Creation of Artifacts

Creating Supernatural Artifacts

In terms of rules, drawing up a magic item is extremely laborious. A Game Master always
has to carefully weigh the powers and abilities given to the artifacts, trying to balance the gifts
he has bestowed on his work. Most times it is best to simply use your imagination, allowing
endless design a unique and inventive powers. However, it is also true that on many other
occasions you need a basic structure for players to create their own works without overstepping
boundaries.

This chapter describes various possibilities to create magic items of different levels of power,
explaining step by step the requirements to follow.

Choice of Container
The first thing to do to create a magical artifact is to choose the container, which will be
the "object" itself. One must decide whether to be a sword, a ring, a ruby, an armor ... Generally,
most times the container is created at the same time as the magic, and thereby better exploits
its qualities. Thus, an alchemist who is also a master at forging a sword could create step by
step as he is bestowing gifts, obtaining a result much higher than if you just use a weapon
created previously. Of course, nothing prevents multiple people from collaborating to create
a single object - a goldsmith could make the container, while an alchemist could prepare the
ingredients and finish the occult ritual. Another possibility is to give supernatural abilities to a
previously created object, although in these cases, the powers that could be granted would be
lower.

Naturally, the Presence of the container ultimately determines how much power can go into it.
Each power has a level between 1 and 5 indicating the quality. The higher the power level, the
greater the amount of presence that holds the container, as shown in Table 4.

In the event that the object is created exclusively for container supernatural powers, add 40
additional points of presence for determining how many powers the object can hold (this does
not change the real presence of the object).

An object base 50 magical presence might contain any combination of powers provided these
do not exceed their presence. For example, could have two branches of Level 3 (50 of total
presence, as each can consume 25 points), or two Level 2 and two Level 1 (again, 50 in total,
for the Level 2 consume 15 and Level 1 consume 10).
Presence of Magic Items
Given that supernatural powers are very difficult to classify, the final presence of a mystical
object is always very variable. As a rule, each device increases its presence in an amount
equivalent to the points of presence that requires each branch that is assigned.

The only exception to this rule is when dealing with a weapon or armor that receives a power
that provides a quality bonus. In this case, it takes the higher presence of the two, whether it
possesses it as a magical object or as an artifact power.

A magical object with a base presence of 40 with two Powers (one level 1 and one level 2) has
a final presence of 65.

In case you plan you use an object to bind a summoned creature, use the base presence
the object had prior to receiving powers. This is because the creature counts as a power for
purposes of creating an object.

In the example above, even though the magic has a final presence of 65, its base presence is
40 - that is the number you use for attaching beings to the object.

Existential Power and Power Points

What really grants supernatural qualities to an object is the existencial power its creator
provides - the mystical energy that feeds its capacities. Naturally, that energy must be produced
in some way by a magic source, or prima materia. To calculate the supernatural potencial of
each skill we employ Power Points (PP). PP is a value used during the creation of an artifact to
choose the supernatural capacities the object will have. PP could be called the Development
Points of magical items.

Not all energy has the same quality and power. PP is divided into five different grades, the
aforementioned Power Levels. The higher the level of a Power Point, you can buy more
powerful capabilities. As we will discuss in the next section, each power has a cost and a level
which indicates how much and what level of PP the creator must spend to gain that ability.
Lower level PP cannot be used for higher level abilities.

You can, however, trade higher-level PP for a greater number of lower-level PP. 100 Level 4 PP
is equivalent to 200 Level 3 PP. Again, though, even if you have thousands of Level 1 points,
you cannot upgrade a single one to Level 2. It is a one-way street, so to speak.

It is possible to have an object with PP belonging to several levels at once. For instance, you
might have something with 200 Level 1 PP, 150 level 2 PP, and 30 Level 3 PP.

Prima Materia
To create an artifact, some kind of supernatural material must be used. This section includes
some common Prima Materia, along with their stats (PP granted and quality). Of course, nothing
is stopping you from using more than one kind of Prima Materia in creating your artifact. For
instance, a sorceror may sacrifice lives, use unique components, and use part of his own soul in
creating a single object.

Lives
Sacrificing lives to empower an artifact is something used by alchemists and Dark Archmages,
but there are also cases of people who willingly died to create a sacred object. Be that as it
may, the fact is that Life is a potent source of power, and so is an extremely strong material in
the manufacture of magic items. However, not all lives give the same amount of energy. The
PP gained through sacrifice is equivalent to double the Presence of the sacrifice. Those PP are
at Level 1, but they increase a level for every 5 points of Gnosis the character has over their
Natura. However, lives sacrificed voluntarily without being forced by any means have much
more value. If someone sacrifices their life for their principles, the PP is one level higher than
their Natura would indicate.

A human character at Level 5 (Presence 50) with Natura 10 would generate 100 PP at Level 3,
or 100 PP at Level 4 is they are willingly sacrificed.

Normally, to take advantage of the existential power created by live sacrifice, the location must
be predetermined by the creator of the object. This could be anywhere from the bedroom floor
of a tower to a simple ceremonial table. Once you have taken the life, there is little more than an
hour to introduce the energy to the container; it is possible to store that energy for a very short
period of time, but it is very difficult to retain that power in any container.

Only in the event that the creator of the object uses his own life as a Prima Materia does the
victim not die during the ritual; in this case, they will have a moment to witness the result...

Lives of Supernatural Beings with High Gnosis

To sacrifice the life of a Spiritual or Between Worlds being, or anything else with very high
Gnosis use the same rules as above, but instead of simply using Natura to calculate the level of
the PP, you increase the level of the PP for every 5 Gnosis over 15. As in the previous case, if
he sacrifices his own life willingly, the PP is one level higher.
A supernatural with presence 60 and Gnosis 30 generates 120 Level 4 PP if sacrificed to create
the object against their will, or 120 Level 5 PP if they consciously surrender their lives to this
end.
A supernatural creature whose soul is not natural and has been created by magic does not have
the same existential value others. Therefore, these creatures always generate PP at Level 1,
regardless of Gnosis or the power they hold.

Power
A wizard can sacrifice his spiritual energy to create a mystical object. In doing so, the Prima
Materia is their Power attribute. To determine the amount of PP provided by the Prima Materia,
take into account the Power sacrificed and the sorcerors Base Presence. Thus, for each Power
point sacrificed by the character they obtain an amount of PP equivalent to their presence
divided by the Power Level to be obtained (in groups of 5, rounded down). It is important to note
that this kind of sacrifice is only available to characters with the Gift. Those without it lack the
innate magic required to create magic items.

A Level 10 archmage (Presence 75) may consume two Power Points to generate PP in the
following way:
150 Level 1 PP, 75 Level 2 PP, 50 Level 3 PP, 40 Level 4 PP, or 30 Level 5 PP.

However, there is an additional limitation in determining the level of PP, since to obtain very
high levels, the character who makes the sacrifice must first have reached certain minimum
value in its attribute of Power as reflected in Table 5. That is, if a magician would get PP Level
4, the attribute of power should be at least 14 or more. When taking into account this rule
always applies attribute character's natural power, excluding any bonuses.

Level Minimum Attribute

1 Power 6+

2 Power 8+

3 Power 10+

4 Power 14+

5 Power 16+

Zeon
Injecting pure magic into an object provides a certain amount of energy lower than the same.
Consequently, a mage using Zeon as raw material divides the Zeon total by 5 to get that
amount of Level 1 PP. However, because of the temporary nature of the raw material, artifacts
created by this method have the Fading rule.

To empower magical artifacts, the magician must be in direct contact with it, so that energy will
flow directly between them. Except for that fact, it does not require any special procedure.

Naturally, if an object is made of Zeon used as raw material for another object, the extracted
energy still maintains the Fading rule, but will not gain any benefit from it.

A wizard spends 800 Zeon points on an object as raw material, and gets 160 PP at Level 1.

Objects of Power
Often, existencial power is used from other supernatural objects can be redirected for the
manufacture of an artifact. Basically, it functions as a generator to feed power into the artifact. In
principle, an object can be used as raw material in two ways:
Recover half the PP of the highest level power for the new artifact.
Generate an amount of PP equal to that in a lower level power.

An object has two different powers, one at 80 Level 2 PP and the other is 50 PP at Nivel 3, so it
can generate 25 Level 3 PP, or 80 PP at Level 1 and 50 PP at Nivel 2.

However, absorbing the power of an artifact is not simple. An occultist could try to dismantle
an artifact, but only if its PP isnt higher than Level 2. To do so, simply make a secondary skill
roll equal to what was originally used for its creation. Afterwards, the energy is placed in the new
device.

In case of powers at Level 3, 4, or 5, or simply not wanting to (or cannot) destroy the object,
the process is similar, but the container must be connected in some way to the creation of the
object. For example, consider a sword whose hilt is designed to contain a magic gem. This only
works if the container is designed exclusively for this purpose; it cant be something preexisting.

Ritual of Creation
Una vez que se han determinado cuales son los poderes del objeto, su contenedor y se han
obtenido los PP necesarios, slo resta completar la obra mediante el ritual de creacin. En
realidad, el termino ritual en s es equvoco, pues a lo que hace referencia es al proceso
entero que se requiere para otorgar poderes sobrenaturales al objeto; a veces pueden ser unas
cuantas horas y otras tardar aos enteros.

Para realizar el ritual lo primero que hay que hacer es determinar qu habilidad secundaria se
va a poner en uso y la dificultad de dicho control. Generalmente se emplea Ocultismo, pero
un personaje puede si lo prefiere usar en su lugar Alquimia, Animismo o Runas, habilidades
mucho ms especializadas en la creacin de objetos. Por otro lado la dificultad se establece
tomando como referencia el poder de Nivel ms elevado del objeto (Tabla 6) y aplicando a la
tirada tanto los modificadores del tiempo invertido como los de otras condiciones especiales
(Tabla 7). Si el valor es igual o superior a la dificultad, el artefacto es creado con xito. Si por el
contrario es inferior, ha de consultarse la Tabla 8 para determinar el resultado.

Tiempo: Esta seccin hace referencia al tiempo invertido en la creacin del objeto. A partir de
una semana, el personaje ha de dedicar al menos ocho horas diarias en la preparacin para
obtener el bonificador descrito.

Nivel de Poder: Este penalizador se aplica automticamente por cada poder adicional que
tenga el artefacto a aquel que se ha tomado como base para calcular su dificultad. Es decir, en
un artefacto con cinco poderes, dos de Nivel 4, dos de Nivel 3 y uno de Nivel 1, se tomara uno
de los dos poderes de Nivel 4 como base y los otros se aplicaran como penalizadores; -40 por
el otro poder de Nivel 4, -60 por los dos poderes de Nivel 3 y -10 por el poder de Nivel 1.

Equipamiento, Sin equipo: El personaje no tiene equipamiento apropiado para realizar el ritual.

Equipamiento, Equipo bsico: El creador tiene al menos equipamiento bsico y un lugar

apropiado para confeccionar el artefacto. Podra ser el caso de un stano o una habitacin de
estudio con material alqumico o de grabado.

Equipamiento, Equipo intermedio: Se cuenta con equipamiento de gran calidad y un completo

laboratorio o santuario para confeccionar el artefacto.

Equipamiento, Equipo avanzado: El personaje tiene sobradamente los mejores recursos y el

mejor equipamiento posible. Podra tener una mansin entera construida a modo de laboratorio
llena de instrumental de primersima calidad y material de sobra para hacer todas las pruebas
necesarias.

Equipamiento, Equipo superior: Por encima de los mejores equipamientos e instalaciones, este
modificador se aplica cuando el creador del artefacto tiene acceso a material mas excepcional
posible, as como un lugar tan idneo para su elaboracin que roza lo increble.

Otros, Asistencia: El personaje cuenta al menos con un ayudante cuya habilidad no sea menor
a 100 puntos a la suya.

Otros, Asistencia Experta: El personaje cuenta al menos con un ayudante cuya habilidad no
sea menor a 50 puntos a la suya.

Otros, Consorcio de Creadores: El personaje cuenta con varios colaboradores cuya habilidad
no sea menor a 30 puntos a la suya.

Fallo Intrnseco: Aparentemente el artefacto es creado con xito, pero todos sus poderes se
corrompen, dando lugar a lo que suele denominarse objeto maldito. El Director de Juego debe
determinar en secreto al azar cuantos de sus poderes se distorsionan (con un mnimo de uno),
y sustituirlos por versiones perjudiciales de los mismos.

Fracaso Menor: La energa no logra sellarse apropiadamente dentro del contenedor. Para
determinar las consecuencias de este acto, el Director de Juego realiza en secreto una tirada
en la Tabla 9 y atiende al resultado obtenido.

Fracaso Absoluto: La creacin fracasa por completo, perdindose tanto el contenedor como el
poder existencial del que se le iba a dotar.

Catstrofe: La creacin es un completo fracaso y las energas acumuladas se desencadenan

de manera violenta engullendo al creador del objeto tanto como a los que se encontraran en las
inmediaciones. Dependiendo de la cantidad de PP y el Nivel de los mismos, las consecuencias
pueden ser ms o menos graves, tal y como el Director de Juego considere apropiado.