CoD Crafting

Crafting Physical Objects

This category is used to build objects. It can range from simple hand-held objects to works of art to an entire vehicle.

• Availability: Creating something physical requires access to the tools used to do so, and resources with an Availability one dot lower than the Availability of the final product. This is often purchased with Resources, but can be acquired with Allies, stolen with Larceny, etc.
• Dice Pool: Extended Wits + Skill check. Crafts covers most tasks, though Expression is usually used to create items of aesthetic value.
• Target Number: The equipment modifier, weapon bonus, or highest armor rating of the equipment involved +1.
• Modifiers: Blueprints or other plans (+1), Workshop (+1 to +2) • Improper tools (–1 to –3)
• Interval: Each roll generally takes between one scene per roll and one week per roll, depending on the task involved.

Test Results

• Dramatic Failure: You not only fail to make progress, but something goes dramatically wrong. You must either end the project, ruining the materials you gained to create the project with, or you may continue, applying either the Fragile Condition or Volatile Condition to the project's final result.
• Failure: You fail to make progress, but may continue attempting the project. You must take the Frustrated Condition in order to continue the project.
• Success: You make progress toward finishing the project, adding successes toward the final Target Number.
• Exceptional Success: You not only make progress toward finishing the project, but you achieve a sudden insight! Take either the Inspired or Steadfast Condition. Some types of equipment may have other Conditions that can be applied to them, as well.

Crafting Organizations

This category involves putting a small group of people together to fulfill a specific function, from a group of bodyguards, a posse seeking vigilante justice, or a cult to aid in some esoteric task. This usually falls apart at the end of a chapter, although characters may invest Merits to maintain such groups longer. These groups work to provide an equipment bonus to some task that needs people instead of objects, such as keeping an eye out for danger, scouring the streets for someone who is missing, or the like.

• Availability: Putting together groups of people frequently involve either knowing the right people (Allies, Status, or similar Merits) or having the funds to get them working together (Resources). This has an Availability equal to one dot lower than the rating of the equipment modifier granted by the group.
• Dice Pool: Extended Presence or Manipulation + Skill check. Socialize covers most organizing efforts, but other Skills may function for more specialized groups, such as Politics for political or legal groups or Streetwise for rougher elements.
• Target Number: The equipment modifier granted by the group +1.
• Modifiers: Appropriate Merits (+1 – +5) • Difficulty of intended task (+0 to –3)
• Interval: One day per roll.

Test Results

• Dramatic Failure: You not only fail to make progress, but something goes dramatically wrong. You must either end the project, wasting the efforts you used to establish the project, or you may continue, gaining either the Leveraged or Notoriety Conditions yourself, or applying either the Fragile Condition or Volatile Condition to the project's final result.
• Failure: You fail to make progress, but may continue attempting the project. You must take the Frustrated Condition in order to continue the project.
• Success: You make progress toward putting the group together, adding successes toward the final Target Number.
• Exceptional Success: You not only make progress toward finishing the project, but the group also grants the benefits of a Merit while working with you. This Merit has a rating of •, but increase this by +1 for every success past the exceptional threshold gained in this test.

Crafting Repositories & Archives

Putting together a collection of informational sources is the focus of this category. It can be as focused as compiling a background check, building a specific database or as broad as constructing a library. This can even be used to comb through an already-existing Library and compile information on specific topics (such as using an Occult Library to compile information on ghosts); the maximum bonus that can be so garnered, including the library itself, is a +5, as usual.

• Availability: Building a repository of information most often uses Resources to meet its Availability, but other Skills and Merits may apply as well. This has an Availability equal to one dot lower than the rating of the equipment modifier granted by the archive. Unlike with most such construction, however, this must be met each time a test is made, not just once.
• Dice Pool: Extended Intelligence + Skill check. Academics is involved in acquiring reference materials, while Computers might be involved in compiling electronic data. Gathering gossip on an individual might be Socialize or Streetwise checks, in contrast.
• Target Number: The equipment modifier granted by the repository +1. This number is doubled if it involves the actual construction of a Library Merit.
• Modifiers: Appropriate Merits (+1 – +5) • Breadth of Information (+1 to –2)
• Interval: One hour per roll for very tight information (a background check on a person's employment or credit).
  • One day per roll for less specific, but still single-topic information (everything someone can find out about another person's life and history).
  • One week per roll for broader bodies of information (databases of customer habits, or crime patterns for a city).
  • One month per roll for full informational archives, including the Library Merit.

Test Results

• Dramatic Failure: You not only fail to make progress, but disastrous mistakes are actively made. You must either end the project, wasting the efforts you used to establish the project, or you may continue, applying either the Fragile Condition or Volatile Condition to the project's final result.
• Failure: You fail to make progress, but may continue attempting the project. You must take the Frustrated Condition in order to continue the project.
• Success: You make progress toward putting the group together, adding successes toward the final Target Number.
• Exceptional Success: You not only make progress toward finishing the project, but you gain the Connected or Informed Condition (related to the topic of the repository) as a result of your work.

Crafting Plans

Making plans to assist in an endeavor of some kind, from organizing a corporate take-over to planning a frontal assault on an entrenched enemy to organizing a jewelry heist.

• Availability: The quality of the information gathered acts as the raw materials for a plan. Thus, information should be rated by Availability, whether what it cost to acquire, the rating of Skills used to acquire it, or even the final rating of information gathered using the Creating A Plan mechanics above. A plan requires information with an Availability one point lower than the intended equipment bonus of the plan.
• Dice Pool: Extended Wits + Composure.
• Target Number: The equipment modifier granted by the plan +1.
• Modifiers: Appropriate Merits (+1 – +5) • Complexity of Goal (–1 to –5)
• Interval: One hour per roll. If Teamwork is involved in the crafting of this project, add one hour per additional person after the first.

Test Results

• Dramatic Failure: You not only fail to make progress, but disastrous mistakes are actively made. You must either end the project, wasting the efforts you used to establish the project, or you may continue, applying either the Fragile Condition or Volatile Condition to the project's final result.
• Failure: You fail to make progress, but may continue attempting the project. You must take the Frustrated Condition in order to continue the project.
• Success: You make progress toward putting the group together, adding successes toward the final Target Number.
• Exceptional Success: You not only make progress toward finishing the project, but the group enacting the plan gains one use of the Informed Condition, which applies only during the execution of the plan, but can be used by any member who is acting as part of the plan.