Crafting

Find out more about crafting on page 74 of Special Modifications: A Sourcebook for Technicians.

[...] Anything that the player wants to craft is subject to the GM's approval.

Crafting follows three steps: Step 1: Select Template, in which the PC chooses what kind of item to make; Step 2: Acquire Materials, in which the PC acquires the supplies to build it; and Step 3: Construction, in which the PC actually assembles the item.

STEP 1: SELECT TEMPLATE

When a craftsperson sets about creating an item, the player first chooses a template from one of the tables below. The template dictates the materials required (Material Price/Rarity), the challenge of building it (Check), an estimate of how long construction takes (Time), and the Results should the character succeed on the check (the item that shares a name with the template).

ACQUIRING TEMPLATES

From a narrative standpoint, there are countless ways that a character might come to know how to build a particular item.

It is always up to the GM whether a given template is available to a PC. As a general rule of thumb, most templates should be available to the PCs a majority of the time—the difficulty of turning abstract knowledge into a practical device is reflected by the difficulty of the checks to acquire materials and construct the device. However, if it makes for a more interesting story, the GM (or the player) can require the character to spend time on research or even go on a short adventure to complete Step 1: Select Template for a particularly special item. Alternatively, a character's past successes (or failures) might open the door to crafting a brand-new item.

STEP 2: ACQUIRE MATERIALS

To attempt to build an item based on the chosen template, the PC must acquire appropriate materials for that template. These are listed under "Material Price/Rarity" on the relevant table. For all mechanical purposes, materials count as a single item with the listed cost and rarity. As always, at the GM's discretion, certain supplies might not always be available for the listed price at any given market.

At the GM's discretion, PCs can acquire some or all of the materials for a template via means other than paying for them (such as salvaging them, stealing them, or being gifted with them).

YOU BUILT IT OUT OF WHAT?!

Templated intentionally leave the materials used for a project vague. This is because a template does not represent a particular way of building any one model. Instead, it reflects a set of broadly comparable results that a PC might build from any number of different materials.

STEP 3: CONSTRUCTION

After acquiring the materials to make the item, the character must make the associated check, listed under "Check" on the relevant table, to actually construct the item. If the character succeeds, the item is fully functional and has the profile listed in its template. If the character fails on the check, the product that comes out of the attempt is unusable, and the materials are lost.

The relevant tables below include suggestions on how to integrate other results into construction. First, crafters can use advantage and triumph results to make improvements to the item. Then, the GM can spend threat and despair results to add flaws. Unless a limit is specified, an option from these tables may be selected any number of times, and its effects stack.

The amount of time Step 3: Construction takes is determined by the estimate of working hours listed in the template under "Time." Every success result the character scores on the check beyond the first reduces this time by 2 hours (to a minimum of 1 hour). Other factors can also affect the time required, at the GM's discretion.

For certain, particularly complex machines, such as droids, Step 3: Construction might require more than a single check to complete. See Droid Crafting below, for more details.

MAKING TIME FOR CRAFTING

There are many different ways in which a character may undertake a crafting project.

The GM must consider how to allocate time during sessions for crafting. Generally speaking, few groups want to sit around while the GM and one player narrate tinkering with a device for hours. The crafting check is meant to expedite this process, but if a player wants to get deep into the nitty-gritty of building a device, there are a few ways that the GM can handle it without slowing play overmuch for everyone else.

Whenever the group takes "downtime" during the story, the GM can offer players interested in crafting the chance to build a number of item appropriate to the time available. The GM can alternate attention between each of the players, each of whose character is presumably pursuing some agenda during downtime.

Alternatively, the GM could ask the player interested in crafting to arrive early to the session (or stay a bit late) to take care of the mechanical side of the crafting, so that everyone else at the table doesn't have to wait around while that player agonizes over which quality to add to an item.

BRAWL AND MELEE WEAPON CRAFTING

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RANGED WEAPON CRAFTING

Most citizens of the Outer Rim know the value of a good blaster and a steady hand, for even the act of carrying a firearm has a considerable power on the outskirts of civilization.

DROID CRAFTING

Droids are a fixture of galactic civilization, and have been for millennia.

GADGET CRAFTING

Crafting one's own tools takes a special level of dedication, even for skilled machinists.

CYBERNETIC CRAFTING

Reliable replacement limbs are a medical miracle to many people across the stars, from victims of industrial accidents to unfortunate warriors who get in over their heads against superior opponents.