Smithing

As I mentioned in Shape Shifting, I spent a lot of years playing in and GMing Amber. When the new rules were made, based on Amber, it meant that players were more free in battle (not having to roll dice among other things) but the question of damage became a problem. There were four levels, basically, in Amber: Normal, Double, Deadly, and Destructive Force. There were other minor things, but they really only applied to Amber and her settings. To alleviate this  problem, I came up with the system you see here. You get better quality weapons and armor, with extra bits and bobs here and there that protect you better and let you fight better. With your skills, talents, and stats, it all works together to give an idea of how much hurt you can take and dish out. So far, I'm very pleased with the results.

Most of this is taken straight from Skyrim with bits of World of Warcraft mixed in and a few of my own ideas.

Tools, weapons, nifty gadgets, robots, bombs and more; the Engineer loves to create and to use their creations to take things apart to learn to make more things to take things apart.

Primary Stats: Strength 15, Constitution 15 required.

Bonus to Skill Checks: Appraise

Basic Abilities

Opening this talent tree grants you the following powers and abilities.

Basic Smithing: This allows you create a basic piece of armor, weapon, or ammunition of your choosing. The creation is sturdy and solid, but has no special quality or enhancement. You are also able to mine, smelt, and refine Copper, Tin, Bronze, and Silver as well as create Leather for your creations. You must either purchase or mine the materials needed to create the item, and use a forge and smith to create the item. The amount of time it takes and the quality of the weapon depend on your Strength and Constitution.

Mastery: Mastery is a measure of your overall power and ability in a given talent branch. Each rank raises your ability a bit higher, and grants you greater power and access to more abilities further down the line. You must purchase each rank in order. Each rank is explained in detail below.

Rank 1: Your ability is slightly enhanced and your products are of a slightly higher quality. 10 points.

Rank 2: Your ability is slightly enhanced and your products are of a slightly higher quality. You get more raw material from refining ores that you mine or purchase and from pelts that you skin or purchase. 20 points.

Rank 3: Your ability is enhance and your products are of a higher quality. You can now enhance and refine already made weapons and armor as well as enhance and refine armor that is enchanted or magical. You gain a +2 to Strength and Constitution. 30 points.

Rank 4: Your ability is greatly enhanced and your products are of a very fine quality. You have a sense and can now “feel” where minerals might be if they’re close by, finding them much more easily. You can create things with fewer raw materials and still create excellent products. 40 points.

Rank 5: Your ability is so great, and your products of such rare and fine quality that you have gained some renown for your skills. Your mining and smelting processes are of such skill that you gain much more raw material of a much better quality from the same amount of ore and your technique is prized by others. At this level, using the same amount of ore it would have taken you to create one suit of armor, you can create up to 3 of the same or better quality. You are a master smith. You gain a +3 to Strength and Constitution. 50 points.

Whet Stone: You can create a small stone that allows you to give a bladed weapon a slightly sharper edge to do slightly better damage. 10 points.

Serrated: This allows you to give your weapon a special edge that causes a bit more damage. It bites into things with a bit more ferocity causing slightly more damage and causes the wound to bleed a bit more. 10 points.

Hardened: Armor that you make is of a slightly higher quality than others of its kind. It can take more damage and offers slightly better protection than others. Requires Mastery Rank 1 and 15 points.

Leather and Hide: You can create slightly tougher armor in the form of toughened leather or hide armor. The armor is more lightweight than other armor, quieter than metallic armors, and allows freedom of movement, as well as being reasonably resilient and tough enough to withstand minimal damage. Requires Mastery Rank 1 and 20 points.

Chainmail and Scale Armor: You can now create shirts of chainmail or scaled armor. These are much tougher than leather or hide while still being reasonably light. Requires Leather and Hide Smithing and 15 points.

Balanced: You create a weapon with extra special balance, making it fit you and your fighting style perfectly allowing you strike with greater accuracy and lethality. Requires Mastery Rank 2 and 10 points.

Heavy: You weigh the blade in a specific manner, allowing you to swing it with greater heft to deal a heavier, more lethal blow. Requires Mastery Rank 2 and 15 points.

Extra-Fine Edge: You enhance an edged weapon, giving it a sharper blade that allows it to cut more easily through tougher material. Requires Mastery Rank 2 and 15 points.

Steel and Iron Smithing: You can now smelt and refine iron and steel, using various techniques to fold the metal and create better quality items. Requires Mastery Rank 2 and 20 points.

Elven Smithing: You incorporate the lightweight and delicate weavings of the elves into your armor, making it slightly more resilient and tougher than normal armor, as well as making it quieter and a bit more light weight. You can enhance one handed weapons, bows, and arrows to make them much more effective and accurate. Requires Mastery Rank 2 and 20 points. 

Elven Accuracy: You can make incredibly delicate and powerful bows that shoot farther than normal and have greater accuracy with the same amount of pull. You can enhance one-handed swords to an incredible sharpness. You can create arrows that are incredibly thin and light, but can pierce through many types of armor, even at a distance. Requires Elven Smithing and 25 points.

Jewelcrafting: You can use various types of precious metal and jewels to create intricate and delicate pieces of jewelry good for selling, or for enchanting with power. You could also enhance the aesthetic value of armors or weapons, or make them more readily able to absorb an enchantment. The price of something you make will always be greater than the sum of its components allowing you to make a profit and have a nice profession. Requires Mastery Rank 3 and 15 points.

Long Range: You are able to create a ranged weapon that can shoot farther than normal, extending the range and accuracy. This distance and accuracy is exchanged for decreased damage. Requires Mastery Rank 3 and 20 points.

Dwarven Smithing: You know the secrets of the dwarven forges, and you can make use of their techniques. You can enhance and refine armors that are already created to make them tougher and more resilient, as well creating your own armor and improving on it. You can also enhance one and two-handed weapons. You gain a +1 bonus to Strength. Requires Mastery Rank 3 and 25 points.

Dwarven Tough: You use the solid and simple methods of the dwarves to make better, more accurate and deadly mauls, warhammers, and maces. So long as you have created or enhanced one of these weapons and you are using it, you gain a +1 bonus to Strength and Constitution. In addition, if you have a world that allows such items, you can now create shotguns, bullets, and gunpowder. Requires Dwarven Smithing and 25 points.   

Gold, Mithril, and Thorium Smithing: You can now smelt and refine gold, mithril, and thorium. Gold isn’t very good for any weapons or armor, but is perfect for jewelcrafting. Mithril is tough and lightweight, while thorium is heavy but exceedingly resilient. Thorium is better for weapons, as the armor made from it can be very heavy, while mithril is more flexible and not as good for weapons. Requires Steel and Iron Smithing and 25 points.

Plate Armor: The heaviest, but one of the strongest armors. Highly resilient, it can take a lot of damage before it lets anything through. Requires Chainmail and Scale Smithing and 20 points.

Draconic Smithing: The dragons know secrets that no other race knows about smithing, and they have shared their wisdom with you. You can now enhance and refine armors and weapons greatly. Using Draconic Smithing with any metal smelting allows you to create a higher quality metal, resulting in higher quality items. You gain a +2 bonus to Strength and Constitution. Requires Mastery Rank 4 and 35 points.

Obsidium and Titanium Smithing: You can now smelt and refine obsidium and titanium. Obsidium is a dark, dense metal that is very difficult to work with, but is incredibly tough and resilient, though heavy. It makes incredibly sturdy armor and can be worked to enhance most types of armor, even leather and hide without hindering the wearer. Titanium is lighter weight, but equally dense, and while it makes a fine armor, it carries an edge far better than almost any other metal. It makes the finest and deadliest weapons. Requires Gold, Mithril, and Thorium Smithing and 35 points.

Anvil of the Ancients: You have delved deep and discovered the secrets of the very first smiths, long thought to be lost. You can greatly enhance any weapon or piece of armor, and create the toughest, sharpest, sturdiest weapons and armor the world has ever seen. It is said that there might even be some magic in this type of smithing, allowing you to grant small bonuses to stats. You cannot enhance the same stat with more than two items. You cannot enhance the stat more than 4 points. You must wear the item, or wield the item to gain the stat bonus. The points that would go into the item translates into the number of days it takes to create. You gain a +3 bonus to Strength. Requires all other types of Smithing, Mastery Rank 5, and 50 points.

Vorpal Edge: You can now enhance all edged weapons to make give them a vorpal edge. Vorpal blades never dull and can cut through virtually anything. Requires Anvil of the Ancients and 25 points.  

One-Ton Sledge: A secret and ancient dwarven technique allows you to make blunt and smashing weapons incredibly heavy, but only when you use them on enemies, granting you an incredibly lethal attack that can be almost earthquake devastating. Requires Anvil of the Ancients and 25 points.

Adamantite and Ghost Iron Smithing: You can now smelt and refine adamantite and ghost iron. Adamantite is the toughest of all known metals. It is relatively light weight, and can make a plate armor that is as heavy and as quiet as scale armor, but much, much tougher. Adamantite also makes sturdy, solid bashing weapons. While slightly less resilient and tough than adamantite, ghost iron is much lighter. A plate suit made of ghost iron weighs as much as leather armor, is equally as silent, and almost as tough as adamantite. It makes suberb edged weapons that are light weight and highly balanced. Requires Obsidium and Titanium Smithing and 35 points.

Secret of the Metal Cloth: You have learned the ancient secret of making metal cloth; or metal armor so light that it feels as light as cloth, but retains all of its protective properties. It is silent and loses no quality of protection and can be worn by anyone. Requires Anvil of the Ancients and 50 points.

Star Metal Smithing: That rarest and most potent of all metals, star metal, is now yours to use when you find it. Nothing cuts like a star metal blade, nothing protects like star metal armor, and it even has magical properties that align to the wielder. Incredibly difficult to find, but highly worthwhile, star metal is the best of the best of all metals. The magical property of star metal will always be determined by the Game Master, but will always be favorable to the character. Requires Adamantite and Ghost Iron Smithing and 50 points.