Thanks. Also is it limited to Solars only? There are a number of Homebrews and I want to try the Infernal one in particular.
As for Homebrews, please see these and tell us if they are ok?
MA HOMEBREW
You do not need to purchase the MA merit to buy MA. MA now uses the Brawl ability.
You do not have a separate skill for each MA i.e no need to buy it like an ability but need to purchase a MA as though it is a Specialty i.e 3xp and takes 2 weeks to learn WITH a teacher capable of teaching it. Once that is done, you can purchase charms for that MA as normal.
CRAFT HOMEBREW
You do not have a separate skill for each Craft i.e no need to buy it like an ability but need to purchase a Craft as though it is a Specialty i.e 3xp and takes 2 weeks to learn WITH a teacher capable of teaching it.
Craft cannot work without material. For example, if the player wants to make a elixer of limited immortality, then they will need material that resonant with the concept of immortality. The peaches of Immortality from the Gardens of the August Celestial Jade Emperor or the Golden Apples of myth from Greece would be considered to be resonant.
However, the material need not be magical in nature. Take the same example, a fossilized snake skin which would also count due to the myth of Gilgamesh and the snake that stole his herb of immortality.
The material need not be unique but they should not be common as well. It must take at least some in game screen time to gain the ingredient. You cannot simply walk into Walmart and buy them. Well, you or your circle member may buy them in bulk but you will still need to barter with Spirits and demons for them and otherwise put in some in-game effort to get them.
However, if the Storyteller has the material fall out of a plane and smack your character in the face? Then thank the Storyteller and go collect your reagent.
Can I grow ingredients? Short answer: yes, Long answer? Take a Lotus as an example.
You can grow a bunch of Lotus flowers but for them to count, you need to take in-game action to form an association with the materials. So you would need to build or roleplay ordering or hiring people to build a pond and roleplay ordering, or harvesting the Lotus seeds and then having them planted. You can always make a Working to make the Lotus followers grow faster and it would be a perfectly valid way of getting some reagents.
NOTE: You do not HAVE to make it personally and a Party member can do it for you. The important thing is the screen time, not necessarily the effort you put in to get it.
Now, with Magic material, they must be willingly given as a Gift or as payment for services rendered. They may also be forcefully taken via Right of conquest or secretly stolen via a great act of Larceny.
Basically? You or your circle member need to pull off something reasonably impressive for the Magic material to count. The exception is harvesting/making Magic material via Sorcery.
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.
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.
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.
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.
