Bribe, Craft, Train

In the previous post, I modified the magic research rules and applied them to mundane scholars creating magic scrolls. This, of course, can be generalized to many other tasks, from bribing informants and advertising for henchmen through item crafting and general education.

(Edit to Add: I've done a couple articles showing specific examples of the following rules, so I'll add some links here to collect them all in one place.

• Holy Shrines
• Arcane Libraries
• Legendary Weapons
• Barony Development
• Theft, Ruin, and Defilement [planned]
• Post-Apocalyptic Survival [planned]

I'll keep adding more links as I write.)

The basics: You can train, buy research materials, or craft an item for a cost of 50 to 1,000 coins, with a chance of success based on total spent: target number is 1 minimum for the base cost of 50 coins, +1 per additional 50 coins.

Roll 1d20:

•  If roll is less than/equal to target, training, search, or crafting succeeds.
•  If more than target, but less than Intelligence, you fail to finish, but can keep trying.
•  If more than Intelligence score, your efforts are ruined. Start over.

As long as your efforts are not ruined, the target number is based on total spent, not on how much was spent in the current week.

Substitute Charisma for Intelligence when advertising for a job or bribing people for information. If your efforts are ruined, you've pissed off the wrong people and must start over in a new location for any chance of success.

If you are undergoing gruelling physical training, substitute Constitution for Intelligence. If your efforts are ruined, you've injured yourself and must recuperate for at least a week before starting over.

Divide costs by ten for items or information of temporary use, such as bribing informants for clues or making limited-use items.

Multiply costs by ten when dealing with magic or unnatural abilities. This cancels out the limited-use adjustment when enscribing magic scrolls or brewing potions.

Spells have levels, as do some NPCs you might want to commission for a job. You can also rank other things by level, such as traps (1 level per die of damage.) The base costs assumes the spell, NPC, or other item is 1st level. Double the base cost for 2nd level, and double again for each additional level. Minimum time needed to complete training, research, or crafting is one week per level.

You can also use levels to adjust the time or cost of some mundane skill training or item crafting.