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ShaneMRoth
2015-07-13, 02:45 AM
Fabricate

The following modifications to the Fabricate Spell play in this campaign as a house rule.

Components: S, M

Target: You

Casting Time: One hour, plus up to one round per caster level; see text

Descriptive Text
Fabricate is a force multiplier for the Craft skill and allows the caster to perform a week’s worth of unusually productive work in a single combat round. The caster can craft items without tools or equipment. The caster still needs all of the material that would be necessary to make the item without a Fabricate.

The caster must choose one item that she wants to Fabricate. She is locked in to making that item with that casting of the spell.

After an hour of mental preparation and focus, she then makes a series of of Craft checks.

The maximum number of Craft checks she can make is limited by her caster level. She is allowed to Take 10 on her Craft checks.

The caster adds a +20 Circumstance bonus to her Craft checks. The caster is allowed, and encouraged, to artificially increase the DC of the Craft check to allow more work to be performed.

Each Craft check represents a week of work, in silver pieces, per the Craft skill.

If a Craft check fails, then no more work is performed and the spell ends.

The caster stops making Craft checks when the spell ends, when she runs out of raw material, or when her spell hits a hard limit... which ever happens first.

At the end of the spell, divide the total sp worth of work performed by the market value of the item to determine how many specimens of that item have been Fabricated.


A 9th level wizard decides to make Crossbow Bolts. With the +20 Circumstance bonus and Taking 10 she is able to ‘roll’ a 40 on her Craft(Weaponsmith). She increases the DC for Crossbow Bolts from 12 to 32. She makes all nine skill checks, and performs 1,280 sp worth of work each round. (40*32*=1,280 sp). She is able to generate 11,520 sp worth of work in 9 rounds. However, since crossbow bolts involve working with minerals, she is limited to Fabricating 50 pounds of items per round. She is able to Fabricate 4,500 crossbow bolts in one casting, provided she started with 1,500 silver pieces worth of material. The surplus work is lost. The crossbow bolts will have a total value of 450 gold pieces.

Fabricating Masterwork Items
The crafting rules as they apply for masterwork items also apply to the Fabricate spell. The caster must spend at least one round making the masterwork component. Craft checks are made every round until the masterwork component is complete. Work performed beyond the value of the masterwork component is lost. Once the masterwork component is complete, the caster can then work on the item itself. Work performed beyond the value of the masterwork item is lost. It requires at least two Skill checks, and two rounds, to Fabricate a masterwork item.


The same 9th level wizard decides to make Masterwork Full Plate armor. With the +20 Circumstance bonus and Taking 10 she is able to ‘roll’ a 40 on her Craft(Armorsmith). She increases the DC of the armor from 18 to 38. She begins crafting her masterwork component on round one. She performs (40*40=1,600 sp) of work, enough to complete the 1,500 sp Masterwork Component. The surplus work that round is lost. She makes all eight remaining skill checks, and performs 1,520 sp worth of work each round for a total of 12,160 sp of work. She needs 10 rounds of work to complete the armor, so she will need to cast two Fabricate spells to complete the masterwork full plate armor. If she had enough material she could use the remaining rounds of the second casting to start a second suit of masterwork Full Plate.


For Items that don’t require a Craft check.
If the caster is Fabricating items with a Craft DC of 10 or less, there is no need to roll a Craft check. Instead, just assume that the work generated each round is worth 900 sp. (30*30=900 sp) That’s 8,100 sp of work in 9 rounds.


Hard Limits of Fabricate
It is not possible for a caster to craft anything with Fabricate that she couldn’t craft without Fabricate.

It is not possible to create something out of nothing with the Fabricate spell.

The spell can create no more that 15,000 gp of value in a single casting. (If the Heighten Spell feat is used to increase the effective level of the spell, then this limit increases by 2,500 gp per level. If this spell is cast at an effective spell level of nine, this spell is capable of creating 25,000 gp of value, the same limit as exists for the Wish spell.)

In addition to this limit, the following limits apply:

The Fabricate spell is limited to creating up to 500 pounds of an item per caster level.

If the caster is working with minerals, then the limit is up to 50 pounds per caster level.

If the caster is crafting Alchemical products, then the limit is up to 5 pounds per caster level.

It is not possible to kill any living creature with Fabricate, including standing trees.


The Montage
If a Bard employs the Inspire Competence ability when the caster begins making Craft checks, then the spell becomes a Montage.

Other player characters may chose to participate in the Montage

(Participation options include,but are in no way limited to: Alternating expressions between scowling shakes of the head and approving nods; Exchanges of knowing glances; Consulting checklists on clipboards that appear out of nowhere and disappear after the spell is complete; Pencils appearing in character’s hair for no reason; Wearing lab coats and safety equipment completely out of context; Characters with no visual impairment wearing eyeglasses; Exchanges of high fives and the bumping of fists; Poorly choreographed dance moves; etc).

Those characters who participate in the montage may make a Montage Participation check each round at DC:10. This is an Aid Another check, except that it’s a Charisma ability score check. This check enjoys a +2 bonus from the Inspire Competence ability. Successful Montage Participation checks offer a +2 Circumstance bonus to the caster’s Craft Check.

Only player characters may make a Montage Participation check. No more than 8 characters may make a Montage Participation check per casting of a Fabricate spell.

This is the only way that Aid Another can be used to benefit a caster who is Fabricating items.

The Caster does not get the +2 Competence bonus directly from the Bard’s Inspire Confidence check unless no one is participating in the Montage, in which case it’s a Cut Scene rather than a Montage.

Campaign Implications
The going rate for casting a spell of this level is 450 gp. So any application of this spell that doesn’t Fabricate more than 450 gp worth of material is actually costing the caster money. It is generally not in a wizard’s long term economic interest to be casting this spell for routine commercial purposes.

Guilds are, nonetheless, nervous about this spell. Wizards don’t always act in their own long-term economic interests.

While arcane spellcasters are well within their rights to use Fabricate for their own private use, they are expected to refrain from disrupting local economies. A wizard who brews his own ale for his personal use is a Non-Commercial Use. A wizard who Fabricates the ale he sells to the public at his tavern needs to come to some sort of arrangement with the Guilds, as this is a Commercial Use. Unauthorized Commercial Use of Fabricate is illegal in most kingdoms and sovereign states in the developed world. Spellcasters who know the Fabricate spell are honorbound to notify local Guilds whenever they cast it, even for personal use. Spellcasters who are discovered to have made Unlicensed commercial use of Fabricate may be subject to civil and criminal penalties.

Wizards are often contracted to make glassware for Alchemists. A well trusted wizard could be contracted to Fabricate ammunition for the State.

nonsi
2015-07-13, 06:26 AM
Very nice idea.
Not sure how many DMs would want their players to circumvent the need for downtime (or the dependency in NPC crafters' time), but I really like this spell.

According to your given numbers (15000, 2500/SL, 25000@9th), this is a 5th level spell.
You'd probably want to note that near the spell's name.

ShaneMRoth
2015-07-13, 11:51 AM
Very nice idea.
Not sure how many DMs would want their players to circumvent the need for downtime (or the dependency in NPC crafters' time), but I really like this spell.

According to your given numbers (15000, 2500/SL, 25000@9th), this is a 5th level spell.
You'd probably want to note that near the spell's name.

Thanks!

I only listed the descriptors that I changed from the original spell in the PHB. If it's not listed here, then the original spell info plays.