact (except for removing silver xp and slots), and was done as part of my general charm-chapter re-write. I was hesitant to move too far from the core system, which I shouldn't have been.

Yes, I'm working on a rewrite of the entire charms chapter, with more precise language, general simplifications all around, and a reduction in space. I'm up to halfway through Lore right now (Wyld-Shaping Technique can really be condensed down to about half a page, making it the longest charm in my re-write so far). I'll share parts of it in a week or two, once I've gone back and tightened up the early charms (I hadn't completely settled on a standard wording for some effects when I started in on Archery).

[Sanctaphrax]

I think Object Stengthening Touch ought to cost 1wp for the permanent version, otherwise it is too easy to get a pile of unbreakable objects.

I kind of agree, except in canon Durability-Enhancing Technique only costs 5m. And making non-Artifact crafting worse would go against what I'm trying to do here.

Then again, the Charm has been upgraded in other ways. Maybe I should tone it down a bit.

What if it didn't make the object permanently immune to mundane attacks? Normal wear and tear would still be prevented, and the difficulty to break the thing would still go up, but mortals could at least try.

Benevolent Worker's Joy seems too generous with Willpower regeneration, which should be hard to do in 3E. I'd limit it to only the first effect (1wp) and require that it provides something the recipient genuinely wants or needs.

Hm, okay. I want there to be a reward for working all day, though.

What if it doubled mote recovery on hours spent helping people?

And yeah, the work should be genuinely worthwhile. I'll add a note to that effect.

Glorious Solar Chef also seems too good for Willpower regen. Maybe limit the boost to those whose temp Willpower is less than or equal to half their permanent rating (round down) and only once per day?

It should definitely only be once per day. I'll edit that.

Dunno about the other change. I'll think about it.