Inventing

Inventing is in fact a collection of many skills, open only to scholars who have already learned Drafting. It is costly to pursue. An inventor requires 2,000 square feet of working space, a small forge valued at 500 GP, and at least 1,000 GP worth of equipment: pulleys and winches, saws, tools for glass and metal work, vices, clamps, anvils, measuring instruments and miscellaneous bits and pieces. Each project's materials cost extra, as the Game Judge determines.

For a normal invention the player gives the Game Judge a rough drawing, a list of materials and a brief explanation of the device's purpose, and the Judge fixes its cost and construction time. A simple device needs 1-4 weeks, a moderately complex one 4 plus 1-4 weeks, and a very big or intricate one at least 8 plus 2-8 weeks. On completion a percentile roll determines whether it functions, with a chance equal to 3% times the inventor's INT plus 5% per level. If it fails, the inventor must start the design over.

Magical inventions take double the time, lose 2% of the success chance per level of the magic involved, and require a professional spell caster to be hired. Unless the Game Judge decides otherwise, inventors have no knowledge of steam engines, gunpowder, electricity or similar modern concepts and cannot construct them, although an ingenious inventor might seek magical means of reproducing such effects.