Creator
Whether soot-smeared blacksmiths or ink-stained tattooists, artful poisoners or elegant tailors, creators pride themselves on the patience, the perfectionism and the training to create and alter things of utility and beauty.
Creator skill paths largely revolve around five trades, each costing 6 points:
- The potioneering Alchemist,
- The Blacksmith forging arms and armour,
- The Jeweller crafting precious things and mechanisms,
- The Surgeon healing injury and curing illness, and
- The Artisan crafting sundry goods from all materials.
Within each path are several specialisms, unlocking more complex recipes in narrower areas, and special abilities.
Advice for Creator Characters
Most creators at least dabble in several skill areas, but for greater impact, be sure to take at least one specialism. Foraging, Gathering or Resources will secure a source of materials to work with, while Extra Work Units will maximise their productivity.
Surgeons should consider Resist Disease, especially if they pursue the Physician path, while Alchemists may benefit from Resist Poison. Tattooists can always collaborate with magicians to invest their creations, but it’s not unusual for them to learn at least some Invocation skill so they can invest them themselves.
Creator Skills
Most of these skills cost (and provide) Work Units.
Alchemist
| Skill | Points Cost | Prerequisites | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apothecary | 6 | Alchemist | Work units |
| Concoction | 12 | Apothecary | Once per day |
| Imbuer | 6 | Alchemist | Work units |
| Amalgams | 8 | Imbuer | Work units |
| Poisoner | 6 | Alchemist | Work units |
| Antidotes | 8 | Poisoner | Twice per day |
| Alchemical Analysis | 8 | Any 2 of Apothecary, Imbuer and Poisoner | Work units |
Artisan
| Skill | Points Cost | Pre-requisites | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carpenter | 3 | Artisan | Work units |
| Glassblower | 3 | Artisan | Work units |
| Papermaker | 3 | Artisan | Work units |
| Sculptor | 3 | Artisan | Work units |
| Sapper | 5 | Sculptor | Special |
| Tailor | 3 | Artisan | Work units |
| Jury Rig | 12 | Any 3 of Carpenter, Glassblower, Papermaker, Sculptor and Tailor | Once per day |
Blacksmith
| Skill | Points Cost | Prerequisites | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Armourer | 8 | Blacksmith | Work units |
| Hardening | 8 | Armourer | Work units |
| Weaponsmith | 8 | Blacksmith | Work units |
| Metallurgist | 6 | Weaponsmith | Work units |
Jeweller
| Skill | Points Cost | Prerequisites | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Device Proficiency | 5 | Scoundrel | Twice per day |
| Gemcutter | 6 | Jeweller | Work units |
| Gem Cleansing | 12 | Gemcutter | Work units |
| Goldsmith | 6 | Jeweller | Work units |
| Locksmith | 6 | Jeweller | Work units |
| Mechanician | 10 | Locksmith | Work units |
Surgeon
| Skill | Points Cost | Prerequisites | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anatomist | 6 | Surgeon | Work units |
| Improved Surgery | 6 | Surgeon | At will |
| Improved Sanctuary | 6 | Improved Surgery | At will |
| Physician | 6 | Surgeon | Work units |
| Tattooist | 6 | Surgeon | Work units |
Extra Work Units
| Skill Name | Points Cost | Prerequisite | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extra Work Units | 1-5 | Creator Archetype | Permanent |
Note: Maximum of 5 extra Work Units. Extra Work Units cannot be taken as a cross-archetype skill.
Resistences
| Skill Name | Points Cost | Prerequisite | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Immune to [Disease] | 4 | Resist Disease | Permanent |
| Immune to [Poison] | 5 | Resist Poison | Permanent |
Note: Any character may have a maximum of 3 immunities in total.
Other
| Skill | Points Cost | Prerequisites | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Creator’s Insight | 5 | Any Creator skill | Twice per day |
Creator Study Paths
The most common route for study as a creator is researching new recipes, formulas for original and innovative crafted items, potions and poisons and surgical procedures. More broadly, creators can research or train in processes, general techniques that apply to many endeavours: working with exotic materials, refining and strengthening components, working more swiftly or efficiently etc.
Study paths include the following:
Alchemist
Alchemy delves deep into the magical properties of herbs, venoms, animal parts and other special materials from across all the worlds, blending and combining them and concentrating their power to achieve remarkable effects. Novice alchemists can produce a plethora of minor potions to aid people in everyday life, while more skilled practitioners can produce mixtures as powerful as any magic.
The Apothecary skill allows research into beneficial potions that heal, strengthen and transform the drinker; more sophisticated researchers can develop potions that combine more dramatic effects or longer durations.
The Poisoner skill unlocks lethal drinks, blade venoms and contact poisons, including magical poisons that can only be cured by special means.
The Imbuer skill develops magical inks, powders and lacquers to strengthen and alter mundane objects and exotic materials with extraordinary magical properties.
Artisan
The Artisan path is the broadest of any of the creator paths, working with every manner of materials and design, including cloth, leather, stone, clay, wood, glass, paper and bone. Artisans explore sophisticated constructions and intricate designs, finding the line between mundane and magical workings and pushing it past breaking point. More than either Jewellers or Blacksmiths, they work with natural materials, exploring the properties of dragon’s hide, unicorn horns, the bones of basilisks or the strange plants that grow on other worlds.
Artisans are the best friends of Invokers, fashioning clothes threaded with metallic scripts, cups and bowls chased with magical sigils and musical instruments decorated with mystic insignia. They are likewise the closest allies of thaumaturges, creating the lifeless mannequins they will animate as loyal simulacra.
Blacksmith
More than anything, Blacksmiths specialise in armour and weapons, fashioning swords that pierce armour, axes that split shields or armour that resists crushing weapons. They are some of the most active creators on battlefields, repairing armour so their warrior allies can rush back into the fray – with research and resources, they can learn to do more, sharpening or silvering weapons on the fly, changing the properties of armour from one clash to the next.
The Metallurgist, having mastered the silvering that creates werewolf-killing blades, can go on to explore cold iron, star metal and stranger materials. Having learned how to craft with these metals, blacksmiths can attempt to alter their traits to achieve remarkable effects.
Jeweller
Jewellery is valued chiefly for its beauty, and Jewellers may research ever finer, more elegant and more intricate pieces, and create unique, signature pieces that cannot be copied by less skilled crafters. Locksmiths can research more complex devices: cunning traps and mechanisms that administer poisons, activate charged magic sigils or perform other functions.
The most spectacular branch of the Jeweller’s craft relates to the powerful and little-understood properties of gems. Gemcutters can learn to cut gems to finer and finer degrees, improving their quality and value and preparing them for Invokers and other magicians to channel magic into them for their workings. Gems have mystical properties by nature, which can be studied and harnessed; and cleansing gems, to remove cloudiness and purify the colour, can simplify and strengthen these properties, at the cost of variety.
Surgeon
Surgery looks into the workings of the living body. Some Surgeons focus on the skill’s value on the battlefield, healing their allies more quickly and effectively; others keep their attentions to the surgeon’s bed, investigating grafts, transplants and more complex interventions.
Physicians investigate diseases, learning to cure new and strange sicknesses as they encounter them, or even learning how to inflict diseases, or create new ones. Tattooists working alongside invokers can develop more complex and involved designs, incorporating sigils and working with powerful magical inks to produce spectacular effects.
Example Creator Characters
Armourer
Born to a mountain-dwelling tribe of crafters and miners, the armourer has devoted years of their life to their trade, and travels with the warband to put their skills to best use. Thick-thewed from the forge, they repair their comrades’ hauberks and breastplates in the field, and wade into battle with a great hammer.
Skills: Blacksmith (6), Body Development (6), Long Weapons (4), Resources 1: Metal (4)
Description: Heavy sideburns or beard and grey, stony skin around the temples; sturdy, bulked-out clothes including leather armour and a large, two-handed hammer.
Physician
A student of life rather than a mere sawbones, the physician studies diseases, poisons and potions and their effects on the body. They treat the sick, but also seek always to understand the body more, and to share that knowledge with others.
Skills: Alchemist (6), Physician (6), Surgeon (6), 2 unspent points
Description: Shaded blue forehead, dotted with red spots; a long coat over a fine shirt and trousers, and a satchel holding medical implements and jars for samples.
Tattooist
The tattooist met their teacher by chance while travelling in their youth, and was immediately enthralled by the ancient and beautiful craft. Although their passion is for the tattooing itself, they have studied a little of how to brew inks well.
Skills: Alchemist (6), Tattooist (6), Surgeon (6), 2 unspent points
Description: Face and arms covered in tattoos; scruffy, ink-stained clothes and a belt with tattooing tools, bottles of ink etc. hanging from pouches.