2.1 Item Creation Expansion: Invention

Invention of Formulae:

In a world where most of the population has perished due to disaster over hundreds of years, it's only natural that technology would have regressed substantially. This puts us at a point where most item formula no longer exist, and the items that they would create are mostly lost to memory. This stark and barren world where only Common items exist is an empty and frankly boring one, and definitely not the sort of world I would encourage anyone to play in. As such, there are some modifications to the way in which the invention of item formula occurs in Iolex.   Under the normal rules, you need to have the Inventor Feat to make Common formula. The benefits of having this Common formula is that you spend 1 day setting up to Craft your item, instead of the 2 that it would normally take. How exciting and revolutionary. Following this, there is no method of creating formula rarer than Common. If you want to invent Uncommon, Rare, or Unique formula, you're basically S.O.L. And you cannot craft Uncommon or rarer items without the formula. This, my friends, is a tragedy.  

The changes:

1. Any character can invent item formula of Common or Uncommon rarity, for items up to their character level minus 1. This does not use the Crafting rules, and does not require consecutive, unbroken days of work. There is no reason why you could not work on most inventions sporadically, a day here, a day there, as typically you would be writing down all of your findings and plans as you make them. This may result in your plans being targeted for copying, theft, or destruction if you take too long and knowledge of your experiments becomes known, however.
   • Common formulas take 4 days to invent, cost an amount equal to the price of a formula of their level (as shown on table 6-13: Formulas), and require a skill check (standard DC for the formula's level) after the 4 days work:
     • Critical Success you create the formula, and it costs only 50% of its listed value.
     • Success you create the formula
     • Failure you fail to finish the formula, but can keep working to complete it. Each day you continue to work on the formula, you may attempt this skill check again.
     • Critical Failure you hit a dead-end in your research or design process and have to start again, wasting 50% of the formula's cost in the process
   • Uncommon formulas cost an amount equal to the price of a formula of their level plus one (as shown on table 6-13: Formulas), and require a skill check (hard (+2) DC for the formula's level) every 10 days. If you have 4 or more progress tokens after one of these skill checks, the formula is created.
     • Critical Success you add 2 progress tokens to the formula's creation, and reduce its cost by 25% (to a maximum of 50% cost reduction with two critical successes).
     • Success you add 1 progress token to the formula's creation.
     • Failure you stall in your research, gaining no progress.
     • Critical Failure you subtract 1 progress token from the formula's creation. If this would bring its progress tokens to 0 or below, you fail to create the formula and waste 50% of its cost in the process.
2. Replace the wording of the Inventor feat with the following:
   • "You can invent formulas of up to your character's level, and inventing Common formulas takes only one day for you. Furthermore, when creating Common items using the Craft activity for which you do not have the formula, upon successfully Crafting the item, you may attempt to invent that item's formula. This follows the rules for inventing Common formulas, except that you attempt the check immediately instead of after 4 days work.
     
     If you are an Expert in Crafting, you gain a +1 circumstance bonus to inventing formula, and, when inventing Uncommon formulas, you may attempt 4 skill checks every 10 days (instead of 1 skill check every 10 days).
     
     If you are a Master in Crafting, you gain a +2 circumstance bonus to inventing formula, and you may attempt to invent Rare formulas (pending GM permission, as per all Rare choices). Inventing Rare formulas follows the rules for inventing Uncommon formulas, except that:
     • the cost is an amount equal to the price of a formula of their level plus two
     • the DC is very hard (+5) for the formula's level
     • you may only make one skill check every 10 days
     
     If you are Legendary in Crafting, you gain a +3 circumstance bonus to inventing formula, and you may attempt to invent Unique formulas (pending GM permission, as per all Unique choices). Inventing Unique formulas follows the rules for inventing Uncommon formulas, except that:
     • the cost is determined entirely by the GM
     • the DC is incredibly hard (+10) for the formula's level
     • you may only make one skill check every 100 days