Creator

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:

• 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.

Artisan

Skill	Points Cost	Pre-requisites
Carpenter	3	Artisan
Glassblower	3	Artisan
Mason	3	Artisan
Sapper	5	Mason
Papermaker	3	Artisan
Printer	12	Papermaker
Potter	3	Artisan
Tailor	3	Artisan
Tanner	3	Artisan
Jury Rig	12	Any 3 Artisan specialisms

Relevant Artisan skills for Jury Rig are Carpenter, Glassblower, Mason, Papermaker, Potter, Tailor or Tanner.

Blacksmith

Skill	Points Cost	Prerequisites
Armourer	8	Blacksmith
Hardening	8	Armourer
Weaponsmith	8	Blacksmith
Metallurgist	6	Weaponsmith

Alchemist

Skill	Points Cost	Prerequisites
Imbuer	6	Alchemist
Amalgams	8	Imbuer
Apothecary	6	Alchemist
Concoction	12	Apothecary
Poisoner	6	Alchemist
Antidotes	8	Poisoner
Analysis	8	Any 2 Alchemist specialisms

Relevant Artisan skills for Analysis are Apothecary, Imbuer and Poisoner.

Jeweller

Skill	Points Cost	Prerequisites
Gemcutter	6	Jeweller
Gem Cleansing	12	Gemcutter
Goldsmith	6	Jeweller
Locksmith	6	Jeweller
Mechanician	10	Locksmith

Surgeon

Skill	Points Cost	Prerequisites
Anatomist	6	Surgeon
Improved Surgery	6	Surgeon
Improved Sanctuary	6	Improved Surgery
Physician	6	Surgeon
Tattooist	6	Surgeon

Scoundrel

Skill	Points Cost	Prerequisites
Device Proficiency	5	Scoundrel

Ranger

Skill	Points Cost	Prerequisites
Trapper	6	Ranger

Any Creator skill

Skill	Points Cost	Prerequisites
Creator’s Insight	5	Any Creator skill
Extra Work Units	1-10	Any Creator skill

Note: Maximum of 10 extra Work Units

Resistances

Skill	Points Cost	Prerequisites
Immune to Disease	4	Resist Disease
Immune to Poison	5	Resist Poison

Note: Maximum of 3 immunities

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
• Artisan
• Blacksmith
• Jeweller
• Surgeon

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.